September 2, 20223 yr 5 minutes ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said: Figured it to be a wizard but wasn’t sure if it was one of the named wizards everyone already knows from LOTR or the Hobbit movies. Guessing the timeline wouldn’t fit for any of those wizards but I don’t know how long they live. I was hoping it was Gandalf. I think it could be any of them. IIRC, there are five wizards total. Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast, and two blue wizards.
September 2, 20223 yr I think it could be Gandalf if the played with the timeline some. In Tolkien lore he wasn't sent to Middle Earth until after the rings had been forged, but he already existed. Edited September 2, 20223 yr by kevwun
September 2, 20223 yr I've seen speculation it was Gandalf (the speaking to the fireflies in cupped hands of the OT) But the most intriguing theory is Spoiler Halbrand is Sauron. First appearances are deceiving, he even says it
September 2, 20223 yr That's also possible, they did all die after all. Edited September 2, 20223 yr by kevwun
September 2, 20223 yr I only watched the first episode last night, saving the second for tonight. I'm accustomed to the normal Middle Earth map, having read the books as a kid a couple of times, but started getting a little lost with all the new place names and the quick zooming around between scenes. Found a map of Middle Earth from Amazon showing the new place names if anyone needs a reference: https://www.amazon.com/adlp/lotronprime?ascsubtag=[]pl[p]23095177[t]w[r]google.com[d]D
September 2, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said: Also, for not having the rights to anything besides LOTR, appendices, and Hobbit, they have alluded to or outright mentioned a lot of backstory already. Hell, they are addressing the Silmarils directly. I am very satisfied so far. 2 minutes ago, bolverk said: only watched the first episode last night, saving the second for tonight. I'm accustomed to the normal Middle Earth map, having read the books as a kid a couple of times, but started getting a little lost with all the new place names and the quick zooming around between scenes. Obviously this has spoilers, but Nerd of the Rings did their first episode breakdown, and he touches on the maps/locations, and also talks about how much the show really skirts the restrictions on the source material in terms of how they couldn’t use the Silmarillion, etc..
September 2, 20223 yr Anyone else catch the name Ostirith? Perhaps a mashup of Osgiliath and Minas Tirith?
September 2, 20223 yr 1 minute ago, atomheartbevo said: Obviously this has spoilers, but Nerd of the Rings did their first episode breakdown, and he touches on the maps/locations, and also talks about how much the show really skirts the restrictions on the source material in terms of how they couldn’t use the Silmarillion, etc.. Thanks, I'll check it out after watching Ep 2 tonight. One piece of fan fic speculation: Spoiler From the zooming around last night, it looks like the place where the elf warrior has the hots for the hot healer (not familiar enough with character names) might be Mordor in the LOTR timeline. There's a scene where the elf and his captain are at the top of a very tall tower overlooking a valley. Might that be where the Dark Tower is eventually built?
September 2, 20223 yr Holy fuck, the amount of butthurt on social media over Galadriel having been a warrior is off the charts. I don’t expect these idiots to have read the stuff Tolkien wrote outside of the main LOTR/Hobbit books about her literally being a warrior and Amazonian-like, and about elf women being as physically powerful as the men, but I expect them to have watched the LOTR and Hobbit movies - we saw how powerful she could be if she had the Ring in Fellowship, and then in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, she helped fight off the Nazgûl and then went toe-to-toe with Sauron and drove him away with her mind. if I see anybody I know bitching, I’m going to tell them “if you didn’t get chills down your spine when Galadriel pulled out her lightsaber and yelled “WAKANDA FOREVER!” you have no soul.”
September 2, 20223 yr Also, the actress that plays Galadriel, never have seen her in anything I remembered (His Dark Materials is the closest, but I didn’t finish), but she is just killing it and is stunningly gorgeous. Would have liked to see a lot more of Finrod and her other brothers, but I get the source material restrictions on Similarian, etc,
September 2, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said: Obviously this has spoilers, but Nerd of the Rings did their first episode breakdown, and he touches on the maps/locations, and also talks about how much the show really skirts the restrictions on the source material in terms of how they couldn’t use the Silmarillion, etc.. God damn that's some nerdy shit and I love it.
September 2, 20223 yr 10 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said: and then in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, she helped fight off the Nazgûl and then went toe-to-toe with Sauron and drove him away with her mind. Agreed though. People just like finding stuff to bitch about. People bitched when the movies weren't 100% accurate to the books. Now people are bitching that an unrelated show isn't 100% accurate to the movies.
September 2, 20223 yr 6 minutes ago, kevwun said: I bet the same folks are real mad there's a black elf. He’s my favorite of the original characters created for the series, and I’m ready for him to fuck some shit up. And I get why a lot of women are swooning over him, but my oldest pointed out that the actor was Mando on Sesame Street and it threw me off.
September 2, 20223 yr 6 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said: God damn that's some nerdy shit and I love it. Yeah, it cleared up a lot for me. I’m reading The Hobbit to my son a few times a week, but I don’t know if I’ll make it to the other books. He’s got several book series going on, and Hobbit is not grabbing him as much as the other books, so it’s nice that people are doing this kind of stuff so I don’t have to look through wikis. And now I want to get some maps from his sponsor, https://lordofmaps.com, in particular the Texas map https://lordofmaps.com/collections/shop/products/texas for my son, because he loves maps.
September 2, 20223 yr It's cool seeing all the things like that in their prime instead of as only ruins in LOTR.
September 2, 20223 yr 10 minutes ago, Js1 said: Visually it’s stunning. The Elven cities and Khazad-Dum were gorgeous 9 minutes ago, kevwun said: It's cool seeing all the things like that in their prime instead of as only ruins in LOTR. I watched the movies again last week and should have waited until after the first season, because it really complements the movies, as you now get a sense of what was lost, and the series is really making the world feel much more epic. Speaking of, all 6 movies moved off of HBO Max to Amazon Prime yesterday.
September 2, 20223 yr This dude knows his Tolkien stuff. I've not read the other books so I am starting immerse myself in his videos. https://www.youtube.com/c/NerdoftheRings/videos Ep 1 Breakdown Another good breakdown from another source. Edited September 2, 20223 yr by crash_davis
September 2, 20223 yr 2 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said: Figured it to be a wizard but wasn’t sure if it was one of the named wizards everyone already knows from LOTR or the Hobbit movies. Guessing the timeline wouldn’t fit for any of those wizards but I don’t know how long they live. I was hoping it was Gandalf. That was the only guess I had. Saruman or Gandalf. But my entire knowledge of this universe is from the LOTR and Hobbit films.
September 2, 20223 yr 6 hours ago, kevwun said: I bet the same folks are real mad there's a black elf. I did notice that there are a hell of a lot more black folks in Middle Earth than there were 20 years ago. I'm loving this so far. The pacing is good, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of throwaway/time-wasting scenes. Edited September 2, 20223 yr by Knoxtnhorn
September 2, 20223 yr Like that they are expanding on some of the stuff they couldn’t do in the movies, like the elves living forever
September 2, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said: Like that they are expanding on some of the stuff they couldn’t do in the movies, like the elves living forever How did they not address that in the movies? They went to the undying lands at the end, the whole Aragorn/Arwen relationship, Elrond at the big battle in the 2nd age...
September 2, 20223 yr 33 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said: I did notice that there are a hell of a lot more black folks in Middle Earth than there were 20 years ago. I'm loving this so far. The pacing is good, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of throwaway/time-wasting scenes. Agree there is a lot more inclusion. I’m enjoying the treatment of the “pre-hobbits”. Really rich scenes there. Interesting story arc to keep up with.
September 2, 20223 yr Popular Post I could smell the Harfoots (Harfeet!) through the screen. Fucking dirty ass hippies. Take a shower!
September 2, 20223 yr 2 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said: How did they not address that in the movies? They went to the undying lands at the end, the whole Aragorn/Arwen relationship, Elrond at the big battle in the 2nd age... Sorry, wasn’t clear, we didn’t get the full effect of the whole geography thing, and why they weren’t already there/where they came from, etc. I think the way they portrayed it here was really cool. Plus I wanted to toss in that meme.
September 2, 20223 yr 15 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said: I could smell the Harfoots (Harfeet!) through the screen. Fucking dirty ass hippies. Take a shower! JJW throw back - Old hairy ass hippies, just hangin on.
September 2, 20223 yr If you want to remain spoiler free, don’t watch the short little features or whatever that are with the episodes on Prime - they spoil who rescues Galadriel, etc.
September 2, 20223 yr 19 minutes ago, CycleTex87 said: When does the next episode drop? Next week? Thursdays at 8pm
September 3, 20223 yr 9 hours ago, Biff Tannen said: God damn that's some nerdy shit and I love it. Episode 2 up
September 3, 20223 yr 9 hours ago, Js1 said: Visually it’s stunning. The Elven cities and Khazad-Dum were gorgeous 9 hours ago, kevwun said: It's cool seeing all the things like that in their prime instead of as only ruins in LOTR. Ruins of Eregion from Fellowship
September 3, 20223 yr Just watched Ep1. I had lowered expectations buts so far it's really good and I'm so happy. They've created an enchanting world. Galadriel can get it.
September 3, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said: Episode 2 up ok, only 3 minutes in on this, but it's almost too ridiculous. The dude is analyzing the grains of sand in the title scene and also one of his theories is that meteor man might be a balrog? GTFO dude. Balrogs are like OG Middle Earth beings from back when the Valar were making shit. They didn't get there from meteors.
September 3, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said: Episode 2 up Also, good theory at 20 minutes in about the glowing treasure the dwarves look at in the chest at the end of the episode. Pretty cool tie back to LOTR, if correct.
September 3, 20223 yr Just watched first two. It's really good. I'm not sure I even have any nitpicks and I almost always do whether it's TV or movie. I guess my one "concern" going forward is the amount of micro-level storylines they already have going on against the backdrop of all of the more macro-level events leading up to LOTR. It seems like they should be able to balance it pretty well, though, and of course they're probably a bit limited/hamstring by what they are actually licensed to cover/use. I think through two they've also done a good job at establishing everything and keeping it from getting confusing while jumping around. The use of the map during transition scenes helps a lot in this department. It's crazy to me how little they've deviated from the art direction of the LOTR movies. And, I guess, why would you? It was already so masterfully done - just keep the ball rolling. It's definitely more colorful and fantastical than LOTR but the setting is obviously a lot less dark (so far) so I suppose it kind of should be. It doesn't seem like they're using too much CGI, and what is used is tasteful. It looks better and is more grounded in "reality" than the Hobbit movies in my book which were just absurd at points. There's a lot of weight to everything and it's very visceral and engaging in the suspenseful scenes we've seen so far. A thought I had was it kind of feels like if someone did the Star Wars prequels properly. Spoiler I'm like 90% sure "the stranger" is gandalf. I mean it's obviously one of the maiar. The thought did cross my mind that it could be Saruman.
September 3, 20223 yr 13 hours ago, kevwun said: I think it could be Gandalf if the played with the timeline some. In Tolkien lore he wasn't sent to Middle Earth until after the rings had been forged, but he already existed. None of them (the wizards) were. They had to have played with the timeline. Which is fine - this is totally it's own thing. 13 hours ago, Js1 said: I've seen speculation it was Gandalf (the speaking to the fireflies in cupped hands of the OT) But the most intriguing theory is Reveal hidden contents Halbrand is Sauron. First appearances are deceiving, he even says it Ooooh I like this.
September 3, 20223 yr Actor playing Elrond acts well, but looks so much like Willem Defoe that it's borderline breaking my immersion when I watch. I realize that a young Hugo Weaving is likely an impossible ask, but my mind struggles to reconcile the difference.
September 3, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, bernorange said: Actor playing Elrond acts well, but looks so much like Willem Defoe that it's borderline breaking my immersion when I watch. I realize that a young Hugo Weaving is likely an impossible ask, but my mind struggles to reconcile the difference. I see young Colin Firth at times
September 3, 20223 yr He looks like Neil Patrick Harris to me, and it makes me think of Barney Stinson when he was a young hippie barista.
September 4, 20223 yr Apologies if somebody posted Emergency Awesome's breakdown upthread, but I usually enjoy his summaries, and he has some interesting theories.
September 4, 20223 yr My son and I just watched the first two episodes tonight and we loved them, I'm hooked and I can't wait to see the rest of the episodes. I am no Tolkien fanbois so I can't speak to how far off course this may or may not have drifted off course, but I don't care. I enjoyed the hell out of it.
September 4, 20223 yr 43 minutes ago, Augustus said: Apologies if somebody posted Emergency Awesome's breakdown upthread, but I usually enjoy his summaries, and he has some interesting theories. From the comments: Quote Nothing is evil in the beginning" is also a direct reference to Sauron. This is a line taken almost word for word from Elrond in Chapter 2, "The Council of Elrond", from Book II of LotR: "For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so."
September 4, 20223 yr Fucking loved it Soooo good. only one small head scratcher. Did the mom and the boy go back and sleep in the house with the orc tunnel late that night? because it sure seems like they did. At a minimum she let him pack alone inside the house the next morning. Lol also, I thought dwarven women had beards and looked like men. Or am I just remembering the book wrong?
September 4, 20223 yr 2 hours ago, ONE YARD said: also, I thought dwarven women had beards and looked like men. Or am I just remembering the book wrong? Originally, but in some of his writings he left them out of those who had beards, and in the 80s comics and in The Hobbit movies, they didn’t have them. Think of it like elves who don’t have long hair (looking at Elrond). Speaking of beards, we better get a certain bearded dude.
September 5, 20223 yr Just watched both and this series is amazing so far. Don’t give a fuck what Tolkien nerds are nerding out about.
September 5, 20223 yr 50 minutes ago, Neonmoon said: Just watched both and this series is amazing so far. Don’t give a fuck what Tolkien nerds are nerding out about. Same watched both earlier today. I'm enjoying it Edited September 5, 20223 yr by Zepol87
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