I’m about 98% sure that the Stranger is Sauron. Look, we know that he’s going to show up in disguise and help Celebrimbor forge the rings - do you really think the show is going to introduce another mysterious stranger? He’s the series’ antagonist. It makes sense that he’ll be part of the story from the beginning.
The showrunners are making up their own stories? OF COURSE THEY ARE!
Amazon has the rights to the LOTRs so the Second Age is limited to the appendixes in the Return of the King. I shake my head at the people who want to rail against this series because … (cue drumroll)… it’s not “Tolkien Canon” and—gasp—they include characters with different skin-colors!!!
For you Tolkien purists out there, think of the Rings of Power as an old campfire story told during the Third Age of Middle Earth that may or may not be grounded in reality. If you’re entertained by it, does it really matter if Tolkien didn’t depict it in his appendixes?
Thus far, I’m impressed with the show’s cast of characters – especially Galadriel and intrigued by where they’re going with the various storylines.
Campfire story? Nah.
It’s a song, probably in Sindarin, that one sings in a rhythmic pace while hike-running five-and-forty leagues in three days in pursuit of the orcs who absconded with your halfling friends.
If purists are annoyed now, imagine what the future might hold for them now that Embracer has bought the rights to Tolkien’s works, while saying
Other opportunities include exploring additional movies based on iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn and other characters from the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and continue to provide new opportunities for fans to explore this fictive world through merchandising and other experiences.
On the plus side, this means that LOTR is no longer owned by the estate of the guy who sued John Fogerty for plagiarizing himself, and that is a good thing, because whatever fate Saul Zaentz has been subjected to after passing through the Halls of Mandos is probably better than he deserves.
I feel a Christmas Variety special is already on the drawing board.
Canonically, the Fellowship of the Ring departed Rivendell on December 25, so we’re already halfway there.
Some sort of Holiday Special?
The Shire Calendar includes Overlithe (Misyear’s Day)between months 6 & 7. And to start and end the year they have Yule.
A Bagend tradition that probably at least made it to the Wardens of Westmarch. (Sam’s eldest daughter (Elanor) and her husband Fastred of Greenholm) probably celebrate what I call Hobbit Day. 9/22 the birthdays of Bilbo & Frodo.
March 25th was the day the One Ring & Sauron was destroyed.
May 1st was the Coronation Day of King Elessar (Aragorn II)
Was that in the same year? Because if so he really cleaned up good in the span of 36 days.
Yes, TA 3019.
But they are already making preparations to make the rings, which would imply that Celebrimbor had already met Sauron in his Annatar guise.
Unless the timeline is just hopping around, which is possible, but I don’t like, as it leads to exactly this type of confusion.
Yeah, I think deep knowledge of the lore is a detriment in cases like this. It’s clearly Sauron for the reasons Alessan states, in addition to the “hints” that he’s evil - the fireflies die, and the falling leaf turns black when the meteor first streaks across the sky.
We know it’s jumping around.
Any adaptation of a book to film necessitates changes for a variety of reasons. Something like this, where the story is based on appendices, will have even more.
I’m not saying that the timeline has been altered, I have no problem with that. I’m saying that the events are not being presented in chronological order. That can become annoying and confusing if not done correctly.
One of my biggest annoyances with The Witcher was how they did that.
We don’t know whose idea it was to forge the Rings in the first place. My guess is thar C-brimbor will try first, fail, and then Annatar will show up to “help” him.
The Ring Smiths started as Jewel Smiths. Celebrimbor being both their leader and the Grandson of Fëanor*.
If I recall correctly the Jewel Smith were already crafting lesser items and maybe even some of the lesser rings before Annatar arrived.
There is no details on the lesser rings, but it sounds like at least some could confer invisibility.
* Fëanor forged the Silmarils, The Palantirs and many other wonderous jewels and items.
Ah, I see what you’re saying. Yes, if the events are being shown out of order with no indication that’s the case, I’ll share your annoyance.
But more likely, I think this will turn out to be an alteration in the timeline.
Not just that, but Celebrimbor is thousands of years old (he came from Valinor and lived under the trees, as Galadriel did). Time means very little to someone like him. Yet he insisted to Elrond that the forge tower had to be finished by Spring. Why the urgency? Something or someone has to be behind that. If Ananatar is already there, manipulating him, that would explain it.
My knowledge is based mostly on what people like you have said here, and some brief skims on the wiki, but were those rings the kind that you would need a massive forge like the one they are talking to the Dwarves about building?
My assumption was that building the forge was inspired by Sauron/Annatar, did they say in the show where it was being built? Is this the forge where the Rings were made or an entirely different one?
Here’s a “plot twist”, the Dwarves say no, and Annatar comes by and says he knows where they can find a workforce willing to work for cheap.
Yeah, that’s kinda my thought. Something is motivating him here.
I don’t think so, I assumed that was all setting up forging the actual Rings of Power. The Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die and Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone.
The Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky were all forged later and after Annatar left.