The reveal made me lol I'm assuming that wasn't the intention.

Yeah, labeling it was dumb.

Who are these 3 witches burning up everyone's food?

No idea they are an invention of the show runners they could be anything.

I’ve absolutely no fvckin idea what’s going on in this show.

And I get several texts a week from my pals cos I’m the Tolkien guy asking me to explain what’s going on and I just reply with a shrug

Yeah when Galadriel said Celeborn died in the First Age I was like Jesus Christ I'm done trying to figure this crap out. I'm assuming she is wrong and he'll appear cause their kid is a pretty vital piece of connective tissue but who the heck knows.

Tolkien did write that elves can die and come back. It did happen to at least one but I don’t think it was him?

Glorfindel came back....as did Beren and Lúthien....think that's it? Celeborn never died though I suppose the writers can do whatever they want.

Thank you. Remembered that much at least. Rest is gone.


Several points in LOTR he talks about elves being both in the physical world and in the (spiritual?) world at the same time? And he does it in different ways. The two I remember were Gandalf telling Frodo in Rivendell about the Nazgûl fleeing from Glorfindel(?) at the ford as they could see him and his wrath in his true form in the other realm. At another point or two he describes Legolas going for a walk and not needing to sleep / dream as elves are both here and in the blessed realm at all times

Hope I’m not misremembering that.
But I Would love to see that depicted in some way in this series

I think the elves that lived in Valinor and saw the light of the two trees are as you described. So like if Frodo put on the ring Glorfindal or Galadrial would still see him or they would see the true shapes of the Nazgul under their robes. They would see both the physical and spiritual world. As could the Nazgul and Sauron. Legolas's kin never made it to the west so I don't think that would apply to him. The wood elves couldn't see Bilbo. That doesn't mean you aren't right about that Legolas passage though. I'm sure I don't understand it all completely.

I’ll defer to you on this. But he definitely writes that about Legolas at one or two points

Anyone else think Elrond looks like Dr Oz?

Weird.

That was fine. Not great. Felt rushed. Other than the interminable 20 minutes of hobbits saying goodbye to each other, that is.

Overall, the season gets a solid B from me. The onscreen pieces are all there; they need some slightly better talent behind the camera and writing the scripts. They’re also not doing themselves any favors with 8-episode seasons instead of 10 or 12. The plot needs more room to breathe. I still don’t fully trust Amazon to nail this (finish The Expanse, Bezos!). Moving from NZ to the UK for season two is a red flag.

And that’s definitely Gandalf, right?

Those rings looked like cheap Ring Pops.

Well we all knew it was him so I dunno.

That whole episode was about as subtle as a brick to the face. Agree with Ensign. This needed more episodes. Same time, a lot of this season was filler made up by the writers. So maybe it wouldn’t have helped. This contents of this episode could have been given two or even three more though for sure.

That’s definitely Gandalf. And I’m glad of it but wtf too.

When in doubt always follow your nose was very on the nose. They wouldn’t bait n switch the audience at this point or later.

lol that "one ring to rule them all" song during the credits sounded like a James Bond opening song.

This was not a satisfying finale.

Sauron, Numinor, Gandalf, Hobbits, and Elves get closing/send-off type moments, but orcs, dwarves, and southlanders don't?

I felt like these last two episodes were the worst of the season for the reasons Ensign has already said.

Overall, I'd give it a B, but I'm now nervous of how the story is told moving forward.

“Hey guys, remember the dwarves, who were a main arc of this whole season? No? Ok good nevermind”

Now that the season is finished, I’m a little more positive towards this. It was slow and clunky at times, but each episode also had some good highlights.

Could not guess who Sauron was. Gandalf was more obvious, although we did talk about who else he could be, including Sauron.

Loved the Dwarves

Dumb but in the end harmless I guess. If you want to experience it done a kajillion times better there is always Tolkien's writings. I suppose if someone loves it and it leads them to the true lore that's a win. Hell I got into Tolkien after watching the Rankin/Bass Hobbit and Return of the King movies when I was 5 or 6. I'm not sure I'll have the strength to not watch Season 2 I'm just hoping its years away.

Next season is two years away and the show runners say it’s gonna blow our minds.

I’m rusty on my Tolkien lore but I really don’t know or remember what happens next but let’s see