**Spoiler Warning** Rings of Power S1E7 - "The Eye"

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by Oddwen

Who or what was the titular Eye?

Miriel's blindness? Durin Sr.'s "blindness" refusing to look upon the mithril?

[Lalwendë]

Apols, can't do quotes easily on a smartphone....

....Form - it doesn't make much difference how close you are to a volcanic eruption if there's pyroclastic flow/surge, it will still kill.

The other aspect of this is that the land wouldn't be permanently despoiled once the ash cloud dies down, in fact it would become very enriched soil and productive land. Either Mordor isn't a complete wasteland (and I do wonder where Orcs get food) or there are other reasons why it is. And even Orcs wouldn't be able to thrive breathing in toxic air from constant eruptions. I prefer Tolkien's hints that it's despoiled due to industry and environmental degradation.

Anyway, a better episode all round. The Harfoots are definitely what save it for me, though I instinctively don't like the Oirish accents. Their culture is weird, they have seasonal habits and can't think about exploring for a new place to live/forage, they are a bit Darwinian in leaving the slow/ill behind. But there's a curiosity in some of them that makes you see where characters like Bilbo come from, breaking the rules, trying something new. The naiveté of Nori in calling the weird trio over (personally I'd run a mile from three bald giants in robes) was frustrating, she would surely have learnt by now, but I suppose that's how they created a plot shift. I hope Lenny Henry stays with this project, he's endlessly watchable, love the guy.

I do not like this Mithril thing. I can see now where it's going, Celebrimbor will use that nugget to craft the Rings and heal the Elven kingdoms. Not quite what I'd hoped, having read the Osanwe Kenta and being interested in the idea of them being to aid in the Elves communicating. But OK it makes sense now. Finally.

Speaking of, where is Celeborn?

Durin is great. The dispute with his father and the relationship with his wife were very well written. And we heard about Dwarven women having beards! One little detail - I do like how the door to Moria is so small and unassuming. Like when you build a cave house in Minecraft and just put a tiny door on it to hide it 😂

Did that Balrog have wings?

It better not have.

[Boromir88]

I feel like I could complain a lot more, but it can just be summed up by the guy shouting in Monty Python's "Holy Grail"...Get on with it!

I don't mind slow burns, it's a refreshing break from the "edge of your seat" GoT shows, or even the way PJ's movies get. Where you don't really have the slower moments to breathe and reflect. I believe Verlyn Fleiger talks about this point with Tolkien, that there's a roller coaster ride. You're on the edge of your seat, at the top of the coaster, intense fast action, but you need the downtime too. You need periods of rest in Rivendell, Lothlorien, Ithilien. But at the same time, even in the rest periods, the story is still progressing. I can enjoy a slow burn, but I feel like there are more questions than there are answers at the moment. And even worse, the series is dragging out the answers in hopes that finding out the answers is irresistible. And I have to admit, it's not irresistible, because decisions to fake us out with Isildur's death is utterly pointless.

I think Form mentioned it should have been Anarion, and I completely agree. I'm normally not someone who thinks I know more than professionals in their own area of expertise. But it seems common sense if you want to create tension by making us wonder if a character is alive or dead, you had a perfect choice with Anarion. He doesn't appear in the movies. In the lore he dies during the Siege of Barad-dur. Heck even just kill him off Season 1 in the Mount Doom explosion, and Elendil can still be upset about a son dying. There we go, that's an interesting death I could buy. But no, let's force a pointless "oh no, Isildur's dead" plot, what's Elendil going to do?

If Season 1 doesn't end with Celebrimbor holding a hammer and forging some rings, then I will be in no hurry to watch Season 2. WCH posted a review in another thread that's basically my same thoughts. Once the glitz and glamor wears off, I spent most of Episodes 5 and 7 thinking of Monty Python and "Get on with it!"

[Galadriel55]

An abridged version of real-time commentary:

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

At some point in the show, one of Isildur's buddies is gonna die. My money is on the one that decided fighting is not for him after all, and he wants to dedicate himself to peaceful prospects.

Called it. Also, I second/third/Nth everyone who said that Anarion should have been the one (allegedly) dead rather than Isildur. You may or may not actually kill him, but at least this way there is real suspense as it could go either way.

Why must the mithril be mined just for the sake of saving the Elves? Can’t you give the Dwarves their own vices and faults, delving too deep not to save a friend but out of their own ambition?
Also, that is a very literal healing with the power of mithril.

“In your mother’s case, she actually does have lice in her—” …hair? Or beard?

Why are Galadriel and Theo going away? They went from where everything happened, where they would have a hope of ascertaining who is alive or not, to… the opposite direction of everyone else? But still to the Numenor camp? Is this not all happening in the same village? There were literally other people alive and calling for help and Miriel and Isildur went to save the people in the burning hut and where the hell are Galadriel and Theo? This makes zero sense.

Can they decide already if they wanna do the “proper Elvish pronunciation” or not? Stop switching back and forth from the more natural English-accent pronunciations to the “Elvish accent”.

Is Galadriel sure she is not Luthien?

The Harfoot song about how the hobbit ate his snail daughter? Again an example of how the songs are the best part about this show. Simultaneously very nursery-rhyme-ish, but also evoking the creepier elements of the Harfoot culture.

Creepy shaman dudes!

Why does a horse evoke more emotion than actual people?

Bronwyn, you were supposed to have lost lots of blood recently. Act like it.

Why will Numenor return? The whole thing was never set up properly. Why did Miriel sail so passionately to war for this Southlander nobody? Why does she care so much? Why is she so invested? Why is she still invested now?

Galadriel was talking about a raft, not a horse. Where was she planning to raft to miles away from water? Or are they on the ocean shore already and just need to get to the beach? Then carry the damn dying guy with the festering wound, don’t make him ride.

Seriously? You reveal the Balrog now? I mean, we knew it was coming, but, like, let’s spoil the climax before we even properly get the rising action going.

“Mordor” for “dark land without sunlight” makes sense, and would have been a good twist on why it’s named that way – except again it’s an Elvish word, and while I can accept Adar’s fondness for Elvish it’s not a name that should go down all that well with Orcs.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I thought that the Rules were that Amazon could make up anything they liked to fill in the blank spaces, but couldn't contradict the published lore? Because we know, as an in-universe fact, that the Balrog wasn't awakened until TA 1980, almost 2000 years after this tale.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

I thought that the Rules were that Amazon could make up anything they liked to fill in the blank spaces, but couldn't contradict the published lore? Because we know, as an in-universe fact, that the Balrog wasn't awakened until TA 1980, almost 2000 years after this tale.

But which tale are we even talking about? I thought we're squishing the entire history of Middle-earth between the War of Wrath and LOTR times into a single lifespan. *shrug*

[Tar Elenion]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

I thought that the Rules were that Amazon could make up anything they liked to fill in the blank spaces, but couldn't contradict the published lore? Because we know, as an in-universe fact, that the Balrog wasn't awakened until TA 1980, almost 2000 years after this tale.

Can just use the idiot showrunners favorite:
'Where did Tolkien say it did not happen?

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

I thought that the Rules were that Amazon could make up anything they liked to fill in the blank spaces, but couldn't contradict the published lore? Because we know, as an in-universe fact, that the Balrog wasn't awakened until TA 1980, almost 2000 years after this tale.

It went back to sleep again.

We've just watched this and 8 back-to-back, so mostly I'm looking at people's posts in this thread and going "oh NO" about what they're going to/did feel when they watched the next one. Specifically to this episode, though:

- Celeborn is "dead". Uh-huh sure. Not sure why Galadriel is ripping off Luthien, though it's not implausible she might have had a similar experience. (I assume Luthien pressured her into dancing; she seems the type.)

- It was weird how the dealt with the dead/missing. Galadriel finds Theo, who is uninjured, and ignores the man literally on fire who they're wandering away from. Isildur rescues his buddy, and then... why was he in the house, again? I only remember seeing Miriel there with him, but she was outside before. Bronwyn and Arondir stay unmentioned for most of the episode, and King Halbrand literally only comes up when Galadriel's about to leave without saying goodbye.

- The Harfeet are adorable, and the Elrond-Durin plot is on about the same level of quality. Those two strands are definitely the best of the lot.

- How far away is the volcano? In Adar's closing shot, it's much further than it was from the village; has he wandered all the way past it down to Nurnen? Actually in general the geography is strange - everything seems to be (very pretty) mountains, when there really should be plains in some of these plotlines.

hS