Rings of Power

[Julius Seeker]

I quite like the show so far.

Right now the big mystery is who the meteor man is. I have two guesses:

1. Annatar
2. Gandalf

Both of them are spirits of fire.

The timeline is crunched (from what I understand), which means events of the middle of the second age have been bumped up to the end. So, we’ll see Elendil and Isildur living at the same time as Celebrimbor (grandson and heir of Feanor, creator of the Silmarils). All this makes a lot of sense as it brings together a lot more canonical characters even if technically, they didn’t live at the same time.

Galadriel’s story about Finrod Felegund is accurate, but it didn’t occur after the defeat of Morgoth. Sauron was one of Morgoth’s main commanders (along with Glaurung the Dragon and Gothmog the Balrog). Finrod Felegund was saved by Barahir, one of the kings of men. His son Beren called upon the favour to cut a Silmaril from the Iron Crown of Morgoth. Beren and Finrod were captured by Sauron and brought to his tower where their men were eaten by werewolves (and Sauron had the form of a vampire at this time). Beren barely escaped, but Finrod was killed. Beren and Luthien completed their quest, and acquired the Silmaril.

Another thing is the dwarves mined something out of the earth which may very well be a Silmaril. It hasn’t been revealed yet.

Galadriel is a central character. Her story is the most aligned with canon as she was the one who discovered Sauron, but no one seemed to believe her, or wanted to believe her. Celebrimbor was taken in by Annatar when Galadriel was the only one who didn’t trust him.

Also, expect romance stories between Galadriel and Celeborn which occurs in her canon storyline, and Elrond and Celebrian which would also be canon.

Of course, there’s a lot of empty space to work in new stories in the second age since there’s a lot of gaps.

Arondir is my favourite character so far. He’s a Silvan Elf, probably of Avari (Dark Elf) background. He has a romantic crush on a woman of the Near Harad—human neighbours of Gondor in the third age, although Gondor hasn’t been founded in the story yet (I don’t think). Human-Elf pairings had always been among the very elite in society in the canon. He is working for Gil-Galad, but on the far corners of the realm (Gil-Galad’s capital is in Lindon, which is West of the Shire). The Harad people he’s looking over are descended from the followers of Morgoth. This is why he’s stationed there along with other Elves.

Anyway, looking forward to the next episode. It’ll answer a lot of questions.

[Julius Seeker]

A bit of an update after episode 3. I’ve updated my predictions.

Shiny thing of Khazad Dum - no dwarves in the episode, but I’m fairly sure it’s mithril. The dwarves were poor, and if they already had the mithril they’d be wealthy. That’s how they got rich in the canon. Mithril was also the best material for making weapons.

Annatar - Halbrand, who is with Galadriel, is probably Annatar. One part, he says he’s known by many names, which is a reference to Annatar. Annatar is an avatar of Sauron, who they say in the show “is known by many names” as well. He can also get to Eregion via Galadriel, and meet with Ar Pharazon (currently Chancellor Pharazon) of Numenor—consistent with what Annatar does in the canon.

Meteorman - probably Gandalf. He’s befriending the children of the Harfoots (Hobbits) who are the ancestors of those who settled in the Shire. The Fallowhides settled in Bree. The Stoors stayed in the Anduin valley, and are where Sméagol came from. Him befriending the Harfoots, and being taught the common tongue by them, would explain Gandalf’s affinity toward Shire Hobbits. Particularly young, rebellious ones.

[Julius Seeker]

In an interesting twist, the Silmaril prediction ended up being closer to the truth than I than I thought it would be. The Mithril was formed by a Silmaril.

[Eric]

I'm super confused about the timeline of this show. Is Fellowship gonna happen in like 30 years or somethin?

[Julius Seeker]

The show takes place in the second age of Middle Earth which ended over 3000 years before The Fellowship of the Ring began. Even ancient realms like Gondor and Mordor don’t exist yet. The Rings of power haven’t been forged. In other words, it’s kind of an origin story for the Middle Earth we know in the Lord of the Rings in the way that the ancient Greeks are an origin story for European culture.

The show takes place in a remixed second age. So what can be expected to happen are roughly:
• The discovery of mithril in Khazad Dum
• The beginning of the fade of the Elves in Middle Earth.
• In the Eastlands (Rhun), Cults of Morgoth appear, these will later emerge in Numenor.
• Numenor is an island Kingdom in the Western Ocean, halfway between Middle Earth and Valinor, but closer to Valinor. They are banned from landing in Valinor, but Elves used to trade with them from the West and East.
• The construction of Eregion’s forges.
• Annatar comes to Eregion to help Celebrimbor forge the rings of power.
• The rings are imbued with a power with attributes to help each of the peoples. The three Elven rings stop their fading in middle earth: realms like Lothlorien are created.
• Sauron forges the master ring in Mount Doom, one ring to rule them all.
• Sauron uses the one ring to construct the original tower of Barad-Dur.
• Sauron wages war against Middle Earth, and conquers most of it. Destroys Eregion, conquers much of Eriador (the lands West of the Misty Mountains)
• Sauron is surprise attacked by a massive force of Numenor and defeated. It will probably be by Pharazon or Elendil in this version (Tar Minastir on the canon timeline).
• Numenor establishes settlements in Middle Earth that will become Gondor and Arnor - probably much sooner than the hundreds of years it took in the canon. While Sauron establishes his power in the East - in Mordor (currently known as the Southlands in the show’s timeline)
• The Nazgûl appear
• Pharazon lands in in Middle Earth, defeats Mordor, and captures Sauron.
• Sauron becomes an influential figure in Numenor (Sauron is currently in disguise. He’s likely Halbrand in the show). He becomes the chief advisor of Pharazon.
• Numenor attacks Valinor, the Valar retaliate by destroying Numenor, sinking it beneath the ocean.
• Sauron’s body is destroyed, and he reshapes in his demonic form in Mordor, and attempts to conquer Middle Earth again.
• The last alliance of men and elves occurs, and Sauron is defeated, Isildur takes the one ring.

In the very early third age, Isildur is killed, the ring is lost in the river Anduin, and a related Hobbit tribe of the Harfoots, the Stoors, moves into the Anduin valley. This is when Sméagol and Deagle find the one ring. This is 2.5 thousand years after Isildur’s death and 500 years before the Lord of the Rings.


The show is built on a compressed timeline because Tolkien wasn’t thinking of a story plot when he outlined the timeline. He was looking for a history. The show runners took this liberty in mashing it all together so they could get all of the major characters in close proximity to each other on the timeline. Some of what I mentioned will be mashed together, or happen in a different order, most likely. The Nazgûl will probably appear after the fall of Numenor or very close to it occurring. Also, Sauron’s conquest of Middle Earth will probably be thwarted by Ar Pharazon, and his capture will occur at this time.

[Eric]

Ok, cause I thought Isildur in the show was the same Isildur that doesn't destroy the ring lol.

[Julius Seeker]

It is the same Isildur that cut the ring from Sauron’s hand at the end of the second age. This all happens about 3000 years before the Lord of the Rings.

[Eric]

Ohhh ok. That explains why he's such a fuckup. I was wondering why he was such a slacker and failure, but knowing he's the one who fucks us all over makes total sense!

[Julius Seeker]

Looks like I’m going to be at odds with other fans of this series. The episode before last, with the battle of the village and the mystical dark sword used as a key to break some dam and send water down to erupt Mount Doom, was the highest rated on IMDB of the season. The latest episode with all the fucking awesome fire and sky visuals, the drama in the house Durin, and the setup for a major battle in the Harfoots story got the lowest score of the season.

To me, the episode before last was kind of simple minded, and didn’t really offer much. Of course, I’m suffering from comparison as I find the battles in Witcher significantly more entertaining. And I thought the sword key thing was the silliest thing this show has done by far - it kind of overshadowed the rest of the episode for me. I mean, the orcs could have just broken the dam with some hammers and chisels

On the other hand, I thought this latest episode was a fantastic setup for the finale. It was my favourite episode so far, although I suppose I can understand since it was the nadir moment of the plot, where the heroes are all at their lowest point, and they didn’t quite clarify the stakes going into the finale: Celebrimbor hasn’t been shown in a while - he’s building up Eregion where they’ll forge the rings of power under the supervision of Annatar. Also, the Numenoreans have abandoned Isildur, even though their main story next episode will pretty clearly be saving him - although, that may fall to Arondir and Theo.

Anyway, enough about petty disagreements. On to more interesting things: theories

1. I still think Halbrand will end up in Eregion with Galadriel. I still think he is Annatar. He’s a rival of Adar, which makes sense for him to go to Eregion to help the Elves.

2. The three sorceresses, they are clearly agents of Morgoth - Tolkien wrote of sorcery in the Eastlands of Rhun, and a cult of Morgoth, and two wizards (Alatar and Pallando) who went that direction and were lost. It’s also not out of the question that one of them is Sauron—since he takes many forms, female isn’t out of the question. It’s probable that they they’re looking for the Meteorman because he’s a wizard.

3. Which gets to my next point. I still think Meteorman is Gandalf.

4. Still think Pharazon’s son will be the Witch King of Angmar - he was in the episode a week ago. This likely won’t happen for a long time.

5. It’s possible they push the Balrog story back a lot further, where Khazad Dum is destroyed and becomes Moria. But I think it’s more likely that they will encounter the Balrog and seal it deep in the mines, and leave a hint that the dwarves could forget about it in a few thousand years.

[Eric]

I'm kinda jelly you know all this lore lol

[Julius Seeker]

In short, I read A LOT of Tolkien growing up and dedicated WAY too much thought to Middle Earth than was normal, even for Tolkien fans.

So, there’s The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. But outside of that, there’s also The History of Middle Earth, a 12 volume series that amounts to about 5-6000 pages of Tolkien’s essays, stories, and poems—mostly about the first age—expanded and earlier versions of the Silmarillion stories. It’s mainly to show the evolution of the thought process across six to seven decades. While The Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings are the final versions of these notes, The History of Middle Earth provides a much expanded version of the universe.

But anyway - SPOILERS BELOW FOR S1 finale.

1. Halbrand’s identity I got right. Although they cut right to chase. Celebrimbor called him Bringer if Gifts (or something like that) which is close to Lord of Gifts, which is the literal translation of Annatar. Annatar is one of the forms of Sauron. In the books, Annatar was active for a while, tricking everyone except Galadriel, who was suspicious of him. Eregion wasn’t just some place where Celebrimbor’s workshop was, it was a major Elven city, and a major battle takes place there between the forces of Sauron and the Elves.

2. The three sorceresses were from Rhûn (as I suspected), but referred to Sauron as master, rather than Morgoth. So the writers more or less skipped out the Cult of Morgoth part and made them wraiths of Sauron. They believed Meteorman was Sauron, so that’s why they were seeking him out. Technically, Sauron was the heir to Morgoth, and given that they were wraiths, they would have been subservient to Sauron, who in turn was subservient to Morgoth. Sauron was a vampire in the first age who could shape-shift—he also ruled over other vampires along with werewolves and the undead. While he doesn’t appear directly in The Hobbit, he is known as The Necromancer of Dol Gulder, mainly a plot device to explain why Gandalf leaves for half of The Hobbit.

3. Meteorman is a wizard, not confirmed to be Gandalf. The mission to the east point to him being Alatar or Pallando. While the connection with the Harfoots/Hobbits point to him being Gandalf. The writers might merge the characters, but canonically, Alatar and Pallando came in the second age and vanished, while Gandalf, Radagast, and Saruman came in the third age. Merging the characters would be interesting.

4 and 5. Future seasons. A bit on 4: The identity of the Witchking of Angmar in history was always an interesting question. The idea of it being a prince of Numenor is a very interesting answer. Ar Pharazon rebels against the Valar, and is dealt with by them, Numenor’s sinking is because of his rebellion.

[Julius Seeker]

Anyway, my opinion on the series:

I really appreciate the series as a lifelong fan of Tolkien’s works and Middle Earth. I really like finally seeing something outside of the end of the third age that touches more on the events of the First Age—which, IMO, is the core period and most interesting part of Tolkien’s writings. (More on that at the bottom).

First, some general things about the season I liked, second my criticisms, and third will be my favourite part of the season.

WHAT I LIKE
I like the actors, the cinematography, they did well making Numenor into a Byzantine/Roman type civilization. I really like the content: bringing Rhûn in. I loved the pre-Mordor Southlands stuff. The Harfoots were incredibly charming. Loved the Dwarves. I think most of this speaks for itself so I won’t go into much explanation.

WHAT I FELT DIDN’T WORK SO WELL

My personal complaint

Not much to complain about content-wise, other than I really wish Eregion was depicted as more than Celebrimbor’s workshop. This was a massive city of great importance to the Elves in the second age.

For the rest of the criticism, I’m directing it more about what I feel an uninvested person might think. I’ve been a Tolkien fan since my toddler years… so since 2017 (but really, early 1980s). Most of this doesn’t apply to me.

First criticism: the first season was all setup.

There wasn’t a huge amount of escalation or payoff delivered. In other words, this season was largely laying out the board: introducing the world, main characters, political situation, conflicts, the impetus for the story, and the stakes. But the stakes weren’t really raised a great deal until around the end when Mt. Doom erupted and Sauron was discovered. Those takes rising weren’t that big of a deal IMO because the consequences haven’t really been seen yet… escalation is basically going to start in season 2.

Second: and this kind of ties into the first point - they went for a long multi-season long arc right out the gate.

My thoughts are to start with episodic content and then gradually bring it into an arc. The last show I recall that did the same thing was Caprica… I really liked Caprica, but because they didn’t get past the setup, the audience all left, and the network bailed. I doubt this will happen with Rings of Power given Amazon paid tremendously for it. The Witcher is, IMO, the best format I’ve ever seen, three tgreads: Geralt is episodic, Ciri is a season long arc that will continue beyond, and Yen is kind of in the middle having three stories that are 2-3 episodes each. That said, I recognize their strategy and Rings of Power doesn’t bother me, but it will bother people who don’t have my level of investment and are looking for payoff out the gate.

Third: Too many threads

The series has a TON of characters. It didn’t feel quite like an ensemble either, where all the main characters work together. They all had different stories which lasted the season: Galadriel, Arondir, Elrond, Nori, Durin, Theo, Isildur, Miriel, Elendil, and Halbrand. That’s only the main characters, not even the villains of the season (Adar and Pharazon mainly, but there was also the Rhûn cult introduced, and I feel like the Balrog showing is tease it’s usage later in the destruction of Khazad Dum) or the the side characters (Meteorman, Sadoc, Durin’s wife, Bronwyn, etc…) everyone are side characters associated with each of them. Everything was dilute. If anyone recalls the early seasons of Star Trek Voyager, it had this same problem where they treated everyone as kind of the main character before they centered almost all the stories around Janeway, Seven, and the Doctor in the later seasons… Three main characters is the charm, it worked in the original Star Trek and it works in The Witcher.

WHAT I LIKED BEST
If my posts aren’t enough to guess this, it was theorizing on who is Sauron. This reminded me of season 1-2 of Battlestar Galactica in trying to guess who the Cylons were. Although, I feel like they dumbed it down at the time of the reveal by naming him Sauron directly, and not as Annatar, and spending more time in Eregion other than 5 minutes. Although, the same story was served, they just called him something different than Annatar—judging by Internet reaction, most people didn’t realize Halbrand was Sauron until the reveal. Even I wasn’t 100% on it, and that bit of doubt is where I took the joy.

ON THE FIRST AGE
The Silmarillion is my favourite book of all time.

JRR Tolkien didn’t write a novel based on any of the stories of the first age, but left ample notes and versions of the story for his son Christopher to complete decades later. He was already in his 80s when the novelization of The Children of Hurin was complete. He was in his 90s when the second and third came out: Beren and Luthien, The Fall of Gondolin.

My speculation is that the first age stories were too deer to JRR Tolkien’s heart, and he didn’t want to expose them to the critics who don’t share Tolkien’s love of middle earth. Apart from the three aforementioned novels, and The Silmarillion, Christopher Tolkien also published 9 other books about the first age in his 12 volume “History of Middle Earth” series—edited compilations of JRR Tolkien’s writings. There is also a short story collection dedicated mainly to the second age called The Unfinished Tales which has the original novelette of The Children of Hurin, as well as another first age short story (along with second age and third age short stories, and an interesting tale about a people/species called the Druèdan which make a small appearance in Lord of the Rings).

So, in total, Christopher Tolkien published 14 long books about the first age, 15 if you include the 500 page glossary index that came out with the 2002 reissuing of The History of Middle Earth. Essentially, 7500 pages. By comparison Lord of the Rings is about 1250 pages and The Hobbit is 300 pages. So the two main books are the top of the iceberg when it comes to Tolkien’s writings about Middle Earth.

My favourite feature of Lord of the Rings is the Appendices: basically, an epilogue, a historical guide, some other short tales from the past, and stuff to tie together The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Tolkien has writings like that across about 7000 years of Middle Earth history—and more, those are just the three ages. There were ages (the three ages of the Trees of Valinor) and times before that (the shaping of middle earth period and the era of the lamps—there’s a book on that, and it’s touched on with two short stories which act as a prologue to The Silmarillion).

But anyway, that’s Tolkien.

[Julius Seeker]

Starting second season, it's still in progress. Now we're getting into the part that was actually written by Tolkien, while the first season more or less set it up - Tolkien was very sparse, this part of Middle Earth's history was basically creative essays with a bit of a narrative. That is very true about the Istari on the show.

Tolkien wrote that five of them were sent from Valinor to Middle Earth, the latter three are well known: Gandalf, Saruman, and Radigast, who all appear in Lord of the Rings - although, if you only saw the films, Radigast appeared in The Hobbit.

The other two are Alatar and Pallando. Tolkien had different versions of them, but never fleshed out. One of the versions of Tolkien's notes has them coming in much earlier than the other three, in the second age to deal with the return of the forces of darkness - in Khand and Rhûn there were cults of Morgoth, and Sauron also returned. My guess is the one with Nori and Poppy is Pallando and the evil one is Alatar - just going on the fact that the word Alatar sounds kind of evil.

[Eric]

I'm actually enjoying the second season a whole lot more then the first. I think it was a good decision to take a bit of the focus off of Galadriel because she was incredibly unlikable in the first season. Watching the Rings come into play and especially the Dwarves and Celebrimbor become corrupted by Sauron and watching Sauron just talk his way into power with nothing more then the gift of gab has been glorious lol.

I'm still not super invested in the Hobbit-side story, the human one is growing on me a little bit, though most of the fun humans are dead or not in play atm.

[Julius Seeker]

Just as a note, on the name of the wizard. This doesn't necessarily mean he is the same Gandalf as the one in the later age, just that his name had the same etymology. If it turns out to be the case, then it's probably a substitution story similar to Glofindel > Arwen in the Peter Jackson films.

But, my opinion is that he's still the Blue Istar Pallando. After all, Gandalf just means "Staff Elf" in the Hobbit language. Gandalf's actual name was Olorin, but also called Mithrandir by humans. The story is pretty much the same as Tolkien's notes, or at least contains what little Tolkien wrote about the blue wizards - second age, active in the East, etc... Also, Tolkien had two opinions, that they failed in the east or joined Sauron, but this way both of his opinions are represented by having one good and one evil.

It's also interesting that the Witch King of Angmar was, in Tolkien's earlier writings, a sorcerer who joined Sauron. But I still believe it's going to be Theo. He'll at least be one of the Ring Wraiths.