I kind of hate watched season one and tried the second one but literally couldn't do it. Because I had to pause every 5 seconds to pic it a part. So I better watch a other guy do exactly that so I don't have to press the pause button so much.....
I have watched infinitly more content about how bad this show is, then watching the show. I figured this show was going to be garbage after Amazon failed at the wheel of time. That show had me depressed for a while.
@@easternwesterner Um actually, Frodo offered it willingly, cos he figured someone as strong and wise as her could handle it better than him.... There was no threat of throttling, or even an implication of such, might wanna rewatch the movies if you somehow got that impression...
@@Jeartozer Galadriel literally refers to younger self as someone who would have taken the ring to use it and speaks of what it would've been like. She is not like that any more (older and wiser) so she refuses. Check out the scene yourself, she literally says it out loud. Young Galadriel was pretty vain and craved power, and her character had an arc in the books. She passes the test of facing the Ring in her older years. That doesn't excuse ridiculous RoP version, of course.
@@easternwesterner Wrong. If you bothered to watch the scene again, which I did to make sure I wasnt mistaken and will post below, she is NOT talking of her younger self, but of what she would do if she took the One Ring from Frodo; ie taking Sauron's place as a Dark Queen. Please actually do the research next time, make yourself actually look smart. m.ruclips.net/video/K3VOf3CBGvw/видео.html
For those who don't know: The Shire was never a f--kin' prophecy. The King of the region at the time gifted the Hobbits that land out of pity and as a reward for their help in a war. Their first settlement was actually Bree before most of them traveled further West. And then that kingdom of Men died and aged out of memory and all of the buried kings became the Barrow-Wights.
@silverscorpio24 Your knowledge of lore is not welcome sir and or madam and or they/them. Please take your logics and knowledge to another deep hole on the interwebs and let Amazon mutilate this franchise in peace!
@@Jeremy-83 As a fellow lore nerd, I disagree. Amazon is writing a topically conceived fanfiction, nothing more, and sunlight is the best disinfectant. Sure, they can say, "Oh, the king gifted them the land fulfilling the Harfoot prophecy hyuk hyuk!" but those of us who know how things play out from Tolkien's vision can smell weasel writing and bad correlation, and those of you who care about Middle-Earth deserve to know it's truth (not it's bastardization). Edited because autocorrect doesn't know that amd is not a word...
Whenever I feel upset about how my life is going, I take some time to consider Glug, the Glug-wife and the Glugling and how unfortunate their circumstances are. When compared, I don’t have it that bad after all. :)
The funny thing is, the Barrow Wights were awoken by the Witchking of Angmar, famously, the chief of the Nazgûl. And the nine rings of men have not yet been created 😅
@g3rman1a501 i stand corrected. It had been a while since I last read the books and was trying to go off memory. I did look it back up to refresh my memory. Thank you for keeping me in check I should have confirmed this before posting. I will leave my original post unedited so my blunder may live on. Though I shall make it a point that the barrow wights did not exist till the fall of Arnor well into the 3rd age.
@@ostatnifajek128 glad you mentioned that. Cuz I would've said the same thing but alas I feel like the two of us are more likely to have actually read the source material to understand this.
Now I'm not a Tolkien scholar, (and I realise that Random Film Talk is only working from what is on screen in the show) but, they have absolutely screwed up the Barrow-wights too... It is my understanding that Barrow-wights are the raised corpses of Northern Dunedain warriors from the kingdom of Cardolan. A kingdom which had been involved in a protracted war with the Witch-king of Angmar during the Third Age. The Witch-king raised these warriors as wights in an effort to prevent their kingdom ever being re-established. It was during this war that the Dunedain created Westernesse weaponry specifically to combat and pierce through the magical protections the Witch-king had placed upon his forces... It's for this reason alone that the weapons found within the barrows are able to kill Barrow-wights, they are Westernesse, belonged to the Dunedain who were buried there and subsequently raised, and they undo the magic of the Witch-king returning the wights to being lifeless corpses. This is why Merry's dagger did so much damage to the Witch-king leading to Éowyn being able to finally kill him. It was from a barrow and therefore of Westernesse origin! So, there ARE no Barrow-wights without the Witch-king nor would there be any Westernesse weapons to kill them with, there is also no Witch-king without the nine rings for mortal men, and according to Rings of Power Sauron hasn't even bloody forged those yet... They have it ALL arse about face. What is the point of forking out millions for an IP rich with lore if you're just going to damn well ignore it all!!
I mean... they have bungled so many things, this barely even registers on the scale anymore. They turned Galadriel, one of the wisest and eldest elven leaders in Middle Earth, pretty much a duchess on her own right, into a young, impulsive army captain. The Ishtari are only supposed to arrive to Middle Earth in the Third Age, yet they already have Gandalf here for name recognition. They messed up Annatar, they messed up the orcs, they compressed in-universe historical events that took place over centuries into a few months... Honestly, the barrow wights are such a small detail, it's like talking about how a "historical" story where Winston Churchill helps Caesar to fight Napoleon before he could join hands with the evil George Washington and enslaves the Japanese in the hundred years war, the tommy-guns used by the Hungarian cavalry had scopes on them and were used as sniper rifles. Yes, it's technically a valid complaint, but it's but a stray wayward thread of a tapestry of WRONGNESS, so what's even the point?
@@ikmor I think it's pretty self-explanatory, but just to reiterate: with how absurdly non-canon this whole thing is, I find pointing out inconsistencies in world-building-minutia that even most LotR fans wouldn't know or care much about to be pointless. I'm not attacking the OP, and he obviously knows his Tolkien lore, I just think trying to discuss this show in that context is an abject waste of time.
@@zak7an2 exploding orcs ! It is a common orc tactic to douse themselves in kerosine before any battle or engagement with the enemy. It's on page 57 of the orc manual, right next to instructions about loving your orc wife and educational games to play with your orc baby.
I personally believe they purposely had Galadriel get captured for the very reason so these two can 'chat' and the current orc leader can find out that Helbrand was Sauron. Infact, after he finds that out, dipshit might even 'let her go'. That's my prediction, anyway.
"He probably read this in a book somewhere." Yeah, Lord of the Rings. Except he got all the details wrong and somehow the Barrow Downs moved hundreds of miles east.
Fun fact, the elves go to a place named "burial mound of wraiths" in their own language and are surprised to find wraiths. Suza-t is the Westron word for the Shire. Westron doesn't exist yet, and the closest language to that now is Numenorian. It is entirely possible the Harfoots could have reached the Shire and not realized they made it where they are going since no one calls it that yet. They are teasing the Shire in the same episode they reveal there are already undead horrors on the eastern border of it. Entwives as written by Tolkien didn't really care about forests and actually abandoned the Ents to make fields and orchards instead of tending to the wild woodlands.
You don't need horses when you have Elrond who probably has, from all the groveling and bowing to Galadriel, glutes of steel and is capable of running with 5-6 people on his shoulders faster than any horse ever could Why do you think Celebrimborg did not have any horse during his travel to Khazad-dûm? If Sauron can ride Galadriel to victory then Celebrimborg and Galadriel can ride Elrond to at least the nearest elven town
Given that a horse died during the filming of season 1, they were probably pushing it with Berek. It does raise a valid point though: with all this traveling (and this also applies to season 1), why hasn't there been way more horse travel?
Well if you asked Emil pagliarulo you'd hear "you just answered your question, why, obviously it was the trailblazers!" God i hate slopfield so fucking much it's unbelievable
Adar: bow before me or be gutted by Glug’s family doctor Literal slaves: bows and gets branded in order to avoid needlessly getting killed The writers: this is now a person of evil and a person of wild, even though they were very recently just a guy from the Southlands that was captured against their will, they are now different and bad? I can believe someone viewing a group like that as bandits, or dangerous, but they were just regular farmers 1 month ago and their actions are out of pragmatism. The obvious equivalent would be the depiction of Wildlings in GOT, which most of the characters are prejudice against because they pillage southern towns and live barbaric or pagan-like lives. This is a view that formed likely after hundreds of years of isolation between each other, as well as the cultural and moral differences. In RoP, the wildmen are displaced refugees that were further displaced by a giant volcano, who were subsequently enslaved by evilmen and Glug, branded against their will, then released. They are desperate and hungry people released into a forrest, that the characters of the show view as “wild” and “evil”. I’m gonna pull out the WWII card because this is malicious writing, this is the equivalent of wanting to ki** holoc**** survivors because got forcefully tattooed. That is, without a doubt, something you do not want your main characters doing unless they are morally bankrupt and drank brake fluid.
I don't think McDaggerman and his companions were chosen because of their skills. They were the only elves not inteligent enough to know, that when Galadriel approaches you about some sort of an expedition, it's in your best interest to suddenly remember that you urgently need to water your dog and take your cactus to the vet.
The funniest thing about Merrimac is that, after finding out he is a simpleton, Poppy is seemingly attracted to him given her body language and introduction. This suggests that her type of ideal partner is an idiot, or easily controlled.
Yeah. They were men from what used to be Arnor. And they died due to the Witchking killings them. And they rose again because the Witchking put evil spirits in their bodies to attack Frodo.
The specific barrow wights that Frodo and the gang encountered, yeah, but there has been mention that those were not the only ones. The houseless souls of elves that refused afterlife are likely the source of these, corrupted in time by their unnatural state, and grabbing any body they could, even a dead human's
I hate that the barrow downs exist this early in the timeline when they're supposed to be a burial ground established by the kingdom of Arnor that only becomes haunted after the WItch King sends evil spirits to them.
The oldest barrows date from the first age, later additions by the Dunedain after the fall of Numenor, and later corrupted by the Witchking. So they would have existed at this point as ancient burial mounds.
Nori and Poppi aimed for the bushes. They missed, and landed safely on a very stretched suspension of disbelief, but aiming for the bushes is the how of the thing. Also: Non-Tombadil. Before anyone else tries to trademark it.
This is soap opera writing. Things happen just because to maximize drama, and conflicts and main plot points get resolved without rhyme or reason or off screen
I know why they say the sea is always right. It's because after Numenor sinks someone will say the opposite "No land was ever left". Or something crap like that.
Having elves turn invisible for wearing a ring of power is as dumb as having a duck sink in water. Mortal men didn't turn invisible either. They slowly faded over a thousand of years of constant use. But no, let's just reference the movies. Remember the movies? Anyone? It's just like in them?!
One of the "powers" of all the Rings except the Three, was invisibilty: "And finally they ["all the rings alike"] had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron (‘the Necromancer’: so he is called as he casts a fleeting shadow and presage on the pages of The Hobbit): such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible. The Elves of Eregion made Three supremely beautiful and powerful rings, almost solely of their own imagination, and directed to the preservation of beauty: they did not confer invisibility." Letter 131 (It is possible that the Dwarves were 'immune' from being turned invisible)
@@tubag313 True. I was thinking it could pass the "RoP test" by it helping imply that Isildur had somehow survived with no food captured by a spider for a longer period of time than should be possible. But you're right, not having motivations and consequences is the show's goal.
@@tubag313 and worldbuilding, because then they may have had to explain how Mordor already has 'wildmen' 3 fucking weeks into it's history Seriously, this show is progressing as if 'mordor' already has this rich back story with cursed forests and wild tribes when it's been less than a month since that damned volcano went off
I thought this show couldn't get any lower in the "omg, we're such clever writers!" scale as it did when they did the fade-to-mordor lettering reveal in S01. But then they went and called not-gandalf "grand-elf"...
Hopefully Glug the orc, his wife, and glugling child get through RoP ok. It would be even better if Glug slayed Galadriel and showed her a real slash and stab.
2:06:00 the line Galadriel won't cross is understanding the consequences of her actions. That or a random point to be assigned by the writers in a convenient time for them
I am repeatedly struck by how badly the writers handle conflicts. Nothing is set up ahead of time, things just happen, dangers and obstacles just blow up out of nowhere; bottomless chasms, giant worm monsters, orc armies, invulnerable liches, magical fumbles creating uncontrollable sandstorm twisters - they all just happen, one moment nothing and the next moment they’re there. And they frequently show situations that appear to be absolutely fatal, only to be either: resolved instantly, or: just not that bad trust me bro. When Isildur is trapped under debris inside a burning and then collapsed house, or when Estrid is backhanded so she goes flying and smacks into a rock, or when the hobbits are sucked up a hundred meters above ground in a violent whirlwind… and it looks as if that’s it, they’re definitely dead now, but it turns out they’re just inexplicably okay. Or when insurmountable problems are solved instantly and without effort. The giant worm monster that just ate our guys? No problem, they cut their way out from the inside. Invulnerable liches? No problem, use this weapon instead and now the fight is over in five seconds. The writers are constantly telling us the stakes are super high. And then showing us that there are no stakes, no consequences for anything. It’s fascinating how bad the writers are at absolute basics. Cheers!
24:44 I never thought Tom Bombadil would sound so dispassionate. He sounds like a sheep farmer herding sheep rather than a jolly whimsical supernatural figure.
If the Sauron in RoP was as competent as the Sauron in the books/movies…he would have conquered middle earth looooong before this! Not hard to conquer imbeciles.
Your videos are way more fun and entertaining than the actual series. Thank you for taking one for the team. I can understand that this is pure pain. Lol
Tom Bombadil in any LoTR media that isn’t a book is a sign that the writers do not understand how to write. He is an entirely pointless character that only sort of works in the books because they have 1000+ pages to work with. To include him in film or tv shows a complete lack of ability in making decisions to improve pacing and narrative cohesion. Jackson cutting him from the trilogy was most likely the first thing he did, and the fact he’s been ham fisted into Rings of Power means the show runners are so desperate for links to Tolkien that they’re prepared to put the least narratively adept inclusion in all of LoTR into their show.
@@soma250 I hate diversity because I’m against the inclusion of a character where the actor is a… white man? And that character having always been depicted as a white man?
I dont agree that Bombadil is pointless, but I think his point is one that is very much at odds with basically any fiction which will try and include him. Bombadil is there to show that the world is bigger and stranger than anything going on, he is an enigma, something beyond the power of the ring and utterly uninterested in the quest to destroy it or in its use. He has a point in that he shows that the world exists beyond what we will see, that we are going to focus on only a specific aspect of it.
Competent writers can make literally anything work. Talentless nepos set themselves up for failure because they aren't aware that they really suck and that they should have had at least one smart person to sponge off of if they wanted to succeed.
I don't think Bombadil even works in the books given that he doesn't fit anywhere in the established mythology and the only reason he's there at all is because Tolkien previously wrote some poems about Bombadil and thought it would be cool to put him in Middle Earth.
Ya but he got that troll now... that's like a +100 buff to his forces. A single troll... also love how elven scouts spotted Halbrand crossing the border but missed him going back across and have now also not seen an entire pissing army, a huge trench network and a literally evil shrine in their tower that was a dam lever.
Istrid forgot that Arondir exists because the writers are so inept they accidentally failed to give Istrid object permanence so as soon as something is out of sight, she forgets it exists completely.
Galadriel’s over excessively rolling her R’s like she is some Spanish chick it’s so fkn annoying. Also, that Gilga-Daddy meme just ruined the series for me. On god 😂
Frodo must have had godlike powers when he was walking around wearing a coat of pure mithril mail. Forget the one ring, if a mithril alloy is all that’s needed to give these rings their crazy power than the mithril coat has got to be the most powerful artifact in all of middle earth
If Elrond knew that the spooky ghosts can only be killed by the weapons they were burried with, why does he order an attack? He knew it wouldn't do anything and that they have to get the weapons from the tombs.
Two words about traveling from Boston to Baltimore (and in reality, nobody from the Northeast would ever go further south or west). Lembas Bread. Cocaine infused Lembas Bread.
You know the worst part about this episode? "Folks round the withywindle used to call me Bombadil" no they fuckin didn't my dude Bombadil is a word in the language of Bucklandish. Buckland doesn't exist until after The Shire is founded. Nobody speaks the language Bombadil comes from. The thing people "used to call him" at this point of time, is Iarwain Ben-adar. "Oldest and Fatherless" I think they allude to that with "Eldest" but can't use his actual name. That's grounds, in my eyes, to omit the character. This butchery is absurd.
Hang on a minute. Just a couple of points here! The peasants of Pelagir live by a river. Why on earth do they need an aqueduct? The peasants of Pelargir live by a river; right next to it in fact. Doesn't the river level change? What happens in spring when all the snow melts? Er... The brand of Adar, isn't that a map that shows the location of Sauron? Quick everyone, tell Galadriel she has been looking in the wrong place for a thousand years!
The show runners seem desperate to include all of the stuff left out of the Peter Jackson movies in some sort of attempt to show they actually care about Tolkien and the lore. They've already included the Barrow Wights and Tom Bombadil, I won't be surprised if that Stoor villlage gets destroyed by the evil wizard and referred to as a scouring.
_"if that Stoor villlage gets destroyed by the evil wizard and referred to as a scouring"_ How about all that, plus that this "scouring" leads them all to take the trek northeast and settle in the fabled "Shire" their legends reference? Meaning these *_are_* the future Shirelings? Just wait for it.
why didn't sauron morph into a messenger after killing the others, supply his own forged letter that says "listen to this halbrand fellow" and hand it to celebrimbor????? like, buddy.
The forest is the barrow-downs... Downs are decidedly not forests. The wights didnt exist until after the Witch-king became undead. This time-line, judging from the events, Sauron as Annatar, Numenor existing, proto-hobbits, Rings not being forged (seriously, the rings shouldnt exist yet) the Barrow Downs didnt exist, therefore the wights don't exist. The events are all out of sequence, there are no redeeming qualities in this series.
@RandomFilmTalk I really enjoy your videos and I am now halfway through this, but I need to comment this before I forget it, as it would probably be a nice inclusion for your final autopsy. You did nicely map out the travel route from Mithlond to Ost-in-Edhil, but you made a small geographical mistake in assuming that the writers are close to competent. Since I cannot attach images myself, I will try to explain based on your drawing at 37:41: The path you drew in red is actually the fastest path to Eregion (Ost-in-Edhil). However, the crossing over the river Baranduin (Brandywein) there is the Sarnford. The Axa-Bridge (which is completely made up, by the way), is shown in the map of the show to be north of the Sarnford, approximately where the river has a more west-east orientation in between the two woodlands. The barrow downs are the hills right to the east of the supposed bridge (which is west of there the road crossing is). In summary, that means: 1) Elrond, Galadriel and all the messengers did not take the fastest road (via the Sarnford) to Eregion, so as to be confronted with the destroyed bridge. 2) Going south from the destroyed bridge and taking the Sarnford would not only be faster, but also circumvent the barrow downs, as they are to the east of the destroyed bridge. 3) How going north would delay a journey of a few days (It takes much longer in real time, but alas, let it be for this show) by two weeks is out my understanding. With a bit of middle-earth geography on the side-note: The landscape shots are gorgeous, but do not necessarily fit into this part of middle earth. The regions on the way from Mithlond to Eregion are what will later become the Shire and are, with a possible short exception of the Emyn Beraid (which are not particularly high either), rather gentle hills and not particularly mountainous. And neither should there be a deep canyon where the destroyed bridge is located. Since I know you do not care about the lore for this analysis, but it is discussed in the comments, I want to mention this last: The earliest version of the barrow downs was created by the Edain (Humans) on their way to Beleriand in the first age, so, technically, it is not entirely incorrect that they already existed. However, the regions was later inhabited by the people of Cardolan (one of the three Kingdoms of Arnor, established by the survivors of Numenor in the 3rd ! age). They expanded upon the graves and also literally lived in that area, until the barrow wights were awakened by the Witch King during the Angmar wars (again, 3rd age). Is it entirely impossible that barrow wights were awakened by Sauron even this early? No. But is it very unlikely given that people would consciously decide to live in the spooky forrest aftwerwards? Hell yeah. So lore wise, they took the two chapters that Jackson cut (rightfully so, in my opinion) from the Fellowship of the Ring (i.e. Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Downs), inserted both together in one episode (so for us to make the connection), only to include presumed "fan-favorites" that Jackson didn't. And they bend the whole geography of middle-earth in order to contrive the scene with the barrow downs. Two times, actually, as it was neither the fastest path nor are the barrow downs located in the south of the invented locataion for the "Axa" bridge. I am sorry for the wall of text, but I needed to rant about this blatant geographical mistake of the show so that it doesn't go unnoticed. I hope it will help you for the final autopsy. Have a good day and continue your nice work.
1:35:31 IGN giving Alien: Isolation a 5.9 and Rings of Power an 8 then a 6 is atrocious. Isolation is a better addition to the Alien Franchise than anything else that involves Alien for the past 2 decades. I remember falling in love with the Trailer for that game when I was in high school. The game lived up to everything it was said to be.
I have been rewatching the LOTRs films and it really emphasizes just how bad Rings of Power is as a series. I cannot fathom how folks can equally say Rings of Power is as good as the Jackson films(Yes, I know there are book fans who hate the movies but I'm strictly talking in terms of writing/ their own thing) in terms of writing. Or just as bad say the series could never get to the height of those films which I say: Why can't it? What's stopping Amazon or any of these "writers" from putting in the effort. A TV series more than a movie has ample time to explore Middle Earth and create some amazing characters, worlds etc. Just look at Arcane or heck, go back to Hercules, Xena etc. But nope. These showrunners and "writers" want to put us critics down and say we are "trolls" and claim we are the problem. No; this series is the problem. Good art/ media is timeless. The decades will go by and the shots and effects can age but writing is timeless. Rings of Power won't stand the test of time. It's just good looking sludge.
I wouldn't even say good looking. The visual effects are often good, but the sets all look cheap and are lit like a sound stage. The costumes are cheap and bland, the towns appear empty, and it all feels amateur.
@@JackChurchill101Definitely agree on the costumes. I don't get why people praise them. The armor looks like painted plastic (because that's most likely what it is), the general outfits are unflattering on the actors (especially any of the robes and that dress the character calling herself Galadriel wore at the end of the first season), and there was that easily noticeable printed scale-pattern t-shirt. I'm not knowledgeable about fashion or costume design at all (being a typical man lol), but even I can tell something is wrong with these designs. I remember at least one video coming out around the first season, from a costume designer who was critiquing the designs and pointing out why they're so bad.
No, you are the problem... for not eating up the streaming slime produced and fed to you. Be happy that some characters have some names which one can recognize. It does not matter if whole plot lines are taken into a car crash and get replaced by nonsense slob.
Why was Celebrimbor's letter delivered to Durin Jr., who no longer has the authority to negotiate dealings with a foreign non-personal-friend Elven Lord?
Is it just me or is literally every actor I’ll suited to the role they’re in? Sauron’s actor is the only one that’s not off putting but Jesus Christ everyone else is just brutal to me
Annoyingly it actually seems like the guy they got to play bombadil would actually be really good at it, if he had the script and the direction of someone who knew what they were doing.
You just have to know this: the showrunners are masters in quantum mechanics. The character are in a superposition of smart and dump as long not measured. And the elfs do not travel, they just tunnel. They are smeared out over all of Middle Earth and localize where the plot looks at. Basically, everyone in this show is a version of Schroedingers cat.
Entwives aren't all about the trees. They're about the shrubs and the bushes and fruit trees and vegetables and taught men how to farm. They also didn't live with the ents. They lived out on the plains north of Mordor where they made gardens and the ents would come to visit them leaving behind the primeval forest.
There are probably a dozen people already mentioning this here, but I'll say it anyway. Nerd moment: the barrow-downs can't be a thing in the show, because these burial grounds were established by Anor... The kingdom doesn't exist yet. It was established after the fall of Númenor, which as you might've guessed hasn't happened in the show yet.
The burial grounds (or variants of them) has existed since the 1st Age. Problem is they're located way far to the East in the show, plus the enchanted weapons the Elves use to "kill" these "zombies" with didn't exist until the 3rd age/after the _fall of Numenor_ nor had the Witchking of Angmar "awoken" them from death yet. Guess Sauron taught him how to do it after doing it here in RoP :D
@@LateralTwitlerLT I didn't even look at the fact that the location was way off. Good catch. I do in fact have a detailed map of middle earth on the wall of my hobby room, so I could've gone down into the basement to check if I want a lazy sack right now. Thank you for pointing it out.
@@georgethompson913 Not the barrow downs per se, but burial mounds for kings and important men. Which is why the men who settled there at the end of the Second Age took up the practice.
the thing with Theo is that there is also no information on who his father is, which Arondir specifically brings up in s2ep3 to which Theo replies "no, i dont know who my dad is but it sure as shit isnt you" so im pretty sure they are setting him up to be a long lost son of a long lost king or something like that, one of the possible reasons for this being that yeah they dont actually have any human kings for the nine except Pharazon
Ah yes. Episode 4. Level 3 of side quest hell. How do you make a filler episode for an 8 episode season? I know things slightly pick up towards the end, but... did anyone play Dragon Age Inquisition? The hinterlands. I felt like I was back in the Hinterlands. Way too much time wasted on pointless crap and fetch quests with no consequence. And then when you finally pull yourself out of the admin, it's like 3am and you have to go to bed and deal with the plot tomorrow. I cannot believe a TV show replicated that feeling so impressively. I'm not saying the Eregion plotline or the Khazad dum plots are perfect but lord did I feel the lack of thier presence in this episode. It felt like a monster of the week filler episode/ Easter egg and reference fest. It was a chore to watch, in a way even the first three episodes of this season weren't
Did we consider that Elrond believes Sauron to be influencing Galadriel, and then he told her to pick soldiers for their trip to ensure the message that reveals Sauron's identity goes smoothly? Is it actually a surprise that she picked bad company, or maybe that could be attributed to ring influence. (AND the bog standard writing quality).
I’m not watching the show, this is the only way I’m knowing what’s happening, but I would assume that the reason for the “who are you?” “What do you mean?” Discussion is because non-Gandalf will be influenced by this, thus leading to his talk with bilbo in the hobbit “Good morning” “What do you mean by good morning?”
Missed opportunity: if Elrond hadn't been able to open the crypt the wights wouldn't have just killed them, we would have gotten one of those cliff hangers where we see the elves have been bound by the chains in their barrows and Tom Bombadil would have to rescue them.
Something I really disagree with is claiming that elves need the rings to see glimpses into the future. As far as I'm aware, they don't. Isn't that just part of being an elf that they have abilities far beyond the average man. Some of these abilities are considered magic but to them it's just a natural part of their being. Hell even in the show contradicts itself with Gil-galad saying he saw a future back in S1 where Galadriel would bring evil back into the world or something like that, which is why he sent her away. Anyway never mind the rings don't really do that anyway, Nenya (Galadriel's ring) in particular is known for preservation, protection, and concealment from evil. She can literally cloak herself and others from evil, in lore and in this show she would have no reason not to use it when the orcs are about. The one ring isn't created yet AND she doesn't believe them to be corrupted even though they have every reason to think they were. So either way why is she not using her ring?
She took the ring off because the writers knew she'd be captured by Adar, and they figured that explaining how she got the ring back after that would be too hard.
The absolute worst part is that they actaully thought they had to spend an entire episode in season 1 just to show that Lemonlass cut down a tree once. Why? And, how does Standalf get a hot bath in the middle of the desert where there is only one tree, that won't even give hima single branch for a staff? "You are not worthy of a staff yet. But you can have my wood for a bath." The showrunners are Superhero flick guys and don't undestand the world building neccesary in Fantasy.
The Rings of Power is in the nearly impossible position where it both "must not follow the lore", and "must not contradict the lore" in order to be a success.
Didn't have to be that way. They had more than enough story outline to follow without touching Silmarilion references. All they had to do was fill in the timeline with characters and conversations. Now it's too late.
The other problem is that the original lore is deliberately vague on most social aspects of the world. So there is no mention of anything like money, trade or military logistics. And these writers aren’t smart enough to add realism OR keep it purely High Fantasy…
Who said they couldnt follow the lore? Who said they needed dei? Who said they needed to employ retarded writers? Who said they needed the worst actors possible? Who said that they had to make characters dumb as fuck? Who said they needed to drag out plot lines in the most nonsensical ways?
1:19:55 “Rings of Power is not a story. It is a sequence of events that were designed to elicit an emotional response.” That is the most succinct description of why this show is failing outside of respecting the source material.
31:31 hold it a second - having one or more _messengers_ not coming back is very, very different to Cellabribum not giving the messengers an answer or not sending his own messengers later. A messenger is a person, and for high level governmental messages they'd be trusted, skilled, well-equipped, and carry some authority - losing one or more _people_ like that is _not_ like an email ending up in the Spam folder
What I've been wondering since the start of season two is; After Morgoth was eliminated at the end of the first age, Sauron tried to lead the orcs but was assassinated by Adar and friends. He became a glob of oily hair until eventually taking the shape of Halibrand and randomly meeting up with Galadriel in the middle of the ocean. So when did he lead the legion of orcs that fought the elves and eventually killed Galadriel's brother and kidnapped her husband? That's the start of her entire 1,000 year vengeance campaign and the basis for this entire flipping series. So when did he do that according to the show runners?
You'd think, except that it's got Bezos' money all over it, and we know how deeply he respects culture because he made a rocket that looked like a willy and fired himself into low orbit.
To be absolutely fair to the show, we dont know how long elven league is. So I would use this number not as proof wtiters screwed up, but as a ground to prove they screwed up in future
Those pesky hobbitzes… when Nori wakes up and her first question is „have you seen him“ and not „are you okay“. Those folks are the true evil in middle earth 😅 Also how does not Gandalf know what Sauron is and that he is evil? Or is he just assuming since the priests didn’t like the horrorfoots and they might have been looking for him that he is evil? 🤔
also unlike the Fellowship they didn't need stealth which horses are more easily tracked - poop, smell, sound. Their mission was speed so no reason not to have horses.
I think it is technically possible for a party of all non-humans to travel that far without any rest. I know you don't compare Rings of Power to LotR because they're technically not connected to eachother, however Gimli does say that he, Aragorn and Legolas ran without stopping for 3 days and nights to catch up to the Uruk-hai carrying Merry and Pippin. Elves being completely ageless and also requiring much less food than other races (according to the deleted scene with Legolas explaining that he only needs a single bite of bread to fill his stomach, and then the hobbits reveal to eachother that they each ate several full pieces) paints a picture of Elves needing almost no sleep or food when compared to a baseline human
Well if they can run for a week, then i dont want to believe, that they couldnt jump over to the other side of the bridge, which was like 2-3 meters away
Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas's effort is supposed to be legendary. Truly pushing the boundaries of what is possible. The elves can just travel normally, with horses.
The bread is lembas, a singal bite of it satisfies. The walk of the hunters is barely physically possible for aragorn or gimli. But elves can sleep run which helps legolas.
I have a theory that the writers heard all the feedback on the pacing of S1 and responded by putting S2 on ffwd so they can inflict even more of their dullness on the audience. Given that Istari are Ainur, the first beings created by Elu Iluvatar, and Tom is behaving as if he's older than Not Gandalf, so the only thing he can be is Elu Iluvatar.
Sauron is able to do what he is doing, just because Galadriel did not just say who he was before leaving and following elrond. All of this season, it's because of her. All of season 1, is because of her. Everything, is because of her, she is so annoying.
I imagine I'm not alone in that I have yet to watch a single episode of season 2, yet I've watched *dozens* of hours of content about it lol.
Yea I gave a fair chance to a few episodes of season 1, but after seeing the direction it was going I tapped out for good.
Same but I haven't even watched season 1, and I'm not planning on doing it
I kind of hate watched season one and tried the second one but literally couldn't do it. Because I had to pause every 5 seconds to pic it a part. So I better watch a other guy do exactly that so I don't have to press the pause button so much.....
I have watched infinitly more content about how bad this show is, then watching the show. I figured this show was going to be garbage after Amazon failed at the wheel of time. That show had me depressed for a while.
I got prime for a week, figured I'd hate-watch for sh**s and giggles. There's nothing positive to say about it.
This version of Galadriel would've throttled Frodo to take the One Ring from him, believing that she can use it to defeat Sauron.
Which is what Galadriel actually mentions in lotr
@@easternwesterner
Um actually, Frodo offered it willingly, cos he figured someone as strong and wise as her could handle it better than him....
There was no threat of throttling, or even an implication of such, might wanna rewatch the movies if you somehow got that impression...
@@Jeartozer Galadriel literally refers to younger self as someone who would have taken the ring to use it and speaks of what it would've been like. She is not like that any more (older and wiser) so she refuses. Check out the scene yourself, she literally says it out loud.
Young Galadriel was pretty vain and craved power, and her character had an arc in the books. She passes the test of facing the Ring in her older years.
That doesn't excuse ridiculous RoP version, of course.
@@easternwesterner she does not say the same thing in the book as she does in the movie.
@@easternwesterner
Wrong. If you bothered to watch the scene again, which I did to make sure I wasnt mistaken and will post below, she is NOT talking of her younger self, but of what she would do if she took the One Ring from Frodo; ie taking Sauron's place as a Dark Queen. Please actually do the research next time, make yourself actually look smart.
m.ruclips.net/video/K3VOf3CBGvw/видео.html
For those who don't know:
The Shire was never a f--kin' prophecy. The King of the region at the time gifted the Hobbits that land out of pity and as a reward for their help in a war. Their first settlement was actually Bree before most of them traveled further West.
And then that kingdom of Men died and aged out of memory and all of the buried kings became the Barrow-Wights.
Stop hurtin it with lore!
Its almost like this world has more than brain damaged magic to it
@silverscorpio24 Your knowledge of lore is not welcome sir and or madam and or they/them. Please take your logics and knowledge to another deep hole on the interwebs and let Amazon mutilate this franchise in peace!
@@Jeremy-83 As a fellow lore nerd, I disagree. Amazon is writing a topically conceived fanfiction, nothing more, and sunlight is the best disinfectant. Sure, they can say, "Oh, the king gifted them the land fulfilling the Harfoot prophecy hyuk hyuk!" but those of us who know how things play out from Tolkien's vision can smell weasel writing and bad correlation, and those of you who care about Middle-Earth deserve to know it's truth (not it's bastardization).
Edited because autocorrect doesn't know that amd is not a word...
But not until the opening of the 3rd age. By a being who does not yet exist. WHy sauron would bother with that is beyond me?
Whenever I feel upset about how my life is going, I take some time to consider Glug, the Glug-wife and the Glugling and how unfortunate their circumstances are. When compared, I don’t have it that bad after all. :)
Maybe Glug get happy ending
I’m rooting for Glug to slay Galadriel.
At least you are not in this show.
Maybe that was the plan. 🧐
Na.
Glug is doomed to eternal suffering.
Glug will be given Galadriel as a slave.
The funny thing is, the Barrow Wights were awoken by the Witchking of Angmar, famously, the chief of the Nazgûl. And the nine rings of men have not yet been created 😅
And the barrow downs are from the kingdom of Arnor famously non existent till after the fall of Numinor.
@samuelgarrison1952 They actually did originate in the First Age, before Arnor
@g3rman1a501
From what I'd read, they were created in the third age, not the first... I'll have to do more reading.
@g3rman1a501 i stand corrected. It had been a while since I last read the books and was trying to go off memory. I did look it back up to refresh my memory. Thank you for keeping me in check I should have confirmed this before posting. I will leave my original post unedited so my blunder may live on. Though I shall make it a point that the barrow wights did not exist till the fall of Arnor well into the 3rd age.
@@ostatnifajek128 glad you mentioned that. Cuz I would've said the same thing but alas I feel like the two of us are more likely to have actually read the source material to understand this.
Now I'm not a Tolkien scholar, (and I realise that Random Film Talk is only working from what is on screen in the show) but, they have absolutely screwed up the Barrow-wights too...
It is my understanding that Barrow-wights are the raised corpses of Northern Dunedain warriors from the kingdom of Cardolan. A kingdom which had been involved in a protracted war with the Witch-king of Angmar during the Third Age. The Witch-king raised these warriors as wights in an effort to prevent their kingdom ever being re-established.
It was during this war that the Dunedain created Westernesse weaponry specifically to combat and pierce through the magical protections the Witch-king had placed upon his forces...
It's for this reason alone that the weapons found within the barrows are able to kill Barrow-wights, they are Westernesse, belonged to the Dunedain who were buried there and subsequently raised, and they undo the magic of the Witch-king returning the wights to being lifeless corpses. This is why Merry's dagger did so much damage to the Witch-king leading to Éowyn being able to finally kill him. It was from a barrow and therefore of Westernesse origin!
So, there ARE no Barrow-wights without the Witch-king nor would there be any Westernesse weapons to kill them with, there is also no Witch-king without the nine rings for mortal men, and according to Rings of Power Sauron hasn't even bloody forged those yet... They have it ALL arse about face.
What is the point of forking out millions for an IP rich with lore if you're just going to damn well ignore it all!!
Money and IP recognotion for dumb uneducated and ignorant masses.
I mean... they have bungled so many things, this barely even registers on the scale anymore. They turned Galadriel, one of the wisest and eldest elven leaders in Middle Earth, pretty much a duchess on her own right, into a young, impulsive army captain. The Ishtari are only supposed to arrive to Middle Earth in the Third Age, yet they already have Gandalf here for name recognition. They messed up Annatar, they messed up the orcs, they compressed in-universe historical events that took place over centuries into a few months...
Honestly, the barrow wights are such a small detail, it's like talking about how a "historical" story where Winston Churchill helps Caesar to fight Napoleon before he could join hands with the evil George Washington and enslaves the Japanese in the hundred years war, the tommy-guns used by the Hungarian cavalry had scopes on them and were used as sniper rifles. Yes, it's technically a valid complaint, but it's but a stray wayward thread of a tapestry of WRONGNESS, so what's even the point?
@@Horvath_Gabor
Why the negative comment?
@@ikmor I think it's pretty self-explanatory, but just to reiterate: with how absurdly non-canon this whole thing is, I find pointing out inconsistencies in world-building-minutia that even most LotR fans wouldn't know or care much about to be pointless. I'm not attacking the OP, and he obviously knows his Tolkien lore, I just think trying to discuss this show in that context is an abject waste of time.
@@Horvath_Gabor I haven't read the books in years, so I'm picking up a good deal of lore from these discussions, though.
"There is a double fire arrow in me!" - random orc after fighting Galadriel, circa 1200 - 3319 of the Second Age
@@zak7an2 exploding orcs ! It is a common orc tactic to douse themselves in kerosine before any battle or engagement with the enemy. It's on page 57 of the orc manual, right next to instructions about loving your orc wife and educational games to play with your orc baby.
I personally believe they purposely had Galadriel get captured for the very reason so these two can 'chat' and the current orc leader can find out that Helbrand was Sauron. Infact, after he finds that out, dipshit might even 'let her go'. That's my prediction, anyway.
Circa 1200-3319 😂😂😂😂
I was there and i clapped when I saw it
"He probably read this in a book somewhere."
Yeah, Lord of the Rings. Except he got all the details wrong and somehow the Barrow Downs moved hundreds of miles east.
And thousands of years into the past 😂😂
Fun fact, the elves go to a place named "burial mound of wraiths" in their own language and are surprised to find wraiths.
Suza-t is the Westron word for the Shire. Westron doesn't exist yet, and the closest language to that now is Numenorian. It is entirely possible the Harfoots could have reached the Shire and not realized they made it where they are going since no one calls it that yet.
They are teasing the Shire in the same episode they reveal there are already undead horrors on the eastern border of it.
Entwives as written by Tolkien didn't really care about forests and actually abandoned the Ents to make fields and orchards instead of tending to the wild woodlands.
"We must get to Eregion as rapidly as possible! Quickly, hide all the fucking horses!"
You don't need horses when you have Elrond who probably has, from all the groveling and bowing to Galadriel, glutes of steel and is capable of running with 5-6 people on his shoulders faster than any horse ever could
Why do you think Celebrimborg did not have any horse during his travel to Khazad-dûm?
If Sauron can ride Galadriel to victory then Celebrimborg and Galadriel can ride Elrond to at least the nearest elven town
Horses cost money.
Budget is probably tighter this season.
Given that a horse died during the filming of season 1, they were probably pushing it with Berek. It does raise a valid point though: with all this traveling (and this also applies to season 1), why hasn't there been way more horse travel?
Galadriel isnt allowed near horses after the numenorean event
If nobody goes off trail I would love to know who made the trails in the first place
Well if you asked Emil pagliarulo you'd hear "you just answered your question, why, obviously it was the trailblazers!"
God i hate slopfield so fucking much it's unbelievable
Adar: bow before me or be gutted by Glug’s family doctor
Literal slaves: bows and gets branded in order to avoid needlessly getting killed
The writers: this is now a person of evil and a person of wild, even though they were very recently just a guy from the Southlands that was captured against their will, they are now different and bad? I can believe someone viewing a group like that as bandits, or dangerous, but they were just regular farmers 1 month ago and their actions are out of pragmatism.
The obvious equivalent would be the depiction of Wildlings in GOT, which most of the characters are prejudice against because they pillage southern towns and live barbaric or pagan-like lives. This is a view that formed likely after hundreds of years of isolation between each other, as well as the cultural and moral differences. In RoP, the wildmen are displaced refugees that were further displaced by a giant volcano, who were subsequently enslaved by evilmen and Glug, branded against their will, then released. They are desperate and hungry people released into a forrest, that the characters of the show view as “wild” and “evil”.
I’m gonna pull out the WWII card because this is malicious writing, this is the equivalent of wanting to ki** holoc**** survivors because got forcefully tattooed. That is, without a doubt, something you do not want your main characters doing unless they are morally bankrupt and drank brake fluid.
I don't think McDaggerman and his companions were chosen because of their skills. They were the only elves not inteligent enough to know, that when Galadriel approaches you about some sort of an expedition, it's in your best interest to suddenly remember that you urgently need to water your dog and take your cactus to the vet.
Anyone who has visited the DMV, post office or a municipal hospital has met a Gundabale.
Or met a parking attendant 😂
The funniest thing about Merrimac is that, after finding out he is a simpleton, Poppy is seemingly attracted to him given her body language and introduction. This suggests that her type of ideal partner is an idiot, or easily controlled.
🤢🤢🤢
The writers don't know how ancient the barrow wights are becuase they won't be created for about two thousand years. They're ancient in Bilbo's time.
Yeah. They were men from what used to be Arnor. And they died due to the Witchking killings them. And they rose again because the Witchking put evil spirits in their bodies to attack Frodo.
The specific barrow wights that Frodo and the gang encountered, yeah, but there has been mention that those were not the only ones.
The houseless souls of elves that refused afterlife are likely the source of these, corrupted in time by their unnatural state, and grabbing any body they could, even a dead human's
I still can't believe in two seasons we have most of the rings made without having meaningfully built the world at all.
I hate that the barrow downs exist this early in the timeline when they're supposed to be a burial ground established by the kingdom of Arnor that only becomes haunted after the WItch King sends evil spirits to them.
The oldest barrows date from the first age, later additions by the Dunedain after the fall of Numenor, and later corrupted by the Witchking. So they would have existed at this point as ancient burial mounds.
Add 'Galadrial can time travel' to the list of things that happened when the writers were dropped on their heads?
"So as to not get shanked by the Gluglings daycare teacher" 46:18... This guy is a legend.
Nori and Poppi aimed for the bushes. They missed, and landed safely on a very stretched suspension of disbelief, but aiming for the bushes is the how of the thing.
Also: Non-Tombadil. Before anyone else tries to trademark it.
What about shortening it to non-badil
@@aliciastokes9897 After some thought, Tom Non-badil is pretty dang good.
We shall split the profits. 50/50.
This is soap opera writing. Things happen just because to maximize drama, and conflicts and main plot points get resolved without rhyme or reason or off screen
22:19 “Grand-Elf.”
This is pain.
Grand Slam Elf
Grand-Alf
Like he's some kinda powerful mage, a grand-wizard, if you will
@@NickiRusin Barkley the White.
I know why they say the sea is always right. It's because after Numenor sinks someone will say the opposite "No land was ever left". Or something crap like that.
@@Gutgulper id like to say yes, but that would mean that the writers know what foreshadowing is and also think ahead. Both of which are not true.
Having elves turn invisible for wearing a ring of power is as dumb as having a duck sink in water.
Mortal men didn't turn invisible either. They slowly faded over a thousand of years of constant use.
But no, let's just reference the movies. Remember the movies? Anyone? It's just like in them?!
There are unfortunately no more ducks, Haitians have eaten them. Move on, citizen.
No ducks?
But but what about second duck?
🤗🦆
One of the "powers" of all the Rings except the Three, was invisibilty:
"And finally they ["all the rings alike"] had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron (‘the Necromancer’: so he is called as he casts a fleeting shadow and presage on the pages of The Hobbit): such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible.
The Elves of Eregion made Three supremely beautiful and powerful rings, almost solely of their own imagination, and directed to the preservation of beauty: they did not confer invisibility."
Letter 131
(It is possible that the Dwarves were 'immune' from being turned invisible)
Your commentary gives me a catharsis I cannot find elsewhere.
I’m so excited this is dropping today. I can’t watch the premier but it gives me something to look forward to when I get home from work tonight
"I will see you soon for part five"
The cliffhanger is unbearable. Will Random still be sane in a week? Fingers crossed....
The twist will be that he is bed-ridden due to catching stupidity from watching the show, and retarded alter-ego will do the episode breakdown
@@matthewmiller8297 Random is strong - sanity is for the weak!
24:12 You find any halflings yet?
WE AIN'T FOUND SHIT
When a literal spoof movie is better written than your multi-million dollar show, you know you've cocked up.
I really feel like they shoulda said the wildmen killed Bronwyn off screen. It'd make Aerondir's hatred of them make so much sense.
Well yes but that would mean actually introducing motivations and consequences. We can't have that in ROP sorry.
@@tubag313 True. I was thinking it could pass the "RoP test" by it helping imply that Isildur had somehow survived with no food captured by a spider for a longer period of time than should be possible. But you're right, not having motivations and consequences is the show's goal.
@@tubag313 and worldbuilding, because then they may have had to explain how Mordor already has 'wildmen' 3 fucking weeks into it's history
Seriously, this show is progressing as if 'mordor' already has this rich back story with cursed forests and wild tribes when it's been less than a month since that damned volcano went off
I thought this show couldn't get any lower in the "omg, we're such clever writers!" scale as it did when they did the fade-to-mordor lettering reveal in S01. But then they went and called not-gandalf "grand-elf"...
I must be the thickest mofo this side of the Southlands, because somehow that flew entirely past me 😆Jesus Christ!
Along with all the tortured metaphors and weird sayings, it screams the writers are high on their own supposed genius.
Hopefully Glug the orc, his wife, and glugling child get through RoP ok. It would be even better if Glug slayed Galadriel and showed her a real slash and stab.
2:06:00 the line Galadriel won't cross is understanding the consequences of her actions. That or a random point to be assigned by the writers in a convenient time for them
blud is already watching the next video
"I am the only person that can defeat Sauron"
*proceeds to risk her life in a meaningless skirmish*
I am repeatedly struck by how badly the writers handle conflicts. Nothing is set up ahead of time, things just happen, dangers and obstacles just blow up out of nowhere; bottomless chasms, giant worm monsters, orc armies, invulnerable liches, magical fumbles creating uncontrollable sandstorm twisters - they all just happen, one moment nothing and the next moment they’re there. And they frequently show situations that appear to be absolutely fatal, only to be either: resolved instantly, or: just not that bad trust me bro. When Isildur is trapped under debris inside a burning and then collapsed house, or when Estrid is backhanded so she goes flying and smacks into a rock, or when the hobbits are sucked up a hundred meters above ground in a violent whirlwind… and it looks as if that’s it, they’re definitely dead now, but it turns out they’re just inexplicably okay. Or when insurmountable problems are solved instantly and without effort. The giant worm monster that just ate our guys? No problem, they cut their way out from the inside. Invulnerable liches? No problem, use this weapon instead and now the fight is over in five seconds.
The writers are constantly telling us the stakes are super high. And then showing us that there are no stakes, no consequences for anything. It’s fascinating how bad the writers are at absolute basics.
Cheers!
24:44 I never thought Tom Bombadil would sound so dispassionate. He sounds like a sheep farmer herding sheep rather than a jolly whimsical supernatural figure.
"Horses cannot run for nearly a week without stopping"....
A more intelligent sentence than anything in this show...
Hang on, I thought Friday the 13th was supposed to be the day of BAD luck. Getting a Random Film Talk video today seems to contradict that.
Shouldn’t the not-hobbits be surprised that they speak the same language?
They all speak Common
If the Sauron in RoP was as competent as the Sauron in the books/movies…he would have conquered middle earth looooong before this! Not hard to conquer imbeciles.
Your videos are way more fun and entertaining than the actual series. Thank you for taking one for the team. I can understand that this is pure pain. Lol
Tom Bombadil in any LoTR media that isn’t a book is a sign that the writers do not understand how to write. He is an entirely pointless character that only sort of works in the books because they have 1000+ pages to work with. To include him in film or tv shows a complete lack of ability in making decisions to improve pacing and narrative cohesion. Jackson cutting him from the trilogy was most likely the first thing he did, and the fact he’s been ham fisted into Rings of Power means the show runners are so desperate for links to Tolkien that they’re prepared to put the least narratively adept inclusion in all of LoTR into their show.
Why do you hate diversity?
@@soma250 I hate diversity because I’m against the inclusion of a character where the actor is a… white man? And that character having always been depicted as a white man?
I dont agree that Bombadil is pointless, but I think his point is one that is very much at odds with basically any fiction which will try and include him. Bombadil is there to show that the world is bigger and stranger than anything going on, he is an enigma, something beyond the power of the ring and utterly uninterested in the quest to destroy it or in its use. He has a point in that he shows that the world exists beyond what we will see, that we are going to focus on only a specific aspect of it.
Competent writers can make literally anything work. Talentless nepos set themselves up for failure because they aren't aware that they really suck and that they should have had at least one smart person to sponge off of if they wanted to succeed.
I don't think Bombadil even works in the books given that he doesn't fit anywhere in the established mythology and the only reason he's there at all is because Tolkien previously wrote some poems about Bombadil and thought it would be cool to put him in Middle Earth.
Lord of the Rings was a love letter to Anglo Saxon England. Rings of power is a love letter to modern England... and it shows.
California*
So adar's army got strong enough to attack one of the best defended elven cities a week after being defeated by a small village and a small calvary
And he somehow marched it from Mordor to a place between Lindon and Eregion in the space of 3 days.
Ya but he got that troll now... that's like a +100 buff to his forces. A single troll... also love how elven scouts spotted Halbrand crossing the border but missed him going back across and have now also not seen an entire pissing army, a huge trench network and a literally evil shrine in their tower that was a dam lever.
Istrid forgot that Arondir exists because the writers are so inept they accidentally failed to give Istrid object permanence so as soon as something is out of sight, she forgets it exists completely.
Galadriel’s over excessively rolling her R’s like she is some Spanish chick it’s so fkn annoying.
Also, that Gilga-Daddy meme just ruined the series for me. On god 😂
Frodo must have had godlike powers when he was walking around wearing a coat of pure mithril mail. Forget the one ring, if a mithril alloy is all that’s needed to give these rings their crazy power than the mithril coat has got to be the most powerful artifact in all of middle earth
If Elrond knew that the spooky ghosts can only be killed by the weapons they were burried with, why does he order an attack? He knew it wouldn't do anything and that they have to get the weapons from the tombs.
Two words about traveling from Boston to Baltimore (and in reality, nobody from the Northeast would ever go further south or west). Lembas Bread. Cocaine infused Lembas Bread.
You know the worst part about this episode?
"Folks round the withywindle used to call me Bombadil"
no they fuckin didn't my dude
Bombadil is a word in the language of Bucklandish. Buckland doesn't exist until after The Shire is founded. Nobody speaks the language Bombadil comes from.
The thing people "used to call him" at this point of time, is Iarwain Ben-adar. "Oldest and Fatherless"
I think they allude to that with "Eldest" but can't use his actual name. That's grounds, in my eyes, to omit the character. This butchery is absurd.
"I told you to take the wizard's staff!"
-Grima Wormtongue
You’d deprive an old man his “”””””””walking””””””””” stick?
Grima's got more sense than every character in this show combined lol
Sauron: Takes a month to forge the rings. Ron Swanson - I crafted the rings in about 20 minutes.
Wait wouldnt be Ron short for Sau-Ron Ron Swanson is sairon thats why it took him only 20 minutes to forge the rings
Hang on a minute. Just a couple of points here!
The peasants of Pelagir live by a river. Why on earth do they need an aqueduct?
The peasants of Pelargir live by a river; right next to it in fact. Doesn't the river level change? What happens in spring when all the snow melts? Er...
The brand of Adar, isn't that a map that shows the location of Sauron? Quick everyone, tell Galadriel she has been looking in the wrong place for a thousand years!
The show runners seem desperate to include all of the stuff left out of the Peter Jackson movies in some sort of attempt to show they actually care about Tolkien and the lore. They've already included the Barrow Wights and Tom Bombadil, I won't be surprised if that Stoor villlage gets destroyed by the evil wizard and referred to as a scouring.
_"if that Stoor villlage gets destroyed by the evil wizard and referred to as a scouring"_
How about all that, plus that this "scouring" leads them all to take the trek northeast and settle in the fabled "Shire" their legends reference? Meaning these *_are_* the future Shirelings?
Just wait for it.
It’s so that Rasputin Saruman can scoure the hobbits twice.
I can see them completely bungle that quite cool part of the lore@@LateralTwitlerLT
why didn't sauron morph into a messenger after killing the others, supply his own forged letter that says "listen to this halbrand fellow" and hand it to celebrimbor????? like, buddy.
For all the bad that is rings of power it has given us so much content to watch
The forest is the barrow-downs... Downs are decidedly not forests. The wights didnt exist until after the Witch-king became undead. This time-line, judging from the events, Sauron as Annatar, Numenor existing, proto-hobbits, Rings not being forged (seriously, the rings shouldnt exist yet) the Barrow Downs didnt exist, therefore the wights don't exist.
The events are all out of sequence, there are no redeeming qualities in this series.
It's amazing how literally every detail no matter how incidental is wrong. It's like it's on purpose.
@RandomFilmTalk
I really enjoy your videos and I am now halfway through this, but I need to comment this before I forget it, as it would probably be a nice inclusion for your final autopsy.
You did nicely map out the travel route from Mithlond to Ost-in-Edhil, but you made a small geographical mistake in assuming that the writers are close to competent. Since I cannot attach images myself, I will try to explain based on your drawing at 37:41:
The path you drew in red is actually the fastest path to Eregion (Ost-in-Edhil). However, the crossing over the river Baranduin (Brandywein) there is the Sarnford. The Axa-Bridge (which is completely made up, by the way), is shown in the map of the show to be north of the Sarnford, approximately where the river has a more west-east orientation in between the two woodlands. The barrow downs are the hills right to the east of the supposed bridge (which is west of there the road crossing is).
In summary, that means:
1) Elrond, Galadriel and all the messengers did not take the fastest road (via the Sarnford) to Eregion, so as to be confronted with the destroyed bridge.
2) Going south from the destroyed bridge and taking the Sarnford would not only be faster, but also circumvent the barrow downs, as they are to the east of the destroyed bridge.
3) How going north would delay a journey of a few days (It takes much longer in real time, but alas, let it be for this show) by two weeks is out my understanding.
With a bit of middle-earth geography on the side-note: The landscape shots are gorgeous, but do not necessarily fit into this part of middle earth. The regions on the way from Mithlond to Eregion are what will later become the Shire and are, with a possible short exception of the Emyn Beraid (which are not particularly high either), rather gentle hills and not particularly mountainous. And neither should there be a deep canyon where the destroyed bridge is located.
Since I know you do not care about the lore for this analysis, but it is discussed in the comments, I want to mention this last:
The earliest version of the barrow downs was created by the Edain (Humans) on their way to Beleriand in the first age, so, technically, it is not entirely incorrect that they already existed. However, the regions was later inhabited by the people of Cardolan (one of the three Kingdoms of Arnor, established by the survivors of Numenor in the 3rd ! age). They expanded upon the graves and also literally lived in that area, until the barrow wights were awakened by the Witch King during the Angmar wars (again, 3rd age).
Is it entirely impossible that barrow wights were awakened by Sauron even this early? No. But is it very unlikely given that people would consciously decide to live in the spooky forrest aftwerwards? Hell yeah.
So lore wise, they took the two chapters that Jackson cut (rightfully so, in my opinion) from the Fellowship of the Ring (i.e. Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Downs), inserted both together in one episode (so for us to make the connection), only to include presumed "fan-favorites" that Jackson didn't. And they bend the whole geography of middle-earth in order to contrive the scene with the barrow downs. Two times, actually, as it was neither the fastest path nor are the barrow downs located in the south of the invented locataion for the "Axa" bridge.
I am sorry for the wall of text, but I needed to rant about this blatant geographical mistake of the show so that it doesn't go unnoticed. I hope it will help you for the final autopsy.
Have a good day and continue your nice work.
The showrunners probably once heard that time is relative, and this show is the effect of that.
I've gotten so much entertainment out of this dreadful show.
I know right? I enjoyed making fun of the acolyte too, but it's a little TOO cringey for me. This cringe is just right.
It’s actually crazy 😂
1:35:31 IGN giving Alien: Isolation a 5.9 and Rings of Power an 8 then a 6 is atrocious. Isolation is a better addition to the Alien Franchise than anything else that involves Alien for the past 2 decades. I remember falling in love with the Trailer for that game when I was in high school. The game lived up to everything it was said to be.
I have been rewatching the LOTRs films and it really emphasizes just how bad Rings of Power is as a series. I cannot fathom how folks can equally say Rings of Power is as good as the Jackson films(Yes, I know there are book fans who hate the movies but I'm strictly talking in terms of writing/ their own thing) in terms of writing. Or just as bad say the series could never get to the height of those films which I say: Why can't it? What's stopping Amazon or any of these "writers" from putting in the effort. A TV series more than a movie has ample time to explore Middle Earth and create some amazing characters, worlds etc. Just look at Arcane or heck, go back to Hercules, Xena etc.
But nope. These showrunners and "writers" want to put us critics down and say we are "trolls" and claim we are the problem. No; this series is the problem. Good art/ media is timeless. The decades will go by and the shots and effects can age but writing is timeless. Rings of Power won't stand the test of time. It's just good looking sludge.
I wouldn't even say good looking. The visual effects are often good, but the sets all look cheap and are lit like a sound stage. The costumes are cheap and bland, the towns appear empty, and it all feels amateur.
@@JackChurchill101Definitely agree on the costumes. I don't get why people praise them. The armor looks like painted plastic (because that's most likely what it is), the general outfits are unflattering on the actors (especially any of the robes and that dress the character calling herself Galadriel wore at the end of the first season), and there was that easily noticeable printed scale-pattern t-shirt.
I'm not knowledgeable about fashion or costume design at all (being a typical man lol), but even I can tell something is wrong with these designs. I remember at least one video coming out around the first season, from a costume designer who was critiquing the designs and pointing out why they're so bad.
No, you are the problem... for not eating up the streaming slime produced and fed to you. Be happy that some characters have some names which one can recognize. It does not matter if whole plot lines are taken into a car crash and get replaced by nonsense slob.
It's a relief that it's so seperate from lotr. Unlike Disney Star Wars where everybody pretends that it's canon.
Why do you hate strong female characters, you bigot?
Why was Celebrimbor's letter delivered to Durin Jr., who no longer has the authority to negotiate dealings with a foreign non-personal-friend Elven Lord?
He's the main dwarf character. D'oh.
+1 engagement for a very passable Skeletor impression.
You know gil galad was right all along since season 1, if galadriel didnt sail to valinor, she would awaken the evil she sought to destroy.
Is it just me or is literally every actor I’ll suited to the role they’re in? Sauron’s actor is the only one that’s not off putting but Jesus Christ everyone else is just brutal to me
I like half the harfoot's half as much as i would like, and I dislike half the harfoots's half as much as they deserve.
Annoyingly it actually seems like the guy they got to play bombadil would actually be really good at it, if he had the script and the direction of someone who knew what they were doing.
He's actually a really good actor. How he ended up in this crap I will never know.
@@Jamie_E_Pritchard Man's got bills to pay, I believe most actors have to take what they can get.
@@Rorannnn Fair point.
You just have to know this: the showrunners are masters in quantum mechanics.
The character are in a superposition of smart and dump as long not measured.
And the elfs do not travel, they just tunnel. They are smeared out over all of Middle Earth and localize where the plot looks at.
Basically, everyone in this show is a version of Schroedingers cat.
Entwives aren't all about the trees. They're about the shrubs and the bushes and fruit trees and vegetables and taught men how to farm. They also didn't live with the ents. They lived out on the plains north of Mordor where they made gardens and the ents would come to visit them leaving behind the primeval forest.
There are probably a dozen people already mentioning this here, but I'll say it anyway.
Nerd moment: the barrow-downs can't be a thing in the show, because these burial grounds were established by Anor... The kingdom doesn't exist yet. It was established after the fall of Númenor, which as you might've guessed hasn't happened in the show yet.
The burial grounds (or variants of them) has existed since the 1st Age.
Problem is they're located way far to the East in the show, plus the enchanted weapons the Elves use to "kill" these "zombies" with didn't exist until the 3rd age/after the _fall of Numenor_ nor had the Witchking of Angmar "awoken" them from death yet. Guess Sauron taught him how to do it after doing it here in RoP :D
@@LateralTwitlerLT I didn't even look at the fact that the location was way off. Good catch. I do in fact have a detailed map of middle earth on the wall of my hobby room, so I could've gone down into the basement to check if I want a lazy sack right now. Thank you for pointing it out.
@LateralTwitlerLT But I thought it was an arnor tomb, where does it say the barriw downs are first age?
@@georgethompson913 Not the barrow downs per se, but burial mounds for kings and important men. Which is why the men who settled there at the end of the Second Age took up the practice.
Why are all the wigs sooooo bad?
They hate hair
the thing with Theo is that there is also no information on who his father is, which Arondir specifically brings up in s2ep3 to which Theo replies "no, i dont know who my dad is but it sure as shit isnt you"
so im pretty sure they are setting him up to be a long lost son of a long lost king or something like that, one of the possible reasons for this being that yeah they dont actually have any human kings for the nine except Pharazon
Ah yes. Episode 4. Level 3 of side quest hell. How do you make a filler episode for an 8 episode season?
I know things slightly pick up towards the end, but... did anyone play Dragon Age Inquisition?
The hinterlands. I felt like I was back in the Hinterlands. Way too much time wasted on pointless crap and fetch quests with no consequence. And then when you finally pull yourself out of the admin, it's like 3am and you have to go to bed and deal with the plot tomorrow. I cannot believe a TV show replicated that feeling so impressively.
I'm not saying the Eregion plotline or the Khazad dum plots are perfect but lord did I feel the lack of thier presence in this episode. It felt like a monster of the week filler episode/ Easter egg and reference fest. It was a chore to watch, in a way even the first three episodes of this season weren't
So... Tolkien's Gundabar crows
and then Jackson's Gundabar bats of war
...and now
Amazon's Gundabale the horrible Hobbit
My head!
Did we consider that Elrond believes Sauron to be influencing Galadriel, and then he told her to pick soldiers for their trip to ensure the message that reveals Sauron's identity goes smoothly? Is it actually a surprise that she picked bad company, or maybe that could be attributed to ring influence. (AND the bog standard writing quality).
I’m not watching the show, this is the only way I’m knowing what’s happening, but I would assume that the reason for the “who are you?” “What do you mean?” Discussion is because non-Gandalf will be influenced by this, thus leading to his talk with bilbo in the hobbit
“Good morning”
“What do you mean by good morning?”
Missed opportunity: if Elrond hadn't been able to open the crypt the wights wouldn't have just killed them, we would have gotten one of those cliff hangers where we see the elves have been bound by the chains in their barrows and Tom Bombadil would have to rescue them.
Something I really disagree with is claiming that elves need the rings to see glimpses into the future. As far as I'm aware, they don't. Isn't that just part of being an elf that they have abilities far beyond the average man. Some of these abilities are considered magic but to them it's just a natural part of their being. Hell even in the show contradicts itself with Gil-galad saying he saw a future back in S1 where Galadriel would bring evil back into the world or something like that, which is why he sent her away.
Anyway never mind the rings don't really do that anyway, Nenya (Galadriel's ring) in particular is known for preservation, protection, and concealment from evil. She can literally cloak herself and others from evil, in lore and in this show she would have no reason not to use it when the orcs are about. The one ring isn't created yet AND she doesn't believe them to be corrupted even though they have every reason to think they were. So either way why is she not using her ring?
She took the ring off because the writers knew she'd be captured by Adar, and they figured that explaining how she got the ring back after that would be too hard.
The scene where not gandalfs map is blown away by the wind made me quit watching this shit
Its like watching a real life cartoon with lotr names
The absolute worst part is that they actaully thought they had to spend an entire episode in season 1 just to show that Lemonlass cut down a tree once. Why? And, how does Standalf get a hot bath in the middle of the desert where there is only one tree, that won't even give hima single branch for a staff? "You are not worthy of a staff yet. But you can have my wood for a bath." The showrunners are Superhero flick guys and don't undestand the world building neccesary in Fantasy.
The Rings of Power is in the nearly impossible position where it both "must not follow the lore", and "must not contradict the lore" in order to be a success.
Didn't have to be that way. They had more than enough story outline to follow without touching Silmarilion references.
All they had to do was fill in the timeline with characters and conversations.
Now it's too late.
The other problem is that the original lore is deliberately vague on most social aspects of the world. So there is no mention of anything like money, trade or military logistics. And these writers aren’t smart enough to add realism OR keep it purely High Fantasy…
They dug that hole for themselves…
It's in the nearly impossible position of not contradicting their own story at every opportunity
Who said they couldnt follow the lore? Who said they needed dei? Who said they needed to employ retarded writers? Who said they needed the worst actors possible? Who said that they had to make characters dumb as fuck? Who said they needed to drag out plot lines in the most nonsensical ways?
I will enjoy this 10x as much as ROP
... I just relised the trampoline joke is a new groove reference...
The lack of horses was probably a budget issue, like in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Which really raises suspicions re where the money went for a season that's meant to be quite a few hundred million dollars
1:19:55 “Rings of Power is not a story. It is a sequence of events that were designed to elicit an emotional response.”
That is the most succinct description of why this show is failing outside of respecting the source material.
The fact someone as wooden as Theo getting caught by an Ent just writes itself
31:31 hold it a second - having one or more _messengers_ not coming back is very, very different to Cellabribum not giving the messengers an answer or not sending his own messengers later. A messenger is a person, and for high level governmental messages they'd be trusted, skilled, well-equipped, and carry some authority - losing one or more _people_ like that is _not_ like an email ending up in the Spam folder
What I've been wondering since the start of season two is; After Morgoth was eliminated at the end of the first age, Sauron tried to lead the orcs but was assassinated by Adar and friends. He became a glob of oily hair until eventually taking the shape of Halibrand and randomly meeting up with Galadriel in the middle of the ocean. So when did he lead the legion of orcs that fought the elves and eventually killed Galadriel's brother and kidnapped her husband? That's the start of her entire 1,000 year vengeance campaign and the basis for this entire flipping series. So when did he do that according to the show runners?
You'd think the $1bil defilement of Tolkien's expansive imaginative brilliance would do better than read like something regurgitated by ChatGPT.
If only the 'writers' had used ChatGPT.
You'd think, except that it's got Bezos' money all over it, and we know how deeply he respects culture because he made a rocket that looked like a willy and fired himself into low orbit.
To be absolutely fair to the show, we dont know how long elven league is. So I would use this number not as proof wtiters screwed up, but as a ground to prove they screwed up in future
Those pesky hobbitzes… when Nori wakes up and her first question is „have you seen him“ and not „are you okay“. Those folks are the true evil in middle earth 😅
Also how does not Gandalf know what Sauron is and that he is evil? Or is he just assuming since the priests didn’t like the horrorfoots and they might have been looking for him that he is evil? 🤔
The Elves not having horses kind of makes sense, since they don't need to stop.
also unlike the Fellowship they didn't need stealth which horses are more easily tracked - poop, smell, sound. Their mission was speed so no reason not to have horses.
Old army song - "40 miles a day on beans and hay. "
I think it is technically possible for a party of all non-humans to travel that far without any rest. I know you don't compare Rings of Power to LotR because they're technically not connected to eachother, however Gimli does say that he, Aragorn and Legolas ran without stopping for 3 days and nights to catch up to the Uruk-hai carrying Merry and Pippin. Elves being completely ageless and also requiring much less food than other races (according to the deleted scene with Legolas explaining that he only needs a single bite of bread to fill his stomach, and then the hobbits reveal to eachother that they each ate several full pieces) paints a picture of Elves needing almost no sleep or food when compared to a baseline human
Isn't that just because it's Lembas? Not normal food? It's like magical Elven bread yeah?
Well if they can run for a week, then i dont want to believe, that they couldnt jump over to the other side of the bridge, which was like 2-3 meters away
Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas's effort is supposed to be legendary. Truly pushing the boundaries of what is possible. The elves can just travel normally, with horses.
The bread is lembas, a singal bite of it satisfies.
The walk of the hunters is barely physically possible for aragorn or gimli. But elves can sleep run which helps legolas.
I have a theory that the writers heard all the feedback on the pacing of S1 and responded by putting S2 on ffwd so they can inflict even more of their dullness on the audience.
Given that Istari are Ainur, the first beings created by Elu Iluvatar, and Tom is behaving as if he's older than Not Gandalf, so the only thing he can be is Elu Iluvatar.
Member when they were taking the hobbits to Isengard?
Running > horses is what the writters took from that
Sauron is able to do what he is doing, just because Galadriel did not just say who he was before leaving and following elrond. All of this season, it's because of her. All of season 1, is because of her. Everything, is because of her, she is so annoying.
The Skeletor impression at 30:!5 was ON POINT, hahahaha more of this character!
Lil dude with the hair has the same look on his face as every new line cook on their first day
The writers put less thought into travel time than Monty Python did into the air speed velocity of swallows.