S01 Season 1 Episode 3: Adar

[Erestor Arcamen]

Discussion of Season 1 Episode 3: Adar

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" Adar (TV Episode 2022) ⭐ 7.2 | Action, Adventure, Drama

1h 9m | TV-14

www.imdb.com

 

[Elthir]

Spoiler

Adar means father

 

[Berzelmayr]

It seems that many ...
... didn't like the creature-design of the warg

 

[Annatar]

It was an absolute cringefest. Yay!!! 🥳

What I liked:

+ the Numenor design
+ the conflict "King's Men vs. The Faithful" was done right to some extent
+ the invented sister of Isildur looks hot for once
+ Elendil was cast appropriately
+ I liked the design of the orcs for the most part (even if they were often only indistinctly visible)
+ the episode seemed a bit more focused, not every plot point was shown (Elrond, Theo, Gil-galad...)

What I didn't like:

- Why do orc prisoners have to work during the day? If I were a light-sensitive orc commander, I would make them work at night 😎
- the Elf of Color in chains - is it possible to convey messages a bit more subtly? 🧐
- Isildur aka "Isil" as a sailing cadet - all boring scenes 😴
- the Numenorians look visually just like the southerners, that is, just as average and diverse as all other humans (or even races), and are apparently also exactly the same dorks, full of xenophobia, and of course they have to beat up the foreigner right away, as it is the law in every modern, generic fantasy series 😒
- Miriel looks ridiculous, Pharazon looks ridiculous, the dialogues in the throne room sound like in a bad play; also the book lore has been bent tremendously, but I don't even pay attention to that anymore
- the slow motion scene of Galadriel riding is the most cringe thing I've seen so far; 😨 was I upset before because Galadriel never laughed? Now I know why it's better that way....
- the ominous Sauron sign is, ridiculously, actually a highly stylized map of Mordor 👾
- this "feast of the dead" of the hobbits is very embarrassing with these awkward costumes and the strange speech where they even make fun of some of the deceased people 😣
- the warg is pleasantly brutal (after all those childish, boring scenes), but somehow you also feel sorry for it, it looks a bit cuddly despite it's ugliness 😉

 

[Halasían]

Episode 3 was quite enjoyable... especially the Numenorean parts. We have 'Queen-regent' Míriel and 'Chancellor' Pharazôn, so they are bumping Tar Palantir's reign and only calling Míriel 'regent'. I'm trying to visualize how Pharazôn 'forces' marriage on Míriel here because as portrayed, it looks like Míriel would kick Pharazôn's ass. Will be interesting to see how that is written.

Really liked them naming Anarion in the 'family dynamic' talk with Isildur and Eärien. I don't mind, and even like the fact they brought in Eärien as an OC sister. Tolkien made few mentions of daughters in most family lines so the addition of this bit of fanfic is nice. For some reason I got the vibe that Anarion is going to be the 'older' sibling in this as he had already 'quit the naval academy' while Isildur is a naval apprentice? I'm ok with it either way.

Echoing Eldy, I too think they are getting too wrapped up with the Harfoot storyline. I like them, but to me it seems that too much of the limited time is being used on them. I could have done with 'less'.

A am really liking the Orcs. Much more sinister than the PJ Orcs. I was a bit 'meh'ish with the warg and will give a point to PJ for his portrayal of them. Am interested in where Arondir's storyline goes, and with the halfway point coming next week, am thinking some serious stuff will be forthcoming to leave the end of the season in suspense.

(thought I'd get this in before the thread descended into the normal - bufoonery)

I think the storytelling is a bit rough in places, and maybe binge-re-watching through the eight episodes once they all dropped will help with some of the inconsistencies I detect.

 

[Goldilocks Gamgee]

Anyone else getting Aragorn vibes from Halbrand?

 

[Halasían]

Anyone else getting Aragorn vibes from Halbrand?

Yeah, got that from the first view. the actor looks enough like Viggo to give that vibe. Not sure how that fits in with how this is being written as things seem to point more toward him being less than honest. The same sort of vibe is being portrayed by the stranger with the Harfoots being Gandalf too.

Oh yes, I need to watch it again but I thought the 'puppet show' going on in the city was interesting.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Spoiler

But if they're following any sort of timeline, Halbrand wouldn't be Sauron, would he? He'd have had to already have made the One Ring before he visited Numenor, right?

I know Amazon may not follow the timeline exactly but he lost his fair form after Numenor was destroyed and had already made the Ring by then, right? Unless he goes back to ME and then after influencing Celebrimbor and making his Ring, goes back I guess.

 

[Goldilocks Gamgee]

Halbrand wouldn't be Sauron, would he?

I almost wish he was, just so Galadriel could be proven wrong for once. But we've got to remember the weird blond guy from the trailers, who most people assumed would be Sauron.

I just realized that all of that wasn't a spoiler, but I'm just used to writing in spoiler-version in these threads.

 

[herlig9]

So when did Orcs get alergic to sunlight? But it was worth it to watch Isildur, the actor who played the kid in Mr.Bean.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

So when did Orcs get alergic to sunlight? But it was worth it to watch Isildur, the actor who played the kid in Mr.Bean.






View attachment 15658View attachment 15659

They always were in the books. The ones Saruman bred were Uruks and were resistant to the sunlight effects.

 

[herlig9]

They always were in the books. The ones Saruman bred were Uruks and we're resistant to the sunlight effects.

But hold on...

so would the orcs fight in the dark in the books? I just cant remember that part about them not handling sunlight.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Sauron had that storm coming out over pelennor fields to block the sun for them. I'm not at home so don't have the exact quote sorry

 

[herlig9]

Ouuuch. Seeing that woman prisoner just get mauled by a wolf, that was very gruesome.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Sauron had that storm coming out over pelennor fields to block the sun for them. I'm not at home so don't have the exact quote sorry

Here's some from The Two Towers...the non-Uruks didn't want to keep marching in the sunlight.

The orc-band began to descend a narrow ravine leading down into the misty plain below. Merry and Pippin, separated by a dozen Orcs or more, climbed down with them. At the bottom they stepped on to grass, and the hearts of the hobbits rose.
‘Now straight on!’ shouted Uglu´k. ‘West and a little north. Follow Lugdush.’
‘But what are we going to do at sunrise?’ said some of the Northerners.
‘Go on running,’ said Uglu´k. ‘What do you think? Sit on the grass and wait for the Whiteskins to join the picnic?’
‘But we can’t run in the sunlight.’
‘You’ll run with me behind you,’ said Uglu´k. ‘Run! Or you’ll never see your beloved holes again. By the White Hand! What’s the use of sending out mountain-maggots on a trip, only half trained. Run, curse you! Run while night lasts!’

 

[Elthir]

so would the orcs fight in the dark in the books? I just cant remember that part about them not handling sunlight.

The Hobbit mentions [when the Orks were looking for Bilbo, hunting for him among the trees]:
"But they don't like the sun: it makes their legs wobble and their heads giddy."

In any case, they run under the sun when forced, as EA notes. There are three groups of Orks in the eventual Sun-run: Orks from Isengard, Orks from Mordor, and the "half-trained" Northerners who complain about running under the sun.

 

[d4rk3lf]

So, we got several interesting stuff in this episode.


- We have learned that harfuts are so cruel in their core, and coldblooded, they left their weak members who can't keep up with the rest of the tribe, to terrible destiny.
(reminder that Tolkien wrote directly opposite, on why Gandalf liked the hobbits (apart from their usual cuteness), is because of the great winter when he saw them dying in an attempt to save each-other).
Apart from being opposite to Tolkien, it doesn't make any sense that tribe should act that way, because it's in contrast to the core survival of the tribe. Long story short: Any tribe that acts this way ,will going to kill itself.

- We have learned that in order to be a smith in Numenor, you need to earn that badge. Ok, so Halbrand stole one, and it kept me wondering, if he succeeded, how would that numenorian smith react? Like: "Oh, ok, you earned the badge in within several hours? Nothing suspicious. You can start working".

- We learned that (by Ar-Farazon order) Galadriel is forbidden to leave the palace, yet she managed to escape to the guards, but got caught by Elendil. Did he bring her back to the castle in chains? No. They chatted about some library that is far away, and she was like, well... let's go there. And Elendil was: "Sure, why not?
Then we got slow motion scene with horses and Galadriel smile.

- We have learned that elf's could swipe the chain in a certain way, and knocks down 2-3 orcs, and that meteor man is so stupid and clumsy that he make that paper almost burn completely.

- We have learned that Galadriel have no appreciation of saving her of certain death (by her words), and without any gratitude just acts rude, and childish, demanding and threatening that she will fight all Numenorians if needs to get her goal.
/ISPOILER]

Can't wait for more fun like this.

 

[d4rk3lf]

Please remember to use Spoiler tags so that you don't ruin the episode for someone who hasn't watched it yet.

I will respect this, but please reconsider this with your team.
Doesn't really make any sense.
We should talk freely here, and whoever didn't watched the episode, should just stay out of the thread until he/she watched it.
I did that for this episode, for example.
I just didn't entered here to read, until I watched episode.

Also, even it's all with spoilers here, why would anyone, who didn't watched episode would want to read thread full with spoilers?
Again, doesn't really makes much sense.

More logical to me, would that spoilers needs to be in the rest of the forum, so somebody don't accidentally be spoiled but not here, where we can avoid topic if not wanting to ruin first watch.

 

[Eljorahir]

Anyone else getting Aragorn vibes from Halbrand?

I'm thinking Halbrand looks fair but feels foul. He seemed to go full blown out of control berserk in the alleyway fight scene. Me thinks him not nice man.

 

[Áramandë Amaniel]

I'm thinking Halbrand looks fair but feels foul. He seemed to go full blown out of control berserk in the alleyway fight scene. Me thinks him not nice man.

"So fair and foul a day I have not seen."

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair."