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

[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

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Did that Balrog have wings?

It better not have.

That is, in fact, the most important question of all.

The episode, overall, had some pretty much better moments than the previous ones. There is still too much of slow-motion shots (seriously) and some clumsy buildups (or rather lack of buildups, see below).

I liked the resurfacing themes of friendship between the Dwarves and Elrond, and maybe I watched too much Game of Thrones-type stuff that my immediate association was that Durin was next going to poison Durin, but thankfully, I think (I hope) this won't happen. Those characters are interesting and the dynamic between Durin and Durin was nice, or it would be, if it weren't for the abovementioned lack of buildup. This show has these random mood swings with characters: one episode Durin Sr. has a conflict with his son, then it seems to get settled, but later they have a conflict again, and it is more like a back-and-forth random swinging rather than some linear development.

The whole "and you always criticised me too harshly, father" came out of the blue; I would have liked to see it actually first showed on some subtle hints throughout the series, but it simply was not there. And that is what relationships and decisions are like in this whole show (another example being e.g. in one of the previous episodes Bronwyn being all the time "we must fight, we must resist, who is with me" and suddenly she was the one who was "oh, we must surrender to the Orcs". And again: you can have the hero lapsing like that, but it needs to have some buildup to that!).

Otherwise: Míriel's blindness is a nice touch, I wonder what will come out of it. Probably Pharazon claiming that she's unfit to rule, or more subtly, taking upon his shoulders the burden of responsibility, since she clearly cannot manage alone...

Bronwyn is back to her spaghetti top, unfortunately, again. But then she gets the red cloak so I kinda hope that she keeps it. (Sidenote: clearly the red cloak is made of the same cloth as Míriel's blindfold in the same scene. Probably the Númenoreans just had an excess red canvas lying around somewhere.)

I enjoyed Galadriel's brief trek with Theo, even though not so impressed by the referrence of hiding under the roots a la from Black Rider. Even though again (Legate 180!)... if Theo actually becomes Khamul, he gets bested by his own trick... that would be fun!

A tribe of Harfeet sending their only sage with a couple of Merrys and Pippins does not seem very wise to me.

And Evil Barliman lives! I hope he continues to thrive. Oh, will he become a double-traitor next time, since he originally wanted to serve Sauron, when the real Sauron comes?

We facepalmed with Lommy at the end title with "Mordor". I was like "Adar's gonna say 'Mordor'" but when he didn't, I thought "whoa, they don't treat the audience like dumbsters who need spoon-feeding every information (that has been clear for at least four episodes to everyone, or at the least two to very very dumb people)", but clearly I was mistaken. To be honest it feels as if the title was added by some post-production nitpicker title-maker who does think that the audience needs spoon-feeding.