# Amazon Lord of the Rings series; The Rings of Power **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** middle-earth, amazon-prime, tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [March 3, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497 "2019-03-03T20:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 42
**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/823 "2022-09-25T01:39:08Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Do we think Halebrand is like Waldreg (the old secret Sauron worshipper) in that he’s a person who’s already pledged service? It can’t just be starting in the one village. Not sure how I would feel about that. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > Watch Saint Maud, which I would bet is what they saw when they picked her. Galadriel has not really shown that she, you know, can act. She’s pretty good there. In fact, it would be fun too see a young Galadriel go full zealot, at least for a while. Then she does too many things she regrets. Yadda, yadda, yadda. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/824 "2022-09-25T01:59:59Z")
This mithril thing is almost the last straw for me, you can’t invent something like that and then tell me with a straight face that you “respect Tolkien’s writing”. The most infuriating thing is that is completely unnecesary, they invented it to put Elrond in a vise with respect to his oath and what not, but there were a thousand other ways to create conflict without inventing something so ridiculous. The elves liked Mithril because it was useful to create beautiful things, not because “it had the light of the silmarils” or any other bullshit like that. I will give this another episode, I think, but unless it gets dramatically better that will be it for me. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/825 "2022-09-25T02:00:34Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Apparently it wasn’t planned. The company was out at a karaoke bar, the actress sang something, the showrunners asked her if she’d like a song in the show, she said “Yes,” and a new scene was added. I quite like it; it sounds like Tolkien, and it sounds like Harfoots as we have come to know them. Huh, thanks for that story. The song may have been my favorite bit so far. It felt very Tolkien. > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > And this whole mithril plot line is made up for the show, yes? What unnecessary bollocks. Yes. And it really bothers me. WTF? And a smaller quibble: where did Galadrial get that armor that didn’t look like anyone else’s armor? She arrived in Numenor wearing a wet dress. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/826 "2022-09-25T02:16:41Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And a smaller quibble: where did Galadrial get that armor that didn’t look like anyone else’s armor? She arrived in Numenor wearing a wet dress. Oh, good question. I’d say a museum, but who in Numenor wants to go to the Elf Museum? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/827 "2022-09-25T02:26:31Z")
Maybe Halbrand smithed it up right quick? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/828 "2022-09-25T04:12:37Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > This mithril thing is almost the last straw for me, you can’t invent something like that and then tell me with a straight face that you “respect Tolkien’s writing”. Meh. It doesn’t strike me as something Tolkien would have come up with, but it doesn’t offend me either. It’s not as if they had turned Elendil into a womanizing, frequently drunken lovable fool who says things like “You must be the princess of the Noldor, because my Sword That Was Broken has been reforged!” I’m just going to treat this as officially licensed fanfic with a really big budget and not get too hung up on the alterations they’re making as long as it makes for entertaining TV. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/829 "2022-09-25T05:09:10Z")
Well, to me this is diverging from the original story to the point that it’s hard to consider it “Tolkien”, add to that a lackluster script, barely adequate acting and the reasons to continue watching are fewer and fewer. Your mileage obviously varies and that’s perfectly fine. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/830 "2022-09-25T07:07:15Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Adar seems pretty emo. My WAG at this point; Adar was the first of the elves to pledge loyalty to Morgoth. He became one of his lieutenants and assumed great power in the process, which corrupted his physical form into what it is today. He was responsible for torturing and breeding and manipulating other elves enslaved by Morgoth over the course of generations until they produced the first orcs, and he was their first master - but at some point, Sauron outshone him and won Morgoth’s favor, and became master of the orcs in Adar’s place, and he was relegated to a lesser role where he wound up sitting out the War of Wrath in exile. Now that Sauron is long gone, he sees an opportunity to reassume the position of power he once had. Knowing that Sauron called the orcs to gather in the Southlands, he has positioned himself to assume leadership over them once they began to arrive, and has taken his place as their leader. Once he conquers the Southlands, he intends to somehow elevate himself above Sauron in such a way that, when Morgoth returns (and he possibly has an idea of how to make that happen), he will be able to ascend to godhood and become an equal of the Valar, and the Orcsaber (which is what I’m going to call Theo’s broken Morgul-blade until I learn of a better name for it) is somehow the key to unlocking the unholy power he covets. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/831 "2022-09-25T07:51:12Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Adar was the first of the elves to pledge loyalty to Morgoth. He became one of his lieutenants and assumed great power in the process, which corrupted his physical form into what it is today. He was responsible for torturing and breeding and manipulating other elves enslaved by Morgoth over the course of generations until they produced the first orcs, and he was their first master - but at some point, Sauron outshone him and won Morgoth’s favor, and became master of the orcs in Adar’s place, and he was relegated to a lesser role where he wound up sitting out the War of Wrath in exile. > > Now that Sauron is long gone, he sees an opportunity to reassume the position of power he once had. Knowing that Sauron called the orcs to gather in the Southlands, he has positioned himself to assume leadership over them once they began to arrive, and has taken his place as their leader. Once he conquers the Southlands, he intends to somehow elevate himself above Sauron in such a way that, when Morgoth returns (and he possibly has an idea of how to make that happen), he will be able to ascend to godhood and become an equal of the Valar, and the Orcsaber (which is what I’m going to call Theo’s broken Morgul-blade until I learn of a better name for it) is somehow the key to unlocking the unholy power he covets. This is the kind of fan fic i signed up for. And I’m mostly enjoying that thread. “Mithril is actually a magic substance created by a fight between a balrog and a defender of the white tree, and it holds the essence of that light, without which the elves will wither away” is way too far into left field for me. That’s just bizarre, and anti-canonical in an annoying way. I’ll probably watch the rest of it. But I’m pretty unhappy with this development. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/832 "2022-09-25T08:15:54Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > “Mithril is actually a magic substance created by a fight between a balrog and a defender of the white tree, and it holds the essence of that light, without which the elves will wither away” is way too far into left field for me. That’s just bizarre, and anti-canonical in an annoying way. I kind of assumed Gil-Galad was bullshitting Elrond about why they need the mithril, and Elrond knew it, but felt compelled to repeat the lie to Durin. Elrond’s delivery when talking to Durin about it just felt insincere, as if he didn’t believe what he was saying. It seems to me that Gil-Galad’s ultimate aim is to cement the place of the Noldor as the rulers of Middle-Earth and he views Celebrimbor’s project as the means to that end, and something as unique and special as mithril will be a better host for the elf-magic than anything else they have access to. I don’t know quite what to make of the blighted tree, but I’m leaning towards it being less significant than he makes it out to be, and he’s using it to his advantage to try and force Elrond’s hand. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/833 "2022-09-25T10:01:41Z")
As far as mithril, maybe they should have made it like the Simarils and the elves just really want them? I agree that whole fading idea feels off. And Galadriel maybe should have been given a royal suit of armor like the palace guards. It would be a clever way to remind her who’s bankrolling (so to speak) this adventure and still have her stand out. Lore question: in LOTR Legolas talks about desiring the sea and returning home when he sees gulls. Does this happen to every elf or does something happen later to cause it? Should Galadriel have felt something? There’s been an interesting pattern of trees being important that seems Tolkien-y from what I gather. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/834 "2022-09-25T10:02:22Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > A person can be witness to horrors and be traumatized in a “lesser” war. What makes you think I disagree? “Less of an effect” is not “no effect”. But she’s not (by all accounts) an active participant in the Last Alliance battles like Gil-Galad and Elrond. Now, by the canon, she’s not active in the War of Wrath, either. But that’s where she loses all her brothers, and we do see her personally fighting after it. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > I’d assume that after Sauron gets his finger lopped off, most of history will follow what is known from the movies and books. We are in uncharted territory at the moment. Not really. Where we are now is in fact covered by The Tale of Years. We are already divergent from LOTR canon. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > From my reading of the wiki, she doesn’t become the Lady of Lothlórien until after the War of the Last Alliance (which is what I assume we are working towards). Before that, she was in charge of small groups of people while she herself was answerable to the king. She was already Celeborn’s queen by this point, and he may have already been leading the group of Sindar that would form the core of his later kingdom. You’re correct that they were overall subjects of Gil-galad, but by most accounts had their own local kingdoms under him - by the time of the forging of the Rings, they were not living in Gil-galad’s court, but further East. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > Then a few millennia go by before we see her in LOTR. Sure, yeah. Mostly living in treehouses and only very occasionally helping in driving out a Necromancer or raising a mist to help some horseboys… not exactly the trauma of taking down trolls or facing sea-wyrms. > [@DSeid](#): > > And what I think some of are saying is that many people have meaningful experiences across their lifetimes that impact who they are. Sure. What _I’m_ saying is that _based on what we know of her biography_, Galadriel has already _had_ plenty of meaningful experiences. That characterizing this as “relative youth” for her is mistaken. That she will go on to have some other meaningful experiences _is besides the point_. Humans go on having experiences until they’re dead, I’m not saying they don’t. But even if a human is longer-lived than most, we don’t think their youth was similarly extended. And it was just that assumption of “relative youth” I was quibbling with. > [@Frodo](#): > > This mithril thing is almost the last straw for me > [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yes. And it really bothers me. WTF? Didn’t bother me at all. It’s presented as a just-so story. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > where did Galadrial get that armor that didn’t look like anyone else’s armor? Númenor is a place where many legendary weapons end up. Look at the [named weapons](https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Weapons#Named_weapons) that end up there, at some point. I can see the same for some heirloom armour. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/835 "2022-09-25T10:11:59Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Does this happen to every elf or does something happen later to cause it? According to Legolas, they all do: > But deep in the hearts of **all my kindred** lies the sea-longing, which it is perilous to stir. > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Should Galadriel have felt something? Of course she feels the pull of Valinor, probably much more than any other elf in Middle-Earth at the time other than Glorfindel. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/836 "2022-09-25T10:14:46Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Lore question: in LOTR Legolas talks about desiring the sea and returning home when he sees gulls. Does this happen to every elf or does something happen later to cause it? Legolas is of the Sindar, as is Arondir. His ancestors had never been to Valinor or seen the light of the Trees. His thoughts of the sea are likely either a personal fancy or an aspiration to one day see the lands he has only heard of in legends, rather than something common to all elves. > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > There’s been an interesting pattern of trees being important that seems Tolkien-y from what I gather. Tolkien liked trees and trees are an important part of the legendarium. The Two Trees of Valinor were the source of Arda’s light for tens of thousands of years. The sun and the moon themselves are a mere memory of their light. Their seedlings are sacred and auspicious throughout the millennia. The destruction of trees - be it the fate of the Entwives, the clearing of the forests around Isengard, or the Scouring of the Shire - is treated as an act of supreme sacrilege. It probably ties in to his love the of pastoral and simple life and his dislike of industrialization, the elves representing a life in tune with nature and the orcs representing the destruction of the natural order to suit their own banal needs. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/837 "2022-09-25T10:28:14Z")
Oh and thanks to all the wise folk answering questions! We’re all learning, so the show is doing something right anyway. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/838 "2022-09-25T11:02:40Z")
So far what I like most about the show are the Elrond-Durin relationship which is warm, funny and a bit unpredictable, the orc action scenes which provide a welcome dose of excitement, and the physical beauty of the settings. The rest is rather meh though I did like the Harfoot song in the last episode. Galadriel remains a bit of a bore. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/839 "2022-09-25T11:08:17Z")
The Galadriel/Númenor stuff is the hardest for me. Not very engaging and most at odds with what we do know. Well at least until the dumb-ass we need mithril to not fade shit. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/840 "2022-09-25T11:33:50Z")
I exactly agree with What\_Exit. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/841 "2022-09-25T11:46:29Z")
Personally, the Arondir/Bronwyn/Theo storyline has been what’s kept my attention the most. I’ve found myself attached to the three of them in a way that I haven’t been to the existing characters, probably because I don’t know where their story is going and I don’t want it to end badly for them but I’m afraid that it’s going to. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/842 "2022-09-25T11:57:43Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > Yes. And it really bothers me. WTF? > > Didn’t bother me at all. It’s presented as a just-so story. Are you saying you think it’s not true, in the story world, and that’s why it’s okay? Why does gil galad even know about the mithril? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497.md?page=41) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497.md?page=43)