How Did It Come To This? | The Rings of Power Episode 8 Review | SPOILERS

[@sirbooksage]

Well. Season 1 of THE RINGS OF POWER is done with Episode 8. What did you think of the season finale? Let me know in the comments below. You can also check out my Rings of Power playlist (after watching this full video first 🙂) kzbin.info/aero/PLFrv8sTZY1rnSMtlWbWKpiUD_s53fWpf8

[@ChristmasLore]

(one feeble instance of Elf magic: galadriel - no capital for this one, seems to utter some words to make her horse go faster... And that's about it.)

[@NovRen19]

Very good videos alas this show did much to not honor Tolkien...peace be too u...our position in the chat.

[@BernardLangham]

@@ChristmasLore she says "noro lim, ", which means "faster, horsie". it's (of course) a direct quote from Arwen in the Fellowship.

[@KororaPenguin]

@@BernardLangham Glorfindel in the book. @Novus Remaissance The apparent attitude is the one JoshScorcher summed up when talking about the Final Fantasy movie as "Popular thing is popular! Therefore, EASY MONEY!"

[@TrippyTheShroom]

We live in a world where the phrase, "Sauron wants to tap Galadriel's ass" isn't even the worst part of a Tolkien adaptation.

[@Bamiar1789]

It's a little weird as well that Galadriel had to have someone go look up Halbrand's southland lineage in the Elven archives. It's as if the writers forgot that she was 6000 years old and would have been familiar first hand with the events of that time period.

[@creatrixZBD]

That’s why it’s so annoying when people try to defend her immaturity and vengeful attitude because “she’s young.” As if analogous to a human teenager. Not so, my standards-free friends. I’m at the point where I wish stuff that was once the unpopular province of nerds and geeks and misfits was never discovered and “made cool” by the normies. The mainstream ruins everything. Everything!

[@taters9722]

@@creatrixZBD Yeah, everyone is a human. Elves are acting like dumb teens. Numenoreans and southlanders are only distinguished by their attire, nothing else. We even lose the greed aspect of dwarves characterization. Everyone is the same and it's so boring and lame.

[@cmdrvex]

Sauron/Halbrand planned nothing and engineered nothing in order to get to his final appearance in Mordor. That honour falls to Galadriel who assisted and pushed him every step of the way (coupled with a whole host of coincidences). Sauron's rise was entirely due to Galadriel! Just imagine what Prof. Tolkien would think of that! All the events of the Third Age are entirely down to Galadriel's actions! Also, if Galadriel's blind motivation to go after orcs and Sauron were because of her brother's death, why on (Middle) earth did she do nothing after Celeborn, her husband, went missing after a battle??

[@Smallpotato1965]

"that honour falls to Galadriel who assisted and pushed him every step of the way" Yes, that is what they *meant* to do. It's one of the ways the 'invert expectations'. It's how these postmodernists think: if you belong to a culture that is succesful, they argue, you can only be succesful by oppressing those who are not. Therefore, they will argue, if Elves in Tolkien's work are considered the most noble of creatures while Orcs are considered the most vile, then this simply *must* mean that those mean oppressive Elves oppressed those poor, cinnamonroll Orcy-babies, who never did no wrong and deserved to live free and happy in their own homeland. That's how they think, and that's why they wrote in the 'Adar' character and Galadriel as evil b*tch who 'made Sauron evil' and who 'threatened Adar and his orc children with genocide'. It's really predictable if you know the progressive postmodernist mindset.

[@cmdrvex]

@@Smallpotato1965 .... to the point where Adar says to the orcs "My brothers and sisters..."

[@theghostofbabanovac7069]

Then what was the point of the mark, symbol shown in the 1st episodes, was it Adar's doing all the way & not Sauron's ? does that mean that Adar carved it in her brother's flesh, maybe Adar killed Finrond in the end ? If Sauron shapeshifted in her brother during that reveal scene then was it also Sauron the one who talked to her even when she was remembering her childhood memory about the ship & the stone & light & darkness ? Guys i'm confused...pls help me here !

[@sirbooksage]

@@theghostofbabanovac7069 I took it to mean it was Sauron who carved the symbol and Adar took it upon himself to lead the orcs there but for his own purposes to help them build a place for themselves. Now, being orcs that meant they needed to kill anyone on the land Sauron chose for them. From what I gathered from Adar's conversation with Galadriel, Adar thinks he killed Sauron for killing so many orcs in his experiments and then lead the surviving orcs to the place Sauron had picked out for them. But this show does a really poor job at making much of anything make sense.

[@daWatcher]

@@Smallpotato1965 no need to inject discourse about post modernism. You’re over thinking it. It was just down to really terrible and lazy writing, as if they were writing by committee. They need to fire the writers, rehire the Tolkien experts and then replace the show runners with competent producers. Lastly, Amazon needs to pretend that this first season didn’t happen and start over.

[@LohnPondai]

Another episode that makes no sense. Galadriel and Helbrand travel from Mordor to Eregion in 6 days. Nice Numenor steeds. "Take that, shadowfax!" Apparently Celebrimbor, the greatest elven smith since Feanor doesnt know about alloys, but he is illustrated by a stranger that he suddenly finds in his workshop. He also didnt create the rings in secret (or himself at all) as you can see other smiths giving them shape etc. They needed silver and gold from Valinor so they have to melt Galadriel's dagger (a token from her brother Finrod). I guess it would be an emotional moment... if we cared about her. What? The noldor came all from Valinor? Did no one bring any gold/silver with them, not even the smiths? Not a single earing, bracelet, etc. Also no magic involved so I guess with more gold, silver and mithril you can make as many rings of power as you want. O_o And I could go on and on.

[@Makkaru112]

Meanwhile horses were sacred to Numenoreans. They never bring them to war. Hardly hardly ever. And if anything they force enemies onto the sea. But even on land they frightened every single ghoul and foul being that we’re in horde by the thousands behind physically embodied Sauron that even then they ran away when they spotted these godly Men even Sauron yielded FOR REAL in true fear but used that same fear to infiltrate Numenor by letting himself be captured.

[@GreatGreebo]

Let’s all just be grateful it’s over until 2024. The level at which the first season’s writing was bad is actually shocking considering the time and money spent on JUST this first season. The show had so much potential and it’s sad it’s all been wasted and thrown to the wayside. I’m only watching recaps of the show on KZbin as I refuse to give Amazon any views on this disgrace to Tolkien’s legacy. Thank you for a well done video.

[@jamesupton4996]

Superb exposition and critique. You bring out so many of the weaknesses, extremely lucidly.

[@KukharyshynOleh]

This project is a one big disappointment, LoTR does not diserve such an attitude. I hope they gonna close the show and stop digging their own grave.

[@panicatthebts7434]

Binge watching a bunch of KZbin roasts of episode 8 and total season 1 reviews and just found yours. Wholeheartedly agree with everything you said!! It annoys me how much they seemed to choose the worst possible options EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. For example in the scene where Galadriel rushes back into the forge, the show should have had her tell them that Halbrand was Sauron. In their messed up show universe, from the very beginning, the other elves didn't believe her or didn't want to believe her that he was back. So if the showrunners were still keen on forcing them to create the rings, have her tell them the truth that Halbrand is Sauron and warn them to stop making the rings. Have them scoff and not believe her. That they can't believe someone so amiable and helpful was the EVIL LORD Sauron. ANYTHING would have been better than the option they chose. SO FRUSTRATING!!

[@GhostBlade_888]

I think they tried so badly as usual to sell the idea of Halbrand/Sauron need for "love" in order to create power of the unseen world not from flesh but over flesh. Adar said that to Galadriel earlier, and he mentioned Sauron failing because he is missing something that could allow him to craft this power. Something he could "bind" to himself like "love". Halbrand confirmed that feeling/need to Galadriel after the battle and it was awkward because Galadriel actually approved that "feeling" even if Sauron true intentions are much worse.. I am not buying it. Didn't see any level of intimacy between them and should have stabbed him when she had the chance to avenge her dead brother. The fact she is keeping this major revelation a secret from Elrond and Celebrimbor shows that she might have a thing for Sauron or simply embarrassed to admit how bad of a leader she is.

[@sirbooksage]

I've seen some speculation that Galadriel didn't tell Celebrimbor that Halbrand was Sauron so that Halbrand can come back to Eregion next season after Galadriel goes off on some next adventure to begin manipulating Celebrimbor some more into making more rings. We'll see if that is what happens. It's about the level of dumb storytelling I expect from this show.

[@sabineb.5616]

@@sirbooksage, that's an interesting prediction. But the writers are so bad that it's hard to look at the script with the usual rules of causes and consequences in mind. The show-runners and their writers have thrown logic happily out of the window - even when it could have led to a vastly improved narrative. I have believed from the very first appearence of Halbrand that he was not the long lost king of 75 bedraggled Southlanders but the famously evil maia whose best known name is Sauron. I didn't believe that Halbrand is actually HalRon because it makes a lot of sense. But there has been an early very credible leak which had predicted a bunch of things correctly. And the show-runners might've aimed at showing us Galadriel's ultimate humiliation by placing the foe whom she had hunted for ages, right under her nose. When I started to argue that this scenario could be correct, many viewers pointed out correctly, that this theory doesn't work very well because Galadriel and Halbrand had only met because of a freaky coincidence. If Galadriel hadn't jumped ship shortly before it's arrival in Valinor, and if HalRon's ship hadn't been destroyed by The Worm, Galadriel and HalRon would never have met. This was a valid argument against the HalRon theory. But I pointed out that Galadriel and HalRon might not have met just by chance. Sauron is one of the most powerful maiar and a cunning sorcerer. He could have easily engineered his meeting with Galadriel by manipulating her mind just as he had done in the final episode, and he could even have enlisted the help of The Worm as well. Tolkien's Sauron controled all sorts of nasty creatures. But instead of having the golden opportunity to show us how dangerous and manipulating Sauron really is, the writers still want us to believe that the meeting of Galadriel and HalRon in the middle of the ocean was a one-in-a-million coincidence! It's mindboggling that this silly narrative was green-lighted by the show-runners! I can only speculate why the writers decided to stick with the narrative that HalRon's meeting with Galadriel happened because of a string of ludicrous coincidences. I guess that they wanted to show us that Sauron was genuinely remorseful and that he was willing to become a humble blacksmith in Numenor. However, it would have been absolutely possible to show us a truly remorseful Sauron, who was nevertheless a cunning sorcerer, who had engineered his meeting with Galadriel. He could have wanted to confront this determined elf who had hunted for him in every remote corner of Middle Earth, and who was known as the "scourge of the orcs". And when he finally met her, Sauron was in awe of her inner strength, and he decided to repent genuinely. This narrative could have actually worked quite well! But the decision to stick with all those preposterous coincidences, the writers have de-clawed Sauron. He isn't a cunning deceiver anymore but a frustrated incel who falls off the redemption waggon because Galadriel has rejecting him. Yup, it was was all Galadriel's fault!! I really hate this narrative!!!

[@Makkaru112]

@@sirbooksage the fact she literally is covering for Sauron after finding out is sickening

[@guygadbois3010]

My working theory is that ROP's version of Celeborn faked his death to get away from Galadriel. Elven divorce courts are probably a nightmare! In a recent article the showrunners say in season two they want to give Sauron a 'complex' background story for his evil, like a Tony Soprano or Walter White type story. We have eight shows that prove no ability to do that, but hey, its nice to have goals. So yeah, look forward to that.

[@Makkaru112]

His original story was much more complex and interesting. This version is a joke. “No we’re better.” “ we will write the story never wrote.” Check out the articles and books and lectures they made about queers within Gondor and how Saruman is some sort of non binary mangirl. It’s gross.

[@Makkaru112]

Remember. They want to make Sauron WALTER WHITE

[@pqsnet]

What we got from the Season Finale and the entire abomination this was are.... 1. Galadriel is responsible for every atrocity happening in the 3rd age since she forced Halbrand to become Sauron. 2. Halbrand never lied to Galadriel, he only wanted to forge in a quiet corner of the world. Instead she turned him into an INCEL. 3. The only Middleaged Male Harfoot of Color was killed of by the non-inclusive showrunners.

[@ChristmasLore]

(he's not the only Hartfoot of color, I think Marigold, Poppy and his own wife are also PoC)

[@NovRen19]

Yes your words are true and we invite thee to Join us for our counter ROP series. Mae G'ovannen! Now the evidence is clear, and none can deny that "ROP" is not of Tolkien. Take heart for our EXSURGE TOLKIEN that makes robustly clear the heresy of Tolkien's Canon displayed out of the showrunner's mouths and hearts. They probably know nothing of Tolkien's masterpiece, as evident from their interview in the Vanity Fair Article. For "they who proclaim to loveth Tolkien, yet understandeth, not his world view can neither hope to create a new film, show, or series of his secondary world." "Auta i lóme!" and" Aurë entuluva!"

[@pqsnet]

@@ChristmasLore True, i meant to write only middleaged male harfoot of color... Thnx

[@charlesstanford1310]

@@pqsnet His character wasn't intersectional enough. I guess Miriel's character wasn't intersectional enough either, so they had to give her a disability too.

[@CNNBlackmailSupport]

Not to toot my own horn, but I predicted "Halbrand gets rejected by Galadriel and turns fully evil again out of heartbreak" before the first episode.

[@therealinformalmusic]

Though the Warrior Princess was silly to assume that Halbrand was king merely because he bore a sigil she had supposed was regnal, it was just as silly for her subsequently to assume that he couldn’t be rightful king just because a thousand years had elapsed since the line of kings supposedly ended. You know who could believe that some bloke could be a rightful king of a realm though around 1,000 years had passed since the last king ruled? Anyone who’s read _The Lord of the Rings._ Gondor’s last king, Eärnur, perished in 2050T.A. and Elessar became king in 3019T.A

[@thomasvleminckx]

Halbrand literally told her he got that sigil from a dead man. He never lied. There was nothing for Galadriel to "uncover" that he hadn't already told her...

[@majkus]

Galadriel is alerted not by the alchemical stuff, but by the phrase (previously heard from Adar) about a power "Not of the flesh, but over flesh." (which doesn't bear close analysis anyway but never mind) The whole business about 'did you think about making an alloy' and all the rest of it is because these writers-and, in fairness, much of the audience in this post-D&D/videogame world-think that 'magic' is a kind of detailed technology, like Star Trek, and so requires technobabble to be convincingly portrayed. There were good reasons for Tolkien not going into more detail than things like 'he passed much of his native power into the Ring'. The writers felt obliged, rightly or wrongly, to have the characters say _something_ about the magical theory behind what the characters are doing. That the result is silly should surprise no one.

[@thehikingcucumber3410]

Your critique of this show has been fantastic to watch. Furthermore, the subscribers to your channel always have interesting and intriguing comments. Good video. Good channel. Thank you!

[@sirbooksage]

Thanks!

[@Kyle-sr6jm]

Rings of Power proves you can convert ~$500,000,000 into pure effluent if you feed the cash into a production that cares more about diversity than the written lore.

[@poneill65]

There's no Elven magic in this show because there are no Elves. The Elves in this show are psychologically indistinguishable from men, low men at that. (Numenorians are low men also) This show abandons all of Tolkien's potential for the interaction between beings of vastly different abilities and nature in order to badly play out a bunch of petty paper thin human psychodramas barely fit for a telenovella

[@majkus]

And (3), Sauron could not have known what Finrod whispered in Galadriel's ear about touching the darkness. Otherwise she would not have interrogated Elrond for a common memory. And of course, Sauron's offer of power (lifting the lines from Fellowship of the Ring) not only fails to deepen Galadriel's scene in the book, it actually undermines it. What is the point of her describing the offer of the Ring as a 'test' that she 'passes', if she has already passed the identical test-in those very words-thousands of years earlier in her brash youth? The writers truly do not understand Tolkien's work, and thus cannot grasp the implications of what they write. Putting the image of the Eye of Sauron into the alloy, and implying that the Three are corrupted is exactly the opposite of what distinguishes the Three in Tolkien's writing, that they were free of Sauron's influence.

[@poneill65]

Miriel had to count the nine steps in the hold of some random ship she'll disembark in minutes in order to prove to Elendil that she's fit to join The Great Escape once the tunnels are complete. Payne & McKay just believe that's what blind people do because they have nothing in their heads but TV/Movie tropes

[@creatrixZBD]

They make the rings backwards, then the show closes with Fiona Apple singing the Ring Poem, which immediately tells how the elf rings were made last. I like Fiona Apple, but Bear McReary wrote a dreary dirge melody for that song, and as i said, it straight up tells us the show made the wrong rings first.

[@sirbooksage]

I didn't even realize that was Fiona Apple and she's one of my favorites!

[@scambammer6102]

@@sirbooksage she should have sung "criminal" to describe the show

[@Makkaru112]

Bear also said horrendous things about us so he can fuq off.

[@Makkaru112]

They merged Galadriel's storyline with Fëanor. Fëanor was rather wrathful and vengeful. But Galadriel was set up as Fëanor’s foil. Galadriel detested Fëanor. Especially after the Kinslaying. It's largely why she went to Middle Earth after the Kinslaying. She feared Fëanor’s influence and wanted to steer her kin away from Feanor's direction. So transposing Feanor's character over Galadriel is not just wrong, it's the antithesis of Galadriel. Galadriel was one of the few that recognized the flaws in Feanor. So imbuing her with those same traits she detected and detested is beyond wrong.

[@sabineb.5616]

You have done a great job! You explain everything really well, and your evaluations are sound. And you don't rant and rave 😉 I don't believe for a moment that meteor man is one of the blue wizards. He is Gandalf alright - but he will never be called by that name, because it doesn't exist, yet. He might be called by another name, though, or he will be called by his maia name, which is used in Valinor: Olorin! However, it's almost certain that we will meet the blue wizards as well, since they did travel to Middle Earth in the Second Age. Maybe, Olorin has been sent by the Valar to find out what happened to the blue istari. That we will meet the blue wizards is a pretty sound prediction, because the witches seem to know something about the existence of istari and they know, that there are more than one of these guys! But why has Olorin traveled on a meteor??? The Valar who is responsible for arranging this outright dangerous passage, needs to be fired and get a job as a janitor instead. We also don't know why the evil witches believed that Sauron must've arrived on that meteor? This doesn't make a lot of sense since Sauron has never left Middle Earth! But since Olorin has turned the witch-wraiths into a bunch of butterflies, they cannot tell us anymore.

[@poneill65]

So Elf Spock told Galadriel that he'd have to scour the catacombs for the record of Southland kings,.. The Catacombs?,.. The Catacombs in a city of the Undying Elves! It's a small idiocy yes, but proof number 1,000,000 that Payne & McKay are barely literate.

[@sirbooksage]

I missed the catacombs reference when I watched it. That is indeed an idiotic bit of dialog. Eregion wouldn't have catacombs. It hasn't even been around all that long. If season one is meant to be about SA 1000 (which requires us ignoring the specific Numenoreans in the show) then Eregion has only been around for less than 400 years, which to the Elves is like 4 months. They'd be a long way away from ever even needing catacombs there.

[@poneill65]

@@sirbooksage And, as they are a race the reincarnates in Valinor, I doubt that they have a funerary culture where remains are stored and venerated. A statue here and there yes, but I've seen no Elf Graveyards, Tombs, or Catacombs.

[@sirbooksage]

@@poneill65 In regards to elven funerary culture Finrod is about the only one who comes to mind offhand who Tolkien wrote was buried in a grave after his death. But he was, of course, reembodied in Valinor afterwards.

[@cyberpunkdarren]

Here's the irony. Elves dont die. They get reincarnated in valinor. Where galadriel was heading to. And she would have met Findrod there.....soooooo......

[@Makkaru112]

Check out girlnextgondor video titled reincarnation. It’s deep and beautiful. Check it out

[@daWatcher]

Ironic that there was all this controversy about elves and dwarfs played by POC and yet, arguably two of the best characters in the series were played by POC (Arrondir and Disa).

[@scambammer6102]

Aronderp was awful and Disa wasn't on screen enough to matter.

[@Jezza_One]

It was an atrocity against the lore. Not worth watching.

[@NovRen19]

The power of the Rings is fading with each passing episode, as we all hear Treebeard's cry fused into the corporate machine theyocracy and their subordinates, "a wizard should know better." If you have lost heart or grown frustrated, join us for EXSURGE TOLKIEN as we continue to defend the counter perspective to this heresy. It is overwhelming that the showrunner's rather than desiring to respect Tolkien's Tales, yearned to be the 'lord and god' of their own "private sub-creation." Now is the hour for all phans to realize that this show does not glitter and is not gold, and return to the Valar, to the truth. "Auta i lóme!" and" Aurë entuluva."

[@mrmaat]

I agree that the Sauron in Galadriel's mind was meant to be romantic. Which is even dumber because Sauron killed Celeborn, her first husband, whom she only mentions to Theo but never brings up to Halbrand, which one might think would be a major reason not to get with him.

[@sirbooksage]

Celeborn needs to still be alive since he and Galadriel have Celebrian who marries Elrond later and gives birth to Arwen. I expect at some point in this series Celeborn will be discovered imprisoned somewhere in Middle-earth and rescued. He's critical to a lot of what goes down in the Second Age.

[@mrmaat]

@@sirbooksage Maybe. The showrunners have already massacred enough of the lore so I wouldn’t be too certain. But my point stands whether Celeborn is alive or not - RoP Galadriel thinks he died fighting Sauron or Morgoth.

[@scambammer6102]

@@mrmaat nope Celeborn is another fake death. This show loves fake deaths. They fake deathed the entire cast with a volcano.

[@Rasheed9877]

the one thing I wonder about is why they did all of this if they didn't have the rights to the second age ? why not write an original story in the world of Tolkien that is not bound by the lore or by existing source material ? if you need the name recognition I am willing to bet the lord of the rings is more than enough. but sadly this is what they chose so we have to suffer this for few more years.

[@sirbooksage]

Yes, since they are apparently going to Rhun why not just set a story in that part of Arda? With the right group of fantasy writers they could have come up with an original story that touches on the edges of the major happenings among the elves in the Second Age. In one of Tolkien's musings he does play around with the Blue Wizards coming to Middle-earth in the Second Age, earlier than the other 3. They could have built a show around their exploits in the East.

[@Rasheed9877]

@@sirbooksage I would love to hear your thoughts about what would you do if you have to make up a story in middle earth.

[@GraydenMacLennan]

The most aggravating thing for me was that the closing credits IMMEDIATELY launch into the song listing all of the other rings. It feels like a Pitch Meeting. "Did you forget to make the other rings?" "I forgot to make the other rings."

[@DCeasedbrickbuilds]

Is there anyone left that can actually defend this? Anyone? Without screaming racist, sexist, or homophobe? Because if you say that, I’m just gonna point you to House Of The Dragon.

[@Esta-Beed]

Tolkiens work has been corrupted by those who cannot create, filled this ponderous show with discount actors, dialogue written by rank amateurs and excreted from deep vowels of Amazons trash heap for us to consume

[@ChristmasLore]

Nah, the show is such a travesty that in fact, Tolkien remains absolutely untainted by this nightmarish....attempt at... something something... 😓

[@sirbooksage]

Original works remain unvarnished for me. Also, as long as (and if he ever does) GRRM sticks the landing on the final A Song of Ice and Fire novel, the abysmal ending of that show remains a separate thing. But it is certainly frustrating that, for many people, ROP will be their first introduction to anything Tolkien.

[@ChristmasLore]

@@sirbooksage , untarnished ! That's the word I was looking for - English is my second language, I'm french. 🌿 (Best regards from Alsace, east of France, full of Trees/Ents, medieval stone castles and Christmas markets at Medieval free cities ..kind of a mini Shire in so many aspects 🌿)

[@NovRen19]

Alas, Mor"mazon" has equavalently sacked the literary Osgiliath equivalent of Professor Tolkien's lore and story with season one, it is a descration of "history of the elvish speaking tongues..Shall we now sit around the fire and muse sadly on Rings of Power? Our position, "Exsurge Tolkien" (published 25 March 22, and available for review on our channel), remains the most comprehensive analysis (and foreshadowed) of the Anti-Tolkien agenda of the ROP enterprise as declared by the showrunner's own words. We now see what the corporate machine theyocracy has wrought on Professor Tolkien's legacy: heresy, catastrophe, and disaster. Even the most ardent ROP supporters have weighed the show on the scales and found it wanting, "Auta i lóme" and "Aurë entuluva."

[@AmaterianAngel]

I yelled at the screen so much in this final episode. "We're going to make a crown cose its round and reflects light in bla bla bla" Oh Shush, we know you're going to make three rings. "We've decided to make something smaller, a ring." Shut it! You're making three rings!

[@chippyonline001]

Some of my colleagues lapped all of this show up like it's the second coming of Christ. "I knew it was Halbrand!" No kidding, Sherlock, a lot of people knew way before the finale. "Of course it was going to be Halbrand, he's the character corrupting our strong heroine! He's so hot and good looking, though." Corrupting? He was no Machiavellian mastermind. If anything, him turning "evil" is so problematic that you can see the disjointedness of the episodes. Halbrand just wanted to be left alone as a smith at Numenor, but the "strong heroine" pushed him and pulled him with her toxicity and now seemingly, at the finale, he's some BBEG? And of course, they shipped "strong heroine" with the antagonist as well, even laughing at the fact the Celeborn is going to be locked into a potentially disgusting love triangle if the show suddenly decides to bring him in (note that they said "he's gone" and not literally dead, so they can spin it anyway they see fit) and that he's at the short end of the stick in their mind. If the show is disgusting, I find those shilling for it equally repugnant if not more.

[@sirbooksage]

Yep, they booted Celeborn to the curb with that "went off to war and didn't return" device, just to have this idiotic Galadriel/Halbrand story for season 1. Why would Galadriel, other than just being initially thankful for his saving her from drowning, actually care one way or another about him? She's a royal Noldor elf so her priorities and focus would be so outside the bounds of some random guy she encountered on a raft. Whenever things happen in a story simply because the writers/showrunners want them to happen in spite of what should happen it makes for a very bad story.

[@Persephone_Personified]

The writers/show runners did NOT write for Breaking Bad... not sure where you got that from. . They wrote 15 other scripts for various other movies and shows ... but NONE of them were picked up.

[@sirbooksage]

I've heard it mentioned online a few times. I just double-checked IMDB and looks like Gennifer Hutchinson is the one. it lists Gennifer Hutchinson as writing 2 of the Rings of Power episodes. According to them she's written some episodes for Breaking Bad and Better Caul Saul as well.

[@LateralTwitlerLT]

Pretty good and fair breakdown of the episode/season finale. I liked it. Although your video - at least from my point of view, could've benefited from having a dozen or so screenshots taken from the episode/show sprinkled and or consciously used throughout the video - just to help illustrate your points, and show why you think _this_ and _that_ could've/would've been better if it had been made in a different way. Thanks!

[@sirbooksage]

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions. And thank you for being my first Super Thanks!

[@LateralTwitlerLT]

@@sirbooksage My pleasure, as it's only fair to do so. And it's not like most channels get rich from ads either, so why not show some appreciation for another man's work? At least that's my philosophy. Anyways - thanks for the reply, and me being your first "customer" makes it a little bit extra worth it 🙂

[@poneill65]

This show is a complete character assassination of ALL the Tolkien canon characters they (ab)used. They must actually hate Tolkien to abuse every single character he created so completely Galadriel - angry petulant entitled manipulative narcissist girl boss (who is primary reason for Sauron turning evil) Elrond - Plodding bureaucrat Gil-Galad - Deceitful Celebrimbor - Dim-witted old luvvy and novice smith Celeborn - Dead(fled?), with shabby armour Ar Pharazon - Gladhanding Politician Tar Miriel - beta girl boss Elendil - Ser Sniffles the Tall Isildur - flakey teen with delusions of grandeur Finrod - Literary, philosophical and scientific giant (boat/stone metaphor, "try" evil to see what it's like" advice, and iffy understanding of buoyancy) Sauron - Pure evil seeking redemption,... until turned Involuntary Celibate by Galadriel Even their invented characters were nearly universally dreadful. Adar is the only half decent character, Adar! Father of Orcs, creator of Mordor!

[@KororaPenguin]

Celebrimbor's chief mistake in the original material seems to have been him assuming that because he opposed his father, uncles, and grandfather's atrocities he was immune to the codicil of the curse warning that everything the House of Fëanor started for good would be hijacked for evil. However, he was an old hand at metallurgy--he could probably have taught even our modern master physicists and chemists a thing or twelve! Artanis Nerwen aka Galadriel refused her uncle Curufinwë Fëanáro a lock of her hair because she had a knack for discerning people's characters. She mistrusted "Annatar" for the same reason. Also, even at her most arrogant she still had this little thing called empathy (or whatever the Sindarin term is). And without Celeborn there's no Celebrían (which means there's no Elladan, Elrohir, or Arwen). Galadriel, Ereinion Gil-Galad, and Elrond were also of good enough character that they could be trusted with the Three! By the time Tar-Palantír was even conceived, Celebrimbor was in the halls of Mandos (assuming he wasn't reembodied in the interim like Finrod); and Sauron not only had the One, but he also had the Nazgûl and a substantial empire. And by the time Durin IV came along, Tar-Palantír had passed beyond the circles of the world. Hobbits abandoning their wounded... well, if you're going to portray a primitive Hobbit culture as ruthless, at LEAST have other people's observations on the culture ACKNOWLEDGE this!

[@AmaterianAngel]

I'm sorry... "How Did It Come To This? " is one of my favorite lines from Two Towers. Does somehow feel quite fitting for this situation.

[@MrDometheo79]

Utterly surreal this show got made. Its like the blind leading the blind down a VERY steep ravine...where Amazons money will be sucked into.

[@RandomJtv]

The finale was a mess. It was a mess from they tried that bullshit with the Sauron reveal at the very start, because everybody and their cousin knew that Dollar Tree Gandalf was a wizard, and could / would not be Sauron. Nothing in the finale felt earned. I honestly think the volcano erupting at the end of episode 6 felt like a far better way to end the season, because at least it was big and there was a clear sense of ‘Oh fuck, this is bad’. This finale and the She-Hulk finale had A LOT in common. Both finales introduced some cool ideas, which should have been woven throughout the entire show. And in both cases, the story ended in a place which did not connect whatsoever with where the story started and what was being told up until that moment. I don’t get how so many people could be involved with these shows and not see that the stories didn’t hold.

[@Smallpotato1965]

The plot - if you could call it that - was so juvenile. Really, a ten year old would come up with 'boss girl's brother - whom we are not invested in but we are told meant lots and lots to our heroine - gets killed and boss girl wants revenge and goes on years and years of killing spree trying to find her brother's murderer and then she falls in love with dude but.. dum dum dummm ... dude turns out her brother's killer!! Awkwarrrrd!!' Seriously! I've loved reading fanfic for thirty years or so. I LIKE fanfiction. Most of it is crap, of course, and written by formentioned young girls, but there is truly decent stuff out there and even a few really, really good ones that make it all worthwhile. In short, you get skilled in scanning the first few lines in order to discard the dross. The ones that sound promising, nine times out of ten, turn out to be at the very least entertaining and, as said, now and again to hit upon an author that consistantly churns out really well written and/or well plotted fics. Believe me when I say that the script of 'Rings of Power' sound to me as the WORST kind of fanfic. It has all the hallmarks of awfulness. The know-it-all, snarky girl-bosses. The males who are all stupid and/or subservient to the superior girl-bosses. Yes, okay, but that's not all, it gets worse. The ridiculous pacing; painfully slow for no reason followed with cramming all the action the fic was named for in a short scene in the last chapter. The injection of characters and plot=arcs (if you can call 'm that) that has no bearing on the overall plot and seemingly serve no purpose. Oh, and of course that typical fanfic failing of making the evil guy 'akshually good and misunderstood oh my baybeeee cinnamon roll!i!' and 'totes ready to be turned to the good side by some hot loving' with Our Intrepid Heroine (Which Is Sooo Not Based On Me!)'. IT PUSHES ALL MY BAD FANFIC BUTTONS!! And frankly, you simply can't write this away as 'stupidity' and 'inexperience'. If this is a billion dollar show, it will have a giant team of accountants and quality control and what have you to keep an eye on costs, if anything. Don't tell me that nobody rang a warning bell. Besides, Prime, Netflix, Disney and the like have a history for years now of taking beloved classic franchises and crapping all over them in order to diminish them. What happened with Rings of Power is no bug, it's a feature.

[@sirbooksage]

The Bad Robot crew certainly has a track record of wrecking intellectual properties. A lot of fanfic, be it good or poor in quality, comes from a place of love of the characters and their story world. They're written by people with a love for the material and want to play in that story world longer than the author was able to do professionally. But, like you said, RIngs of Power feels like fanfic written by people who don't like the original works and have come to disparage it.

[@Smallpotato1965]

@@sirbooksage Yep, it's not just that they don't love the source material, it's a lack of love for *telling stories*. There's a KZbinr who is a writer who pointed out that, according to him, the flaws he saw in RoP, *as a writer*, was indeed the lack of love. Instead of loving the story they wanted to tell, they were more intersted in ticking the boxes of the things they wanted to tell. However, I somewhat disagree that bad fanfic comes from love for the characters and their world. Yes, some of it, but an alarming amount of it these days is, imho, due to a love of self. Pure narcissism. 'Look at me, inserting myself and my ideas in this shiny thing people love so much!'

[@KororaPenguin]

With apologies to Mark Twain, the rules of narrative fiction require: That a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere. But the "Rings of Power" tale accomplishes nothing and arrives in air. They require that the episodes in a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help to develop it. But as the "Rings of Power" tale is not a tale, and accomplishes nothing and arrives nowhere, the episodes have no rightful place in the work, since there was nothing for them to develop. They require that the personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there. But this detail also has been overlooked in the "Rings of Power" tale. They require that when the author describes the character of a personage in the tale, the conduct and conversation of that personage shall justify said description. But this law gets little or no attention in the "Rings of Power" tale, as the hobbits' cases will amply prove. They require that the author shall make the reader/listener/viewer feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and in their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones. But the viewer of the "Rings of Power" tale dislikes the good people in it, is indifferent to the others, and wishes they would all get drowned together. They require that the characters in a tale shall be so clearly defined that the reader/listener/viewer can tell beforehand what each will do in a given emergency. But in the "Rings of Power" tale, this rule is stabbed with a Morgul blade.

[@remyd8767]

Thanks for a great and fitting critique of the show without resorting to the tiresome anti-woke commentary.

[@succinctlylong]

Sauron: Let me tap dat ass. Giladriel: No, you're never gonna get it! Sauron: 💀

[@caradhwen7749]

I stopped watching ROP after episode 4. The Silmaril in the tree was the last straw for me. I’ve been relying on the fellowship of KZbinrs like you. This series isn’t for anyone. It’s not Tolkien or for those who don’t know the books, but want to enjoy a well written fantasy. There is no curse word in elvish, entish, or the tongues of men for this travesty!

[@sirbooksage]

Yes, the Silmaril in a tree was especially infuriating to see them do to Tolkien's lore.

[@marijeangalloway1560]

This show is far worse than a disappointment, it is an outrage to Tolkien's incredible life's work and to his memory. How appropriate that the initial air date was on the.50th anniversary of his death----a fact which, in their total cluelessness about the man, they were apparently unaware. It's a fitting metaphor for the ignorance of Tolkien's work and WHAT it is really about and WHY it is important, that every cringe-inducing line of this disgusting travesty makes abundantly obvious. All its tortuous twisting of Tolkien's lore produces scene after scene of totally illogical set-pieces based on ridiculous premises. (Another apt metaphor for what is happening is to envision Tolkien's work as the Elves as Eru created them, and Amazon as Morgoth maiming and malforming the Elves into a "ruined and terrible form of life," completely unrecognisable from what it originally was, and was intended to be.) While I would like to hold out hope for a second season, I'm afraid I shudder with dreadful anticipation at the continued destruction and desecration of the lore which is coming as ineluctably as the wave over Numenor, unless Amazon learns the error of its ways. I see no way that the junior-high level efforts of this juvenile-minded pair will suddenly transform in a matter of months to a level of oomplexity, sophistication, and subtle nuance that would render them capable of adapting any part of Tolkien's monumental legendarium. Amazon would need to fire these talentless no-hit wonders and hire competent and experienced writers, preferably who know and appreciate Tolkien's work. These hacks lied about both to get this job, apparently. Amazon might remember that one major reason the film trilogy of LOTR was so successful was that the writers truly knew and loved Tolkien, and wanted to bring his great work to the screen as a labour of love. This they did so well that the talentless hacks hired for ROP keep ripping off the LOTR screenplay, only they do so in stupid, inappropriate ways that cheapen the original. (Really, I am surprised that Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, end Fran Walsh haven't sued Amazon over.the "showrunners'" constant and blatant plagiarism. But maybe they don't want even that much public association with this train wreck of a series.) The best thing that could happen would be the cancellation of the series, which would bring an end at least to any continued desecration of a great author's lifelong achievement, one that has brought so much joy to millions of people over so many decades, and will continue to do so despite the efforts of Amazon to contaminate it.

[@clownofthetimes6727]

The lord of gift`s arrived and he deceived us all.

[@jraelien5798]

I have never watched this pathetic show, but I am absolutely floored by your statement. There has not been any elven magic throughout 8 hours of viewing?!? Are you serious?!? Who could be that boring and unimaginative? They bought the rights to Tolkien and forgot to do THAT? They suck.

[@orthoff123]

Great Job!

[@steve-oh4342]

good video

[@oceanfrog]

Easy block. Buh-biyee.

[@philg8994]

Ayo man your phone is ringing.

[@BernardLangham]

Galadriel's suspicion is aroused because when advising Celebrimbor, Halbrand repeats something which very much recalls Adar during his interrogation, where he said that Sauron's new goal was to "gain power over flesh" rather than spirit.

[@Makkaru112]

We must realize we must not use the series as a place to lean on for source material. Adar doesn’t even exist. And isn’t welcome. Nether does Nori. Nor poppy. None of it. It’s all a shite show that’s all about the friends we make along the way!

[@Makkaru112]

The original story was LEAGUES better. Astronomically better in fact.

[@firebearva]

I don't care what the actor said, Sauron wanted a booty call.

[@veeclash4157]

In the books Elendil is Lord of Aundie and a cousin to Miriel so any romantic relationship would be incest. That would make that relationship nearly as much of an abomination as the SauronXGaladriel shipping. What a travesty of a CW plot written by small minds to please whom exactly? This show is for not made for anybody who engages their critical mind while viewing.

[@sirbooksage]

In the books Elendil's father Amandil is Lord of Andunie still and head of the Faithful. Though for this show they seem to have erased Amandil from the story. While Elendil is descended from Elros like Miriel their lines split many generations ago. So, while cousins, they are far removed from each other in that sense. Pharazon is Miriel's first cousin, their fathers being brothers, which makes his actions later all the more horrible and corrupt.

[@charlesstanford1310]

Oh, for crying out loud. The three nazgurls are like evil versions of the Magi looking for baby Jesus. Seriously? This doesn't seem like the way to honor the Christian motivation behind Tolkien's work.

[@emorsi]

You know, this here is the first real "honest" review for you are open minded to give the show some credits where you stated that you liked that or this scene. But even in that you are convinced (like all the other) to give that show a very, very low rating. That alone tells me how bad this show is... and that is starting to make me angry. LotR is a wonderful rich fantasy story that no one else ever has created... and it is reduced to a very low standard fantasy flic, it is not even mediocore... and that is so sad. And that makes you angry. I did not see one single episode of "House of the Dragon" yet because I am still angry at the desaster ending of GOT (maybe I will get over it). And now here I am... having high hopes for the new D&D movie that will come out soon. And the former D&D movies were all trash. And now this, prefering a D&D upcoming movie over a LotR and GOT show... never ever I would have thought that it will come to this.

[@Bamiar1789]

"Halbrand/Sauron didn't do or say anything that would give these three rings something embedded in them that would let his One ring control them when he forges it later". Probably wishful thinking on my part, but hopefully we'll find out in Season 2 that Halbrand/Sauron had tainted the Valinorian dagger with his magic during their ride to Eregion, while he was feigning injury.

[@ChristmasLore]

Not a chance I fear, given how few they seem to care for Magic in this show... 😓

[@garrymugen486]

Also he would be edging all his bets they would use that dagger and not another source.

[@Bamiar1789]

@@garrymugen486 They made it clear that they needed metal from Valinor. Have we seen any other sources?

[@Bamiar1789]

@@ChristmasLore Maybe, but it would be very easy. We see Halbrand holding the dagger in his final scene with Galadriel on the raft. It would be the perfect opportunity for him to enchant it.

[@garrymugen486]

@@Bamiar1789 I'm pretty sure one of the best living elven-Smiths of the age and grandkid of the most skilled craftsman of the first age as per the intro in first eps, Celebrimbor defs has metal from Valinor for special occasions just like this, as that's been his dream to live up to/match his Grandfather's creations, but this won't be the first or last time the show's weakness of relying on plot convenience to explain any logical fallacies away. I really was cheering the show on in the earlier eps, but it just fell apart with the Galadriel related storylines, especially sad since the Adar/Mordor & Khazad-dûm storylines were well done.

[@jeanniefromtahini5197]

With when Sauron took Galadriel's face in his hands I didn't see it as an ill fated romance/Sauron incel type thing, I saw it as how evil is seductive.

[@Makkaru112]

Sauron seducing Galadriel is in the negative numbers below 0 hun. It was cringe and cheapened the lines she spoke to Frodo in the fellowship books. Not to mention the plagerism galore in the series. Such as the tempest thing was all from Elizabeth starting Cate Blanchett. “Nora Lin” “we need elvish medicine.” Heck. The whole horse going to find isildur thing is obviously stealing from the iconic moment between Aragorn and Brego.