The biggest question

[Voronwë the Faithful]

There are lot of questions about how the rest of the series will play out, including if and how Celeborn will be introduce, who will become the Nazgûl, etc. But to me one stands heads and shoulders above the rest. That is how they will present the Downfall of Númenor, and how it comes about. This is, arguably, the single most important part of the history of the Second Age, and one that they seem unprepared to portray. The Downfall occurs when the Valar "laid down their government of Arda" and "Ilúvatar showed forth his power" and "changed the fashion of the world." Or, more properly, since the LOTR appendices are what they have rights to, "the Valar laid down their Guardianship and called upon the One, and the world was changed. Númenor was thrown down and swallowed in the Sea, and the Undying Lands were removed for ever from the circles of the world." But while the Valar have been mentioned several times in the show (most prominently in the IMO ridiculous sequence in which Míriel faces the sea creature and is 'judged' to be innocent, I don't think they have mentioned anything about Eru Ilúvatar or the One. Will they incorporate that into the narrative, or will they try to lay the drowning of Númenor at the feet of the Valar? Based on what they have done so far (good as some things have been), I'm not confident that they can pull this off. But if they don't, the show will be a failure.

IMHO, of course.

[Alatar]

There are ways of doing this. IMO they have taken the correct choice in making the Undying Lands remote and keeping the Valar at a distance. Over the next couple of seasons they can ramp that up with Sauron being brought to Númenor and starting to insinuate that death only comes to men because they are not in the Undying Lands and that the Valar are witholding that "gift" from them. I would personally avoid showing the Valar. The Eagles have already been set up as their messengers, so I imagine there will be some hand waving about the Eagles coming to warn them to turn back or face catastrophe. Then one of the Elves (probably Galadriel) will explain that the World has been remade and that Valinor has been removed from the mortal world.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Their use of the Eagles as messengers of the Valar was bass-ackward, as they tried to use the Eagles to show that Pharazon was the legitimate ruler, which made no sense. That, along with the sea creature and the utterly baffling Mithril narrative are a big part of why I am not confident of them pulling this off. To be clear, it doesn't need to be done in a way that is explicitly religious, but it does need to be done in a way that makes sense.

[Frelga]

They seem to be implying, through Míriel's visions in palantír, and her giving Narsil to Elendil, that certain things have to happen. I only hope they are not going with the idea that the destruction of Númenor was an essential step in victory over Sauron.

[Dave_LF]

Their use of the Eagles as messengers of the Valar was bass-ackward, as they tried to use the Eagles to show that Pharazon was the legitimate ruler, which made no sense.

Unless they've been trained to believe Eagles come from the Valar, but this one was just a normal eagle; maybe even one that had been baited there by Pharazon's faction for that specific reason. That was how I tentatively read the scene, pending more info. If none is forthcoming, then I'm not sure what to make of it.

[Frelga]

Great Eagles talk in the books, though. Why is it a bridge too far for one to talk on screen. Unless there are some giant eagles that are just normal birds, which makes no sense.

I hope they have a good explanation, because right now it's my biggest "Huh?" moment in the series.

[Alatar]

I thought that was really clear? The Eagle came to legitimise Miriels coronation. Just before it arrives Earien shows the palantír and theres a commotion, so when the Eagle arrives Pharazon co-opts it and pretends it was there for him? It was Miriels coronation that the Eagle turned up to. There was no Pharazon coronation to legitimise, it was just some clever crowd manipulation.

[Dave_LF]

Ok; now that you say that, I remember thinking the same thing. The eagle looked like it had arrived to bless Míriel's coronation, but then one dude shouts that it favors Pharazon for some reason, and everyone just goes along with it...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

If in fact that is what they meant to present (and I certainly didn't take it that way), that is even worse, because the Eagles of Manwë would not be the tools of such a deception.

[Alatar]

If you watch the scene again, the Eagle looks none too pleased at the turn of events. (Not that I'm an expert in Eagle body language...)

[dormouse]

I wonder if the appearance of the eagle is something they plan to return to. At the time it didn't make a lot of sense to me, because it seemed to be approving Pharazon, or at least, not objecting to what he was doing - and the later eagles we know from LotR would surely have reacted, and perhaps have spoken against Pharazon. Unless we were meant to see the eagle's flying away as an objection... But maybe, just as Season 2 went back to clarify a lot of things about Halbrand, they will give us another perspective on that scene.

I'm glad they've brought in the idea of the Valar but I hope they don't try to show them. If they could pull it off convincingly it would be amazing, but I can't imagine any way of visualizing them on screen that wouldn't make them seem limited and finite.