THE RINGS OF POWER 2x4 REACTION | Eldest | THE LORD OF THE RINGS

[@AmyL._orcgirl]

I think the actress playing Galadriel has an inherent advantage with the language since she's Welsh.

[@Persephone_Personified]

Her rolling R’s give me happy chills every time she does it. ♥️

[@bambinoitaliano6848]

Congratulation Michael for reaching 100K subscribers. Hard earned and well deserves. Hope your channel continues to grow.

[@lordfoul6259]

Tom; Bombadil was perfect he's literally one of the most powerful and most mysterious characters in the books cause Tolkien didn't write anything about his past and he's the only character that can resist the power of The One Ring and I love Galadriel in this season so far she's acting more like the real Galadriel as for Elrond he'll come around cause he's a future ring bearer

[@Nexyyy7]

tom bombadil is so cool, Rory plays him so well

[@Nexyyy7]

Adar calling Galadriel "Altariel" is so cool, it's a name not mentioned in the lotr books or the appendices

[@davidbeer5015]

They’ve done an intriguing job pulling out little details like that. Like, I know people have gone on about wights being a 3rd age thing, but I saw someone pull out an appendix quote of the Barrow Downs starting during the first age by the Edain, which then leaves room for Sauron (or any rogue entities that served Morgoth) to move after the eruption of Mt. Doom/the growing evil in the land (and then it could be tied to how the Witch-king later learns the trick to make the Cardolan Barrow Wights.

[@blackeyedlily]

@@davidbeer5015I think they have done an excellent job of incorporating obscure little details from the lore. People can have their opinions and issues with the changes in timelines and the parts they make up. But I will always argue that these creators know their Tolkien and demonstrate their love of this lore all the time. Even though there are bits I’m not crazy about (For example, I was very mixed on the portrayal of Bombadil so far.) I want to give them the room and time to tell their story. I’m always encouraging people to listen to the Rings and Realms podcast to develop a deeper appreciation of what they are doing with Rings of Power.

[@chichotss]

@@blackeyedlily​​⁠Rings and Realms is absolutely phenomenal, it's such a pleasure listening to peaple who actually know their stuff and have deep understanding of the book and film medium ❤

[@mrs.manrique7411]

@@blackeyedlilyand even their adaptation changes are thoughtful. Time compression, general audience engagement, combination of characters, and adding character arcs to practically 2D characters, and all. Pet theory: I think these eastern horsemen are Variags/future Rohirrim. Variags have the same masks in Tolkien’s writings.

[@HGMyers-yt2fr]

I love Galadriel's look in this episode. It's taken from a letter by Tolkien to Mrs. Catharine Findlay, who wrote to him asking about the meaning of Galadriel's name. He informed her that it means "Maiden crowned with gleaming hair," but went on to refer to the fact that when Galadriel was younger, in the First and Second Age, "she was then of Amazon disposition and bound up her hair as a crown when taking part in athletic feats." And they have Morfydd Clark's hair "bound up...as a crown" for nearly the entire episode. It's just another very subtle detail of how much the creative team behind this show knows about Tolkien's larger Legendarium. "What the fuck?" is about the only correct response to Tom Bombadil. He's essentially the one thing across all of tens of thousands of pages of published material that Tolkien never sought to explain. He just is, as Tolkien put it once. He was awake to see the first leaves and the first flowers, before the Dark Lord Morgoth came in out of the void and made the darkness a thing of fear. So for 70 years, ever since "The Fellowship of the Ring," fans have argued about who - or what - exactly Bombadil is: because Tolkien left him deliberately ambiguous. Some people think he's an embodiment of Eru Iluvatar, the Creator God of Middle-Earth. Others think he's a personification of the Music of the Ainur that created the world, because he likes to sing silly little songs. Still others believe he's just a benevolent nature god roaming around the world. His Wiki page is mostly made up of theories advanced by generations of Tolkien scholars as to who or what Bombadil is. The Barrow Wights are spirits raised by dark sorcery around the tombs of dead kings. In "The Fellowship of the Ring," they're lingering remnants of the realm of Angmar, created by the Witch-King of Angmar during his long war against the Northern Kingdom of Men, Arnor, earlier in the Third Age. These spirits are, essentially, vengeful and cruel souls who will seek to destroy anyone who comes across them at the behest of the sorcerer who has summoned them. It must be assumed that the Barrow Wights have, this time, been summoned by Sauron - to cut communications between Lindon and Eregion.

[@Arrynek01]

I find it insane that they have people capable of getting these details in, and at the same time completely mess up the big things. Just... how? You have Breaking Bad writers! But I guess that`s what 16 executive producers does...

[@DaveBartlett]

'Harfoots' isn't one of the families in the Shire. I think you're probably recalling 'Proudfoots' (or 'Proudfeet'.) Harfoots are one of the three sub-races of Halflings mentioned by Tolkien, i.e: Harfoots, Fallohides & Stoors

[@puddlesplasher-inc]

man... RIP "Supper" and his mandibles

[@jasonmarbach]

God I’m so happy to see Tom Bombadil finally. I never read him with a West Country accent, but of COURSE he has one. Really love this show

[@RaiderNic99]

I will need to see the rest of how Tom Bombadil is handled but so far, they've done his character justice for the most part. Him not really answering any questions beyond vague answers is perfect. And most of the lines he says to The Stranger were pulled straight from The Fellowship of the Ring when he is speaking to Frodo and the other hobbits when they ask him similar questions.

[@PeverellTheThird]

Is he being vague or as objective as possible?

[@Mertaranta]

@@PeverellTheThird Yes.

[@mrs.manrique7411]

There’s a few clever parallels in this episode. Elrond accuses Galadriel of saving her ring. Estrid saves the key to her shackles. Maybe-Gandalf disrespects the tree and does not receive his staff he desires so much. Arondir realizes he is not much different from the wild men, when confronted by the Ents, as all were forced to do things they did not wish to do. Nori realizes the Harfoots and Stoors are not so different from each other. The Variags wish to heal themselves while Sauron seeks to “heal” middle earth (from his and Morgoth’s evil awakening).

[@goodvibesonly1329]

Congrats on 100k Omni! ❤

[@humandisaster18]

I'm getting really frustrated by Elrond, especially by the end of this episode. I feel like he really is going out of his way now to be harsh in his judgements of Galadriel. Even if he's right to be suspicious of the rings, he isn't right about the way he's treating her. She HAD a chance to get herself and the ring to safety at the beginning of the episode back when he gave the whole "do it my way or go back to Lindon" ultimatum. And she insisted on staying, despite wishing she could leave, because she didn't want to see anyone killed, not even him. So besmirching her character and motivations to the fellow members of their company by claiming she didn't care about them, and only cared about saving the ring, is just borderline slanderous. And I really hope someone gives him a reality check, and soon. Like you said tactically, if that ring fell into enemy hands, it could've been terrible. Protecting the ring and getting it away from battle, IS a protection for the people she cares about.

[@Mark_E_M]

When he said she did it to save the ring, it reminded me of when Gollum saved Frodo in the Dead Marshes. In reality, Gollum did what he did to save the ring, not Frodo.

[@BumpyBaluga]

100k CHAMPION!!!!! Congrats my guy!!! Always enjoy your reactions!!!

[@GameknightJ14]

The wights are (in the books) dark spirits that the Witch-King binds to the bodies of dead kings (Aragorn’s ancestors, specifically). The hobbits are captured by them just before getting to Bree, and are rescued by Tom Bombadil, who they’d just spent time with. Tom sings a song and the wraith GTFOs. They take weapons from the tomb they’re captured in and go to Bree.

[@DaveBartlett]

I feel the makers of The Rings of Power, this season are trying to tie up all the loose ends and narratives that were omitted from the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. In that one episode alone, we had Tom Bombadil, an episode that closely resembled Tom releasing someone from 'Old Man Willow', an encounter with the Barrow Wights - all omitted from the movies, we also had what could only be Ents, (one with a noticably feminine voice: an Ent-wife perhaps.) Also, since in Tolkien's entire Lord of the Rings legendarium, there were only FIVE Wizards mentioned, coupled with the fact that Saruman, Gandalf & Radagast weren't sent to Middle Earth until early in the third age, the two wizards featuring in this story can only be what are often called 'The Two Blue Wizards' - Nothing guarantees that they always (or ever) wore blue robes, nor does it say anywhere that they were colleagues, rather than enemies, and since Saruman & Gandalf both eventually gravitated to the sides of evil and of good, there's no reason why this couldn't have happened to the two 'blue' wizards too. People are often too critical of The Rings of Power - it would be really boring if the entire script just followed what you could easily read in Tolkiens other works, but they're making attempts to tell an interesting story that follows Tolkien's works, but tells stories that we couldn't and shouldn't expect. No, it isn't perfect, but all these critics stamping their feet in annoyance, like little children having tantrums, and saying how bad it is, puzzles me. If it's that bad, just don't watch it - stop whinging about it, go away and watch something else, and leave it for those of us with more open minds who are willing to give it a chance. I don't recall anyone calling out the Return of the King movie, where the armies of the dead took part in the Battle of Pelenor Fields, (which didn't happen in Tolkien's books,) or complaining that Saruman & Grima where killed a whole movie too soon, which meant the entire Scouring of the Shire episode had to be omitted. So why is it ok for Peter Jackson and his buddies to twist the story, but not for these equally competent film-makers to put their own swerve on the story, without (so far,) openly contradicting the original material? As for the timing of Rings of Power: people making petty complaints about how the story is condensed into less years, isn't acceptable, since nobody complained when The Fellowship of The Ring movie skipped over the SEVENTEEN YEARS between Bilbo leaving The Shire, and Frodo & Sam setting out on their quest to make it appear no more than a matter of months or even weeks. Yes, some might say that the 17 years that Frodo aged (from being age 33 to age 50) was unnoticeable since his ageing was slowed by him possessing the ring, though I find it difficult to believe that would happen when the ring was just tucked away in a drawer for 17 years, and that Samwise would experience the same effects due to just living nearby (...and Rosie looking that good at 17 or 18 years older is just ridiculous)

[@travellerinthedark]

The love of nature in Tolkien's writing is one of the top reasons I love the Lord of the Rings so much. I love Arondir's character! :)

[@blackeyedlily]

The actress playing Galadriel is Welsh. That’s why she’s able to roll her R’s so well. One of the primary Elvish languages that Tolkien created is based on Welsh. I think it’s Sindarin. So I expect to she is able to learn the Elvish language fairly easy. I have heard people have problems with Galadriel’s ring healing that elf. But I think it fits right in with the lore. When she rules over Lothlorian the power of the ring keeps that realm from decaying. And of course they have already established that within this story, the rings are being used to heal things like the great tree in Linden.

[@chriscooper1978]

Came to post the same thing regarding Morfydd Clark. She went to Welsh language school.

[@eryniel95]

Tom Bombadil is such an enigma in the books, and he was perfectly introduced here! The Ents were awesome, I had actually tears in my eyes during their scene.

[@hanozitravel]

🔴 Tom Bombadil as he points out as being "Eldest" in the episode is one of the most enigmatic characters of The Lord of the Rings. He is completely unaffected by the One Ring and his age is completely unknown. He originally was from a short story Tolkien wrote seperately from LOTR but then weaved his story into the Fellowship of the Ring. He encounters Frodo and saves them from a barrow-wight (also appearing in this episode). That is pretty much it for what he does, however his strange seperateness and immunity to the evil of the Ring has been a huge area of speculation including that he could be a form of Sauron, The Witch-King of Angmar in desguise, a Maia like Gandalf, One of the Valar, or the creator of Arda, Eru Iluvatar in human form. May Christ's peace be with you all!

[@jayburn00]

In real life, people have survived being picked up by tornadoes at a surprisingly frequent rate. Fatalities are usually from being hit by flying debris, not "fall damage".

[@mikeboehl5260]

The way this show has used red herrings, I am not at all convinced that that is Gandalf. I know they want us to THINK it is Gandalf, but I'mma need some actual confirmation before I buy any of it

[@jamesmccarthy962]

I do not mind it being Gandalf but i would love it if was Saruman. I think a blue wizard would be fine too but they likely would have done that reveal in series 1 since the build up to a character audiences do not know is unlikely

[@travellerinthedark]

Can you give me an example of the show using red herrings, apart from when the witches thought the Stranger was Sauron? Because it makes sense in-universe for them to make that mistake, but it doesn't make sense in-universe for someone other than Gandalf to say things that Gandalf says eg. the follow one's nose line.

[@Inanna1477]

I like to think Tom = Eru on vacation.

[@Trinity_yts]

congrats on 100k and nikce vid

[@olevish]

The Stranger is Gandalf The Dark Wizard is Saruman, before he gets reformed or something We finally found Entwives though :)

[@InfantryWife85]

I'm not 100% convinced they are Gandalf and Saruman. It's been my theory since early on that the Stranger is one of the Blue Wizards. The Dark Wizard may well be other one (though it's still possible he may be Saruman). There are two different versions of when the Blue Wizards arrived in middle earth. One says they arrived with the other three around Year 1000 of the Third Age with Gandalf, Saruman and Radagast and another one says they arrived earlier in the Second Age around the time of the forging of the rings. He definitely wrote that Saruman went east with the Blue Wizards for a time BEFORE coming back west and taking residence in the Tower of Orthanc. Bottom line it's still up in the air of course with whatever the writers are doing BUT I'm still heavily leaning toward they're being the Blue Wizards. And yes! I was thrilled to see the Ents and the Entwives! I was excited for that.

[@travellerinthedark]

Yes to the first, no to the second, in my opinion. Saruman used to be good and got corrupted, I wouldn't care for him being portrayed as evil this far back in his history. Although I get that you're saying that he got reformed, and I guess relapsed later on.

[@mirceadacialorantbrescia4340]

@@InfantryWife85 dark wizard is witch king of angmar

[@InfantryWife85]

@@mirceadacialorantbrescia4340 That thought has definitely occurred to me too. I'm fully curious and interested to find out where the writers are going with it.

[@plexx365]

Great reaction, really enjoyed it; also, thank you for not shitting on the show for the sake of it. People are letting their political views taint their ability to enjoy what is being told in front of them. I really recommend watching "Rings and Realms" here on KZbin, they're so knowledgeable about the Tolkien lore. Also, they're neutral and reliable.

[@jamesmccarthy962]

Poor Isindur just needs a hug from something that is not a giant spider at this point. Slower episode (gods i miss anytime Sauron and Durins arcs are not in an episode) but the ent stuff was fun.

[@hobbybrauer]

nobody is talking about the Tom Bombadil song at the end. I know copyright and stuff but come on

[@MarieS610]

I saw a few people cringe at it and I wanted cry 😂 It’s so pretty

[@jensrettberg7968]

This episode was not quite so blowing-away awe-inducing spectacular like the first three, but that's absolutely fine, not all have to be the same level, these are the middle ones coming from the first high setting up the next high in the climax finale episodes, the inbetween is slower, introducing new things/persons in a softer way that need to evolve. And that doesnt mean its bad, theres not only great and bad, the episode is still solidly and really good. Like we got Tom Bombadil so perfectly between being a wise enigma and just an old fellow from Rory Kinnear who is always in everything a treasure, more lore, epic Elven Action against these Undeads, Galadriel on a horse and Arondir, and the Ents so strong. I love Arondir as a fighter and protector for nature who had this painful moment in season 1. His messages, like the apology and promise to protect, are always powerful to me. And I even really enjoyed between all that the bits of Isildur, because it brought a lighter tone of goof, but never overly silly or explicitly joking, it's just in this grand magical world with all these great Elves and terrible Orcs he's literally just a dude trying, the normal human, relatable. The others with magic and action are impressive and great to watch and we want to see them but they are not us. Thats why I like him and in such a fantasy you also need such a someone.

[@provisionalhypothesis]

I actually enjoyed this one way more than the third episode for whatever reason. I think the first episode was the best but this is second for me. Just goes to show you that everyone views things differently and why everyone needs to take what they hear online with a grain of salt. Can I nitpick things about this show ? Yeah, but this is still incredibly awesome. I hope this show is a success so Amazon goes on to make more shows about the first age, that's where the most interesting things happen anyway. I've got to live to see live action Beren and Luthien

[@MarieS610]

While it was a slower episode, I enjoyed this a lot. The ent stuff was beautiful, Tom was really well done (for me), and the barrow weights was fun. Still a little frustrated with Elrond’s attitude towards the rings. But overall there were ALOT of little lore references in this episode and it was really nice

[@MarieS610]

Saruman was never “bad” until the events of the LOTR, so I’m kind of hoping it’s not him.

[@johnk6324]

I dont know, when i think of elves in LOTR,i think of tall,around 6ft,fair skin, blondish hair. Seeing a 5ft asian girl portrayed as one,just kind of kills the fantasy for me.

[@robsooooz]

I think the dark wizards name is Aberforth Dumbledore

[@DaveBartlett]

Nice to see that, though this is an American produced effort, as a tribute to Tolkien's nationality, Elrond pronounces Lieutenant as 'Leff-' tenant, and not 'Loo-' tenant.

[@logan3093]

I think they are blue wizards, i think the gandalf stuff is way too on the nose and it would be pretty disappointing if they are saruman and gandalf

[@damaradona]

Do you know when you'll be posting the next Agents of Shield reaction? That's a rude thing to ask you but your AoS reactions are just so damned good. Sorry 🤗

[@Omn1Media]

It will be back on schedule next week, you can check the community tab for more on why there was hiccups this week.

[@damaradona]

@@Omn1Media Thank you for replying. I'll check that out. I should've done that. Sorry, again, for even asking you in the first place. All the best 👍

[@Omn1Media]

@@damaradona It's all good!

[@Dan-B]

I reckon the dark wizard is going to become The Witch King

[@provisionalhypothesis]

Nah that's Theo lol

[@Dan-B]

@@provisionalhypothesis Theo would make a pretty sh*t witch king ngl

[@Lael-k2j]

I had thought so too, but the Witch King is not an Istar.

[@Lael-k2j]

I think the Stranger and the Dark Wizard are blue wizards that serve as an omage to Gandalf and Saruman.

[@Dan-B]

@@Lael-k2j they definitely could make the Witch King an Istar, it would explain why he’s so powerful. Also Tom Bombadil talks about how big of an issue it would be if the dark wizard and Sauron joined forces; who becomes Sauron’s top and most powerful servant? 👉 The Witch King 🤔

[@davidbeer5015]

I’m wary on the Dark Wizard being Saruman, but I’ve come to peace with the possibility the Stranger could be Gandalf. Whether he is or not, we got the split story of the Blue Wizards going on, which is cool to see (trying not to bank on movie references for how things look 😅 granted, they have been working with John Howe who also worked with the movie crew, so similar imagery is probably bound to happen. As I believe Corey Olsen said in season 1 about Numenor’s design, “John Howe’s work looks like John Howe’s work!”)

[@davidbeer5015]

I love the Stoor/Harfoot connection here, and curious to see where they take that and them heading West. Crazy to think we’re halfway done with the season though..

[@provisionalhypothesis]

@@davidbeer5015 at least the weekly eps are an hour long and not 25 minutes like with mandalorian

[@andrewmacdonald9417]

I don't think that the "Stranger" is really Gandalf, and for the Dark Wizard, I think that he is Saruman but with a different staff. Tom feel like the watcher from marvel, but in tolken universe.

[@DaveBartlett]

Since this series is trying to fill in the gaps (in Tolkien's original works, without contradicting them,) I think the Stranger is one of the two blue wizards, the dark wizard being the other one. Nothing in Tolkien's legendarium said that they were colleagues, so why shouldn't they be antagonists rather than colleagues?

[@andrewmacdonald9417]

@@DaveBartlett When I first started watching this series, when the Stranger fell from the sky, my first thought was that he was one of the 2 blues (correct me if I'm wrong, and I know that I am), because they arrive in 2nd age when this series is taking place and (what I've read) Gandalf arrived in the 3rd, so what your saying about the stranger and the dark wizard makes sense.

[@immortal5626]

Definitely isnt gandalf and saruman. Its the blue wizards

[@Omn1Media]

Like I said, I think they've combined those storylines

[@quirkyjoeAnimated]

@@Omn1Media Gandalf the Blue!

[@adamterefe8909]

😮❤

[@chris14560]

Galadriel is annoyingly proudly arrogant!

[@sese8976]

please react to the new jeff goldblum series KAOS its amazing

[@Luzarioth]

I am going to be THAT Guy... the first to die in Elronds group, was the black one ^^* Let me guess, his name endet with a "Y" ;P

[@Omn1Media]

OMG you're right!