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TV The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | ST | Pre-release discussion, trailers, etc

JazzPotatoes

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Given that more and more marketing material is now coming out for the show, I thought it would be handy to have a dedicated ST for any and all discusson on the upcoming Rings of Power show, along with Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth discussion in general.

Trailers already released for the show:

Title Sequence



First Teaser Trailer



Over the last few days, Amazon have also released a second teaser:



A full trailer has also been leaked, but I will not be linking it here as Amazon are currently C&Ding any links to it.
 
In addition to the above trailers, a collection of character posters were released a while ago that can be found here:


And more recently, a number of promotional images were released:

Rings-of-Power-Orcs-Image-4.jpg


Rings-of-Power-Orcs-Image-1.jpg


the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power.jpg


Rings-of-Power-Empire-images-3-600x337.jpg


Apparently a full trailer is planned for release (separate to the leaked teaser) around SDCC, where the show has a panel set up.

To save some people some searches, The Rings of Power series debuts September 2, 2022.
 
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I'm watching this day 1 no matter what. I can't not dive into Tolkien. ❤️
 
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I'm watching it as I'm really into the idea of a series covering the Second Age, rather than some of the other post-Trilogy ideas that have been thrown around (ie- a Young Aragorn series).

I also think the production values and design look insane. The leaked trailer includes footage of Khazad-Dum as well as certain events from the First Age, and it's amazing to me that TV shows can look like this now.

Given that they're going to have to make up a lot of stuff themselves due to Tolkien's relative lack of concrete writing for the Second Age, I'm hoping the new material is up to scratch. The showrunners all seem very enthusiastic, and I'm optimistic, but I hope there's talent behind the enthusiasm.
 
To save some people some searches, The Rings of Power series debuts September 2, 2022.
 
Can't wait. I will probably do a re-watch of the trilogy EE some time in August. I was going to wait until after I re-read the books, but my lazy butt will probably never get around to doing that.
 
I like the look of the Orcs, it tells me that they are getting the "mood" right at least.

Really looking to see how they handle Sauron and the war of the last alliance which i believe the whole season will be building up to.
 
I like the look of the Orcs, it tells me that they are getting the "mood" right at least.

Really looking to see how they handle Sauron and the war of the last alliance which i believe the whole season will be building up to.
I mean, if they do this, they've no Second Age material for seasons 2 through 5 (running the show for 5 seasons has been thrown around).

I don't know if book stuff should be in spoilers, so I'll spoiler tag the rest of my post.

They could just cover the last major event of the Second Age - the War of the Last Alliance - but that'd miss out the other major events which could easily have seasonal arcs, or even multi-season arcs (the creation of the rings, the war between Sauron and the Elves, Sauron and Numenor, the Akallabeth, then the War of the Last Alliance). Footage so far, as well as the casting, indicates that's not what they're doing; but I worry they're going to try and condense all the significant events of the Second Age into the span of a few years which, for me, is a point of concern.

The major events of the Second Age take place literally centuries apart, which was always going to be a challenge for an expensive show aiming for a large audience. The rings are forged roughly 1600 years into the Second Age, at the Elven Kingdom of Eregion, which borders Khazad-dum and is just west of Lothlorien. Sauron, re-emerged after centuries of hiding following the defeat of Morgoth during the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age, assumes a fair form and fools the Elves at Eregion into working with him to create the rings (Gil-Galad and Elrond in Lindon, on the west coast of Middle-Earth, refuse his advances, as does Galadriel in Lothlorien). When the Elves realise Sauron plans to enslave the ring-bearers, it's too late - Sauron invades and destroys Eregion, recovering the Seven and the Nine, while the Three remain hidden from him. Celebrimbor, creator of the rings, is slain, and general war breaks out between the Elves and Sauron as Gil-Galad rallies the Elves of Lindon to fight against him; Elrond is forced to retreat to the valley that becomes Imladris/Rivendell, and the situation for the Elves looks grim - until Numenor intervenes and helps the Elves win this first war. That whole plotline could easily be fleshed out - Numenorean politics (tensions between the Elf-friends and the people who envy the immortal races), the Elves and Dwarves forging an alliance, tensions between the Elven leaders over Sauron and his intentions; climaxing in the actual war and Sauron's first, temporary defeat. Sauron's defeat at the hands of Numenor is key here - he fears and despises Numenor (hence his fear and hatred of Aragorn thousands of years later), and resolves to bring about its downfall; but he knows he is no match for Numenor in a direct confrontation.

The next major events pick up like 1500 years later. By this point, vast changes have taken place in Numenor's society - no longer peaceful explorers and friends of the Elves, they are now conquerors, having established what are effectively colonial outposts in Middle-Earth, waging wars or persecuting the 'primitive' men they find there. Numenorean rulers and nobles become more and more frightened of their impending death, clinging on to their lifespan instead of departing 'gracefully'; a key idea here is that, in earlier ages, Numenoreans lived for a couple of centuries, but aged gracefully, and died willingly while still in good health. The nobles who cling to life become increasingly unwell, physically and mentally, and this manifests as an envy of the Elves, and an increasing suspicion of the Valar, the immortal powers that have informed the men of Numenor to never sail to the Undying Lands. This shift in Numenor's society would be impossible to depict in full on screen; you can't show all of those many centuries, but the passage of that length of time is really significant: it's that passage of time, and how it's experienced, that drives divisions between Elves and Men, and it's that difference which allows Sauron to act as he does. Elves remember Sauron's evil and betrayal directly; for Men, Sauron's actions have become remote history, generations back. Between fear of death and pride in their own strength, Men underestimate Sauron and force him to return to Numenor as prisoner. Sauron's presence corrupts Numenor over years, before he convinces the ailing king to attempt to invade Valinor. Naturally, attacking the powers that be is a terrible idea, and Numenor is destroyed.

Personally I'd hoped you'd get a couple of seasons in the earlier era of the Second Age showing the creation of the rings and the war for them; then the showrunners could be brave, and jump forward to the later era. The Elven cast would be the same (Galadriel, Elrond, Gil-Galad are present throughout all the major happenings in the Second Age); the mortal cast would naturally need to be different, but we'd see a later, evolved version of the Numenor we were introduced to as viewers in the earlier seasons. The final season (or two) would jump forward one last time, by a century, when the War of the Last Alliance happens (yes, that's right - there's a century between the end of Numenor and then the end of the Second Age).

TLDR:
My personal hope was that they'd treat each of these major events as the basis for a season or two of material; begin with Sauron's appearance, the events that lead to the creation of the rings and the war for them; then move forward to Numenor's gradual downfall; then finish the show by focusing on the events that comprise the War of the Last Alliance. The key swing of the Second Age is that of the friendship of Elves and Men waxing and waning; Numenor is founded as a refuge and reward for the Men who fought the hopeless war against Morgoth alongside the Elves; at one point, Numenor is the key ally against Sauron for the Elves; then the two peoples gradually diverge, as later generations of Men become both prouder and more afraid (therefore easier to corrupt), distant from the Elves, even turning on the Valar at Sauron's behest; the remnants of Numenor found Gondor and Arnor and the Last Alliance.

I guess my fear is that, with a radically condensed version of these events - with them happening within a few years or even a few decades - you kind of miss the point here. Men change, forget, and fear death; Elves remember, linger, and preserve. That fundamental difference between the two peoples creates powerful alliances but also leads to a great distance between the two races that Sauron exploits.

I've seen enough from the cast list to know that what we're getting has radically reworked the timeline of events. While I understand why the showrunners have done that, I am a little concerned about what that means, and I'm a bit concerned because I wanted them to be braver and to embrace the grand sweep of the Second Age and really try and capture that difference between mortal and immortal. But I won't go into specifics on casting etc because I know people avoid that information to avoid spoilers sometimes.

I really ramble above. My parents phoned when I was mid lore splurge.
 
Apologies, was busy looking at steam trains yesterday, so didn't have time to post my thoughts along with the new trailer.

My actual thoughts: This is way more comprehensive than the leaked trailer, and the production values look absolutely insane.

Khazad-Dum looks perfect. Real strong John Howe vibes, I'm guessing that's one of the things he helped visualize for the show, but it looks exactly as it should. Subterranean, vast, but mythical and beautiful. And it looks as though the discovery of Mythril in the mines is going to be a big plot point for the Dwarves, which is great. The films hardly explained at all just how amazing and valuable Mithril is as a resource.

There's also some major hinting of First Age stuff here. Way more than I think anyone ever thought:

The Oath of Feanor
The Kinslaying
The Trees of Valinor
Beren and Finrod imprisoned by Sauron

Most of the above isn't confirmed (except the Trees of Valinor, because what else could they be?) but there's way too much stuff in the trailer that matches up to think this is just going to be stuff in the Second Age based on the Appendices and Unfinished Tales. Looks as though we're going to be getting some major flashbacks, which is exciting.

Also, that was totally Shore's Rivendell theme at the start. They keep hinting that he's involved, but have yet to confirm it. I hope they don't leave it right up to the series premier to confirm one way or the other: If he's involved, then get it out there. He's one of the major reasons the films were as good as they were in the first place.
 
I mean, if they do this, they've no Second Age material for seasons 2 through 5 (running the show for 5 seasons has been thrown around).

I don't know if book stuff should be in spoilers, so I'll spoiler tag the rest of my post.

They could just cover the last major event of the Second Age - the War of the Last Alliance - but that'd miss out the other major events which could easily have seasonal arcs, or even multi-season arcs (the creation of the rings, the war between Sauron and the Elves, Sauron and Numenor, the Akallabeth, then the War of the Last Alliance). Footage so far, as well as the casting, indicates that's not what they're doing; but I worry they're going to try and condense all the significant events of the Second Age into the span of a few years which, for me, is a point of concern.

The major events of the Second Age take place literally centuries apart, which was always going to be a challenge for an expensive show aiming for a large audience. The rings are forged roughly 1600 years into the Second Age, at the Elven Kingdom of Eregion, which borders Khazad-dum and is just west of Lothlorien. Sauron, re-emerged after centuries of hiding following the defeat of Morgoth during the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age, assumes a fair form and fools the Elves at Eregion into working with him to create the rings (Gil-Galad and Elrond in Lindon, on the west coast of Middle-Earth, refuse his advances, as does Galadriel in Lothlorien). When the Elves realise Sauron plans to enslave the ring-bearers, it's too late - Sauron invades and destroys Eregion, recovering the Seven and the Nine, while the Three remain hidden from him. Celebrimbor, creator of the rings, is slain, and general war breaks out between the Elves and Sauron as Gil-Galad rallies the Elves of Lindon to fight against him; Elrond is forced to retreat to the valley that becomes Imladris/Rivendell, and the situation for the Elves looks grim - until Numenor intervenes and helps the Elves win this first war. That whole plotline could easily be fleshed out - Numenorean politics (tensions between the Elf-friends and the people who envy the immortal races), the Elves and Dwarves forging an alliance, tensions between the Elven leaders over Sauron and his intentions; climaxing in the actual war and Sauron's first, temporary defeat. Sauron's defeat at the hands of Numenor is key here - he fears and despises Numenor (hence his fear and hatred of Aragorn thousands of years later), and resolves to bring about its downfall; but he knows he is no match for Numenor in a direct confrontation.

The next major events pick up like 1500 years later. By this point, vast changes have taken place in Numenor's society - no longer peaceful explorers and friends of the Elves, they are now conquerors, having established what are effectively colonial outposts in Middle-Earth, waging wars or persecuting the 'primitive' men they find there. Numenorean rulers and nobles become more and more frightened of their impending death, clinging on to their lifespan instead of departing 'gracefully'; a key idea here is that, in earlier ages, Numenoreans lived for a couple of centuries, but aged gracefully, and died willingly while still in good health. The nobles who cling to life become increasingly unwell, physically and mentally, and this manifests as an envy of the Elves, and an increasing suspicion of the Valar, the immortal powers that have informed the men of Numenor to never sail to the Undying Lands. This shift in Numenor's society would be impossible to depict in full on screen; you can't show all of those many centuries, but the passage of that length of time is really significant: it's that passage of time, and how it's experienced, that drives divisions between Elves and Men, and it's that difference which allows Sauron to act as he does. Elves remember Sauron's evil and betrayal directly; for Men, Sauron's actions have become remote history, generations back. Between fear of death and pride in their own strength, Men underestimate Sauron and force him to return to Numenor as prisoner. Sauron's presence corrupts Numenor over years, before he convinces the ailing king to attempt to invade Valinor. Naturally, attacking the powers that be is a terrible idea, and Numenor is destroyed.

Personally I'd hoped you'd get a couple of seasons in the earlier era of the Second Age showing the creation of the rings and the war for them; then the showrunners could be brave, and jump forward to the later era. The Elven cast would be the same (Galadriel, Elrond, Gil-Galad are present throughout all the major happenings in the Second Age); the mortal cast would naturally need to be different, but we'd see a later, evolved version of the Numenor we were introduced to as viewers in the earlier seasons. The final season (or two) would jump forward one last time, by a century, when the War of the Last Alliance happens (yes, that's right - there's a century between the end of Numenor and then the end of the Second Age).

TLDR:
My personal hope was that they'd treat each of these major events as the basis for a season or two of material; begin with Sauron's appearance, the events that lead to the creation of the rings and the war for them; then move forward to Numenor's gradual downfall; then finish the show by focusing on the events that comprise the War of the Last Alliance. The key swing of the Second Age is that of the friendship of Elves and Men waxing and waning; Numenor is founded as a refuge and reward for the Men who fought the hopeless war against Morgoth alongside the Elves; at one point, Numenor is the key ally against Sauron for the Elves; then the two peoples gradually diverge, as later generations of Men become both prouder and more afraid (therefore easier to corrupt), distant from the Elves, even turning on the Valar at Sauron's behest; the remnants of Numenor found Gondor and Arnor and the Last Alliance.

I guess my fear is that, with a radically condensed version of these events - with them happening within a few years or even a few decades - you kind of miss the point here. Men change, forget, and fear death; Elves remember, linger, and preserve. That fundamental difference between the two peoples creates powerful alliances but also leads to a great distance between the two races that Sauron exploits.

I've seen enough from the cast list to know that what we're getting has radically reworked the timeline of events. While I understand why the showrunners have done that, I am a little concerned about what that means, and I'm a bit concerned because I wanted them to be braver and to embrace the grand sweep of the Second Age and really try and capture that difference between mortal and immortal. But I won't go into specifics on casting etc because I know people avoid that information to avoid spoilers sometimes.

I really ramble above. My parents phoned when I was mid lore splurge.



I didn't know that they are planning 5 seasons, the last time i heard from the showrunners is that the season will focus in 1 big event, so my mind immediately jumped to Sauron and the Last Alliance ('Rings of Power").

But yeah, it makes sense, my only worry is that, as you may know by your beautiful lore ramble , the events of the second age are not really well connected in narrative and has many gaps in detail, understandable but it opens the door to the showrunners to try and create an efficient narrative for these events to take place (assuming one big event is chosen per season, never mind if the seasons jump thousands of years in its narrative to take place), but this is also a pretty big challenge, because the show needs to appeal not only to Tolkien's fans but also to the "general public"

If the show drops me right in the middle of the fall of Numenor I will be right at home, but people who has no knowledge of the second age will be like "WTF"(even if they are fans of the movie trilogy)

Anyway, thanks to your "5 season" comment I’m even MORE exited, this show is starting to be a dream come true for me, hopefully the quality is good.
 
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I'm pretty sure the showrunners have confirmed they've got five seasons planned. That's pretty of the reason Amazon has set aside such a stonking amount of money for the show.

Season 1 will likely be some sort of Gathering Evil plot, where things are set up for later seasons rather then trying to rush through to the big climactic events of the second age.
 
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Yeah, I wasn't saying that they'd rush through the Second Age in a season; my point was more that the characters cast for season 1 points to them massively condensing the timeline of events. I get why they're doing that, but I wish they'd taken a different approach.
 
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Also agreed we'll likely get multiple flashbacks to the First Age. That's one way the show can demonstrate the Elves' immortality (their memory and trauma of those earlier events), as well as get in some more violence and battle scenes. I expect we'll see some of the major events of that Age, especially ones which feature Galadriel's relatives. Showing the audience what terrible things have already happened to Elves is more effective than telling; it'll need to be clear why evil/Sauron is a threat (beyond him obviously being the villain in the Third Age). Showing that First Age stuff would also give people a more rounded and complex view of Elves than we get in the films.
 
Personally I think it would have been interesting if they'd done a split/parallel timeline storyline, as per True Detective S1 or Dunkirk, to cover the storylines of both the Elves and Men.

You could have the "current" storyline being

Sauron's corruption of Numenor, Isildur and Elendil forming the Last Alliance with Gil-Galad et all, while having a parallel storyline showing Annatar, the forging of the Rings, the corruption of the Nazgul throughout the Second Age.

That kind of storytelling can be difficult though. Westworld got pretty wanky with it. And if they're serious about a five season arc, then trying to write a five series interconnected storyline with two parallel timelines could get logistically difficult.

Still, the time compression could make or break the show. Hopefully everything has enough space that it doesn't feel like events happen all of a sudden in the space of a few short years.
 
Still, the time compression could make or break the show. Hopefully everything has enough space that it doesn't feel like events happen all of a sudden in the space of a few short years.
This is pretty much my major concern. It's not really true to the work for all of that stuff to happen within a few years; that being said, the fact that dwarves and Numenoreans live for a couple of centuries gives them wiggle room to still do time skips that seem significant to the general viewer, even if they're far shorter than the span of time that passes in the texts. Plus, there'll presumably be a number of other changes to try and make it all work.

I watched Station Eleven the other weekend (read the book 2 or 3 years ago) and thoroughly enjoyed that; seeing more shows take risks with the chronology of the storyline would be good. At the very least, it's going to be interesting to see how they handle those First Age flashbacks, and how important they feel to the present narrative.
 
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Howard Shore Returns & Bear McCreary Scores Amazon’s ‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power

As San Diego Comic-Con gets underway, the fan boy crowd can revel in Amazon Studios confirming what Deadline told you a long time ago: Howard Shore, 3-time Oscar winner for his work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, has returned to compose the original main title theme for its blockbuster $465 million series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. At the same time, Emmy-winner Bear McCreary has composed the full episodic series score.
On mobile ATM, but links to two pieces of music from the show have been released: Sauron and Galadriel. Will share here and give my thoughts as soon as I can


EDIT

For Amazon Music users:


General thoughts: Very promising stuff indeed. It sounds like Bear has had plenty of time to cook up some interesting musical themes, and even if there's nothing as instantly iconic as Shore's best work, it at least promises very good things for the overall score.

1) Galadriel: A really beautiful theme with a strong melodic throughline that allows the piece to grow and become more majestic as it progresses. The stirring crescendo actually reminds me a bit of Joe Hisashi (but with added drums in the background) which is an unexpected but delightful comparison. Beautiful choral work. Just lovely.

2) Sauron: Hoo boy! This track definitely nails the evil dark lord vibes. Interesting use of time signature (there's a strong 7/4 pulse throughout) and tonality. Just a tad reminiscent of Holst, which is no bad thing. Not as good as the Galadriel theme, but it still absolutely nails the brief.
 
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I'm disappointed that there are no strong leitmotifs in there. Makes them sound a bit generic.
 
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Comic-Con Trailer:



I'm trying to hunt leaked Morgoth screens but no luck so far.
 
I'm getting more excited about this now. Really hope it turns out well. Ooph.

Galadriel putting the helmet on the pile is presumably the aftermath of the Battle of Sudden Flame, where two of her brothers die. I wonder if they do also show the deaths of the other two brothers - one during Beren's Quest (involving Sauron) and the other at the Fall of Nargothrond.

We genuinely could see numerous major events from the First Age. Intrigued as to how much they show, and whether they only show things relating to Galadriel's family. how they show it will be interesting, too; handling flashbacks like this could be tricky.
 
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Morgoth, Ungoliant, (I assume) Gothmog. I´m so happy and excited , possibly more excited i´ve ever been for a new TV show, ever.
 
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Saw some stills from the trailer and yes,
we will definitely see Finrod's death, his body is marked by Sauron and viewed by Galadriel, the same mark we see in other parts of the trailer.

I'm guessing the shot of Galadriel covered in ash comes from the first kinslaying; presumably she chooses to avoid war after that, regrets not fighting during the First Age, chooses to fight in the Second Age because of the loss of her family. Showrunners can really exploit Finrod's death at the hands/claws of Sauron to give Galadriel the "this time it's personal" motivation. Those First Age flashbacks must be spread out throughout the season to help flesh out her character and drive her arc.

Also gonna guess that the icy ruins explored by Galadriel and Co are Utumno, Morgoth's original fortress in the North of the world. It'd be a nice name drop for fans, and a good way of keeping connections between First and Second ages strong. Relatedly, looks like the Cult of Melkor are active in Numenor from season 1; again, it'll help general viewers tie all these threads together if we get multiple flashbacks throughout the season in addition to the Two Trees prologue.
 
Since the new show is coming out, I wanted to re-watch all of the films again. I started with the Hobbit trilogy. Outside of the first film I haven't seen any of them since their theatrical release. I was hoping to see the trilogy in a better light, but it is hard to find much to be excited about.

  • The first film has a good start, but waivers as it goes on. The Shire scenes are very good and the cave troll scene was decent, but the rest of the film doesn't hold up.
  • CGI is way too inconsistent throughout and a joke when compared to how the LOTR trilogy was created.
  • The Gollum scene was great. Andy Serkis always steals the show.
  • Benedict Cumberbatch was excellent as Smaug. Easily the highlight of the trilogy.
  • The new characters (mainly Alfrid and Azog) were pointless additions to the story.
  • Legolas did not belong IMO. He wasn't in the book. At least Viggo Mortison had the decency to say no to returning.
  • The Battle of the Five Armies could have been epic, but it was way too drawn out and didn't click. Seriously, 13 drawfs are going to turn the tide?
  • Again, Alfrid really sucked as a character.
  • The Sauron stuff should have been completely thrown out. It basically implied that the four most powerful beings in Middle Earth discovered that Sauron returned, left it to Sarumon, and then tabled the discussion for 50~60 years without checking in.
IMO there, could have been a good Hobbit film series in there. Make it a two film event. First film goes from the beginning to when the company escapes the Woodland Elves. Second film has Laketown briefly, Smaug, and the Battle of the Five Armies. Cut out the silly filler and you can make two films of about three-hours each.

Sometime this month, I will be watching the LOTR EE. It has been roughly eight year for me so I am very excited to get back into the world properly.
 
IMO there, could have been a good Hobbit film series in there. Make it a two film event. First film goes from the beginning to when the company escapes the Woodland Elves. Second film has Laketown briefly, Smaug, and the Battle of the Five Armies. Cut out the silly filler and you can make two films of about three-hours each.
I would've loved to see Del Toro's original 2-film vision, but.. bleh. Too bad studio crap killed that.

I heard that... I think Topher Grace, was it? Did his own cut of the Hobbit trilogy that cut out all the filler and non-book material, turning it into one LOTR EE length film with an intermission. The people who saw it say it's the way it should have been done, it's that much of an improvement

Sometime this month, I will be watching the LOTR EE. It has been roughly eight year for me so I am very excited to get back into the world properly.
I did a rewatch last year (or maybe the year before? sometime during the bulk of the pandemic 😅) and it holds up so damn well. Absolute achievement.
 
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I hope they give Sauron a love interest in this, otherwise I don't think I'll be able to relate to him like at all. Also I need to re-attempt to read the Silmarrilion again so I can proper nerd out about this.
 
I hope they give Sauron a love interest in this, otherwise I don't think I'll be able to relate to him like at all. Also I need to re-attempt to read the Silmarrilion again so I can proper nerd out about this.

I don´t think you are supposed to relate to Sauron, like , at all.
 
We will find out that Sauron once loved Arwen and they had a thing.

Nothing could go wrong....
 
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I don´t think you are supposed to relate to Sauron, like , at all.
Pretty sure they're making fun of the tendency for modern shows/movies to shoehorn romantic relationships in places where they aren't necessary.

You know, like in The Hobbit.
 
Pretty sure they're making fun of the tendency for modern shows/movies to shoehorn romantic relationships in places where they aren't necessary.

You know, like in The Hobbit.

Ha got it, a Batman/Batgirl The Killing Joke situation. Well as long as nobody sits Sauron for 9 seasons as he listens lame stories about how Melkor meet his mother and wacky adventures with his Balrog womanizer friend it will be fine.
 
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Sorry for the slow updates.

New media has been appearing as we get closer to the premier:

Clip from the show with Galadriel




Promos showing various characters:

 
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As an addendum: Youtube has become utterly unuseable for me now whenever I search for any new Rings of Power media.

I know not everyone will be sold on the show, and criticism as well as optimism should be accomodated, but my search results now are dominated by clickbait chasing content creators using terms like "Amazon SLAMMED by Tolkien fans", raging about "woke" elves and dwarves, and generally monetizing viewers by generating hate and outrage.

Nerds being angry and hating their favourite series is nothing new, but this current wave of outrage merchants dooming everything before it's even come out because that's how they get the algorithm to send viewers their way is just exhausting and depressing.

The show might be good. It might not be good. The last people on earth in a position to comment on that are people like Nerdrotic, who exist solely to thrive off negative engagement and fan hate.

Sorry, just wanted to vent.
 
As an addendum: Youtube has become utterly unuseable for me now whenever I search for any new Rings of Power media.

I know not everyone will be sold on the show, and criticism as well as optimism should be accomodated, but my search results now are dominated by clickbait chasing content creators using terms like "Amazon SLAMMED by Tolkien fans", raging about "woke" elves and dwarves, and generally monetizing viewers by generating hate and outrage.

Nerds being angry and hating their favourite series is nothing new, but this current wave of outrage merchants dooming everything before it's even come out because that's how they get the algorithm to send viewers their way is just exhausting and depressing.

The show might be good. It might not be good. The last people on earth in a position to comment on that are people like Nerdrotic, who exist solely to thrive off negative engagement and fan hate.

Sorry, just wanted to vent.
Yeah I've honestly found it impossible to have any normal discussion about this show outside of this thread and my close friends who also love Tolkien. It exists at a perfect intersection of very hostile trends: scepticism towards big corporations taking on beloved properties; faux outrage and manufactured culture wars about 'woke' values; fan anger and entitlement exaggerated to crazy extremes. Not a healthy mix online at all.
 
Yeah I've honestly found it impossible to have any normal discussion about this show outside of this thread and my close friends who also love Tolkien. It exists at a perfect intersection of very hostile trends: scepticism towards big corporations taking on beloved properties; faux outrage and manufactured culture wars about 'woke' values; fan anger and entitlement exaggerated to crazy extremes. Not a healthy mix online at all.
I'm not a fan of Amazon at all. They're an awful corporation with terrible working conditions, and have helped kill off other businesses all over the world.

That being said: None of the big companies involved in media creation are nice. One of the biggest films of the year is starring an actual cult leader who helps run the biggest pyramid scheme in America.

I'm also kind of completely done with how Youtube currently functions. It's become clear that the algorithm only rewards those who regularly post content day in day out, and who rely on negativity to drive engagement. It's pretty much built into the platform at this point, and I hate it. It's basically a video blogging platform which still has movie trailers and music videos, and the platform itself is as much responsible for this rise in online toxicity as the content creators themselves.

Anyway... rant over.

Now that we're getting close to the release date, I'm happy to say that the promotional footage released so far has really got me optimistic about the show.

Beyond the astronomical production values, the dialogue in scenes like the one with Galadriel in the cave feels suitably Tolkien-esque ("Even stone cannot hide the mark of one who's very hand is flame unquenched") and the music they've been showcasing has been fantastic. The Comic Con panel also really blew me away with how knowledgable all of the cast and crew were.

I don't know if this is going to end up being the story of the Rings of Power that Tolkien himself would have written (and it really is strange how he left this key history of Middle Earth so under-developed compared to the rest of the Legendarium), but even with the time compression and the need to create new characters, I'm feeling optimistic the show will at least give me a good time.

Morfydd Clark has been incredibly impressive as Galadriel in all the footage they've released. I think I actually like her take on the character more than Cate Blanchett's Mystic Meg approach.
 
There's an absolute ton of promotion material coming out now that we're approaching the premier date.

I can't possibly hope to include it all here, but some of the coolest stuff are the promo images of Numenor:

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We've also got more images of the Dwarves (not entirely sold on the Dwarven shieldmaiden armour, but the regular armour looks great, and Durin looks ballin)

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Ar-fucking-Pharazon with his luscious beautiful locks and beard:

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They're throwing so much money at this thing gosh dang...
 
My hype for this is steadily increasing. Bear (fucking) McCreary. First Age material. I should finish The Silmarrilion. This show looks incredible.
 
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Same! Im really looking forward to this. I really hope they dont add explicit scenes or nudity like hbo would have. That just is not in the spirit of lord of the rings or any of Tolkien's middle earth works
I was more talking about how HBO is canning a ton of their scripted shows in favor of reality series because of the Discovery merger so we're finding out this month that we're losing a lot of good television, even successful series
 
As the media premier was last night, more and more promotional stuff is coming out, so obviously it's a bit difficult to keep on top of it all.

That being said, Adobe managed to get a really interesting exclusive clip: a longer look at Galadriels expedition to the frozen north. Clip can be viewed the following link:


I don't get the people who say this scene looks fake. Not only was the cliff a practical set, the colouring and backgrounds are gorgeous.
 
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The soundtrack got released today:



I haven't had a chance to listen to it all the way through yet, but there are some absolute bangers. Khazad-Dum is fantastic, as is the Numenor theme.

Howard Shore's main theme is pretty great too. A bit less grand than his trilogy work, but still a soaring and beautiful piece. Bear's put in the real work on this though. Fantastic stuff from him.
 
Gonna need to give the soundtrack a listen. Not long now! And House of the Dragon is very imminent too. What a time to be a nerd.
 
God fudging dang.

I haven't even seen the show yet, and This Wandering Day got me choked up worse than Deagol.

The OST has got amazing, epic fanfares and climaxes left right and centre, and here I am tearing up over a Tolkien-ass hobbit song about lands far away.

Jackson, why didn't you include Hey Ho To The Bottle I Go you absolute moral coward!?!

Gonna need to give the soundtrack a listen. Not long now! And House of the Dragon is very imminent too. What a time to be a nerd.

I'm skipping House of the Dragon. I watched Game Of Thrones to the end, and eight seasons of brutal nihilism, incest, rape and murder is all I could stomach. Now that it's all done, I don't particularly want to go back into a new story where the general tone is so damn cynical and miserable. Hope it ends up living up to your expectations, but I think I'm done with George RR Martin's particular brand of fantasy.
 
I'm skipping House of the Dragon. I watched Game Of Thrones to the end, and eight seasons of brutal nihilism, incest, rape and murder is all I could stomach. Now that it's all done, I don't particularly want to go back into a new story where the general tone is so damn cynical and miserable. Hope it ends up living up to your expectations, but I think I'm done with George RR Martin's particular brand of fantasy.
I understand that. One reason I'm more excited for Rings of Power is precisely because, tonally and thematically, it won't be brutally nihilistic. That, and my love of Tolkien is much deeper than my enjoyment of GRRM.
 
I understand that. One reason I'm more excited for Rings of Power is precisely because, tonally and thematically, it won't be brutally nihilistic. That, and my love of Tolkien is much deeper than my enjoyment of GRRM.
So I'm being fair, Tolkien can absolutely go dark when we wants to.

The Children of Hurin is in many ways a proto-Game of Thrones in how it uses fantasy to tell a story of murder, tragedy, incest and suicide.

The thing I find with Tolkien though is that he uses moments of very dark fantasy to up the stakes or to give evil a stronger presence, before allowing some optimism to come through and provide some relief.

Hopefully the show gets there balance right. I'm feeling optimistic - I now know the soundtrack is so good it's going to be difficult for it to not add a lot of emotion to whatever is happening on screen.
 
So I'm being fair, Tolkien can absolutely go dark when we wants to.

The Children of Hurin is in many ways a proto-Game of Thrones in how it uses fantasy to tell a story of murder, tragedy, incest and suicide.

The thing I find with Tolkien though is that he uses moments of very dark fantasy to up the stakes or to give evil a stronger presence, before allowing some optimism to come through and provide some relief.

Hopefully the show gets there balance right. I'm feeling optimistic - I now know the soundtrack is so good it's going to be difficult for it to not add a lot of emotion to whatever is happening on screen.
Yeah, I have a lot of time for Children of Hurin. I always recommend it to friends who don't feel brave enough to tackle The Silmarillion, or who've tried and bounced off it.

Listening to the soundtrack while I write emails today, and hoo boy Khazad-dum is a banger.
 
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