Month: October 2022

Posted on

Rings of Power: Where Will It Go?

Mae Govannen! As the RoP season finale was released a few weeks ago, I thought I would take some time to discuss where I hope/want/think the show will go in future seasons, following both the Second Age timeline, and what the show has given us already.

I believe I can predict the first scene of Season 2: A nod to the scene in the Jackson films when Brego finds Aragorn on the way to Helm’s Deep, but with Berek and Isildur, in the wasteland of Mordor. Though Amazon doesn’t yet have the rights to Unfinished Tales or the Silmarillion, I believe that we will see Halbrand again, in his fair form of Annatar. The name of the city Armenelos was only in the Simarillion, so they clearly can ask for specific rights… I foresee Halbrand returning, Elrond not treating with him as Galadriel commanded, but Celebrimbor succumbing and welcoming him, because he feels that need to create these items of great power. Hopefully we’ll see the forging of the other 16 rings, and at the end, the One Ring and maybe the start of the War of Elves and Sauron.

Season 3 should be interesting, as, if my predictions are correct, we’ll get the bulk of the War of Elves and Sauron, with the Sacking of Eregion and the fall of Celebrimbor somewhere in the middle. I think it will be either at the end of Season 3or the beginning of Season 4 that we get Miriel fulfilling her oath and returning to help the Elves, and defeating Sauron, taking him to Numenor.

Season 4 will be a very Numenor-filled season. Sauron, who is now in the prisons of Numenor, will slowly work his way up the ranks to the Kings chief advisor. Hopefully, we will see the Great Wave and the Fall of Numenor near the end of the season. I hope they go with the Silmarillion plot of Miriel being abused by Pharazon to get the throne, but already, that will be very difficult, as the death of Tar-Palantir has already come in Season One, so that probably won’t happen, and they’ll make something up to fill in that blank.

Finally, in Season 5, we should get the establishment of Gondor and Arnor, and the Battle of the Last Alliance. Elendil, Gil-galad, Isildur, Anarion, and Elrond will finish their character arcs right at the end, with Elendil and Gil-galad finishing their lives. The show should end right where the movie picks up; with the defeat of Sauron and Isildur taking the ring. We may even get to see his death at the Gladden Fields; the Unfinished Tales version, so that maybe people can see that Isildur was not a deserter, but sacrificed himself for his family.

This is only a guess, but I really think the show will/should go this way. If they don’t, it will be very difficult for them to stay close to the canon.

Posted on

The Istari and the Stranger

The reveal in Rings of Power that the Stranger is one of the Istari has come as a shock to many of us who know that they do not come to Middle-Earth until 1000 Third Age. Here I would like to cover the Stranger himself in more depth, as well as the history of the five Istari, and will see if I can come up with an idea as to the Stranger’s identity.

The Istari were 5 Maiar, chosen by the Valar, to go to Middle Earth and stir the Free People to fight against Sauron. They were called Curunir, Mithrandir, Hravandil, Morinehtar, and Romestamo. In Valinor they were called Curumo, Olorin, Aiwendil, Alatar, and Pallando. Finally, they were known to men as Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown, and the Blue Wizrds, who are unnamed.

They came to Middle-Earth in c. 1000 TA. As we know that Rings of Power is taking place in c. 1000 SA to c. 3200 SA, this is a massive discrepancy. They shouldn’t be here until Season 7 or 8, if my estimations are correct ( and I don’t believe they’re passing Season 5). So, our only options are: a) the show has derailed b) the mystics were wrong and he isn’t an Istar, c) he somehow returns to Valinor in order to return in 1000 TA, or d) the term Istar is taken in a less literal sense, maybe he isn’t necessarily one of the 5.

We can now address the fact that he came out of a meteor. As Sadoc said, I have heard of people becoming stars, but never of the stars coming down in the form of people. This reference told me he could be Eärendil, the man who did become a star, but this was a fairly weak theory with almost no supporting evidence. Plus, I don’t think the term Istar would be used unless they were deliberately trying to make us think that he was Gandalf or something, while the truth was something much wilder, and I must admit, that is very possible. I think we can safely say that he’s a Maia, but I hope that, if a Istar in truth, he does not remain in Middle-Earth. There isn’t much to go off of, so I’ll leave it there.

Posted on

Alloyed: The Grand Finale

Yesterday, the eighth and final episode of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was released. And as usual, I come to you with my humble opinion on its faithfulness to the lore.

Since episode 5, I’ve been scared that this show would 100% derail and become terrible. Episode 7 made those fears more realistic. Now, with the last episode, most of that fear is cured. I now see that the ‘Elves need mithril was merely a plot device to get to the forging of the great rings. I don’t agree with it, but it was necessary to have something do the job, and Tolkien just hadn’t really written anything. As far as I’m concerned, the Elves were never ‘sick’, it was just the tree, and Gil-galad was merely exaggerating.

Now, onto the Stranger reveal. When the mystics came and called him Sauron, I still doubted it. The Stranger has been built up to be good, and I had my own theories as to Sauron’s whereabouts. The Harfoots pull of a fantastic rescue, though Sadoc Burrows didn’t make it through. But he was accepting of death, and it almost reminded me of Morwen, from the Silmarillion, who also died calmly and acceptingly, watching the sun come up. Of course, the term Istar surprised me, as the Stranger cannot be one of the five wizards, canonically speaking, but it appears that the timeline compression has reached a whole other level. My only thought is, maybe he is Olórin, the Maia (angelic being, such as Sauron, the wizards, and many characters from the Silmarillion) of Gandalf’s origin, returned to Middle-Earth, and will return to Valinor, only to return as Gandalf in the Third Age.

Our storylines merge and split a bit again, but next comes the elven story, with Galadriel, Elrond, Celebrimbor, and Halbrand in Eregion. They have trouble figuring things out with the small amount of mithril that they have, but Elrond wins them extra time from Gil-galad. When Gil-galad said ‘I owe you nothing’, I was very much expecting Elrond to say something along the lines of, ‘You owe it to my father.’ Because his father, Eärendil, did save all of Elves, Men, and Dwarves from extinction by sailing to Valinor and summoning the host of the Valar. But moving on, we get the Halbrand reveal. I’ll admit that I wasn’t a big believer in this theory, but I was as soon as he told Celebrimbor to ‘call it a gift’. For those of you who don’t know, at this time he called himself Annatar, (but as Amazon doesn’t have the rights to this name, they couldn’t use it) which means Lord of Gifts. After that, the entirety of this storyline was great. Not only was it canon to the established lore, it even reflected some of Tolkien’s core themes. True creation requires sarcrifice.

Our Numenor story was also quite good. We see Elendil and Miriel bind themselves to the Faithful, and begin to see Pharazon’s obsession over immortality. I don’t want to spoil the show, but this will play a big part in upcoming seasons.

Overall, this episode was my personal favourite since episode 3. I give it a solid 8.75 / 10. The season as a whole was very well rounded, and I will most certainly be watching Season 2. I have my gripes and nitpicks, but I think, overall, I can give Season One a good 7/10. I will soon be releasing a page about my opinion of the whole season, unconstrained by length, and predictions for Season 2. But remember, we do not say farewell, we say Namarië.

Posted on

Rings of Power 7: Prime is Morgoth

Welcome, Unhappy RoP watchers… ones who have seen THE EYE!

The latest episode of RoP is a disappointment to rival that of episode 5, Partings. We get the continuation of the Elrond and Durin storyline with the mithril, but all doubt is now erased that the ‘magic’ metal can heal the darkness that is supposedly spreading into the Elves, and that it takes the form of tree roots, clearly reminiscent of the Roots of Hithaeglir, which may not be so legendary after all. The storyline did give us some of the coolest scenes yet, including the ‘deprinceification’ of Durin IV, as well as the true story behind the rite of sigin-tarag with Durin and Elrond, but I cannot focus on the good parts, when they are so closely connected with the worst part yet. They have one episode left this season; the only way I can figure it out is that the mithril can cure the tree, but as there is nothing wrong with the Elves themselves, that can rest uncured.

As for the storyline in what has gone from Beforedor to flat-out Mordor, I cannot say much. I don’t like Miriel’s reference to Ar-Inziladun, as she should refer to him by his Quenya name, Tar-Palantir, but I don’t mind that much. Otherwise a good story so far. I especially like the reference to Pelargir, just as a nice easter egg to us book maniacs.

Finally, the Harfoots. We got a big part of them this time, likely as an apology for the severe lack of them last time. As previously stated, the Stranger is the only thing I can really look at from a lore perspective. He and the mystics still puzzle me. I don’t think it’s Eärendil, but the Istari is a big possibility, and one that I don’t like. My best theory is lost Maiar of some sort, but still, that would be in the text, wouldn’t it…?

Overall it was an OK episode, actually pretty good if you were to just have said, ‘the Tree is sick’ to Elrond, and have him lie to the dwarves about the fate of the Elves, or even lie to Elrond (which could still be the case). Overall it keeps the series at a solid 5.0/10, but on its own I’d give it a 6.5. Which is very generous.

Posted on

Adar’s Talk

Adar and Galadriel had a nice chat last episode, and, to get ready for the episode today, those of you who haven’t watched it, I’ll give you a review of Adar’s truth, lies, and hidden meanings.

Number One: Each of them has a name, and a heart. LIE. I expressed this in the episode review. Orcs are monsters, and no, they do not all have names, or hearts. The Moriondor may be said to be more living, because they are the earliest orcs, still part elf, but the rest of them are grotesque monsters with no humanity whatsoever.

Number Two: I cut him open. I killed Sauron. I think we all know the answer to that one. The question is, is it a lie, or a mistake? He may think that he killed Sauron, but we all know he is very much alive. I believe personally that Sauron is already in Eregion as Annatar, because it’s one of the only ways to solve the mithril problem, and because, based on the lore, he shouldn’t be anywhere else.

Number Three: Maybe your search for Sauron’s successor should’ve ended in your own mirror. Hidden Meaning. Galadriel did show a bit of her dark side this episode, but obviously she isn’t Morgoth’s successor. Adar meant that she was overly murderous, and I agree with him in the way of, ‘Amazon hasn’t really portrayed her correctly’. Don’t get me wrong, this warrior-Galadriel is canon and awesome, but I don’t like the crazy woman who would torture the orcs and kill Adar right after she told Halbrand not to, or even threaten to commit genocide, just as a form of torture and sport.