THE LIES DON'T STOP! Rings of Power interviews reveal show runner's LIES AND BIAS

[@demolition3612]

They are writing in allegory, something Tolkien despised… nothing could be further from faithful to the author of the originally work.

[@seabreeze4559]

I call it skinsuit fiction.

[@zzodysseuszz]

@@seabreeze4559 great name

[@luisclaudioguerin4870]

Exactly, one can read tolkien works and interpret anything they want, but to adapt, they should adapt the way it IS, without injecting their own interpretation, so that people watching it would have their own interpretations.. but those people keep talking bullshit with almost no sense.

[@thebrewingsailor9172]

Worse, it won't even be a well done or well written allegory. It'll the same ham handed nonsense the Hollywood has been churning out for the last 10 years. Never let the narrative get in the way of THE MESSAGE, as the Critical Drinker would say.

[@Halo_Legend]

To an extent, every fiction is allegorical, especially his - fight of good and evil.

[@blackbuddhaPA]

I’m a 42-year-old Black man who’s read and have all the Tolkien books. When I saw that Don Lemon elf with a fade, I laughed out loud, and then became incredibly angry. How the F*€|< does he have a fade?!?! With the Oster hair clippers of Osgiliath?!?! OMG I want my Tolkien filled with Whwhwhite people!! Characters don’t have to be a certain skin color, especially when LOtR takes place in Europe, before any migration of brown people…

[@asarishepard8171]

Thank you, love! My push back for the racist commenters is " well would you want black panther replaced with Tom cruise??"

[@LandStrider23]

Or they could have at least invented a story within the context of the lore. Like Far Harad, Umbar, and Rhun.

[@lordthruxawe504]

They can have people of other races though. They would just have to have knowledge of other regions within the lore to keep it faithful, but they're too lazy for that. The Easterlings and Haradrim are examples of that.

[@elidasilva5558]

I dont mind people of diferent color I just hate short haired elves...or whatever the F Eminem Preist of Mordor is

[@admirekashiri6651]

@@LandStrider23 there are no poc characters in Tolkien's lore and story so screw that. Just adapt a fanasy with real diversity like Lightbringer or Eragon or Earthsea.

[@TheLastGarou]

"The story doesn't belong to the people that own the rights." One of the editors at DC Comics that presided over the 'Death in the Family' storyline where Joker killed Jason Todd (the second Robin) did an interview where he talked about this: "At a certain point, these characters and stories don't belong to us anymore. They belong to the fans."

[@jimluebke3869]

CS Lewis, speaking as the titular demon in "The Screwtape Letters": “We teach them not to notice the different sense of the possessive pronoun .. . Even in the nursery a child can be taught to mean by "my Teddy-bear" not the old imagined recipient of affection to whom it stands in a special relation (for that is what the Enemy [i.e., God] will teach them to mean if we are not careful) but "the bear I can pull to pieces if I like.”

[@insensitive919]

Inb4 somebody makes the obligatory "the only way for these companies to make money is to betray the fans!" statement.

[@joebobhenrybob2000]

Micheal Stipe of REM said something similar, that fans become part owners of the songs so he wants to tread lightly when he talks about what they mean or how they do the videos for the song. That is such huge humility considering theyre his songs in his band, way less diffuse than a half century old comic book legacy.

[@FableWolfe]

I will say one thing: Fans may not own these IPs by law, but we are the only force that will keep them alive. Neglect the franchise, and the fans will keep it alive for generations. Kill the fanbase, and the franchise dies. Look no further than the works of H. P. Lovecraft if you want proof of that concept. They've been in the public domain for years, and the mythos has only become more popular. I'll gladly accept tonnes of crap adaptations if the IP is free and open to everyone, rather than the single sewage pipe of content produced when a corporation like Amazon owns it.

[@Halo_Legend]

Disagree. Strongly disagree. Literature is for the author to express himself and entertain people in the process. No one understands the story and the characters better than the author. When you give reigns to the "fans" you end up with abominations like RWBY fan shipping becoming canon (rip Monty Oum). Hot take to take it further: we don't care about you. You either like our stories or don't. Criticism is valid, but not to the extent some people would want it to be. Only in a case of a morbidly dumb fiction the valid criticism reaches as far as stating that everything should be changed, or huge parts of the story. Ofc, it's different for long running series with many authors like Star Wars. Edit: so I don't really disagree, because yes, at a certain point - that point being your IP becomming a multiauthor franchise.

[@jimluebke3869]

The Downfall of Numenor wasn't about division, it was about corruption. Elendil and his sons held to the old ways and were uncorrupted, while the Numenorians who followed Sauron's advice went all Game of Thrones, then decided they'd set themselves up as equals to gods. Being a responsible deity, Eru took one look at the Game of Thrones nonsense going on, said the Tolkienian equivalent of, "Wellp, that's enough of that" and drowned the lot of them.

[@grassblock7668]

"Went all Game of Thrones" described it perfectly. Just some mad ass Melkor worshippers killing people for no reason lol.

[@donkeysaurusrex7881]

Was that before or after they invaded Heaven to get the right to be reincarnated?

[@jamesdecost6009]

@jim in the first age the dwarves and elves lived together so it definitely wasn’t racial tension as shad thought. The other thing that I kept hearing them say was that Sauron was a gift giver, and and a good guy during the second age which isn’t true. Sauron joined melkor in the first age, and the only instance of him trying to repent was in the second age, but when he was told to repent he needed to submit himself to the valor, and take whatever punishment they see fit he said that was ludicrous, and went back to being evil.

[@spacejunk2186]

Elendil being uncorrupted? Ehhhhhhhh

[@grassblock7668]

@@donkeysaurusrex7881 before

[@DeadlyAssets]

Tolkien did explicitly say "Elves are pale skinned. Most Elves have dark hair and grey or blue-grey eyes. The Vanyar, the least numerous of the three Kindreds of the Eldar, have blond hair and blue eyes." to me pale skinned means white, I may be wrong, but I have never thought to call a Black man "Pale face!" As for hair, Hair is a big deal to Elves. Tolkien notes that all the Eldar have beautiful hair, and that hair of exceptional loveliness is prized. Men, as well as women, wear their hair long, Celeborn's hair is described as "silver long and bright," Glorfindel's hair "long enough to flow, in the wind of his speed when he rides his horse" and Fingon wears his hair in "great plaits, bound with gold." Tolkien did say there are No Hobbits in the 2nd age, Harfoots are one of the original 3 tribes of Hobbits. Harfoot Hobbits, Stoor Hobbits and Fallohide Hobbits, Harfoots ARE Hobbits! Hobbits were unknown before the 3rd age and went unnoticed by the other races until the end of the 3rd age when The Lord of the Rings is set.

[@MiaogisTeas]

Brandywine is a Hobbit/Common tongue version of the word Baranduin - the original name of the river. So why is there a Harfoot with the name Brandyfoot when they don't live near the Baranduin River yet? Even if they will become Hobbits later, it doesn't make sense that they'd have cultural relics of the pastoral Hobbit culture when they are not yet pastoral or Hobbits?

[@DeadlyAssets]

@@MiaogisTeas They ARE Hobbits, no 2 ways about it, they don't become them, Harfoots are one of the 3 branches of Hobbits like Asians are one of the breeds of Humans, The showrunners are just showing their Ignorance or are deliberately trying to trick some people into accepting the fact that there should be no hobbits at this time in Middle-earth history! So the extra stupidity of pastoral names, when they are nomads that as far as Tolkien's concerned don't exist, is just more rubbish on the dumpster they are parking on Tolkiens books.

[@suburbanbanshee]

@@DeadlyAssets The point is that Tolkien was riffing off the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes being three tribes that became the English, just like the leaders Marcho and Blancho are riffing off Hengest and Horsa.

[@smacdsmaccers]

Im trying to picture a pale black man I come up with albino

[@nicolasmoreno95]

where did Tolkien say there are no Hobbits in the 2nd age?

[@LeutnantJoker]

The mere fact that they think a line like "I'm playing the first female dwarf we'll ever see" will get ANY react other than "yeah so? Is that all this character is??" It's just a sign how sexist these people really are themselves. They think "first woman" is the only thing a female character has to offer to be interesting. A woman doesn't have to be interesting, smart, have a good back story, have motivations or be whatever, no.. she just needs to be the first dwarf with a pu**y and she's the best character ever. That in itself reveals their attitude towards woman more than anything.

[@ZeusBrown]

And on top of all that, it's not even true.

[@marychocolatefairy]

Also, she talks pretty big for someone that's in her first proper series/film role. I mean, if it were me, I'd be grateful for the opportunity and want to prove I should have been cast- especially with such a beloved franchise as this. But she's super impressed by herself right off the bat.

[@Halo_Legend]

Women*

[@asarishepard8171]

What about willows wife??? Lets rep willows wife!!!!!

[@matboi5746]

It's a sign we are collapsing as a civilization.

[@Shamrock797]

There were black and female Dwarves in the film The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

[@Pollozapatos]

I think it’s sad that no one has brought up Tolkien’s personal justification for not adding other ethnicities: he said he didn’t know their history, so he didn’t want to pervert it. And now these writers are bastardizing his work, despite having an open invitation to invent new races into the world of middle earth.

[@IggyTthunders]

"Their history" is whatever you want. They're not real.

[@WannaBe_CO]

@@IggyTthunders so just make a fanfiction then.

[@MrFredstt]

He also pretty explicitly stated that Middle Earth was first and foremost a sort of retelling of English mythology

[@andresanguianozuniga6798]

Dude, Tolkien writted the tales for England, what is Europe... Thats why no one does somenthing about the Harad or Ruhn...CUZ THE LORE HAS LITTERALLY NO PLACE, THE CENTER IS NORSE AND CELTIC STUFF.

[@th84lok25]

What about the easterlings and the mauraders from the south?

[@EnsignRedshirtRicky]

I went from apathy, to dislike, and now actively hate these liar and the Heard they are leaving on our bed. They have managed to kill any interest even if they do manage to fix season two, and I will be avoiding other projects they work on.

[@jdgoesham5381]

And the gaslighting makes it all the more maddening. And of course no mainstream fantasy outlet will call it like it is and just suck up to get that corporate access...

[@lukeskywalkerthe2nd773]

Tell me about it! And I know this is a fools hope, but I hope this show bombs so hard that Amazon will just cancel The Rings of Garbage!

[@LVD3NS]

The very thing that shows me this show will be shit is the very concept of a black dwarf princess; it simply doesn't make any bloody sense, physiologically, and societally! First, let me tackle the physiological problems. If we accept the fact that black people's dark skin color originates out of a need to adapt to the hot blazing sun, which led to producing more melanin... How come dwarves, who live underground, would face the same problem? Now, this would not be a problem if dark skin was a preset characteristic of all dwarves; but because there are also white dwarves, it doesn't make any sense. But let's not mention how she was the only black dwarf shown in all promotional material; this implies she's the black princess of a primarily white nation. Tell me how that makes any sense? How did she get into royalty while being so different from the rest of her people? Does she come from another race of colonizer dwarves? I mean, C'MON AMAZON!

[@KnittedSister]

Well punned good sir. I salute you!

[@woodwyrm]

A most fuculent heard!

[@Stefan-xt5sk]

That "Says you!" comment made me dislike them immediately. A shy nerd asks a lore question and gets shut down and ridiculed. They could have and should have handled that much better. It's shameful. "Good catch on that! Our designers put a lot of effort into every single detail. They could tell you much more about this than I can right now. To enable more emotional and impactful storytelling in this medium, we had to take some liberties from the source material, but it will all make sense once you see the show. Thanks for the question!" On a huge production like this, at least rehearse your vague PR responses.

[@luiseescartin8026]

Man I feel you on that one. The only thing anyone should get out of that answer is that they don't want to answer honest questions not in a convention and most probably not in the show

[@RockBass68]

And Colbert is just a bully.. all this talk about how much he knows Tolkien’s work and just him being there disgusts me.. after that he bullies a fan.. what a turd

[@suburbanbanshee]

Those were pretty predictable questions... if you had any empathy with fans, or if you did any research into the kinds of questions being asked online. But woke people don't have empathy. They don't want to put themselves in anyone else's shoes; they only know how to be offended on an approved victim's behalf.

[@Nerzgul]

Or, if Stephen Colbert was actually a good host and a Tolkien's nerd as he said in many many occasions he would have said in response: _"good point!"_ and turn the question back to those stage puppets...

[@fostxswire1600]

The whole point of the series and their marketing is go away nerds we are using this now.

[@goyasolidar]

The Nelywns in Willow are dwarves, and therefore Willow's wife Kiaya would be the first female dwarf on screen while Vohnkar would be the first dwarf of color.

[@jobak5021]

Exactly! Thank you for bringing up Willow!

[@rockbottom2822]

And don't forget the Brownies....

[@robo5013]

You - In Willow... Woke person- Willow,? That was last century, who cares about last century? You - Yes, but in Willow... Woke person - BUT THAT WAS SOOO LAST CENTURY! We're talking about today!

[@Dead_Goat]

@@robo5013 How many dwarves have been on screen in recent cinema? I dont think we have many high fantasy television.

[@georged.5595]

@@Dead_Goat from what I hear there were some in Netflix's bastardization of the witcher, complete with beards, even. Though I personally don't have Netflix nor do I want to watch something this much inferior to the source, so the source for this information is a shaky memory of a KZbin Review. Edit: just saw you asked about dwarves in general and not just female ones.

[@Saavryn]

"Steven Colbert probably doesn't know there were female dwarves shown." His whole nerd shtick is that he knows more about LOTR and Tolkien lore than ANYONE. To have him go along with the farce that is Queen Deesa is unironically a huge destruction of his credibility.

[@mr.s2005]

He hasnt had any credibility in years.. longer when it comes to politics..but the last decade attacking star wars fans for not liking Mary sues.

[@Saavryn]

@@mr.s2005 100% agreed

[@howardpeter1786]

Yes! He's literally in The Desolation of Smaug as a cameo, he definitely knows he's talking a load of old cobblers.

[@debanydoombringer1385]

He can recite everyone's lineage from the Silmarillion so this was just proof he totally sold out for political reasons or cash.

[@anomiepje]

It is absolutely not shtick. Colbert grew up as a total nerd, played DnD before it was even really a thing. He was raised as a devout catholic, just like Tolkien, so he was naturally drawn to him and his world.

[@Shamrock797]

Also, Steven Colbert literally had a cameo in the second Hobbit film, which included female Dwarves in the flashbacks. He should have watched it!

[@NudocPRIME]

And has some of the swords

[@ctrlaltdebug]

He's lying. Obviously Colbert took the ticket and is just a mouthpiece now.

[@HighTechWizard]

The guy they mention "having the privilege working with" is Tom Shippey, that IS the guy they FIRED for defending the lore.

[@debanydoombringer1385]

That pissed me off. That they'd mention him in some lame attempt to give themselves some credibility after they fired him.

[@TheZapan99]

The woman they hired in his stead is a vicious university teacher from Glasgow, who specializes in "deconstructing folklore and fairy tales."

[@charliegranberry2594]

@Jacqueline Davis true.

[@georgepatton93]

my take on this is that Amazon is using this series as a virtual signaling tool, movies and TV series have never been the true money maker for them, they can make 100 movie flops and still have money to burn, the Ring of Power series is there to satisfy social media mobs who constantly try to cancel things, and big tech companies don't like being annoyed by these insignificant things

[@sphyre1196]

You mean virtue signaling right?

[@apan990]

i recently learnt about blackrock and how theyve gotten their hands on everything in america and the world really, im not american so i cant talk about it in detail since idk, but all the recent liberal/woke propaganda in todays society (whether u agree with the message or not) makes sense when you factor in BRs role in all this. i just wish politics wasnt so drastically involved in todays entertainment business because more and more movies/shows/internet in general, are becoming worse and worse since these people care more about shoving some political message down everyones throats rather than creating good content for viewers.

[@mindovomatter5181]

I think all these groups are trying t corner the marker as the most gay and feminist outlet to look up these dollars. I think the are having a hard time monetizing it and now losing money. They believe there is a way so they will keep pressing and trying t force the government to make you accept it. Also to get access to your kids so they are programmed to enjoy it.

[@BT-su1yf]

It certainly has distracted people from the whole "workers pissing in bottles" thing. This show should be treated as purely a PR tool, and thusly ignored.

[@seabreeze4559]

nah it's skinsuit fiction

[@canadianeh4792]

Feanor killed half of Galadriel's family so he could steal their ships and sail to Middle Earth. It is one of the most important events of the First Age, caused the doom of the Noldor which is a central part of Galadriel's character arc from the First through the Fourth Age when she passes into the West. She would NEVER wear Feanor's crest, gift or not. I seriously doubt he would give her a gift either, as she refused him a gift when she denied him a strand of her hair to make the Silmarils (her gift of three of her hairs to Gimli takes on a new significance). Feanor is extremely petty and definitely holds grudges (one of his defining traits) I have a hard time believing he'd give her anything.

[@deriznohappehquite]

Note: Feanor didn’t actually kill anyone in Galadriel’s family. Most of the Teleri survived the kinslaying.

[@irena4545]

@@deriznohappehquite Not in the immediate family, but since the Teleri were her mother's people, the Kinslaying at Alqualondë hit closer to home for her than for the other Noldor.

[@irena4545]

Plus, he died relatively soon after the Kinslaying, so there was no opportunity to have given her anything (and even if he had given her something prior, I don't believe she would have kept it afterwards). I suspect that the giver might have been Celebrimbor, since he made the Elessar for her and gave her Nenya, but he would have been an idiot to give her something featuring the star of Fëanor. Plus, those stars attached to the chainmail look terribly cheap and non-functional, no self-respecting Elven craftsman would ever make anything to crude.

[@icecell]

​@@irena4545 I saw this from council of the rings, but an elf rumoured to be one of Galadriel's brothers (probably from a flashback scene) is also wearing the same starred chainmail. It would simply be asinine for Galadriel to wear anything of Feanor's.

[@TootsyBootsy]

Noldor who were left behind after the burning of the ships would have switched to Fingolfin's crest during the crossing. If I'm remembering correctly Tolkien literally said they knew they had been betrayed by Feanor. Even if they didnt switch to Fingolfin's crest I can say with pretty high certainty everyone would have ripped Feanor's crest off if they were wearing it.

[@carlothecoffeeguy3778]

Shad, since your son is roughly Frodo-sized you may have to send him on a quest to take 'Rings of Power' back to the fires of Mount Bezos (Oz can carry him if he gets tired)

[@starstoryteller]

Nah too many pedos in Hollywood man too risky.

[@92edoy]

I don't think any father would like his son coming back without a finger 😅

[@woodwyrm]

@@92edoy Or poisoned by a giant spider, or any other of the things Frodo does that puts him in mortal danger lmao

[@backonlazer791]

SJWs are vicious. I'd dare to argue they're worse than any Ringwraith. Better to forget all about rings and adventures and to stay in your hobbit holes.

[@agiksf.8998]

@@backonlazer791 Nope, adversities build character. And as an ultimate spell, all he has to do is ask - What is a woman? It's an instant kill of SJW.

[@roguegn]

"We don't serve the men around us, we have a storyline in our own right" Yeah, the moment she said that I gave up all fucking hope. This shit is DOOMED. First off, there are plenty of female characters with individual storylines and agency within LOTR as well as outside of it, this isn't some type of revolutionary change. Secondly, this just goes to show what the actors and writers care about within the show. They don't care about having good characters or an interesting story, they just care about their female characters being important

[@brianbergmusic5288]

Both history and the LOTR mythology have examples of female royalty... which does NOT mean a gender swapped Braveheart. EVEN female royalty requires some collaboration or symbiosis with males: receiving council/reports from their own military commanders/statesmen, alliances with foreign kings, potentially raising their male offspring who would be princes. The difference between that reality and the cult of activist-entertainers is skipping any form of egalitarianism entirely; because... patriarchy. It would seem that the cult-of-woke wishes for humanity to transform into an insect colony.

[@agiksf.8998]

Another annoying thing is - Galadriel is a leader of Lothlorien, holds one of the Rings of Power and was able to withstand the trial of trying to posses the One Ring! If that's not some awesome woman with agency, then these adult children should maybe go back to school and learn that strong will and character is better then trying to make a woman an ass kicking warrior. Seriously, childlike understanding of what a strong person is supposed to be. All they could think of was: 'Yeah, I'm great because I can fight like a guy! Girl power!' (with the help of bad CGI) Did they meant this show to be a kid's show? This kind of simplistic crap will not impress actual adults.

[@roguegn]

@@agiksf.8998 The hilarious part is that they made her far less powerful in an attempt to make her stand out more. Its as if I had an Ak, but I wanted to be more “masculine” so I would throw the AK away and fight with a knife instead. Same thing with Galadriel, but instead of an AK for a knife they exchange her magic for a sword… Theres so many different ways in which you can write a “powerful” character without having to make them an actual warrior, but now in 2022 apparently a woman can only be seen as powerful by being as masculine as possible. Women can now only be strong if they behave like men. This may apply in some scenarios, but you can definitely write a powerful female character without turning her into a man. But apparently this concept is too advanced for the people making this show.

[@MrFredstt]

The whole "girl boss" phenomenon going on in the culture is incredibly destructive.

[@agiksf.8998]

@@roguegn That would take actual work to write a good character. Looking at all the Woke shows, all they can do is ruin characters that already had good development (I'm looking at you, MCU TV shows). We should encourage ppl to just read books this crap is based on. Watching it is such a waste of time!

[@Anitii]

They can still make the show "timeless" by not releasing it!🤣

[@Saavryn]

Pulling a Batgirl.

[@icecell]

The best part about Galadriel - she's basically the oldest elf around in RoP (barring her brother who seems to have a cameo), but the showrunners treat her like an angry teenager. Celebrimbor and Gil Galad look so much older than her, when she's almost like their granny aunt.

[@throgoy]

When Morgoth said "it's goth time" and commited suicide the show was bangin' 1 morbillion/10 would recommend

[@georged.5595]

"It's morgin' time!" - Morgoth "It's forgin' time!" - Sauron (as Annatar)

[@lokdog257]

28:00 the irony of Numenor is that there were two factions ripping the kingdom apart, and the good guys were the ones that stuck to their God, their traditions, and their old loyalties. The bad guys were the ones changing Numenor

[@woodtroll3279]

There were female dwarves in the Huntsman, Winter’s War. Perhaps she didn’t mean to make a sweeping broad statement about all films being devoid of female dwarves. But she did. If she didn’t mean to make that claim, then she should be less careless with her speech.

[@rpgadventurer32]

It's not just her, several articles wrote the same claim including EW.

[@woodtroll3279]

@@rpgadventurer32 Don’t they realize that making an irrefutably false claim not only weakens their narrative but makes them look incompetent because they didn’t know something that was obvious? In an effort to add value to the story they’ve broken the lore thereby degrading the story, all to fruitless end. They achieved something that’s already been achieved. They broke ground that was already broken.

[@ZeusBrown]

I think we can assume she meant within Tolkien-derived works, but it's still objectively false.

[@debanydoombringer1385]

She's not even the first portrayed in Tolkien. The Hobbit had female Dwarves and they all had beards. Edit: In the film.

[@woodtroll3279]

@@debanydoombringer1385 That is true. But it’s an easier mistake to make because you barely see them for a moment. Fans know that but the cast and crew don’t seem to be fans.

[@blakewalker84120]

Tell me about Disa? She's the first female dwarf ever. OK, but tell me about Disa? Well, she's the first female dwarf that we have ever seen in the works of Tolkien. Yeah, yeah, but tell me about Disa? She's the first... Arrrrrrggggghhhh!!!!

[@caleboch8181]

The downfall of Numenor it was literally subverted to the worship of Morgoth to the point that there was literally child sacrifices and it all started because a group of numenoroans were envious of the elves immortality and more or less grew to resent the elves and the Valar Granted I may have misremembered a few details but that’s more or less what happened

[@nyrukdaerog3973]

Yes, Sauron was taken prisoner (because he wanted to be taken), and then played on the vanity of the ruling class to the point that he became like the head priest leading sacrifices to Melkor while the leaders were fooled to try to invade Valinor. He was in beautiful form when Numenor fell, and was never able to take on beautiful form again.

[@robertbeisert3315]

Which parallels nicely the Biblical stories and lessons which Tolkien knew well. I'll not call it allegory, but rather a fiction containing truths.

[@luiseescartin8026]

@@nyrukdaerog3973 I don't know if its a matter of wanting to be taken. If I remember correctly he knew he would be military defeated so he went with the only route available which was to use description and trickery.

[@grassblock7668]

@@luiseescartin8026 So he did want to be taken, if he knew he would have lost and DIDN'T want to be taken he would have gotten out of the scene somehow I mean once he becamed a vampire and flew away from Luthien and Huan.

[@finbarhooley3536]

Amazon and these cursed, horrible writers and show runners have not the talent, ability, or desire to actually show the Downfall of Numenor and the context that was written in the Silmarillion. They cannot in any capacity understand the significance of Melkor/Morgoth and Iru Iluvatar. They have no reverence or empathy to understand the impact and meaning of the Valar laying down their lordship of Arda when Ar Pharazon sailed his fleet against them. All they care about is dragging Tolkien's legacy through muck and filth to serve their political agenda.

[@lukeskywalkerthe2nd773]

I already had a distaste with Stephen Colbert, considering he is just another mindless talk show host (and a talk show host who literally did nothing else but freaking Trump jokes for Trump's entire term because he couldn't do anything else with his time), and the only thing I did like about him was that he was a Tolkien fan, but this just made me borderline hate the man. Dissing that fan for bringing up a legitimate question regarding Galadriel instead of being mindful and actually listening to him is disgusting. He is an utter sellout and traitor to Tolkien and his legacy and he doesn't deserve to talk about him ever again!

[@mr.s2005]

Total sell out, probably only will take a few bucks to get him to attack the Tolkien fan base just like he did to the star wars fans.

[@grassblock7668]

I mean once he said Celebrimbor made the One ring on Twitter I believe, so... I mean sure he can make mistakes, we all do but: 1. That's a huge mistake from someone who claims to be an expert (also that time he forgot the Valar's names) 2. He didn't correct himself afterwards, even though the first 30 seconds of Felloship of The Ring prove him wrong instantly.

[@overgrowndwarf1628]

@@grassblock7668 I believe he restated it at this SDCC panel, if you watch the full thing.

[@grassblock7668]

@@overgrowndwarf1628 BRUH- not only did he make a huge mistake, he also said it again?! That man ain't no Tolkien fan.

[@schwartzy65]

@@mr.s2005 which is weird since hes huge tolkien fan so they must have payed him alot...

[@dblaska]

I dont remember where I saw it but I saw something about this and somebody made the comment along the lines of 'if you cant connect to a movie because there isnt somebody the same race or sexuality as you..maybe YOU'RE the problem' And I agree because if you are defining a character by its race or sexuality then you are making bad characters. The things we should connect with on characters is universal for any race or sexuality. Their lives, their drive, their goals and the things that get in the way of their goals from being accomplished. Just like there are things that connect all of us that have nothing to do with those things.

[@soaringraven0]

You should be able to connect to a good character regardless of who they are.

[@asarishepard8171]

@@soaringraven0 exactly right. I connected with the lead of The Northman and im not a man. But I could connect with his struggle. Imagine that!

[@RockBass68]

@@asarishepard8171 I agree.. the same for white people that watched Black Panther, Blade, Shang Chi and loved the main characters.. so a little girl cant connect with Moana if she is not Samoan? This show will be a big pile of dogshit

[@gazlator]

It seems so often overlooked that JRR Tolkien was Professor of Anglo-Saxon Studies at Oxford; THAT was his day job for most of his adult life; he had a thorough knowledge of early Anglo-Saxon and Scandanavian history, culture and folklore. All of his fantasy work springs from, emerges from and comes out of that very simple fact. If the Amazon show-runners want to "move on" from that as a starting point, then they've already missed the central issue to begin with.

[@thedarkness2797]

That was the intro we needed and wanted!

[@HecmarJayam]

As a "non white" I've never had any problems identifying or understanding a character because "doesn't look like me". If you need a sex, skin color or ethnicity to do so, then you are the one with the problem.

[@lawrencemckenna6249]

"There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of men for this treachery." - J. R. R. Tolkien

[@dan_the_dj]

25:15 Things were going great for Numenor while they were sticking to their traditional beliefs and values. Once Sauron became an advisor to the king, playing on his wish to live forever and forcing him to adopt new beliefs like worshiping Melkor aka devil instead of Eru aka God and ultimately declaring war on him and invading Aman is when Numenor got put down... Drawing that whole ordeal to our world and time, it would basically mean that our traditional beliefs and values are the good ones, and woke politics is whats bad for the world, no? I fail to see how this makes any sense for this guy to praise, cause it aint going in his favor. Quite the contrary Im afraid... Edit: Oz gets it xD

[@grassblock7668]

It's impossible to do a proper allegory of Tolkien to the real world In Tolkien's world there *is* pure good and there is pure evil, while in ours there are not. Like, you can't try to draw a parellel between *random politician* and fking Morgoth, aka the literal source of all evil, it literally doesn't work, there is no way you can make it work. In our world the line between right and wrong is much more blurry than in Tolkien's. There's a point in Tolkien's world that crosses the line, if you agree with the bad guys you are objectively wrong because the bad guys are literally commanded by the goddam devil, we ain't getting more wrong than that. In our world there is no 100% objective difference between right and wrong (sure we have morals and thank God we do) because we are, yk, real. And most importantly we are not fighting against freaking demoms but against fellow humans (for all we know at least- ok no i'm kidding). Tolkien despised allegory and made a world that had only the humanity of some characters (and some ww2 and Christianity references) as allegoric to the irl world. At the time he was writing stuff the world sucked real bad, so he wanted to create a temporary escape for readers and himself, by forcing in allegory Amazon is just ignoring Tolkien's will and written out toughts. His original intent of creating a temporary escape from the real world doesn't get given fcks about since they said 30.000 times that they think it's so beutiful that Rings of Power will represent the real world. Also, I swear if they allude to the fact that the only reason why Sauron is evil is because he's racist I am throwing hands (also he despised everyone lol).

[@als3022]

@@grassblock7668 I'd agree with you 10 years ago. But, with everything thats happened in the last year. Things have become less gray and much more good and evil. I mean its actually a bit frightening how much its gotten that way.

[@grassblock7668]

@@als3022 true

[@SecureInMyHead]

If she can prove that Iran cares about Rings of Power, I will be more than happy to watch it myself.

[@1313fina]

Gods, Eowyn's line sassing the Witch-King is *chef's kiss* perfection. I will forever reject what Amazon's doing as canon and only ever remember the Jackson Trilogy.

[@travonarmstrong6093]

20:00 The Hitch-Hiker (1953) is a movie that doesn't have any women in it, and it's director is a women. It's a good movie, and I agree that a movie doesn't have to have any men, women or even any humans for me to enjoy it. That's all thanks to this thing that almost all humans naturally have called "empathy".

[@zombiefinatic7033]

Very true, some other great ones were The Thing, 1917, First Blood, all fantastic movies with no females in these great films because like you said, movies can be about anything and need nothing besides visuals and intreigue.

[@odin741]

Once upon a time when actors broke onto the big shows and films, they were humble and knew that they needed to continue to win over the crowds to keep working and bringing in the jobs and their money... Now we have entitled actors who come out blasting the stories, attacking the authors and openly taunting the very fans they still need to rely upon for their futures! What Hubris!!!!

[@shaunhall6834]

We live in a polarized society which has made it impossible to have a meaningful conversation.

[@Persephone_Personified]

They invented 15 non-Tolkien characters Used 10 already existing Tolkien characters ...that says EVERYTHING

[@stevenkelley6284]

John Carpenter's "The Thing" has no women in it. The closest they come is the female voice of computer chess in the very beginning. Some stories benefit from seeing different perspectives but The Thing is a MF masterpiece and it's due in large part to a bunch of masculine men being terrified and confused for an hour and a half. It's part of what makes The Thing so great.

[@luiseescartin8026]

For some reason I was sure there was a single woman in the movie but trying to remember I noticed there isn't so kudos to you mate you are totally right

[@jimluebke3869]

"Our show has to be about small people doing great things" Eh, isn't the Silmarillion about great people doing great things that go horribly wrong?

[@luiseescartin8026]

Mostly yeah it's about people greatly Fing up and other great people solving those great problems.

[@spacejunk2186]

Ironically enough, it is about elves acting very human.

[@urusledge]

I read somewhere they actually don't have the rights to the Silmarillion, only the appendices of the LOtR.

[@jimluebke3869]

@@urusledge Yeah, you're probably right. The appendices aren't really about much of anything, aside from the fact that Sam Gamgee's name is actually "Banazir Galbasi" which is kind of tough to make a series out of.

[@urusledge]

@@jimluebke3869 I thought the same at first and that it must be a mistake but then I read somewhere else that the company that holds the for the film adaptation of the Lord of the rings and the Hobbit has put film rights back up for a 2 billion dollar price tag, and has "limited matching rights" of the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales "should the Tolkien Estate ever decide to bring those films to the Big screen." However, that company's rights don't specifically talk about television series longer than 8 episodes, so Amazon went straight to the Tolkien estate and purchased the rights to the appendices to LOTR. I personally hope the Daily Wire can get together and raise the capital with some of their billionaire friends to get the rights and put Andrew Klavan in charge of production, but that's just a dream.

[@sarahgould5435]

I click for the Shad rants. ✌ The one great thing to come out of this: I get to revisit everything I love so much about Tolkien and hear what others have to say. 'Cause any excuse will do. 🥳

[@kingdomofcapybaras6850]

The pomposity of the actors and the arrogance of the showrunners is off the charts. In their deluded world they think it's their job to 'educate' and 'empower' us. It's hilarious. Comparing these interviews to the ones on the Hunger Games is spot on!

[@BazzFreeman]

This show as made for 37 people on Twitter. And that is exactly the number of people who will watch this all the way through.

[@danzansandeev6033]

Nah even those people won’t watch it. Just like any woke movie ever made, target audience won’t watch it cause they don’t care about movie doing good, they care about them looking good defending said movie

[@flymolo20z]

My favorite scene was when Gandalf called the Eagles on a satellite device asking for them to save Sam and Frodo

[@DruuzilTechGames]

Ah Rings of Power.. the Pringles of Middle Earth. Once you pop, the lies don't stop.

[@tomg5187]

Amazon is trying to teach us *WHAT* to think unlike Tolkien who taught us *HOW* to think!!!

[@chadburtelson9423]

“Before the crossing of the mountains the HOBBITS had already became divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides.” Reference The Fellowship of the Ring, prologue. Harfoots are hobbits. They are not a “pre” hobbit.

[@rajrana4850]

It’s all so absurd and tragic. We have reached the stage now where we have a new form of entertainment; laughing and ridiculing it all. The old franchises have been destroyed.

[@trustmeits610pm2]

The classics are classics forever. They cannot be destroyed as long as people continue to watch and appreciate them. The franchise is absolutely in ruins though. Corporate greed and misguided activism are strange bedfellows but here we are.

[@wyrmlingable]

For reference, the Harfoots, Fallowhides, and Stoors are all literally hobbits from their very inception. The Harfoots were the largest group of the three and were the first to institute living in holes. They were the most modernly Hobbitish of the the three groups, basically exactly what we would generally think of as Hobbits even before the migration of all three groups to their present location in the third age.

[@VleesetendPlantje14]

I thought in his notes in the Unfinished Tales Tolkien wrote that the hobbits didn’t do anything significant in the second age… Correction: It’s in The Lord of the Rings. “The beginning of Hobbits lies far back in the Elder Days that are now lost and forgotten. Only the Elves still preserve any records of that vanished time, and their traditions are concerned almost entirely with their own history, in which Men appear seldom and Hobbits are not mentioned at all. Yet it is clear that Hobbits had, in fact, lived quietly in Middle-earth for many long years before other folk became even aware of them. And the world being after all full of strange creatures beyond count, these little people seemed of very little importance. But in the days of Bilbo, and of Frodo his heir, they suddenly became, by no wish of their own, both important and renowned, and troubled the councils of the Wise and the Great.” This implies that before Bilbo and Frodo they didn’t do anything significant.

[@wyrmlingable]

@@VleesetendPlantje14 Absolutely. There's also a reference that indicates they were entirely uninvolved in the wider world in one of his letters. "In the middle of this Age the Hobbits appear. Their origin is unknown (even to themselves) for they escaped the notice of the great, or the civilised peoples with records, and kept none themselves, save vague oral traditions, until they had migrated from the borders of Mirkwood, fleeing from the Shadow, and wandered westward, coming into contact with the last remnants of the Kingdom of Arnor." ~Letter No. 131, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien Although Tolkien is referring to the third age here. So if Hobbits didn't even show up until the Third Age, they certainly didn't do much of note in the Second Age. They migrated to what would become The Shire from somewhere in the area of The Greenwood (Mirkwood) over a thousand years after the Third Age started, but that's really of no significance to anyone who wasn't a Hobbit. Appendix B seems to indicate that they had a series of short migrations; danger moves in > Hobbits move West > danger closes in > Hobbits move West. As such until the founding of The Shire. No hobo lifestyle for Hobbits, that seems very un-hobbitish.

[@VleesetendPlantje14]

@@wyrmlingable Oh cool, you’re like an actual Tolkien scholar compared to the hacks they hired for that show haha

[@stc3145]

Just from a business standpoint i dont get why Amazon allows this. Imagine how much money they could earn if they put as much care and passion into this project as Peter Jackson did. They are sitting on a gold mine here but still they make garbage

[@VisboerAnton]

my take on this is that Amazon is using this series as a virtual signaling tool, movies and TV series have never been the true money maker for them, they can make 100 movie flops and still have money to burn, the Ring of Power series is there to satisfy social media mobs who constantly try to cancel things, and big tech companies don't like being annoyed by these insignificant things

[@Some_Tired_Person]

Ain't about the money.

[@stc3145]

@@Some_Tired_Person It should be. They invested a billion on it. It needs to earn 2-3 times as much to be succesful. I doubt it will go even

[@doop2541]

ESG investments--it's infected every big corporation now. They have to show they are party loyalists.

[@wizardoflolz5626]

they have money, what they care for is globo-hom0 propaganda

[@suijin1234567890]

"Elves don't all look the same all the time." Elves are immortal. They're going to all look the same, even thousands of years later, because *they're the same people.*

[@EdwinBoyetteStorytime]

That's not what's indicated in the books, Cirdan may be the best example of that.

[@suijin1234567890]

@@EdwinBoyetteStorytime I'm sorry, but what, specifically, are you disagreeing with, and how is Cirdan meant to disprove it? That Elves always look the same? Because Cirdan has, like many elves, been around for thousands of years and, like many elves, is described as being tall and fair-haired. He has a beard and graying hair, which are rather unusual for an elf, but not completely unheard of and make sense for his position and history; there's precedence for this kind of stuff. The claim was never that all elves are completely identical, just that they don't tend to change very much over time, which is what the showrunners are arguing for.

[@matthewlentz2894]

This whole "Harfoots not Hobbits" nonsense is a false distinction. Tolkien specifically says, "The Harfoots...were the most normal and representative variety of Hobbit, and by far the most numerous. They were the most inclined to settle in one place and longest preserved their ancestral habit of living in tunnels and holes." -Fellowship of the Ring, Prologue

[@grassblock7668]

It's like saying "Noldor not Elves" or "Rohirrim not Men" like bruh they're still the same race-

[@Gyggz]

They don't have the rights to the word 'Hobbit' so have to use another word.

[@grassblock7668]

@@Gyggz They have the rights to the Lotr books. Anything that gets mentioned in the Lotr books they have the rights to, and hobbits get mentioned a lot, so they do actually

[@irena4545]

re: the Entwives: The Entwives lived in their gardens and taught people agriculture. Those gardens were east of the Anduin, between Mirkwood and Emyn Muil, and the map of the Third Age shows them as the Brown Lands. They were destroyed during the war of the Last Alliance, so if the show features the Entwives, they had better show them in the garden because that's effing stated in LotR proper black on white.

[@Borissh89]

46:00 Harfoots weren't proto-Hobbits. They were just Hobbits. One of three recognized groups of Hobbits before the settling of the Shire.

[@dakotalane1911]

Almost every interview I have seen for this show is painful. Every word spoken drips with self righteousness and stupidity

[@mim3189]

Its very interesting to see them barely acknowledge the crest question (crestion?), and then avoid any audience questions after it by "subtly" having Colbert ask the questions again.

[@2BitAsti]

the whole "he didn't say not too" thing is just typical of how these people think. "you didn't say you're against racism, there for you must be a racist". it really is how they think in everything, if you don't explicitely denounce something, then you must be ok with it. not indifferent, not something to be derived from other comments or behaviour. you never explicitely denounced it, there for, you like it. simple minded fools, all of them.

[@areshaider8378]

Hope you keep making the vids m8, i became a fan of your work and even read your book, cant wait to see whts next

[@_friedie]

We had Female Dwarfs in: The terror of tiny town (1938), The Tin Drum (1979), Willow (1988), Elizabeth (1998), Elizabeth The Golden Age (2007), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Hobbit-Trillogie (2013).... and probably in some more movies and series.

[@ShinFahima]

Ain't they gots midgets in the Wizard of Oz?

[@punknight7208]

If I’m correct, they fired Tom Shippey, which now on reflection is absolutely hilarious that they name drop him as one of their consultants sense, if I am correct, they had fired him by the time that was recorded.

[@mr.s2005]

Heard the same, heard he was fired months earlier...if it was the same guy

[@overgrowndwarf1628]

I wonder if he know they name dropped him, and whether he has come out distancing himself from the production.

[@Sammy00_]

7:10 How unimaginative must one be not to be able to picture a good, STRONG, character being a servant and still have agency. Politicizing through utterly misintepreted terms and twisted ideas feel so messed up and harmful. But I guess their aim is to teach people that unless you are dominant and in lead, you are a useless character/person.

[@benjaminsmith3843]

Just look at Alfred Pennyworth from Batman; he's a butler, the consummate servant, and he's a great character with agency out the wazoo.

[@kongilian]

As a huge Tolkien Nerd, I'm forgoing this show to watch yous guys react to it. Even though I probably know more about this world than yall, I'd rather watch you. Also FNT and Disparu.

[@GreatGreebo]

I’m extremely disappointed to hear Oz give these two writers a “pass” regarding what they are doing to Tolkien’s work. They themselves are on record stating they’re going to write the story Tolkien never did; If that isn’t Icarus levels of hubris then I don’t know what is🤷Amazon and the writers can all go pack sand

[@redwarriorOG]

I agree I can't understand why Oz would give them that

[@GreatGreebo]

@@redwarriorOG. It was like a slap in the face to hear that 👀. I do not understand why he’s giving them any quarter 🥺 I have noticed a trend amongst people who ONLY have PJ’’s Movies as the basis for their knowledge of Middle Earth: they tend to be more forgiving towards these Amazon writers for some reason 🤷 Sigh…..I might just take a couple weeks off the channel to cleanse my palate. When I find myself getting this frustrated or upset, I like to dive into either Tolkien Untangled, The Red Book or ThePhilosophersGames channels to get some great Tolkien centered videos from extremely knowledgeable people. Nothing like a DEEP DIVE into The Silmarillion to make me feel better. 🤘 Cheers mate and hang in there! I hope to see ya’ around.

[@redwarriorOG]

@@GreatGreebo these people clearly hate Tolkien in every form of the imagination. That's why Peter Jackson and the entire cast and crew humbled themselves and knew not to make it about them or their ideologies. That is true respect from one storyteller to another

[@GreatGreebo]

@@redwarriorOG Exactly!! I couldn’t agree more. Have you listened in to the channels I’ve listed above? It’s great to be around people who love and respect Tolkien as much as I do. Thank you for the chat. Like I said, please hang in there. This is beyond maddening at times to see what Amazon is trying to do 🥺

[@redwarriorOG]

@@GreatGreebo I literally just watched the entire hobbit collection yesterday and I just finished watching fellowship of the ring today. And I'm thinking about reading the trilogy as well my mom would read it to me before bed every so often. I have an absolute love for the world Tolkien made.

[@lovedefault1167]

"do they have middle earth in them?" the ironic thing is, none of the cast look like they belong in middle earth

[@disparutoo]

Congrats on the 100k guys/gal :) Here's to many more!

[@grbdevnull5611]

If Sophia Nomvete would just say, "The first named dwarf to appear on screen in a Tolkien/Lord of the Rings property" she could at least be technically correct. Unfortunately, the, "first female dwarf we have ever seen in the works of Tolkien" comment indicates that she doesn't actually know anything about what she is saying.

[@grbdevnull5611]

@@theabhorrentchef7226 Right. And her comment is blatantly wrong. I don't know that I wish alopecia on her, but merciless mocking is in order.

[@TheZapan99]

Those actors are just trained to repeat the same strategy used by Marvel Studios : Each of their movies is a "First Something" to justify social phenomena press coverage (journos bribing, really). Captain Marvel was touted as "the first female superhero" even if it came out right after Wonder Woman, Black Panther was the first black superhero, despite Blade. It doesn't need to make sense, it just needs to tick the social justice box to attract virtue signaling idiots.

[@Victor-dm4qv]

A hundred thousand subscribers on Knights Watch! Congratulations!

[@patrickgodfrey9645]

Oh, it's time to engage the algorithm. Fans of quality content creating valid conversation about content that's coming out that may not be so good is the responsibility of all fans.

[@Dario-yl7vt]

I'm latino and I love the LOTR Peter Jackson films. I didn't have to see a mexican hobbit to fall in love with the fantasy World. People that assume that I don't like Tolkien just because of my skin tone, language or background are the racists. For Amazon to say in every interview that finally people of color are represented and that they are the saviors of NOC every where (Nerds of Colour Lmao. Why can't they simply say. We love LOTR and we want to make a show that honors the work and fans and if people wanna know more about Tolkien and his work they are welcomed to watch as well. Thank you

[@yig_501]

i a white man y 2 best friends back in the day hopi native man and a black man all three of us loved the LOTR still to do this day is outstabding so tired of hearing about race but people brought us to this

[@Zorev32]

Those people have nothing to offer. The way I see it: Hi, I am a person of color, I'm xyz, yay for saving the environment! That's all! Jurors: 11/10! Hi, I won't state my name, gender, or skin color, but here is my story... - I'm here because my knowledge and work allowed me to develop the previously unknown source of clean energy. - Erm... But... but... who are you? - I just told you. - Error! Error...! Error...

[@Acromion11]

"Hand him over she-elf!" "If you want him, come and claim him!" I literally get chills every time I hear or even read that lines! And the fact that someone as innocent and tame looking like Liv Tyler pulled it off really says a lot about her as an actress! Amazing scene! Also, she took Frodo from a badass Aragorn, because she is a faster rider and than she wiped out 9 Ringwraiths with her magic! That's how you write badass female characters, not by manspreading

[@eatMY455]

I have a witchking tattoo and a coworker who is younger black gentleman knew exactly who it was without me needing to say. I was pleasantly surprised. And that was here in the states

[@julianchin1251]

This bit starting here 21:35, where a fan calls out something inconsistent in the lore. And gets a response "Says you" really infuriates me, this is not how you treat fans. Anyone remember "Red Shirt Guy" at Blizzcon when he pointed out problems in the writing? Chris Metzen treated him with respect and humbly admitted he was wrong. Don't watch this series, they don't care about any of you.

[@mtwi]

Just saw it, congrats on the 100.000 subs

[@Danteminador]

The elves were divided in three groups: the Noldor, led by Finwe, who had three sons: Fëanor, Fingolfin and Finarfin, the Vanir and the Teleri (who most remain in middle-earth, but the ones who went with the Valar became the Falmari, aka. sea-elfs). Finwe was murdered by Melkor and the Noldor (mostly Feanor and his host), rebel against the Valar. Just to give how fucking atrocious is Galadriel using Fëanor's Crest: After Morgoth stole the Silmarils and fled to Middle-Earth, Fëanor went to the Falmari (sea-elves) to ask for their ships and help, but they refused to join the rebellion and to yield their swanships. At this point, part of the Noldor (mostly the people of Fëanor) had turn against the Valar because of Morgoth, but the Falmari were still in good terms with the Valar, so they didn't want to help. So Fëanor led the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, were he and his Noldor murdered almost all Falmari (at one point, some of Fingolfin's own host started to help Fëanor). Why am i mentioning this? BECAUSE GALADRIEL'S MOTHER IS A FALMARI! THIS IS THE FIRST, AND ONLY TIME, THAT GALADRIEL ACTUALLY "FIGHTS" IN THE MYTHOS! TO PROTECT HER OWN PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING GENOCIDED BY HER UNCLE! Finarfin, her dad, literally abandons his desire to avenge his father and stays in the Immortal Lands with the Valar and the rest of his people (after asking forgiveness and being forgiven by Manwe), and rules as High King there. Galadriel comes to middle-earth with Fingolfin to try and help, but she DESPISES Fëanor. She using his crest is the same as a Jew using a nazi swastika! WTF is wrong with this showrunners?

[@tesswalker7869]

Thank you for giving such a detailed explanation of why the armor is an issue. Now I am genuinely curious how "the armor being a gift" will magically explain away that very key lore. A gift from whom? Did someone decide to take revenge on Galadriel's behalf so now she wears it as a symbol of that? Are they going to give her a romantic attraction or someone who is a significant friend who owns the armor and left it to her as a dying gift? Is it meant to be part of a peace treaty and she joins forces with those she hates because now she is a woman with AGENCY who united the elven clans under her banner against the "great evil" that's been implied?

[@spacejunk2186]

@@tesswalker7869 Maybe she would accept it as a gift if it was made by Celebrimbor, but wearing it would be strange for her indeed.

[@Lukashoffmann94]

@@spacejunk2186 There is no way Celebrimbor would make her a present and use Feanors crest instead of Finarfins one.

[@DavidM_10]

"We searched for great actors with Middle-earth [in their eyes]." Firstly, that line is to justify the diversity. It's another way of saying, "We chose the best actors for the job, regardless of appearance." That's the subtext. Secondly, it's a lie: because we know the diversity was mandated.

[@finrodbrs]

Regarding some of the additional stuff in the Hobbit Movies, depending on the thing I didn't mind that they included it, but I often had issues with how they included it. For example, including Legolas makes sense because he would have been alive at the time and in Mirkwood. He's its Prince. However, I don't like how they had a love triangle subplot with him. Or another example, Gandalf going to Dol Guldur and the White Council's assault on it. Tolkien did actually mention that that happened after Gandalf left Thorin's company at the entrance to Mirkwood, he just didn't give any details. So, including it doesn't bother me, but I don't really like the execution.

[@jaceyking5015]

Yeah the Hobbit movies are a mixed bag. There's some things that are awesome, some that are meh, and some that were just awful. When I first heard that Kili was going to have a crush on Tauriel for example, I was okay with it, because I thought it would be more of a "hot young dwarf winks and hot elf and hot elf groans at him hitting on her" kind of thing, not a full blown love triangle with the whole "WHY DOES IT HURT????" "Because it's _REAL."_ Ugh. But from what I understand of the behind the scenes, the whole movie was just a mess, and it seems like there was a LOT of corporate higher up involvement which hadn't happened luckily with LotR, so I don't think those movies had much of a chance, to be honest. But parts were good. I've heard there's some good edits out there that cut out a lot of the fluff.

[@zennsteel3852]

By the way, they keep separating harfoots from hobbits, but actually harfoots are a certain type of hobbits. If Tolkien said that hobbits did nothing amazing in the 2nd age, he would actually refer to all creatures that fall under the umbrella of hobbits, this includes the harfoots

[@paulherman5822]

From what I've read, Tolkien said that the harfoot were the direct ancestors of the hobbits. Something else that the writers get wrong.

[@33link333]

@@paulherman5822 Not even, quoting the prologue to Fellowship. "The Harfoots...were the most normal and representative variety of Hobbit, and by far the most numerous. They were the most inclined to settle in one place and longest preserved their ancestral habit of living in tunnels and holes." The Hobbits of the Shire are mostly if not all Harfoots.

[@paulherman5822]

@@33link333 Knew that someone would remember the source. 😁 (My memory can be like Teflon coated swiss cheese. Full of holes, and nothing sticks to it.😂) Thanks!

[@carsonrush3352]

It's not a rabbit hole or a hobbit hole. It's a Shelob cave!

[@firewolf2930]

love this lineup (Shad, Claudia and Oz) for videos

[@quiett6191]

That question about the Crest on Galadriel's armour was a legit question. And if Colbert's as much of a fan of and expert in Tolkein lore, he would know that theres now way Galadriel would wear armour bearing Feanor's crest

[@AsarFilms]

You know I was really only a lord of the rings and hobbit normie fan from the movies. Once I started really researching the books and lore I can def see and understand why hardcore fans are upset with this.

[@fattiger2000]

Nothing like buying an intellectual property based on European folk lore then saying its needs to be "modernized" because the characters are too European.

[@Acrosurge]

They've come for Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Marvel, DC and the Wheel of Time. Now they're here for Middle Earth.

[@Matherz4]

When they mocked that Fan for asking a legit question, while obiviously nervious was furating

[@menukjau]

Lawrence of Arabia had no female actors, one of the most legendary movies in history.

[@maggoli67]

I waggled a conspiratorial finger at Oz with his cheeky "Concerning Hobbits"! HaHA!

[@athosdumas4360]

Firstly, they should rethink name dropping Thomas Shippey. He was the expert they unceremoniously fired for disagreeing with them… Secondly, Harfoots ARE Hobbits. They are 1 of the 3 breeds.

[@Darkwintre]

They either didn't do their research or someone taking the piss lied to them about this!🤔

[@athosdumas4360]

@Darkwintre Rings of Prime showrunners doing their best to pretend Harfoots are not Hobbits…must be those rights issues getting in the way

[@Darkwintre]

@@athosdumas4360 except they're clearly wrong I wonder why noone pointed that out to them?

[@athosdumas4360]

@@Darkwintre That would require an open and honest Q&A that is not just a scripted fluff piece. For example, the one time there was a slight curve ball thrown their way in San Diego about the crest Galadriel was wearing, they mocked the guy into silence. Their ability to respond to a question without actually answering it reminds me so much of political Q&As...sadly.

[@emmawhittam-ritchie1820]

The women that played the first female dwarves in the hobbit must be so confused right now

[@anthonysaylor8120]

It fascinates me even more when you consider Warner looked at the finished product of Batgirl and decided "yeah releasing this is gonna be a fucking disaster, let's not release it and take the L." Whereas Amazon has looked at Rings of Powet and the insane backlash it's gotten, and hasn't had their own Come To Jesus Moment on whether it'd be worth it to release this.

[@flakes1972]

They spent waaaaay more money on it than WB

[@JeffSense]

@@flakes1972 It's true, the budget for Batgirl was about the same as one and a half episodes of this. Which is insane really

[@paulsmith410]

Knights Watch, thank you for bringing this to our attention. We all would have missed this if not for you. This SDCC panel is painful to watch. They should be arrested for making a marginalized group feel anxiety. Or, is that not a thing in this country yet?

[@DiddyBohlen]

One interesting point is how the female characters are always these heroic warriors who do incredible things but never the normal foot soldier destined to die in their attempt to fight for good. You never even see one of those sort of dumb but good hearted characters who end up doing something really useful played by women. That sucks.

[@blitz3391]

I'm really curious to know if the room was full during this interview. They don't show the crowd at any moment.

[@shiningcartoonist]

If you can't access or enjoy a show unless there are characters that are the same race as you, then manga and anime would have almost no following outside of Japan and maybe Korea: 99% of anime characters are ethnically Japanese. How am I able to enjoy so much Japanese media if I need to be that ethnicity in order to empathize and feel kinship and understanding with a character?

[@courtneycherry5582]

I was talking to my husband about this anime also have popular female main characters as well without the forced insert or girl boss trope.

[@DavidM_10]

I agree with Shad that, *at most,* the hobbits should have had a small cameo role. But Amazon are so afraid that the show won't be popular without hobbits that they forcefully inserted them, in contradiction of Tolkien lore. Sad.

[@schwartzy65]

Thts why they had to call this show lord of the rings bla bla...

[@christophergirardi8145]

It would've been fine for Hobbits showing up near the end of the Second Age, but this....

[@travishancock9120]

I hope the Rings of Power goes down the toilet like Batgirl. I would make that a national holiday. Call it "International Day of Tolkien's Legacy."

[@Call-me-Jester]

"Sheer fucking hubris." I have zero interest in LOTR Rings of Power because I don't want Amazon's version, I want Tolkien. Jackson's trilogy presented as much Tolkien as possible. Amazon keeps admitting that they're not interested in Tolkien as much as their incessant need to put real world politics in this show. Very hard pass.

[@charlieblocher7456]

Anytime a work of media is leaning on its diversity, political messaging, etc., it's a huge red flag that it's going to be bad. If it could stand on its own two legs, it wouldn't need anything else.

[@noahpenman3493]

It hurts hearing and seeing people destroying all that is good in Tolkien’s world. I’ve read all the books almost religiously. There are so many strong characters from both genders and many races. Why? Why can’t they just make up their own fantasy? Why must they ruin others? 😭

[@danielledaniel1900]

We live in superficial time. Where people need to see themselves on screen. In not talking characteristics but physically

[@GGTutor1]

They haven't ruined anything. Tolkien's works and world still exist intact. What they have is some malformed clone that doesn't even seem to have survived its birth. I get more annoyed at fans who say it affects the original and thereby give them some sense of power and authority.

[@juusovuolle8251]

I've got somewhat unrelated question does Knights Watch have a video where he goes throug his book collection. Absolutely stunning looking volumes on the shelve.