#Patrick McKay

[rey-jake-therapist]

Have you seen this interview clip from one of the showrunners about Galadriel? Galadriel is good now because she accepts stepping aside. Her male comrades don't have to no matter what mistakes they make but she does. It's making me mad. https://x.com/sunnexsplendor/status/1856793439054311894?t=KeWt4Myn2ZEai9zNmSRx2w&s=19

Yeah I've seen this video but I'd like to hear JD Payne's comment as well, because he apparently says something slightly different. I just didn't find the video of him yet.

Tbh this bit of the interview was about Galadriel, so I don't mind Patrick McKay not saying anything about Elrond and Gil-Galad. Also he was talking of the ending scene specifically, so the bit about Galadriel "stepping aside" was really about *this* moment, and not about the direction they'll take for season 3. At least I hope !! She finally realized that she can't keep fighting alone, and also can't keep denying that everything Elrond told her was true : it was indeed real growth to admit to Celebrimbor that she wanted what Sauron offered her, and that she blinded herself to the truth when it came to Halbrand/Sauron.

She steps aside in this scene because it's Gil-Galad who's holding the sword, not her (which was what they had written at first... Morfydd's the one who suggested that she shouldn't). She'll keep fighting Sauron and be front and center, hopefully, but she'll do it differently now. And the focus is still on her, I mean... she's still the one everybody's looking at.

[leotanaka]

i really liked patrick mckay's answer regarding how arondir survived getting stabbed. it was obviously a reference to arondir's comment in the first episode of the series about how elves heal themselves but it's good to have that actual confirmation and the answer really makes sense within the context of the scene and how it was clearly presented.

like, i get that people have this perception that being stabbed = mortally wounded and that 1v1 = fight to the death but it really doesn't and beyond the stab itself, the scene showcases that arondir was simply hurt. he's injured, that's all. he wasn't dying. hell, the scene quite literally ends with adar kicking arondir directly in the face in order to keep him down before walking off as arondir is shown crawling on the ground so, to me it was pretty clear that adar wasn't actually trying to kill him and that arondir would be alright.

also, i really like that both patrick and ismael (in a previous interview) put an emphasis on this arondir vs adar moment being primarily about arondir losing the fight. that's what this is about, that's what makes this momentous, it's not that he might have died, it's the fact that he actually lost the fight. that arondir, who is shown repeatedly to be an unstopped and unbeatable warrior lost. that adar beat him and that he was able to beat him because arondir became reckless, he wasn't fighting with a level head. for the first time, his emotions literally got the better of him and he lost and could've been killed because of it.

[halbrannatar]

Good night Silvergifting fans. This is for you 👇

[liveinfarbe]

The show runners about Adar…

Bringing the hurt that was this statement here

Great that from a viewer perspective the show runners felt the devastation of his loss, because they loved the character, they loved what he had with Galadriel built over two seasons, they loved the performances - but killed him off nonetheless.

It’s interesting what I think happened here: they had a character that started off on an intriguing premise coupled with a mesmerizing performance. Then as his expiration date neared there were decisions made to keep him longer in the narrative which means there were rewrites of the story. Simon Tolkien being a voice of reason here. And as they were doing so they delved deeper into his potential, and I’d argue they did that rather well, and suddenly this character became the magnetic focus of the narrative, hardly a supporting arc but front and center. There wasn’t enough time to let him breathe or kill him off satisfyingly (if that is possible). And surely Amazon had a word in that as well. They tried to make a clean sweep to get rid of the potential derailment of their vision. I suppose Adar’s demise was always meant to create a blank slate and put the Orc problem back into the box. Yet at the end of this season it felt extra egregious, because he had far outgrown his intended scope, from a viewer’s perspective.

Thing is, Adar was the best in a line of great original characters. He was soaring as a Tolkenian character and appealing to modern sensibilities. He felt relevant. And yet again coupled with an outstanding performance, where character and actor and make-up work created the most mesmerizing synergy. Adar was alive even when he was just sitting there chewing grumpily.

If it was not intentional by the show runners, it still feels like a failure, and frankly cowardly to not own up to it. But what can be done but grieve his loss now. The show is poorer for it.

[shady-swan-jones]

QnA with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay

Q8. There are some camera shots looking down on Galadriel when she is in need of healing that almost looks like an eye in the middle of the shot…there is a very popular theory that this is Sauron checking in / looking down at her -  could you confirm or is this just a neat shot for the camera?

JD: When it comes to artistic interpretation, and the role that creators take on once they've put their work out into the world — there's this idea in literary criticism of “the intentional fallacy,” which critiques the notion that to truly understand the meaning of a work, one needs to somehow go back and figure out the author's original intent. Sure, authorial intent can shed light on what a work is trying to accomplish, just like we did with Arondir a second ago - “Oh, actually, we're going for this other thing, and people took it this way…” And we're always game for that. But what's also fascinating and really rewarding, I think, as creators is that... once you create something, it's out there in the world. And people are going to have all kinds of readings of it. 

And sometimes themes will have bubbled up in the writing and in the production that you weren't even necessarily aware of — either subconsciously, or happening as a sort of collective unconscious of the entire group of people that brought this thing together. Then, people in the world will take the finished work and start analyzing it from all kinds of different directions, and we’ll look at their readings and feel like, “wow, that's a really smart and sophisticated reading. I really like that.” Patrick, do you have anything you want to add? 

Patrick: Yeah, it was just a neat shot for the camera.

[x]

[partfae]

“We are writing season three” (x) I LOVE THIS SONGGGG

[helenvader]

Messy dude who lives for drama, I can't.

Not that I don't agree.

Source: Patrick McKay quote from the IGN article.

[nerds-yearbook]

Star Trek Beyond premiered on July 22, 2016. The film was dedicated to Anton Yelchin (Chekov), who died a month before the film's release. The film was used to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Star Trek franchise. It was the first theatrical release that protrayed Sulu (John Cho) as being gay, which created some controversy. The move was meant as a tribute to the original Sulu (George Takei), who is a prominent gay man and gay rights advocate. However, Takei responded “I’m delighted that there’s a gay character,” he was quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. “Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.” J.J. Abrams handed over directing duties to Justin Lin as he was busy directing Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. Simon Pegg (Scotty) co-wrote it with Doug Jung, Roberto Orci, Patrick McKay, and John D Payne. The film was nominated for numerous awards, but only won a Saturn Award for Best Make-Up. The film underperformed at the box office losing approximately 50.5 million dollars. The events of the film took place in March of 2263.

[beyonddarkness]

SAURON REBUILT

How was Sauron rebuilt by the end of the first season?

Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again. [...] His plans are far from ripe, I think, but they are ripening. [...] The Enemy still lacks one thing to give him strength and knowledge to beat down all resistance, break the last defences, and cover all the lands in a second darkness. He lacks the One Ring. — Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings (FOTR): The Shadow of the Past

This is a pattern by which we may be able to answer that question for Sauron in the Second Age. There was a defeat, there was a respite, he took another shape and grew again. He had plans that were not yet ripe, but were ripening nonetheless.

SAURON: "I've got my own plans, Elf."

(1x02)

According to the pattern, he lacked something that would give him strength and knowledge to beat down all resistance. He made the One Ring with his own power. What would have given him necessary strength and knowledge before the One Ring?

[read]

[sunshinestatecineplex]

TV: THE RINGS OF POWER - Season 1 Builds the Foundation Tolkien's Beautiful Fantasy

When Rings of Power is working, it’s among the best shows on TV. However, Season 1 has too many overly serious moments to keep it in that stratosphere.

The fantasticism around The Lord of Rings turned J.R.R. Tolkien‘s fantasy novels into one of the biggest franchises on the planet. Yet the questions about how The Rings of Power – Amazon Studios‘ foray into the uncompleted ideas from the author. Serving as a prequel to the origins of The Lord of the Rings, showrunners D. Payne and Patrick McKay faced an unenviable task of reinventing the stories…

[rey-jake-therapist]

Interview of JD Payne and Patrick McKay, about Elrond's decision to put on Nenya to save Galadriel :

Am I the only one who doesn't understand "best friend is maybe reducing their relationship too much. Say the person for whom he has so much love (...)" as the show runners saying that Elrond loves Galadriel romantically ?

Idk, it's like when anti Haladriel shippers take Charlie's comment that what Galadriel and Sauron have is "more than a romance" as a claim that it's not romance at all.

I may be stupid, but as far as I'm concerned, if you tell me that Galadriel is "more than a best friend" for Elrond, I interpret it as you saying that their bond is extremely strong, almost like a sister/brother bond. It's even stronger than a classic friendship. Stronger than his friendship with Durin, probably.

If you tell me that Galadriel and Sauron's relationship is "more than romance", I will interpret it as you saying that it goes beyond anything I can imagine in terms of earthly romance, and not as you saying that there aren't elements of romance in it.

I don't know where this generally admitted that "romantic love" is superior to "platonic love" comes from, but I'm tired af of seeing it. "They're more than best friends" = "they're in love". Why ? Why would romance be the superior step ? Some people have friendships that last all their life, while they had multiple romantic partners because romantic love almost always fades at some point. How is romantic love superior to friendship then? Why would a romantic partner count more than a best friend who you knew most of your life.

THAT SAID, LOL, I wonder how I can still kid myself. These people are probably right, as there was definitely an Elrondriel agenda behind Galadriel and Elrond's relationship in season 2. There was nothing platonic about *that* kiss, and it can't have been a pure esthetic choice, after *that* kiss, that Elrond acted as if he was marrying Galadriel in the finals.

He's even got only one ring, on his left hand, so this picture gives even more wedding vibes lmao.

It could even be said that it was foreshadowed in season 1, even if their interactions seemed very platonic to me. I'm quite certain that Elrondriel would have been a much more popular ship if Elrond wasn't supposed to marry Galadriel's daughter.

Will it lead them to erase Celebrian from history and make Galadriel Arwen's mother ? It was Tolkien's original idea, after all. It would make certain very agressive fans of the bland NPC mad, which I wouldn't be against tbh, and it would resolve the "wtf do we do with the NPC problem, at least. Because, it's definitely a problem. 8 episodes per season, a character who has no utility in the story except to be the main character's husband, but who has to be introduced in a way that the audience understands why he was presumed dead and suddenly shows up... Make Elrond Galadriel's husband, and you solve the problem !

I'm only half-joking, folks. It would considerably break the lore, but would it be a big deal, really ? I'm not sure I'd be against it, tbh. Anything's better for me than "Elrond's secretly in love with Galadriel, they will never act on it but since he can't have the mother, he'll settle for her daughter" future the show seems to have set up.

[emarasmoak]

A few (minor) spoilers on season 2 of The Rings of Power thanks to @lotrropbrand in Twitter:

[halbrannatar]

Empire's News.

[attheexactlyrighttimeandplace]

[shady-swan-jones]

QnA with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay

Q1. You have to trim and edit things before they air, but is there a specific scene or scenes that you had a difficult time cutting that you really wanted in the final production?

 JD: Every cut we make, we do it because we think it's what’s best of the show. One cut that was challenging, without getting too specific, was some material that focused on The Stranger’s journey of self-discovery with Tom Bombadil. As we went through the editorial process of looking at what we had, and what we'd shot, and what we felt really worked, some of this got truncated. In some alternate universe where things had worked out differently, it felt like there could have been a story akin to Luke in Dagobah, with The Stranger learning more about his powers from Tom Bombadil, that would have been fun to see.

Patrick: There's fewer scenes, especially season two, that we dropped than you would think. I think there were two I can think of, Númenor scenes, but that ultimately felt like they were redundant with something that was covered elsewhere. There was a really nice scene where Valandil and Eärien took a walk through the city and they were lovely. It was all about how much they were grieving Isildur, but the audience was like, “we know he's alive”. And the minute we dropped it, even though it was sad to see it go, the story had more energy. So that's maybe just to give you a sense of the kind of thinking that goes into these things.

Q2. Do you guys have a favorite thing in the lore that you know for sure you won’t be able to put into the show?

 JD: I think we never want to say never. There's a bunch of things that could jump to the top of this list. There's stuff in the Third Age we probably won't cover. Or there’s some details from The Silmarillion that would enrich our storytelling, but that we don't have the rights to. But again, you never want to say never — there are things like the name “Annatar” that we originally wouldn’t have been able to use, that the Tolkien Estate graciously stepped in and made possible. We have some other pieces of lore like that on our wish list that we’ll have to wait and see what happens with. The road goes ever on! So, I think for now we'll just say that's TBD. 

 Patrick: I don't have a better answer than that other than to say, you know, Gollum is one of my favorite characters in the legendarium. He’s such a rich, complex character but I can't imagine a world where we would ever do anything with him in this show. Even at the very, very end. Which is too bad because he's so great, but then also maybe it's a good thing because he was done so brilliantly and iconically in the films by Peter and his collaborators and Andy Serkis. But it's like, that's a toy that would be fun to be able to play with.

Q3. Now that we know it is Gandalf and a Dark Wizard instead of the two blues, does this rule out the possibility of blues being in the show? Also, can you definitively rule out Saruman being the Dark Wizard?

 Patrick: I think it's hard to say anything is 100%, but we have no plans or intention to have him be Saruman. We are not thinking of him as Saruman. We know there are five wizards talked about in The Lord of the Rings. One of them is Saruman, one of them is Gandalf, one of them is Radagast, and then there are two others. It is our expectation that he will be one of those two others.

 JD: What I'll say is, I think it would be difficult logically to see how he could be Saruman. It would be sort of a “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” for Gandalf. If the Dark Wizard was going to be Saruman, then he would be an evil wizard that Gandalf was interacting with and fighting in the Second Age. And then he'd have to become good again and regain Gandalf’s trust, only to later turn evil again and betray him. It would just sort of strain credulity.

 Patrick: What I would say to add to that is, you know, again, we're not sort of playing fast and loose or, or trying to be tricky - characters reveal themselves to you as you go forward with their stories and, you know, The Stranger revealed more and more and more of who he was. It's just very hard to imagine that the Dark Wizard would be Saruman. I think while we want to be open as creators to every corner of the legendarium, I don't think that's going to happen. 

Q4. What canon characters are you guys most excited to introduce in the future?

JD: Several.

Patrick: That’s it!

Q5. How did Arondir not die between episodes 7 and 8? He was stabbed pretty good but in episode 8 he had the strength to fight back against the Uruks alongside the other elves. Then finished the season with Gil-galad, Elrond and Galadriel overlooking and inspiring the rest of the elves. Was there magic ring healing or was the injury just not in a fatal spot?

Patrick: So, this is a funny one. It was not a mortal blow. He was injured and defeated. We held the camera on him in a shot of him crawling on the ground. You're supposed to know “Okay, he's down, but he's not out”. Elves are elves. The first thing he says is elves heal of their own accord, unless the wound is like especially grievous or mortal. This was not a mortal wound. Is it possible that the king, as they were in captivity, might’ve used some magic to help him? Possibly. But we didn't even think the wound was that serious. We thought Adar beat him. When you lose a title fight boxing match, you're not dead. You're out for the count. And Adar defeated him in combat. He did not mortally wound him. But I think we realize now watching it, it's so surprising when Arondir is defeated because he's such an amazing hero. It feels more momentous even than that.  

Q6. Sauron spent time smithing in Númenor, he worked directly with Celebrimbor to have him craft rings of power so he has seen the process… At this point, does Sauron have everything he needs to craft The One Ring? 

 JD: I think you'd need to ask yourself — did he see everything that the elven smiths did in the process? Go back and watch very carefully, what he was there for, what he wasn't there for. We know from the legendarium that Sauron never touched the elven three. So, I think we can say, just watch very carefully.

 Patrick: No, I mean, he was not present for the forging of the three. Clearly, he was intimately involved and providing instruction and getting his hands on the actual works for the seven and the nine. And so, all we can do is point to what's already there, but certainly it sure feels like Sauron needed Celebrimbor and could not have made these rings without him.

 JD: We sort of like to think of the building of the rings as akin to atomic energy. It's like Sauron was there for all the theoretical physics that underpinned the splitting of the atom and the dawn of the nuclear age. But he wasn't actually there when the first bomb was built in the laboratory. So, what happens between concept and execution, as any screenwriter and producer knows, can be a lot. So go back and check it out. 

Q7. Fans have really dug the flashbacks and we open with flashbacks for season 1 and season 2. Could we see more in season 3 or is that something you don’t want to overdo?

Patrick: We actually like the idea that each season might start with a different slice of Middle-earth focused on a different character than it was last time maybe. Maybe you'd go to title after an extended section that tells you something new about a character and maybe goes to a time in their life that we haven't yet explored or seen on screen. We like the idea that this becomes one of the refrains of the show. That could change at any time as rules are made to be broken. But I will say at this time, as we're thinking about the story, we have a flashback that would start season three. And then maybe a couple more flashbacks sprinkled throughout the season. We always want to explore new corners of Middle-earth, and we always love showing you a new side of a character you haven't seen before.  So that's a non-answer, but hopefully answer enough.

JD: Something we can also say is, one of the things we love about Tolkien is how rich and layered his history is — his characters, his worlds, his peoples — all of them have these histories that are incredible. The immortal characters go back thousands of years. And even the characters that aren't immortal are part of lands and peoples whose histories go back thousands of years. It's almost like the work of a geologist as you're going through it, unpacking all the different layers. But as storytellers, you also have to be very careful with flashbacks because too many of them can sort of stop the story dead. A story always has to be moving forward. If you just get into flashbacks or backstory for backstory’s sake, it can end up miring you down, and deflating your story and interrupting your momentum. But the right flashback at the right time for the right character in the right place can open up an entire new understanding of a character's journey and story. As Patrick said, I think we've liked formally the idea of opening seasons that way. And as for what happens in the future, again, stay tuned. 

Q8. There are some camera shots looking down on Galadriel when she is in need of healing that almost looks like an eye in the middle of the shot…there is a very popular theory that this is Sauron checking in / looking down at her -  could you confirm or is this just a neat shot for the camera?

JD: When it comes to artistic interpretation, and the role that creators take on once they've put their work out into the world — there's this idea in literary criticism of “the intentional fallacy,” which critiques the notion that to truly understand the meaning of a work, one needs to somehow go back and figure out the author's original intent. Sure, authorial intent can shed light on what a work is trying to accomplish, just like we did with Arondir a second ago - “Oh, actually, we're going for this other thing, and people took it this way…” And we're always game for that. But what's also fascinating and really rewarding, I think, as creators is that... once you create something, it's out there in the world. And people are going to have all kinds of readings of it. 

And sometimes themes will have bubbled up in the writing and in the production that you weren't even necessarily aware of — either subconsciously, or happening as a sort of collective unconscious of the entire group of people that brought this thing together. Then, people in the world will take the finished work and start analyzing it from all kinds of different directions, and we’ll look at their readings and feel like, “wow, that's a really smart and sophisticated reading. I really like that.” Patrick, do you have anything you want to add? 

Patrick: Yeah, it was just a neat shot for the camera.

Q9. You have had quite a few creatures on the show already - Ents, Uruks, nameless creatures in the mud, sea beasts, wights, elves and even a balrog - fans who don’t like dwarves are wondering with how phenomenal the VFX/CGI team has been on the show if we could see dragons in the future?

Patrick: I would say dragons are special and unique in Tolkien. There are some legendary dragons with legendary names. Dragons talk in Tolkien. We'd have to have the right reason to do it and at the right moment. I think it's pretty hard to top Benedict Cumberbatch's Smaug. And there is another fantasy show with lots of dragons. I think the answer is maybe. And if we go there, it'll be because there's a great Tolkienian idea and reason to go there that we have to do. 

[marcovaleyeah]

01.01.24

#Mira-Marathon | LOTR

Finished watching Lord of the Rings in the new year😄

Serial Name: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | Season 1 | (2022); Production studios: Warner Bros. Television, Amazon Studios, New Line Cinema, Cause and FX, Reunion Pacific Entertainment, Tolkien Enterprise, Harper Collins Publishers; Director by: Wayne Yip, Charlotte Brändström, Juan Antonio Bayona, Sanaa Hamri, Louise Hooper; Screenwriters: Patrick McKay, John D. Payne, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Nicholas Adams, Stephany Folsom; Starring: Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Cordova; Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Drama; Running Time: One series – 1 hour 10 minutes | All series – 9 hours 20 minutes;

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" is an epic web series based on the works of Tolkien, which captivates the world of Middle-earth and enthralls with an intense plot. With beautiful visuals and characters, the series offers a unique perspective on the history of this world.

My rating:

⭐⭐⭐