Rings of Power is Not Very Good: Breakdown and Analysis - Part 8: Alloyed

The conclusion of season 1 of Rings of Power arrives on the chopping block.
00:00 - Intro
00:26 - Catching Not-Gandalf
02:56 - Arrival at Eregion
09:38 - Elrond and Galadriel Catch Up
15:54 - Halbrand Meets Celebrimbor
20:21 - Earien Meets the King
24:29 - Gil-Galad Hears the Plan
34:54 - Elrond Asks for More Time
36:41 - Galadriel Grows Suspicious
38:37 - Harfoots vs Androgynites
49:21 - Elendil and Miriel
56:23 - Arrival at Numenor, and the Boat Situation
59:14 - Galadriel Makes a Discovery
1:07:23 - Sauron's Mind Games
1:15:02 - Analysis of Sauron's Plan
1:34:17 - A Decision is Made
1:40:21 - Nori Says Goodbye
1:44:27 - The Rings are Forged
1:46:46 - Nori Plot Overview
1:49:44 - Galadriel Plot Overview
1:52:26 - Outro
Second Channel - / @randomft2
Rando Discord - / discord
Patreon - / randomfilmtalk
Twitter - / randomfilmtalk

[@randomft]

Hi guys, you may have seen this video was blocked when I initially uploaded it yesterday. I want to quickly explain what happened so that there is no confusion. -The video was uploaded on Tuesday and KZbin did their checks before approving the video. The video was cleared and confirmed as not containing any copyrighted content. -About 45 minutes after making the video public yesterday, it was blocked by KZbin. This was not a manual block, this was from KZbin's copyright bots. Why they waited until after the video was made public to detect anything I have no idea. -The offending portion was claimed to be a 15 second segment from Rings of Power. This segment included a two second clip in the middle, separating it into two clips of approximately 7 seconds each. Evidently this was not enough to get around the copyright bots and it was flagged regardless. -As the video had only accumulated around 500 views by this point, I decided to remove the video, edit the offending portion and re-upload rather than to contest the copyright claim. Claims can take 30 days to complete, and I have no idea how they affect the growth and reach of the video, so I wanted to play it safe and re-upload a fresh video. -This video is identical to the original one, except that I have changed which clip from the show I am using which amounts to about 5 seconds of content. I have not removed or trimmed anything in the video. Anyway, hopefully this one doesn't get flagged, and I hope you enjoy it!

[@tar-elenionmaranwe1275]

The 'blocking' was strange for me, as I got to watch the whole video, including taking a short break about halfway through. Only later did it disappear and not show up in my watch history, when I went back to check on comments. Good video.

[@Undomaranel]

@@tar-elenionmaranwe1275 Same here, then I remembered KZbin has shenanigans. Also, I noticed you also have an Elvish username XD Not many of us on KZbin do lol. Mine's a mash up of Quenyan _undomë_ and Sindarin _maranel,_ unfortunately had to do it since the _ë_ wasn't possible back when I made it.

[@DarkValorWolf]

glad it was sorted so easily!

[@ms1535]

👍

[@Gmex_ONE]

Hey brother, just glad to see it back up! I was half way through, came back to watch more…and it was gone! So frustrating. U rock amigo 👍

[@udokanwokolo1378]

Galadriel spent centuries searching for Sauron, completely unaware that the real Sauron was the friend she made along the way.

[@jjdn43]

Brilliant use of meme, sir. *chef's kiss*

[@j.cr.1207]

Beautiful 🥹

[@AnarchHive]

**slow clap**

[@RoyalStarlord]

Goddamn, that got a chuckle out of me. XD +1 thumbs up

[@masamune2984]

@@RoyalStarlord Did…did you…just do the meme, but it actually fits? If I had a hat on, I’d tip it to you 👏 👏 👏

[@j.j.bennett5209]

I love the idea that Sauron has given up being pure evil, world-dominating Sauron, and is now entirely motivated by "heh, this will really fuck with them." There's no overarching evil genius plan, just haphazard trolling of everyone he meets while giggling internally. Truly a villain of our time.

[@sabineb.5616]

J.J. Bennett, you described Amazon's strangely domesticated and playful version of Sauron correctly. While I believe that the show-runners have not shown us, yet, the full extent of his machinations and cunning deceptions, he doesn't seem to have an evil master plan of becoming the Dark Lord who will rule Middle Earth with an iron fist. He really seems to like and admire Galadriel, and he might have even tried to help Celebrimbor to solve the conundrum of the rapidly diminishing elves by teaching them how to make the most of their small supply of mithril. Sauron is a passionate smith after all, and if he really wants to fix and improve Middle Earth, the elves deserve his help, too. The problem is, that the show-runners have de-clawed and de-fanged their version of Sauron, and it's hard to see him as a seriously evil antagonist. During the first season he has behaved himself and hasn't done anything which I would call evil - although he might have fed his fellow castaways to The Worm in order to have Galadriel all for himself on the raft. But then again, it's possible that the whole castaway scenario was an illusion created by Sauron, and it happened only in Galadriel's head. Anyway, trying to arrange a meeting with Galadriel, and pretending that it happened just by chance, isn't evil per se, although today we wouldn't approve of his dating habits. But HalRon didn't even kill Galadriel after he freely admitted that he isn't Halbrand, the king of a bunch of bedraggled Southlanders, but HalRon, Morgoth's ex-second-in-command. That he admitted to be Sauron is another indication that he had no elaborate evil plans for Galadriel, Celebrimbor &Co. He could have denied after all that he is Sauron. Galadriel didn't have a scrap of evidence against him, and he could've easily talked himself out of that corner. I wonder, when Sauron will start to take his career as an evil dark lord more seriously, and what will prompt him to forge The One Ring and become The Lord Of The Rings, as we know him. During the first season he seemed to be a bit of a slacker, who still needed to find a suitable vocation 😀

[@GeoffSayre]

Sauron the Deceiver, Greatest of all Internet Trolls

[@j.r.r.tolkee7000]

“They have a god troll.”

[@johns1625]

@@sabineb.5616 And this is why Sauron is such an interesting character. He was highly admired by the people of Aule. Possibly even a greater Smith than Feanor. And when he left he became insanely powerful in other ways too. AND ON TOP OF THAT he had room for redemption. He truly could be a great leader in middle earth, but cannot do this due to his obsession with order. Classic tyrannical fascist archetype.

[@sabineb.5616]

@@johns1625 , Tolkien actually pointed out, that Sauron contemplated redemption for short while after Morgoth had been toppled. But more out of fear of punishment and because he hated disorder, and Tolkien never explored this line of thought in greater detail. The problem with Amazon's Sauron is, that it was a terrible mistake to turn him into an average male human without the least bit of charisma! Charly Vickers isn't a bad actor per se, but it's never believable that he is an immortal maia who is thousands of years old and carries the whole baggage of experiences. Joseph Mawle's Adar would have been a far more credible and fascinating Sauron! Joseph Mawle shows brilliantly the heavy burden of someone so old and with so many hurtful experiences. Even the idea to give the orcs s suitable home could've been Sauron's quest, too - at least for a while, until they become cannon fodder again because of Sauron's unbridled ambitions. I think that Adar is the most compelling character or ROP. Unfortunately Joseph Mawle has left the show on his own accord for unknown reasons. That's a big loss, because his Adar was a true anti-hero.

[@tobiaswedin]

The one single thing that made sense in all of this was Sauron telling Galadriel that he found peace fighting next to her. Of course he would, she's more evil than him.

[@SuodethSnake]

That Halbrand and Celebrimbor conversation without the fluff talk is just Halbrand: Have you thought about combinding it with other metals? Celebrimbor: No use, it will lessen the desired effect Halbrand: but what if you could enchance it? Celebrimbor: How?? Halbrand: By combinding with other metals. Celebrimbor: Amazing, why didnt I think of that?

[@yagamifire7861]

Yes its astoundingly stupid "Do that" "But...that bad" "What if...that good?" "Brilliant!"

[@Folker46590]

Let's not forget that Mithril is a PROUD metal and won't combine with lesser elements. Only Galadriel's "pure" silver and gold dagger is worthy of it. Mithril is the spoiled and overly proud Prince of metals.

[@Sullivanin]

@@Folker46590 I’m not sure how she killed a troll with that soft gold and silver dagger either.

[@spartanonxy]

@@Sullivanin Silver at least is semi hard. Not a good material for a blade but MUCH better then gold. Gold is just north of the worst metals for a blade list. And considering the worst list is things that explode or poison everyone nearby that is saying something. Seriously when uranium and plutonium are legitimately better overall materials for a blade you screwed up making a blade.

[@jhonzeimerman5650]

Brilliant exchange. If only they could afford writers.

[@Gorbz]

There is no space and time in this show. There is only the set next door.

[@dburgd99]

And the writers room. Such and awful show.

[@johns1625]

It's actually hard to believe how incompetent they are writing this show. Halbrand has a wound that turns festering in 24 hours so they leave the Southlands with no supplies and arrive in Eregion in like, half a day lmao.

[@amarissimus29]

It's a metaphor representing the evils of Númenórean colonization. Obviously. You don't understand Tolkien. Please start thinking critically.

[@TallisKeeton]

and no efforts of travel and of fight. No tiring, no sweat, no hunger, no luggage, no horses, no repairing weapons, no skills with herbs, no skills with making camp, and not a scratch on them beside big battle wounds. but the villagers all have to be constantly dirty to be seen as villagers :D and of course the city's ppl are clean and ironed :D to be differentiated from villagers :D these charachters are played by actors of soapoperas, who never played in fantasy show. they only know modern houses, clothes and cars, from soap operas.

[@danbuckig4564]

reminds me of the last 2 seasons of Game of Thrones, having Snow get from the north to the bottom of the continent in a single episode as opposed to taking a few months to travel there, even by ship.

[@MrARock001]

That would have been such a cool route to take with Halbrand: he masquerades as the King of the Southlands for decades, strengthening his people and his ties with the other kingdoms. Then, when his little southlands kingdom has grown enough, he pulls the trigger on Mount Doom, takes off his mask like "Psych! It was me all along losers! You got Sauron'd! Welcome to Mordor!"

[@matthewbustamante5660]

Genuine Sauron move too. He would have done that in the books imo

[@astrospect]

"you got Sauron'd" That was way more funny to me than I feel it should have been.

[@DarthSidian]

"You got Sauron'd" caught me off-guard, but this is a one-to-one Sauron move.

[@rooplespooples]

"Hi I'm Sauron! Welcome to my crib" [The Great Eye by Howard Shore begins blasting]

[@alteredbeast7145]

You got Sauroned 😂

[@DMGardener]

The funny thing is that your suggestion of how Sauron could have just gone to Eregion and asked for Celebrimbor to ''play'' is basically the actual lore. Sauron disguised himself as Annatar, a representative of the Valar to teach them crafts far beyond what they knew, and worked along them for a couple hundred years crafting wondrous artifacts. So well done, by following logics you just went back from this disaster to what the actual creator of this world wrote.

[@philipphammer3474]

True in every way

[@BWMagus]

But there was one person who saw through the deception; amazingly, Galadriel. Which is just fucking stunning.

[@jeremymott]

The problem I see is that Gil-galad and Elrond didn't notice something wrong with "Halbrand"

[@ageoflove1980]

The show is actually a great prequel to Lord of the Rings, because after spending 7 episodes with Galadriel, Saurons motives in the trilogy are extremely relatable.

[@wolfsong4720]

One of the (many many, endless) concerns I had here was, WHY is Galadriel's dagger made of gold and silver?!?! Do the writers not realize those are just two of the absolute worst metals for a weapon?!

[@imetators]

Silver is fine, hold is for design and looks I guess. Of course steel would be preferable, but yeah... In any case, Sauron suggesting to do a mithril alloy and then they chosing silver and gold is such a uninspired move. Like they were struggling to forge an alloy with mithril and they haven't tried gold and silver as one of the first metals? The whole show makes no sense and its ending does not make sense even move.

[@TallisKeeton]

and its strange IMO becouse when you try to mix silver and gold the effect is known as "electrum" a fine metal for making jewlery and big Greek vases and such :)

[@squirrelsyrup1921]

Silver is to fight undead

[@GriffinWarrior]

It's almost as if there originally was a plot where SAURON and not Gandalf had amnesia and Sauron slowly becomes more and more corrupted by his own evil as his memory leaks back. But they transferred that plot over to Gandalf when they decided to add some more "member-berries" for nostalgic effect.

[@albertofernandez2490]

That makes sense. The feminem companion even says "this is not this one", implying there was another meteor-man.

[@matiasluukkanen7718]

That would have still been horrible and not at all what Tolkien wrote about Sauron in Second Age.

[@LoisoPondohva]

@@matiasluukkanen7718 well, it would be a bizarre addition with no prior establishment, but it can fit into Tolkien's timeline. There's almost 5 centuries Sauron is entirely unaccounted for between fall of Morgoth and his reappearance as Annatar. More than enough time to lose memory and gain it back. Even more so, if Sauron lost all memories, he would presumably be a good person, because he was that before his corruption. Still doesn't make sense as a premise, but is much better than what we actually got.

[@masamune2984]

Which would make INFINITELY more sense, unfortunately

[@jameshart4896]

@@LoisoPondohva actually that would still work. Have it were he really tries to help unite and bring peace. But with differences in all living thing, it takes time. And with that time Saroun loses patience and begins to unconsciously fall back to his evil ways.

[@Benevolent_Fafnir]

I love how the books go out of their way to specifically say that Númenoreans love horses and can even communicate with them, and they ride them often EXCEPT in war where they refuse to ride them… And then the time we see the Númenoreans fighting in the show they are riding horses.

[@rageagainstmyhatchet]

What they really went for with Sauron. He really was betrayed by Adar and cast out. He really did want to flee "somewhere" and seek penance for his past evil. He really did thank the day that Morgoth was removed, allowing him to escape. He really did keep the "King of the Southlands" brand because it was a nice reminder of a time where he was worshipped. He really didn't want to go to Mordor. He really doesn't like orcs and doesn't care about them. He likes Elves instead. He may have known about Adar's plan to open mount Doom, using his old key. But in either case, he was happy to stop him - see above. He really was happy to accept the SouthLanders' desire for his rule. He really was injured offscreen and met Celebrimbor by chance. He then realised what the rings could do, completing his old work. He really did think Galadriel would be his wife and balance his 'tendancy' for evil. He really was annoyed that she said no. He then went to new Mordor to create a master ring. This was the Real plot for TRoP show. That it was so dumb and poorly executed is irrelevant.

[@vkrgfan]

Actually, Sauron wanted to stay in Numenor, he told Galadriel that he has no desire to be the King of Southlands, and added that he has been searching for his peace for longer than she knows. He wanted to be left alone, but since she dragged him to Southlands again he had no choice but to fight and then be confronted face to face with his enemy Adar. Adar wanted revenge because he was tortured when he was an elf, so he sympathized with Orcs because everyone despised them and used them to achieve their agendas, he wanted them to have something of their own. Sauron then unexpectedly was well received by Southlandians, after they defeated Adars army. He thought maybe his fate is finally falling into place, now he can be admired as King but he was badly injured. Who knows if Galadriel wouldn't take him close to Celebrimbor, maybe no one would find out who he is. Also, according to the actual story Galadriels husband isn't dead, so she could not possibly accept the proposal of Sauron even if she wouldn't know who he is. Moreover, Maiar desired to form a union with other Maiar, Galadriel is an elf, not Maiar. She isn't powerful enough for him, and therefore his proposal was unnecessary.

[@seeinred]

I think this is the most coherent list of what happened. Thank you, sir!

[@moopara7991]

It would've been really funny if the key to the dam was genuine, meaning Sauron was building a dam so he can later use the potential energy to power mills or something. And because he had to use evil magic it just looks like an evil sword, but actually it's just an innocent key

[@insanum666]

It seems like they tried to cram a couple seasons worth of episodes into 1 season. They should have drawn it out by having Halbrand just be some normal guy or king of the southlands and the. Have sauron come up later

[@Barnesofthenorth]

Aye so according to Rings of Power Galadriel is the cause of all the deaths that are to follow from this, and she REALLY should have done more to make up for it than just "not taking the ring" as she basically screwed Middle Earth completely by being a petty psychopath.

[@kbra2329]

"You caught me my name's Rufus. I already told that I stole symbol from a dead man." It's is very funny script. Halbrand just tricking the wisest elven Galadriel and being a simple thief would be more banging storyline.

[@CruelestChris]

The first time I saw a picture of Feminem I was astonished, as I was unaware Draco Malfoy and Voldemort had a daughter.

[@johns1625]

And the way they have her move around all erotic and sexy made me cringe at a molecular level

[@user-xx6vy9ri8p]

Cursed Child

[@OuroborosChoked]

I am _extremely_ confused as to when this show is supposed to take place. In the real Middle-Earth timeline, Sauron works with Celebrimbor to craft the rings of power around 1600 SA. Celebrimbor makes the 3 rings for the elves separate from Sauron and untouched by his influence. The rings for the dwarves and men are also made. After Sauron gets found out, he crafts the One Ring in the fires of Mt. Doom. At some point between 1600 SA and whenever Sauron puts on the One Ring for the first time (before 1693 SA), the seven rings were made and given to the dwarfs, and the nine rings were made and given to the kings of men. During this period, Tar-Telperiën is queen of Numenor. There is no regent or dying old king. In Rings of Power, there is a character named Pharazon, who bears a very similar name to the last king of Numenor, but that king wouldn't be born for another 1,500 years or so. Is Rings of Power supposed to be a parody of Tolkien's work? What even is this show? I'd say it's a "reimagining" but it's more like a fan fiction being written by people who hate Lord of the Rings. I'd be shocked to learn the scripts weren't written in colored pencil (because someone ate all the crayons and the markers dried out from being sniffed too much).

[@BWMagus]

Pretty sure this is supposed to be the run-up to the Last Alliance and the battle with Sauron, so ALL of that shit is being condensed to maybe a few decades at most, by show's end--well, all the shit they don't just chuck. And I...don't entirely hate the idea of that. I mean, part of me does, but there really is no other way to tell the history of Middle Earth--it's thousands of fucking years, dozens of disconnected stories, over a vast area that changes due to cataclysms twice. So even if they had all the rights, I don't think anyone could do it. It does actually make sense that they would try to bundle all that together as an immediate prequel to what we see in the intro to Fellowship of the Ring. But they failed harder than I would fail at getting into Jessica Alba's pants.

[@Metrion77]

Let's also not forget that THE WHOLE SOUTHLANDS is made up for the show. Morgoth turned Mordor into a orcish hellscape back in the first age, and it never got better. As soon as Morgoth died, Sauron moved in.

[@Chociewitka]

? Isildur, the one who will cut the One Ring from Sauron's finger, is already born! That means the One Ring will be cut from Sauron's fingers in about 200 years only (as Isildur lived to be 234).

[@gringopistolero]

You can run a horse between 20-25 miles before it drops dead of exhaustion. That's why the Pony Express had various stations with fresh horses for the riders. In this show the real power of magic rests with the equine species!

[@Sighman]

Everyone knows if you want to send a message quickly in Middle Earth, you use a fax.

[@joels5150]

Humans are the best long distance runners. It’s what made us decent hunters. We weren’t the fastest, but we could chase indefinitely.

[@jeremymott]

Which tells me that this show doesn't understand anything

[@Undomaranel]

​@@joels5150 "Indefinitely". Not true. No human hunter would chase prey over hundreds of miles without sleep and rest, except in fairy tales like Beowulf and Moby Dick. Muscles cramp. Nature calls. People die after marathons and from exertion in general. We are formidable, especially because we can craft missiles and track wounded prey almost better than snakes track bit rabbits. It's our minds that gives us the edge, the flexibility to make traps and read situations and change the environment and even other species to suit our needs, as well as being built for long distance/ endurance slogs. But endurance =/= indefinite. Wolves are more indefinite hunters than humans fam.

[@Neo2266.]

The Pony Express stole that idea from the Mongols

[@johns1625]

Asking people if they liked this show could possibly be the most accurate litmus test to determine if a person has any self awareness at all. Imagine what you could convince a person to do if you can easily convince them that "the rock sinks because it always looks down" is a poetic line lmao

[@danielled8665]

You can like something without thinking it's a perfect masterpiece. I know it's trash in many ways, but I enjoy it anyway. It's okay to have fun with things sometimes.

[@derpherp7432]

people like lotr for top tier worldbuilding and writing, if a lotr show cant even do that then why use the lotr ip and drag tolkiens creation through the mud, just use another fantasy ip like DnD that is better suited.

[@Jamie_Pritchard]

It's an absolute clusterfuck of a show from start to finish 🤦🏼‍♂️ Edit - I just realised how relatively new your channel is! Damn dude, you're a natural at this, I assumed you'd been doing it for years and years 😯

[@Sultan-cf5wf]

1:01:58 agreed lol Sauron could have so easily played it off as him being a mortal man instead of being an immortal deity "hey I already told you I found this on someone else who passed away when I was a teenager, i already told you I'm not royalty."

[@sydneyslaughter7163]

He probably could’ve left it at “I told you I took it off some dead guy.” With a shrug.

[@erhart4280]

😂😂😂 The sequence of speedy retelling all the prior events as if in response to Elrond is brilliant beyond belief! Man, you're awesome. And Kronk's face with Izma's smile at that moment just says it all 😆🥰

[@scambammer6102]

yes that was helpful to see why the Halbrand storyline was so confusing. Large parts of the narrative were inconsistent with either interpretation of Halbrand (ie evil mastermind or repentant sinner). Then of course there were all the parts that are ridiculous on their face, like being stranded on some wreckage with a bunch of cast extras.

[@michaelsnow3536]

I came to the comments to say the exact same thing 😂 That was some chaotic energy

[@whom382]

The only recap/review/parody video on YT that can compare to that minute or two is RLM's ST Discovery Season 2 video. Insanely great work.

[@OneDapperFrog]

Reminds me of that guy from Antman.

[@SilhouetteSE]

No offense to the actor playing Celebrimbor, but seeing him portray a wise, beautiful, youthful, and immortal being pains me to no end 🙄

[@roushannah]

Yes, I feel the same and this includes Gil-galad as well

[@SilhouetteSE]

@@roushannah I couldn't agree more

[@johns1625]

He's supposed to be the same age as Galadriel, and much older than Gil-Galad, but he looks like a sheltered 55 year old fart

[@Heartshapedbox81]

Does this really not include all of the alleged elves though? Idk 😂

[@Br4dSp34d]

It’s incredible that in order to win, all the villains needed to do was… nothing. The elves were leaving the south lands, if Adar had just let them go instead of capturing them and forcing them to dig the trenches they never would have been discovered. Once Sauron found out why the elves needed the rings, what was to prevent him from just letting them fail, then stealing the mithtil (or invading Moria and taking it himself) to then build what he needed to rule middle earth with his strongest enemies back in their homeland? He evaded capture for centuries, then gets within a few months of them being gone and just says ‘….nah, I’ll help them survive’ What even with this show?!? 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@ms1535]

I love how you type out observations on your virtual “chalkboard”. That always cracks me up! Very original. I love your sarcasm. Keep it coming…

[@j.r.r.tolkee7000]

Gandalf doesn't even say "I am good." He says, "I'm good." Strictly speaking, the most ancient beings in Tolkien's Legendarium speak in an archaic manner, and do not use contractions, e.g., "I'm."

[@elizabethperry2622]

Gandalf must have picked up common lingo at some point. I’m thinking of the scene in Return of the King where the hobbits are nearly back in the Shire and maybe things aren’t so peachy keen back home and Gandalf is incredibly blunt and tells them “Nope. I’m out. You guys are big boys now… bigger boys… it’s a turn of phrase. You’ve got this in hand. I’m going to go hang out with Bombadil. I’ve earned that. See ya.” Or “I am talking to myself… so I can talk to someone with some sense.”

[@johns1625]

"I am NOT a gun!" -The Iron Wizard

[@mischr13]

@@johns1625 XD literally lol'd

[@HipHopRepair]

…and Gandalf turned around and whispered: „I‘m finna be good. No Cap - keepin‘ it 💯, bro“

[@micahknapp706]

I love how the whole "send her to valinor so that she doesn't keep the evil alive" is literally just pulled from king fu panda when oogway was telling master shifu "the path to avoid destiny is how you meet it" they sent her away and then she met halbrand and brought him all the way to the Southlands

[@saar144]

It took Boromir 110 days to travel from Gondor to Rivendell!!

[@TallisKeeton]

and only after 2/3 of the travel he lost his horse while crossing Gwathlo river near the ruins of Tharbad :)

[@user-xx6vy9ri8p]

One does not simply travel from Gondor to Rivendell.

[@jeremymott]

Basically the distance traveled by "Galadriel" and "Halbrand" between episode 7 and 8 is impossible if it's done in 6 days

[@gosonegr]

@@TallisKeetonand also he crossed Rohan, according to Eomer, was helped, since the riders are really experienced wandering around their lands most likely he was pointed to the fastest way

[@michelecastellotti9172]

Another thing i hate about this show: in the actual lore gandalf arrives via sea from valinor and on the shores he meets with the legendary Cirdan whom upon seeing him feels that this being is wiser and more important than he shows, so he hands him the ring of fire, but this happens 300 years into the third age, pong AFTER Numenor disappearence. This show takes away any meaning this encounter had, because gandalf as a mayar was very shy and was afraid to go to middle earth, afraid to fail and be too weak to face sauron (whom was still very powerful), but Cirdan's action reassures him that he is more than capable to do what he has to. Fuck this show:"i am good" gandalf never doubted he was good, i despise this show

[@christophersmith8316]

I'm not sure what the three dumb ladies had as their lore. Sauron was in middle earth the entire time, and had no reason to be hoisted on a comet and crash into the earth. An istari sent by Valar would have no reason to have his mind blanked, quite the opposite. And the Valar could have him delivered to Middle Earth in any number of ways, like by boat as actually happened in the books. This entire subplot makes no sense at all, and who these beings are and who told them these lies is totally inexplicable. They don't seem to be elves, men, or Gods/Demigods all of whom are accounted for.

[@michelecastellotti9172]

@@christophersmith8316 worse, the three bitches are essentially knockoff ring wreiths. They could've made them an army of barrowights scouring the lands and it would've been a million times better to see gandalf arrive, get accustomed to the place and his new form, a bit shy because he as i said he was scared of taking part in this mission, and show his power to stop them, but no, we have... this

[@tylerpifer5966]

I really hope this guy is a Blue Wizard and not Gandalf, but all signs are it’s Gandalf. Unfortunate.

[@olivierm4088]

For the record, Eregion is not a city, it is the kingdom; the city is Ost-In-Edhil, that you can see on the map. But Amazon think we are retarded, so they simplified it.

[@aussiebaka4588]

42:58 makes it painfully obvious (yet again) that they didn't even bother trying to make the Harfoots look smaller than the (very tall) wizard or the androgynites. You can't just have Gandalf clearly standing on a raised platform and then have a totally adult-human-sized Lenny Henry grab him by the knees and just think we're going to think Henry only comes up to his knees. It looks utterly ridiculous. We can see Henry's body and he's almost exactly the same height as Gandalf, even with his knees bent! It's actually the reason why in everything I've seen of Rings of Power, I never once thought that the Harfoots were smaller than anyone else. It's a stark contrast to Peter Jackson's LOTR films, where it never even had to cross my mind that what I was looking at was a visual effect because I was so engrossed in the story and it was all so seamless that you don't even think about it. I saw in an interview that the actress who plays Nori was saying something like "it's so cool to experience playing around with forced perspective", but it's so clear that they never did - or what they attempted never made it to the camera's lens. Unless they told Henry to just do it as blocked and that they'd "fix it in post" but then didn't, which is just downright embarrassing on their behalf and I'd want to be written out of such a clusterfluff of a show too. Such low effort garbage. As much as I dislike some of the performances and a couple of the actors, they probably deserved better than to be made to look like they were performing in a high school play. Thanks for another banger of a video - it's obvious that you've put a thousand times more thought into this show than anyone who worked on it did. And while it doesn't deserve such effort, I'm glad you did because it's very entertaining!

[@backonlazer791]

The biggest sin (among many) this series committed in my opinion is making the elven rings of power to look like those gaudy fake rings you get on those things you put coins into. Whose idea was to plop the gemstones in uncut? And even if they were cut properly the rings still look really bad and they can't even keep their world building consistent enough to remember that they made the metal into an alloy in order to spread the mithril around, yet it seems the metals (somehow) separated making the whole thing pointless!

[@dburgd99]

Another definition of Alloyed is to debase something. They got the title right on that one.

[@gtyjui440]

1:36:39 they had 3 gems so weren't they already planing three rings ? 1:37:32 master smith with no high grade materials in a major elven city?

[@ipot399]

Eregion is a lot more than 6 days ride from the Southlands/Mordor. When Frodo was stabbed and had to make it to Rivendell, that was about a 200 mile journey. Eregion from the Southlands/Mordor is about 3 times that distance plus 2 to 3 mountain ranges to circumnavigate.

[@roushannah]

Not to mention various rivers including the Anduin, which is akin to crossing a river a like the Mississippi, the Mekong, the Volga etc. And there are no bridges yet, because Gondor has not been founded yet

[@attackmanatee02]

I like to think that if sauron had stayed in Numenor as a blacksmith he would have been completely content and never caused any problems, but Galadriel wouldn't shut up and leave him alone so he ended up coming back to middle earth with a vengeance

[@unitron2005]

A gravely wounded human surviving for 6 days ON HORSEBACK is impossible. There's no bs they can spin this where this makes any lick of sense. He should have died and fast. This survival is more insane than Arya getting stabbed in the gut several times, running through several streets, jumping into sewer water, swimming to safety and then being okay 1 day later because she ate some soup. And yes, I know he's supposed to be SaurBro, but THE CHARACTERS DO NOT KNOW THAT. And yet nobody finds it strange that this regular human can, not even a númenorean, is just fine after 6 days of riding even though he was at death's door at the begining of the journey. This show is a sign from the gods that they do not love us.

[@Guilherme-ow3wb]

I mean, these showrunners on the very first episode legit wanted for Galadriel to swim through an ocean much larger than the Atlantic, without food, water, sleep and warmth... what's riding a horse for a whole week while gravely wounded? 🤣

[@poijnve3912]

well the love of gods was never inconditional tho

[@TallisKeeton]

one of my aquaitances got stabbed 7 times (well, it was when he just waited for a bus on a bus station and he was like cornered by 5 drunk guys, the only person who tried to help him was an old lady fighting them with a trashbin) and yet he lives but he got hospital, medicines and 5 months of therapy. :) Halbrand should not be alive at this point.

[@rosiehawtrey]

It depends. In Vietnam a newbie gets shot in the belly but doesn't hit any organs or major blood vessels, dies in 20 minutes. The same guy with the same wound after a year in combat, survives up to a couple of weeks. The difference is simple, in the first case his mind literally kills him, in the second he's seen people survive. The US army actually sent people out there to try and figure out what was going on because of the wildly different casualty and survival figures. So if he's been a soldier or been in front line action before and depending on the wounds... They might well have been survivable for an extended period..and slashing wounds from a sword or falx or whatever can look nastier than they are.. Although the tricks longbowmen used were not pleasant - like taking a crap before battle then turning said pile of crap into their "ready rack" so as well as a nasty hooked bodkin arrow it was a bioweapon as well...

[@viktorgray7425]

I don't think Sauron is a human. Normal human

[@johns1625]

So the Mithril is capable of removing corruption and stopping evil, yet there is a whole ass Balrog sleeping literally 2 feet below the largest bare vein of Mithril on the planet. Lmao

[@berengustav7714]

It would have been awesome to have an Fire Maia, on Eru Illivutar's side,not Morgoth.

[@erhart4280]

I'm finding myself waiting eagerly not just for the final review and you summing up these Great Lists of Inconsistency, but also for the second RoP season just to have more of your reviews of this unbelievable shit of a show 😁

[@ovcharkaboxing]

👍👍

[@AW-uv3cb]

yeah I'm experiencing the same thing as during the last season of GoT: if it's going to be bad, let it at least be so bad that we can have fun takedowns on KZbin.

[@graphixvizion]

I REALLY hope all of the cast, crew, and showrunners gather together and have a wholesome marathon of these analyses 🍿🍺🍻

[@BigCowProductions]

Now i would pay to see THAT

[@elyrienvalkyr8167]

It wouldn't be possible. A marry sue can't be contradicted or proven wrong. The videos would cease to be cannon in reality.

[@Pandaman94]

Yeaaaaaaa they won't. Even IF they did, they won't fucking care they'll just call this guy a racist homophobic mysoginist who beats women and is most likely pure evil. You know. Because he chooses to speak the truth about this Horseshit show.

[@Guilherme-ow3wb]

Nah, they'll just glance at the title and call him a misogynist bigoted racist hater.

[@graphixvizion]

Part of me is somewhat indifferent whether anyone attached to "RoP" 💍👑 are affected by the deconstructions Frustrated 😖 but "Oh Well" 🤷‍♂️ The real star for me, is this channel and the community that has been created because of what Amazon has created

[@elmaxidelsur]

18.52 Sauron explained that they add nickel to steel to make better sword in "his land".... That is stainless steel and it is TERRIBLE for swords no one would use in real life a sword made of that steel.

[@massPanic22]

Tbf it makes perfect sense, sauron taught the elves how to make shit swords, thus masterminding easy victory, except I don't think that's the play here.

[@cy-one]

@@massPanic22 nah, the writers where just like "hurr durr stainless steel is better"

[@unitron2005]

Hmm, interesting. Can you explain why it's bad for swords, though? I'm not familiar with the concept, but it sounds interesting.

[@yagamifire7861]

I'm pretty sure stainless steel is brittle by comparison

[@graphixvizion]

@@unitron2005 Example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioapfmhvlrZgqrs Also: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJjSkHtjjtV7p5I

[@samfrazee7022]

1:29:33 In the written works Sauron literally knocked on the doors of eregion and said hi in order to get the rings of power built lmao

[@Ricekrispy10]

44:39 I love how you use 3 different pronouns for Feminem in a 5 second span lmfao. This has been my favorite teardown of RoP. You're quick-witted, intelligent, and approach the show as is, which really highlights the dumpster fire the writers made. I look forward to whatever show you break down next.

[@norrecvizharan1177]

I know the whole plot of Halbrand being wounded by menial weapons and needing elven medicine of all things is kinda ridiculous, but honestly, it just occurred to me that it all could've been a plan by him to be brought right to where Celebrimbor is, by casting an illusion that made him appear wounded (yet explains why he didn't die on the way, and got up pretty quickly). Arguably a real 4D chess play, I'd say. Of course, the show does a downright terrible job of conveying such cunning, so it just feels more like an overactive imagination filling gaps that incompetent writers left behind.

[@randomft]

I considered this but I don’t believe that the Elven healers would not have been able to see through his illusion if this were the case.

[@norrecvizharan1177]

​@@randomft Maybe it could be a mix of both where he actually did get moderately wounded, but took the opportunity to utilize his own dark magic to make it come off as far worse than it should've been? There'd still be a gash, but the black infectious part would probably be what's faked (or maybe real, but I'd assume he wouldn't poison himself if he wasn't able to readily reverse his own magic). It's kinda almost like how modern day doctors can tell an injury is serious due to the large amount of bruising, but there's not exactly a direct way to fix the bruising itself, only the injury it's associated with, so as a result they more just tend to not focus on it. I feel weirdly dumb for crafting theories about a series that really shouldn't exist, yet it's oddly fun for some reason, dunno why.

[@silverscorpio24]

Galadriel would've known the nature of the wound, being a military commander. And the Elven Healers would have told someone if Galadrrriel brought them someone who wasn't really injured.

[@thomasdoubting2730]

*Halbrand:* How about an alloy? *Celebrimbor:* ... *Halbrand:* An alloy. A metal alloy? *Celebrimbor:* ... *Halbrand:* I don't know the Elven word, but, the mixing of two or more metalls...? *Celebrimbor:* ... *Halbrand:* Bronze! You DO know of *bronze,* right? *Celebrimbor:* Right...? *Halbrand:* Well you mix copper and tin and then you gett...? *Celebrimbor:* ...Alloy? *Halbrand:* You see this door knobb? *Celebrimbor:* well, yes. Thats...-- --( *Halbrand* exit stage left, slam the door) 💨

[@jacob9538]

this show really is lining up with current day politics, there's a king with dementia to parallel the state of politics in the united states.

[@marlonb.4017]

58:28 actually he is looking at the black flags, which are supposed to be raised when the king dies. I’m not sure how, it was either briefly mentioned in a throwaway line or lore

[@imetators]

In addition, the story arc where dwarves and elves were building a super forge together was abandoned. They could actually use it in last episode and make it a main forge where rings were crafted. But yeah, fuck us I guess.

[@NarcissistAU]

So I saw the Nerdrotic guy claiming a highest-level insider had leaked to him that basically the showrunners were majorly out of their depth and expecting anything good on this scale from them was simply unrealistic. I don't doubt the obvious truth of this, however it still fails to explain how they completely failed at writing. These two apparently somehow have subsisted in Hollywood for over ten years relying solely on their writing ability, yet they apparently have no understanding of writing fundamentals at all (let alone the understanding and love of Tolkien that they claimed). How? I get writing is hard, especially dialogue, but they appear to be astonishingly unable to perform any aspect of their chosen careers as writers. How? I get they're unqualified as showrunners, but how are are they so bad as writers? How?

[@MajorSmurf]

I want to remind everyone that when this series was allowed by the estate they made 2 clear demands for Amazon to stick to. No 1 Was that Peter Jackson was not allowed to be involved in the production. No 2 Was that the show was not allowed to contradict any known lore. Me *stares* at the elven rings being forged first.... I'm going to let you imagine what I'll do these writers when I find them. Could we please at least the rings order right. The only reason I can think of about the forging order being wrong is because the films went elves, dwarves and than men but that's purely for narration purposes. This would be like me talking about WW2 than speaking on Alexander the great. Yeah I ordered them that way for my speech but that doesn't mean those events happened in the order I said them in. I'm going to state why I believe they made the first demand about no Peter Jackson. To put it simply what happened is that the Estate are still mad salty from the trilogy as Warner brothers and the production company claimed the films made no money and so didn't pay the Estate any rights money from them. It had nothing to do with Peter Jackson as far as I'm aware but they can't take it out on the company so they focus their hatred at the person they can. The lawsuit about the rights money was settled behind closed doors. ARGH! Also the Nazgal women actively annoy me. It might look like a cool nod to LOTR but the Nazgal don't exist yet. They need to be corrupted first and that happens after the kings of men get their rings. You might say oh but maybe they're ghosts or evil spirits. Ghosts or spiritual beings in Tolkien work are very very special cases. Wraiths in Tolkien lore are created by Morgul blades or Necromancy so they might be that but I don't think they would look like normal humans in that case. There are phantasm which are spirits of fallen Maia/Maiar which I guess they could be but again if all 3 are Maia than they should all be capable of magic but only 1 is actively using that and they would be just as strong if not stronger than Not-Gandalf in that case. Also throwing daggers is not a special ability or magical.

[@w7x509]

About Sauron, I think the writers wanted to convey (they surely thought it was a genius idea) that it is Galadriel who ''created'' Sauron meaning that, has she not pursue her vengeance by jumping off that boat meeting Sauron and everything until then, Sauron wouldn't have become Sauron and would have returned to a simple life.

[@leichtmeister]

Which is total and utter bullshit.

[@Ivan-qi2du]

My two cents: Sauron was heading to Numenor disguised as a castaway. He was defeated by Adar so he was probably plotting to restart from Numenor, corrupt its leadership with the rings of power and only then go back to middle earth. This explain why he was tryng to acquire the guild thing. BUT he randomly met Galadriel. Now he suddenly found himself with an army. So he gave up his original plan and followed Galadriel to the southlands.

[@Persephone_Personified]

Did you hear Adar has been recast...? He was the most complex and compelling character on the show.

[@midastouch1615]

The recasting won’t matter, Adar will probably be Celembor and boss girl failed to recognise him.. it’s stupid, but I put nothing past Payne & McKay

[@Pandaman94]

Here's a thought. Delete it from the internet and remake it with competent people. And Recast EVERYONE I don't care about the adar guy this show is fucking heresy and the actor knows it that's why he dipped out.

[@boneman-calciumenjoyer8290]

@@midastouch1615 wow, that's a terrible idea, which means it's most likely true for the rings of power.

[@midastouch1615]

@@boneman-calciumenjoyer8290 exactly

[@The_last_loyalty]

At least one actor had the excellent sense to see in what direction the wind was blowing.

[@quinzel9338]

On watching this fine recap once more. It appears that Galadriel did not know there had been no king of Southlands for a 1000 years despite spending a 1000 years travelling around Middle Earth looking for Sauron; she needed a scroll to determine that the line finished 1000 years ago. Surely she should have known there were no longer any Southlands royalty if she was travelling so far and wide and for such a long time. Thinking more about this more, it seems the elf who went looking for the scroll containing the Southlands lineage spent maybe 2 of the 3 months they had to create the 'crown' searching for it. If he had only spent a day or so then why was Celebrimbor so panicked that there was not enough time if only a couple of days had passed.

[@TallisKeeton]

oh, sweet kitties in avatar :)

[@geirmagnethorsen6680]

Mr. Random film Talk. You Sir, have made me laugh so hard throughout this series. Thank you. Fantastic videos man.

[@sharksbreath7]

Great analysis - informative and entertaining. Best observation was that "if it's not on camera, it doesn't exist", but I'd add - if it is on camera all the other characters know it.

[@alexanderl.malmros2907]

As an author (albeit far from a prominent one) it's hard not get bitter knowing that hack-writers such as these gets payed for their incompetence... Anyhoo, love these vids and hope you'll suffer through season 2 for another critique👍

[@ClemDiamond]

It's like the writers themselves had not decided who was Sauron before writing the final episode and they haven't re-read their own script. I do not know how writing a show exactly works or in what order you do things, but i always thought that you would write every important plot point way in advance of the individual scripts for episodes.

[@F1rstWorldNomaD]

The one who was right all along wasnt Karen'driel... It was Gil'galad. He wanted to send Karen'driel away cuz he was afraid she would bring back the evil she sought to destroy. Which is exactly what happens. Karen'driel is the sole reason for Sauron return, not even i directly, she literally pushes him to go back against his fakking will. Karen'driel alone is responsible for evil returning to middle earth and by extension all the pain, suffering, death and dispare that followed.

[@alicewonder5688]

yep - your hero, everyone please enjoy 🤢🤮

[@Guilherme-ow3wb]

Gil'Galad was just as stupid, though. He sends not only Galadriel away, but ALL the Elven armies stationed somewhere as well. Then he reveals he KNOWS Sauron is alive and well, so his plan is to just let him roam free without any vigilance at all, but he has no knowledge or information that "he doesn't want to be evil anymore". When he reveals this to Elrond, his reaction is to not give a single fuck. Then Gil also sends Elrond for the mithril without telling him anything and Elrond plays James Bond and just conveniently keep stumbling upon forbidden mines, secret wall passwords and so on...

[@johns1625]

**tips Elendimir** "M'ladriel" 😂

[@johns1625]

@@Guilherme-ow3wb the secret password thing was truly cringe, but even worse than that is the password was just the ABC's song. "H I J K - LMNOP"

[@michaelschmid4039]

I must admit, i was regularly falling asleep watching this show so i always thought I just missed how halbrand got that spear wound. But they really didn't show it on screen... You need to sue the writers @jeff they robbed you off your money.

[@quinzel9338]

What excellent analysis, I love your style and humour. It is perhaps worth pointing out that when they smelted Finrod's dagger it also was composed of a steel blade so not exactly the purest gold and silver.

[@graphixvizion]

In an alternate reality: "Galadriel's AGELESS Swim" is a 'James Cameron/Guillermo Del Toro' production co-written by the writers of the original Peter Jackson trilogy and the writers who adapted "Master and Commander" It is a big budget nautical film, reprising Cate Blanchett as GALADRIEL Russell Crowe playing ULMO It is a mythic quest/journey, akin to Homer's "ODYSSEY/ILLIAD" Galadriel begins as an ageless 2,000 year old and several Middle-Earth generations later (multiple on-screen agings and recasting of actors, and socio-geopolitical changes taking place). The peoples and places of Middle-Earth change dramatically... as the inexplicable Galadriel's defiant seemingly suicidal jump off ship, is philosophically explored... We see her plead for Ulmo's Grace, Which help us understand the role of GODS/deities on Middle-Earth, through their interactions (giving insight into GODS and Immortals) Through her journey, we better understand what the emotional and psychological toll would be, for someone ageless living through the entropic Middle-Earth as this world is constantly birthing lives and undergoing constant deaths, as societies change/morph, all around her through the passing of mortal time Imagine Denis Villeneuve or Ridley Scott (at his peak) tackling this type of true epic fantasy Playing Devil's 👿 Advocate: Honestly though, It might take even the most talented writers twenty to fifty years of painstaking, non-stop, obsessive scrutinization of every minuscule and cosmic aspect of cause and effect, to present something that could be publicly consumed as remotely decent, let alone achieving the improbable cultural status of: unforgettable/timeless

[@graphixvizion]

I feel like this is a writing project that should be collaborated on, between hyphenates that are nautical historians, as well as experienced naval veterans, that are also passionate about Tolkien lore, capable of producing a balance between story logic, legendarium reverance, and a compelling story that doesn't alienate it's audience

[@unitron2005]

"He took an ENEMY spear". Well, since this is ROP, where all the characters are ReeTurd Ed, it makes sense to clarify that he was, in fact, NOT wounded by a friend's spear. Because stabbing your allies would be something ROP characters would actually do. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@rexesshadow8628]

28:10 The elves taking turns swimming in Mithril, jesus Christ, that made me snort out my water from my nose.

[@Martedamm]

I guess there will be shitton of comments pointing this out, but Sauron's plan to get to Numenor and corrupt them, eventually resulting in flooding of whole fucking island was something crucial in the books, as it actually happened, hence he probably just switched plans after that insufferable woman wouldn't leave him the fuck alone. I know it doesn't matter when judging the show on its own merits, it's still worse than the reboot of Ghostbusters, but since you don't know this without reading books, I thought I should point it out. Congrats on the series btw, burning half billion dollars deserves such coverage and yours was entertaining and objective.

[@Martedamm]

But I point it out because it makes it more plausible that Sauron was supposed to be evil the entire time, if we operate on the premise somebody on the team knew he was originally responsible for destruction of Numenor, hence why he wanted to get and stay there, for some time at least. But if I've never read the books I wouldn't have a fucking clue about what are they trying to convey, and the two good/bad theories would be both relevant.

[@christophersmith8316]

Nothing in the books says Sauron had any plans for Numenor until they whipped his armies that were attacking the elves and conquering Middle Earth. Then he let himself be captured and subverted them.

[@Martedamm]

@@christophersmith8316 Yeah I wrote it terribly, I meant that Sauron's influence in corrupting Numenor and the flood was something that actually happened, but in the show it also seems like it was his plan all along because he wanted to stay there. Possibly, I don't know have a clue what they tried to convey with him. Thank you for the correction and pointing it out.

[@londoahv]

Woop woop. i just binged your entire series and noticed 8 wasnt up yet. good to see it was uploaded 1h after i finished everything else :)

[@michaelsnow3536]

I did the same! Ironically this series had monumentally more entertainment value and binge worthiness than the actual show it's critiquing.

[@SashaBaych]

Have you considered the idea that Galadriel may have feelings for Sauron and this is the reason why she does not give him in? And as always, THANK YOU for your Rings of Power videos!! Hands down THE BEST breakdowns of the series in the entire youtube. The part when Galadriel '"recounts her story" to Elrond is hilarious)

[@triggerfairy4070]

I bet one of those six night on horseback, blandladriel was riding a different horse.

[@vyntarus9618]

Good video as usual, I look forward to your final autopsy video. Assuming the show runners don't get partitioned off in their own corner of the writer's room for the remaining seasons, I will be surprised if they don't reveal that Sauron had put some kind of curse on Finrod's dagger as the answer to several questions: - Why she's being consumed by vengeance. - Why Sauron knew where she was out on the ocean. - Why Halbrand bothered to steal the dagger off Elendil to give back to Galadriel. - A convenient way to explain why the elven rings will be able to be bound to the One (even though the reason for that in the books is different, and Celebrimbor crafted them without Sauron's direct involvement or knowledge).

[@givmi_more_w9251]

The whole alloy thing is so funny to me as an engineer. As you said, the Elven master smith, so probably the best smith in Middle earth doesn't understand what BRONZE-AGE PEOPLE -- primates compared to the near divine beings that are elves -- understood. That mixing Cu and Sn makes a metal that is better than the sum of its parts. NO WAYYY! Tells you a lot about the show writers, to be honest. Their minds were probably blown when they asked Siri what an alloy is.

[@borbitol]

My brain just melts at the idea that someone read the script and approved all the bullshit written in it. And then the actors were like "oh ok so my character just took a knife to the gut and then found a camouflage blanket and then ran unnoticed and faster than everyone to the exact location where he would be able to save his friends by stabbing an enemy in the foot, sounds reasonable"

[@calvinchan8511]

That scream montage made me spit out my tea all over my monitor.

[@omaroba1490]

Watching your youtube videos reacting to Rings of Power was way more entertaining than the show rings of power its self.

[@kunsagigyula8091]

1:44:24 - I fell down the chair lauging! Perfect depiction of my feelings.

[@ACNEH98Thene]

The ride from Mordor to Eregion pissed me off🙄 wasn’t the ride from Edoras to Gondor like 3 days? And that was wide open plains. Galadriel and Halbrand crossed mountains! Or at the least went around the mountains which should take more time. Oh and also with no food, water and supplies

[@bentowle3478]

Bless you. Found what I'm listening to at work for the next 2 hours

[@Edward-W]

58:10 the point of that scene was to tell us the king has died. I believe Pharazon said in his previous scene with the artists that they will fly black banners in the city to announce when the king dies so this was supposed to be the setup and payoff. So Elendil is reacting to the banners realizing Miriel's dad died but she can't see the black banners herself.

[@ArchetypeGotoh]

8:21… I was under the impression that Eregion was a Region, like Beleriand. Lindon may have been it’s capitol, or a city within, but the idea that Eregion is just a particular town isn’t accurate to the source material. As if we’re surprised

[@CeridwenKeeley]

Just one point. When the Numinorians sail into port, the remaining ships and some of the buildings have black banners, showing that the king has died. That is what Elendil isn't telling Mirial.

[@TheThaiBuddy]

In terms of Sauron's character, the only thing that makes sense to me is the following (and this is being as generous as I can be): Sauron legitimately wanted nothing to do with his old life, and he also knew that, if people discovered who he is, that he would never escape the past. Choosing to conceal his identity to avoid being found out makes me believe that he wants a completely new life for himself, prior to Galadriel's interference; he may have genuinely wanted to stay in Numenor as a blacksmith after being rescued. When Galadriel questions the symbol he has and he tells her the truth (presumably), only for her to refuse to believe him and make such an outlandish claim, either it's inconsistent writing for him to go along with this, or he gives up on telling her the truth about this. He, after expressing his desire to not return to the Southlands, is coerced into returning either in resignation or because Galadriel has reawakened his desire to rule Middle-Earth. Basically, everything that Galadriel decides for Sauron draws him closer to his original self, to the point where he decides he doesn't want to run away anymore. So, it's possible that, while he started off as "good", Galadriel's influence made him evil again.

[@Ackalan]

This is almost exactly the same conclusion I drew. I also added that he was probably on a ship on his way to Valinor to turn himself in, because that has to be the only reason for him to be that far out on a ship, then he's attacked by the wyrm and left on the raft. Plus I find it really weird everyone in Numenor calls it "The south lands" when it's to their east and slightly north.

[@TheThaiBuddy]

@@Ackalan I would almost agree with this, but the fact that he hides his name instead of admitting who he actually is makes me question that. If he told Galadriel who he was right off the bat, then she would either kill him or bring him before Gil-Galad, and this is after his identity is discovered by Numenor. It's possible that they might also try to kill him, unless he voiced his desire to go to Valinor to atone for his crimes. I'm not sure I believe that, but if that was the case, then it would make Galadriel's influence worse.

[@Ackalan]

@@TheThaiBuddy I sure as hell wouldn't tell someone who's hunted me for that long who I am if I'd meet them by coincidence. To me it seems like he's trying to redeem himself, he's saving her life, trying to live a humble quiet life, then give up that to help Galadriel gather an army to go to soon-Mordor to kill orcs, then he helps saving all the elves. Neither of these things are in his best interest if he's trying to take over the world, but would make sense if he were trying to prove himself to her.

[@christophersmith8316]

As he says, though, this is still inconsistent with the instant "make elven rings" plot. He had no knowledge of the whole mithril/magic ring to save the elves stuff before going to the elf city. If he wants to be King of the South, there's no reason for him to instantly start a ring plot. If he somehow had the knowledge of the ring plot being in motion, then he was never wanting to abandon his old life.

[@christophersmith8316]

@@Ackalan He can't use a human ship to go to Valinor. He knows that because his final plan (in the books) is to send Numenor's navy there to have the Valar wipe it and Numenor out.

[@erhart4280]

Hooooray! Finally! Best evening of the week, thanks!

[@thesrow1056]

95% of character discussions in this show are plot dumps not valid character interaction. "We will have to bury the king 👑 soon as he will die. He is sick" "Yes, he has been stablished as having been sick for a very long time and now he will die to force the plot then when he is dead there will be a power gap and people will fight over the throne" "Yes, that will happen and then there will be conflict and there will then be a action scene and lots of special effects" "Yes and then the main character will have to find a mcguffin to stop it" "Yes, but there will be a plot twist and a double cross" "Yes and the season will end on a cliff hanger" ..... Wow were pretty meta for two random minor characters

[@cosmacgrandpa]

I hope I get to watch the whole thing this time!

[@nategraham6946]

I can appreciate Elrond using Gil Galad's own words against him, particularly when we have seen them in this show.

[@biotrekker]

Elves should be ethereal, fair, tall and somewhat imposing with flowing, silky hair. It's funny how these elves are so wanting. In particular, Galdriel's hair in this episode looks like it needs a barrel of conditioner. Worse, someone else in the comments noted how all Sauron had to do is leave the elves to fail on their own and they would have been forced to leave Middle Earth to him, so a nice own-goal there. In the real lore, Sauron was supposed to trick the Elves by appearing as a handsome, charming elf himself, and befriending Celebrimbor. This would have made far more sense than this convoluted monstrosity.

[@micozzzzie]

13:53 so I think she knows because she discovered the evil plan that Sauron had to turn the south lands into Mordor, so obviously this volcano thing must have been his doing. I hate this show but just noting one flaw in your work. Stellar work by the way

[@randomft]

Thank you for pointing that out, I will retract this criticism alongside a couple of others when I do my final video.

[@tal3799]

Thanks a lot for putting together 8 episodes covering this nonsense! It couldn't have been an easy task. One thing that bothered me, if Amazon is touting the show as being all inclusive and diverse... Where are my Asian brothers at? I mean an Asian elf almost makes sense. Just my 2 cents.

[@imetators]

There wree some random Asian villagers. But yeah. I also thought of this. Inclusion but not for all. 🤷

[@Phanto5692]

There's one thing that especially confused me: Arandir (Don Lemonlas) told Bronwyn (MILF) that elves had no healers or doctors, only "artisans." So why did Galadriel even bother bringing Halbrand to what's-that-place when it was already established that elves don't have healers like men do? The only reason I can think of is that the elven culture that Arandir was a part of is different from the one that Galadriel is a part of except Arandir outright knew who Galadriel was because he pointed her out to Theo.

[@christophersmith8316]

Unlikely as some unaffiliated group of elves would have no reason to be monitoring men for outbreaks of Morgoth worship as Arandir's group is doing. He had to be reporting to one of the Elven states around.

[@lexnight8345]

Now that you say it she is a MILF and I never think about that

[@TallisKeeton]

I dont suppose that elves (in Tolkien books) can die of any disease, maybe with the exeption of some magical ones produced by evil powers. As in the books there were some plagues spread by Sauron to eradicate as many mortals (from his enemies tribes) as he could. Esp in Gondor and Arnor. Sauron never knew about the survival of Aragorn becouse after one of such plagues Arnorians spread rumors that Aragorn and his mother died of plague. And they were moved to Rivendell for safety. And of course elves can die from grief when an elf is too depressed to not longer wanting to live becouse of what was happened in such an elf life (this was shown in the movie when they talk about Arwen's death) but that was their right and choice. Then the Amazon elves are not like the book elves, becouse they can loose their immortality (but I cannot understand becouse of what ? ) and so I assume that they can also become sick of normal illness after their loose their immortality. When Arwen become mortal woman she probably could get sick in normal way too. So they should have healers I guess. In the book the greatest elven healer was Elrond. But I dont know if book elves can be sick of normal ilness. I assume that they should have got some healers becouse of so many wars and wounds, so when you have centuries to develop some craft its possible that their healers were not only specialists in wounds but also in any normal illness, and their contacts with mortals - their friendship and alliance - probably given them enough motivation for delving into the problems of healing regular illneses. Of course the book elves medicine did not have anything to do with Amazon ideas about artisans :D its ridiculous. And of course the main elven herb was athelas used by elves and by Numenorians and their descendants like Aragorn.

[@bim41337]

What I also absolutely don't buy is: How in the hell would Galadriel holding the hate for Sauron in her heart while being in Middle-earth keep Sauron alive? He's either there, or he's not. He doesn't magically know that someone's thinking about him and be stronger for it. It just sounds cool, I guess.

[@Popepaladin]

Perhaps it was meant figuratively. Galadriel keeping hatred in her heart would lead to her acting with hatred. So instead of literally keeping Sauron alive, she keeps the ideas and emotions Sauron stood for alive.

[@insanum666]

Compared to Galadriel, Sauron actually looks like a pretty decent guy

[@Edward-W]

Yet another fantastic piece of analysis. Can't wait for your final summary. As a Tolkien nerd it's been good to hear people criticize the elements of botched adaption and utter intentional disregard and antithetical handling of Tolkien's life's work and passion. On the other hand it has indeed been cathartic to see this piece of garbage being torched through objective writing critique alone.

[@baggieboo7944]

I was one of the lucky ones that got to see this one in full on your first upload. I loved your walkthrough of the two possible versions of Halbrands story. I saw a theory that Halbrand was a normal person telling the truth up untill we see the battle. He dies in the battle and then sauron poses has him from then on. I don't think the writers meant for this, but do you have any thoughts on if this theory would hold water from how the character is written? 😊

[@randomft]

That is possible given what we see however there is no reason to believe this. If they reveal this in season 2 then this would also mean that Halbrand in episodes 2-6 was just some guy, and he wasn’t enacting any particular evil plan.

[@baggieboo7944]

Is it instead possible that Halbrand was under the vail Feminem believed not-gandalf to be under. And that Halbrands "change of heart" was due to the vail lifting...? I'm really trying to give them the benefit of the doubt here 😅🙈

[@randomft]

@@baggieboo7944 I think there is way too much ambiguity around Gandalf, Sauron, the Veil and Feminem to say anything concrete about that whatsoever!

[@baggieboo7944]

Agree

[@christophersmith8316]

If Halbrand was a normal person his encounter on the ocean with Galadriel remains impossible. A demigod Halbrand might have arranged it but a normal one could never have. He wouldn't have access to a boat, as boats seem reserved for Numenorians and Elves.

[@phoeniqs]

Your videos have been an absolute joy to watch! Keep up the amazing work. I look forward to your autopsy when it's available!

[@andrzej_autko]

Great work dude, can't wait for the final autoopsy ;) this channel is very highly researched and gives logical breakdowns for each episode including comedic relief, You've got talent man!

[@WreathGhost]

Yess I was waiting for this. Your tear down is excellent as always.

[@colorays]

Love your commentary on this series. I've been waiting for this one to come out for the last few weeks. Great work and can't wait to see what comes next. 👍🏼

[@MrARock001]

I can't believe we never found out what was in Halbrand's little pouch. I hope the last king of the Southlands was kept alive somehow and will turn out to be one of the Nazgûl.

[@frederickthegreatpessimist2343]

Thank you for doing this! Really enjoyed all parts of your review!

[@Dragoonknight88]

I justed watched all your videos about this show, and it was far better than the show itself xD You did an great job and I´m looking forward to more of you.

[@Brokudo]

Stupendous use of Circus Galop! Loving your channel thus far. Thank you for the content and keep up the great work!

[@qcop4921]

Galadriel had a say in the making of the 3 elven rings LOL. Yeh did she aslo decide what's in the King's daily menu as well? She strong and independent woman in charge after all.

[@cy-one]

I mean, proper LOTR Galadriel, I see no issue with her having a say in the making of the rings, considering she's one of the oldest elves in Middle Earth, has founded cities (Eregion was founded by Galadriel and Celeborn), is elder to most other influential elves (she's Gil-galads... what, great-aunt?), et cetera. But this Amazon-Wish version of a Galadriel? Yeah, no.

[@Folker46590]

Still want to know where she was hiding that dagger before she tried to kill Halbrand. At no time do you see it on her or in her hands.🤔