The red is probably the Kings Men, while the blue is from season 1 before the split. I hope when Elendil and his sons leave Numenor, the armor from season 3 will be their permanent one. With blue robes. The fish scale while is accurate to how Tolkien described didn't win any points with fans. At least these golden cloaks armor looks like proper armor.

Firstly, it is hard to even think that an orc would switch sides.

And it's even harder to believe that Sauron would share his secret plans to forge the one ring with an ordinary orc who then goes and tells the Elves of the plan.

The writing on this show baffles me.

This is one of my biggest complaints. the showrunners chose to leave out key characters from the lore like Celeborn and Anarion and instead gave us way too many original characters. And then they twisted and changed the character arcs and character motivations of key characters like Galadriel.

So many of the original characters added nothing meaningful to the show and have now been discarded by S3.

And now the showrunners have realised the mistake and will retcon characters like Celeborn and Anarion in 3rd season. I feel it is too late now. The writing just isnt strong enough and the plotlines are way too messed up by now.

Where the heck is Arnarion in the rings of power? I feel like they mentioned him once in the show but they don’t explain where he is…I’m just going in with the assumption that he’s either dead or in exile idk though

These dwarves look ridiculous. Firstly, no beard and then these ridiculous haircuts.

Silly hair was somewhat justified in the hobbit films as it is meant to be children's book adaptation and meant to be silly at times.

But the second age adaptation has to take it more seriously!

This feels like Amazon is intentionally mocking Tolkien and Tolkien fans!

They ruined elves with haircuts in the show. and now dwarves too!

I feel like this has been said before but are we all of the agreement that Kemen might end up becoming the Mouth Of Sauron? The Character Earien when asking him to talk with Ar-Pharazon, she says "*use your words*" and Ar-Pharazon in S2 said that his mother prophesied that he would "meet a dark end" or something like that, we know that the Mouth of Sauron is or was a Numenorian, we just don't exactly know who he was...

this is just a theory of course

The show is back again getting lots of hate because of Durin and Disa kids looks. Not a fan myself of them, but they are minor characters so why bother that much? Plus Amazon doesn't care about all the vitriol against ROP. They only care about the viewership and how many are subscribing to Prime. Apparantly they have received numbers they are really satisfied with. If not, it would have been cancelled by now.

Hmmm, I think I've seen these types of dwarves somewhere before... lol

Charlie Hopkinson is a comedian that does impressions. And his impressions are fantastic. He does LOTR, Harry Potter, Star Wars and now the GOT Universe

He has ROP videos where it's him using AI Faces and watching the episodes, making jokes in Character. Like Gandalf and Elron. He's done Fellowship and the Two Towers as well and his Boromir is fantastic!

Anyone saw them?

I'm relistening to the track "Gandalf the White" from Lord of the Rings The Two Towers where Gandalf finally defeats the Balrog. I know a Balrog was mentioned multiple times in The Rings of power but is this the same Balrog Gandalf fought?

Hey all, Giving RoP a try as i miss having fantasy to watch. I have read all the books related to this world but not for decades. So i dont think im a purist, and im a liberal so no culture war stuff for me but did bounce hard off S1.

However decided to give S2 a try and some things definitely feel better (i am up to s5 i think) - moria is done well and i think some of the sauron/celebrimbor stuff is done well too.

But the combat is not working for me at all, it feels as if they are shot as a sequence of close up 'cool tricks' with no actual sense of the space in the battlefield, and people doing things that you just wouldn't do in a fight because it 'looks cool'. For example in the last episode i finished Galadriel threw a lamp into the air and shot it with an arrow, which killed some orcs. Its stylism over making it feel like a real battle. It feels like the opponents are standing there waiting their turn, heck she even made a short speech in this scene from what i recall.

It may be simply my tastes are different to the intended audience if i think of good fantasy fight scenes i think of Cavill in the Witcher, or the blood snow scene in WoT. You can see the combatants using physics and logic in their fighting rather than 'close up, cool acrobatic'

Just curious if you guys are enjoying the combat? maybe it is simply i have different stylistic preferences?

Edit, s2E5 is a genuine improvement.

Cheers.

Now that she has Nenya, she doesn't need to continue with ''Legolas'' fighting style. She should use the magic of Nenya to fight. Based from the season 3 trailer, she still has her sword so we are not there yet. But I hope in season 4, she would be using more of Nenya's power and less sword fighting. And btw, the trailer has finally reached 1 million views.

But sometimes I feel the showrunners are making unnecessarry changes. There is a rumor floating around from the cast and showrunners SDCC that Sauron fails to make the One Ring in Barad-Dur and he has to go to Durin's Bane to ask him to help. We saw from the creature featuers that they will indeed meet and interact. But seriously? Why should Sauron who learned to craft skills from Aulë, a Valar ask a lesser Maiar for help? It doesn't make sense. This is one of the example of changes why this show is divisive.

I love his reactions to all of his fkery working and him just feeling so unimpressed lol

I'm rewatching Season 2 and I'm just at the episode where The Stranger meets Tom Bombadil and I have to say, I would not have thought of Rory Kinnear as a potentially good cast, but now I cannot think of a better person.

He hits the tone needed absolutely spot on. Bombadil is detached, yet friendly and loving. He is incredibly powerful, yet unthreatening. Kinnear nails the performance, and I think his portrayal is terribly underrated and easily missed.

What do you think?

Who else could have done an equally good, or better job?

Quotes from The Silmarillion:

''The Last Alliance of Men and Elves, led by king Elendil of Gondor and high king Gil-galad of the elves of Lindon, encamped outside the Black gate on Dagorlad ("battle plain"). Their combined host "was fairer and more splendid in arms than any that has since been seen in Middle-earth, and none greater has been mustered since the host of the Valar went against Thangorodrim (at the end of the First Age)." Durin of Moria, with his kin, fought on the side of the Alliance: but dwarves (though few in number) fought on the side of Sauron too: "All living things were divided in that day, and some of every kind, even of beasts and birds, were found in either host, save Elves only.

Sauron's army came out and the battle was a victory for the Alliance: "for the might of the Elves was still great in those days, and the Númenóreans were strong and tall, and terrible in their wrath. Against Aeglos the spear of Gil-galad none could stand; and the sword of Elendil filled Orcs and Men with fear, for it shone with the light of the sun and of the moon, and it was named Narsil.''

Amazon needs to give what they have of money to make this battle the most epic to ever witnessed on the small screen when we get to season 5. Season 3 is now starting this journey towards the greatest battle in Middle Earth since the War of Wrath. When the show is done and if they have done right with the last period of the second age, the show I think will age very well.

"The closer we get to the debut of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3, the more we learn about the gargantuan scale it will be working with. We’ve heard about the crew actually filming in the valley that inspired Rivendell, but it’s possible that even that titanic achievements will feel small when compared to what promises to be the biggest moment of the season - the forging of the One Ring in Mount Doom, the filming of which required Tolkien’s most infamous geological feature to take on a life of its own. Somewhat literally, apparently."

I’m only on episode 4 of The Rings of Power, and honestly… I’m enjoying it.
It’s been really fun recognizing names, bits of lore, and familiar places. I’m still keeping my expectations in check, but so far I’m having a good time with it. It’s entertaining, and I’m excited to see where it goes.

I’m wrapping up the second season after a break from watching it. Naturally, this universe has really caught my attention. I did some digging and found there isn't a single official story; they’ve made adaptations. The closest thing I can read is *The Silmarillion*, which I plan to start soon.

But for those who’ve followed both seasons: do you think Amazon will manage to finish it without stumbling? Without making cuts? Or turning the whole thing into a single movie, as seems to be the trend lately?

Mystery boxes: who is Halbrand? Who is the Stranger? Who is the other Wizard?

Shipping: Halbrand / Galadriel, Isildur / homeless girl, Arondir / Browyn, Elendil / Blind Queen, Poppy / Storr guy

In S3: ship Sauron / Galadriel / Celeborn. Maybe Sauron / Balrog too

The plot, if you can call it that, has zero tension, suspense, twists, etc.