Drinker's Chasers - Season 1: Sauron is Cringe, Galadriel is Dumb

So after watching an entire season of Rings of Power, we've been able to determine a couple of things with absolute certainty.
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[@FruitPunch2103]

Deleting Galadriel's husband and child for this lousy romance plot is such a crime

[@AmericanZergling]

You're not thinking about this like a fanfic girl... Galadriel and Sauron are going to fight throughout Season 2, but just as they're beginning to make things up between them and discover that old spark, Celeborn is going to show up again. Now Galadriel's heart is trapped between the Dark Man she can save and the Good Man who's best for her (you know... her husband). Of course she will have to make the 'wise' choice (you know... her husband) but that leaves all the Eric fans -- I mean Sauron fans, to wonder if only she stayed with him, then the Dark Lord may not have ended up so dark.

[@TGuard00014]

@@AmericanZergling Just once I want to read a story like that which ends accurately. She chooses the bad boy and then dies in a totally foreseeable act of domestic violence. Or for a slightly less dark ending she simply lives with the abuse and then becomes a wine box drinking alcoholic to cope.

[@MrToren01]

@@AmericanZergling the scary part is the writers are probably looking at your comment and taking notes.

[@amandag5072]

@@AmericanZergling Galadriel's daughter should already have been born by this time, yet she's not even mentioned once.

[@jamielandis4308]

Nah. Amazon has a limited series to bridge the gap called “The Celeborn Identity.” He’s an amnesiac elf traveling Middle Earth in search of his identity.

[@YouJGSousa]

The writers keep forgetting that Galadriel isn’t actual a 30 year old woman.

[@bradcarver8127]

You haven’t seen what she’s seen.

[@Senneru13]

Her behavior would be hard to justify even for a 30-year old.

[@jrconway3]

@@Senneru13 It makes sense for a modern 30 year old woman unfortunately.

[@RageDaug]

Exactly this, though to nitpick, I would say she acts closer to 20. But to your point, she doesn't act like the thousands of years old Elf that she is. Oh yeah, and did you know that there is a tempest in her? Apparently some folks did not know this, so she makes sure to tell them.

[@obi-wanshinobi2353]

With the mentality you of a 14 year old who’s figured out life completely.

[@Morbius_2022]

It’s not a post-modern show unless the only nice and respectful guy is actually a dark lord in disguise.

[@Eisendergusky]

Funny how that works

[@nont18411]

It’s not a post-modern show. It’s a post-mortem.

[@chasehedges6775]

I guess you can't have a genuinely nice guy character be a nice character, only evil.

[@Darth_Tyranus_]

Mandem in disguise. 🥸

[@VeritasOmniaVincit176]

Specially if he is white

[@SETHthegodofchaos]

I like the part where Galadriel asked Sauron: "What is your name?" "Sauron" "Sauron who?" "Sauron Skywalker"

[@deadprivacy]

I hobbimorbed

[@stuffnsuch631]

Zerong slim shady..

[@walkwithoutrhythm9858]

God damn you.

[@MollyFC]

Sauron: "say my name!" Galadriel: "..... Sauronberg!" Sauron: "you're god damn right." They did say they wanted to make Sauron like Walter White after all!

[@Andreas_42]

It's a trap!

[@androth1502]

imagine the elves who made the best swords and armor for thousands of years didn't know a basic concept of metallurgy that bronze age humans figured out.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

LOL. its a KLAN rally over here! you have critical drinker and his fellow stormfronters all talking out there butts, and their stormfront followers smelling it all up! hey, white supremacists, celebrimbor wasnt being educated on the techniques of smithing. sauron pretended to be innocent and SUGGESTED that this ore's "unique" properties (which were magical) could be amplified using the same techniques that strengthen physical properties. nowhere is it implied that celebrimbor doesnt know about alloys. he was thinking how its MAGIC could be amplified. and halebrand wasnt just some random dude, he was introduced as the KING of the southlands. kings have some STATUS, further, you only predicted he was sauron because you all either read the leaks (babyface literally leaked all the spoilers given by an amazon employee), or you read the silmarillion. for those that didnt, it came as a shock. white supremacy rots your brains!!!

[@androth1502]

@@hydroxyzine1136 that's quiet an imagination you have there. if only you had written the rings of power, it would've been 1.5 stars instead of 1.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

@@androth1502 its stated in the episode. too bad critical drinkers white nationalist base has comprehension problems.

[@nolster1]

Celebrimbor, the legendary master smith, was apparently sick on alloy day. Fortunately, Sauron showed up to fill him in.

[@purefoldnz3070]

this is a show that had ringwraiths before the rings were even created

[@lukehobday5311]

My favourite bit was when Celebrimbor said he wasn't able to do it and Galadriel said "Tony Stark built this in a cave! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!" Awesome TV

[@HDGaminTutorials]

These were funny for awhile but now they are just overly played out

[@trevorp8124]

"So what am I, some kind of Lord of the Rings?"

[@jonathandawson3091]

You no longer need to speak in codes, no one will delete your harshest criticism here

[@skylx0812]

_"...then put HER in CHARGE!"_

[@aldoditommaso9505]

My favourite part was when Sauron said Execute Order 66

[@AtlantaGuns]

Sauron to Celebrimbor: have you tried mixing metals? Also Sauron to Picasso: have you tried mixing colors? Sauron to Gordon Ramsay: have you tried adding salt and pepper? 😂😂😂

[@bloodlinefilms]

“Sauron, its bland…. And its FUCKING RAW! You DONUT!”

[@hydroxyzine1136]

!hey, white supremacists, celebrimbor wasnt being educated on the techniques of smithing. sauron pretended to be innocent and SUGGESTED that this ore's unique properties (which were magical) could be amplified using the same techniques that strengthen physical properties. nowhere is it implied that celebrimbor doesnt know about alloys. he was thinking how its MAGIC could be amplified. and halebrand wasnt just some random dude, he was introduced as the KING of the southlands. kings have some STATUS further, you only predicted he was sauron because you all either read the leaks (babyface literally leaked all the spoilers given by an amazon employee), or you read the silmarillion. for those that didnt, it came as a shock. white supremacy rots your brains!!!

[@MoffatLee]

@@hydroxyzine1136 The King of a few villages with about 100 people living there total, so much STATUS. Celebrimbor is a smith with thousands of years of experience, the idea that he wouldn't contemplate making an alloy, for the purpose you mentioned, until some random dude turns up and suggests it is stupid. If you're THE expert on a subject and you encounter something new it's obvious and logical that you would consider how the things you already know would interact with the new thing. Also, reminder that Halbrand was 'severely' wounded and then proceeded to ride hard for 6 days without either dying or having Galadriel, another elf with THOUSANDS of years of experience, immediately thinking he's sus. Whatever you're on rots your brain.

[@bloodlinefilms]

@@hydroxyzine1136 yeah im a metal worker. A few years now. I work with a guy who has 20 years welding/smithing/forging experience. The conflict in that scene was they were pretending figuring out alloys was hard for a skilled metalworker of some 2000 years. And then on top of that the alloy they came up with all 3 rings came out different colors. Doesnt take a genius or even our combined experience to realize thats stupid. Why dont you stack up your chromosomes and your IQ and leap from one to the other and remove yourself from the genepool you hack shill.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

@@bloodlinefilms you're an incel who subscribes to white nationalist channels. that scene had zero to do with figuring out how alloys could strengthen physical properties, but MAGICAL properties. celebrimbor in the prior scenes calls the properties unique (magical) and rejects sauron's idea that alloys could "stretch" it to which sauron acts humble and speaks about how he saw nichol strengthen iron where he grew up, and then suggests to celebrimbor that perhaps the right metal could do the same for mithril unique properties (which were magical and not physical). does that COMPUTE!?

[@keiichi8191]

Sauron in the lore: Presents himself in fair form to the elves as the Lord of Gifts sent by the Valar, and spends hundreds of years ingratiating himself with them and showing them how to make minor rings of magic before ultimately fooling Celebrimbor into forging the rings of power. Sauron in Amazon's abortion: "Hey, have you ever thought about melting the mithril and combing it with other metals?"

[@hydroxyzine1136]

you forgot, Sauron to celebrimbor -- power over flesh and power of the unseen world, part of that can be contained in a circular object like a crown or ring. already more detail than tolkien's vague ring-lore.

[@jrconway3]

@@hydroxyzine1136 Then they should have showed that, with Sauron messing with his mind afterwards to make him forget about that part of the conversation. But it still happened far too quickly.

[@declanjones8888]

@@jrconway3 Don't listen to that idiot, I've seen him in other comments, and he hasn't faired well.

[@Master_Yoda1990]

Exactly! The source material would've made a great series, but no we can't have anything nice without someone butchering it and piecing it together as their own "special" Frankenstein's monster.

[@AvatarJian]

I was waiting for Anataar to show up but nope

[@trevorp8124]

When Celebrimbor said to Halbrand "So what are you, some kind of Lord of the Rings?" is definitely when the series won me over

[@stormsand9]

It's lordin time!

[@marbellaotaiza801]

Best-thread-ever

[@oldelev5340]

@@Unsubscribe-from-me I mean... that one's actually true.

[@VeritasOmniaVincit176]

My 8 years old nephew figured out that Halbrand was a villain. I asked him “how can you tell?” And he said “because he acts fishy”. That goes to show how on the nose the writing is in this series that a child could see the “twist” coming. Edit: my nephew was introduced to the Peter Jackson Trilogy last year and became obsessed with them, so he wanted to watch Amazon’s series (that bored him out of his mind). He didn’t click that Halbrand was Sauron, but he deduced he was a “bad guy” very early on. If I remember correctly, during the last scene he pointed out that Halbrand is “too small to be Sauron”, because in his mind the dark lord is a 10’ tall giant in a spiky armor swinging a huge mace.

[@WayStedYou]

JJ abrams writers outsmarted by an 8 year old

[@theblackflame4002]

The only part of this that was decently done was the fact Halbrand never lied. He said he'd done bad things, he said he found the bag with the crest on a dead man. Galadriel was the one that pushed the narrative he was some type of good guy who needed redemption and even while rolling with it, he never went all "I'm good" like bathrobe guy did.

[@cameronliterally]

Your nephew is experiencing Lord of the Rings correctly.

[@Just.Another.Soul89]

Uncle-ing done right ✅

[@ge2719]

exactly, you just have to look at his actions. he wasn't "allowed" to be a smith, so he stole a smiths guild badge, which was extra stupid in terms of the writing because if i remember right he literally goes back to the same guy who knew he wasn't in the smiths guild. but the essence of it, his first action was to lie and steal to get what he wanted rather than just going to the smiths guild and asking for a badge. yes we were supposed to think it was a twist that he wasn't a good person?

[@sierraMaddin]

Sauron walked simply in to Mordor

[@ConchienceClothing]

Lol this is an underrated comment

[@victorcode2075]

That happened.

[@declanjones8888]

How does this not have more likes?

[@persona-non-grata]

Simply walked*

[@spencergsmith]

@@persona-non-grata he might have also walked simply. We don’t know 😂

[@alexhussinger3550]

Imagine someone whose been alive in our world for well over a thousand years and being like "What do you mean there's no longer a Roman Emperor?"

[@kamomohilda7954]

Sauron, the most cunning, calculative, and manipulative villain, chose to let Guyladriel, who knew his true identity, alive. Hmm, looks smart.

[@kimrasmussen7188]

only after he begged her to leave him alone , and let him live in peace. but she bullied him out of that, so his options are pretty slim at the moment.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

thats because he cares for her, stormfronter, and as seen in episode 6, he plans to BIND her to his being -- bind him to the light

[@ReinoldFZ]

Maybe she let her die when she felt from the raft in the first or second episode and divided his being in two, creating a Galadriel aspect to deceive the rest. I don't know, I am just making theories out of boredom.

[@HerculesBallsInc]

Not to mention that his HUGE BETRAYAL was not being the king of the Southlands... which he never claimed to be. Galdadriel ASSUMED he was because of a pouch which he said he found lying around. So she puts him entirely in charge.

[@eldermillennial8330]

Maybe he became bull queer for her brother during their Song Battle, the only man to ever come close to being his match, and regrets failing to make him his slave, so now is trying to replace him with her. That’s the only way for this to make sense and keep his absolute evilness undiluted.

[@Lizardo451]

If I recall the Silmarillion properly Sauron was known but used his charisma to be accepted and trusted over decades. But the writers don't know what charisma is.

[@Bronimin]

Annatar, the giver of gifts

[@animoetprudentia2865]

Persona - a personal facade that one presents to the world.

[@RageDaug]

He disguised himself as a benevolent maiar, Annatar, sent to help the elves. Many were suspicious, but he had Celebrimbor fooled. Part of the problem is the timeline though. The Rings of Power were made probably 1500 to 2000 years before Elendil and Isildur were around. By Elendil's time, everyone knew who Sauron was, and Sauron firmly ruled Mordor for quite a while by that point.

[@christophertaylor9100]

And he gave many gifts. And was incredibly charming and beloved. They got so very many terrible things wrong.

[@deadprivacy]

Girl boss?

[@tallulahbeaverhausen4382]

I am now convinced most of the billion dollar allegedly dedicated to this TV show was spent on cocaine and philipino rent ladyboys...

[@planetdisco4821]

Yeah and the rest they wasted lol

[@Dc-alpha]

No, its a Producers kind of deal. Ol' JB now has to pay minus 1 billion tax.

[@kimrasmussen7188]

yea, they are jacking up the prices for the rest of us. rich bastards..

[@DoritoBot9000]

It’s totally a tax scheme.

[@fiction5559]

We all thank you for watching this shite so that we didn't have to. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.

[@chasehedges6775]

Same here. Much like The Nostalgia Critic, The Drinker watched it so we wouldn't have to.

[@evildoughboy7773]

The Fellowship of the Cringe

[@wu2166]

If you have some spare time you could always watch it urself and see what you think of it

[@gaurav.13]

@@wu2166 no thanks Amazon bot

[@JohnDoe-dn9ez]

@@wu2166 I d rather click on the @beyond your imagination, scam link

[@Gorbz]

Remember how Arondir had been stationed at the Southlands watchtower for 79 or so years? He would be able to tell Galadriel that Halbrand was not king because there has not been one as long as he had been there.

[@HerculesBallsInc]

Galadriel: "You have a fancy pouch! You must be the king of the Southlands!" Halbrand: "This? I found it lying around somewhere." Galadriel: "Don't deny your destiny! You must lead the armies and rule!"

[@rcrawford42]

Ironically, this happened in a Discworld novel where a group plotted to replace Vetenari with Knobby Nobbs because he was wearing a ring last worn by an heir to the throne. They ask where he got it, and he says it came from his grandfather. They don't ask where his grandfather got it -- which was looting bodies after a battle.

[@nobodyinterestingyou]

@@HerculesBallsInc Worse! His response was more or less '' This? I picked up from a dead man ''... I mean, this wasn't a red flag for the fair and wise Galadriel?

[@cathulionetharn5139]

@@rcrawford42 From my memory a bunch of the conspirators where like "this guy? no way!" and the others explained he'd be a perfect puppet and there was ah, yes indeed I see, he definitely is royalty, no doubt about it.

[@kaltaron1284]

@@rcrawford42 Or the whole McBeth parody. Or how the real hier is actually working in the Watch. Wait, I can't really compare Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld with this... not even remotely.

[@joshg.6315]

Sauron was on the raft because his FedEx plane crashed in the ocean and he was marooned on an isolated island. He built the raft to escape with his best friend Wilson, who fell overboard and was lost to the sea.

[@riel0563]

Seaturtles.

[@brandon5615]

They actually made Sauron an incel. Feminism is killing Hollywood.

[@italianspiderman5012]

Isn’t “incel” a social construct,therefore it doesn’t really exist?

[@manoz6194]

@@italianspiderman5012 yup just like the different genders

[@katrose5179]

Have you read the article with Sauron’s actor? He, at least, gets it more than the writers do. I wish they’d let him play it more the way he sees it.

[@BusyBasaz]

This is why I didn't believe he was Sauron. When it came out he was in the final episode I was speechless. Color me disappointed.

[@rowingaway]

@@katrose5179 He hates the SauronxGaladriel shipping too, and you just know the writers will lean into it even more in season 2

[@zeebooboo9663]

I prefer Sauron to be a mysterious, unknown, an ancient threat.

[@chasehedges6775]

Same. Even the Peter Jackson Trilogy and Ralph Bashki 1978 versions both did a better job of portraying Sauron as a terrifying being of destruction and evil.

[@forsakenquery]

This was not the problem with this show. This was a pointless departure of lore but NOT the reason this show is trash.

[@masamune2984]

@@forsakenquery It was certainly one of the reasons, for no other reason than it’s poor, rushed, bizarre execution.

[@forsakenquery]

@@masamune2984 I disagree - this was a pretty great opportunity to explore Sauron as a character rather than a force of evil. They...did not take advantage of this opportunity.

[@mrsickukxx1332]

Don’t worry we’ll be getting that in season 2 where Sauron will be portrayed as sympathetic and misunderstood. Poor guy.

[@Gammaskalle]

I love how they combined gold, silver and mitrthril and still one ring came out looking like pure silver.

[@amberslahlize7961]

To be fair, mitrthril looks silver in color. There is also such a thing as "white gold".

[@kimrasmussen7188]

yep , specially since they just used screen time on setting up the concept of alloys. they are literally telling you one thing, and then doing the exact opposite. and the "characters"...dear lord. this universe would never survive long enough to reach the next age. they would all die a horrble death. and they would all deserve it.

[@Gammaskalle]

@@amberslahlize7961 Yes but the other two rings which i assume is from the exact same batch of molten metall came out looking like bronze how is one looking like pure silver ?

[@amberslahlize7961]

@@Gammaskalle Well, I can't answer that. Lol Unless that was poor editing.

[@poiuyt975]

I love how they combined a billion dollars with huge propaganda campaign and the Rings came out looking like pure shit. ;-)

[@sheepherder911]

Tolkien had the wisdom of a thousand years forced into him through the experience of a World War. He had seen things others couldn't fathom and these experiences were translated into his stories. And it shows. Meanwhile, these show "writers" haven't ever had a tough experience. Not like Tolkien at least. They just imitate (poorly) what they seem to think are strong characters borne of tragedy, despair and challenge. And it shows.

[@cyrillmcduff6723]

He has not seen,,, what guyladriel has seen!

[@rcrawford42]

I always figured Gollum was modeled after an addict Tolkien knew sometime in his life. The current crowd would have had Frodo offering Gollum "hits" off the Ring "in a safe environment".

[@hattedsandwich2415]

“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold.“ There’s such a depth of real, experiential pain in that quote. Tolkien’s novels have authentic, raw human emotion that the Rings of Power could never hope to emulate

[@b.melakail]

They were mansplained to. Thats real experience

[@spencergsmith]

@@b.melakail “I am great at controlling my anger because I do it INFINITELY more than you!!” Yas queen 🙄

[@InvisibleJiuJitsu]

what gets me is that Tolkien is VERY clear in the book that upon meeting Annatar, Elrond, Galadriel and Gil-Galad immediately distrusted him and would not treat with him because they are wise elf lords/lady. Here they're just bell-ends

[@KurtAngle89]

Well, they later accepted the Rings, although were made by Celebrimbor

[@kaltaron1284]

@@KurtAngle89 Sure but it took a few centuries, not a few minutes. Also IIRC they didn't initially realize that the rings were tainted by Sauron but did so immediately after putting them on and put them off again. Only once Sauron was "defeated" they felt safe enough to use them to prolong their time in Middle Earth into the 3rd Age.

[@joesmutz9287]

That lovely moment when the PoV character that you're supposed to be rooting for turned the series villain off a redemption arc and into a monster

[@martinportelance138]

Hey - you're a genius. Showrunners, steal this: Make the show about the orkish PoV, where Galadriel is already despicted as orks must have perceived her. Do it now.

[@Darkstar-se6wc]

Thus proving Gil-Galad right all along. She did create the very evil she sought to destroy, silly bint.

[@jamesp8164]

I’m still blown away that Galadriel knows who Sauron is AND SHE DOESN’T TELL ANYONE 🙄 And then Sauron when found out…doesn’t kill her to keep his secret. All of these people are too stupid to live.

[@mrrodriguezHLP]

The bigger problem: All of the crises of the 2nd and 3rd Age are 100% Galadriel's fault.

[@bangthehankers1985]

This is the id of the post-modern feminist writ large. Feminists demand that men render inert their masculinity and assertiveness > men acquiesce > feminists resent men for being passive and unassertive > feminist invites strong, assertive outsiders to supplant the emasculated native men they demanded in the first place.

[@roberthesser6402]

Also instead of telling them to stop making the Rings that Sauron seems weirdly keen on making, she tells them to make more of them for some unexplained philosophical reason.

[@jaymenza5196]

Characters are only ever as smart as their writers

[@jonathancummings6400]

It's not stupidity, it's love. She doesn't want them to know she loves Sauron, and because he loves her, he spared her life.

[@ikenosis8160]

Galadriel is rescued out of the sea by Sauron himself. Writing explanation? It was the Force, my friends!

[@bradcarver8127]

I can’t wait until they bring In Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma next season.

[@ikenosis8160]

@@bradcarver8127 Hahahah! Sauron in Obi wan voice: "Aragorn, you're father and I were best if friends." I'm sure Galadriel will have blue hair next season. Maybe be trans.

[@HerculesBallsInc]

Tolkien never specifically wrote that Galadriel didn't have a light saber!

[@RoninDave]

shills are pointing out there are a lot of coincidences and chance meetings in Middle Earth. What these muppets don't understand is Gandalf and Thorin bumping into each other in Bree with their similar interest in the Smaug problem. This is more believable because Bree has always been a place where travelers stay unlike the open sea where chances encounters are far more likely

[@mvogtde]

The season finale made clear once more how the whole plot is based on massive coincidents and convieniances. No character seems to plan ahead, nobody makes any decisions, they all just passively stumble into situations happening infront of them. Even Sauron lets himself drift through the story: out of sheer luck he meets Guyladriel in the middle of an ocean, he lets himself being dragged into "war" in the southlands, an then he randomly meets Celebrimbor, who is just now thinking about what to do with the mithril someone found recently. It seems like, if Guyladriel wouldn't have jumped ship at the last second, Sauron would have spent the second age aimlessly floating on a raft through the ocean, waiting for something to happen. What a weird distortion of Tolkiens work.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

tolkien's work is filled with plot contrivances and coincidences.

[@ReinoldFZ]

It seems like the only life experience of the writers are some videogames, except they didn't have a writer of such videogames to give them a plot. I don't say it with anger, for what I see they weren't experienced and as so somehow set to fail despite Amazon having the money to hire experienced writers.

[@mvogtde]

@@hydroxyzine1136 There are contrivances in every story and even in real life there are coincidents. But this show only relies on those, instead of having characters that actively make decisions.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

@@mvogtde nonsense. galadriel pushed the queen and sauron to aid her in the southlands. thats PLANNING. it took two episodes to get that going. had you watched the show, you'd know that her ending up on the raft and meeting sauron was the will of the valar, as established when the valar cried

[@hydroxyzine1136]

@@mvogtde then you have the whole master plan by adar to create mount doom, and the tactics he used to achieve that objective. racists are so dumb!

[@nont18411]

Sauron in LOTR: The formidable force of pure evil. Sauron in ROP: A simp who broke bad because a Middle Earth twitcher rejected him. “I have many names.” - Incelbrand aka Simpron

[@chasehedges6775]

Sauron in the PJ films was AWESOME and Terrifying

[@BoopBobBeep]

Soyron

[@ReformedSauron]

He could have done better than Guyladriel anyways.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

@@chasehedges6775 sauron was garbage in the PJ films. he literally stuck out his ring finger like a fool only to see it get chopped off, and instead of using his other hand to retrieve the ring, he exploded for no reason, breaking the lore established by tolkien who stated that sauron was NOT depowered if he did not have the ring on his finger. PJ also made the ghost army way overpowered, opening up an enormous plot hole in which aragorn relinquishes the army from the curse EVEN when there were thousands of more orcs still preparing for combat. STUPID writing

[@MoffatLee]

@@hydroxyzine1136 The latter isn't a plot hole, yes the army of the dead were overpowered but Aragorn releasing them from the oath wasn't a plot hole because he swore to release them after fighting for him and if he didn't they could have easily CHOSEN not to continue fighting for him since they CHOSE to fight for him when he offered his bargain.

[@shmatan]

The epic battle felt like a 50 man skirmish.

[@k.d.8924]

$60 million an episode? Someone is definitely lining their pocketses, cause that sure as hell didn't go into the show.

[@ironcladnomad5639]

It's the age-old problem that hack writers love to employ: I have no idea how to actually write a smart or clever character, so I'll just make everyone else dumb and weak.

[@1600SkidRowAvenue]

I went into a diner and asked for two eggs scrambled on toast. The waiter turned and shouted, "Sauron and Galadriel on a raft and wreck 'em!"

[@Slokiler123]

lol, this was a good one😄

[@stanbartsch1984]

Still a better plot that Rings of Power.

[@kaltaron1284]

Hope it was a good toast at least because those eggs sure were rotten.

[@GIBBO4182]

My favourite part was where the shark started eating people and Galadriel said they needed a bigger boat!

[@italianspiderman5012]

I loved when a bigger fish ate the shark and Galadriel said “there’s always a bigger fish”!

[@brandonbaine6753]

The rings looked like something you buy out of a vending machine or cheap ring pops

[@kaltaron1284]

IIRC it's actually a feature of all the Rings of Power that they are somewhat unassuming. No fancy ornaments or jewels, Just simple, prestine, perfect rings. It's the materials and more importantly the imbued magic that makes them special.

[@kentlindal5422]

"Now if only we could get enough of this metal to, oh I don't know, make an entire shirt of mail, and then, hear me out, make it hobbit sized."

[@phoenixdzk]

Galadriel: I'm gonna confront this eldritch ancient necromancer guy alone and stab him with a knife It's a bold strategy, let's see how that works out for her

[@Makkaru112]

If they were more lore based and revering the source material and themes she could easily damage him. He’s always been afraid of her. She’s actually very mighty and wise and a huge level of compassion and intuition+understanding of all hearts of every being!

[@phoenixdzk]

@@Makkaru112 yup, any writer worth a damn would be able to use the source material to make her someone worth watching instead of this bargain bin version, like when you see a Spiderman action figure in the justice league toy collection packet

[@shadowhound5113]

My favorite part is when Galadriel sacrificed herself to save the millennium falcon to save everyone and Kirk said she was the best captain of the enterprise.

[@thenoshow7253]

When Sauron was showing Galadriel the visions on the raft, why did he dress himself as the Dark Lord in the reflection? All armoured up. He was trying to persuade her to join with him, wouldn’t he show a fairer image of them together?

[@DougDimmaDingus]

I think a servant of the enemy would look fairer and feel fouler

[@stevenlosey3144]

Because the writers are stupid

[@HaelinX]

This is why in the visions he needed to show himself as Celeborn, Not his Brother and in the water, he shouldn't have revealed his armored form, The writers are just so dumb

[@hydroxyzine1136]

because he wanted to show her his power (in contrast to his beaten up image on the raft). after that reflection, he tells her that he would binder her to POWER. you racists are terrible at nitpicking.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

@@HaelinX now THAT would be dumb. yeah, thats why youre not writer.

[@thenoshow7253]

Has anyone counted how many times Galadriel threatened someone with that knife? It’s like her ‘go-to’ move. She just really wants to stab someone. What’s she going to do next season without it?

[@mildlydazed9608]

Probably just start curb stomping a puppy or something else equally heroic for her stature.

[@chasehedges6775]

Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel would never _Ever_ do something like that.

[@paolo74lfc]

She’ll probably have it back in season 2 judging by the rest of the continuity in this shit show.

[@user-gm4kv2my4u]

Eww... Soumds like the writers are fans of 100,000 kingdoms. That protagonist pulls her fucking knife like every 6 pages and stabs 0 people. The only thing she loves more than that knife is her anime Edward Cullen slave.

[@HerculesBallsInc]

Rings of Power taught me that what makes a 'strong woman' strong is her quest for genocide and barely restrained murderous impulses.

[@zh1992]

The shadow of mordor game told the story of the forging of the rings a 1000 times better with about 15 minutes of cutscenes. These writers should be ashamed of themselves.

[@Drawnartist]

Thank you!!!

[@purefoldnz3070]

yes! They should have adapted that game instead, it didn't follow the lore but it was so much better. Plus Celebrimbor didnt wear his grandmas green drapes

[@ouchiegiverjr]

Which is funny cause they even have a better explanation of why Mordor didn’t just send out waves of orcs trying to drown them in numbers, and Talion carries more aspects of Tolkien then this new shows characters ever will.

[@ouchiegiverjr]

@@purefoldnz3070 man seeing old man Celebrimbor was so disappointing with how bad ass he is in that game

[@purefoldnz3070]

@@ouchiegiverjr Celebrimbor is supposed to be younger than Galadriel not some old guy wearing his grandmas green drapes.

[@Dc-alpha]

It's not that the plot is nonsense, it's that the nonsense is the plot.

[@asiberiantiger188]

Also the plot is nonsense

[@Dc-alpha]

@@asiberiantiger188 Because nonsense is the plot. You can have a story start well and become nonsense (see anything by JJ Abrams pre 2009). The issue here(as well as too often modern day) is not that a good story is ruined by added nonsense, it's that the norm is now to have nonsense as the base ingredient. Such nonsense, would/can inversely be "ruined" by good story. Luckily for the twidiot fumblebucks most writers think a story..... must remain faithful to the nonsense to be good.

[@TonySylvesterOhio]

"I'm Sauron bitch, what you gonna do?" I'm so glad I didn't waste my time on this show

[@lebaguette3354]

“Somehow, Sauron returned” -Actual script writers

[@Senior-Donjusticia]

Sauron’s 6D chess move in which he perfectly plans for Galadriel jumping ship, swimming to his raft, his raft getting attacked by a sea monster, Galadriel making him king, Mordor getting activated, him getting wounded, and Galadriel taking him to Celibrimbor exactly when the elves get Mithril. Simply brilliant!

[@kaltaron1284]

He probably read the script and said: "This is dumb but hey, it's a plan. Let's do it."

[@HungLikeScrat]

I'm in a Facebook group of nerds that defended this show from before it aired, and there are still people that think it was good after seeing the whole thing. They went absolutely nuts when I called it the rings of wokeness and said it was terrible. I was kicked out of the group, but later invited back, by one of the admins that loved the show initially (he hates it now).

[@changlouriousbasterd9524]

The only people defending this show are casuals, woke idiots, and people with too much pride to admit that they were stupid for defending it.

[@miniondaechir]

Out of curiosity, what was your defense of the show pre-airing? (and why?) I'm a huge Tolkien nerd and I spotted this travesty the moment I saw the first promotional pictures (and even before that, when they hired an "intimacy expert" or whatchamacallit).

[@HungLikeScrat]

They're doing the best they can with what they have to work with, and it appears they've remained as faithful as possible, was the initial defense.

[@changlouriousbasterd9524]

@@miniondaechir Think about that intimacy director. The only characters in the show with any real chemistry were Galadriel and Halbrand. So basically they were going to have Galadriel bang Sauron. That was Amazon's original idea for the show.

[@HungLikeScrat]

@@tealishpotato I agree. I wasn't one of those defending the show.

[@pamelaholmcrawford2306]

Prediction: Next season Sauron will create the One Ring to get back Guyladriel. Because it’s all about her.

[@Palindrome3945]

Oh my God that is absolutely a non negligeable possibility

[@esquilax5563]

Fun fact, the One Ring was originally intended as an engagement ring

[@radoslawwieszczyk3461]

Sauron was involved in creation of the rings of power... except the three elven rings which were made as last ones and after Sauron left Eriador and were only rings not corrupted by evil.

[@bradcarver8127]

Yeah well that’s just like Tolkiens opinion man.

[@deadprivacy]

I just watched rings of power, sauron made the elven rings, all three if them because he knows more about metal than the killerdumbledore guy. i dunno what you are talking about. Didnt you watch it?

[@noahrombough2802]

@@deadprivacy please say you're trolling

[@ethanpower4613]

@@deadprivacy please for the love of god say you're trolling

[@brucechamberlin2545]

Technically the rings are still under saurons control, because they were made using the same magic taught by Sauron. Yes the 3 elven rings were made away from Sauron, but when sauron made the one ring. The elves could hear him cast his spell. So they took them off and hid them. Sauron tortured celebrimbor to death (but he never gave up who had the rings). After the last alliance of elves and men wad over the rings were given to elrond, gandalf, galadriel. But, if the dark lord got his one ring back, he would've been able to ensnare the 3 elf ring users, and see in to their minds openly.

[@chasehedges6775]

The Peter Jackson LOTR Trilogy still reigns supreme. This will be. forgotten

[@kevinkingmaker7395]

What will be forgotten?

[@chasehedges6775]

@@kevinkingmaker7395 This show

[@nont18411]

Nobody is gonna forget that Sauron is a simp though

[@stonecold6521]

@@chasehedges6775 What show?

[@evildoughboy7773]

What were y'all talking about?

[@dougsmith6433]

Wouldn't Arondir know that Halbrand is a imposter? Arondir is 1500 years old and he has been watching/guarding over the Southlands most of that time. He would have seen the line of kings broken in the Southlands.

[@godKiller.369]

The Elven Rings being wedding bands for Saurbrand and Karenlirel is some next level mukamil excrement.

[@idaaho]

There is three of them so... Who do they want to add their polycycle in season 2?

[@MrBforBallz]

Hey don't crap on my boy Sauron, all he wanted was to stay in Numenor to smith all day and hit the local pub to chill with friends. That nagging female hound annoyed him so much that it made him evil

[@slinkerdeer]

Best part of the series was when Galadriel said I AM SPARTACUS

[@Eisendergusky]

She made the villain lol Tolkien truly rolls in his grave

[@hydroxyzine1136]

tolkien would role over in his grave if he knew that white nationalists on youtube were attacking the series because it dared to cast black actors. tolkien HATED your ilk!

[@t.o.double9497]

Thanks this thumbnail summed up the whole season. Infact this thumbnail was more entertaining than the whole season. Amazing

[@Bellasguy]

Even if they didn’t have the rights to "Annatar" why did they make Sauron a man? Just make him an elf. It’s minor but you have a 25 year-old dude teaching a several thousand-year-old elven smith how to create alloys. Did no one on this production see how stupid this was?

[@tomasz9429]

Amazon missed so much on the ending of this season. This is how I would do it: panning shot of Celebrimbor striking an anvil with his hammer. Galadriel turns to face the camera, looks straight at the viewer and says: "We're about to forge The Rings of Power. Tune in for the second season to see how it turns out. Don't forget to subscribe to Amazon Prime, we will have exclusive deals for mechandise!"

[@universalflamethrower6342]

The Barad-dûr penthouse scene Between Saurontron and La Guydriel in season 2 is already legendary

[@Chriseh]

For anyone who didn't watch the entire stream, I recommend sticking it on another monitor while you are doing other things. I was literally laughing my ass off for 1h+

[@kimrasmussen7188]

i hope it was worth it, because you will miss your ass after a good dinner. and you will prolly have to pick it up yourself, since it would be hard to convince others of your innocence in the matter.

[@ChronosX69]

Amazing how their Tolkien scholars must have confirmed for them there would be noooooooo inconsistencies in this series to his works.

[@dwaynehicks3867]

Exactly Disparu, the 3 eleven rings were made in secret.

[@michaelplowman8674]

They are totally going to write that Sauron is going to do all of his evil because Guyladriel won't love him.

[@Persholm1]

People seem to forget that Galadriel is absolutely perfect in this show. She knows things only the people who write the script would know.

[@cleopatra1633]

and she is stronger than all the men 🤣🤣🤣

[@queenberuthiel5469]

"You have not read what I have read" "I watched Season 1" "YOU HAVE NOT READ WHAT I'VE READ!"

[@iz9744]

Next season... "Writers" of RoP: People dislike our show. Twerking gets a lots of likes. Guyladriel starting OnlyFans is the only logical solution.

[@matwatson7947]

The Gandalf Roasts series is really worth watching to anyone who watched the show

[@kingdomrains]

The millions of dollars spent on "intimacy coordinators" really paid off, you can just feel the love.

[@aldunlop4622]

It’s ironically got zero intimacy- maybe the least amount of any show.

[@mildlydazed9608]

Galadriel talking about how Halbrand could turn over a leaf then when she learns who he is decides instantly he can't. Brilliant writing even if that was a lie by him it's not really confirmed in S1 as him being evil. He seems to want to get away from it all and she keeps dragging him to more conflict

[@hydroxyzine1136]

wow, no wonder youre an incel. sauron was engaging in abusive behavior by falsely claiming that only he could see her "greatness". typical tactics of any male batterer. sauron was never "good". he proved it there on that raft.

[@bluemoondm8629]

Interestingly, in the Unfinished Tales (a letter described within) Tolkien describes Sauron at the beginning of the Second Age as "...not indeed wholly evil, not unless all reformers who want to hurry up with reconstruction and reorganization, are wholly evil, even before pride and the lust to exert their will eat them up." It's also described in The Silmarillion that after Morgoth's defeat at the end of the First Age, Sauron seemed to genuinely want to repent, but was too proud/ashamed to go to Valinor and serve his likely sentence. Tolkien did not believe in 'absolute evil.' At least not in his world/characters. So I can buy that Sauron was being somewhat genuine in his desire to "heal" Middle Earth. He, like most people that do evil things, doesn't really see himself as evil. Sauron does crave order and to craft new things.. he just wants to control all those things. Ironically, Sauron's portrayal (outside of the absolute blunder that is him being in Halbrand's form in the first place rather than Annatar,) is probably my favorite and the best written part of the whole show.

[@mildlydazed9608]

@@bluemoondm8629 that’s very interesting I’ve not read the unfinished tales myself so I didn’t know that.

[@Nopeasaurus]

@@bluemoondm8629 I have no problem with Sauron, specifically in the beginning, as being portrayed as sympathetic but my problem is how the show made him so passive. He is just drifting on a raft when Galadriel finds him, she pushes him to become king of the Southlands, she drags him into war, and when he is wounded she is the one who brings him to Eregion to be healed. Everything he does is rarely because of his own cunning, manipulation, or planning, it is just a series of convenient happenings induced by Galadriel. The show seems to suggest Galadriel is at fault for everything -- Sauron's descent into evil and the forging of the rings -- instead of Sauron himself.

[@bluemoondm8629]

@@Nopeasaurus oh the writers absolutely fucked it up. None of this show is good overall lol, it's only in comparison that the way Sauron is depicted holds up. I appreciate how he ended up, but the ridiculous way it all happened still ruins it. The way the writers involved him in the three elven rings even more so. It's literally just the scene with him unveiling himself to Galadriel that feels good.

[@JadeRunner]

Sauron is not Walter White. Sauron is the evil force that would corrupt someone like Walter White. The fact that the writers didn't understand this is astounding. 🤦‍♂️

[@WildRiverCard]

At least Galadriel didn’t have to tell them how to smith lol

[@walkir2662]

"Don't try to force it. have a break, have a Kit Kat" - well, the sponsorship wasn't THAT high.

[@pip105x]

I stumbled upon a video where people were fawning over the "revelations" and theories of this show. The commenters were genuinely excited for a second series. We have to accept the fact that there are people who will go for the ride for some shinies and memberberries.

[@Busrayne]

This is what you get when you graduate from the "See Spot run" school of writing.

[@dwellner502]

Does anyone remember when they fired the previous writing staff like a year ago? If this is what they released what did they fire the previous writers for doing?

[@amberslahlize7961]

I'm going with the previous writers were white and too good as their job.

[@kimrasmussen7188]

IT WILL USE THE LOTION, OR IT GETS THE HOSE!!

[@CloudWalkBeta]

@@amberslahlize7961 so white men are going through the plot of the new mulan? XD we’re already good but the matriarchy doesnt want white men to realise?

[@amberslahlize7961]

@@CloudWalkBeta what does Mulan have to do with this???

[@DoritoBot9000]

They were probably telling the directors and producers the truth about their terrible plot concepts, deemed “hostile” to justify their firing, and then proceeded to surround themselves with more novel yes-men writers that would be compliant to all of their horrible ideas. And thus, we have this turd.

[@Soyuz2578]

My favourite part was when Sauron Saured with the other Saurs and lorded the rings. Then Guyladriel happily ever aftered

[@davidkirk6572]

I love how they set off Mt Doom to devastate the lands and darken the skies just so the Orcs could have a home of their own, when, obviously, Mordor was actually ruined by Sauron's industry just as Isengard was destroyed by Saruman. Imagine mountain topping and strip mining on a grand scale.

[@NikoJr.]

The LOTR wiki literally says Galadriel is one of the few to be immediately suspicious of the person who ends up being Sauron. The showrunners did no research whatsoever

[@seanburke997]

I love how they totally skipped over the creation of all the lesser rings. LIke, there were a bunch of magic rings Celebrimbor created before the 3, 5, 9 ,1 as he practiced his craft. And Sauron's only contribution to their creation was ......ALLOY?! SRSLY?!

[@unitarymoonbat7259]

To get this trainwreck back on-track: 1. Defenestrate Payne & McKay 2. Contract Cate Blanchett and Elijah Wood to film the following scene for episode 2.1 Cold open to Frodo pulling his head up sharply, panic and confusion in his eyes. Behind him, Galadriel intones, "The Mirror can show things that never were, so that we can better understand how our world came to be. Imagine what Lothlorien, or Middle Earth itself, would have looked like, had the Galadriel you just witnessed actually existed. Now, dear Frodo, look again - perhaps the Mirror will choose to show you how history truly unfolded..." Dissolve on Frodo, preparing himself to look again into Galadriel's mirror.

[@skylx0812]

_"I was awake before the breaking of the first wind."_ -WotsHisNameNotHisName Vivid writing, guranteed to spark the brain and move the bowels.

[@mayorto]

Also, weren't Sauron and Morgoth afraid of the seas? What was he doing in a raft?

[@chriss3276]

They weren't afraid of the sea but they probably would prefer to avoid Osse and Ulmo though.

[@BattleDamageProps]

Would have been bad ass for Gil Galad to show up and say ' I knee the last king of the Southland, he died a thousands Years ago' and then Halbrand ignites his light Sabre and says 'so it's treason then'.

[@tusharbhat2367]

Go woke go broke

[@eldermillennial8330]

Regarding “Gandalf” to be fair, he could, theoretically, be any of the five wizards. Then again, the lore strongly suggests that they entered Middle Earth TOGETHER and only grew apart on separate missions over time, EXCEPT for the Blue Wizards, who apparently are twins and inseparable, so they are on FOUR missions to undermine Sauron and keep him down once defeated, but Saruman betrays his purpose, Radaghast becomes distracted with local nostalgic minutia, almost forgetting his wider goal, and the Blues, well, we have no idea what progress they have made, or if they have survived in the far southeastern lands. But they SHOULD have all five appeared together at once, and really, they were supposed to be sent just AFTER the fall of Numinor, so they should have appeared at the series finale, NOT at the beginning.

[@DMF121]

Best part of this Series was when the Critical Drinker an Friend's Predicted every Dumpster Fire moment in this Travesty of a Show.😂

[@steelshanks1265]

My favorite part was when Halbrand leaned in and whispered in Not-Galadriel's ear "Do you have any Grey Poupon love?"

[@fatarsemonkey]

"So after watching an entire season of Rings of Power, we've been able to determine a couple of things with absolute certainty. " Yer, it's utter crap.

[@mikkelnpetersen]

There isn't enough of gifs on the internet of people throwing up to describe RoP.

[@memoryandthought4481]

Queen Elizabeth dying of cringe.

[@clementj]

ObviouslySauron's suggestion to a thousand-of-years old elf was to make an alloy, so what have they been using to make their weapons and armours all this time? It surely doesn't look like bronze... LOL

[@EarthNeedsHeroes]

Now that the first season is all over and we can listen to everyone discuss it, the more you think about it, the worse it gets.

[@anonymous316]

Nerdrotic did a fantastic job laying out how Guyladriel set EVERYTHING in motion and Sauron was pretty much along for the ride.

[@randomperson-up5vt]

which stream and time?

[@anonymous316]

@@randomperson-up5vt kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZu5k2ClZap8frc

[@Nopeasaurus]

@@randomperson-up5vt Lucky for you I stumbled upon this comment and know exactly what video the OC is referring to. The video is called "The Rings of Power - An Unmitigated DISASTER" by Nerdrotic, link is kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZu5k2ClZap8frc and timestamp is 18:22.

[@onurbschrednei4569]

Isnt that the whole point though? The characters in the show talk multiple times how Galadriel refusing to stop fighting is actually the very thing that is bringing evil back. She is supposed to be a flawed character.

[@randomperson-up5vt]

@@Nopeasaurus thank you for being so helpful

[@VeritasOmniaVincit176]

Personally I don’t mind Sauron portrayed in human form, I just don’t buy that he would present himself dressed like a hobo. His Annatar, Lord of the Gifts, persona was conceived to impress Numenorians and Elves alike. Tolkien describes: “A commanding figure of great strength of body and supremely royal demeanour and countenance.” "(…) greater than any even of the race of Numenor in stature...And it seemed to men that Sauron was great; though they feared the light of his eyes. To many he appeared fair, to others terrible; but to some evil.”

[@DanielEade79]

My favourite part was when Darth Vader said, “No, I am your father,” and Marty replied, “Calvin? Why do you keep calling me Calvin?”

[@mallon04008]

This 15 minute clip is more enjoyable that the entire rings of power show

[@thefingthinkingemoji8053]

Not now Halbrand, I need to find my arch nemesis who left a Hell-Brand in my brother's corpse.

[@berserkerpride]

You know what's really weird about this show? The so-called villain doesn't do a single villainous thing this whole season. Oh sure Galadriel says that he killed her brother, but its never seen happen. Otherwise the worst thing he does is yell at her a bit in a spell of scorned anger. He doesn't even mess up the creation of the rings, even when he could have.

[@markallen2984]

I haven't been watching the show but it sounds like they demystified sauron like Star Wars demystified Darth Vader and thereby undermined so much of the mystery, imagination and power of the images of darkness

[@WhiskyCardinalWes]

It just hit me, the reason why the Vulcan didn't take long to find that scroll was because he started with Recent Events! 1,000 years or less!!

[@Fifko88]

I love seeing drinker having a good time and being happy for his project. 😇 We are with you! 😁

[@nealsterling8151]

It's been a few years since i last read the books (i used to read them on a regular basis), but wasn't the ring supposed to be "soaked" with Saurons evil magic/soul to some extend? If it's just a matter of metallourgy, how can the one Ring have some kind of subliminal willpower in it's own (return to sauron), how else is it able to corrupt a wearers mind? The point of destroying it in the first place was because Sauron had bound much of his life force and magic in the one ring, so destroying it would also destroy Sauron (which we saw at the end of return of the King). And as much as i remember (from the books) Sauron manipulated the Númenorians over a long time to rise up against the gods and become evil. Also he used everyones weakness to manipulate the elves to forge the rings of power, a process that would take several seasons of a series, not just one or a few episodes. These "writers" and producers have no understanding of what they are doing.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

if you had actually watched the episode instead of relying on neo-fascists to feed you bogus info, youd know that sauron told celebrimbor off-screen about the "power over flesh", "power of the unseen", "using a circular object to contain the power" magic that he was working on before adar killed him the first time. its that MAGIC that will bind those rings to his master ring, just as sauron's ring-lore did in the books.

[@TheRealMonkeyrogue]

@@hydroxyzine1136 literally NOTHING in the show is from canon except the names. It's the reverse of "names and places have been changed to protect the innocent" but in reverse. Kept the names. Destroyed the rest. Neo-fascist. Child, you know nothing of this word. Or of suffering if you think anyone here is a fascist.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

@Trash Person because he ADMITTED to that when he told gil-galad about the "power over flesh" magic which aroused galadriel's suspicion because she heard the same lines from adar. gil-galad literally states, "the low man gave you this idea?", which celebrimbor acknowledges. racists are so dumb!

[@hydroxyzine1136]

@@TheRealMonkeyrogue this series has already vastly improved the source material which contained lame archetypes for heroes and one dimensional villains. we now have adar who will challenge sauron for supremacy in mordor, becoming an anti-hero of sorts.

[@nealsterling8151]

@@hydroxyzine1136 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@40KWill]

Lennys character want afraid of the inky darkness he was going home to Morgoth

[@marychocolatefairy]

I am most definitely on Team Sauron. He's such a good and pure soul that he won't even lie when point black asked a question that will "out" him. Meanwhile, there's Galadriel, who won't even tell any one about discovering her nemesis, just because she doesn't want to look like an idiot (too late!). And not only that, goes forward with his plan. Seriously though, these showrunners have failed the assignment so badly that they've somehow had Galadriel corrupt Sauron! One of the many ways they've erred is in trying to meld Tolkien with Game of Thrones (Payne and McKay, I don't think Bezos meant it literally when he said he wanted his own GoT). They're trying to add GoT's moral grayness, as well as its more moderate approach to magic, and it's just not going to work.