ROP SDCC trailer

[Eldy]

Hidden text.

Palantír! White Tree! Sauron namecheck?! Sea monster! Balrog?!?!

[Eldy]

According to Arannir on TORn, they showed a number of First Age scenes during the Hall H presentation, including the War of Wrath (featuring Balrogs), Morgoth, and the destruction of the Two Trees. So it's possible that's what the Balrog shot is from.

(Who am I kidding, they're definitely going to show Durin's Bane in Khazâd-dûm, aren't they? )

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I didn't realize that you had beat me to it. Since you included all the same information, I deleted the other thread.

Arannir has added: "Ungoliant is in the the First Age Scenes."

My reaction is simultaneous very excited and very skeptical. Particularly of the interaction between Míriel and Galadriel. It really looks like they are turning Míriel into a "good guy" which she should not be. At least not fully.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

People from the hall are confirming the Balrog scene is from the prologue that includes battle scenes from the War of Wrath.

[Eldy]

I didn't realize that you had beat me to it. Since you included all the same information, I deleted the other thread.

I only got this thread up a couple minutes early, so I figure you wouldn't have had the chance to see it.

In the name of positivity, I should note that I am more curious than ever to see how they handle this, and I expect I will enjoy going along for this ride, whatever reservations I may have. Though, as with the forthcoming Sibley book, I am anxious about how they might diverge from what we already know of the Second Age (or how they will, since unlike the book, we already know a bit about what will happen in the show). But I don't expect that to bother people who aren't as invested in the posthumously published Second Age material as I am, nor should they be concerned, really.

Ungoliant's apparent presence in the Comic-Con footage is really intriguing. The only reference to Ungoliant in LOTR is the passing mention that Shelob was descended from her. The extremely brief summary of "The Silmarillion" in Appendix A makes no mention of Morgoth having help destroying the Two Trees (all of four words are dedicated to it). Perhaps this is one of the case-by-case exemptions granted?

The presence of a palantír in Númenor—and in the possession of Tar-Míriel—immediately caught my attention. There's conflicting information in the books as to when the Faithful received them. OTROP says they were given by the Eldar to Amandil, final Lord of Andúnië, "for the comfort of the Faithful of Númenor in their dark days, when the Elves might come no longer to that land under the shadow of Sauron," implying the seven stones were previously held on Tol Eressëa, whence came the Eldar who visited Númenor. But the Akallabêth says the Eressëans stopped visiting Númenor even in secret during the reign of Ar-Gimilzôr, who died nearly 90 years before Sauron's arrival. If so, the stones must have been a gift from the Eldar of Middle-earth, who remained in contact with the Faithful, or else have been given earlier in the timeline, possibly to Amandil acting as an agent for his father or grandfather. I think both scenarios require a counterintuitive reading of OTROP and that it's better to simply let this stand as an inconsistency, though in the case of ROP, the timeline compression and Sauron being in hiding at the start of the series mean anything could be the case. Presumably the show's palantíri were not a gift for the comfort of the Faithful, since Míriel running the country means they're (presumably?) not being persecuted.

I was unreasonably excited to see Nimloth (the White Tree of Númenor), but what can I say, I'm a big Númenor nerd. *points to current user title*

The unknown danger teased in the recent Sundering Seas article seems now confirmed to be a sea monster of some sort.

Intriguing that there is a human throwing Sauron's name around, not "Adar." My first thought is that there's some sort of Sauron cult and this guy is either a member or someone who had a bad run-in with them, but it's possible I am mentally importing concepts from The New Shadow for no good reason. Very eager to find out what McPayne's plan is here.

[Eldy]

People from the hall are confirming the Balrog scene is from the prologue that includes battle scenes from the War of Wrath.

Fingers crossed the Balrog is Sir Not Appearing Outside of This Prologue, but I still think it's more likely to be Chekhov's Fire Demon.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Cast Q&A:

Elrond, Gil-Galad, Celebrimdor, Durin, and Disa.

They showed the trailer, but no real information so far.

ETA: I gave up.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

But wait, they have a different cast Q&E posted at TORN.

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2022/0 ... y-tune-in/

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here's a detailed description of the trailer at TORN:

New FULL Rings of Power trailer: so much revealed, and more questions posed?

[Eldy]

The TORn article included a copy of the press release about ROP at SDCC, which notes there are 22 new character shots available on the Amazon studios corporate website (click on the "Assets" link on this page). We've seen most of these characters already, but I think these are our first clear looks at Pharazôn's son, Kemen, and "The Stranger" (aka Meteor Man).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

My new opinion is "The Stranger" is not Sauron, he is an Istar of some sort, though whether one that Tolkien has described at all, I am doubtful.

[Anduril]

According to Arannir on TORn, they showed a number of First Age scenes during the Hall H presentation, including the War of Wrath (featuring Balrogs), Morgoth, and the destruction of the Two Trees.

Some monkey's paw wish this is shaping up to be. Wanted a fresh take on everything, not "movieverse", but nowadays I can say not like this either. The First Age stuff is just akin to carrots on sticks or worms on hooks for us because this is the Second Age already. Eh, I passed on the Hobbit movies due to fundamental approach disagreements, so more of the same won't be hard.

[Eldy]

I confess I'm not sure what is objectionable about a prologue summarizing the major events of the First Age.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Apparently the creepy short-haired person that some people think is Sauron is actually played by an actress named Bridie Sisson, who has confirmed in her Instagram that she is playing some sort of evil priestess. If you look closely in the trailer, you can see that it is in fact a woman.

ETA: Actually it is two different people.

[Eldy]

That makes much more sense. I was surprised to see people talking about the white-haired character(s) as Sauron—he can't really be "the Deceiver" if he shows up obviously evil from the start. Or at least, if he does, he should be a more refined kind of evil (which is one reason I think "Adar" remains a candidate). The priestess thing would mesh with my off-the-cuff Sauron cultist thought.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

General

- The story at its core is a human story about what people are willing to risk and lose to save what they cherish and love.

- they were asked what their favorite lore is. One of them said not so much a moment but a process: the downfall of Númenor and its society which will be applicable to developments we know from our world. The other one said his favorite moment ist when Sauron puts on the Ring, recites the ring verse and the Elves realize what has happened when the shockwaves are felt throughout the world

- Season 1 is about the return of Evil but in general the theme is also one of hope and friendship (which is usually connected to sorrow and pain when it comes to Tolkien)

- the Harfoot idea came from "Concerning Hobbits" and the Wandering Days

- They have been working on the show since 2018

- the major story beats of the five seasons will be the return of Sauron, the forging of the Ring, the Downfall of Númenor and the Last Alliance



Regarding the question whether they might have moved the wakening if Durin's Bane to the Second Age

- no direct comment but that there is so much in the Second Age that they do not have much need to move anything from the Third Age there (there have also been reports that the Balrog is from the First Age prologue)


Music

- Númenor uses instruments not yet heard in any Middle-earth score
- the other themes are also pretty new but echo the music we know


On Entwives

- We may have already seen one.


On Amazon

- "No BS, they let us make the show we wanted."


On Dwarves

- Yes, females have facial hair.
- They felt Dwarves are often used for jokes. They didn't want that.[/reply]

[Inanna]

Sounds great, actually.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

For the most part, I am more optimistic than I was. And, like with the films of yore, learning details of what to come helps prepare me to deal with it, so bring it on!

[Frelga]

Yes, it doesn't sound bad at all.

HOF has one of the highest concentrations of people who want to see a show where every shot is true to a Tolkien line and does not contradict anything in any of the texts. But, that population is small enough that V probably knows all of it personally.

It makes sense to make the show for people who just want to see more elves and hobbits. That so much attention is paid to the first group is quite encouraging, really.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

To some extent at least, it appears that the showrunners are among that group. Despite what some people seem to think.