Rings Of Power (spoilers)

I watched episode 1 last night and will watch episode 2 tonight.

Enjoyed episode 1 and it’s nice as a series as they can explore more beside the main story.

I’m assuming the man who fell from the sky is Gandalf?

Enjoyed the first 2 episodes, I'm going to go with Gandalf the Grey of the Istari.

I’m assuming the man who fell from the sky is Gandalf?

I thought so too, was hoping someone with more Tolkien knowledge would have a better answer. I've read that there were other wizards apart from Gandalf, Saruman and Radigast that came to middle earth. Gandalf is one of my favourite characters from the movies / books, just not sure I need to see 'young' Gandalf...

I’ve watched both episodes and am undecided. Ep 1 started well with the battles but went downhill from there for me. Ep 2 held my interest more and I think I’ll persevere with it.

It's also nice to see that Lenny Henry isn't the comic relief.

Definitely feels like they’re trying to match the style of the PJ films, it looks stunning.

It damn well better look stunning considering how much money they've thrown at it. I'll watch it tonight, hope they can write a better ending than the Game of Thrones crew.

Don’t think it’s Gandalf as he doesn’t make an appearance until the third age and this is set in the second. Could be one of his kind though.

Preferring it to House of the Dragon so far. Lenny Henry can actually act.

Sort of hoping it's not Gandalf. Nice to see Dwarves at the height of their power rather than their underground cities in ruins.

Was sauron around before the Wizards? Haven't seen any of it yet.

(There's a sentence I never thought I'd write).

I’m assuming the man who fell from the sky is Gandalf?

I thought so too, was hoping someone with more Tolkien knowledge would have a better answer. I’ve read that there were other wizards apart from Gandalf, Saruman and Radigast that came to middle earth. Gandalf is one of my favourite characters from the movies / books, just not sure I need to see ‘young’ Gandalf…

In the books the Valar sent Maiar from Valinor to Middle Earth in the Third Age, they appeared as old men, 5 are known.

Watched the first two episodes, not bothered about the diversity malarky, but the script is a bit clunky and some of the actors are pretty poor for such a huge series.

The big worry is the potential for a lack of originality, we are 2000 years before LOTR and we're seeing harfoots being a big part of the story, and they're the same jovial fun people from the films, we also appear to have the wish.com Aragon and he's hooking up with Galadriel, it's got a very Fellowship feel to it already!

Gonna have to watch this, I loved the Silmarillion when I was a young un!

Maybe because I’ve been waiting impatiently for this to drop, but I really enjoyed it. Looks amazing, it’s not perfect, but looks promising.

Do agree with argee, it does have a very fellowship feel to it.

Was sauron around before the Wizards? Haven’t seen any of it yet.

They are both Maia older than Middle Earth, Sauron was active on Middle Earth in the First Age as Morgoth's lieutenant, Gandalf was sent in the Third Age.

(from what I remember, it was a complicated timeline across various books and appendixes, and some inconsistencies)

There were two blue wizards sent in the second age but they normally arrive by boat. My money is on the stranger being Sauron.

There were two blue wizards sent in the second age but they normally arrive by boat. My money is on the stranger being Sauron.

Can't see it, think it'll be a wizard of the same ilk as Gandalf, from source material Sauron is plotting elsewhere, and the second episode gave us the insight to his entrance to the storyline.

Very good so far, I thought. Definitely has potential.

think it’ll be a wizard of the same ilk as Gandalf

Could it be Tom Bombadil?

https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Tom_Bombadil

I'm partly ashamed to admit, Tolkien geekery is one of my favourite things. Let me just pull up a chair and get comfy...

I was worried that the non-canon stuff they've added would annoy me, but after watching the first 2 episodes, not so much. Galadriel the Warrior Queen is going to get annoying, as it seems so far beyond the character as originally written. Not sure why they couldn't just have written an original character for that role, as they've created so many original characters elsewhere, but we'll see how it goes.
Weirdly, I think having played the Middle-Earth RPG stuff years ago has prepped me to be more accepting of non-canon stuff. Tolkien left loads of blank space for writers to play around in. So I've gone from being "oh god, this could be terrible" to "actually, that wasn't so bad" in the space of 2 episodes.

Could it be Tom Bombadil?

Nah. The implication was that he was something special, who had always existed, not a creation of the in-universe god. I think they are trying to fake us out with this guy. I think they are trying to make us think it's Gandalf or Saruman, though the bit with the fireflies is very Radagast. But the wizards were sent much later in order to be Sauron's adversaries, so if that's one of them, then my worries over the mangling of the canon get turned up a notch.
I reckon he'll turn out to be Sauron, who still had physical form in the 2nd age. Or some newly created original character.

The way he arrived, it's possible he could be a T800, sent by skynet from the future to ensure John Connor is never born?

The stranger, i believe the fire and molten rocks were cool to the touch, this was set up as as a hint earlier when the Elves noticed their torch flames were also cold due to the presence of evil.

The fire flies all died after dancing to his tune. Very Sauron IMO. Can't be sure though.

I too played significant amounts of MERP BITD.

AFAIR, in the second age, Sauron worms his way into prominence in Numenor, the original home of the Dunedain men, and he's responsible for their fall by making them too arrogant and some other stuff. He's more of a beautiful manipulator than warrior overlord at this time.

Difficult to say at the moment, not many clues as to where in the second age we are.

Galadriel the Warrior Queen

she's a veteran of the last war with Morgoth at this time, but is just a ranking officer. Note the absence of any magic use to date.

In the time of LOTR she's a powerful sorcerer.

Sauron worms his way into prominence in Numenor

Will have to keep an eye out for men out at sea ...

Difficult to say at the moment, not many clues as to where in the second age we are

Eregion exists, Moria looks to be at its height, Sauron is nowhere to be seen and Mordor still seems to be fertile and settled by humans, so somewhere between SA 750 and 1000, I reckon.

http://lotrproject.com/timeline

Sauron Annatar the fair, "Lord of Gifts" is nowhere to be seen (he/she teaches Elrond and Celebrimbor how to make the rings of power according to Tolkien).

Have to say they've not let any hints out with the casting as to who is going to play Sauron/Annatar. (still hoping it's going to be Cumberbatch 😉 )

After episode 3, it doesn't look like there's any point trying to pin things down to a particular point in time in the published works.

Sauron hasn't revealed himself and the rings haven't been forged, that puts it around SA1000.
But Miriel is Queen of Numenor, which has been closed to elves for generations. That would put it around SA3200.

That said, I did enjoy it.

Still a bit plodding, acting and tone all over the shop but still looks nice. Hoping it starts to improve and find a tonal balance soon.

2 in and I’m struggling, spoilt by The Boys, Vikings and in the last month saw all 73 GOT’s.

It’ll be a slow burn I think, so much going on and so many characters it’s going to not make much sense until they start merging.

Still think the harfoots stuff is going to be a complete wedge in to be like fellowship, episode 3 has made it even more aligned!

I too played significant amounts of MERP BITD.

Still got a mint, boxed copy!

I like it so far.
The discrepancies don't bother me, at least not as much as they did watching Sherlock!

And I love the diversity, although the Oirish accents for the Harfoots (Harfeet? 🙂) is starting to grate a bit, as are the Elvish aphorisms.

I'm really enjoying this so far. It's probably the most stunning TV show I've ever seen visually, better than most movies as well.

I love the LOTR books and the Hobbit but aren't too much of a lore snob so I don't particularly mind them condensing a lot of the second age into a more manageable timeline for the show. Really interested in finding out who the man is, I don't think he's either Sauron or Gandalf. Sauron is definitely hiding out as someone else at the moment though.

Also I'm loving the actor who plays Galadriel, I think she's great in it.

I've watched the first two episodes, and will be watching the third tonight.

Absolutely stunning looking show. Agreed that it looks better than most films (including all the Marvel ones). So far it has introduced some interesting characters and enough intrigue to keep me watching.

I've got all the Tolkien books from The Hobbit to The Silmarillion and love the world he created but I really do not understand all the online hate for this series. Seems like all the weird incel / MAGA / 4Chan basement dwellers have got in a tizz over a couple of BAME characters and have nothing better to do than review bomb the series.

3 episodes in and I'm really enjoying it.

I've read all the books and seen the films but not a LOTR lore nerd so there are enough reference points for me to pick up on, but I don't know timelines so aren't worried about stuff getting mixed up.

Watched three now, first two were enjoyable but didn't really grab me. Three was brilliant for me with some of the big names from LOTR history starting to apear.

I'm very much enjoying this, beautifully done and very immersive. After watching GoT I found the dialogue in the movies a bit cringy but came back round and I'm lapping this up. Witcher and Wheel of time were let downs but this has grabbed me even though it's slow to take off.

Watched 1&2 don't think it's sauron. Too "innocent" even to the extent of not understanding the effects of his power.
GoT was harsh and I just stopped watching half way through an episode never went back. This is much easier to watch.

I’ve watched the first 3 episodes and quite like it despite never having read any Tolkien books, I’ll hunt out the lord of the rings trilogy and hobbit stuff to watch on prime/Netflix as I’ve only managed to see the first episode of lord of the rings.

As soon as elendil and isildur appeared all the childhood memories of reading the Hobbit and LoTR came flooding back. Great series so far

This ^^

Watched three episodes so far and am thoroughly enjoying it. Keep reading reviews where people are complaining that it's boring (along with a lot of frankly depressing comments about, well, you know what) but simply can't see that. Whole thing so far feels a lot like the bit in the Fellowship of the king film where they go through the Argonath.

The Orcs are definitely much nastier than in the films but then there are no Urak-hai as afar as I know in the second age

The bit in the second episode with Arondir in the tunnels was awesome, claustrophobic and scary and the character definitely has a lot of the feeling of Strider about him: nothing like a good Orc hunt to brighten the day...

Roll on episode 4.

I’ll hunt out the lord of the rings trilogy and hobbit stuff to watch on prime/Netflix as I’ve only managed to see the first episode of lord of the rings.

I’d skip the Hobbit films and stick to LotR and this new series. The Hobbit was dire despite Martin Freeman being well cast as Bilbo.

I can thoroughly recommend Screen Crush on YouTube for some geeky insight.

Always try to catch it after an episode for the stuff I've missed or never knew.

After episode 3, it doesn’t look like there’s any point trying to pin things down to a particular point in time in the published works.

Yeah, i think they need to nail it down that this series is going to realign the timeline of the Second Age, it has to, there's hundreds of years between all the events and characters, you'd have to recast everything but the elves with each time jump.

Tolkien was always up for reviewing and reworking his world that he'd built, so hopefully they don't get too uppity about some of it, but yes, we are seeing things that are two thousand years apart happening around the same timeline on the show!

Anyone else think that Sauron has already appeared?

If you mean the fallen angel I think that's Gandalf

No - that’s be too obvious, but I wondered if he’d appeared elsewhere, more discretely. Might be wrong though …

My vote's for Gandalf, too. Or at least one of the mages, but not Sauron. And if this means departing from the official storyline, OK. I'm not in the slightest bit concerned about whether or not a fantasy show I'm watching on TV is 100% faithful to the original book.

a major part of the Sauron back story is he's fair and charming and as punishment the Valar remove his ability to
have a physical form.

I think it's Gandalf, the link to the Harfoots / Hobbits is the give away.

I wondered if the sailor washed up with Galadriel in Numenor might end up being Sauron - his implied skill at metal working, charm and violence when provoked had me wondering?

I think it’s Gandalf, the link to the Harfoots / Hobbits is the give away.

Would be weird, to be fair, Harfoots (Hobbits) were stated as not doing anything of note until the third age, and the maiar never appeared until the third age, so would take it in a completely different direction to the source material.

Same with Sauron, he's already somewhere in middle earth skulking about, Valars would be a bit too strong to bring to the story without Morgoth around, it's going to be interesting to see how they work the storyline, if it is an earlier maiar version of gandalf then i hope it's not just to bring the harfoots into the storyline, it's been done so many times now, and there's so many more interesting species around to use rather than just rehashing the films.

Episode 1 was long-winded pompous guff. Much as I’d expected. ‘The wind that aims to blow out the fire may also fan the flames’ or whatever. Comical pseudo-profound BS.

Episode 2 was a bit better.

Not sure I’ll stick it out for the rest.

Comical pseudo-profound BS.

I’m not sure it was ever pitched as competition for those black and white Ingmar Bergman films on C4. Granted a soundtrack with one violin playing discords would have cheaper than going full ‘Howard Shore’.

although the Oirish accents for the Harfoots (Harfeet? 🙂) is starting to grate a bit

Me and Mrs bloke were chuckling at the allocation of accents to the various races:

Harfoots (a comical, itinerant travelling people) = Irish

Dwarves (fond of a drink, belligerent and with a tight hold on their treasure) = Scottish

Elves = (genteel, educated, wise and beneficent) = Public school English

Orcs (the baddies) = a mish mash of working class northerners and east end cockneys!

It couldn't have included any more crass class stereotypes if it had tried!  You just know all the writers and production staff are from good Elvish stock!  Despite the class war casting, I think it's been an entertaining watch.  Looking forward to seeing it develop.  I also thought the stranger might have been Tom Bombadil.

I thought the Harfoots were a mix of Irish and West Country accents, Lenny Henry is definitely doing his somerset/devon accent, are they all meant to be speaking the same accent, if so i think they might want a bit more training 😂

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MfBqZoYlEsk

Got to say I'm finding it a little slow / dull. And I'm a die hard fan. I mean the bit with Galadriel riding the horse on the beach in episode 3 actually had me saying to the wife this is terrible - unless there was some point to that scene I'm missing. Lots of things for those that like the lore, but definitely needs to up the % of action somewhat.

I'll stick with it, because I want to know what happens, not necessarily because I'm enjoying it

There's so many timelines merging together in this, from both second and third ages, it'll be interesting to see how it's taken by the Tolkien crowd, personally i think it's worth it as the timelines are so vast you'd be recasting every few episodes to capture all this, but it's certainly looks like it'll be covering a lot of key points, the last episode might potentially explain why an earlier Gandalf may be the stranger.

Got to say I’m finding it a little slow / dull.

It's full on action compared to the House of the Dragon dullfest.

Well, i thought the latest episode was pretty decent.

Cant really say much about it without chucking out loads of spoilers, which I know is in tbe threaf title but still, there was some fairly chunky spoilers in this one.

I've just caught up with episodes 3 and 4, really enjoying it. I think Numenor looked stunning, I enjoyed the world building. I like the friendship between Elrond and Durin. And Elrond's 'super elf eyesight'.

The elf v orc, fight was really well staged. I love the cockney orc accents...

I've read loads of complaints of it being slow, have these people never read the books? Thy were never action-a-minute, page turners. Definitely more of a slow burn. I like patient story telling.

I think most of series one will be setting the scene getting all the players aligned. When's series 2 out? : )

Series 2 starts filming October 2022 according to Wikipedia

Im really enjoying it, beautiful to look at and the story is moving along, doesn't fall need to be big battles. House of the Dragon in comparison is dull.

For me it slows down when they start doing the harfoots stuff, it just feels like mostly filler, whereas this week we had a lot of the other stuff that's moving a lot faster, especially in Numenor and in the dwarf mine

I think the Harfoots are in it because the spaceman is actually Gandalf, otherwise at this point they feel more like a distraction.

Gandalf is already about but in a different form in the second age. He was called Olorin and chilling in the West with the Valar. Tom Bombadil has been around since year dot and is older than anything or anyone else.

I’ve not read the books for years, but I think there were two blue wizards in the second age. They were sent specifically to disrupt Sauron’s plans. I don’t think Sauron will make an appearance until the next series. There’ll be a couple of red herrings and then he’ll come in to the story as a good guy.

I’d be happy if they disregard the lore and do their own thing though. People can read the books and the series can be it’s own thing. So if the space man is Gandalf that’s fine.

I’m liking the series more after four episodes but still find the tone inconsistent.

Just found this, so spaceman probably isn’t one of the blue.

Towards the end of his life Tolkien returned to the issue of the other two Wizards. In a brief outline he noted that the two Wizards were sent to Middle-earth in the Second Age and were destined to disrupt the work of Sauron in the East:

Their task was to circumvent Sauron: to bring help to the few tribes of Men that had rebelled from Melkor-worship, to stir up rebellion ... and after his first fall to search out his hiding (in which they failed) and to cause [?dissension and disarray] among the dark East ... They must have had very great influence on the history of the Second Age and Third Age in weakening and disarraying the forces of East ... who would both in the Second Age and Third Age otherwise have ... outnumbered the West.
—"Last Writings", The Peoples of Middle-earth[4]

Therefore Tolkien dramatically altered his conception of the two Wizards. They no longer arrived in Middle-earth along with Saruman, Gandalf, and Radagast in c. T.A. 1000. Instead they arrived much earlier, at roughly the same time as Glorfindel in c. S.A. 1600. Whilst Glorfindel was tasked with aiding Elrond with the war in Eriador, the Wizards were destined to journey to the East and South. Instead of mentioning that they drifted from their mission, Tolkien points out that they played a decisive role in the downfall of Sauron at the end of both the Second Age and the Third Age. They became known as Morinehtar and Rómestámo, Darkness-slayer and East-helper, and were successful in preventing the forces of the East and South from outnumbering those of the Free peoples in the West.[4]

Based on these later writings, a history of the two Wizards can be summarised as the following:[4][5]

The two Wizards were sent to Middle-earth at roughly the same time as Glorfindel in c. S.A. 1600 (and similarly at the behest of the Valar), the Year of Dread, when Sauron forged the One Ring and completed the building of Barad-dûr.
The two Wizards journeyed into the East and South of Middle-earth, where they remained; they were not heard or seen of west of Mordor.
There they became known as Morinehtar and Rómestámo, Darkness-slayer and East-helper.
The two Wizards were able to hinder Sauron's operations in the East and South, aiding the defeat of Sauron in the War of the Elves and Sauron and War of the Last Alliance.
During the early Third Age and until the end of the Watchful Peace, they were tasked with finding where Sauron dwelt. They failed.
They ensured that the forces of the East and South did not outnumber the West, thus helping secure victory for the Free peoples in War of the Ring.

Apparently the Orc / Elf leader is the first Orc that Melkor (Sauron's old boss) created by corrupting an Elf, so he's definitely not Sauron.

I really think comet man could be Sauron, or Halbrand. Definitely been little hints here and there that suggests it could be either one.

It would just be nice to have the strangers story move a little without having to have so much harfoots stuff, that singing and dancing stuff was not very good, then the whole sad stuff about those left behind, 5 minutes after they'd all been singing about nobody being left behind 😂

Series 2 starts filming October 2022 according to Wikipedia

Yep , Bray and Bovingdon.

As big fan of The Silmarillion, I am really enjoying it.
I hope they go back and do some first age stuff if this proves a success.

My only criticism is how one of the wisest Elves acts so brashly, and with the political nouse of a fart.

I really think comet man could be Sauron, or Halbrand.

Now Halbrand makes sense. He's silvertongued and in the 3rd episode he claimed to be a great blacksmith- handy for forging rings

Got to say I’m finding it a little slow / dull.

Have to agree. It's all very pretty but it could do with a bit more oomph.

It's the first season of a planned multi season show, which has sewed the seeds of some potential big events occurring during the show, i'd expect the season ending to have the big events, there's lots going on in numenor, same with middle earth and we've just seen something with the dwarves that could be a plot for something big.

It's just glacial when we end up with the harfoots for me, at best it's a side plot, at worst they're going to just imitate Fellowship even more with the harfoot plot, which is definitely not a good thing for me.

Mmmm. Who's the elf lord poet who is having a forge/tower built by the dwarves?

Celebrimbor - Fancy pants Elven smith. Sauron, in disguise, helps him make the rings whilst secretly crafting the one ring.

blimey this is a tiresome drag.

I bailed about 15 mins into episode one (probably more the background music than the RP elves everywhere). Shame as I could do with a bit of escapism and had considered another go, but this thread really ain't selling it.

New episode that bad?I've not watched latest episode but if it wasn't for the hype and the fact I loved the LOTR films I'd have not bothered watching anymore after the first 30mins of the first episode.