The Rings of Power: The Great Wave of Cringe

[@TeleologicalConsistency]

The guy was complaining about "they took r jerbs!" when there was literally just one elf on their island and she wanted to leave. It's not only an insult to Tolkien's story it's an insult to basic human intelligence.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

you clearly dont understand whats going on. the commoners dont know any of that. pharazon is using xenophobia to gather support for his "the kings men" movement that will later play a role in saurons plans.

[@kronusx3484]

I am sure the writers thought they were smart when they wrote that. ''Look at that punch we are doing for woke reasons!'' Yeah....nope.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

@@kronusx3484 they were. it triggered the F out of white supremacists!

[@RobertWilkinsonJKekMaloy]

@@kronusx3484 nah, the writers were all “It made people tune in on South Park! We should try it!”

[@MarvinMonroe]

That's the terrible part about it. There's not even any internal logic Stupid internal logic is better than none at all Why would elves want to take their jobs anyways? Elves are magic and live in forests

[@Tsathogguah]

Numenor should be portrayed as absolutely mighty, with very strong intimidating people living there. They were the apex of Men in Middle-Earth, and as a nation were mightier than even Sauron at his peak. Walking in Numenor should be like walking in Olympus. Yet in this version they seem far weaker than the Gondor we saw in Jackson's LOTR. Such a wasted opportunity.

[@kultan2000]

They needed weak men so that an female elf weighing 110 pounds could overcome 5 of them with no trouble.

[@jesperburns]

Everything on the island reminds me of the early 2000 TV series Rome. Which had the same budget for the entire series as this has for one episode.

[@dextrane715]

@@jesperburns please dont compare HBOs Rome to this crap. That show was actually well written.

[@PoopaChallupa]

I watch this show and i don't see a real, believable world and characters. It all feels fake because you can see the writers efforts. You shouldn't be thinking about writers. You should be thinking about the world and characters. Instead, all i see are the writers on screen forcing me to think a certain thing.

[@davidsimon5088]

Peter Jackson's LOTR and House of the Dragon feel like a peek into real but fantastic worlds. This looks like a peek into a local renaissance fair.

[@SoldierSpiderx]

I’m actually not even mad, angry, frustrated, or sad. I’m tired. Just tired, at incompetent studios and writers bastardising established lore and and quite frankly, shallow shallow characters and world building depth. The only good thing to come of this show is yet another reminder that it was a f*cking Miracle that the original peter Jackson lord of the rings films were made at exactly the time it was.

[@viniciuscardoso8056]

Too

[@daryatislenko4651]

If you're tired you're not an elf😅

[@H-When]

Tired is what the darkness wants. I bid you STAND ! Men of the west !

[@maptonowhere3362]

It's not incompetence, it's deliberate. It's called ideological subversion.

[@johngeiger3770]

@@maptonowhere3362 won't be surprised at all if the woke mob flood the internet today with hashtags with great ideas such as *War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength* and my favorite *Incompetence is Excellence*

[@schwarzerritter5724]

The "They took our jobs!" scene is too subtle for me. Couldn't they have given the speaker a red hat?

[@anniebaker6763]

Make Numenor Great Again

[@GenerationX1984]

Agree. I didn't realize LOTR was set in a capitalist industrialized society where the low skill workers are worried about their jobs being taken. So dumb! I'll bet Amazon fired the one person who was brave enough to say, "This is the worst scene in the show and we should delete it!"

[@publiusventidiusbassus1232]

@@anniebaker6763 This but unironically

[@nelsongalan1417]

“Therr trrk ourr jrrbs” is a South Park classic. Not sure why it hasn’t been as popular in this context… /s

[@Tempusverum]

They are so incapable of separating their obsession with the God Emperor from fiction they can’t help themselves

[@michaelgaudette4015]

I know we're on episode 4, but I'm still stuck on episode 1 where Galadriel jumps into the open ocean with nobody in sight and without a game plan.

[@TallisKeeton]

while even in Valinor in the days of her youth she was respected by other lords for he wisdom :D :D :D

[@1176Lucius]

Better still is Sauron on a raft saving her, which of COURSE he would. Sauron on a raft.....seems legit

[@firestarter000001]

She had a plan, as we see, swim back to the shore. A bit far, but nothings to tough for such a strong woman as her.

[@yancieb]

They better not pull some shit out later in the show like "Saurons evil power swayed her to jump off the boat and start swimming back to land (kinda like the ring did to people) at which point Sauron happens upon them on a raft" WRITERS: Accident? I think not In my mind this would be one way to fix that bullshit action. This was the only fix my mind could come up with to not make the story more ridiculous than it is.

[@trashboat9448]

Reminds me of star wars when princess leia somehow came to life after getting vacuumed into space

[@loganbrinker6360]

I thought Disney breaking Star Wars lore was bad, I must applaud you Amazon. You have done far more than broke the lore, you have shattered it beyond repair. Congratulations Amazon, hats off to you.

[@Avarn388]

Logan Brinker That bad?! Jeez. I feel bad for Tolkien fans like yourself. I’m a casual fan of the Jackson films and the Hobbit but just looking at the trailers I knew this was going to be a stinker. And to think Amazon sunk a billion dollars into this. Good job Amazon. There’s so many other great series you could have greenlight with that kind of money.

[@bryangivens1981]

They haven't broken the lore, they've broken themselves.

[@TheMyrmo]

I didn't realize it was a COMPETITION, but... who really has SHIT the MOST MONEY in pursuit of trying to turn a known brand into a vehicle for woke politics?

[@blank557]

Oh, they CRUSHED it. Not in a good way.

[@davfree9732]

Rings of power is alt continuity at this point. Just like Bad Robot did with Trek. It’s deliberately 25% different in any way it can be so they can claim it’s their precious. Hence Guyladrial is a warrior who can beat up 5 guards instead of a matriarch who commands respect and bewitches people with her mere presence. Nobody… will ever mix up Amazon’s Guyladrial with PJ’s Galadrial. That’s brand distinction which in producer circles is important. It means no legal challenges, full merch rights, and a brand that expand to own more aspects of fantasy elves so that if they ever lose the rights, they can make challenge and try and get hold of other peoples merch rights.

[@mikkelnpetersen]

"Elf ships on our shores" There was no "elven ships" there was ONE elf, who got picked up from the water and she's DEFINITELY *NOT* going to work, much less take anyones job.

[@Brandelwyn]

This

[@unitor699industries]

the writers are pro trump

[@Puma5]

My impression was he tried to stoke their fears about what was possibly going to happen soon, now that this one elf landed on the island and was suffered to stay. I know, still a bad depiction of the politics there and a cheap way to build drama.

[@thecaptain29]

I'm still wondering why they didn't straight behead Guyladriel the first time she mouthed off to their queen... The whole show makes zero sense.

[@silverblade357]

Sauron be like, "Do I even need to tempt these people to evil? They're already getting there on their own stupidity!"

[@paulanderson2963]

"They took our jobs!" I can't, I just can't anymore. At least I can die laughing at utter stupidity that apparently is worth over a billion dollars.

[@WokeBegone]

I just loved the scene where bearded man gave a speech and the crowd started chanting "Socialism! Socialism!"

[@dusk6159]

Only the black people in the royalty characters get the disaster that'll come thanks to this bad people!

[@donmongoose]

I literally watch this show for the enjoyment of watching it all burn now. This season is irredeemable now and I can't imagine how they can save the next 4, if they even get paid, so now I just sit back and enjoy the laugh.

[@dusk6159]

@@donmongoose I love to not watch/hatewatch it though, just listening to Some Guy's analysis

[@donmongoose]

@@dusk6159 I get that, but for one, I do always say things should be watched if you truely want to understand the merits of something.

[@cabbage4891]

The scene where strong woman locks four guards in her cell is the most comical thing I've ever seen.

[@LUCIAN8016]

Yeah, they just walk inside like goose

[@12inchsoft]

She's a strong character! Just accept women being strong af

[@brettbeyer73]

I find it interesting that Amazon (a company that started off as an online book store) can't seem to translate literature into film. With both Wheel of Time and Tolkien, they act like they've never read a book!

[@darkhighwayman1757]

They only wanted a hint of the lore and the name. They dont care about any of the deeper lore. Its written by a stuffy and now dead white guy

[@LUCIAN8016]

Yeah...

[@danielvulaj1463]

Rings of power is not great, but wheel of time was the worst butchering I've ever seen on TV.

[@brettbeyer73]

@@danielvulaj1463 agreed.

[@tunebeat3809]

The executives at Amazon had pretty much gone mad with power.

[@rafaelgustavo7786]

This series is empty. And I'm not talking about bad acting, over-CGI photography, generic dialogue, or generic soundtrack. I'm talking about not having that epic aspect, that timeless mythology theme. They may say: "But there's not enough written material" And I say: "Yes, there is! They are in the myths and archetypes for the construction of characters, concepts, events". I thought Sauron would be a (pseudo) Promethean figure generating religious engineering in Middle-earth. I thought they were going to show Harad and Rhûn inspired (as Tolkien said in 1966) in Africa (Ethiopia + Saracens) and Asia (Middle East, China, Japan, etc) That Galadriel was going to develop into the Philosopher Queen archetype to ideologically oppose Annatar's ideas. That Númenor was going to be a discussion about death vs. human nature.

[@BFG_29]

You need to be talented to do that. Butchering a beloved lore and world is way easier.

[@ThaCouchpotato]

I thought it would be exactly what it is. Another bullet in the culture war

[@thelasttaarakian]

@@BFG_29 the sad thing is with Tolkien’s vast works you don’t even really need to be good, just somewhat competent who can copy / paste.

[@osets2117]

What you're describing is far too difficult for these so-called "professionals". It would take too much effort and Amazon isn't looking for effort, not when they're after what they thought would be an easy paycheck. They listened to Twitter thinking those people were the majority, well guess what Amazon those people with the supposed "thousands" of followers were nothing more than bots

[@pokeman5000]

You need to understand that this isn't incompetency. It's maliciously "reimaging" art, It's sacrificing years of free thinking to the dogma of what the ruling elite deem "progressive". On the whole its okay for art to have a message or even some propaganda elements inside to spark imagination, the issue is this isn't art. This is Jeff Bezo's, his bean counters, and yes men setting fire to the legacy of a man long dead.

[@emmersoncharles205]

Watching the reviews of this show has been far more entertaining than anything I'd get from the show itself.

[@01_N01]

Couldn't agree more.

[@WildZephyr]

Oh yeah, that's exactly how I feel about all of these dumpster fires. Burn baby burn.

[@locksand45]

I want to like the show but so far I only like Adar, and yea, watching the reviews is better than the show so far anyway

[@Esta-Beed]

I have stopped watching the show and instead watching it through the reviews which are more entertaining

[@WokeBegone]

I loved the scene where bearded man gave a speech, and the crowd applauded and chanted "Socialism! Socialism!"

[@boycottamazonlotr7023]

About horrible locations in ROP: In Fellowship we see Rivendell for maybe 20 minutes, yet we are still shown: 1. Wide shot of location 2.Frodo's room 3. The balcony 4. Elrond's library 5. Council place 6. Aragorn and Arwen on a bridge 7. Bilbo's room 8. The front yard with paths where the Fellowship leaves 9. The garden with the grave In Rings of Prime we are FOUR HOURS in and what we see of Eregion, the mightiest elven realm, where the rings will be forged and the war with Sauron will take place? We see a wide shot and a freakin' room. A room. In FOUR EPISODES. An entire realm full of cool shit and they chose to show us a room, which isn't even elven in style, just generic. In a tv show that would be an occasion to explore more in depth all the different locations, peoples, the cultures, to immerse ourselves in the world, with hour upon hours of time, yet we are shown a cgi generic shot from far away and a small room. SAME thing with Khazad-dum. They are always in some small room, even the king's trone is in a random place instead of a grand hall.

[@dlevi67]

That's because they haven't had enough time to build the sets. This is what happens when you try to compress 3000 years in 4 hours - you run out of time for all those little details (To be fair, I don't think that the meeting between Durin III and Durin IV - which incidentally Tolkien clearly says are taken by the Dwarves to be reincarnations of Durin I, and therefore should not be alive at the same time - happens in the throne room. It's a part of the private apartments of the king)

[@boycottamazonlotr7023]

@@dlevi67 agreed, if they had put out the Hafroots and maybe the southlands, they would have much more time to explore Eregion or even Lindon more. Regarding Khazad-dum, ok maybe you're right and those are private apartments, but I still feel that the location was not used to its full potential. Don't know why, but it feels small, too small for the greatest of all dwarven realms.

[@boycottamazonlotr7023]

@@dlevi67 but still, in PJ's movies they compressed the book a lot, shortened a lot of dialogue to make it fit in a reasonable screen time, and yet they made sure that the locations were an organic part of the events. For example, in Rivendell, when frodo is meeting all the hobbits, Gandalf and Elrond observe them from above, it is a little detail, but it completely changes the atmosphere (the music stops), and the dialogue gets a more serious and dark tone. With change of perspective there comes a change in mood. In ROP they could have done a similar thing, for example they move in a special room where Feanor's hammer is kept, in a glass protection, and the dialogue then shifts to a more mythologic tone (they talk about Feanor). Instead the hammer is in the same room, on a random table.

[@dlevi67]

@@boycottamazonlotr7023 Of course it is small. Think of the heating bill, with fuel prices where they are?!?

[@dlevi67]

@@boycottamazonlotr7023 Sorry - I was being sarcastic. It's yet another reason why RoP does not work well: lack of care for the details and an apparent inability to get the mood right, ever. The time compression in the LoTR movies is nothing, compared to what they are doing in RoP; other than Bilbo's goodbye party and a visit by Gandalf, the book's events happen in the course of 3 years. In RoP, we are witnessing events that are portrayed as simultaneous (the preparation of the forging of the Rings and the end of the reign of Tar-Palantir), whereas there are 1600 years in between. However, it's interesting how different people will interpret the same thing differently - I wasn't bothered by Feanor's hammer as such: he was Celebrimbor's grandfather, and his grandchild - who probably not only met Feanor, but was trained by him - has the object, now decorated and set on a support, not a working tool anymore. It is a link to a past that isn't as remote as Narsil is to Aragorn, not least because we are talking of Elven perceptions of time vs. Human ones. However, this is where (yet again) they f**k it up: nobody has explained who Celebrimbor or Feanor are to each other; it is just assumed people know "because it's lore", yet they feel free to change aspects of the lore that are at least as significant as the fact that Celebrimbor is Feanor's grandchild.

[@marianogabriel8139]

"The showrunners broke something they didn't need to break". That seems to be a pattern in this show.

[@TheD20Diaries]

I love that the numenor blacksmith talking about elves says “…and don’t age”. Then later in the episode we see celebrimbor aka an old grandpa looking elf.

[@kevinclarke8900]

Blacksmith: "...elf workers who don't age..." Celebrimbor: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@昭夫-o6y]

Celebrimbor out here looking like an elderly woman

[@josecanal7556]

@@昭夫-o6y Celebrimbor Is taking tea at the moment after the nap.

[@iancredible-]

So refreshing to see someone who can see what is obvious and call it out.

[@dusk6159]

And when it's all this money for "uur they took our jobs! So we in this protest are so bad and we need to repent badly!!"...

[@shadysorkin9214]

@@Olsenator Well they have the entire story written and george rr martin is a producer on the show, so thats why its good. This is just poor fan fiction.

[@FrancT-]

@@Olsenator what stuff in HOD do you find weird?

[@BerndThomasSchuller]

@@Olsenator House of the Dragon is excellent, well-written, well-acted, well-produced and above all, entertaining.

[@thomegatherion924]

@@FrancT- They're probably talking about the whole incest stuff. That shouldn't be surprising after GoT though.

[@daniell1483]

I'll never forgive Amazon for butchering LoTR lore.

[@shiiteposter1396]

🥇

[@realityshotgun]

You can just pretend it doesn't exist and enjoy the lore as it was

[@NovRen19]

Do not lose hope and rise above this madness...join us and declared Exsurge Tolkien counter rings of power heresy, which we are releasing in parallel....it will brighten ur Hobbit Day!

[@jonnygranville281]

@@realityshotgun yep. That's what I do. Just laugh, shake my head an move on. I tried to watch it and it was meh so I moved on

[@mojebi3804]

stop validating this it's cringe

[@kulman4295]

I think this criticism is largely unwarranted, back in 1929 my grandfather lost his job to an elf. He was later employed in the dwarf mines at a very low wage but that is how he could pay off the debt he had at the hobbit bank. It was a tough time, but it shaped him.

[@scoliosis9478]

harfoot bank***

[@Username_required]

Hahahahha😂

[@pajamawolfie]

Good thing he wasn't working for the harfoots or you would never have been born.

[@olivierm4088]

By the way, Galadriel is not 2000 years old here, she is more than 4000, as she was born long before the 1st age, then the 1st age was roughly 600 years long and, considering that we already have Miriel, Pharazon, Elendil and Isildur, we are around year 3300 of the 2nd age in the show. ;)

[@chrism3790]

And yet she acts like a petulant teenager all the time

[@MrCorpsy6]

We are at around 1000 in the Second Age. Elendil and os on are there because they needed it for some reasons. Again, they said that they don't have the rights to use all the writings of Tolkien. They added that they shrank 3000 years into a few decades at most. I don't why people are surprised by the lore and don't notice how shit the scenery, the CGI, the sound effects and the lightning are. Are you all retarded?

[@1176Lucius]

@thaz thaz Bet Cate Blanchett wants to bitch slap the lot

[@adamroach3407]

Given the generation she occupies in the family tree, she’s probably older than that. While it is heavily implied that she is young when the Noldor split, this is relative. She is no longer a child but in something approximating her twenty’s so at least a 1000 years old when Melkor murders her grandfather. Yet it’s also possible she’s even older than that. So it’s not unlikely that she is at least 2000 years old at the end of the First Age. Nearly 6000 at the end of the Second Age and nearly 10,000 when she returns to Valinor. She’s older by far than either Elrond or Gil Galad and honestly she’s older than Celebrimbor, who Tolkien noted had a crush on her when he was young. A crush that never really subsided but she was married before he was past his minority.

[@michaeltalpas]

Yeah, yeah, the elves want your little pieces of metal. That makes perfect sense. They create things of wonder and beauty, just so they can sell them to blacksmith's and merchant's daughters and dung carriers, just so they can get those beautiful, shiny little pieces of metal the humans call money. I'm sure the elves would definitely do something like that. The reason why the elves gave so many gifts is because they literally had nothing else to do with them. Literally crafting wonders to take men's breath away on a daily basis, and nothing to do with them. Just because they can. It's not like they have trouble finding food in the wild, or growing vast gardens filled with fabulous fruit.

[@queenberuthiel5469]

Unlike men, who need to eat daily to live, elves can survive years without eating. Just fascinating. Or atleast that's what Maedhros's captivity suggests.

[@michaeltalpas]

@@queenberuthiel5469 truth. Elves didn’t compete with men. There was no reason too.

[@theflyingkaramazovbrothers6]

It's stupid, it takes away from a spiritual theme and also diminishes a race of great humans that were seen by some as gods.

[@michaeltalpas]

@@theflyingkaramazovbrothers6 Absolutely. The elves were etherial, almost fae like creatures. I'm sure Tolkien took a lot of inspiration from legends of the Fair Folk in creating them. They were a parallel existence, separate from men, but also tied to them. The elves are the Firstborn, because men are the Second. The elves are immortal, and will pass into the uttermost West, while men will live out short, storied lives, and then sleep. It is worth noting that Tolkien did not view this immortality as a blessing, either. Death was the blessing of men. Elves were almost cursed with immortality, because it meant that sorrows would add up all through their lives. They were offered a place in Valinor as a place of rest, after the wearying lives they had lived. There's also a sense of duty in the elves. They have a duty to prepare Middle Earth for men, by helping to eliminate the evil of Sauron. Anyway, I could go on and and on.

[@olivierm4088]

Their vision of the Elves comes from popular video games, loosely inspired from generic fantasy, inherited from dungeons and dragons role playing games, remotely inspired from Tolkien. Add a hint of diversity and representation, and here we are!

[@richardnoble4566]

I had to laugh when i heard the jobs part. Elves whom suppose to be seen as a rarity and ethereal being with the gift of foresight and wisdom wants to take away Numenorian jobs. Lol

[@jamesupton4996]

Elves as economic migrants. Wtf!

[@Tempusverum]

Not to mention Elves are so few in number, they can’t really compete in GDP. It’s ludicrous

[@razatronidiotics9430]

Yep silly

[@varelion]

Jeff Bezos did to Tolkiens world what Morgoth did to Eru Ilúvatar's creation.

[@morendin12319]

Yes! Its insane how the showrunners dont see this, or maybe they do and the dont care. Jeff Bezos is our days Sauron, he treats his workers like orcs and want to take over the world.

[@masamune2984]

Unfortunately for Bezos, the name “Discord” was already taken, so he went with “Amazon”

[@varelion]

@@morendin12319 Yes, but Melkor/Morgoth was worse than Sauron. He was unsatisfied with the beautiful and harmonious creation. So he corrupted, perverted and destroyed it since he had no sense for creating new beautiful things. You could compare Bezos also to Saruman who took over control in the Shire and turned the once jolly idyll into a profit-orientated, cold-hearted production site. Bezos really manages to combine the worst of all three great villains in Tolkien's world. Maybe that's what Tolkien warned us against.

[@buuu4100]

@@masamune2984 oof good one.

[@Rabbithole8]

@@varelion Tolkien hated Disney and put his foot down with that company adapting his work. It is not a leap to imagine he would also feel the same about Amazon.

[@LivingAnachronism]

I remember a moment in the Return of the King Cartoon by Rankin/Bass; Frodo envisions a world where Sauron is destroyed, and the orcs, simply travel around, going peacefully about their business, one of them turns to him and smiles and waves. Now this is obviously a vision, and one portrayed more childishly because of the medium, but the sentiment has always stayed with me. And that idea of redemption is inkeeping with Tolkien's vision. HOWEVER. The solution is not to humanize all of the orcs like RoP is doing. It opens up too big of a can of worms. The idea of redemption either needs to be seen through the eyes of one of the good characters, a vision of what they MIGHT become without the influence of evil, like in Rankin/Bass. Or you can make one or two of the orcs do something good, out of character, like helping some prisoners escape, but then that orc needs to die, to show the possibility of good does exist in them, but it's so rare, and so poorly received by the other orcs that turning them would be impossible. But to humanize them, to say "they are misunderstood", creates a huge problem, in that the audience will sympathize with evil. And that should definitely not happen in Tolkien.

[@trentbardy2271]

Cringe of Power is fast shaping up to be one of the best comedies of the year.

[@plumeria66]

Haha. Cringe of Power. Love it. I stopped watching after fast forwarding the third episode. Just couldn’t handle it anymore.

[@tsogobauggi8721]

There is not really anything funny about it.

[@sidnew2739]

@@tsogobauggi8721 Oh yes, it's very funny!

[@Brainfryde]

I am just amazed the costume designer got this job. The seamstress work looks like it was done by drunken blind kids. It all looks like someone raided a Halloween custom shop and made do with what they found in the Greco-Roman section.

[@thelegendaryklobb2879]

Don't even get me started on the arms and armor. It's pathetic. A billion dollar pathetic.

[@jonasdauerbrenner6432]

just look at the orcs.

[@thelegendaryklobb2879]

@@TGuard00014 Perhaps, perhaps not. What matters is the end result. But I agree, ultimately the responsibles are the directors who gave the green signal to this or rejected good advices and better ideas

[@livelaughluvdisc]

it's so damn distracting. all the money amazon has and they couldn't just call in colleen atwood?

[@yourenotmarywelcome8693]

The costumes plus the odd styling choices. Anyone else notice how Ar-Pharazon looks just like Karl Marx?

[@madaxe606]

Those complaining about fans griping about the race-swapping of characters are missing the point - it's not that the race-swapping is a problem - its an indication that the showrunners don't respect the source material, which shows up on all sorts of other ways. Crappy writing, goofy concepts, weapons-grade cringe, etc etc...

[@iguran6035]

No, no, by the logic of those who race swap or approve of it adding whites to none white stories is wrong as its racist, but rasicm is a 2 way street so race swapping is a problem via the standards of those who do it.

[@ConernicusRex]

You’ve been tricked by Amazon into thinking that’s happening in any sort of widespread way.

[@Bakeddru]

A diverse cast usually indicates that they prioritised that over the story, and gives them an excuse when the show flops.

[@st.dennie1149]

It certainly is a problem, I don't want black characters supplanting my white mythos.

[@madaxe606]

@@ConernicusRex Regardless of whether that's accurate or not, it doesn't change the mischaracterization of why people are ticked off about the changes, and what they portend.

[@reebasrants2636]

I rolled my eyes so hard during that one part with the guy shouting in the square. I'm not even political and I was like, "this is Middle-Earth. Why is this here?"

[@GermanOlle]

To show that the Numenoreans are racists. Perhaps it could have been done better by simply showing the Numenorean colonies and the not-so-great relationship (tributes, slavery) to the "lower people" aka natives.

[@completelyferrouschemist6776]

Because the writers are eunuchs and the only way they can fuck with people is through politics.

[@patrickburns4821]

DAY TOOK HOUR JEEEEERRRBB!

[@thecaptain29]

Perhaps it's time to start getting political, before these cultural vandals destroy everything good about the West.

[@msmaria5039]

Exactly.

[@lepoolofdeathgaming567]

"They took our jobs" - the island that hasn't seen an elf so that everyone stares and whispers when Guyladriel shows up

[@eliwoodnguyen1505]

The way he despise Karen Galadriel by calling her "strong woman" instead of her name is hilarious

[@LUCIAN8016]

KarenSueGoGuyGaladriel

[@eliwoodnguyen1505]

@thaz thaz dont go too far

[@LUCIAN8016]

@@eliwoodnguyen1505 Leftist go to far

[@1176Lucius]

GUYladriel by Nerdrotic is the best one lol

[@redmoon9650]

@thaz thaz asshole and man definitely belong in the same sentence though

[@justinstoll4955]

This was the episode that I've completely lost all hope. First, I'm a casual Tolkien fan and am no loremaster, and I know why Numenor didn't like elves. Second, I know the more than one palantiri were brought to Middle-Earth by the nine Numenorian ships. Third, I know Numenor went to scare the shit out of Sauron not to protect the Southlands. Lastly, just an observational question: why does Numenor not have a standing army of superhero like men? Pharazon asks for soldiers and a bunch of schluby dudes timidly raise their hands. What the hell is this show going for, I simply don't know.

[@WokeBegone]

Why despair? I just loved the scene where bearded man gave a speech, and the crowd started chanting "Socialism! Socialism!"

[@durrangodsgrief6503]

@@samgoff5289 one numenorean should be near equal to an elf 5 should be over kill but its strong woman

[@groomerkiller3947]

So much "orange man bad" vibes from this show

[@garysmith3037]

@@samgoff5289 , probably like her elite Elf squad, they would be there just to be cannon fodder so Strong Woman can do everything herself.

[@jordanpickthall0619]

@@samgoff5289 Doesn’t matter. As long as she looks badass. Little girls need strong role models hurr durr.

[@darthlaurel]

The writers admired Tolkien's ability to use his imagination and that he MADE MONEY. That's really the only thing they admire.

[@Thorngral]

Envied*

[@darthlaurel]

@@Thorngral Yes, thank you. I stand corrected.

[@MMM75928]

The writers are ok. Amazon has money as the priority

[@LuisAlbright]

Celebrimbor is the son of a son of Feanor and Feanor was a contemporary of Galadriel. In other words Galadriel was of an age to be (at least) a grandmother to Celembrimor. However in the show he looks like a creepy uncle to Galadriel. Who the frak cast this disaster?

[@Dr._Atom]

Feanor is Galadriel's uncle, so Celebrimbor should be her nephew

[@radagast7200]

Have they shown Cirdan yet?

[@celebnorz3noldoli]

Cebrimbor was a grandson to Feanor

[@LuisAlbright]

@@celebnorz3noldoli indeed, so he should be considerably younger than Galadriel

[@LuisAlbright]

@@Dr._Atom Feanor was the son of Finwe. Galadriel was indeed his niece but through a different marriage. So Galadriel was a distant cousin to Feanor’s sons, including Curufin who was the father of Celebrimbor. Gil-Galad was the son of Fingon who was also her cousin. In both cases she was the eldest of both Celebrimbor and Gil-Galad.

[@joejackson3091]

"I don't always try to keep a mithril find secret, but when I do, I give some to the people I hope don't find out about it."

[@bundlewade]

Minute 8:52 I happen to think that Adar looks really cool. He is clearly an elf in the process of corruption; he looks to me more like an Elf than most of the show’s elves.

[@CLBOO6]

That’s how they want to portray the elves in this show, a force of corruption and rot instead a force of stability, eternity, and steadfastness

[@Jojothegodofrandom]

honestly he looks fucking baller and everything he says is tense and immersive Though the writing for him is shaky the actor is pulling good weight

[@michaeltalpas]

"There is a tempest in me!" All the cringe. There's not enough cringe.

[@Legendary_Detective-Wobbuffet]

"for I ate fast food."

[@shadyrebob5999]

That line was ridiculous, especially in that moment. F#@$% terrible dialogue in this show. Ear cancer.

[@RoseBaggins]

Ok, yeah, a tempest ... I would rather watch a trio of tornadoes play with a cow like a tennis ball.

[@michaeltalpas]

@@Legendary_Detective-Wobbuffet Must have been all that Taco Bell.

[@Legendary_Detective-Wobbuffet]

@@michaeltalpas obviously you've never shoved Wendy's down your throat at 2am on your way to work. The eye of Jupiter would be scared of that tempest.

[@pachacutti1012]

I'm was actually really glad to see that they showed an elf having the eagle eyes they are described to have in the lore, but then I remembered they forgot it when the watchtower elves had no idea about the trenches. the inconsistency is honestly what kills this show

[@goobfilmcast4239]

just wait...I am sure that in later episodes, despite being able to be chained or locked behind bars, these same elves will hurl huge rocks, jump down hundreds of feet or swim across an Ocean....oh wait......

[@pachacutti1012]

@@goobfilmcast4239 lol very true, I don't quite remember Tolkien saying "and the elves could also Michael Phelps their way across 2000 miles of ocean because strong woman powers."

[@BigSeanH]

@@pachacutti1012 and punch through ice walls and throw around 4 or 5 Numenorean prison guards like they're children

[@jamie_d0g978]

The only supernatural physical ability the elves had is agility and finesse. I don't remember the never tire, superstrong stuff was written anywhere. Maybe I'm wrong tho

[@SanoyNimbus]

Not to mention the clumsy elves from the watchtower that was in the Tower when our hero left it and was captured, but then also where captives before him? Elves that have been looking over the realm for centuries, soldiers ... but not being able to handel a spear against a worg? Or being able to just skip aside ... if they just would have half of the agility the hero elf have they could have killed the worg really easy. Our hero could kill an orc with a small stick from the tree after flying in the air three meters ...

[@isrisentoday]

"They're taking our jobs" - the Orcs, referring to Rings Of Power writers.

[@mig1017]

Just finished watching Dune. Whilst I'm not a Dune fan, I noticed the quality of acting on display, especially after having watched episodes of the RoP. Really is night and day between the 2.

[@pacodelaselva]

Dune was amazing

[@TurinTurambar98]

I love Dune - the books and the movie. There were a few differences made but you can definitely tell that the movie was made by a fan of Frank Herbert.

[@hypothalapotamus5293]

Dune: A pretty faithful adaptation of a science fiction story where they are so afraid of computers that they try to replace them with drugs and eugenics wherever possible. ROP: A really bad fanfic with the weight of amazon behind it.

[@wisp6826]

Dune is such a great movie. You can tell people didn't try to make any Meta commentery and they just wanted to make a movie about Hebert's work.

[@lovely1762]

"She assassin creed her ass up the white pole"- LMAO. Best quote ever. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@thevisionary5699]

Oh my God. That line about taking their jobs was ACTUALLY delivered that poorly... I thought it was a meme/Fan dub....

[@draad3112]

Aside from the lore being wrong on why numenorians hate the elves, it's extra funny that it took ONE SINGLE elf for this speech. ONE ELF = ELVEN SHIPS ON OUR SHORES! (it wasn't even an elven ship that brought Karen to numenor)

[@itsflauschig721]

True, but nowadays populist rhetoric is quite the same. Blow up some non existing facts. People don‘t care about the truth.

[@danielcarrilho5217]

@@itsflauschig721 yeah yeah there aren't millions of rapefugees ocupying europe or anything

[@CorePathway]

There you go again, thinking instead of just mindlessly consuming content.

[@rrsafety]

@@itsflauschig721 “nowadays populists” references have no role in Tolkien story telling. That is precisely the problem.

[@mongoose621]

Whenever Galadriel is on screen, it's like watching a tampon advert

[@etiennedevignolles7538]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@mongoose621]

@@etiennedevignolles7538 "I have a Tempest inside me!! 🏄‍♀️🧘‍♀️💃🧖‍♀️🤸‍♀️

[@Akiraspin]

"they terk r jerbs" My brother in Eru Illuvatar, there is exactly one elf on Numenor and she wants to leave as soon as possible.

[@vikingcathq]

That cut from angry Guyladriel to jailed Guyladriel when you said 'and lands her dumb ass in prison' ended me. xD

[@saliuarts]

what i understand from this show is they expect the viewers to shut off their brains while watching the show and that sadly seems to work for most of the people who praise the show

[@cherryfireice8216]

Yes, that's what I do except when I actually wince because the writing is SO BAD. It's like a 12 year old on a sugar high wrote this. Things happen because.

[@WokeBegone]

But I just loved the scene where bearded man gave a speech, and the crowd started chanting "Socialism! Socialism!"

[@Woodlandhornet]

By Gimli's beard Amazon is sure doing a good job making me appreciate Peter Jackson's work and the old animated films more and more

[@masamune2984]

People keep asking “Who is this show for?” It’s mind-boggling. We ALL know who this show is for. And it’s not fans, or people who actually enjoy respectful, intelligent fantasy entertainment.

[@dusk6159]

Identity politics muppets who make everything a battlefield and a chance to be outraged

[@greasybumpkin1661]

Who is it for though? The coma ward?

[@marcoaureliorodriguesdevas135]

@@greasybumpkin1661 Normies and woke zombies are the target.

[@TallisKeeton]

for ppl without logic in their brains ? :)

[@josie_the_valkyrie]

@@greasybumpkin1661 the self-righteous zealots on Twitter and Reddit, for sure that's who it's for.

[@JanKowalski-rd7yb]

Aw, guys, how can you not love this show? It's so great! I even grew to like Jar Jar Bi..., uh, Guyladriel. I can't wait for next Amazon's "adaptation". Probably it's going to be "Hairy Twatter and the Gobbler of Sausage" or smth But seriously, I see a very easy way to fix the whole show - all they need to do, is add a prerecorded laughter track to every episode, et voila!

[@k.m.sparks1190]

Still be disrespectful as all can be, but at least it would be potentially watchable as a comedy

[@mizu7662]

Nah, here is the real easy fix. Pretend it never happened and remake it from scratch with writers who are actual Tolkien fans instead of hacks who want to add 'their stamp' to the show.

[@thorna100]

my biggest issue with the show is a lack of consequences for main characters. I think about the scene where the elf is running with the boy from the orcs and how much more powerful it could have been if the boy was killed by an arrow and the elf has to struggle to get him out of there in desperation and then returns to the buys mother with him in his arms. It would have had an emotional weight to it and created an interesting dynamic to the elf and the mothers relationship. Instead it feels more like late season game of thrones just trying to get to an end point.

[@tommymurphy6753]

The Palantiri cannot in any description, show the future. The are essentially looking glasses that allow users to communicate over vast distances. There is a passage in ROTK that suggests they can see the past in some way, as Gandalf wished to "look across the wide passages of sea and time, to view Tirion and perceive the unimaginable mind of Feanor while the Two Trees were in flower"

[@RoseBaggins]

And only powerful beings like Gandalf and Galadriel could really do that, majority of the time it was just a seeing stone.

[@iguran6035]

Im sure they can be used to see the future as sauron uses visions of a possible future to demoralise Deanathor before the siege on gondor?

[@austinherrington7049]

@@iguran6035 You are correct, to my knowledge.

[@wavetactics13]

@@iguran6035 I always thought that was the result of Sauron obscuring Denethor's vision through the stone, so that all he could see would lead him to believe Sauron's victory was inevitable. A "true but not the whole truth" kinda situation.

[@iguran6035]

@@wavetactics13 I think its meant to be both and neither, using Denathors fears to show a potential future which is not set in stone but also not telling a falsehood but the most likely outcome from a pessimistic perspective? Regardless the fact we can speculate like this and it adds to the world of middle earth, rather than takes away shows just how great an author Tolkin was and how much rings of prime pale in comparison.

[@PoeticProse7]

When Galadriel held up that dagger and claimed her place as the Kwisatz Haderach I was completely blown away!

[@darkhighwayman1757]

long live the fighters...

[@bernhardtsen74]

@@darkhighwayman1757 They should spice it up!

[@robertbryant8243]

My favorite moment was when she hung up the phone, walked out of the booth, and started to fly.

[@PoeticProse7]

@@robertbryant8243 She is starting to believe that she is the one.

[@PoeticProse7]

@@bernhardtsen74 Drugs might actually improve the dialogue!

[@jaxkommish]

I like how JSG modestly says "I'm no Tolkien expert" while I recall his Elvish quotes have been nearly perfect on many occasions :)

[@ImaginaryCyborg]

He did say in older videos that he read the books every year for 20 years. I mean, if that doesn't make you a Tolkien specialist, nothing does. You must have great love for a piece of literature, to read them for such a long time.

[@annalisam9999]

@@ImaginaryCyborg yet the writers read them probably yesterday ans feel entitled to change it to adapt to modern times aka "strong wahmen and black people exist" So glad there's so much backlash.

[@jaxkommish]

@@ImaginaryCyborg Its such a wonderful contrast with his humility and love of the material vs the showrunners, writers, and actors who approach the thing with open contempt and arrogance

[@michaelwills1926]

@@ImaginaryCyborg many people do that, read the book once a year over many years and decades. The writers on the Jax trilogy were like that and they knew it so well they were able to deconstruct and reorganize the narrative for cinema, which is no small task.

[@wolftal1178]

This show gets worse and worse!?! keep fighting! All of us are doing our own part, I actually set up a group called Tolkien purists on Facebook, and last week in under five days I went from 200 to 300 members, that’s how much the public is turning, keep it going.

[@chrislaws4785]

Dude, I absolutely LOVE your videos. You tell it how it is, people's feelings be damned. Everytime I watch one of your videos I can't help but be laughing and smiling the entire time. I mean the nicknames ALONE are freaken GOLD. Discount Aragorn, Queen Doritos, Strong Woman, Ive not watched the show but if I do I don't even care what their real names are anymore, I will forever refer to them by these names.....LMAO. I couldn't have done better myself.

[@MisteRRYouTuby]

Fans: Disney Ruined Star Wars!!! Amazon: Hold my Silmaril…

[@Vexarax]

I was so confused by the commoner's speech because Galadriel wasn't even trying to get a job, she was trying to leave Numenor! HALBRAND was trying to get a job, then stole from random dudes and beat the crap out of them when they got mad even though they were already walking away. So the dude making the speech (who Halbrand stole from and beat up) should be mad at Halbrand, not Galadriel. She just wanted to leave the darned island lol Also elves clearly age in Rings of Power universe so I don't know what the commoner is on about when he says elven workers that don't age and don't tire. They do tire as well, as Galadriel's lady follower fell over in the snow and couldn't get up again in ep 1. Edited to clarify what I mean as some seem to have misunderstood my original meaning :)

[@mr.dragoncrypto4138]

Elves don't age after reaching adulthood.

[@garreonlefay6703]

@@mr.dragoncrypto4138 Tell that to Celebrimbor. The guy has more wrinkles than a Turkey's face. It is true that once they reach adulthood the elves stop aging and retain perfect physical condition...that includes the signs of aging like wrinkles and marked expression lines. However Celebrimbor exhibits this, so due to a bad casting choice one could infer that in ROP Elves can, in fact, age but not die.

[@Vexarax]

@@mr.dragoncrypto4138 yes of course they don't age in the books, but they have a visibly old man acting as Celebrimbor in RoP which means that in RoP universe elves definitely age.

[@rudista10]

They do age, as we could see with Círdan, he was looking old and had a beard, but he was the oldest elf currently in Middle Earth

[@mr.dragoncrypto4138]

@@garreonlefay6703 Are the books based on the show or vice-versa? RoP is an expensive, knockoff, horrible show based off internationally beloved books. The only thing I need to infer is that money can't replace talent, and movie executives don't understand we want the story we love, a true cinematic retelling of our favorite books. Star Wars is a perfect example of shitty writing, bad direction, executive meddling, character murder, and a bloated budget.

[@objectivelyacat3873]

But guys you've got to wait until Season 3 for it to get good. You can't expect it to be good right off the bat like the actual Lord of the Rings.

[@michaelmcgee2026]

I hope this is sarcasm

[@rayvg7709]

@@michaelmcgee2026 the "But guys" opening gives me /s vibes

[@osets2117]

@@michaelmcgee2026 yes they're being sarcastic. Though you can never be too careful

[@objectivelyacat3873]

@@michaelmcgee2026 It is. I'm grateful that House of the Dragon is coming out right now because it's so good right off the bat. Looking to future developments to salvage a fundamentally broken product is naiveté at its finest.

[@arthurballs9632]

Die hard TNG fans all seem to say S1 is not only the worst but is so by a long way

[@Alijamaru]

I don't even know how do they plan to run this for 5 seasons.

[@jennyjustjenny7634]

I was at the book store last week and saw someone buy the LotR books with the Amazon covers. I was sad and happy at the same time. He probably bought them cause he likes the show but on the other hand he is now someone who reads the best story ever told. Hopefully he realizes how far away from the lore Amazon is.

[@lobo8834]

They did the same thing with the witcher books.

[@ravegandalf64]

@@lobo8834 “now a major netflix show”

[@Jojothegodofrandom]

Kinda hard to not know about and end up watching the lotr trilogy though

[@jennyjustjenny7634]

@@lobo8834 The new German edition of the books is great! We always have removable stickers. 🙏 Wheel of Time is also great in the new edition, but theres a little sentence at it saying that it's now a show on prime. It's not in the front so.. 🤷‍♀️ But I've seen the new US edition and there's a non removable sticker.

[@kortov7756]

An obvious contradiction would be Galadriel's cell door opening outwards when they were letting her out to escort her off the island, and then suddenly seconds later inverting to now opening inwards in order to allow the "cool" Galadriel single motion shoving the four guards inside the cell.

[@Ackalan]

I think there are actually five guards, but one is off screen or hidden almost all the time, or the editing is garbage.

[@supravlieg]

I really want to give this show a chance but even as a generic fantasy it is failing me. This Galadriel is just so abrasive.

[@goobfilmcast4239]

a bee a bee a bee-otch !!

[@Johan-oe7eh]

This is so relatable! I really went into it with an open mind but the show is just not so good. I give it a 5/10 and even that is quite generous tbh.

[@FMK03]

@@Johan-oe7eh It deserves a 0/10.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

sure, pal. thats why youre following a notorious bigot who has been bashing this series since the first trailer dropped

[@danielschoch4881]

There are orcs who have more wisdom than this Galadriel.

[@Hurricanelive]

You said it, "any fantasy show!" It could be named anything else and be its own thing and be fine, it could even become something good. They are bastardizing and injecting real world politics to create division, to vandalize Tolkien's legacy on the pinball machine with their taint. I agree with those saying it's simply flat out entertaining watching critiques rather then interest in the show itself, and that said critiques make one appreciate correct Tolkien lore to another level.

[@WokeBegone]

But I just loved the scene where bearded man gave a speech, and the crowd started chanting "Socialism! Socialism!"

[@michaelwills1926]

This show has me binging the Jax trilogy again so there is at least one redeeming quality. One ☝🏼

[@Sakisasvictorianmask]

Even if it didn't have the name of LoTR tacked on, it would still have to stand against GoT (or HotD now) and Wheel of Time and literally tons of other shows, which are still better on prettc much all fronts.

[@RisenGlorfindel]

Ridiculous. The Numenorians were the greatest civilization of mankind and they are described as being very akin to elves in height and appearance. They were so mighty that they were able to sail to Middle Earth kick Sauron’s ass and bring him back as a prisoner. Some of them became haughty and filled with anger against the elves and the Vala because of the lies told to them by Sauron. None of this had to do with unemployment issues. Fuck off Amazon

[@Whitegalacticdog]

The part about Tolkien having a functioning brain made me laugh out loud 😂 Too true

[@bodaciouschad]

They were comparing elves to automation. Wait- do they actually imagine robots as boxes full of tiny elves that make canned goods and textiles?

[@whiteknightcat]

I heard they make damn good cookies.

[@yourenotmarywelcome8693]

@@whiteknightcat - The E.L fudge cookies are pretty damn tasty.

[@caracalcaracal5567]

"Skyrim belongs to the Nords!" - Tolkien

[@kimberlyoldschool]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought most of the ageless, graceful “elves” in this series could seriously use some Botox, filler, maybe some other tweaks. 😂 I don’t know how you work elven decorative flourishes into an RV or a golf cart, but I assume we’re going to find out.

[@garreonlefay6703]

Put Celebrimbor first in the list

[@dlevi67]

@@garreonlefay6703 Celebilbo?

[@kevissimo]

Honestly, you have probably the most articulate deconstructions of this show out there. This has been a painful journey to watch for all your reasons cited. Keep up the great work.

[@sonmi2246]

Next on The Rings of Power: Ar Pharazon puts forth an infrastructure bill outlining plans to build a wall around Númenor; and he's gonna make the Elves build it!!

[@DLAbaoaqu]

I'm going down to Arda Gonna have myself a time Friendly faces everywhere Humble folks without temptation I'm going down to Arda Gonna leave my woes behind Ample parking day or night People spouting "Howdy neighbor!" Heading on up to Arda Gonna see if I can't unwind Mmn-mmn-mmnmnn-mnnmnn Mmn-mmn-mmn mm-mm-mmnmnn! So come on down to Arda And meet some friends of mine

[@TillionTirrion]

The “they will steal our jobs” bit landed heavily on myself as well, how tired and unneeded just for the reasons you aptly lay out about the envy of the Númenóreans’ towards the Elves’ immortality et al. I have watched the first four solely due to it being based on Tolkien’s, albeit loosely at best, work and may not be able to endure much more sadly.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

part of that "theyll take your jobs" is based on envy of their immortality. he outright states that they never tire or age in that very scene, doofus. the commoners are clearly envious of the elves immortality and how that could impact their futures on the island if the ban on elves is lifted

[@TallisKeeton]

@@hydroxyzine1136 They never age and becouse of that you got Celebrimbor :D what a logic in this TV show :D

[@TallisKeeton]

@@hydroxyzine1136 that was poorly mixed. the motivation for Numenor's fall was envy of immortality of elves which was based on their own fear of death developed in them by Sauron, that was all the reason they need to show how the Numenorians failed. To add another, invented and trivial problem (unemployment) as motivation of biggest problem in the storyline of Numenor - their fear of death - was just poor, stupid writing.

[@hydroxyzine1136]

@@TallisKeeton its hardly "trivial" if your livelihoods are at stake due to elven immortality. hispanic immigrants are not even immortal, and the MAGAs are still afraid they'll take their JERBS! the showrunners cant just copy the silmarillion either. they have to alter the motivation somewhat, and they did a good job here, combining what we know that scares the ignorant folk in our world with the immortality of the elves. rather clever. dont confuse you getting triggered with "stupid writing". the show is beautifully written which is why most of you have resorted to lame nitpicking to confirm the biases you have had about the show ever since you saw the first black elf in the trailer.

[@TallisKeeton]

@@hydroxyzine1136 its trivial for adaptation of Tolkiens books. they dont alter it, they make it hilariously trivial and shallow. they got all they need - envy for immortality becouse of fear of death and fear of death developed by listening to Sauron. how much more universal you can make it from it ? by adding fear of unemployment ? :D

[@Vjakfu]

Oh my god... THEY TOOK MY JOB

[@SubjectDelta20]

It's not possible for me to hear "They took our jobs" and not think of South Park.

[@smelisi]

By the way, has anyone figured out why those guys with the moose antlers were even there in episode 1?

[@Jojothegodofrandom]

Could have made me feel more immersed if they had a purpose but I honestly forgot about them More or less I'd say was filler

[@dragon_slayer2026]

I think part of the problem is modern viewing habits: people are paying less attention, so movies and shows can get away with less. While the show's on, a lot of viewers are also on their phones, and if 5min out of every 25min actually catches their attention they might think it's "pretty good" because the other 80% of mediocrity (if I'm being generous) is being filled in by whatever's interesting on their phone. The people who actually pay close attention dislike it and switch off. I personally have a friend who seems to like pretty much everything he watches (i.e. She-Hulk, The Eternals, Disney's live-action remakes, and more) for that very reason. If I were to ask him to describe the plot, he'd not really be able to give me any kind of detailed breakdown, but if it can grip him for 5min, he likes it.

[@donmongoose]

I agree. There's a reason why tiktok is so popular and why Amazon, who no doubt have obscene amounts of data on peoples viewing habits, write scripts assuming people are morons with no attention span, its because sadly thats increasingly the case. I find it painful watching a good show I genuinely enjoy with other people in the room because they talk shite over it then have to ask what the hells going on 2 seconds later. If its a good show, pay it some bloody attention. Ask questions at the end and also accept the fact that in a good show, not everything it spelled out, or has an answer at that point in the narrative. Having said that, I get some level of comfort in the fact that even those people are saying this show is boring.

[@nsfeliz7825]

mobile phones are killing off quality viewing. spot on .i agree. people watch million dollr movies on 5 inch screens for 30 minutes then go on to the next shiny objects like monkeys.

[@Sakisasvictorianmask]

I get your point, but the fact this show is likely not a success while House of the Dragon is,shows that viewers STILL want good plot, dialogue and build-up, doesn't it?

[@dieechteelke4725]

@@nsfeliz7825 like games

[@kenny5355]

Galadrial is nearly 3500 years old in this show, so the discount Aragorn schooling her scene is all the more bad lmao

[@goodputin4324]

4000 plus

[@harbl99]

"The wave crashes upon her with the full weight of the cringe of this show..." Now THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is how you simile.

[@rockencook]

Galadriel stuffing 5 guards in jail and climbing the tower had all the drama of the Duke boys escaping from Roscoe's jail.

[@cruddddddddddddddd]

Your ROP reviews are the best thing you've done in a while - you've got a lot to contribute to this subject and it's nice to hear. I agree with you about the in-world fantasy idioms these bad shows like to use. It's often very cheesy. ASOIAF has one I really like: "The others take him/her" or "The others take his eyes." It makes sense, bc we know about the others, they are demon-like, mythical characters that are introduced right from the get-to in the prologue to the first book. And it sounds really cool. Tolkien often used real-world idioms, when he used them at all, and I think it worked really well. I think it's fine when things that exist/are said in the real world also exist/are said in second-world fantasy stories. I mean, Gandalf even says there is the game of golf in Middle-earth. No need to try so hard. It's definitely not as creative as the writers think.

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

You cant have nomad farmers because whats to stop your crops being stolen while you are off? A bosun on a ship would never let five good men go because one of them screwed up. You have to work hard to get sailors. This shows me it was written by people who lead priviledged lives without ever havinbg had a normal real person job. Cheers m8

[@Steven9567]

or eaten by wild animals not mention you have to take care of plants you are growing disease can wipe crops if not stop got make sure they are waterd

[@toomanymarys7355]

Even in brutal ages you KIDNAP random people to be sailors and then beat people when they don't work hard enough. Lol.

[@andrewkoester8169]

Most nomadic cultures did have a rudimentary agriculture where they would kill off unwanted plants and help the good plants. Then migrate around based on what was in season. They wouldn't just wander aimlessly, but instead return to places because the strawberries were ripening. Not all those who wander are lost.

[@Safersephiroth777]

The South Park Clip about they took our jobs is perfect for this scene! But I didn't knew they stole it from Tolkien himself!

[@gamingchinchilla7323]

The fall of Numinor as being seen as a vision in a dream and through the Palantir was a nice touch imo. But I fail to make sense of how its going to happen through the "story" weaving of this show. Numinor does get destroyed like Atlantis in Tolkien's lore, but its because the then king of Numinor put too much trust in Sauron who instructed him to send a fleet of his best ships to the Lands of the West to steal a supposed power of immortality from them. The gods did not like this so they crushed the ships with the power of the sea and pulled a full on Atlantean collapse on the isles of Numinor scattering the survivors into the greater lands of Middle Earth. So in the show here, does the Queen Bee fall to the trusts of Sauron or something? edit: thanks for covering this later in the video.

[@dusk6159]

This time we got to destroy the lore and everything about a plausible Tolkien context, so the black queen will throw wise words at the racist Numenoreans people (they're racist because.... the white color of their skin) that will be the ones making the island fall.

[@darkhighwayman1757]

Eru himself changed the world after that because of the willful pride of Numenor...When the Valar have to go to their boss to deal with it, its bad

[@Raptor302]

"Swear to me that you won't tell anyone about the Mithril." "I swear." "Good. You can keep a free sample." Wait. WHAT???

[@horacehorse254]

Ever seen “Apocalypse Now”? One of my favorite scenes is when Marlon Brando had Martin Sheen captive. Brando ask Sheen where he is from. Sheen says “Ohio”. Brando asked how far did he live from The River (the Ohio river). Brando goes on about a place on the river that ended on a meadow of flower blossoms. Rings tried to copy that scene with the corrupted elf talking to his captive.

[@admontblanc]

Hahaha, really? What a bunch of unimaginative hacks.

[@laureate90]

Amazon’s ‘The Rings of Power’ is TV for people with 90% of their attention on their phone. The writing is baffling. And no, not in the way a good thriller or detective drama can have you scratching your head. No, it’s the incongruity of the show’s amateurishness, weighed against its reportedly record-holding budget that leaves me perplexed. That is, until you consider who Amazon has likely intended this for. Four episodes in, I can only assume this is a show for the chronically phone-addicted, the ‘have it on in the background with dinner’ types; in short, those who aren’t going to pay attention long enough to realise the dialogue, while metrically pretty, is as thin as Galadriel’s water-logged dress, as she sets off front-crawling across the Atlantic. At first, such lines as ‘a rock sinks because it looks down, while boats look up’, and this week’s zinger ‘there is no secret worth hiding with deception’, had me wondering if Jeff Bezos’s children were hired to write them. Scenes where intrepid groups of elves butchered snow trolls, for the apparent crime of existing in their natural habitat, forced me to ask ‘could we not have had something resembling a… point, to all this?’ It finally hit me however, that Amazon’s new flagship fantasy series doesn’t need to try harder than that, since all you need to convince an intended audience of compulsive social-media scrollers, is the occasional, context-less clash of swords, some wirework, and an overenthusiastic blare of brass from composer ‘Bear McCreary’, to draw the eye from handheld screen to wall-mounted, just long enough to elicit a muttered ‘huh, that’s cool I guess…’ Not a show for me overall then. And that’s fine. Prime’s free trial has seen me through these first few episodes none the poorer (monetarily, if a little lacking in brain cells). At day’s end, PJ’s films are still masterpieces, and also available on NOW TV or HBO Max. I just hope Amazon don’t regret driving all their could-have-been fans onto a rival streaming platform. But hey, that’s the billion-dollar risk they took.

[@Laarye]

Instead of saying "Inspired By" or "Based On" at the very beginning, it should just say "Rings of Power: A Lord of the Rings Fan-fiction"

[@daleannharsh8295]

....complete with Mary Sue (or two, or three...)

[@andrewbyrne2173]

Please don't call this fan fiction. That implies it was written by fans.

[@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343]

All I want to do when I watch this show is just scream “STAY THIS MADNESS!”

[@queazy03]

I'm so proud of the fans for not accepting this drivel

[@lancemillward1912]

The friction between him and his friends is for a purpose. To make the reunion of the friends in battle against the orcs seem harder won.

[@Laarye]

Looking at a few other comments, I just realized how I would have done this show... We start like the animated Return of the King. We pan across the vista and then follow a shot through the streets of Gondor while we hear lute or mandolin music. After seeing the beautiful city and tower, we close in on the top near the white tree, and sitting there playing is The Minstrel of Gondor. He looks up at the camera and greets us, the viewer, then starts talking about some of the events of the movies, then goes, "But you probably already know those tales. Let me tell you of some others..." Then music plays as he starts the setup to a story and the camera travels off into the distance and the start of the story. Then we get an hour of a fantasy adventure/something, ending with The Minstrel walking back in playing and concluding the episode. Then the next episode, we start with The Minstrel, "Oh, you're back? I guess you liked my tale... Well, how about another one...?" Repeat. We would use the world as a setting, but almost all the characters would be made up for the show. Maybe have a couple elf cameos as the episode's main characters get to certain points in the world. But other than that, we don't interfere with the established lore. Maybe one episode has the characters travel through Moria before the fall, and you get to see the greatness it was. Maybe have them leaving Rivendell at the start or end it with them arriving. Maybe start an episode talking about a key event and we see a hint, but then we get, "But this tale isn't about that. OUR tale takes place at this time far from that event..." I just thought this shit up. Does that sound better than what we got? If so, I'll gladly take a billion dollars and make it for you guys.

[@rgerber]

surely better. I also don't care for the intro with those visuals. Instead they should just show typical LOTR artwork style images with a black border on the lower third bottom where they blend in the shows actors/names in the typical LOTR font. Simple, gives you something for your imagination, like reading a book.

[@shadyrebob5999]

They could've taken stories from the appendices and created seasons containing 1 small part of the larger story that culminates in the Last Alliance. You already have immortal characters that span the entire timeline of Middle Earth. It might have been epic. But no, we get this ridiculous CW nonsense. I hope Sauron wins....

[@goobfilmcast4239]

Lets 'ship Galahad-drivel and Sauron...so the fans aren't the only ones getting fu@ked ...but nope...its just a wet fart on already soiled sheets

[@darkhighwayman1757]

The channel Tolkien untangled did up an interesting how he would have done the show with the rights he thinks they have. Interesting watch...How 'The Rings of Power' Should Have Been Written | On Adapting the Second Age - Seasons 1 & 2

[@DreamingDarlin]

@@darkhighwayman1757 Will have to check that out, thanks for the recommendation.

[@self-parternerd8661]

- This stuff is so bad that I cannot believe nobody on set, as millions of dollars were thrown around, realized what was going on... - I mean... by this point it's clear that nothing's going on, characters aren't established, plot lines aren't established, dialogues are boring exposition dump and it should've been relatively easy to say: "Let's stop this and take a break", firing the writers and bringing someone with actual experience to course correct.

[@happyhammer1]

They are in an ideological echo chamber that is so detached from the average person they make absolute crap like the RoP and think that it will be a hit.

[@shadyrebob5999]

What would have to happen for everyone in charge of this show to get axed?? I just see Amazon doubling down and pushing out more crap.

[@happyhammer1]

@@shadyrebob5999 I don't know, but recently Netflix and CNN have both restructured to move away from overtly "woke" nonsense.

[@shadyrebob5999]

@@happyhammer1 that is true about those companies. I suppose it's like any product in that it's tough to be successful when 3pct of your customers represent the market. I can't wait for this woke stuff to go away.

[@3djooboy]

Bless you JSG for these , it must break you in some way to watch this, so bless you!

[@rio20d]

The lore is altered so much in Amazon RoP, to the point that the structure and the flow of the story cannot be recognized as what Tolkien wrote and intended. That scene alone where Tar Miriel met with Guyladriel in the palantir room doesn't even happen in the books. Guyladriel never met her and never been to Numenor, only Sauron did as Annatar. Two characters in different timeline. Also the line where Tar Miriel said to Guyladriel that the elf is the reason why she got the vision of Numenor's destruction/downfall is just a made up story created by the Amazon showrunners. The reason why Numenor got destroyed and sunk under the ocean is, because Annatar ( Sauron in disguised) has poisoned Ar Pharazon's mind ( in the books he was the ruling king not Tar Miriel, after usurping the throne by force marrying his cousin Tar Miriel who was the rightful heir for the throne and Annatar was his advisor at that time). Annatar (Sauron) told him that Numenorean should go and invade the blessed realm of Aman ( Valinor) , which is the home of the Valar, to take immortality and this act alone, has angered the Valar and in return punished Numenorean by sinking the very island that was brought up from the sea by Ulmo (one of the Valar) as a gift to the Edain for their part in the war against Morgoth.

[@Tetrumo]

Tolkien kept shouting "No!", but he was buried six feet under, and Amazon was deaf to the pleas of a man who actually cared about his work.

[@shiiteposter1396]

[The OG Tolkien fans have my sympathies! This is the parading of the corpse and throwing💩💩upon the skin and claiming it's correcting the story thru diversity! Smh🤦🏻‍♂️🥃]

[@harbl99]

This show is mere birdsh!t on Tolkien's grave. Fortunately the next rain will wash it away as if it never was.

[@TallisKeeton]

thank you :) As I m Tolkien fan for 28 years now its realy painful to watch as IMO the show got so much potential with all that money and film technology. And the texts about 2d age got so much potential for briliant charachter development and for interesting dramatic storyline and for realy "high fantasy" about such estethic ideas and moral values as Tolkien intended to be presented - via those eloquent and noble book charachters - in a film adaptation of his books. He wrote much about how such adaptations should be done in his letters. And so IMO the mix of all that money and technology with Tolkien's heroes and stories should be able to mop the floor with PJ movies :)

[@LordOz3]

You glossed over Action Galadriel's "fight" with the guards, where they conveniently opened the cell (after the closed it behind her) and two of them jump into the cell while she's doing Elf-fu on a third. The stuntmen almost fall over each other trying to cram into the cell - which by the way has a door that pulls open, not push.

[@jmace2424]

I think the blacksmith must have elves confused with the machines taking the jobs of Amazon factory workers.

[@RetroKid]

Listening to you shows me that the writers and showrunners of the show have only heard about Lord of the rings but haven't bothered reading the books or probably even watching the movies one once. Good video