# Amazon Lord of the Rings series; The Rings of Power **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, middle-earth, amazon-prime\ **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:** 78
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1543 "2022-11-08T04:24:49Z")
Missed the edit… I thought he went kamikaze on Ancalagaon. But I agree with the point being made. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2022, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1544 "2022-11-08T04:44:20Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Didn’t he nuke himself on Ancalagon the Black to end the War of Wrath? No, AFAIK he just killed the dragon, didn’t die himself: > But Earendil came, shining with white flame, and about Vingilot were gathered all the great birds of heaven and Thorondor was their captain, and there was battle in the air all the day and through a dark night of doubt. Before the rising of the sun Earendil slew Ancalagon the Black, the mightiest of the dragon-host, and cast him from the sky; and he fell upon the towers of Thangorodrim, and they were broken in his ruin. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1545 "2022-11-08T04:53:16Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Astronomy in middle earth has different rules from our astronomy But if we’re on a flat earth, for the stars to change as you go eastward, the stars would have to be something like a couple of hundred miles (or so) upward. If they were at stellar distances on a flat earth, there’d be little change as you traveled. The only reason you get different constellations in the southern hemisphere on Earth is from traveling to a visual plane that’s not available from a different latitude. On a flat disk, all stars are visible always, but (depending on distance) they might be closer or further. That said, the ship guy with a shiny rock is a very good point. Things are weird here. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1546 "2022-11-08T04:53:45Z")
Interesting. I thought the three Silmarils were lost to the world until the Last Battle. But, it seems, everyone knows where one is. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1547 "2022-11-08T04:54:53Z")
Did the Valar make Middle Earth a globe at the end of the first age or the second age? (another thing I forget) ---
**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:** [November 8, 2022, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1548 "2022-11-08T04:58:03Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Interesting. I thought the three Silmarils were lost to the world until the Last Battle. > > But, it seems, everyone knows where one is. They may know, but they can’t get to it, so it’s outside the world. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Did the Vala make Middle Earth a globe at the end of the first age or the second age? Neither. _In_ the Second Age, but not at the end of it (I _know_, right? You’d think that would be an Age-ending event for sure). The Second Age ends with the Last Alliance and the defeat of Sauron. And it’s Valar, plural. And it wasn’t them, anyway, it was Eru Ilúvatar himself who changed the world. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2022, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1549 "2022-11-08T04:58:48Z")
Stars in Middle-Earth aren’t even meant to be suns like our own, trillions of miles away - they’re points of divine light that were placed above Arda by the Valar at the dawn of time. They’re potentially much closer to Arda than the stars are in our world, so I see no reason they can’t get as strange as they want in any direction they fancy. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1550 "2022-11-08T04:58:48Z")
End(ish) of the second age. Numenor assailed/landed on Valinor, the Valar sayeth “WTF dude, Illuvatar, halp! halp!”. Illuvatar/The One sinks Numenor, bends the planet to be spherical. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1551 "2022-11-08T05:20:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > no I see no reason they can’t get as strange as they want in any direction they fancy Wasn’t there a reference in - I think? - The Hobbit to Bilbo seeing The Plough, our Big Dipper? I recall a footnote that stated it was our constellation. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2022, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1552 "2022-11-08T05:34:43Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Wasn’t there a reference in - I think? - The Hobbit to Bilbo seeing The Plough, our Big Dipper? There may have been. I haven’t read The Hobbit in a long time. Of course, The Hobbit was originally a standalone that wasn’t meant to be connected to the broader Legendarium, and before Tolkien revised it when LOTR was published, the Shire had a locomotive and Bilbo mentioned perhaps travelling to China one day, so I’m not sure how much weight those kind of minor mentions ought to be given. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1553 "2022-11-08T15:40:32Z")
The sickle of the Valar would likely be the Plough or Big Dipper. Orion is mentioned as Menelvagor teh swordsman. So there are some linkages ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1554 "2022-11-08T16:34:59Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Interesting. I thought the three Silmarils were lost to the world until the Last Battle. > > But, it seems, everyone knows where one is. One was cast into the ocean, one was dropped into a volcano, and one is now the Evening Star. “They are scattered to the earth, the sea, and the sky, and shall not be together again until the world is unmade.” > [@Grey](#): > > Orion is mentioned as Menelvagor teh swordsman. “Telumechtar with his shining belt.” ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1555 "2022-11-10T03:23:13Z")
"Temba, his arms wide.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1556 "2022-11-18T18:24:18Z")
How did Adar escape from the barn just before the lava bombs started falling? Did he just manage to get loose from his restraints? I can’t imagine Halbrand/Sauron let him go. > [@Atamasama](#): > > It’s the Shadow. It’s seductive, like the Dark Side in Star Wars. Artifacts associated with Morgoth or Sauron are like that. See the One Ring, which corrupted everyone it came in contact with over time… It didn’t corrupt Gandalf, Galadriel, Faramir or Sam. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > …No clue on the weird strangers that burnt the Harfoot village. Sauron cultists, of course, as we later learned… but weren’t they overlooking the stream in Valinor where the young Galadriel made her toy boat, in E1? Or am I misremembering? > [@msmith537](#): > > The Harfood’s speech about “being true to each other” was BS. We just went through several episodes hearing about how they leave people behind who can’t keep up with their caravan… Yeah, my son and I both noticed that the Harfoots paid lip service to sticking together no matter what, but then left Nori’s family to fend for themselves. If they hadn’t had the Stranger with them, they probably would’ve died. > [@Atamasama](#): > > Jack Bauer didn’t poop for 24 hours, it’s possible elves never do. C’mon. He pooped at the same time as we did - during the ad breaks. > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > > [@MrDibble](#): > > > > Maybe a passing Balrog dropped it? Yes, an African Balrog, not a European > > How did it grip them? And what is it’s airspeed? You have to know these things when you’re King of the Southlands, you know. > [@Coriolanus](#): > > I made a clip of the meteor flying over the Ents > > [[Meteor flying over Ents - Album on Imgur](https://imgur.com/a/VPkeAT5)]([https://Meteor](https://Meteor) Ents) > > …eta: In the clip, two tree-ish figures are swaying in the wind and one smaller ent-like creature is embraced by the larger one on the left. Very cool - thanks! I’d missed that. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1557 "2022-11-18T18:48:34Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Did he just manage to get loose from his restraints? I can’t imagine Halbrand/Sauron let him go. Either or. I assumed he just got free, you never leave someone like that alive and unsupervised by someone who can effectively contain him. But, you brought up a good point, it’s entirely possible that Sauron let him go, to let him build up his orc army for Sauron to take over when he returned. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > It didn’t corrupt Gandalf, Galadriel, Faramir or Sam. For the first three, it would have if they had actually possessed it. For the latter, that’s why the Hobbits were used, they have simple ambitions. Sam’s greatest ambition was a nice garden, so it couldn’t pry into him. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2022, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1558 "2022-11-18T18:49:21Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > but weren’t they overlooking the stream in Valinor where the young Galadriel made her toy boat, in E1? Or am I misremembering? No, you are misremembering. I think you’re recalling a jumpcut in of one of the trailers for the series. But that’s a jump from the scene in Galadriel’s youth, to the Easterners coming to overlook the Stranger’s landing spot [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/x8UAUAuKNcU/maxresdefault.jpg "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Official Trailer | Prime Video") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8UAUAuKNcU&t=41) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1559 "2022-11-18T19:23:58Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > It didn’t corrupt Gandalf, Galadriel, Faramir or Sam. > > For the first three, it would have if they had actually possessed it. For the latter, that’s why the Hobbits were used, they have simple ambitions. Sam’s greatest ambition was a nice garden, so it couldn’t pry into him. But **Atamasama** wrote that “the One Ring… corrupted everyone it came in contact with over time…” (not a word about actual possession), and that’s just not so. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1560 "2022-11-18T19:25:07Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > but weren’t they overlooking the stream in Valinor where the young Galadriel made her toy boat, in E1? Or am I misremembering? > > No, you are misremembering. I think you’re recalling a jumpcut in of one of the trailers for the series. But that’s a jump from the scene in Galadriel’s youth, to the Easterners coming to overlook the Stranger’s landing spot Thanks, yes, that’s probably it. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1561 "2022-11-18T19:53:15Z")
This is tangential, but Daniel Weyman, aka The Stranger, just showed up on a Midsomer Murders we were watching as a mystically-fixated man who runs around in a heavy robe mumbling anxiously to himself. So, he had some practice for RoP. 🙂 [![](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/midsomermuders/images/b/b7/Matthew-cole.jpg) ](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/midsomermuders/images/b/b7/Matthew-cole.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/1562 "2022-11-18T20:04:01Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Sam’s greatest ambition was a nice garden, so it couldn’t pry into him. Although the ring did its best to tempt him. Given more time he might have succumbed: > Already the Ring tempted him, gnawing at his will and reason. Wild fantasies arose in his mind; and he saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a flaming sword across the darkened land, and armies flocking to his call as he marched to the overthrow of Barad Dûr. And then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun shone, and at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497.md?page=77) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497.md?page=79)