The Hall of Fire

Seeing the more fantastical, less obviously in terminal decline world of the Second Age is one of the things I'm most looking forward to about the show. I'm glad they're retaining that element of the texts. Though the addition of an "almost"(?) colonial Elvish thalassocracy is an ... inte...

I would have either had gradual timeline advances, so the characters incrementally age and eventually die, younger generations are gradually introduced, and there is no abrupt changeover. Or divide the show into just two distinct eras so you only have to replace the human cast once. Or possibly a hy...

From the showrunners’ comments and the time compression I expect Númenor’s corruption to be blamed almost entirely on Pharazon and his cronies. When Númenor was already bad for some time and he should be its culmination rather than its cause.

It could also be Glorfindel and they’re being coy about Maiar to misdirect. Then again, I don’t think it’s established that Glorfy died in the First Age in LotR right? Which again raises the question if they can get limited narrow exceptions on the rights. Or Bombadil? Assuming it’s a canonical char...

You don't even know the blue wizards are blue without UT right? Meteor Man as Sauron is the safe bet, but it seems like it would be so obvious and telegraphed to even non-readers - having "I wonder what happened to Sauron?" and "By the way, who is this mysterious otherworldly being?&q...

So this is the most hopeful thing I've seen so far: In studying the language from the first three episodes Amazon let Vanity Fair screen, we found a mix of cleverly repurposed lines of Tolkien’s dialogue as well as a few snatches of Biblical text. “Both Patrick and I have religious backgrounds,” Pay...

What’s Up With Warrior Galadriel? Is This in the Books? Over the years, Tolkien adapters have had to get creative in order to include his female characters in the action. Liv Tyler’s Arwen making a riverbank stand against the Nazgûl in defense of Frodo and the very existence of Evangeline Lilly’s w...

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/10-burning-questions-about-amazons-the-rings-of-power I've read some parts and skimmed others. They re-confirm their rights are limited to LotR and the Hobbit. Overall while I still have large reservations, this does make me feel a little better about the...

The general vibe I get from Vanity Fair and the trailer is that they're going for a remix of LotR in tone and themes, wrapped in loose-fitting Second Age clothing.

Which...isn't very Second Age at all.

All caveats that we don't know that much yet and early marketing is marketing apply.

Yes, good point on Shakespeare (I loved the new Macbeth with Denzel by the way).

Yeah, not overwhelmingly negative but "unimpressed" might be the right word to use.

I've seen a variety of reactions, but probably averaging out to moderately negative.

However there isn't enough here to know anything for sure. With the public information so far I am pessimistic, but cautiously so.

Well here’s vanity fair breaking down the trailer: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/the-lord-of-the-rings-teaser-trailer-amazon Yep, meteor man is real. On the other hand, looks like the Helcaraxë is not - rumors might have gotten that mixed with Forodwaith. It sounds like Galadriel’s ea...

I can’t quite put my finger on it but something about it just feels generic to me. I did like the brief shot of Númenor and there’s not really enough material here to make a strong judgment one way or the other.

Well this is a very touchy subject and I'll wade into it. The analogy sometimes made is that the show Avatar is a fantasy world based on Asia and there are no white characters, so why not set similar standards for LotR based on Europe? This makes a degree of sense but on the other hand, some would p...

I have to point out that all the Hollywood Reporter article is doing is recycling quotes rom the Vanity Fair article and other public information. It's just content farming with a clickbait headline.

Best-case reading of that I can think of is that they're transferring some of the intra-elf politics of the Second Age to Elrond's character. Kinda like PBJ did by giving some of Thingol to Elrond (was this conscious or not? who knows) or Glorfindel to Arwen.

Or they're just making stuff up.

If true (is it possible there are still narrow carveouts for very specific things?), it's disappointing...but also sort of a relief in a way. The Silmarillion is staying off screen as its own special thing at least for now, and the show has less to live up to, in my mind anyway. Maybe I can enjoy it...

Some take this quote as reassuring. I did at first but rereading it's actually not all that positive: "So will there be Westerosi levels of violence and sex in Amazon’s Middle-earth? In short, no. McKay says the goal was “to make a show for everyone, for kids who are 11, 12, and 13, even though...

A lot to chew over in that article - I'm not sure what to think. Some of it matches the FoF leaks, but the broader context might (or might not) make it less troubling. A major timeline compression to a single generation is confirmed, which isn't what I was hoping - can you really get across the them...