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shallowness) wrote2025-01-05 02:14 pm
shallowness) wrote2025-01-05 02:14 pm
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TRoP: Battle's end and aftermath, mostly
The Rings of Power - 2.8 Shadow and Flame
Cram everyone and everything in, why don’t you? Oh, and also, Amazon seemed to drop adverts in rather random places.
A big opening as Durin the younger went to man up to Durin the elder, who ignored him to open a hole to so many mithril deposits, and below, the Balrog. This brought the king to his senses despite the ring, and he even removed it, had a few words of grace for his son and then sacrificed himself. (Not convinced that that would settle the Balrog, but I thought that Khazad-dun was brought down later than the Second Age.)
After that spectacle came the credits. The Stranger walked about in darkness that was a little too dark for my liking before bumping into the other Istar (he who will be Saruman? SO CONFUSING) who wanted to charm his old friend (who didn’t remember him) on side. He seemed to be selling the nomads out and endangered the halflings, including Nori and Poppy. The Stranger refused to go along with his ‘plan’ to take down Sauron and replace him, and chose to protect his friends from raining rocks. This would eventually mean that the other halflings would have to leave their homes and become travellers too.
Galadriel hadn’t got very far out of Eregion, as it turned out, but she was leading a party of civilian female Elves and one or two little Elves. Sauron was torturing Celebrimbor, but missed the clue that suggested he’d sent the rings away with someone else. Celebrimbor got to utter some final words, accurately describing the rings as Sauron’s captors and prophesising his demise. He also got Sauron riled enough to kill him, which hadn’t been Sauron’s plan.
In Numenor, Pharazon used his Palantir vision to come up with an accusation that Miriel was in cahoots with Sauron and an excuse to round up the Faithful and turn on them. Basically, in was an insurrection with Numenorian soldiers turning on some of their fellow subjects. This was a bit much for his daughter in law, who went to give her father a warning and protect him. He went to Miriel, eager for them to escape, except she would not leave and gave him a sword. Very deliberate choreography for a shot to remind us that Aragorn was Elendil’s descendant and would wield Narsil too. But other than fulfil Miriel’s non-wave vision from the Palantir, I wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted him to do. What strategic advantage did she think her noble sacrifice of staying would achieve?
We also returned to the other humans of Middle Earth. Isildur was packing, but managed to give the benefit of his experience to Theo, who was feeling guilty for dabbling with the Darkness and his mother’s death (I guess? I don’t care much.) And then whatsherface turned up and told Isildur all about how she realised she wasn’t in love with her fiancée now because she knew what love was. Passionate kissing does not make up for underwritten romance by rote.
To spare her party, Galadriel volunteered herself up to the Orcs, planning to use the nine rings as bargaining chips. Not her brightest idea, I thought.
Eregion was getting a hammering, and Orcs made it through to have a discussion with Sauron, who was all ‘new prey’. Their orders were to capture the leaders of the Elves. Apparently Arondir was still alive and counted as one of them.
Galadriel was taken to Adar who was wearing her ring, and it had made him a little less dark Elf and more Elflike. For a second, an alliance between Orcs and Elves was a possibility, and he gave her back her ring, but Adar found out soon after that his children had decided to go a bit Oedipal, and a rather brutal murder followed. Oh, and Sauron was there, come to pick up his crown, which he would then proceed to use as a very cool weapon, and have a talk with Galadriel. She wanted a sword fight instead, and was keeping her end up – well, on the one hand, she’d had centuries of soldiering, on the other, he had a lot of power, two weapons and a height advantage.
When she looked to have gained an advantage, he reverted to Halbrand!Sauron (Vickers having already dropped in a bit of a Mancuinan accent to remind her of season 1.) There was always the tantalising possibility that it wasn’t all lies, although he then shapeshifted some more into Celebrimbor!Sauron and, most effectively, Galadriel!Sauron, so she had to fight a more groomed version of herself. But he kept reminding her of his ultimate plans, and she declared that the Free Peoples of Middle Earth would still resist him.
We saw the Orcs round up Gil-galad, Elrond and Arondir, and Elrond had to suffer watching the Orcs setting fire to Eregion’s scrolls and Celebrimbor’s wisdom. (I BET Elrond set up a situation where scribes sent back-up copies of other scrolls to all the other elven centres.) Just as we were meant to despair at the sight of the Middle Earth equivalent of burning books, we heard a horn sound. To prove Galadriel’s words right, the Dwarves had come (at least a day late.)
And although Sauron laid some magical hypnosis on Galadriel, having taken the nine rings already, to get her to give him her ring, and it looked as though it was working, she. Did. Not. She dived down a great height instead. The Orc lieutenant came to tell Sauron that there were too many Dwarves for them to fight and got killed for it. (Yeah, Uruks, you betrayed your daddy for this. Not looking like your lot has improved much from the sofa.)
The men at Pelagir welcomed a boat from Numenor, and then it turned out that Pharazon’s smarmy son had come. Isildur learned that things were very different on Numenor now, and he couldn’t bring his lowborn wench with him. Maybe his horse. The Southerners learned that the treaty was now being altered and they’d have to provide timber to get the supplies promised. Nobody said that the Ents might not be best pleased by that. Isildur had to leave his lady love behind to the fiancée she didn’t love (ouch) to return home to…what, he knew not.
Poppy had a sad little speech about how some things couldn’t be fixed, Nori, and Nori seemed to accept it enough to leave the Stranger with the other halflings. BUT! He found his staff. Tom Bombadil would later tell him that it found him. He also got a new name (did Tolkien ever state that Gandalf was a corruption of ‘Grand Elf’ and that it was proto-Hobbits wot called him that?) He went to visit Tom so that they could…sing together!?
Miriel was arrested and convicted of the trumped-up charges by Pharazon, probably under Poppy’s glum little speech.
Gil-galad had diagnosed that Galadriel had been wounded in a more than physical sense and tried to use his powers, magnified by his ring, to help her. It wasn’t enough. They made a big production of Elrond being willing to put her ring on so that together they could heal her, which would have been more powerful if he hadn’t already worn the ring at her urging, and if his reluctance to have anything to do with the Elven rings had ever made sense.
Durin received reports about Eregion’s fall and Elrond’s survival. He was willing to offer more support, but Disa and his new adviser pointed out all the trouble Khazad-dun was in because of what his father had been up to and that his succession was far from assured, so it looked as though he’d be busy with Dwarven business, actually.
Galadriel awoke to find that she and the rest of the Elves were in a protected valley AKA Rivendell-to-be. One second Gil-galad was telling her to rest, the next he was asking for her advice as to what the Elves should do now, be sword or shield, as Sauron and his new orc army marched around. Maybe she’s growing up and becoming wiser, because she quoted Celebrimbor’s blether about light. So, Gil-galad and the other leaders went up to a high spot and the king drew his sword, giving an indication of what they were going to do. The surviving elves looked up and cheered (rather uncouthly for Elves, if you ask me.)
In a way, this has been a reminder of how attention has been spread all over, and some things have been underdeveloped to the point of triteness. The duel between Galadriel and Sauron was satisfying, there were a few high points – the spectacle at Moria, Celebrimbor’s resounding words, while other things were more strained. The halflings have been underserved, the Stranger who is now Gandalf (in the least surprising reveal ever) had better meet again with the deceitful and ambitious Istar/wizard. It would have been better if Adar had been played by the same actor in both seasons. They could beef up what’s going on in Numenor more, too. The references to ‘the Lord of the Rings’ were not as impactful as they could have been, because this prequel is nowhere near as good, so apart from reminding us that X, Y and Z cannot defeat Sauron, we are reminded of better moments.
Well, it looks as though there’ll be another series, I hope it’s less patchy, that they have a think about what worked in what’s aired already and what didn’t and try to fix it, and that’s about it. I don’t know whether it will lead up to Isildur’s failure at Mount Doom. That would be a downer of an ending.
Cram everyone and everything in, why don’t you? Oh, and also, Amazon seemed to drop adverts in rather random places.
A big opening as Durin the younger went to man up to Durin the elder, who ignored him to open a hole to so many mithril deposits, and below, the Balrog. This brought the king to his senses despite the ring, and he even removed it, had a few words of grace for his son and then sacrificed himself. (Not convinced that that would settle the Balrog, but I thought that Khazad-dun was brought down later than the Second Age.)
After that spectacle came the credits. The Stranger walked about in darkness that was a little too dark for my liking before bumping into the other Istar (he who will be Saruman? SO CONFUSING) who wanted to charm his old friend (who didn’t remember him) on side. He seemed to be selling the nomads out and endangered the halflings, including Nori and Poppy. The Stranger refused to go along with his ‘plan’ to take down Sauron and replace him, and chose to protect his friends from raining rocks. This would eventually mean that the other halflings would have to leave their homes and become travellers too.
Galadriel hadn’t got very far out of Eregion, as it turned out, but she was leading a party of civilian female Elves and one or two little Elves. Sauron was torturing Celebrimbor, but missed the clue that suggested he’d sent the rings away with someone else. Celebrimbor got to utter some final words, accurately describing the rings as Sauron’s captors and prophesising his demise. He also got Sauron riled enough to kill him, which hadn’t been Sauron’s plan.
In Numenor, Pharazon used his Palantir vision to come up with an accusation that Miriel was in cahoots with Sauron and an excuse to round up the Faithful and turn on them. Basically, in was an insurrection with Numenorian soldiers turning on some of their fellow subjects. This was a bit much for his daughter in law, who went to give her father a warning and protect him. He went to Miriel, eager for them to escape, except she would not leave and gave him a sword. Very deliberate choreography for a shot to remind us that Aragorn was Elendil’s descendant and would wield Narsil too. But other than fulfil Miriel’s non-wave vision from the Palantir, I wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted him to do. What strategic advantage did she think her noble sacrifice of staying would achieve?
We also returned to the other humans of Middle Earth. Isildur was packing, but managed to give the benefit of his experience to Theo, who was feeling guilty for dabbling with the Darkness and his mother’s death (I guess? I don’t care much.) And then whatsherface turned up and told Isildur all about how she realised she wasn’t in love with her fiancée now because she knew what love was. Passionate kissing does not make up for underwritten romance by rote.
To spare her party, Galadriel volunteered herself up to the Orcs, planning to use the nine rings as bargaining chips. Not her brightest idea, I thought.
Eregion was getting a hammering, and Orcs made it through to have a discussion with Sauron, who was all ‘new prey’. Their orders were to capture the leaders of the Elves. Apparently Arondir was still alive and counted as one of them.
Galadriel was taken to Adar who was wearing her ring, and it had made him a little less dark Elf and more Elflike. For a second, an alliance between Orcs and Elves was a possibility, and he gave her back her ring, but Adar found out soon after that his children had decided to go a bit Oedipal, and a rather brutal murder followed. Oh, and Sauron was there, come to pick up his crown, which he would then proceed to use as a very cool weapon, and have a talk with Galadriel. She wanted a sword fight instead, and was keeping her end up – well, on the one hand, she’d had centuries of soldiering, on the other, he had a lot of power, two weapons and a height advantage.
When she looked to have gained an advantage, he reverted to Halbrand!Sauron (Vickers having already dropped in a bit of a Mancuinan accent to remind her of season 1.) There was always the tantalising possibility that it wasn’t all lies, although he then shapeshifted some more into Celebrimbor!Sauron and, most effectively, Galadriel!Sauron, so she had to fight a more groomed version of herself. But he kept reminding her of his ultimate plans, and she declared that the Free Peoples of Middle Earth would still resist him.
We saw the Orcs round up Gil-galad, Elrond and Arondir, and Elrond had to suffer watching the Orcs setting fire to Eregion’s scrolls and Celebrimbor’s wisdom. (I BET Elrond set up a situation where scribes sent back-up copies of other scrolls to all the other elven centres.) Just as we were meant to despair at the sight of the Middle Earth equivalent of burning books, we heard a horn sound. To prove Galadriel’s words right, the Dwarves had come (at least a day late.)
And although Sauron laid some magical hypnosis on Galadriel, having taken the nine rings already, to get her to give him her ring, and it looked as though it was working, she. Did. Not. She dived down a great height instead. The Orc lieutenant came to tell Sauron that there were too many Dwarves for them to fight and got killed for it. (Yeah, Uruks, you betrayed your daddy for this. Not looking like your lot has improved much from the sofa.)
The men at Pelagir welcomed a boat from Numenor, and then it turned out that Pharazon’s smarmy son had come. Isildur learned that things were very different on Numenor now, and he couldn’t bring his lowborn wench with him. Maybe his horse. The Southerners learned that the treaty was now being altered and they’d have to provide timber to get the supplies promised. Nobody said that the Ents might not be best pleased by that. Isildur had to leave his lady love behind to the fiancée she didn’t love (ouch) to return home to…what, he knew not.
Poppy had a sad little speech about how some things couldn’t be fixed, Nori, and Nori seemed to accept it enough to leave the Stranger with the other halflings. BUT! He found his staff. Tom Bombadil would later tell him that it found him. He also got a new name (did Tolkien ever state that Gandalf was a corruption of ‘Grand Elf’ and that it was proto-Hobbits wot called him that?) He went to visit Tom so that they could…sing together!?
Miriel was arrested and convicted of the trumped-up charges by Pharazon, probably under Poppy’s glum little speech.
Gil-galad had diagnosed that Galadriel had been wounded in a more than physical sense and tried to use his powers, magnified by his ring, to help her. It wasn’t enough. They made a big production of Elrond being willing to put her ring on so that together they could heal her, which would have been more powerful if he hadn’t already worn the ring at her urging, and if his reluctance to have anything to do with the Elven rings had ever made sense.
Durin received reports about Eregion’s fall and Elrond’s survival. He was willing to offer more support, but Disa and his new adviser pointed out all the trouble Khazad-dun was in because of what his father had been up to and that his succession was far from assured, so it looked as though he’d be busy with Dwarven business, actually.
Galadriel awoke to find that she and the rest of the Elves were in a protected valley AKA Rivendell-to-be. One second Gil-galad was telling her to rest, the next he was asking for her advice as to what the Elves should do now, be sword or shield, as Sauron and his new orc army marched around. Maybe she’s growing up and becoming wiser, because she quoted Celebrimbor’s blether about light. So, Gil-galad and the other leaders went up to a high spot and the king drew his sword, giving an indication of what they were going to do. The surviving elves looked up and cheered (rather uncouthly for Elves, if you ask me.)
In a way, this has been a reminder of how attention has been spread all over, and some things have been underdeveloped to the point of triteness. The duel between Galadriel and Sauron was satisfying, there were a few high points – the spectacle at Moria, Celebrimbor’s resounding words, while other things were more strained. The halflings have been underserved, the Stranger who is now Gandalf (in the least surprising reveal ever) had better meet again with the deceitful and ambitious Istar/wizard. It would have been better if Adar had been played by the same actor in both seasons. They could beef up what’s going on in Numenor more, too. The references to ‘the Lord of the Rings’ were not as impactful as they could have been, because this prequel is nowhere near as good, so apart from reminding us that X, Y and Z cannot defeat Sauron, we are reminded of better moments.
Well, it looks as though there’ll be another series, I hope it’s less patchy, that they have a think about what worked in what’s aired already and what didn’t and try to fix it, and that’s about it. I don’t know whether it will lead up to Isildur’s failure at Mount Doom. That would be a downer of an ending.