TRoP: Dodgy political theorising
Nov. 21st, 2024 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe Rings of Power - 2.5 Halls of Stone
There are still some very bitty scenes here, and I had no idea how much time was passing (or what distances were involved, actually) but it felt weird that Durin the younger was able to pop to and from Eregion, while Elrond, presumably having left the other laggards of his party far behind, was taking aaaaaaages to get to Lindor and sound the alarm.
So, Durin the elder had his fancy bling and a new way of finding sunlight, all well and good if you were ignorant of the fact that Sauron had poured his mojo into that ring of power. Well, he was advocating making holes in ‘foundation walls’, which worried his son. (I’m sure he ordered them to ‘dig’ with axes, BTW.) But he was also raising taxes because he had the ring and acting in other worrisome ways. Like, Dwarves have always been a bit capitalist, but this was hypercapitalism.
Then, when Disa bought a ‘tuning crystal’ (which confusingly looked like a prototype for a Palantir) and it fell down, down, down to an underground lake and she sang to find it, she woke up a big bad monster. Durin referred to it as nameless, but I guess it’s the Balrog, already.
So when Durin the younger took all this to Celebrimbor, he claimed the ring was fine! Pa wouldn’t listen to his son and was busy making arrangements to dispense the other six rings to some other Dwarf lords, for a price. Disa insisted her husband vowed never to use the ring himself. For my part, I would have insisted on moving out of Moria, but I suppose she and Durin have too many ties there.
Back in the forge, Celebrimbor was dimly starting to realise things weren’t going to plan. Sauron!Annatar was pushing for them to forge nine rings for Men. Celebrimbor thought that was going a bit far, because everyone knew Men were corruptible, but Sauron referred to the best of them, and said he’d do it on his own anyway.
As Celebrimbor started to wonder if there had been a flaw with the dwarven rings, very cannily, Sauron!Annatar laid the blame at Celebrimbor’s deception to his High King, and argued that they needed to go further and continue making the nine. And then Blondie went invisible – in a very One Ring way, although I don’t know if this is a prototype or not – and saw Sauron was in the forge. Annatar tricked her into believing that she’d actually seen Celebrimbor and he’d been harmed by the process of making the rings. Sure, she was traumatised, but…let’s say she’s very young for an Elf.
We were also reminded of Sauron/Galadriel when he claimed Blondie reminded him of Galadriel. In that they’re both blonde and short, so she might do as a stand-in (hey, maybe this actress actually stood in for Morfydd Clark.) Blondie did not think this was weird behaviour, even though the Elves generally seem to have found Galadriel and her mission a bit of a pain.
Annatar!Sauron continued to undermine Celebrimbor, just after he’d given a ‘We have to finish these nine rings flawlessly’ speech, by being more conciliatory and optimistic. Poor Celebrimbor was within hearing distance, and feeling really, really bad (although he doesn’t really know the half of it.) Watching the seduction, manipulation and corruption of Celebrimbor is quite compelling.
In other Elf news, one of Gil-galad’s generals (I presume) was pressing him for a decision, and being a bit snarky about his reliance on the visions from his ring. So, when Elrond finally turned up with the news of an Orc army headed for Eregion, the king had to tell him he’d already sent an Elven army elsewhere, and they couldn’t fight it alone. The episode ended with Galadriel finally being left out of a cage. To her credit, she soon had a weapon in hand and at Adar’s neck, but he was offering an alliance against a joint enemy…
Um, not really sure that’s a good alliance to be having, myself.
But meanwhile at Numenor, while he now literally had the sceptre he’d been desiring all his life in his hand, Pharazon was pining for the immortality of the Elves, or something. His son tried to reason with him, but the new king pulled some nasty emotional jiu-jitsu and gave him a new task. Elendil was trying to encourage Miriel by listing all the people who were still loyal to her, but she wanted to know what he’d seen in the Palantir. The answer was him riding a horse, lost, although there was the gorgeous skyline of a city behind him. Miriel did not tell him he should have looked at the map or asked for directions. Instead, she was relieved that the future appeared changed, in that Elendil hadn’t seen the Wave of Disaster. She charged him to keep calm and accept the new monarch, I think. I was distracted by reading as much UST as possible into their body language.
Elendil’s chill was threatened quite quickly, as he saw Isildur’s friend and other sailors who’d fought under him having to return their uniforms and weapons to Elendil’s son in law. (Pharazon’s boy.) This, apparently, was the task his father had given him. Elendil had a dispute about the meaning of ‘loyalty’ with his daughter, and then there was a bit of aggro, because all his men recognised him as captain, making Mr Inadequate feel even more inadequate. The inadequacy was not helped when his wife had a moment with the bigger and brawnier ‘old friend’.
Pharazon was a bit tempted by the Palantir – I’m presuming they’re still okay, if you’re powerful enough, and that Sauron has no access to any – even though Miriel’s use of it was one of the things against her claim to the throne. Add hypocrisy to terrible parenting to his charge sheet.
Elendil and Lieutenant Muscles were performing a poignant rite for the souls of the fallen at a shrine, when Mr Inadequate and guards barged in, demanding they stop and leave, because the shrine was being requisitioned for an aqueduct, or something. Elendil was trying to be chill, until there was some issue over an icon (how very Catholic, but a bit unexpected) and an elderly acolyte. It kicked off a bit, with Mr Inadequate and Lieutenant Muscles getting into it. Mr Inadequate tried to drown Lt. Muscles, failed, and soon was outmatched, Lt. Muscles injured Mr Inadequate’s arm. Elendil talked him out of stabbing the king’s son dead – good, but in hindsight he maybe should have chucked the sword far, far away, because Prince Inadequate literally stabbed him in the back out of pique, wounded pride and vengeance. Charming son-in-law you’ve got there, Elendil!
Elendil’s loyalty to Miriel was tied into his being one of the Faithful, i.e. honouring the Valar, and they got mentioned a fair bit this episode. We heard Ule mentioned a lot by the Dwarves, with Disa and the other stone singers contrasting ring-bearing Durin’s ability to ‘see’ the mountain with their Valar-given gift of hearing it. So, they’re starting to emphasise the spiritual battle between good and evil. But it’s patently clear that they’re making this up from the scraps of the appendices rather than a proper narrative.
There are still some very bitty scenes here, and I had no idea how much time was passing (or what distances were involved, actually) but it felt weird that Durin the younger was able to pop to and from Eregion, while Elrond, presumably having left the other laggards of his party far behind, was taking aaaaaaages to get to Lindor and sound the alarm.
So, Durin the elder had his fancy bling and a new way of finding sunlight, all well and good if you were ignorant of the fact that Sauron had poured his mojo into that ring of power. Well, he was advocating making holes in ‘foundation walls’, which worried his son. (I’m sure he ordered them to ‘dig’ with axes, BTW.) But he was also raising taxes because he had the ring and acting in other worrisome ways. Like, Dwarves have always been a bit capitalist, but this was hypercapitalism.
Then, when Disa bought a ‘tuning crystal’ (which confusingly looked like a prototype for a Palantir) and it fell down, down, down to an underground lake and she sang to find it, she woke up a big bad monster. Durin referred to it as nameless, but I guess it’s the Balrog, already.
So when Durin the younger took all this to Celebrimbor, he claimed the ring was fine! Pa wouldn’t listen to his son and was busy making arrangements to dispense the other six rings to some other Dwarf lords, for a price. Disa insisted her husband vowed never to use the ring himself. For my part, I would have insisted on moving out of Moria, but I suppose she and Durin have too many ties there.
Back in the forge, Celebrimbor was dimly starting to realise things weren’t going to plan. Sauron!Annatar was pushing for them to forge nine rings for Men. Celebrimbor thought that was going a bit far, because everyone knew Men were corruptible, but Sauron referred to the best of them, and said he’d do it on his own anyway.
As Celebrimbor started to wonder if there had been a flaw with the dwarven rings, very cannily, Sauron!Annatar laid the blame at Celebrimbor’s deception to his High King, and argued that they needed to go further and continue making the nine. And then Blondie went invisible – in a very One Ring way, although I don’t know if this is a prototype or not – and saw Sauron was in the forge. Annatar tricked her into believing that she’d actually seen Celebrimbor and he’d been harmed by the process of making the rings. Sure, she was traumatised, but…let’s say she’s very young for an Elf.
We were also reminded of Sauron/Galadriel when he claimed Blondie reminded him of Galadriel. In that they’re both blonde and short, so she might do as a stand-in (hey, maybe this actress actually stood in for Morfydd Clark.) Blondie did not think this was weird behaviour, even though the Elves generally seem to have found Galadriel and her mission a bit of a pain.
Annatar!Sauron continued to undermine Celebrimbor, just after he’d given a ‘We have to finish these nine rings flawlessly’ speech, by being more conciliatory and optimistic. Poor Celebrimbor was within hearing distance, and feeling really, really bad (although he doesn’t really know the half of it.) Watching the seduction, manipulation and corruption of Celebrimbor is quite compelling.
In other Elf news, one of Gil-galad’s generals (I presume) was pressing him for a decision, and being a bit snarky about his reliance on the visions from his ring. So, when Elrond finally turned up with the news of an Orc army headed for Eregion, the king had to tell him he’d already sent an Elven army elsewhere, and they couldn’t fight it alone. The episode ended with Galadriel finally being left out of a cage. To her credit, she soon had a weapon in hand and at Adar’s neck, but he was offering an alliance against a joint enemy…
Um, not really sure that’s a good alliance to be having, myself.
But meanwhile at Numenor, while he now literally had the sceptre he’d been desiring all his life in his hand, Pharazon was pining for the immortality of the Elves, or something. His son tried to reason with him, but the new king pulled some nasty emotional jiu-jitsu and gave him a new task. Elendil was trying to encourage Miriel by listing all the people who were still loyal to her, but she wanted to know what he’d seen in the Palantir. The answer was him riding a horse, lost, although there was the gorgeous skyline of a city behind him. Miriel did not tell him he should have looked at the map or asked for directions. Instead, she was relieved that the future appeared changed, in that Elendil hadn’t seen the Wave of Disaster. She charged him to keep calm and accept the new monarch, I think. I was distracted by reading as much UST as possible into their body language.
Elendil’s chill was threatened quite quickly, as he saw Isildur’s friend and other sailors who’d fought under him having to return their uniforms and weapons to Elendil’s son in law. (Pharazon’s boy.) This, apparently, was the task his father had given him. Elendil had a dispute about the meaning of ‘loyalty’ with his daughter, and then there was a bit of aggro, because all his men recognised him as captain, making Mr Inadequate feel even more inadequate. The inadequacy was not helped when his wife had a moment with the bigger and brawnier ‘old friend’.
Pharazon was a bit tempted by the Palantir – I’m presuming they’re still okay, if you’re powerful enough, and that Sauron has no access to any – even though Miriel’s use of it was one of the things against her claim to the throne. Add hypocrisy to terrible parenting to his charge sheet.
Elendil and Lieutenant Muscles were performing a poignant rite for the souls of the fallen at a shrine, when Mr Inadequate and guards barged in, demanding they stop and leave, because the shrine was being requisitioned for an aqueduct, or something. Elendil was trying to be chill, until there was some issue over an icon (how very Catholic, but a bit unexpected) and an elderly acolyte. It kicked off a bit, with Mr Inadequate and Lieutenant Muscles getting into it. Mr Inadequate tried to drown Lt. Muscles, failed, and soon was outmatched, Lt. Muscles injured Mr Inadequate’s arm. Elendil talked him out of stabbing the king’s son dead – good, but in hindsight he maybe should have chucked the sword far, far away, because Prince Inadequate literally stabbed him in the back out of pique, wounded pride and vengeance. Charming son-in-law you’ve got there, Elendil!
Elendil’s loyalty to Miriel was tied into his being one of the Faithful, i.e. honouring the Valar, and they got mentioned a fair bit this episode. We heard Ule mentioned a lot by the Dwarves, with Disa and the other stone singers contrasting ring-bearing Durin’s ability to ‘see’ the mountain with their Valar-given gift of hearing it. So, they’re starting to emphasise the spiritual battle between good and evil. But it’s patently clear that they’re making this up from the scraps of the appendices rather than a proper narrative.
