Claiming to be "writing the novel Tolkien never wrote" is the worst form of hubris from the showrunners AFAIC. We have that novel. Its called The Silmarillion. That is all we need, well that and the Unfinished Tales.
@A.S. Raiyan The parellels with the Star Wars sequels are now more fitting than you think. It turns out the ROP showrunners are proteges of J.J. Abrams and worked with him on his version of Star Trek. Of course, Abrams was the man behind the dumpster fire which was TLJ as well.
In a similar manner to Abrams, the showrunners are doubling down, saying the seemingly bad writing is intentional and actually part of the plan which critics are just too dense to understand. They also resort to insulting anyone who does not praise the series.
As someone said recently though, if this series was really so good as they say it should be able to stand on its own merits. They should not have to keep reminding us of how amazing it is, or emotionally blackmailing us. Seems like brainwashing.
@Take-Taketo Exactly. The forging of the Rings isn't just an important story, it is linked with other key themes and details in the lore. Tolkien said it is essential to understanding the events of the Hobbit and LOTR. It should not be rushed, it needs exposition and careful explanation. One change can completely destroy the lore and make the story nonsensical.
For example, Tolkien clearly said that Annatar could not get into Lindon, so had to go to Eregion. He was also posing as an emmisary of the Valar. That is important, because the Elves would never have taken advice from a mortal man. They were too proud. He had to have appeared to have come from Valinor to be credible.
This series has made a complete hash up of it. So far, they've only forged the 3 Elven rings. The others given to the Dwarves and men still need to be forged, but they must be forged in Eregion under the supervision of Sauron. This is essential to understand his power over them. Yet as it stands right now, the Elves aren't going to accept another stranger helping them forge rings after that Halbrand dude left.
@Francisseller For me, the big thing is that fans of the show are constantly going around saying thatit is 100% faithful to the lore, changes nothing, and is totally accurate. Then, when confronted with the fact that it very clearly is *not* pretend they are being persecuted for liking the show.
If they took it for the badly inaccurate fan fiction it was, there would be no problem, but they are essentially peddling lies to milions of people who have not read the books and don't know any better. It is the misleading nature of the claims that angers me.
@HiddenVale Also, remember "viewing" does not mean "liking". People often take viewing figures as evidence people like the show, when it doesn't mean any such thing. Some people watch for analytical purposes, some people who watch are indifferent.
Yes! The contradictions and inconsistencies are many and ergregious. Its not just in the lore, but practical things.
Like that the last Episode (7) where Halbrand was wounded. Bronwyn says "there are no healers available" when she is literally there. Doing nothing. Arondir is also there doing nothing. Its been shown they both know how to treat wounds, but neither of them are available to help their injured KING?
Then its "he needs Elvish medicine"? Why? This is just a regular injury, he hasn't been stabbed with a morgul blade, and again Arondir- an Elf- is right there. Even if Arondir wasn't available, they're in a Numenorian outposts: the Numenorians knew Elvish medicine. Just take him to a local healer.
Instead they put a seriously ill man who can barely speak and expect him to ride thousands of miles to be treated? What the actual? Its nonsense. Its done purely to get him to Lindon for the next episode, but makes absolutely no practical sense and is utterly unrealistic.
The only aspect of the show I enjoy is the Durin/Elrond storyline, and even that has been spoiled by the silliness (Mithril healing Elves, a Balrog being woken by a leaf etc) and some of the Numenorian characters.
Its not just the lore violations which bother me, its the sloppy and at times atrocious writing, the lazy inconsistencies and errors, and the silly plot holes. Its like haven't put any care into this production, and just filmed a First Draft or something.
The excuses that people make for the bad writing just don't ring true: for instance the the usual "its just fantasy" nonsense. J.R.R. Tolkien researched the phases of the moon, and the crew on the PJ movies were so dedicated they checked the books to see what time of day it was when certain events happened in order to film them consistently.
In this series people just teleport thousands of miles in a matter of hours, making Frodo and Sam's trek to Mordor which took them nearly a year nonsensical, they show the sun rising in the West in one shot, in another its night and then daylight minutes later and a few miles away.
Also: how did Galadriel know Theo? She wasn't introduced to him the episode before, there wasn't time. Yet in Episode 7 which is meant to start only minutes after the conclusion of Episode 6, she not only recognized him but knew his name.
How did she know exactly where the King was housed in Episode 4? There were lots of towers in the city.
How did Halbrand know the King hadn't been seen in years when it was shown in the Episode before that he literally knew nothing about Numenor, had never even heard of the place?
You have to set up things like that, give context or something. Don't just have characters dumping information that they have no way of knowing. People notice these details and they can be very jarring.
My major gripe is that neither the showrunners nor the actors seem to know the difference between Sindarin and Quenya. They say in interviews that "Elvish" is based on Welsh but that's not accurate: Sindarin is based on Welsh, Quenya is based in Finnish.
In Numenor, Quenya was taught and spoken by some, a throwback to the days of Elros. In the series we have characters with Sindarin names speaking Quenya and vice versa, It is inconsistent and makes no sense.
@Fandyllic Same here, but I'm also worried about how they're going to depict my boy. I really hope they don't make him (Celebrimbor) into a straight out villain because when I read the Silmarillion he seemed more nuanced than that.
I didn#t say they were, but according to what I read they were. Theat leaves room for error and doubt. I've edited my comment as well.
@Fandyllic Sorry I was busy about other things, I also read it on this page: http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Eagles
It has been a long time though and I don't recall every detial. I don't really care either way whether they are or are not Maiar to be honest. I was a bit annoyed that you seemed to be suggesting I was intentionally spreadiing misinformation though. In your first comment.
Sorry if I took that the wrong way. I was not trying to do that at all, just remembered some stuff I read.
@Fandyllic Sorry I meant to put other links too. I think maybe Tolkien's original idea has been picked up and run with....
https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Eagles
At the top of the page it says "The Great Eagles were beings of Arda said to have been "devised" by Manwë Súlimo, leader of the Valar, and were often called the Eagles of Manwë. They were sent from Valinor to Middle-earth to keep an eye on the exiled Ñoldor, and also upon their foe the evil Vala Morgoth, and later upon Sauron."
Also further down that page I linked there's this section Earlier Versions of The Legendarium (I have tried to put a screenshot but they do not always load in comments, so please bear with me)
@Fandyllic On here, mostly, and The Onering.net
Its meant to be set in the Second Age following the War of Wrath, with Melkor was confined to the Void by the Valar.
I have my theories, I think "meteor man" might be Annatar.
I'm not really looking foward to the series though. I've gone from hostile to indifferent.
Some say the Great Eagles were Maiar based on some early drafts, but its just as likely they were not.
https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Eagles
Not all Maiar are shapeshifters, some stay in a particular form.
@Fandyllic I didn't know this website allowed you to write blog posts. I have published on my Tumblr blog, but I might do the same here.
@ARoyalPrincess Its one reason I am the nerd who actually watches DVD extras and commentaries. You can learn so much.
@Allosauro Polare I like the other small details such as the gesture Aragorn makes, and giving him his sword.
Thankyou @Bitterhand and @Lleimmoen my only gripe is that I could not load the GIF which showed the gesture Aragorn makes when Boromir passes. I don't know how to do that on this site. I would be honoured if either of you would use the share buttons to share my essay on social media. Get this out there.
Boromir is one of my favourite characters, and I enjoyed writing this both on my blog and on here just to do him some of the justice he deserves. Sean Bean should have got an OSCAR for his performance as far as I am concerned. One of his best.