S02.E07: Doomed to Die

[paulvdb]

Quote

Eregion’s fate is decided.

Premiere date: September 26, 2024

[Grimnar]

Well, what to say about this episode. Visually good and probably best episode so far in this season but writing is not good and most of the time not even decent. I don't know if it is fault of showrunners or writers but no one has any sense of time, scale, scope or story logic.

Again people are teleporting when needed.

Dwarves learned that Eregion is under siege. Also dwarves are aware there is some monster in deeps or probably right behind the tunnel guarded by Durin and Disa(I think it is telling that writers have to use story from Third Age to have any storyline for dwarves). I take it that king Durin is practicaly deposed. Durin's speech about helping their friends came kind of flat when we didn't see any friendship between elves and dwarves(and friendship between Durin and Elrond is too little, especialy when Elrond lied to Durin half of the time). Dwarves are ready to march but in the end don't send any army because everyone has to restrain king? I wonder if remaining dwarves rings are still in Khazad-dum or we are supposed to assume that other kings already paid and recieved rings.

Elven army finally arrived(and now they have even horses) but orc army is 10 times larger, which begs question how they wanted to invade Mordor. Orc army just destroy mountain with catapult, river dissapear in 5 minutes and of course there is no mud when needed to have army to assault walls. Troll was little underwhelming. Gil-galad is also so far underwhelming as High King of Noldor in Middle-Earth.

Celebrimbor finally see through ilussion(he didn't notice sooner that he is using still same candle) but everyone in city is under Sauron's influence and literally he is controling even their bodies. I don't understand Sauron's plan to provoke Adar to attack Eregion and then pressure Celebrimbor to finish rings because they don't have time. Celebrimbor's tragedy is undermined when he admited that he knew that Annatar is evil but still go through with his plan because he wanted surpass Feanor even when they didn't establish this desire in previous season and it was mentioned in one sentence in this season. And why is there conveniently old dwarf tunnel which lead to city build by Celebrimbor? Will Galadriel face some consequences for not telling about Halbrand's identity when it lead to destruction of Eregion and Khazad-dum?

Do you think that Adar will be killed by orc who seems as his second-in-command?

I know that there is still one episode but Isildur's storyline in second season is that he escaped from cave and helped rescue Theo?

 

[wanderingstar]

I was wondering what was going to happen with the Doubting Orc. He was definitely not ok with Adar sending the orcs to slaughter.

Is that the end of Arondir? If so, what a waste of a good actor. I did like that small scene with Arondir and Galadriel, though it was then that I realized he was one of those doomed to die.

Celebrimbor's storyline has maybe been my favorite (along with all the palace intrigue in Numenor). His pride and arrogance clouded his judgment. I like that it's not all about Sauron doing mind control. He's playing on his marks' insecurities and arrogance.

[Harvey]

1 hour ago, Grimnar said:

.

 

Do you think that Adar will be killed by orc who seems as his second-in-command?

?

 

I really don't want him to die before season 5. He is by far the best part of the series. 

But yeah they are definitely building to something with the orcs doubting him. 

[peridot]

I liked this episode.  I'm glad Amazon had the funds to show a great battle.

It seemed silly that Durin and Disa were the only two to block the mine entrance and were successfully able to hold off a group of miners.  How did the king slaughter a whole group of them?  Does the ring give supernatural strength?

I couldn't help but laugh at the lackluster end of the lady with a crush on Sauron.  I wasn't expecting that at all.

I laughed at Sauron's sarcasm about the mouse too.  The whole facade must have been wearing on him now that he's so close to the end.

Celebrimbor was bad-ass, willing to cut off his own thumb.  Holy crap at the extent of Sauron's power, though.

I really hope that isn't the end for Arondir.

Edited September 27 by peridot

[wanderingstar]

19 minutes ago, peridot said:

I couldn't help but laugh at the lackluster end of the lady with a crush on Sauron.  I wasn't expecting that at all.

It was so unceremonious. I felt a little bad for her. 

 

[dkb]

I liked this episode too, but have to agree with you @Grimnar I feel something is just off about the writing. This show has all the ingredients to make it epic but it just falls alittle short every episode. The pacing of scenes and episodes doesn't help either. The about face of the Eregion elves from going to lock up Celebrimbor in his tower again, to being all "we stand with you" was so lame and again no build up. 

The beginning of the battle with the camera going through the Elves charging was great, and the troll looked really well done too.

Also from what I understand, the Elven army is so small is because they sent half or more of them to Mordor already. I didn't think it was supposed to be all of the Elves showing up, just the ones that were still around while the other commanders had taken most of the army to Mordor.

Celebrimbor, what a performance. I felt his confusion and horror when he saw what was actually happening to his city and what he had done. Also couldn't believe he cut off his own thumb to make sure no more rings. The mouse being MVP for waking Celebrimbor up.

Sauron, was any of the I was a slave to Morgoth talk real or was he once again gaslighting Celebrimbor? Liked that he got called out on doing the same thing to others that apparently was done to him.

Sauron's face when he was like, "thanks for the tips on how to make the rings, and it needing sacrifice. I will definitely keep that in mind when making my own, better version."

Mardania - got done dirty. I feel the impact of her death and how Sauron made it seem that it was Celebrimbor's fault would have been soo much better if we spent more time with her and Celebrimbor. Sauron did say she would get what she deserved and then did that to her - evil evil.

Elrond, stays the best character and performance for me, but the kiss was not needed. Awww, he's waiting for his friend to come. I still think the Dwarves will show up next episode. 

There is no way Arondir is dead, that would be a worse send off then Mardania for a character that was here since the first season and was built up so big.

Galadriel has the rings now, Sauron will get his hands on them, so once again Galadriel is the reason everything is going to get worse on Middle Earth. lol why not give them to some random elf that Sauron wouldn't know. Did like that she acknowledged that she brought this on Eregion with bringing Halbrand to the city. 

Adar is getting a sword through the back from his Orcs next episode for sure.

 

[Camera One]

When things are dire and writing gets tough, snuff out the light and bring on the death and gratuitous violence - Not J.R.R. Tolkien

I finally watched an episode in a timely fashion.

I found this episode depressing. 

I did like the reunion between Elrond and (oops, I wrote Gimli in my notes) Durin the Younger.  I was relieved Narvi finally stopped backing the King, but this would have been much more satisfying if it had been developed more gradually and if more dwarves willingly supported Durin the Younger.  Likewise, the Dwarves wanting to come to the aid of the Elves would have been more rewarding if we saw more than Elrond and Durin cooperating.  Still, that was one of the better motivational speeches.  All the Dwarven troops needing to stay back to subdue the King was hard to believe, though.

The actor playing Celebrimbor did a good job, I guess, but he just felt like one of the chess pieces to get the rings made.  Galadriel arrived, and all the Guards immediately supported Celebrimbor again?  Wouldn't it delay and distract Sauron more if Celebrimbor also went on the run?  Instead of just going up the tower and having everyone become a sacrificial lamb? 

What was the point of all those workers if Celebrimbor can just make rings himself?  Celebrimbor accidentally pushing his female assistant off the top of the wall felt ridiculous.

So much of this horrific scenario falls at the feet of Galadriel making bad decisions, and that just ruins the character and makes the story frustrating to watch.  Starting with her decision not to tell Celebrimbor about Halbrand being Sauron (why didn't Elrond tell Celebrimbor, when he had no problem telling Gil-galad?).  She shouldn't have confronted the orcs and gotten captured (why didn't she just run in a different direction to draw their attention?).  She shouldn't have talked so freely with Adar telling him all about her rings and details of the Elven troop movements. 

Because of all this, the pivotal scene with Galadriel and Celebrimbor left me cold.  And what was with her weird baby-voice talk to Arondir, when he stupidly wanted to go on a suicide mission to kill Adar, who took "everything" from him.

I thought I imagined Gil-galad on one of the horses, because he promptly disappeared for such a long time and Elrond was the one who went to negotiate with Adar.

For a few weeks there, I thought this season was better than the last, but I'm now thinking it's probably on par.  I think I thought similarly with last year's big battle in the South Lands.

Edited September 27 by Camera One

[HawkeyeLo]

A couple of thoughts:

1. I’m pretty sure the kiss was just Elrond’s way of getting close enough to Galadriel to sneak her the little piece from his shoulder that she used to escape.

2. I also thought Gil-Galad was there from the start, but it was another elf with a very similar face and lighter hair. Elrond sent that elf to meet the dwarves. The High King showed up later.

I don’t know; I enjoy this show. It’s not perfect, but it’s a good watch. Celebrimbor was a pawn to get the rings made, and I feel they did a good job of showing that and how Sauron manipulated him all season. I liked how they balanced him sort of knowing that things weren’t right but wanting to best Feanor so much that he shrugged things off for longer than he should have. This episode was sad but the end results had to happen.

Agree that Elrond and Durin are the best parts of the show, though I do think the actress playing Galadriel has great chemistry with her scene partners.

I hope they don’t kill off Arondir. I am sure they had to adjust his storyline with Bronwyn’s actress leaving the show, but I’d hate for that to mean another actor loses his job, and I like the character. Hopefully he can miraculously recover like a Star Wars character who gets stabbed in the gut with a lightsaber!

[baldryanr]

6 hours ago, Camera One said:

Celebrimbor accidentally pushing his female assistant off the top of the wall felt ridiculous.

How was that an accident?  Sauron used his telekinetic power to make Celebrimbor push her.

[wanderingstar]

1 hour ago, HawkeyeLo said:

I don’t know; I enjoy this show. It’s not perfect, but it’s a good watch.

Yeah, this is where I am. Despite its issues, I continue to enjoy it, and I think this season has been a big improvement on season 1.

I read a review of this episode that referred to Sauron as Celebrimbor's abusive boyfriend, which is a great description of their dynamic this season. 

1 hour ago, HawkeyeLo said:

Hopefully he can miraculously recover like a Star Wars character who gets stabbed in the gut with a lightsaber!

Fun fact: Ismael Cruz Cordova, who plays, Arondir, appeared in the season 1 episode of the Mandalorian, "The Prisoner," though it's hard to recognize him under all his alien makeup and prosthetics.

[Haleth]

You know, that wasn’t bad. Color me shocked that they actually produced a pretty good episode. See what a difference it makes when they don’t cram too many storylines in an hour?  It helps that the focus was on the two best actors.

RIP Arondir. His character was so wasted this season. Guess when his potential love interest left there was nothing left for him to do?  Too bad.

I guess the Orcs are going to abandon Adar and throw in with Sauron because he has their best interests in mind. Yeah, I’ve heard that before.

12 hours ago, wanderingstar said:

It was so unceremonious. I felt a little bad for her. 

 

Not me. She was a love struck idiot. 

9 hours ago, dkb said:

Elrond, stays the best character and performance for me, but the kiss was not needed.

That was icky considering she becomes his MIL. (I know it was to get close enough to pass her the pin.)

[baldryanr]

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

Not me. She was a love struck idiot. 

Love struck fool = deserves to be shoved off a wall and axed by an orc seems a bit harsh.

[thuganomics85]

Maybe it's just the surprisingly impressive battle sequences affecting my judgement, but this might have been the best episode of the series yet.  Still a lot of questionable writing, but from a pure entertainment standpoint, it kind of completely delivered.  Not bad!

Certainly helped that a lot of the battle took place in the light so we could see all of the action and even the night scenes were well lit.  Can't understand why this show (and other ones) have struggled with this aspect, but good for it.  Obviously won't reach the heights of the film trilogy (Helm's Deep will always be top tier), but I came out of it impressed enough.

Loved seeing the Elrond/Durin reunion; easily one of the best things about this series; but I knew all of it was going to fall apart once they actually Elrond reveal the plan to us on screen.  Don't blame Durin since his dad is likely going to unleash something way worse, but I wonder if this is going to lead towards Elrond distrusting almost everyone who isn't elves when he gets older.

Ah, Galadriel/Elrond get the old-fashion "Kiss but they are actually passing something between them to help free her" thing.  Assuming they stick with canon, I doubt it will go too much further than that.

Oh, Mirdania!  This is why you don't trust the shady guys who show up out of nowhere, whispering sweet nothings.  No matter how hunky they are...

I'm pretty sure we didn't even know this Rian character's name until now.  You know, right before she gets a tragic death.  Good on her for getting the job done, but it was weird how they were treating it like an epic thing where the audience would cry over it or something.

Yeah, Adar's downfall is likely going to be due to how he's been mistreating the orcs.  The one side-eyeing him is probably going to stab him in the back or something.

Arondir still seemed to be moving around, so I don't think he's dead yet.

Celebrimbor finally puts the pieces together and realizes he has majorly fucked up.  Likely too late to really do anything, but better than nothing.  The actor is still giving it his all though.

Curious to see what is in store come finale time!

[Haleth]

2 hours ago, baldryanr said:

Love struck fool = deserves to be shoved off a wall and axed by an orc seems a bit harsh.

Lol. Ok. I’ll give you that.

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

'm pretty sure we didn't even know this Rian character's name until now.  You know, right before she gets a tragic death. 

Yeah, I wish we had known her better. She was pretty cool. 

[wanderingstar]

20 minutes ago, Haleth said:

Yeah, I wish we had known her better. She was pretty cool. 

Same! I liked the 2 seconds we saw of her. Would have been great if they'd shown her being an advisor to Gil-galad or Elrond during the season. It would've made her death hit harder.

[magdalene]

As Sauron is the devil in this universe - Did he write the abusers handbook then? "Look what you made me do".

[rmontro]

On 9/26/2024 at 1:25 PM, Grimnar said:

Dwarves are ready to march but in the end don't send any army because everyone has to restrain king?

I believe they said they left the army behind to battle the underground "beast" if/when the older Durin sets him free.

I like Mardania's name as not-Galadriel better, as some of the posters here called her.

I thought Elrond was going to pass Galadriel her ring back during the kiss, but he just slipped her a piece of his armor.

The actor playing Celebrimbor did a great job, I thought.  The writing is still weak though (a problem Tolkien himself didn't have).

 

[tv-talk]

Trying to enjoy the show for what it is, and looking forward to a big battle scene, I have to say the Troll was an epic disappointment. I have no idea why they didnt have him rampaging far longer and doing much more damage. Especially to the Orcs as that would be a big reason for them to turn on Adar. Instead the Troll went out with a whimper. Kinda lame.

No way Arondir is dead, no way.

I do hope Adar makes it thru this season, he is the best character on the show. I dont know that the writers did it on purpose, but he's preferable to Galadriel in many ways. The show is written to where it's basically her fault most of the bad things are happening and why Middle Earth is in peril. Meanwhile Adar legit wants to rid Middle Earth of Sauron and was just looking for a place Orcs could call their home. Now that we know there are orc families somewhere with baby orcs scurrying about, it seems reasonable.

The problem with so many storylines is now I am decidedly NOT looking forward to seeing Noorie again, especially when we already know the choice Gandalf is going to make. I do like seeing ol'Tom though even if just because it's nice to see him finally arrived on screen.

[Harvey]

3 hours ago, tv-talk said:

The problem with so many storylines is now I am decidedly NOT looking forward to seeing Noorie again, especially when we already know the choice Gandalf is going to make. I do like seeing ol'Tom though even if just because it's nice to see him finally arrived on screen.

I just straight up fast forward through the scenes she appears in. Makes the story more enjoyable.

[Camera One]

Mithril was really important for the previous rings.  So why was mithril not needed for the rings for men?  If Sauron thought his own blood was good enough for the 9, why did he bother going all the way to Khazad-dum to ask for mithril?  Since he went all the way there, why didn't he just use his reality-altering powers to steal some mithril from the dwarves?  

[Affogato]

2 hours ago, Camera One said:

Mithril was really important for the previous rings.  So why was mithril not needed for the rings for men?  If Sauron thought his own blood was good enough for the 9, why did he bother going all the way to Khazad-dum to ask for mithril?  Since he went all the way there, why didn't he just use his reality-altering powers to steal some mithril from the dwarves?  

I’m guessing he used a bit of that black blood to corrupt the 7 and increase his control. He may have used his blood to stretch out a much smaller dusting of mithril, making them even more toxic. 

Edited September 28 by Affogato

[Camera One]

22 minutes ago, Affogato said:

I’m guessing he ised a bit of that black blood to corrupt the 7 and increase his vontrol. He may have used his blood to stretch out a much smaller dusting of mithril, making them even more toxic. 

Yes, I remember he put a drop of his blood when they made the 7. 

The Elven rings didn't have his blood, so are they still corrupted in any way, as Elrond suggested, since Halbrand did still have a hand in their creation.  Elrond was the reason that he and Galadriel left Eregion in such a hurry, and leaving Celebrimbor alone and vulnerable.

Edited September 28 by Camera One

[Affogato]

10 hours ago, tv-talk said:

.

I do hope Adar makes it thru this season, he is the best character on the show. I dont know that the writers did it on purpose, but he's preferable to Galadriel in many ways. The show is written to where it's basically her fault most of the bad things are happening and why Middle Earth is in peril. Meanwhile Adar legit wants to rid Middle Earth of Sauron and was just looking for a place Orcs could call their home. Now that we know there are orc families somewhere with baby orcs scurrying about, it seems reasonable.

You are victim blaming. Galadriel was manipulated by Sauron. She did not raise the sludge. Like Celebrimbor. This does not indicate they are weak, by the way. She has learned from her experiencs and so has he. Adar, not so much. He is saying he wants to ‘save his children’ but he isn’t, instead, throwing them into a dangerous and useless battle because he wants to beat Sauron. 
adar could join with elves and men, etc, but will not. 

[Camera One]

When did Adar realize that Halbrand was Sauron?  I wonder what would have happened if Adar had truly tried to kill Halbrand when he had him in chains at the start of the season.

[Grimnar]

3 hours ago, Affogato said:

Galadriel was manipulated by Sauron.

I kind of disagree. During their stay on Númenor, it was Galadriel who was pushing that Halbrand is king of Southland, that he has to return and reclaim crown even when he told her several times that he found the crest on dead man and he is not from king's line. We can even say that Galadriel was manipulating Halbrand for her purpose.

[Aulty]

I think this episode was decent because it was focussed on one region and finally tied the orc, dwarf and the two elf storylines, plus Arondir, together. I slightly dread the finale if they attempt to give us Sauron, Celebrimbor, Galadriel, Elrond, Adar, Numenor, Elendil, Gandalf, the dark wizard and the Hobbits. Tom and Durin we are probably done with this season. Did I miss a hint somewhere that this is going to be a 3 hour episode?

Edited September 29 by Aulty

[katha]

1 hour ago, Grimnar said:

I kind of disagree. During their stay on Númenor, it was Galadriel who was pushing that Halbrand is king of Southland, that he has to return and reclaim crown even when he told her several times that he found the crest on dead man and he is not from king's line. We can even say that Galadriel was manipulating Halbrand for her purpose.

I think they did a good job of covering the nuances of this all season tbh. Celebrimbor summarized it well this episode. Sauron is a gaslighting menace and absolutely responsible for his evil deeds. But he works with his marks' weaknesses and desires. Celebrimbor takes responsibility for his part in the wreck, for letting ambition and vanity blind him.

The Halbrand persona was tailored to Galadriel and on rewatch IMO you see how he is spinning her all season, it's a very sharp and precise performance by Vickers. But he didn't yet have a clear plan in place and was freestyling more with her, so yah, her own mania and single-mindedness were a driving force for much of her crap decision-making in the first season, Sauron often just nudged her along. She has to accept her own culpability and find ways to do better from now on. She's still in this angry "I will kill him, me alone!!!!!" phase, that we know she needs to abandon for something more constructive. 

Edited September 29 by katha

[Grimnar]

20 minutes ago, katha said:

I think they did a good job of covering the nuances of this all season tbh. Celebrimbor summarized it well this episode. Sauron is a gaslighting menace and absolutely responsible for his evil deeds. But he works with his marks' weaknesses and desires. Celebrimbor takes responsibility for his part in the wreck, for letting ambition and vanity blind him.

The Halbrand persona was tailored to Galadriel and on rewatch IMO you see how he is spinning her all season, it's a very sharp and precise performance by Vickers. But he didn't yet have a clear plan in place and was freestyling more with her, so yah, her own mania and single-mindedness were a driving force for much of her crap decision-making in the first season, Sauron often just nudged her along. She has to accept her own culpability and find ways to do better from now on. She's still in this angry "I will kill him, me alone!!!!!" phase, that we know she needs to abandon for something more constructive. 

I don't think that Celebrimbor and Galadriel's situations are comparable. While Celebrimbor admited that he knew that there is something wrong with Annatar and still go with Annatar's plan, Sauron had to actively work to keep Celebrimbor and other elves under deception. Problem is also that rings of power in show are not vanity project of elven smiths. Elven and dwarves rings are created to heal/fix existing problem(dying tree and Khazad-dum without sunlight) which is presented that crisis for each race.

On other hand Galadriel saw the crest and then just assumed that Halbrand is lost king, here Sauron didn't have to do any/almost any work. Galadriel came to conclusions herself. She dismissed any parts which weren't convenient for her. We don't see any manipulation from Sauron's part in order to persuade Galadriel that Halbrand is lost king and she need his help in Southland.

[Affogato]

4 hours ago, Grimnar said:

I kind of disagree. During their stay on Númenor, it was Galadriel who was pushing that Halbrand is king of Southland, that he has to return and reclaim crown even when he told her several times that he found the crest on dead man and he is not from king's line. We can even say that Galadriel was manipulating Halbrand for her purpose.

She was doing so under the false assumption that he was the heir of the kingdom of the Southlands. Also indrr the assumption he was a human and a good person. It was covert deception. Based in an artifact he killed for, and almost certainly an artifact he recognized. Even if she didn’t.  His ‘modesty’ and rejection of the position he was offered made him seem even more suited for it  

the manipulation he exerts is making people feel they have found a path to what they want.

she is responsible for the things you mentioned, and she knows it. That does not mean she is not a victim of his deceit. 

Edited September 29 by Affogato

[Affogato]

I propose that so far we haven’t seen a lot of magic from Sauron. He has suggestively nudged people into self deceit. They don’t even notice a war around them.  He encourages their greed. And so on. There is magic, but it is not the deciding factor.  Which is true of LOTR. Sam was the hero, afterall. 

[Grimnar]

1 hour ago, Affogato said:

She was doing so under the false assumption that he was the heir of the kingdom of the Southlands. Also indrr the assumption he was a human and a good person. It was covert deception. Based in an artifact he killed for, and almost certainly an artifact he recognized. Even if she didn’t.  His ‘modesty’ and rejection of the position he was offered made him seem even more suited for it  

the manipulation he exerts is making people feel they have found a path to what they want.

she is responsible for the things you mentioned, and she knows it. That does not mean she is not a victim of his deceit. 

But the assumption was her own, he didn't say it belongs to his family or something similar. He didn't say that he is Sauron but all other conclusions were her own. There was no deception in making her belive that Halbrand is from royal family.

[Affogato]

6 minutes ago, Grimnar said:

But the assumption was her own, he didn't say it belongs to his family or something similar. He didn't say that he is Sauron but all other conclusions were her own. There was no deception in making her belive that Halbrand is from royal family.

This is how a scammer works. You jump to a conclusion, they go with it.  A skilled scammer gets to pick and choose from what you want to believe. She needed a win at the point. It was her undoing.  
 

it is subtle and I would say, pretty good writing. 

Edited September 29 by Affogato

[Grimnar]

9 minutes ago, Affogato said:

This is how a scammer works. You jump to a conclusion, they go with it.  A skilled scammer gets to pick and choose from what you want to believe. She needed a win at the point. It was her undoing.  
 

it is subtle and I would say, pretty good writing. 

Let's agree to disagree because I don't see Galadriel in that situation as victim of deceit that Halbrand is king. And if yes, it as Sauron did 5% of deceit and remaining 95% were Galadriel's doing.

[Affogato]

5 minutes ago, Grimnar said:

Let's agree to disagree because I don't see Galadriel in that situation as victim of deceit that Halbrand is king. And if yes, it as Sauron did 5% of deceit and remaining 95% were Galadriel's doing.

Ok. He was recently sludge, though. I think he was feeling out the idea of being a good guy. So less of a victimizer then, more later. Sludging is hard to shake, I guess. But his nature was shining through. 
 

she wasn’t completely horrible either. She’d been thrown out of middle earth and rejected heaven. She wanted to find some justification, which is relatable. 

[tv-talk]

12 hours ago, Affogato said:

You are victim blaming.

Oh please. She didnt tell them that Halbrandt was Sauron- that is the entire cause of the rings being made and Middle Earth almost being destroyed. That is 100% her fault and her mistake.

[tv-talk]

7 hours ago, katha said:

She's still in this angry "I will kill him, me alone!!!!!" phase, that we know she needs to abandon for something more constructive. 

She came off as a psychopath in the scene with Adar from S1 where she was saying she would kill every single orc etc etc. She has serious issues to deal with before becoming the Galadriel of Fellowship.

[Affogato]

1 hour ago, tv-talk said:

Oh please. She didnt tell them that Halbrandt was Sauron- that is the entire cause of the rings being made and Middle Earth almost being destroyed. That is 100% her fault and her mistake.

Victims are often ashamed of being taken in. 

56 minutes ago, tv-talk said:

She came off as a psychopath in the scene with Adar from S1 where she was saying she would kill every single orc etc etc. She has serious issues to deal with before becoming the Galadriel of Fellowship.

Being unable to see both sides of an issue is problematic :-)

[Grimnar]

According to this picture, it seems that elves built walls between season 1 and season 2.

Wonder if showrunners forgot to add them in season 1 or if they just decide to add them for battle/siege.

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Ost-in-Edhil#/media/File:The_Rings_of_Power_(TV_series)_-_Ost-in-Edhil.jpg

Edited September 29 by Grimnar

[Camera One]

10 hours ago, Aulty said:

I slightly dread the finale if they attempt to give us Sauron, Celebrimbor, Galadriel, Elrond, Adar, Numenor, Elendil, Gandalf, the dark wizard and the Hobbits. Tom and Durin we are probably done with this season.

I don't watch previews with the hope I can possibly enjoy some elements of surprise, so I'm just musing out loud.  There's also Isildur and his "girlfriend", plus Theo, so I am curious if we revisit them one last time this season.  

I was reading this article, which has some interviews.

Quote

“Charlotte [co-executive producer] was so militant about protecting the connection of the characters,” Walker tells Inverse. Even in the thick of battle, Brändström still found ways to follow Elrond and Gil-galad’s emotional journeys. “The moments where we could lock eyes, register each other’s presence, and continue to further the story are just as important as the moment when the hook goes into [the troll’s] hip.”

Elrond and Gil-galad had an emotional journey in this episode?  Sorry, I had to laugh.  

Edited September 29 by Camera One

[rmontro]

13 hours ago, Aulty said:

Tom and Durin we are probably done with this season

Now that we've seen Tom, I wish they would have goofed him up a bit, or made him a little more eccentric or something.  I understand they wanted to tone him down for television, but they ended up losing too much of his personality.  Plus his whole mentor role seemed wrong.

[QuantumMechanic]

On 9/28/2024 at 5:17 PM, Camera One said:

Yes, I remember he put a drop of his blood when they made the 7. 

The Elven rings didn't have his blood, so are they still corrupted in any way, as Elrond suggested, since Halbrand did still have a hand in their creation.  

Well, it's hard to say because this story is so different from canon.

Spoiler

Canonically, the 16 (they weren't distinguished into the Seven and Nine, and they were all for Elves, not Dwarves and Men) were forged first and with Annatar/Sauron's assistance.  The Three were forged hundreds of years later and just by the Elves -- no Sauron involved at all.  Sauron then forged the One which gave him control over all the Rings because he put so much of his own native power into the One Ring itself.  The Elves sensed the moment Sauron put the One on his finger and immediately took the Three off their fingers. 

Sauron was furious about that and led an army from Mordor to destroy Eregion. He eventually captured, tortured, and killed Celebrimbor and found and took the Sixteen.  He then decided to give seven of them to the Dwarves and nine to Men.

The Elves hid and did not use the Three until the One was lost at the end of the Second Age.

So canonically the Three are not corrupt.  But they are bound by the One and subject to its control.  Not because the Three were corrupted but because the One was intentionally made powerful enough to control them.

Edited September 30 by QuantumMechanic

[JustHereForFood]

So I became invested in Celebrimbor's storyline this episode. Good performance (and a cute little mouse). Man, Sauron went full abuser-speak here, "You are the one making me hurt you, my hands are clean". Shut up, you evil psycho. To think that there are people out there who ship Sauron and Galadriel and are making him into some tragic hero, just like they did with that guy from the new Star Wars. 🤮

I finally got my Elrond&Durin moment, but it became sad with that missing army at the end of the episode. 

Does anybody else think the lighting is too dark, like the last seasons of GoT? I was watching it with my mom and when Celebrimbor was making his speech about light being the most important to fight darkness, she said "Then why is everything always so dark, hm?" LOL.

 

On 9/26/2024 at 7:25 PM, Grimnar said:

Do you think that Adar will be killed by orc who seems as his second-in-command?

God, I hope so. See, sad Orc, leaders like Adar are not your friends. They say they care about you, but then they are happy enough to sacrifice all your lives to reach their goals and will use some empty excuses about principles. 

I agree with those who say that they have a lot to wrap up in the next episode. Staying hopeful (mostly).