Rings of Power Episode 2 - HONEST REVIEW | Lord of the Rings on Prime

[@CounciloftheRings]

Thank you all for watching! The channel is growing so fast these days thanks to you all! If you liked the video feel free to leave a like and also check out the community tab on the channel, there's daily Tolkien posts 😁 Feel free to give points to the jokes I added in the review 😆

[@wheresjc]

The lore breaking this show has carried out is damaging and completely unnecessary. Thanks for being honest! After hearing the plot outline of the first season, it's not going to get better.

[@bluewhitespartan5258]

@@wheresjc Great Show so far. All of my friends working commrades and my brother liked it so far. You are infiltrated by negative commentors. They just suck.

[@wheresjc]

@@bluewhitespartan5258 No. This show sucks. I read every shred of Tolkien I could find as a teenager in the 90s. I care about Tolkien's world because I've seen the beauty for myself. There is zero excuse for throwing away the existing canon, particularly when it left so much room to tell whatever story they actually wanted to tell.

[@Enerdhil]

I think that Galadriel could have seen Numenor from the Ship she was on. Arda was flat at that time and if you draw a straight line from Mithlond to Tol Eressëa, I think the ship gets closer to Numenor than Tol Eressëa. She was likely swimming for Numenor. The whole storyline is a bad joke, but she wasn't trying to swim back to Middle Earth, which is impossible.

[@rio20d]

@@bluewhitespartan5258 in what way? Have you read the books? Do you expect fans who read the books and know how the story goes just sit there and accept it like a baby who is being fed? Amazon RoP is not tolkien at all, so many lore breaking and inconsistencies, and you called fans who dislike it as being negative and suck? Is that the best you can do?, seems like shills and fake fans always come with same line, you suck or you are negative and so on. Amazon RoP is a generic fan fiction fantasy at best. The sad part is they use Tolkien name on it. If they leave Tolkien name out of it, there won't be as many backlash.

[@Soulwhistle]

A note with the Elrond and Durin elevator conversation. I like the idea of Elfs not understanding/caring for 20 years going by. But I do think they picked the wrong elf for it, I mean Elrond, whos twin chose to be of the race of men? I would think Elrond would be painfully aware of the passing of time and what it does to mortal races

[@CounciloftheRings]

Wow! What an excellent point! I didn’t even think of that 😩 You’re 100% correct

[@LaMancha958]

Yes, exactly. And dwarfs also get very old, so 20 years isn't really that much. Was Elrond even invited to the wedding? Did he know about the birth of the offspring? I also didn't like this gigantic lift and Durin's much too fancy apartment.

[@Soulwhistle]

@@LaMancha958 dwaren princes of one the richest places on earth? Dude would have a killer apartment...

[@LaMancha958]

@@Soulwhistle 😂😂😂

[@rafaeldavi6125]

I think its good that it shows that even elrond has flaws, otherwise we would be complaining about how perfect he is, like galadriel.

[@BlackfireStudios_Lost]

Your reviews are the best out of everyone on KZbin, they’re honest and take into consideration the rights for certain parts of the lore! Thanks!

[@RPumpkinQueen]

One of the few without rage being infused. Truth is, ROP is so far from Tolkien even I as a huge fan of his books can not be mad (House of the Dragons looks more like the Professor's world).

[@BlackfireStudios_Lost]

@@RPumpkinQueen I haven’t watch the House of Dragons yet! But I think I may check it soon! As for the rage reviews, it’s understandable Imo, passionate reactions in some cases 😆

[@weiwuxian3116]

I just wanna say I'm actually shocked that someone said your voice was boring and couldn't think any more differently. It fits the source accurately and I find that I enjoy listening to your narrations. On top of that I personally think that each person who adds to the content of the community through KZbin tends to have their own style or main type of videos they share pertaining to the fandom, and I think your channel stands out among others. The Tolkien community I've found (the true one not the Amazon fanfic one) is generally sharing and just wanting to share their passion with whomever is willing to lend an ear, so I like that a lot of other channels will promote others that too make content on Tolkien or Lord of Th Rings. Thus I was slightly irritated to see you had some slander, but I had to remind myself it's from people that don't wish to be educated on the actual source material and don't know how to not say nice things. So, here's a just a lovely comment to offset that. Thank you for your work in the community, including the mods that you've built, and hope you keep up the hard work. :)

[@CounciloftheRings]

Thank you! Are you saying other Tolkien channels are slandering me? I haven’t noticed that, if that is the case 🤔

[@weiwuxian3116]

@@CounciloftheRings Oh no haha, at the beginning of your video there was some comments you posted saying you sounded boring.

[@yiklinkhoo]

My main issue is that it is impossible to swim in a straight line without a reference point. So Galadriel would be swimming in a huge circle essentially.

[@batiris]

Doesn't matter when you can spawn boats and ships to save her ;) Deux Ex Machina

[@Composure_Official]

!!!(LOTR SPOILERS)!!! I would say stars could help. but the scene looked a little foggy for stars. The distance threw me off on how far she was from land, but I am using TROTK as a reference point as the gate to "elf heaven" looked really, really close to shore in the last scene.

[@MrHatandClogs77]

Finally a reviewer that isn't being paid off. Thanks man. Don't worry about the trolls. They go away if you don't feed them.

[@barbara5770]

I didn't like when Galadriel saw the raft and to hide the fact that she's an elf simply covered her hears, I was thinking this is the proof that for Amazon the only distinction between men and elves are pointy ears wtf. Anyway keep doing the reviews, I liked the one for the first episode too.

[@sommmeguy]

She is very short for an elf from JRRT. Maybe the director grew up with the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual.

[@duncanlutz3698]

@@sommmeguy Which is even worse because Galadriel was noted as being the tallest of elven women... she's just shy of 2 meters tall and well over 6 feet. In fact, one of her names is "Nerwen/Man-Maiden" on account of how uncharacteristically tall she was, even for an elf. The actress cast to play Galadriel is an entire foot shorter than her book description. However, this is the least of RoP's problems concerning the character...

[@jowbloe3673]

*Rings of Power* had *HUGE* potential, that has gone completely unrealized.

[@CounciloftheRings]

I think it's a shame they didn't cover the Fall of Arnor or the Kin-strife. All of that lore is in the appendices 😫

[@valentin7693]

It really didn't tho, they didn't have the rights so it was going to be shit from the start

[@Skabanis]

When you have as much hubris as these asstwats do, what expectations do you have…

[@spencerfrankclayton4348]

It was doomed from the beginning.

[@TsarNick1995]

@@valentin7693 Amazon is stupid for paying 250 million for the rights. To not even get the rights to the books they are trying to portray.

[@WolfeRavenwood]

I am a simple Rohirrim, this is depressing me, but when i see a Council of the Rings video, i still click a like.

[@CounciloftheRings]

And likewise!

[@Maryondo]

Rohan is strong. It will surivive whatever it has to face.

[@justincampbell8903]

Favorite Tolkien channel, especially since Nerd of the Rings has sold out to Prime. Keep the content coming!

[@CounciloftheRings]

Thank you! Despite Nerd of the Rings' love for the series, I still think he has made a lot of excellent lore videos :)

[@bolognabong]

It was disappointing for me to see as well, but I kind of saw it coming. At least Men of the West stuck to their principles.

[@aaron2557]

@@CounciloftheRings Yes, but never be a sellout. Loyalty takes you long long ways.

[@dustyh5599]

Even though you can tell he's holding his tongue, if you read between the lines you cant tell hes very disappointed.

[@bluewhitespartan5258]

Just go deeper into the rabbit hole. I watch your green gras while you Go deeper. Sun is shining nice btw. Hows down there?

[@Cristov123]

Why Amazon even attempted to make a billion dollar series without the rights to the lore they needed is beyond me. It's clear they're suffering from firing Shippey, as their writers seem to have less knowledge of the lore than even an average Tolkien fan. It's honestly impressive how bad this show has been thus far. You almost have to try to make LoTR this boring.

[@mschrag8234]

Why do orcs make a tunnel into a barn? Why does some stranger arrive in a meteor? Why does evil get introduced as black milk goo from a cow? Why would anyone jump off a ship 100s of miles away where they want to go? Why don't the dwarf women have beards? I could go on and on but the overall theme of these shows seems to be a bunch of events strung together that absolutely make no sense. As I noted in a review someplace else, I may tune back in to root for the orcs.

[@PaM07675]

My guesses are the orcs are not able to stand the sunlight yet. They only can live in the darkness? We arent supposed to find out who the strange is by episode 2, we’ll have to stay tuned to find out. Evil has been infecting all of nature, the leaf being corrupted, fire not giving off warmth, and the grass being poisoned of which the cow was eating. I only saw 1 female dwarf, and she had sidechops that went down pretty far, I dont think its a big deal that every female dwarf needs a full beard. Because she seemingly changed her mind at the last minute. And just because in the first 2 episodes, all the characters and scenes we start off with dont seem to connect at all, does not mean they wont connect as the show goes on.

[@soup_doctor]

A lot of these questions can still be answered in the show. We are literally one week in. The jumping ship thing was indeed stupid though.

[@thepopestar9135]

1. They can’t be in the sunlight and don’t want to be seen by the elves. 2. No one knows that yet so posing that question as a criticism is silly. If you want to say that the concept in itself is stupid without even having a clue what it turns out to be, you’re probably a bit short-sighted. 3. To show that it is spreading like a sickness. There is nothing wrong with that and you know it, especially considering how awesome the orc is introduced just a bit later. 4. Because she’s a powerful elf that knows that if she doesn’t Middle Earth may be destroyed. 5. You‘ve got a point there, I think it’s for aesthetic reasons and it didn’t bother me because I don’t go crying in Internet comment sections about the slightest inconveniences. You are right though, and the short hair of the elves is also kind of stupid.

[@catherinehiley3274]

Perhaps they are mole orcs.gotta give the hob sorry harfeet something to do,got to give the elf a reason to stay and investigate ,Galadriel gotta meet the raft and get to numenor somehow, I really don’t mind the female beard thing it could look odd most of your questions can be answered as plot convienience hope this helps

[@UnwindUK]

The problem we have here is that a very large number of people are intentionally looking for things to hate/dislike about the show, and once they have, they look no further, as they have already found what they're looking for. This is very much a psychological issue (confirmation bias/herd mentality) - people will even go to the extent that they abandon their own reasoning, and find problems and issues where there really aren't any, or where ordinarily they would make a negligible impact on their opinion. This is not in EVERY case I'll admit, and I'm not saying this applies to OP here, but it's certainly true in the majority of critiques of the show.

[@johnconcerto8721]

Love your reviews. I'm still in shock as to how they expected us to just accept that Galadriel was to swim, from what I have worked out, could be about 1,600 to 2,000 miles back to Middle Earth.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Yeah that was the most absurd thing to include 😂

[@Maryondo]

I did some research... Given that we know that Númenor sits between ME and Valinor, but closer to Valinor than to ME, and using the map that Amazon provided... Númenor is around 1200 miles away from ME. So there are AT LEAST another 1000 miles towards Valinor. Which brings us to a distance of roughly 2200 miles. Taken that we know that 2200 miles might not be enough, we can quite safely assume that she was at least 2200 miles away from ME and any landmass when she jumped out of the boat.

[@rennmaxbeta]

How did not one person in the production call that out?

[@johnthomas4868]

@@rennmaxbeta Sadly, I think it's because no one at Amazon gives a f*** about the lore, or anything making sense or being believable.

[@PaM07675]

@@Maryondo If she was “only” 1000 miles from Numenor, she still didnt even make it there. She probably didnt even make it halfway there. She got to catch a ride on some driftood and ride the current for who knows how long. And even then, it seemed like they still didnt even reach Numenor. It seemed like they ran into a Numenorian ship, which couldve been anywhere. But even if all that reasoning doesnt check out, she is an elf, not a human. Dont elves have some physical superiority over humans? Especially someone like Galadriel who has been alive and in peak shape for centuries? I dont know why this was such a big deal…

It’s clear from your reviews that you know and respect Tolkien’s works. It seems these days we have to consume any product without questioning it’s quality. I miss those days in which we consumed art instead. That’s the difference between the books and this pathetic tv series.

[@coffeebreakhero3743]

there was never a time in which corporations didn't control entertainment to an extent. Disney is filled with contemporary messages. older cartoons are filled with supremacist messages. even ancient theater was like this. to a more innocent extent, even children stories. most religious myths It is the gross industrialization of it that shows, less deniably, the intentions behind it. amazon is nothing if not efficient (to their virtue as well). could be a lot worse... history's efficient evil is much worse than this. I hope amazon somehow buys the silmarilion and manages to do something... oops rant

[@bluewhitespartan5258]

Yeah. But Dunning and Kruger also said that the stupid do not know that they are stupid because they are stupid. So how do you know that you are not stupid if you are only among the most stupid of your kind. Ofc you would think you are not stupid. But hell ... to me you dont look smart at all. Just think about it ... hell no ... maybe its just a waste of time for you.

[@Tar-Elenion]

*Elrond is now an Oathbreaker. He promised *Galadriel that even if a hint of whisper came that might confirm her belief, he would take up her quest. *Gil-galad confirms to *Elrond that *Galadriel is correct. *Elrond goes off with *Celebrimbor...

[@CounciloftheRings]

😂😂

[@Enerdhil]

Hey. Elrond is still under the Command of the benevolent dictator Gil-galad. He had to go pretend he cared about Durin IV's friendship.

[@kaiyuewang9504]

Aragorn is an oathbreaker, he sworn to Frodo that he will have his sword, but let him off alone to Mordor

[@Enerdhil]

@@kaiyuewang9504 Actually, Frodo made the decision to part with Aragorn's sword.

[@kaiyuewang9504]

@@Enerdhil Actually, Gil-Galad revealed that evil may still exist.

[@KyleWilliamsMusic1]

Amazon could’ve easily done a third age war in the north type of movie. I don’t know why they chose the one part of the literature they didn’t have rights to!

[@HesAliveJim]

I don't know what everyone's talking about - I sat down to watch this after work and it was the best sleep I ever had! Seriously though; great video.

[@ncthriller4465]

I keep hearing people say that they liked the dwarves. I didn't. Moria was done better by Jackson. The dialog was atrocious. And the stone smashing is lame. The entire show shouldn't exist. It does nothing well but cgi wide view landscape shots. Also, the fast traveling is just pathetic. In The Hobbit and LOTR, middle earth itself acts as an antagonist. The distances, the paths they must take, the environments, the inhabitants. All added a sense of scale for the events taking place that the story follows. The fast travel is so careless. Zero consideration of time. Zero consideration for geographic position in regards to other characters existing in the "story". Tolkien deserves better.

[@Twin-jl1bi]

Yeah I don't hate it it's just boring LOL, I really want to like it I wanted it to be good it's just not.

[@CounciloftheRings]

yeah it saddens me too. I'm curious how many of the fan-boys that will find it boring after some more episodes

[@umessi10]

This is the only HONEST rings of power review on KZbin. You are the only one calling out silly plot for what they really are.

[@cirobohrer1483]

So 2 episodes later and we're still trapped in the trailers. "Hole" plot is Galadriel and Sauron playing hide and seek. If they don't develop any sort of storyline after ep 4 I guess I'll give up and follow the show through review channels. Your reviews are better than the show lol.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Hahaha thanks! At least I try to add some humour 😂😂

[@anwynoakenshield]

That's literally what I'm doing. Which is also what I did for later seasons of GoT.

[@gonzaloetse29]

It's 2 episodes or did I miss something?

[@SK-xw2hu]

I quit the show after 2nd episode

[@cirobohrer1483]

@@gonzaloetse29 yeah I misclicked. tnks

[@Trygvar13]

Boring is the comment I hear the most from people I know who watched it. And it fits like a glove. I'm really disappointed in this boring series. It could have been so great but it ended up being Chronicles of Shannara 2.0. I just couldn't undestand what I was watching. This has nothing to do with Tolkien. I won't be watching any more of it but I will keep watching reviews.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Glad if you found the review less boring 😂

[@ChaosTheory666]

_"What sort of tree is it, exactly?"_ _"A seedling of our Great Tree in Lindon. The very symbol of our people's strength and vitality."_ It's definitely meant to be a Mallorn tree, but it makes absolutely no sense. More so since Mellyrn wouldn't grown in Lindon.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Exactly

[@timk6181]

It's just so empty. It's a beautiful puff of air. It's actually bizarre how little weight anything that happens has.

[@mariaangelitaanderson469]

I think you are doing a awesome job keeping it clean and pretty objective. Take constructive criticism don't listen to any hate... haters will hate, just shake it off!

[@sunsin1592]

Their biggest mistake was thinking they could make this show at all, given what they actually have the rights to. It would be nearly impossible for anyone, however talented, to make a show from this, let alone this group of inexperienced hacks. Individual chapters from "The Silmarillion" might work, but even there, it would be tough without context. The posthumous novels, like "Children of Hurin" could work. But this? Just no.

[@bluezauza]

Have you watched Tolkien Untangled videos where he gives his view of what it could have been with the material available ? There's two and they are in their selves a masterpiece. If only for the fun of sharing ideas, they are worth watching.

[@lauras6762]

With the limited material they have the rights to, maybe it would have been better for them to have done a miniseries.

[@JulieMoran1832]

Oh, I dunno.. they haver rights to the Wheel of Time books and have managed to make me hate it. Money can't buy heart and there is no heart in this show or anything they do.

[@stue2298]

I think your scoring is a little generous but you give logical reason for it. The best part of the show has been with the dwarves but the manifactured drama written by a teenage girl was horrible. The 2 elves having a nice sunday afternoon stroll to Moria, no costume changes, no travel gear, no horses or retinue for these important people and no weapons, if looks so cheap like the budget was tight and can't afford all these things to make the world and travel seam believable, not sure where the 50+ million per episode went perhaps they have spent it on later episodes.

[@Maryondo]

In regards to the stroll to Khazad-dûm I mention that everywhere I can too. According to my *rough* calculations, this "stroll" would have taken 16-24 days. 3 full weeks probably. And nothing prepared for that as you mentioned. Just like they are visiting the neighbours next door. ... not even a single guard for 2 nobles of royal families...

[@stue2298]

@@Maryondo This is why this show feel like the people that made it have no care for the world or story or lore. I understand they don't have rights to all the lore, this is where Tom Shippey would have been an assest to have. He could have hinted at the lore without breaking the contract.

[@Maryondo]

@@stue2298 And even if we let the lore and stuff out: The scene we talked about does not require any knowledge of any kind of lore. Just some healthy common sense. It's these simple yet easy to do details that make a world believable - or in this case: not.

[@mikestanmore2614]

I came to your channel only recently, but have since binged quite a bit of your material. You are very well read and your content is well produced. Overall, I'd give your videos 10/10.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Thanks! You are too kind! I still wish to improve a lot

[@mikestanmore2614]

@@CounciloftheRings Well, you've started off well and you're certainly moving in the right direction. I remember reading the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales when they first came out, and there was literally no-one around me to talk to about them. Now there are thousands, or even millions, many of whom (like yourself) know it far better than I do. I might loathe RoP, but the longevity of the Tolkien fandom gives me hope for the future of his myths.

[@MilosMilutinovicNS]

I actually have to disagree with you on the "elevator" scene. It was meant to be cute but it reminded me of some old married couple. However, Durin was pissed because Elrond did not come to the wedding or hasn't visited. But did he invite him at all or did he expect him to have telepathic powers and just come? The rest I agree 110%: it's boring uninteresting, predicable and skewed towards Guyladriel showing us just how great she is. They try the mystery thing for the second time now and I am like: why is that so important? Why do I care? I am afraid that the set-up will have no pay out but I am willing to sit the first season through.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Yeah it was far from perfect, but compared to the rest of the episode I at least opened an eye 😂 - I’m mainly curious to know why and how they met. So that’s probably why I found it better

[@TR-sg9jc]

You mean green goblin, not Elrond. Lol

[@Maryondo]

"But did he invite him at all or did he expect him to have telepathic powers and just come?" This.

[@Neeeg]

I just couldn’t fathom two battle-hardened warriors squabbling over high school drama. But then I remembered this isn’t Middle Earth anymore…

[@MilosMilutinovicNS]

@@Neeeg battle-hardened? Apparently, Elrond reads books and takes looong walks in the nature and Durin is a tree-growing wuss.

[@based6914]

My brother and I are both quite ravenous fans of the channel. We love your lore posts and quizzes as we have both been fans of the Tolkien Universe for years now. You’re doing a great job here and we find your videos entertaining, hilarious and insightful. Keep doing what you’re doing, the audience is here for it.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Thank you! Glad to hear that 😁🙏

[@Hero_Of_Old]

Most sane people agree with you mate and understand the cultural desecration going on here. Ignore the shills and consoooomers

[@swordmonkey6635]

I appreciate your lore-reverent take on the series instead of the typical KZbin reviewer's "I never read any of the books, but I saw the movies when I was a kid and I loved them! Why is everyone so mad about the lore?" lol People who are happy to embrace lore for Game of Thrones (because they read one or more of the books) poo poo LoTR fans for having problems with the Rings of Power. Subbed.

[@falkovon9135]

Elrond and Celebrimbor just WALKED to Khazad-Dum ? on foot ? with no escort ? with not even backpacks or anything ?!!!

[@CounciloftheRings]

Yeah took like 5 minutes apparently 🤣

[@msanjelica]

They got the jet packs from the last few seasons of Game of Thrones. Zip you right across a continent in about 5 minutes.

[@istari0]

@@CounciloftheRings And that was despite there being no road or even a real path leading to that entry. The dwarves apparently just put an entrance to their kingdom in the middle of nowhere.

[@aurex8937]

As for Khazad-Dum being like a videogame, it actually is. It was plagiarized from Valammar, a lost Dwarven Thaig in Dragon Age Inquisition.

[@kingdomofcapybaras6850]

Still no reviews on the Amazon site I see. I wonder how long they will keep that up...

[@CounciloftheRings]

Yeah I wonder too

[@squaeman_2644]

As long as the show exists.

[@Enerdhil]

That's how Cultural Marxists roll.

[@squaeman_2644]

The reaction of fans, and this shows flop remind me of Tulkas and his laughter when he goes after Melkor. Because this show has unintentionally become a comedy.

[@snowlothar45]

I really wanted to like this series, and am holding out for future episodes, but losing faith. Your review is echoing my thoughts.

[@aaron2557]

At IGN I said if Amazon stayed true to Tolkiens vision Amazon would be getting praises from everywhere and raking in the money. The show would have been a phenomenon! But they deleted my comment and censored me for a while.

[@sethnaffziger1402]

Thank you for sticking to your guns and remaining true to Tolkien and his works. So many channels lost my interest and support after joining the shill train. Also they don't really make any content I don't already know lol

[@oscarstainton]

The only way the Stranger can not be Gandalf is if he turns out to be the Man in the Moon from the Prancing Pony song.

[@Maryondo]

Ha, good one! :D

[@paulmercia9109]

Thank you. I enjoy your channel, including your reviews of ROP, and watch because of your vast knowledge about the Professor and of his lore. In fact, I'm not watching ROP (cancelled my Prime account) but watch your reviews because each time I learn a few more tidbits about the lore. IMHO yours and a handful of other YT channels (whose knowledge is similar to yours) are the only honest reviews of ROP. There are several YT channels who have piled on the hate over ROP's wokeness which is too easy and now tiresome. Please keep the reviews coming. Thanks again.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Thanks for watching! 🤗🙏

[@altal2993]

Your no hater. I suspect like us all we'd hoped that thus show would be a masterpiece to rival the films( I loved the films by the books of course are better) they had the opportunity, the budget and indeed the road map to create a show that would be timeless and be hailed for years as a classic. Those no-mark show runners would be immortal. Insted (likely because they are talentless, bad robot trainees) they created a poorly written show, bereft of anything compelling.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Yeah I truly hoped it would be amazing

[@altal2993]

@@CounciloftheRings ok, finished your review..........let's just say, other than names, this is not lore,not Tolkien..... that now said...trying being positive, I thought the Orc was brilliant...before they were just canon fodder who win by sheer numbers.... now just 1 Orc is dangerous and scary...... great concept..... I actually liked Disa...... and liked the Dwarves..... The rest was just cringe rubbish.... I'll let others rip it a new one. Thank you for the time on this

[@altal2993]

@FatalPiesYou would be correct if this was based on Tolkien's work. I've reconciled to the fact that, these idiot have created a wholly new show, but kept the characters names and place names..... I've long since stopped looking at this as a Tolkien adapted show. If I put my Tolkien goggles back on for a moment, I'd say the entire show is the worst show I've ever seen. None of it, other than names and place is Tolkien, let alone law. Like I said, I'll let other destroy the show for that. I'm just trying see good points in this awful show... but yes, your point is conceded my friend... :)

[@pe137isf]

The modern haircuts is what bothers me the most

[@dreioo8759]

Your passion for Middle Earth history inspires me to dive deeper into the books. Thanks for the detailed reviews and explanations!

[@CounciloftheRings]

Glad to hear it! Let me know if you need guidance! I also got a couple of book reviews on Patreon if that has any interest ☺️

[@dreioo8759]

@@CounciloftheRings You got me interested. I'll check it out, thank you!

[@Justusson]

What is it with the electric machine buzz cuts among the elves,..? 🧐

[@ristomanasiev4077]

You should not worry about those who complain about your reviews. Everything you say is spot on, people who complain simply don't know better. You are doing great, keep up the good work!

[@seltaeb9691]

They are not complaining but giving THEIR review. It seems democracy on social media is to only vote one way - your way. Democracy is all about freedom of speech which is being censored by social media.

[@metallica520771]

I'd say they're outright malicious. Some of them even admit that they didn't even watch his review, wich means that their allegations about him are just assumptions on their part.

[@blackmantis3130]

@@seltaeb9691 lolx. Their reviews can also be questioned or ignored can they not? The commenter hasn't said the shouldn't be allowed to give their , he is saying the content creator shouldn't let the negativity feedback get to him. Don't confuse yourself

[@mspointyears]

Just a personal thing, and not at all important in the grand scheme of things, but the elves having short hair really bothers me. It just seems out of place to me. On another note, I've really enjoyed your honest and thoughtful reviews. Thanks!

[@ecthelionofthefountain8267]

Great video Council of the Rings! I would have given episode 2 3/10 as well. It's so good to see honest youtubers with a focus on Tolkien's actual lore.

[@Maryondo]

I gave it 2/10 and felt kinda bad... but to be fair, it was no total disaster, besides the lore.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Thanks! and thanks for being such an important member of this little Tolkien community! 🤗

[@ecthelionofthefountain8267]

@@Maryondo Wow! You are more critical than me, and I thought I was critical. Would have given episode 1 a 2/10 though. The lore and world is unrecognisable to me.

[@ecthelionofthefountain8267]

@@CounciloftheRings Thank you, very happy to be a part of it 😀

[@Enerdhil]

If I rated the first two episodes based on lore accuracy I would give them 0.5 and 0. I have assumed that from day zero. As its own series, I think 3 is a bit harsh. Was the acting really a 4? I thought every actor perfectly played their part besides Theo and Bronwyn. They they were unwatchable. Unless you know what the acting was supposed to look like, you can't blame the actors unless the performance was so obviously bad. Dísa was great, IMO. Anyway, that is why folks on the other side think we are all haters. And they may have a point. Don't give a low score without explaining exactly how you arrived at that number. Do you really think the second episode was worse than the first one? No way. My wife talked me into watching the series with her and she bailed after 15 minutes of episode one.

[@favioruiz6468]

Best reviewer of this blasphemous series. Thank you.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Thanks!

[@ChaosTheory666]

I concur. I see many going all in on the woke angle of things. It's not like that's irrelevant, but they take it to weird levels.

[@wheresjc]

They could have written all kinds of stories without throwing away what little bit of canon we have. They could have dressed up the 2A skeleton any way they wanted but they chose to hang their story on a half-baked dream instead.

[@darrenhall7454]

‘Smoking too much Old Toby’ 😂 Perfect, well said.

[@Maryondo]

For me it was some serious disrespect towards Old Toby :( :D

[@AoyagiAichou]

I find it interesting how people openly talk about accents but not about ethnicity of the cast. Not a jab at you, just the times we live in. I'm a new subscriber as well, I just wish I found this channel long before RoP.

[@unitedstatesofmordor]

Well, there is that one immensely wonderful thing you pointed out about the series that yet fills me with hope, looking forward. Thanks again for sharing in brief glimmers, through so much unbroken grey, that angular ray of promising brilliance, beaming forth from your parting comment. "...that they do not have the rights to The Silmarillion."

[@ByakuyaKB]

This is the best break down and video review, thank you for giving us information about the lore and everything else!

[@CounciloftheRings]

Glad you liked it! 🤗

[@matthewmaroney8486]

My friend you have said all the words we all want to say but have been too disappointed to express. Thank you sir

[@ink2862]

Please don’t listen to the shills!! This show is trash, thank you CotR for exposing this garbage. HOLD THE LINE. We don’t lower our standards like Marvel and SW fans. LOTR fans are one of a kind! Don’t let Amazon silence your criticism on imdb, rotten tomatoes, or on Prime itself. GONDOR CALLS FOR AID AGAINST THE DARK LORD BEZOS

[@phueal]

Yeah... by all means pursue your vendetta and try and ruin it for the rest of us. Why do you care? If you don't like the series then don't watch it. The fact that you consider this some kind of righteous battle in which you're fighting to destroy a TV series is totally unhinged.

[@ink2862]

@@phueal My vendetta doesn't affect your enjoyment of the show bubba. You have your opinion. Unfortunately, it's the wrong opinion Also, some of us have standards when it comes to source material and quality of shows. You can go on enjoying your CW content, watching legacy characters get destroyed by mega franchises like Obi Wan. Continue praising shit content and you'll get shit content. The difference between you and I is that I look towards Peter Jackson's trilogy as the standard, you look to She Hulk as the standard. We aren't the same.

[@zatchbell5678]

@@phueal if you need other people to like something for you to like it, I don't think you actually like it.

[@phueal]

@@zatchbell5678 I don’t care if people don’t like it, that’s fine. I care if they then take that dislike and turn it into a campaign to try and stop everyone else having nice things.

[@zatchbell5678]

@@phueal nobody is trying to stop anybody but amazon from making more garbage. We have the right to do that.

[@A.Elbereth.Gilthoniel]

Thank you so much for your insightful review! All of it is a good, solid critique. I should've said it earlier, but sometimes I wish you'd explain a bit more. For example, 'Meteor Man = Gandalf' hypothesis. I've heard that he wasn't in the Middle-Earth at the time, but if you clarified it in a sentence or two (statement+source), I would much appreciate. Sure I can look it up, but your videos are more fun. I guess you have just read so much of the Tolkien legendarium you think all these details are obvious. But I've only read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, so many 'simple' things are new to me. Again, thank you for your work!

[@CounciloftheRings]

I’m fairly certain I mentioned it in one of the 8 parts released bedore the show aired 😄 My first video on the channel was about the blue wizards, where it gets mentioned too 😁

[@eri5]

No hate. Keep up your opinion. I don't agree with you - BUT I will watch every new analysis from you. 👍

[@phunnyguy9382]

Just finished the silmarillion. Absolutely unbelievable how much potential this show had. It is now Rings of Prime

[@CounciloftheRings]

Indeed! It’s quite a shame

[@shc6228]

Before-dor haha awesome, love you're vids keep up the good work bro.

[@christopherdrekr1078]

The non shill reviews have been the most enjoyable experience connected with this series.

[@NinaNiterose86]

It feels like they made this show not out of love, but rather out of hatred for the original source material, considering the extend to which they butchered the lore.

[@jacob4920]

We thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for enduring this pain, for all of us, so that we may know the actual crap-show this series actually is, without having to watch it ourselves, and endure the torture also. Your sacrifice will be remembered, and will not have been in vain.

[@extraextra6797]

Thank you so much for the honest review! I had to laugh so hard and it makes me so relieved that I am not alone with my bad feelings about the series :D

[@tntbricks4828]

Very much appreciate your reviews! Thank you and keep it up. Cheers from Germany

[@ptitdsf]

i don't post many comments, but since you had some bad ones (which looked like fan boys not acknowledging that this serie is objectively bad), i wanted to praise your videos. your reviews are spot on and you do know your tolkien's lore. keep up the good work friend oh and i really like your voice and your tone too ;)

[@ben_ettedgui]

More fun watching it here bro; low key excited for the next review more than the episode😂

[@cubablue602]

I just love how they view Fëanor as this admirable dude who should be venerated as a craftsman and not the tyrant who instigated unthinkable atrocities and was responsible for the complete downfall and exile of the elves from Aman. Hey, he had a nice hammer lmao. Just another atrocious disregard for lore to add to countless others.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Yeah 💯

[@sweeperboy]

Yes, and even his grandson, Celebrimbor, essentially disowned him, as he didn't continue with the Feanoreans' crazy quest to chase the Silmarils to the ends of Arda.

[@queenberuthiel5469]

Well in this cursed alternate universe (aka fanfiction), the kinslaying never happened. Finrod (maybe even Galadriel ) was implied to swear an oath to go after Morgoth. And Fëanor was a good good guy all along. In the short flashback, Fëanor don't have to abandon anyone and let them cross the grinding ice. They have all the ships that they needed and it looks like a full migration 😂

[@MrChristophSteininge]

Ost in Edhil. Actually it was founded by Galadriel who met Tar Aldarion there and he was the 6. king of Numenore later. It was at a confluence of the Sirannon with a secondary river, I forgot which. The name of the place means actually "place of the high elves". There a sort of an union or guild was founded, the Gwait i Mirdain. Celebrimbor was the guild master, but by no means the lord of the settlement. The guild was founded around the year 1200 of the 2nd age and lasted until 1650 until Ost in Edhil was destroyed by Sauron and his forces. Celebrimbor was killed in the battle. After the complete destruction of the town Galadriel took all survivors to Laurelindorenan (the land of the vale of singing gold) to found another realm there. This was later called Lothlorien, the Dreamflower.

[@anneselby2293]

You sound as weary as I feel! I agree about it looking like a game. I played Lord of the Rings Online, the visuals reminded me of that. Very fair review, thank you!

[@squaeman_2644]

This ultimately shouldn't have been made. I understand why people may want more middle earth, but think of it this way. Tolkien himself stated how it was basically a Catholic/religious work, imagine you had people "adapting" or "interpreting" the Bible. Putting their own jargon and Philosophy into it. Christians would understandably be upset. They likely can't even have Illuvatar or the Valar as they don't even have the rights... In the books, Numenor forgets Eru, and begins to believe he doesn't exist. When Sauron takes over and they build the temple to Morgoth, sacrificing humans, Tolkien describes this as a "Satanic Religion", now think about all the people spouting how you can interpret anything from Tolkien and that they're all valid... It's nonsense... Tolkien was trying to create a myth, and in some way definitely managed. And he's on record with his feelings toward film adaptations, I think it's better to respect the work and retain the themes that the man and his son poured their lives and souls into. Than abuse it after their deaths. Not to mention Peter Jackson actually had the rights to the material he was trying to produce. And is also on record for how he didn't want to put his own baggage into it. These producers on the other hand openly flaunt about how they're going to make the story Tolkien never wrote... Well they've certainly proved themselves.

[@silversong77]

New here 👋 I actually wouldn’t mind watching longer explanations and deeper dives in your explanations 🙂 i am a normie but I’ve always loved Tolkiens stuff even though I don’t know too much about the lore. I started to follow you because I can’t stand reviewers that just like to fuel fire or use it as a pissing contest who rages the most and i find your reviews really well thought out, you clearly understand good storytelling (which is a super interesting angle for me) and can critique it from there really well and your tone of voice is also very good “storyteller like” so it’s nice to listen it 😁 but thanks for the good and quality work you do! I like to learn more about Tolkiens world and the real lore from here so at least the show got me interested to do that more! Oh and btw i heard someone saying that khazad-dum was almost like from Dragon Age games or looking like the games “inspired” it a bit :P

[@Maryondo]

Welcome to the community! He has made more videos about the show, based on the trailers and other stuff that got released prior to the episodes themselves. Feel free to check it out to learn more - also about the lore :) Speaking of the lore feel free ask your questions here or on the Discord servers. Either his own one for KZbin Members, or the one of the Kingdoms of Arda community (A LotR mod for the game Mount & Blade 2 Bannerlord) We talk a lot about the lore there - and about RoP now too of course ^^

[@CounciloftheRings]

Welcome! As Maryondo says above! 😆 I’m trying to keep the explanations down, to not bore people away 😂 I’ll likely dive into some specific elements from the show in seperate videos though. I think there’s some major points that should get called out and explained 😁

[@Evarakeus]

The worst bit about Galadriel almost drowning is that it happens because she decides to tie herself to the raft because. . . plot. Every single scene in the show feels like it just happens because the writers want them to happen. Single mom needs to kill an orc? Sure! Galadriel needs to be saved by Halbrand? Why not! But on closer inspection, none of these scenes follow; single mom kills the orc because she needs the head to prove there's danger, but she already proved there's danger with the cow and the fact that an entire village is missing and burnt down. The townsfolk just refuse to believe her because if they didn't then she'd have no reason to kill the orc, instead likely just leaving it strung up in the rafters like it got halfway through the fight. Galadriel ties herself to the mast for fear of falling overboard (I think?), but that's the worst fucking idea she could have considering the raft's actively falling apart anyway. The only reason she does so is so Halbrand can save her, and make the audience like him. These scenes aren't happening causally to what came before, but instead to artificially direct the narrative in a direction the show-runners want, very much at the detriment to cause/effect

[@TheJmlew11]

Really looking forward to this episode review. Particularly the shows take on the dwarves.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Ahh sadly not a topic I talk too much about :P I had to edit a lot of stuff out to save time, but I didn't dive too much into the dwarves, but there are some things of course 😊

[@basildog007]

Galadriel wants to be a HUNK at all costs, and she's willing to sacrifice everything!!!! EVERYTHING!!! She doesn't want to die a dingus, she wants to live long enough to see herself become a HUNK, and I, for one, can only support that quest. I find it very exciting! Lady Galadriel, future ELF-HUNK Queen, you have my keyboard ♥️

[@cerberus402]

Wow, I've watched like 10 of your videos and I swear I was subscribed before.. Sorry about that! Definitely made sure I subscribed this time!

[@evelioguaperas]

When Halbran dived to save Galadriel and instead of untieing the knot he uses the dagger I couldn't stop laughing. Can you imagine how difficult would cutting such a big rope with a knife? It's also so uneccesary, the could have just made it so he unties the knot.

[@Windgeisel]

Honestly, I might keep watching the show only for your reviews, at this point. Great job mate. Really want to get deeper into the lore now...the true lore 😀

[@hotelsierra86]

Despite all the criticism,I’m impressed by the way they have depicted the Elves. Beautiful,ethereal,almost angelic and not entirely of this world. How did they do that?…..? Well they had the budget,they could have done it. Sadly not.

[@straightjacket308]

The more hate you get for your reviews, the more they reveal how right you are! Honestly I have watched a lot of reviews, from Nerdrotic and Shadiversity, but I like yours because they're shorter and they get right to the point. I may have to start taking notes for this, so that way I can tell other people that want me to watch a show why I'm not going to.

[@ferdinandgonzalez7407]

I think we should all understand this stroy has gone off the rails and has nothing to do with Tolkien's works. These characters are shallow and unlikeable. Boring.

[@damienjstepick]

You were nice in regards to the cinematography considering so much of it is CGI. This show is way too CGI heavy IMHO. I give episode two a solid 1.5/10.

[@CounciloftheRings]

True. I put the CGI stuff in the Visuals though. Cinematography is just general filming techniques etc. Only the horror element was worth mentioning 😆

[@Ian-ib4uf]

One of the things that annoyed me the most is that Halbrand, a human, is taller than a high elf. They don't even bother to adjust the height ratio between man and elf

[@mrarogue]

Some of the comments you get.. False resiculas rubbish.. Love your honesty

[@12Blubb12]

I think, its difficult to compare rings of power with the lore at all now. Because it has simply NOTHING in common with what tolkien has written. The show is nothing else than fanfiction. And even as fanfiction, its garbage.

[@csabas.6342]

I like how Amazon-Elrond and Amazon-Celebrimbor go to Moria, unannounced without a retinue, horses, food and supplies. Thats like 30 km if I am generous... And Amazon-Celebrimbor is like OK you go in there, I'm walking home. I am wondering if the writers and the director even live in the physical realm...

[@Maryondo]

The journey took them about 3 weeks.

[@Vexx4x-4x]

If you can swim thousands of miles from Valinor to Middle Earth, 30km is nothing...

[@JCNvid]

Elron will also survive whatever comes his way. Like Bilbo also survived in the Hobbit. Galadriel, Elrond, Gandalf, Saruman also survived the Hobbit, as well as Legolas. That was the least of the problems with it. The "galadriel/nothing at stake" thing, for me, is not a solid argument. Its a prequel and one of the characters will survive. What is interesting, for me, are the things the character goes through that allow me to get a better feeling why the character is a certain way when i first met her. PS: being left a sea away and having to swim back is stupid.

[@corypixl1922]

A female Frodo...Why do these directors and show runners still think it is like some brave and revolutionary choice to put a woman in every role? There is a way to write good women characters. I liked Black Widow from the MCU Linda Hamilton in T2. They always make these women insufferable in the shows deliberately pushing "female empowerment".

[@rhysproudmourne1646]

I like how your detractors were defending this swill by saying "They don't have the right to anything." Well if that's the case, why on earth did they pay 250 million dollars for the rights to the appendices, half of which were about the second age, then take those 60 or so pages and try and make a 50 episode show out of it in the first place if they couldn't do it? Their defense only shows why the show shouldn't have been made in the first place. What a waste of a billion dollars.

[@rangerone8813]

I don't know what you take when you pause to treat yourself, but whatever it is, have some on me. You are truly one of the Faithful.

[@tempagencyvideos6289]

Read those comments at the start of the video and decided I’d sub because you do a great job of breaking down solid points that take away from the episode.I went in hating so many ideas of the show but came away just disappointed. The look of the elves is my main issue, but also it’s so boring. Keep doing what you’re doing I’m loving your knowledge of the lore.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Glad you enjoy it! And welcome to the community 🤗

[@davidcoleman757]

Nailed that one. The frustration is that there was a great tale to be told if the writers had been more capable. At this point they have a lot of work to do to turn things around. I'm not holding my breath.

[@CorePathway]

To improve their product they would have to admit it is sub-par. I don’t think these people are constitutionally capable of any substantive change in short order.

[@NinjaMidget1969]

I laughed when I saw the 'sea monster'. It looks like a rejected design concept from Sharknado.

[@nole8923]

Even if you take away the race swapping it’s still a dumpster fire. Celebrimbor is an old man with pointed ears? What the hell is that? All the elves look like humans with pointed ears. And I’m just talking about how unrepresentative the characters looked compared to how Tolkien described them. The roles they played in ROP is completely different than what Tolkien wrote. Galadriel didn’t lead armies. Gilgalad and Elrond did. And Harfoots are hobbits and didn’t exist in the second age. And the timeline of Numenor Amazon just completely jacked it up. The arrogance and hubris of those two douchebag show runners thinking they could write a better story than Tolkien is intolerable. It belongs on mystery science theatre 3000.

[@Richie13NL]

I would watch the Mystery Science episode about this Haha

[@roskelld]

Amazon's Lord of the Rings: _"Frodo, we need to take the ring to Mordor"_ Shire: Frodo exits scene left. Mordor: Frodo enters scene right. _"Pop it in and we'll be back for supper"_

[@Fedorevsky]

These creators clearly grew up on videogames with fast travel options.

[@cottawalla]

It's like shopping at IKEA and your partner has a list while you just want to browse. They keep dragging you through the hidden short cuts towards the exit.

[@Lethargic_Ghost]

Keep it coming man, appreciate all your content.

[@ingold1470]

The non-canon character names sound like something I'd make up for my character in a Mount and Blade mod. Maybe even the writing departments are short-staffed

[@rio20d]

CoTR keep doing the reviews man, ignore those fake fans or trolls that flame you , they can't just accept the truth of how Amazon has vandalized Tolkien works, really enjoyed your videos , and that's why I subbed to you long ago. You do know what you're talking about and the knowledge you have about Tolkien lore really help even for purist but also for normies who probably never read the books but only watched PJ LoTR.

[@CmRoddy]

After finishing the first two episodes, my wife and I went into the third episode and agreed to “see this show as just below average fan fiction. It’s not Tolkien canon.” But even with this mindset we just can’t believe how bad the writing is as a show. Even if this was a new intellectual property, a new fantasy show written from an original perspective, the writing is just horrifically bad.

[@Brug98]

I really hate the fact that Celebrimbor and Elendil are alive at the same time. The timeline is completely messed up. Imagine skipping all those years.

[@Maryondo]

Yupp. Celebrimbor died 1697 SA. Elendil was active in Númenore around 3250 SA.

[@childrenoftolkien]

And the whole history of Numenor was established in a few hundred years. According to this time compression Elros should still be alive since he lived 410 years.

[@Maryondo]

@@childrenoftolkien Hmm how do you come to this result? My earliest estimate for the show was around 750 SA.

[@Enerdhil]

They WERE alive at the same time, just 1700 years early. Welcome to the Amazonian world of compressed timelines.

[@Enerdhil]

@@childrenoftolkien They are actually compressing the timeline by character not events. This makes it possible for Galadriel to fall in love with Halbrand.🙄