The divergeance in episode 3 from the timeline is extreme in this episode. So be it.
I’m joining those convinced the Stranger is Gandalf here way ahead of schedule.
Looking it up that is the stated policy. I could have sworn I stumbled on to it available before Thursday 11pm Central though.
Short period of no open spoilers seems to have a two to one preference. So how short? Mid day Friday US ET? Evening? Saturday 12am ET (a 24 h embargo on open spoilers)?
It looks like we’re pretty much getting the entire Second Age condensed into the span of a few months or years, depending on how long the time jumps between seasons are going to be.
I read somewhere, before it came out, that they opened to condense the timeline of the second age so they could use one set of characters, and not have a whole chain of men and harfoots.
Something that bothers me -
Galadriel is correct. It can’t be just chance or mere fate that she and Halbrand find each other in all the ocean, nay the world. It has to be the Valar having that sort of power to impact events in mortal realms.
So if they have great power sufficient to do that why do they not otherwise use it? Or is only within the ocean that they have direct mortal realm power, and is why the ocean is always right?
There is no coincidence. There is only the Force.
No, wait, wrong saga.
Surely it wasn’t coincidence that after 2500 years lying in the silt at the bottom of a riverbed that the One Ring should find its way into the hands of one who would in time deliver it to a humble hobbit that counted one of the Istari as a friend, right? The hand of Iluvatar may be invisible, but in time it sets all things in motion.
“The sea is always right” I’m thinking is a more practical axiom. Numenor is thousands of miles away from anywhere and depends on the sea for everything from food to commerce, and yet it is a capricious and unforgiving thing that cannot be tamed. You cannot reason with the sea any more than you can reason with the wind or the rain - you can only abide by its whims, accept what it offers, and treat it with the respect and caution it is due.
Cruel mistresses are always right.
I can tell you that the first two episodes(last week) dropped at 9PM Eastern on Thursday night. This new one, the third one, was only dropped it midnight in the Eastern Time Zone USA, at least where I live in Michigan.
I thought perhaps I could see it Thursday night, but had to wait on the third episode for Friday.
For Middle Earth and Arda, the Ocean is more masculine being Ulmo or at least Ossë. Either way, the Ocean is a cruel task master. Though Ulmo was probably the most proactive of the Valar and the likeliest one to interfere. Ossë wife Uinen was known as the Lady of the Sea and most beloved by the Númenóreans.
In the earlier version of The Silmarillion, Ossë was actually numbered among the Valar.
I’m trying to remember, but I believe the most powerful Maiar were:
Mairon (Sauron) of Aulë
Ossë of Ulmo
Uinen of Ulmo
Eönwë Herald of Manwë and in an early version child of Manwë and Varda. He led the host of the Valar to Middle Earth to end Morgoth’s reign and end the first age.
Does this show lack good characters so far?
I was telling my wife how much Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo, and Sam had popped off the screen in Fellowship of the Ring, and how the movie had made them so great all within 30 minutes of the movie. We had Bilbo’s funny party speech, Gandalf doing his fireworks show and being a wise wizard, Sam being grabbed from outside the window, and Frodo was kind of just a very sympathetic protagonist. By 45 minutes into the movie, I was on board fully and we even added Merry and Pippin, who also had good moments.
This show is now three hours in and while I know who characters are, even Galadriel isn’t exactly popping off the screen. We have “her human partner”, “the not Hobbits, including Nori”, the “captured elves”, and…some other characters.
It’s kind of dull, though I am interested in the not-Hobbits and “The Stranger” storyline.
The escape attempt from the Orcs was also extremely well shot.
I like it, but want it to be better.
All through the LotR and The Hobbit, they made sure to show how tall Galadriel is. Last night she looked not tall. Now next to Elendil that would be reasonable, he was freakishly tall, 7’11" but Halbrand appeared taller than her. Despite her height being 6’4".
I suggest 24 hours. Saturday, 12am ET. But i have no strong feelings.
I’m interested in the not-hobbits and the captured elf. I’m finding it hard to care about Galadrial, despite her being at the heart of the main plot.
A question for the geekiest: was Minas Tirith built to resemble the Numenorean capital? I’m thinking specifically of the promontory sticking out wedge-like from the capital buildings.
While Minas Tirith was first built by the Faithful Númenóreans as Minas Anor (The Tower of the Sun) it was not said to have been specifically built to look like anything in Númenor.
But it makes sense for the Show Runner to reverse engineer the Minas Tirith from Tolkien’s drawing and the movies to build their Númenor city.
ETA: There might not be a Tolkien painting or drawing of Minas Tirith. I think I got confused on this one.
And it was built by the same culture, so you’d expect some stylistic similarities.
I don’t think the Valar work that way, or have the power to, at any rate.
Eru, on the other hand…
I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t any Elrond or Dwarves in this episode. They run the risk of making the stories too disjointed if they drop whole threads for entire episodes.
The culture they’re building for the Harfoots is really impressive. The whole “We wait for you” scene was heartbreaking - they’re presented as so kind and innocent, but they literally can’t stop their migration to help those who fall behind. And it looks like Poppy’s entire family was killed in a landslide so she’s left by herself with a small cart and no one to help her pull it.
I am very much ignorant of most lore. Looking it up though, Eru is The Supreme Being and it sounds like created the Valar to do most of shaping other than His (and specified as male?) thoughts creating men and elves and creating consciousness in dwarves. In the material they have rights to, mentioned in an appendix as The One.
Sounds hands off.
@What_Exit so Ulmo getting involved here makes sense and explains why little intercession otherwise?