Episode 7 (Spoilers)

[Alatar]

Nin! <crashtacklehug>

[Smaug's voice]

Found this nice review of Episode 7 (which sums up a lot of my thoughts) :

https://ravingsanity.wordpress.com/2022 ... 7-the-eye/

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That was a fun read.

[Inanna]

Nin, that’s a really good point about an elven ring being made from mithril as part of the current lore. I wonder if it will be that same piece of mithril Durin gave to Elrond.

[Stranger Wings]

To me it's become blisteringly obvious that Halbrand is Sauron, AND that the elves will find out he is Sauron, but will work with him anyway due to both their desperation to avoid fading/ death and a belief that Sauron may have repented. This knowing collaboration with Sauron, I think, is consistent with Tolkien's letter 131, UT, and the implication within LOTR itself that the elves of Eregion trusted Sauron, but that the elves could never trust him again. This, to me, is a far more interesting adaptation choice than a secret Sauron with long blond hair and a winning smile (the Annatar of the Silm).

[Dave_LF]

Found this nice review of Episode 7 (which sums up a lot of my thoughts) :

https://ravingsanity.wordpress.com/2022 ... 7-the-eye/

Thanks for sharing. I clicked through to read some of her other episode reviews and they're also quite good. I enjoyed the (extended ) discussion of Halbrand=Sauron from E6.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Now I'm almost as interested in reading her take on the final episode as I am in ing it myself.

(Not really, but I do find her extended takes interesting.)

[Stranger Wings]

—-

[Voronwë the Faithful]

—-

?

[Inanna]

BTW, wasn’t it weird that Galadriel just moved off with Theo without helping the wounded in the burning village? Or even trying? She wasn’t far from where Isildur and gang helped people out of the burning house. Or it didn’t look far.

[Eldy]

She got a cue card that it was time for her soul-baring conversation with the moody teenager she'd never met before.

[Inanna]

Giggle.

[Dave_LF]

I was confused by that entire part of the story. In addition to Galadriel/Theo inexplicitly being separated from everyone else, when last we saw Isildur, he was with friend #1 discovering that friend #2 was dead. The next time we see friend #1, Isildur is gone and he believes he's dead. Either I missed something in between, or ??

[Inanna]

In between they went with the Queen to save people from burning house - and Isildur is left behind in that house. Burning Timbers fall on him in front of Friend #1’s eyes….

[Eldy]

And then Elendil decides he wants to leave Middle-earth forever and doesn't express so much as a desire to look for his son, or at least have a body he can bring home to bury. :V

[Dave_LF]

In between they went with the Queen to save people from burning house - and Isildur is left behind in that house. Burning Timbers fall on him in front of Friend #1’s eyes….

Ok, I did fail to register that. I'll have to pay closer attention when I watch again.

[Dave_LF]

In between they went with the Queen to save people from burning house - and Isildur is left behind in that house. Burning Timbers fall on him in front of Friend #1’s eyes….

Ok, I did fail to register that. I'll have to pay closer attention when I watch again.

I rewatched and this is accurate. However, Míriel is in that same building, and she totally survives. There's really no satisfactory explanation for why they believe Isildur is dead. I surmise that season 2 will include a flashback scene where Valandil discovers the horribly burned corpse of random Southlander #6 in the rubble and assumes with an unwarranted degree of confidence that it's him.

[Sunsilver]

I am so deeply suspicious of anything Halbrand now that I’m wondering how, exactly, did he get wounded? Why was he found ‘by the side of the road’ and not in the village? I may well be overthinking this, but it seems so very convenient that, wounded or not, he’s now happily galloping off to be introduced to the Elves.

That bothered me, too. One minute, he seems to be at death's door, the next, he's climbing up on a horse, and galloping off with Galadriel! REALLY??

(Posted by Alatar) https://www.polygon.com/23391434/lord-r ... e-7-review

Thank you for that possible explanation about the three creepy silver-clad figures. The only thing I could think of in the Tolkien universe that was close was the Grey Elves. But Elves would not have been able to set the Harfoot's caravans alight just by gesturing at them!

I have been watching the series with my brother and sister-in-law. The most recent episodes seem to point to the Stranger possibly being Gandalf, and my family agrees. We remembered that when Gandalf came back to life after being slain by the Balrog in Fellowship, he at first couldn't remember who he was.

If not Gandalf, then another one of the Istari...