Amazon series:reactions and thoughts (Spoiler alert!)

  • Who is the Stranger? A Wizard? Sauron? His arrival as the "gate" to/from Valinor was opened seems to imply being sent by the Valar, but it's too early for the Wizards we know.
I wouldn't discount wizards - or at least, a Maia who will become a Wizard. I don't think he's Sauron, but it's possible and would be intense distraction. Given his moment with stars, I'd wonder if he's in fact Olorin. Can't resist Gandalf, of course, and though he served mostly Nienna he was also associated with Varda. Speaking of which, does anyone by chance have that still frame of the fireflies as stars? I wonder if we can analyze that.

Totally out of nowhere theory here... Earendil? Falling from the sky like a star and all? Then again I'd think they'd draw more attention to "Hey! The really bright star that is also a Silmaril is gone!"

  • Who is Halbrand? From the initial information, I had vibes that either he was going to end up being Sauron, or a Numenorian refugee of some sort. The second is no longer an option, IMO. Could he be someone important from the Southlands? Or is he Sauron?
I understood some of Halbrand's comments as indicating he and the others were refugees from Hordern or some other town in the Southland the orcs destroyed - honestly I don't expect a great reveal about him.
For what it's worth, his recently released character deep dive on Instagram seems to confirm this.

  • What's going to happen with Theo? I'm leaning towards a Ringwraith or Mouth of Sauron eventually. Something will happen to his mother due to the Arondir relationship, and that will turn him to the Shadow.
Oh, that's an interesting idea. I think Ringwraith is more likely, generally.
 
Totally out of nowhere theory here... Earendil? Falling from the sky like a star and all? Then again I'd think they'd draw more attention to "Hey! The really bright star that is also a Silmaril is gone!"

Doubt it, imho Elrond being able to meet his father would bring to much complications for the story.

Regarding Halbrand - he might be a descendant of local kingly line as we are told the Nazgul were formerly kings.
 
I think if we remember the time frame is compressed and this season is very much about the rising of Sauron and pushing back against that, plus the fact he was by 'halflings', I do think the Meteor Man is likely Gandalf.

Plus, the showrunners have said it isn't meant to be a withheld secret. They aren't pulling a JJ Abrams Kahn trick. We are meant to discover as the story plays out. BUT they also said 'what you see is what you get' or something to that effect.

THAT SAID, all those contributing factors could just be red herrings. But I would like it if it is him to be honest. He always seems to be a good source for pushing 'hobbits' beyond their quiet communal lives and engaging them with the wider world.
 
The Meteor man is clearly evil IMHO, if he isn't Sauron himself then he is another type of demon, when he's Gandalf or a blue guy i'll be really upset.

As for Halbrand... the entire Southlanders storyline cries out lout oathbreaker to me, also Theo... future King of the Death? Though that boy is also so obviously evil... if he doesn't redeem himself somehow and yet turns good i'll be very disappointed.

One thing that bothered me, apart from Galadriel jumping ship and opening portals: how do refugees, supposedly from Nurn or Mordor, end up off the coasts of Lindon? Apart from being a trip of about 2000 miles, what the Utumno wpuld these folks want in Northern Eriador all of a sudden? And it makes Galadriel look stoopid... theres this ptsd elf who roams the northern ice desert while Saurons Orcs are happily partying in the underdeeps beneath Mordor... surprise surprise! Meanwhile Finrod is happily reincarnated in Valinor... see you later sis!
 
I understood the southlanders had been at sea for 2 weeks so could have drifted a long way from Lindon heading south west. I was wondering how they got to the coast - presumably up the Anduin.

I reckon the identity of Theo’s father may be a part of his storyline.

I reckon the dwarf secret is mithril
 
The Meteor man is clearly evil IMHO, if he isn't Sauron himself then he is another type of demon, when he's Gandalf or a blue guy i'll be really upset.

As for Halbrand... the entire Southlanders storyline cries out lout oathbreaker to me, also Theo... future King of the Death? Though that boy is also so obviously evil... if he doesn't redeem himself somehow and yet turns good i'll be very disappointed.

One thing that bothered me, apart from Galadriel jumping ship and opening portals: how do refugees, supposedly from Nurn or Mordor, end up off the coasts of Lindon? Apart from being a trip of about 2000 miles, what the Utumno wpuld these folks want in Northern Eriador all of a sudden? And it makes Galadriel look stoopid... theres this ptsd elf who roams the northern ice desert while Saurons Orcs are happily partying in the underdeeps beneath Mordor... surprise surprise! Meanwhile Finrod is happily reincarnated in Valinor... see you later sis!

See, I'm not sure if he's evil or just so unused to physical form that he isn't able to communicate well, to the point of being scary. I mean, I definitely get weird vibes off him too. But I think I'd be more unhappy if he is Sauron. He just doesn't, as yet, feel very...Sauron. Then again, I do like the sympathy for the devil undercurrent of an inoccent people not realising they are inviting in evil with a cup of tea.
 
I understood the southlanders had been at sea for 2 weeks so could have drifted a long way from Lindon heading south west. I was wondering how they got to the coast - presumably up the Anduin.

I reckon the identity of Theo’s father may be a part of his storyline.

I reckon the dwarf secret is mithril

? That would even make less sense. That raft scene really bothered me on so many levels. The way Halbrand saved Galadriel from her clumsy attempt... that guy cannot be human!

How Meteorman sucked life-force from those poor glow-worms who had already been abused by the Protohobnits...
No, that person is Evil! Don't get yourself fooled by his innocent way of arrival like a falling morning-star into a crater of fire formed like a lidless eye..
 
How Meteorman sucked life-force from those poor glow-worms who had already been abused by the Protohobnits...
No, that person is Evil! Don't get yourself fooled by his innocent way of arrival like a falling morning-star into a crater of fire formed like a lidless eye..

The fireflies might be reacting to the evil connected to the wargs being around...
 
You mean the halfstarved warthogs? No, i am sure they died from the sheer touch of meteo's breath!
 
You mean the halfstarved warthogs? No, i am sure they died from the sheer touch of meteo's breath!

Hh, we know there will a future confrontation with them thanks to the trailers - still halfstarved they are not, as they were self-constrained enough not to attack the Harfoot children.
 
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I reckon the identity of Theo’s father may be a part of his storyline.

Tyroe, who plays Theo, mentioned cryptically that who his jacket belonged to before was important. I haven't been able to make any sensible guesses as to who or why.

Re: the Meteor Man/Stranger

The showrunners said pretty pointedly when asked if the Stranger was Gandalf that there are "other beings in that class", but wouldn't give a straight answer, so it's not clear if he's an Istar or a Maia. There was also mention more recently of Hobbit legend including the Man in the Moon, at one point. Tilion has definitely been a theory for a while, based on the line in The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon: "and like a meteor, A star in flight, ere Yule one night flickering down he fell" (not that the Adventures of Tom Bombadil rights are available, but there's Frodo's song in Bree). None of this is conclusive, but it illustrates the kind of source-mining that must have gone on and little threads of inspiration that were pulled. Given one of the soundtrack track names, and the music that's in it, there's a bit of a hint as to which way it goes. Not to mention the obvious visual hints, which I'm going to assume are just pointing due Istari for now.
 
Yeah, I have wondered since posting if the whole idea of this character having power, power he maybe doesn't control fully at this point, dangerous potential, and the fact we are seeing him in two different lights, indicates that perhaps this could be Curumo?
 
Alright and welcome back to Dillon has thoughts about The Rings of Power, Episode 3! Most of my thoughts for this focus on Númenor because that's where we saw new things. But let's just jump in.

General thoughts

We've met our whole main cast now and I think we've got strengths. We have two or three Tolkien storylines (Númenor and Celebrimbor) and three or four original ones. Of them all, I think my favorites are the Harfoot storyline and the Elrond/Celebrimbor/Dúrin stuff which is anywhere between half and three storylines. My least favorite so far is Númenor, but I'll get to my issues with that later.

Notes, thoughts, and random musings

Adar
is clearly some sort of root, but is not attested in the Etymologies or in my (admittedly flawed) Elvish dictionary. Either way, it seems to be a Sauron setup, though I bet that's a red herring. If someone can translate, much appreciated.
Númenor looks beautiful. It's still fair but clearly has some corruption, like the faces carven in stone.
Míriel says Elves were banned from the Isle in the days of her grandfather's great-grandfather - this is Ar-Adûnakhôr, who is the first to use a Númenorean regnal name.
I am curious as to the filming locations of Númenor. The star-shape is still canon to the series, but the landscape seems inconsistent with that. The main city (which must be Armenelos) is also a harbor town, instead of landlocked.
The mountains on the sigil/map - what are they? My guess is Orodruin and Mindolluin?
Elendil's daughter is named Eärien. Does anyone have a translation?
I'm surprised we don't see Anárion, as he should be Isildur's younger brother. Since Isildur is clearly just on the cusp of manhood, Anárion should be hanging around with his dad more often, right?

Adaptation thoughts (or, why this Númenor bothers me)

The issue I have with Númenor here is that it simultaneously seems too fallen and too unfallen. The people are suspicious of Galadriel, but not greatly, but Míriel clearly distrusts her. In fact, most of my issues lie with Míriel and Pharazôn. We don't see them romancing each other, but they're very close in council, and I worry that will become part of their story. Furthermore, with the two of them mostly aligned with each other, there seems very little reason for Pharazôn to sieze the kingship later, aside from pure ambition. Míriel seems too far to the side of evil and Pharazôn seems too far to the side of good. Furthermore, knowing that Tar-Palantír is still alive and simply not acting as King, this creates a further issue of what chaos would be caused by his death, since Míriel is already Queen-Regent, aside from Pharazôn trying to just sieze power himself and oust her. Also, compressing the entirety of Pharazôn's reign into less than 50 years or so similarly bothers me.

Predictions after Episode 3

The Stranger is once again morally questionable. I'm still thinking Olórin is likely, but I'm not sure. Adar is confusing, but might end up the King of the Nazgûl if not just Sauron himself. I think Tar-Palantír will die at the end of this season still.
 
Alright and welcome back to Dillon has thoughts about The Rings of Power, Episode 3! Most of my thoughts for this focus on Númenor because that's where we saw new things. But let's just jump in.

General thoughts

We've met our whole main cast now and I think we've got strengths. We have two or three Tolkien storylines (Númenor and Celebrimbor) and three or four original ones. Of them all, I think my favorites are the Harfoot storyline and the Elrond/Celebrimbor/Dúrin stuff which is anywhere between half and three storylines. My least favorite so far is Númenor, but I'll get to my issues with that later.

Notes, thoughts, and random musings

Adar
is clearly some sort of root, but is not attested in the Etymologies or in my (admittedly flawed) Elvish dictionary. Either way, it seems to be a Sauron setup, though I bet that's a red herring. If someone can translate, much appreciated.
Númenor looks beautiful. It's still fair but clearly has some corruption, like the faces carven in stone.
Míriel says Elves were banned from the Isle in the days of her grandfather's great-grandfather - this is Ar-Adûnakhôr, who is the first to use a Númenorean regnal name.
I am curious as to the filming locations of Númenor. The star-shape is still canon to the series, but the landscape seems inconsistent with that. The main city (which must be Armenelos) is also a harbor town, instead of landlocked.
The mountains on the sigil/map - what are they? My guess is Orodruin and Mindolluin?
Elendil's daughter is named Eärien. Does anyone have a translation?
I'm surprised we don't see Anárion, as he should be Isildur's younger brother. Since Isildur is clearly just on the cusp of manhood, Anárion should be hanging around with his dad more often, right?

Adaptation thoughts (or, why this Númenor bothers me)

The issue I have with Númenor here is that it simultaneously seems too fallen and too unfallen. The people are suspicious of Galadriel, but not greatly, but Míriel clearly distrusts her. In fact, most of my issues lie with Míriel and Pharazôn. We don't see them romancing each other, but they're very close in council, and I worry that will become part of their story. Furthermore, with the two of them mostly aligned with each other, there seems very little reason for Pharazôn to sieze the kingship later, aside from pure ambition. Míriel seems too far to the side of evil and Pharazôn seems too far to the side of good. Furthermore, knowing that Tar-Palantír is still alive and simply not acting as King, this creates a further issue of what chaos would be caused by his death, since Míriel is already Queen-Regent, aside from Pharazôn trying to just sieze power himself and oust her. Also, compressing the entirety of Pharazôn's reign into less than 50 years or so similarly bothers me.

Predictions after Episode 3

The Stranger is once again morally questionable. I'm still thinking Olórin is likely, but I'm not sure. Adar is confusing, but might end up the King of the Nazgûl if not just Sauron himself. I think Tar-Palantír will die at the end of this season still.
I think we have yet to see what Miriel ACTUALLY thinks.
 
Haven't seen it yet, but sounds very interesting! I somehow like the idea that Palantir is on his deadbed, possibly withering away, Miriel is more morally ambiguous (like in one of Tolkiens versions) and Pharazon is not yet completely bad but stilll leaning towards good to a degree... actually that sound pretty good! I am curious to watch it ... it is pretty close to how i would have interpreted and told the story.
 
I also have to correct myself in one thing: at the beginning i said it would be nice if they'd adress the ethnicity of characters more and give some a deeper background, like Disa being from some southern Blacklock clan, Arondir being a southern Avar or Miriel having a grandmother from Harad.

I was WRONG! It is far better to leave these things open to the viewers own interpretation as it is not important to the story at all.So far the characters all worked fine within the story for me without raising any question signs.
 
Haven't seen it yet, but sounds very interesting! I somehow like the idea that Palantir is on his deadbed, possibly withering away, Miriel is more morally ambiguous (like in one of Tolkiens versions) and Pharazon is not yet completely bad but stilll leaning towards good to a degree... actually that sound pretty good! I am curious to watch it ... it is pretty close to how i would have interpreted and told the story.

The problem is that in this constellation Galadriel comes off as completely unlikable.

I also have to correct myself in one thing: at the beginning i said it would be nice if they'd adress the ethnicity of characters more and give some a deeper background, like Disa being from some southern Blacklock clan, Arondir being a southern Avar or Miriel having a grandmother from Harad.

I was WRONG! It is far better to leave these things open to the viewers own interpretation as it is not important to the story at all.So far the characters all worked fine within the story for me without raising any question signs.

But that is the problem - the story is (post-)modern - that is the reason why the characters do not really matter - the whole story seems random - just a serious of disconnected events that seemingly have no purpose - that is exaclty the reason why it fits.
 
I'll watch it. And i have to disagree...
The black characters do not fit because the story is postmodern and are random, but because their backstory is irrelevant. I still think Miriel had a grandmother from Harad, Arondir comes from descendants of the near-harad Tatyar and Disas family are Blacklocks from the Yellow Mountains.It just is not important, but not because the story is postmodern but because these things still lie in the silent realm of inworld possibility.

Galadriel being unlikeable... i agree so far, she is not painted in a very sympathetic light, she is a person i would not want to be around with.So far. Then again... i always disliked powerhungry second Age realms-founder and around-traveler Galadriel too, she was a manipulative person.
 
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