Mae Govannen, mellyn nin!
I have returned, with my overview of Rings of Power episodes 1-3. My review of episode four will be available shortly.
It is nice to be back indeed, with Bear McCreary stealing the show once again with the spectacular score and really good visuals proved that the delay was worth it. I will cover the separate storylines individually, just like last time, starting with the Elves and the Three Rings.
As most know, Galadriel is my (so far), favourite character of the series and the Second / Third Ages in general, and she is certainly living up to that standard. The themes of the Elves, including immortality and the pride of it, are very obvious in her, especially with her own forced humility as she is demoted to lieutenant under Elrond. But a nice choice of the showrunners to have her appear at the ceremony where Gil-galad announced the doom of the Elves, even if she wasn’t getting her way, while Elrond stormed away once the Rings were claimed, cementing her as the older and more mature of the two. Remember, Elrond ends up marrying her daughter. Also, I’m really enjoying the work of Annatar and Celebrimbor. Annatar is doing a perfect job of manipulating Celembrimbor and Celebrimbor is doing a great job… being manipulated in front of a camera. Though I do believe that his first age bottle of wine was probably a bit too old…
The Dwarves. I don’t know what to say. We haven’t seen enough of them to judge. Disa continues to steal every scene she’s in, but I don’t know what I think of the plot. Khazad-dum suddenly crumbling because of an eruption half a world away doesn’t quite cut it in terms of a logical explanation. My only theory is that, along with the sick tree in Lindon, this is Sauron’s manipulation. Cause the problem, present the solution.
The Harfoots are still a complete mystery to me. I don’t know who the Stranger is, and I’m holding out hope against hope (really amdir at this point) that it isn’t Gandalf, but references the the Istar, his gand, and more make it highly unlikely. However, we have a new mystery wizard to talk about! He’s considerably less friendly, but I think we have a real possibility that this is a Blue Wizard gone bad. I have heard theories that he is in fact Saruman, but I have my doubts. If it was Saruman, why would Gandalf trust him in the Third Age? It doesn’t seem realistic, and I remain cautiously optimistic.
I have seen episode four, and I think the Isildur, Arondir, and Theo story, as well as Numenor, are better kept for one article. Episode Four’s recap will be released later this week, hopefully before the release of Episode Five. So far I think the season has come out with flying colours and is a dramatic improvement over Season 1. We shall see what else Amazon has in store for us.