#ROP in their Sauron era

[valar-did-me-wrong]

"Anger will drink you dry if you let it"

captioning a pic of Arondir & Theo... the POC elf & the OC storyline

They are trolling back the trolls!! 😭😭

I love them standing up & doubling down with Tolkienian replies omg ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

[sauronism]

charlie vickers didn't giggle and twirl his hair everytime he killed someone on screen only for him to act tough and shy when he preach melkorism in numenor. i need him to go full blown freakazoid 3000 and borderline obsessive towards his dumbass overlord to the point it scares the shit out of the temple builder themselves.

[thequeensjester]

Rings of Power ➤ Cinematography: Sauron's Rise

In the s2 prologue, the torches form leading lines that converge in middle where Sauron is standing. This establishes him as the focal point of the scene but not the one in power.

Sauron demands the orcs to accept him as their savior but they don't respect him. He stands on a platform above the orcs but the camera angle makes it so that he doesn't look that much taller than Adar and the orcs. Instead, it looks like orcs are overwhelming him.

I find it interesting how Sauron occupies this frame. It likely a coincidence but the Forodwaith composition reminds me of this scene from ep6 that I wrote about:

(Both episodes were directed separately between Charlotte Brandstrom (ep1) and Sanaa Hamri (ep6). JD & P confirmed that Sanaa didn't speak with Charlotte when it came to the Dutch angles in the Galadriel and Adar dinner scene. I'm inclined to believe it might be the same in this case.)

In Eregion, we have the turn tables. Using different tactics, Sauron is standing over the elves because he is finally getting closer to his plans.

This takes me to Sauron's final shot of the season. The camera movement is key to the storytelling. We start with his close-up, which zooms out into a wide shot, revealing his possession of Feanor's Hammer and more of his environment. Then the camera continues by dropping into a low-angle shot—as if the world is being brought to its knees while Sauron stands over it.

We, the audience, are now looking up at him. Compared to previous shots, as he becomes more powerful, he is now more dominant in the wide shot.

— credit: cap-that.com

[markantonys]

me when adar, a villain who manipulates and backstabs, turns out to be manipulating and backstabbing galadriel

[fukutomichi]

- I have you.

- And who has you?

[love-and-doom]

This guy can't help but fail and be rejected If he isn't a romantic hero I don't know who else could be

Sauron is watching Galadriel from the top of the cliff, relieved that she didn't die in the fall, but feeling awful as well. She would rather die than being with him, wtf?

Aulë tenters his mind and whispers : "you know, if this she-Elf chose death over an eternity with you, it's probably that you did something wrong and should change your ways..."

Sauron remains silent, as if he was thinking very intensely, then looks like he's having an epiphany. "You're right! I did everything wrong. I need to forge a master ring that will bind all the rings to me, so next time I see her, Galadriel can't run away! I should have done that first. What an idiot! Thanks bro, you're a real friend!"

Aulë: ..............

[starsofarda]

Silm Fashion - Part 6/? - Celebrimbor

Yes, I am basically going off that one poll for the order, so now we are going to go down my rabbit hole with Celebrimbor.

Well, he is interesting as a character, and whilst I kind of dig the red to green thing he has in RoP, I wanted to give my humble opinion on his fashion sense.

Under cut!

So, because my pipeline in fashion sense is generational, my mind went Feanor (hanfu) -> Curufin (hanfu - spoiler) -> Celebrimbor (modern hanfu street style).

But hear me out.

Of course when Celebrimbor was a toddler and still in Nargothrond he was in proper styled outfits, ofc with Feanorian red all over. Because if we go by the fact that Curufin took after Feanor the most, that includes Feanor's fashion sense (see Silm Fashion part 1). And because ofc urufin has a child, he is going to try his best in putting the little one in Feanor-inspired outfits.

Then we know what happens, after Nargothrond is destroyed and he disappers for the rest of the First Era I guess he has some sort of idk crisis, like he bonds with Gil-Galad and Elrond like stray cats bond to whoever gives them food and shelter. The Second Era, from and Elf's POV is like Mad Max. His fashion sense has not really strayed that much, but he has that je-ne-sais-quoi.

Then ofc he establishes himself in Eregion, he's got the forge, he grows up a little bit more and whilst he still keeps having the same fashion style, he also has more casualoutfits he's not afraid of ruining whilst working in the forge, like the below - still more black.

And then Annatar/Sauron appears, strokes Celebrimbor's ego, the Rings are made, we know. His fashion sense takes up a notch because Annatar is a bloody fashion icon and Celebrimbor is not immune to that.

(My brethren, I am unfortunately not immune to Silvergifting, pls do not impale me)

Thoughts? Prayers? Comments? Flagpoles?

[plotdesigner]

in my scar colored heart, color will always exist ch 6

Rating: Mature

Warnings: canon-typical aftermath of battle, aftermath of torture, discussion of Silmarillion-era violence

Summary:

Adar finds an unlikely ally in Eragion after his children turn on him in a bout of unexpected battle madness. Surely this time, the elf he’s brought home really will help him defeat Sauron instead of using his mercy as an opportunity to kill dozens of orcs AGAIN. Surely this time he can truly defeat Sauron and keep the Uruk safe, right?

Celebrimbor manages to survive being tortured by Sauron. Now he just has to survive teaming up with the army that invaded his city, the heartbreak of his lover and his smiths turning on him, and the psychic damage that comes from being the son of an infamous kingdom-killer working with someone called Lord Father. (Or: Sauron’s exes unionize, rebound together, and try and get custody of the kids. Canon divergence after ROP s2e6. Let’s get out of Ost-in-Edhil with a lower body count!)

Chapter 6: While Adar makes preparations for the Uruk army's retreat, Celebrimbor gets a proper welcome to being in an orc war camp. It turns out it's easy to make friends when the last elf to be hosted was Galadriel 'double digit body count' Sun-haired.

Featuring: elf generational trauma, the realization young adults are dumbasses everywhere, learning Uruk nudity taboos about two chapters two late for it to matter, funerary practices, and where do orcs go when they die? (and so, so much wiki diving. mr jolkein rolkein rolkein tolkein make your battles easier to spell challenge)

read on ao3

(cover art by greenleaf4stuff!!! )

[ivycova]

Sauron vs Galadriel & gender cross-dressing

Some of my thoughts inspired by Mercury Natis esse, where she speaks about Tolkien works and Sauron deviant sexuality and female fatal parralel, that you can find here.

She looks at it in the context of the plot of Numenor and its fall, but I noticed some interesting parallels with RoP that I wanted to share.

Keep reading

👇🏼

As Mercury writes, Sauron is a different type of force and evil than Morgoth, being his sorser and left hand:

The devil's right hand is so often in biblical narrative a woman who exerts power through seductive means. She is Eve, Salome, Lilith, Delilah, Jezebel the hore of Babylon lot's daughters and I could go on and on and on and on and on.

...Melchor is our devil figure, Melchor is our Satan figure, Sauron isn't, Sauron is the left hand of the devil and as I said, the left hand of the devil is almost always a woman. And that is a very different position to be in than the figure of worship himself as opposed to the false prophet, who draws the faithful in, and makes them unfaithful, and now you're worshiping the devil. It's a very different power dynamic there.

It is no mistake that Tolkien often uses the word lust as a metaphor for the will to power a drive to dominate. what Tolkien has done on numenor is choose to still use this Trope of the Ishah Zarah/ Femme Fatale, but as he didn't want to apply it to women he chose to apply it to a male character.

In a sense, Mercury confirms Sauron's need to worship a third higher being (Morgoth, Galadriel), but if with Morgoth he did it so to speak naturally, then as for the other characters and victims of his manipulation, it was his tactic for achieving power, not a male but a female strategy, which was rewritten by the authors of the Victorian era of the 19th century in to a concept of Femme Fatale:

Alice Bach book “women's seduction and betrayal and biblical narrative” is a very comprehensive look at biblical narratives, in which women exemplify villainy. These biblical stories, Bach explains, draw on the androcentric Biblical logic that women through Eve thwarted the divine plan. The fall and in turn original sin are Eve's fault, and so that stain continues through her line and through the daughters of Eve. it is in these biblical narratives that women offer deceitful delicacies to men who greedily reach out for them no matter what the dangers.

What we're seeing in Sauron and Ar-Pharazôn relationship is a complex power Dynamic that is usually presented in gendered terms. Women in our patriarchal society have been for most of history in a position of disadvantage in terms of power. So the Femme Fatale is a fear of women using their disadvantaged positions to gain power and take that power away from Men. It is as Maria Alberto notes in her paper on Tolkien's use of Seduction in his legendarium. That ultimately the nature of Seduction is deceit and manipulation. The purpose of Seduction is the attempted increase of power. This is the crux of the spike of the Femme Fatale in the 19th century in their art and literature that poured gallons of this Trope Into the cauldron of story. The way that Sauron enacts his power over Ar-Pharazôn is through the means of the Femme Fatale. He manipulates Farazone into taking him to numenor in the first place where he subjugates and submits himself to Ar-Pharazôn voracious need for hyper masculine dominance. And through honeyed words and a beautiful face through the means of Seduction available to the Femme Fatale takes the position of power. But through the guise of being behind the throne not on it.

It is also interesting that the change in gender roles concerns both Sauron himself and Galadriel. For she, like Eowyn at the beginning of the story in the first and second seasons, embodies the behavior typical of male characters:

- Worrier

- Active

- Powerful

- In control

Whereas Sauron's manner of interaction with Celebrimbor in the second season is purely feminine:

- give counsel

- understand/ empathizes

- passive

To understand the transference of gendered tropes across gender boundaries it is useful to just briefly review the feminine principle in Tolkien's legendarium as Melanie Rawls put it in 1984.

Rawls identifies that Tolkien doesn't limit traditional gender roles to sex bodies. Male characters like Elrond and Faramir can act in feminine ways and female characters like Eovin can act in masculine ways.  She identifies that in Arda the prime feminine characteristic is understanding, and the prime masculine characteristic is power. Feminines give counsel and masculine's act. In the case of feminines a good feminine is merciful and compassionate, bad feminines can be anywhere from wholly passive to devouring in their selfishness. Another way to put it is that feminines influence the world around them through understanding, through words and emotional attention, whereas masculines influence the world around them through action.

What is interesting is that in the first season Sauron plays the role of a secondary, driven character compared to Galadriel, but still a courageous, lost king who possesses all the characteristics of masculinity presented in the legends:

- sacrificial

- brave

- Active

And I am sure that it was these qualities that attracted/tempted Galadriel as a female character. And that power and her ambitions went hand in hand with them, because:

In Rawls his own words the feminine principle shapes individuals the masculine principle shapes events. What Rawls misses that Saluron does both of these things, and in the second age before he loses his body his primary mode of shaping events is through shaping individuals, and making individuals do the acting in his stead, using people, notably all male characters, as pawns towards their own destruction. Sauron's influence on Ar-Pharazôn is a prime example of this, where he uses his feminine characteristics as a tool to shape Numenor's demise.

The way that the seduction mechanism works with Sauron is about giving the other person the illusion of power, so they have to want power to enact that power on him, and then he goes, well actually I had the power the entire time so it's fine.

And yet he does not show his ambitions to dominate Galadrel, at least directly allowing her to think that she is in control of the situation. Supporting her ambitions for power with his service, her power over him, using his"false femininity":

in her assessment of tolkien's use of the word lust, Emma Hawkins notes that Tolkien seems to reject the idea that Evil just happens to people. Rather than being unsuspecting innocent victims evil is made through choices and in terms of a lust man is complicit in his own ruin. Herod and Ar-Pharazôn in being subject to their lusts are seduced But ultimately make the choice to give their seducers exactly what they want.

So when Sauron reveals his identity to her at the end of season one, on top of all the other obstacles to accepting the fact that Halbrant is Sauron, one of the hardest things to deal with was accepting that gender roles themselves had changed and changed forever.

And we see this at the end of the second season in their duel. When Galadriel is finally defeated in a direct confrontation with him.

But it is not the loss itself that is so painful, but the fact that Galadriel did not know herself or did not remember herself in any other role except the role of a warrior (male), which she herself admitted in a conversation with Elrond.

Gal- Who will I be without a sword?

Elrond- My friend

(not exact quote sorry)

So yes, season 3 is in many ways for me an expectation of how they will play out this internal growth of a character who is forced to leave his usual gender role and get to know himself from a completely new side, and reveal new side of a power that go hand by hand with that.

(Which essentially fits perfectly into her arc of transformation into a powerful forest witch and mastery of magic, namely, inner feminine powers).

This opens up an interesting window into their battle in Season 2, where essentially the false femininity of Sauron battles the false masculinity of Galadriel. And ultimately, they both fail to achieve their goals in this battle. Sauron in tempting Galadriel, and Galadriel in defeating Sauron with brute force.

Whether this theme will be further developed in the third season and whether it will become key at all, I don’t know, but the fact that it is present in Tolkien’s legendarium itself and in RoP cannot be completely ruled out.

How Mercury said in here esse, Tolkien was very specific on this topic:

In the feminine principle Rawls notes that where masculine and feminine are in harmony there is good, but evil is a result of insufficiency or disharmony of one or the other. In this case the evil is found in a cacophonous disharmony of the masculine and The Feminine where they are both fighting for control rather than actually working together.

[laerien]

While I'm not necessarily ecstatic about The Acolyte being cancelled as far as the future of Star Wars television goes, rewatching the first season of Rings of Power solidified my thoughts about why I think the former needed a bit more work.

The premises are pretty similar: a story based in a time we haven't seen yet in a world that has extensive lore but lots of grey area. Rings of Power and The Acolyte both capitalized on this to take liberties and add several new aspects; whether to genuinely add to the story or to fit into a studio's motive is anyone's guess. Both had fantastical aspects, established orders who refused to believe evil was returning, love vs duty debates, and an exploration of morality.

As a Tolkien fan, I was left feeling indifferent about RoP when it first aired. There were several things I thought would be established in canon that were suddenly changed, yet there were new additions and stories that I could still trace to very evident Tolkien motifs. While not perfect, the new characters, relationships, and storylines all sat clearly on a timeline that would undoubtedly lead to the Middle-earth we knew from the existing media. The dark was gone, it's returning, and we're going to figure out who, how, and why.

As a Star Wars fan, I thought I was very open to The Acolyte coming in and creating some new stories on the timeline. I have to give them some credit, as the majority of the characters were new to avoid blatant fanservice. However, with so much room to work with, I suppose I expected a clearer establishment of the story. A lot of time was spent with so many new characters and world building, and for what? We know Star Wars for being a battle for a better galaxy, just like the LotR franchise is a battle for a better Middle-earth. Without the war, but with knowing the Sith didn't canonically reappear until the prequel era, what was the intention of the season? The Jedi Order exists, the Sith are hinting at a return, but we're not going to figure out anything by the end of the season besides small hints that the Jedi Order is already corrupt, both Mae and Osha would give up everything we learned about them in their backstories in a single moment for something they've been fighting against the whole season, and Darth Plageius is hiding in the shadows even though there's a rule of two and Qimir's motive of having an acolyte to fulfill the rule of two is supposed to still make sense? Everything else that happened in the season is inconsequential to a larger picture, and I think that's why I struggled to understand it, despite genuinely liking several aspects of it.

I recently rewatched Rings of Power, so it's fresh and, while not without flaws, it was an excellent juxtaposition to The Acolyte. By the end of the season, RoP gave us an immensely satisfying answer to the Sauron plot point given in the first episode. It began each storyline, played adequately in each one, and wrapped up each one, all while leaving plenty of mystery in a way I found exciting. The Acolyte had appeared to have all the characters revolving around one story: the Jedi stopping a mysterious dark force from murdering more Jedi. The audience was left out of the loop on so many important things, that, by the time they were revealed, we already had more questions lined up. For all the work they did in making characters with fleshed out backstories, none of it seemed to matter when they made a choice that seemed irrelevant to it all.

I think I'm mostly annoyed that the Acolyte was cancelled because I hoped they could redeem themselves in a second season. Although, I think that annoyance is about equal to watching the finale and realizing the few mysteries solved were either full of holes or just confusing. If anyone can clearly explain to me if I'm missing something huge about the Acolyte's plot and character choices, I am very open to it. It's always exciting to see something new in the fandom, and it's always discouraging to feel like you side more with the never-happy fan trolls.

In any case, let's hope the second season of Rings of Power survives these never-happy fan trolls. I'm catching a screening tonight, but would also love to hear if people think I'm missing something terrible with this show.

[helenvader]

Overanalysing ROP because why not.

Me: Ah, look, King Halbrand was given a brooch/pin of "Ouroboros":

@queenmeriadoc: Bronwyn has snakes on hers, too... The Southlands give me very much "Viking era" vibes.

Me: Oh, and this lady has a guy of sorts:

@queenmeriadoc: A trickster! Loki! (Viking vibes confirmed)

@eowyn7023: Snakes seem like a Sauron thing. But maybe the buckles on her dress were handed down by Sauron enthusiasts. Snake is canonically one of the forms that Sauron shape-shifted into.

[Note: Maybe snakes are a symbol used in the Southlands because of their dark past; maybe they don't even realize the symbolism. Waldreg would, though.]

Me: "...then rest of him slithers in." If that's about Sauron (I tend to think it is), it's another snake reference.

And when you think of it, the torc has an "almost Ouroboros" design, too.

End of overanalysis. Maybe more could be dug up on snakes.

I've remembered this eldritch thing, maybe it's a snake head? The snake heads kind of look like a mix of dragon and snake on the images of Halbrand and Bronwyn.

Feel free to share if you have noticed more. :-)

[valar-did-me-wrong]

@orehuna Adar with his dining etiquettes, language skills & being good with kids might as well be the Diamond of the season! Meanwhile Sauron out here is busy with his rebounds xDxD

loving the Regency Era Horniness we are experiencing in this fandom!

Slutty Elrond collarbone

Hot peeking Adar's neck

Miriel & Elendil holding hands for 1 sec

Galadriel twirling Adar like in a ball

Loosing mind over gossip of a kiss

Elaborate lunch invitations

Excessive talks of jewellery

[sauronism]

annatar + celebrimbor // brandon + phillip ( rope, 1948 )

"I've always wished for more artistic talent. Well, murder can be an art, too. The power to kill can be just as satisfying as the power to create."

[markantonys]

i'd watched the first 2 episodes of ROP s1 when they first came out, but i found them boring and so didn't continue. however, i've been hearing that charlie vickers is eating and leaving no crumbs in the new season, and that is my sweet boy guglielmo pazzi from i medici (2019) and i've Got to see him killing it in a huge role, i'm so proud of him!!! always a delight when a previously-unknown actor from an obscure show you love ends up making it big

so i decided to give it another shot and dove straight into 1x03 after reading a summary of the first 2 eps to refresh my memory, and idk if 1x03 really is that much more interesting than 1&2 or if it's just that i happen to be in a different frame of mind now that's more predisposed to getting interested in this show, but WOW i am loving it!! i'm an extremely casual LOTR fan (in fact i wouldn't even rightfully call myself a fan, more just "i've watched the movies a few times and like them" haha) and so whatever complaints the fans have about ROP obviously are not things that bother me. i'm just here for a good time, and i'm having one!

the galadriel & halbrand plotline is definitely my favorite (heck, if the numenor stuff had arrived in ep2 instead of 3 i might've been on board with the show the first time around). i already know he's sauron, of course, so i was like "i won't get attached to halbrand since he's not a real person, just sauron's disguise" but fuck, i'm attached, and it hurts!!!!! loving a character who starts out good and turns to the dark is one type of pain, but loving a character who was never real at all because they were evil the whole time and this "character" was never anything more than a facade - it's an entirely different and perhaps even worse type of pain! i can't even soothe myself imagining an AU where halbrand never turned evil, because halbrand was never real! genuinely in immense anguish over this. but once i reach s2 and get to the Unabashedly Evil Sauron Era, it'll be so sexy that i might immediately go "oh no! anyway" and forget all about my anguish jdkjfg

............wait a moment. do i now know how show!rand must be feeling post-s2? attached to someone who was never real because they were always just an evil person's fake persona? oh rand honey i'm even sorrier for you now!

speaking of WOT, it really has broken my brain because i try to polyship everything all the time nowadays. why did i go "wake up babe new polycule just dropped" during that scene when galadriel, halbrand, and miriel had a meeting lmao girl you KNOW this bitch is sauron! but i already knew people were shipping him and galadriel, so i went in to my new watch expecting to see the vibes, and indeed seeing them, and i ALSO unexpectedly saw vibes for galadriel and miriel (two leaders overburdened by duty, oh it's my kryptonite), so how can i help creating a polycule? oh well, i'll enjoy it while it lasts and then once galadriel finds out he's sauron i will instead get some angst to enjoy! and she will still have her girlfriend to comfort her (as long as nothing happens to miriel.........i haven't heard any spoilers about her, so we shall see!)

back to halbrand, the "he's the lost king of the southlands" idea is such a clever misdirect because it allows halbrand to demonstrate unusual skills in combat/diplomacy/manipulation that we wouldn't expect a seeming peasant to have, but provides a cover for it and so we think this one "identity reveal" is all there is to it, and aren't suspecting a second, bigger identity reveal! and actually, as far as i can remember, he never actually confirms that he's the lost king, he just plants a clue to lead galadriel to believe it and then responds to her assumptions in ways that seem to confirm them but don't actually. very aes sedai of him! and hey, if the southlands used to serve sauron, wouldn't it technically be accurate for him to be considered their lost king? very aes sedai of him x2. liars who lie without technically lying are the best kind (gen from the queen's thief also). anyway, because of this misdirect, i don't think i'd be suspecting him of being sauron at all at this point if i didn't already know. on the other hand, there aren't really any other sauron candidates except adar who clearly isn't him. but back to the first hand, the show never set up a "one of our major characters is sauron, who is it?" mystery so i might just be assuming he was hanging out offscreen yet to show up, if i didn't already know.

i'm enjoying the other plotlines too! i remember feeling that the hobbits & the stranger plotline was the weakest link in the first 2 eps, but totally changed my tune now, nori and the stranger (who i'm guessing is gandalf, but i'm not sure, so don't tell me if you know) have the most wholesome friendship, i could die!!

or rather, the second most wholesome friendship after elrond and durin, which i remember was my favorite storyline the first time around. they are so pure!! and disa is a delight! she and elrond have impeccable sibling-spouse energy (yes we've got another polyship in the house, of course we do)

i'm trying not to get too attached to bronwyn because i know they kill her off between seasons due to the actress leaving the show, but i really like her :(( her son's kinda annoying, but he's an angsty teen, so i can't hold it against him. and arondir!! what a man, i'm swooning constantly over everything he says and does. i really like how in the most recent episode i watched they had a Good Guy (bronwyn) genuinely consider giving up her principles of honor and going to swear fealty to the bad guys in order to survive, it feels more realistic and it really sells us on just how desperate and hopeless the situation is (and on how sauron is able to get supporters by creating such situations).

it's also a visually gorgeous show, very decadent (i was practically drooling the first time they showed numenor haha i love white stone seaside cities, and the ancient greek aesthetic vibes are the cherry on top!), and the MUSIC!!!!! you guys know i'm a tv soundtrack fanatic, and my god, this is the best tv soundtrack i've heard in a LONG time. i'd put it as second to WOT because it's traditional fantasy orchestra whereas WOT's soundscape is so different and unique. but "traditional fantasy orchestra" isn't a knock here, because it's done INCREDIBLY well, so it does feel unique instead of generic like other, lesser Traditional Fantasy Orchestra soundtracks do. it's sumptuous, it's lush, it's rich, it's got very distinctive Themes for each character/location that always play in the appropriate contexts (which is one of my favorite aspects of WOT's soundtrack too). i'd been listening to the s1 soundtrack for quite a while before now, so i'm well-primed to recognize all the different themes!

my favorite has gotta be the halbrand theme, i have a character in my WIP who's a sad mountain prince (and a gawyn knockoff <3) and this theme just reminds me sooooo much of him, i cry. but if we dispense with the halbrand pretense after s1, we might not get to hear this theme anymore!!!! it's also the southlands theme, though, so hopefully we'll keep it, and i did hear it crop up briefly in a track from the s2 album. also, shoutout to the fact that the halbrand melody is an inverse of the sauron melody, bear mccreary you son of a gun (the sauron theme is another one of my favorites, the first time i heard it i assumed it was his theme from the original movies because it just had the feel of an Iconic Villain Theme, but no, it's new to ROP!)

anyway! i've watched up through 1x05 now. pacing's definitely still a bit slow, but i'm enjoying it nonetheless, and it's picking up now that galadriel & co are headed for the southlands. and i've heard that s2 is a big step up in many respects (a la WOT s2), so i'm excited to get there!

[makeshiftdraco]

Questions 1, 10 and 14 for the RoP Ask Game. :-)

Thanks for the ask!

1. How did you find out about Rings of Power? What was the one thing that drew you to the show?

I've been a huge Tolkien fan since I was a kid, so my obsession with the books and movies has been a constant. When Amazon announced the series, I was thrilled.

The exploration of the Second Age was a big draw for me. We know larger events that occurred through Tolkien's writings, but I was excited to get more details on that era and those beloved characters.

10. Choose three characters. What jobs would they have if they lived in our time?

For some reason, it was hard for me to imagine a lot of these characters with normal jobs.

Pharazon would obviously still be a politician of some sort. That narcissist would thrive unfortunately.

Disa would be an opera singer. She's got the voice and the drive for that career, and she just reminds me of so many singers that I've known. And she would definitely pull off the elaborate costumes!

Elrond would be fully entrenched in academia of some sort, probably a super niche focus like Medieval manuscripts or historical linguistics.

14. Do you have a song you associate with a favourite character?

I generally have entire playlists of songs for certain characters or ships, so it's difficult to pick just one. Here are a couple that have felt particularly relevant lately.

For Sauron:

For Galadriel:

[thegreatzombieartisan]

“Gil-Galad gaslights Galadriel when he declared Sauron was no longer a threat”

This popular stance inaccurately personalizes what is ultimately an impersonal leadership decision. A manipulative one, yes, though not with nefarious intent. Rather, in service to what he believes will produce the best outcomes for both Middle Earth and Galadriel.

Consider Gil-Galad's decision from leader's perspective who must prioritize the bigger picture when disclosing sensitive information.

Juding by the ceremony for Galadriel and company, Gil-Galad was officially on the fence with Sauron still posing a threat. Not validating her is “gaslighting” as a necessary political evil for the greater good. It also presumes because she is entitled to his real beliefs while failing to recognize the risk of disclosure. The remaining episodes make it pretty clear: give Galadriel an inch and she'll take it to the moon. Oh, dear, what could go wrong? For Gil-Galad to so casually disclose his true beliefs to Elrond after Galadriel departs Middle Earth, tells us he didn't beforehand due to his herald's close friendship with her. The High King says to Elrond, "we foresaw” (royal we or plural we?) that Galadriel might have:

"...kept alive the very evil she sought to defeat. For the same wind that seeks to blow out a fire may also cause its spread."

There are a few different ways to interpret this. Knowing exactly how he reaches this conclusion (canonical wisdom, gift of foresight, or other means) would help narrow it down. If Galadriel's mutiny was given greater gravitas, as it should have had over disobeying Gil-Galad's orders, I would say he worries of her becoming evil due to her search, thus "evil spreading." (Maybe Gil-Galad read the script?) In any event, when the High King decided to end the war and send her to Valinor, updating Galadriel on Noldor happenings on Middle Earth becomes a moot point.

I liken S1 Galadriel to an American 9/11 neoconservative* hardliner, warning everyone about WMDs Sauron. Her aggressive zealotry renders Gil-Galad unable to trust her pursuing Sauron either as a commander in his army or discontinue as private citizen of his realm. If he discloses the fading of the Elves to her, he needlessly risks Galadriel's defection and jeopardizes his plans of intervention. And we know he's right when Galadriel reveals her plans to defect to Elrond post-ceremony. And since nobody has ever refused the call to Valinor, so he had no reason to think any harm might come from not telling her.

(Also, if you undermine your boss’s authority, and your subordinates rage quit, you might find validating you is not at the top of anyone’s to-do list.)

*A tongue-and-cheek way of saying she supports intervenist foreign policy a la Numenor to sending a military force into the Southlands to prevent the execution of a “weapon of mass destruction” aka Sauron’s “shadow lands” scheme.

It’s comparable to coalition forces sent invading Afghanistan to locate WMDs. However, in Galadriel’s scenario, the WMDs were within and alongside her the entire time.

Although Tolkien hated allegory, RoP has chosen include in its creative direction. The Southlands closely mimics the American post-Civil War Reconstruction Era minus the actual reconstruction. Pharazon is now a populist leader. I figured, why not carry-on with modern American political parallels.