*Gil-galad:* _Did the dwarves find mithril?_ *Elrond:* _I've sworn an oath not to talk about that._ Well done Elrond in keeping your oath. And in the next scene with Celebrimbor he waves around the probe of mithril he's got from Durin. I really like the scene in the last episode in which Durin asked Elrond to swear on the stone never to talk about it. But now its impact is totally destroyed because Elrond's breaking the oath has no consequences. On the contrary, Elrond and Durin are best buddies. This is not _lazy writing,_ but _awful writing_ which makes me banging my head on my desk.

This is a total travesty and an insult to Tolkien himself

You can paint black and white stripes on a mule, you can even call it a zebra but...

Galadriel is Sauron.

This isn't a Tolkien project. It's a weird collection of bad, non-sensical dialogue, forced contrivances, unlikeable characters, and made up lore. If I were a show runner, I'd be embarrassed knowing my product was supposed to provide employment to cast and crew for five years. Sadly, cast and crew will only fulfill two of those five contract years. Hubris hurts.

Sauron is actually the good guy in this show. He wants to industrialize Mordor, jobs for everyone and invest in higher education #MORDOR2024

I'm beginning to think Gil-galad is Sauron. How can his character be so dumb, deceptive and awful? If the mithril bullcrap story turns out to be false its a bit anticlimactic. And it also shows a total lack of understanding of the Elves, their immortality and nature. This show has been very consistent in fluffing up the Elves. It seems the showrunners hate Elves.

Number one fact about elves in Arda: They. Are. Immortal. Yes, eventually their bodies will wane (Cirdan for example), and their souls long for the west, but most elves in Arda haven’t seen the light of the trees at all.

I think that everyone is missing the obvious if they think Halbrand is Sauron. The leader Harfoot’s wife is the most evil character in the whole show, and so is obviously Sauron in disguise.

Much as I respect Chris and his channel but the books are Tolkien there is a big difference between adapting for film as Jackson who had a genuine love and respect for his work and Amazon driving a bulldozer through it,replacing it with poor writing and characterization,it is indeed Tolkien in name only,naming all the other faults would just take too long.The silmaril /mithril nonsense and Galadriel schooling Numanoreans including the royal guard and teaching them how to fight,apparently being responsible for their travel to middle earth is just a couple of examples of the lore being trampled but for me that's it,I'm done.

I'm liking Durin and his story at least a bit The relationship between him and Elrond is somwhat interesting and the actors work well together onscreen. For me, sadly though, almost everything else is moving from bad to terrible. Just the tip of the iceberg: Gil-Galad - unpleasant manipulator and encourages oathbreaking. Who would 'sadly sing' of this guy? Also, he thought the tree decay connected to some problem being caused by Galadriel, but he should now think that's no longer possible because as far as he knows she's gone to Valinor. So why no consideration that he could have been wrong? I can understand why no one would want to agree with show-Galadriel, but like it or not, he ought to be acknowledging she could have been right. They could have given him a less-than-perfect character to start with so he can have an arc and growth but, if so, they seem to have forgotten that character development is necessary. Nearly six hours in and if he's changing at all it's only to get jerkier.. Halbrand - how did he become a smith after all? He might be 'in' with the queen now, but why has the guild given him a pass? Did the queen or Pharazon ask them to? And if so, why? They plan for him to be heading off to Middle Earth with them very soon. Makes no sense. Mithrilgate - absurd idea overall and (as you say) we know there aren't any available silmarils for this - one with Earendil, one in the sea and one in a fiery cavern. Even if they are changing that, they've shown Elrond holding mithril. We don't see it have any effect on him. He doesn't say anything about it making him feel different. Perhaps there's just not enough, but they could have made their idea slightly less ridiculous by showing something here. I'd still think it was a bad idea, but at least their story would be internally consistent. Harfoots - is it possible for this society to get any more unpleasant? Now we see that not only do they leave people behind, there are circumstances in which they'd consider actively reducing someone's chances of survival by 'taking their wheels'. There's so much more, but it's getting too depressing to list...

Sorry for the many typos, it must have been the typo hex

I want to like this show. But, I just can't. I can take any one of these things alone: -Poor dialogue -Pacing issues -Strange character motivation/reasoning -Lore breaking I can't take a show that has ALL of these problems. Forget the haircuts and race bullshit that Nerdrotic and his ilk complain about. These are total non-issues. In reality, the the show has some real issues that I just can't accept.

Chris, thank you for making your videos

Very on spot break down. I can follow you in almost every point.

Eru bless you, Chris, for your optimistic belief that this show will improve, despite all evidence to the contrary. I'm half expecting a cameo appearance by Mr Bezos; at this point nothing would surprise me.

I think for an adaptation it’s actually a cool idea to merge Gandalf’s origin and the Hobbit’s “Man in the Moon” legend. But I’ll confess that I’m a lot more forgiving of lore changes in screen adaptations of Tolkien’s work than many people are.

When you say that things are starting to happen that's not good if those things are ridiculous and not part of the lore. If all of a sudden we are introduced to Transformers who square off against a giant sea snail it may be interesting to watch but why the hell are you seeing it in a Lord of the Rings series? Meteor Man, Demonic Priestesses, Warrior Queens, savage hobbits, mithril giving off the light of a silmarill and moob armor???

Elrond makes it clear that the story about Mithril is a legend that many believe not to be true. This may be what the elves believe but not actually the origin of Mithril. This to me makes it okay. Galadriel sword fighting scene was kind of cringey. I wish they could figure out a different way to show how powerful she is. She is not a warrior princess, she's magical and otherworldly. The mystery characters are really good and they shouldn't feel in a rush to reveal who they are. The Stranger, Adar and Halbrand. I noticed the same river design on Adar's armour is on some of the Lindon elves.

Elrond and Durin are lovers...why els would Durin say "give me your meat and give it to me raw"

The show is getting tedious to watch. Hoping this turns around.

This far in, we should have moved through more actual plot. Nearly all of the characters have been in the same situations for hours of screen time.

I very much hope the whole Mithril/Silmaril story turns out to be a lie spread by Sauron. Though Gil-galad's character is ruined to me either way - he is so dishonest and just a bad person, almost the opposite of the heroic king I imagined when reading Tolkien. Edit: And the power of the Balrog/evil going into the Mithril is a big issue as well. The Wise know that you can't use the powers of evil for good, that's a central theme with the One Ring. You could argue the Three Rings were made with Sauron's craft and are still good, but they are good specifically because Sauron never touched them.

Hi Chris, I hope you please have time for a language-related question :-) I noticed that the name "Pharazôn" in the show is pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable, and I thought it should be on the first. Then however I thought that these stress rules apply to Sindarin and not necessarily Adûnaic. Adûnaic has strong roots in Sindarin (right?) and I entertained myself with the idea that a shift in the emphasis of syllables occured in recent generations and that it would reflect a refusal of the Elven heritage; you know, like how teenagers sometimes desperately try to sound different by changing their speech patterns. What do you think of this? How is Pharazôn to be pronounced?

I love that you credit on video the artists, this is so cool! I enjoy the show and I think there is more lore friendly aspects to it than many are willing to admit. It was clear from the get go they would have to create a lot to fill in the world in terms of characters. The canon characters for the whole Second Age alone( Gil Galad, Galadriel, Elrond, Elendil, Isildur, Anarion and Sauron) could not tell a story in five planned seasons effectively. That is why we have so many OC´s. (They can ever have Stranger be Gandalf as they have a safe in which he had been returned from a travel himself before being sent back to ME in the Third Age...) About the legend. They are screaming at everyone this is just a legend, as in not confirmed. Gil galad is not a jerk for wanting to save his people and be alarmed. The tree is sick. he has proof in his mind something bad is happening... Would I prefer something strickly more lorefriendly? I suppose so. But seing the elves forging rings simple because Celebrimbor wanted to learn more from Annatar and wished Middle Earth to be beautiful is NOT such a compelling arc for a TV Series as " we either forge rings of protection from this holy grail metal or we fade by Spring."

Guessing that Adar is an Admiral Thrawn analog ... and that sword key connected to Morgoth as opposed to Sauron ...a powerful gift/weapon/artifact to one of his lieutenants Adar?, Sauron ... but meh, in the end, fan fiction speculation.

The story has it's weaknesses but I don't get the complaining about setup and too little story. Have you seen the Fellowship both book and movie? Constantly new character pop up, most my no explanation who they are and what they do. Almost the complete counsel of Elrond consistent of characters who were never introduced, showed for the first time and some join the fellowship. Without all the background we have today, especially in the movie, Legolas is just a random Elf and Gimli a random dwarf, never any explanation who they were. Same for the story: go to Bree, go to Elrond, go to Mount Doom. If you would apply the same criteria to LotR, then you could have the same complaints. Just because things don't all make sense, yet doesn't mean they won't in future. Just because you can't put everything into the big picture, yet, doesn't mean you can't at the end. We are only a few episodes into the first season and there will beat many episodes and seasons coming, so how can you compare a just started story to fully known tales. It's like watching the first half hour of Fellowship and complaining you don't know where this will lead you after just having seen a history review and a birthday party. As we have seen, a bad last season can completely ruin an experience and you can't forecast all plot, final judgement will only be possible after the last episode of the last season. It's cool to speculate who certain characters might or might not be or who they might become in future. Strangle the most unrealistic guesses seem to come from the "experts", like the stranger being a Balrog, which is obvious nonsense. For me that's like fortune telling, trying to read something out of a source that's simply not there by finding obscure quotes from Tolkien books and assuming the author's of the show would come to the same mind boggling conclusions. Not sure if you ever watched all the making of from LotR and how they talk about how they had to adapt the books to make them fit, how they used quotes from the books but having them used by other characters in other locations, how they restructured events and timeline and how they compressed events and timelines. We were told upfront that RoP also compresses the timeline, yet all the reviews always assume everything will happen exactly the same way and order and amount of time than in the books. This is so strange that the same people who now praise the LotR movies as perfect adaptations to cinema (and rightly so) complain about using the same technics in the series. Elves helping out in helms deep, so cool, but how could Gladriel be in Numenor, that's not in the books. Dwarf women without beards, what a scandal, yet there's so much to criticize in the Hobbit movies, there was very little complaint about the male dwarves main characters not having anything that would be counted as a beard for a dwarf. Most of the complaints about RoP is because it's new and we don't know how the stories will go and how they will end and people being book purists while for the previous adaptations all the derivations and inventions became well accepted and a lot of people would actually claim the movie version to be correct over the book version if asked if the correct story is this or that. Go watch what Tolkien scholars are saying about the structure of the books in the making-of of two towers and how normally no publisher would accept books so unusually structured, yet, everybody is trying to fit pressure RoP into boring standard film school approaches.

Great analysis. Definitely the best thing about the show is the discussion and potential surprises it holds. The episode was pretty bold with regards to the additions to the lore but expanding the origin of Mithril is exactly the sort of thing I'm ok with: Vague mysteries and artifacts with few specifics about them in Tolkien's own writings. The earlier mention of the Silmarils now makes sense (and telling that it was Celebrimbor who brought it up) and I like that they connected it to something, although the idea that a Silmaril (presumably Maedhros' ?) worked it's way into the roots of a tree is pretty absurd. My guess would be they can't develop the fate of the Silmarils too much for rights reasons or they would stick closer to the actual events of the Silmarillion. The likelihood of this being untrue in-story, is therefore quite high in my opinion. My favourite mystery at the moment is the Stranger. For now I still think Balrog is possible but agree there is clearly some internal conflict within. The Mithril legend offers some possibilities and I wondered if perhaps his mortal form and maybe the positive influence of the Harfoots my be influencing the darker spirit within? Also got me thinking about their powers which is interesting. Like, as original primordial Maiar were the Balrogs potential sorcerers as well or purely combat-oriented? Are 'fire-spirits' limited in the types of magic they could employ? The heavy use of Quenya gives me the biggest pause for this theory though, I admit, although it could add weight to yours, Chris! Lastly, it was really great to hear a traveling song just like in the books and I loved the map-based fleshing out of the lands the Harfoots travel through, with 'Hobbity' placenames and the beautiful transitions to real landscapes. That really transported me to their world and made me care about their hardship and struggles. More of that please!

You have hit the nail on the head with the note about lacking Tolkienian depth in the story telling. They're spending so much time/energy on the "mysteries" at the expense of exploring some deeper themes. Hopefully they intend to correct over the 5 season run.

They introduce those cultists in episode 5!! That's too late.

I have no issue with the mithril story mainly because it is clearly stated by Elrond that is apocryphal in nature no different that our own real world legends, however my issue is what Gil-Galad said the elves need mithirl so they don't fade away from Middle Earth, unless they are been deceived by a certain Annatar fellow behind closed doors 🤔

One of Galadriel's two facial expressions, . The other one is . Meanwhile, the Garbage Bagginses - "Our hearts are bigger than our feet." Also Hobo Bagginses, "Take their wheels." And leave anyone who falls behind to die. I'm rooting for the bad guys..

Halbrand is clearly Sauron.

You're see a different show from me mein fruende. This episode was the breaking point for me. Its officially trash. "Apocryphal mithril gate" lmaoooo

Might sauron/annatar already be hidden and secretly informing the work of celebrimbor? I dont see Halbrand ending up helping Celebrimbor with the rings.

By itself, mithril originating with one of the silmarils is not that untolkieny. After all, each of the silmarils ends up in a different place, one in the sky, one in the water and one in the earth. Adding the whole balrog-elf clash over a tree feels unnecessary to me. The only way that it makes sense is as yet another symbol for the whole 'to touch the light, you need to touch the dark' theme that is going on.

The orc cloth looks like shedded snake skin and the details on adars armor looks like snakes. The intro credits have snake like movements too. Monster snake incoming

This was the worst episode thus far. It reflects how bad this episode was that neither Galadriel nor the Harfoots were the worst part of it. That distinction is reserved for the Lore destroying silmarils, mithril, and deceitful, oath-breaking elves. The show crashed and burned hard this time.

I am enjoying the show but that Mithril origin story felt so out of place 🙄

I'm on board with you Chris 👍🏾. I enjoyed this episode so far as it progresses but I'm triggered by the elves decay and the mithril story line as I think it was unnecessary.

This was the final straw, ignoring the lore is one thing but completely destroying it is beyond acceptance. And saying they are still setting up OMG it's not set up its no story, it's lack of knowledge of Tolkien and above all lack of talent. And I can't believe people say the costumes are good, how are dirty sacks good, printed tee shirt armor and Elf moo moos. But seriously and I am being honest if you think these characters are deep or written well you need to read more. Here are some classic Tolkien lines. Give it to me Raw! The Sea is always right. Two Rabbits to the moon. This show is a complete dumpster fire full of modern allegory.

The show's complex straying from the lore with regard to mithril seems strange to me. I can see why they might want to explain the formation of mithril, and I can also see why they might want to give this meaning for the elves, although I don't agree that the corruption could affect the elves so quickly. But the use if one of the Silmarils in the creation of mithril is, to me, the most loathsome theory. I can only hope that the whole story is, as Elrond suggests, apocryphal. Nonetheless, I am still very much enjoying the show and am ever excited to see how things will turn out. Thanks for your review. 😎😎

It saddens me that the haters can't just stop watching it if they don't like it - trying to persuade other people to hate it as well is a very sad thing .

Thanks Chrid. I was very happy gvat Harry had warbed us. I was also really offended by rheir representation of Gilgalad. But in real world Tolkienien .anner lets hope that Amazon will learn from the backlash and that they showrunners try to understand his message beyond just eastereggs and cool probs like balkrogs. But what I read even in the Hollywood access media they got the message loud and clear and its not about the actors being bad. Its about writing and dialogue, pacing and how the people in the story have agency to move the plot. At the beginning I was very angry about Gilgalad pressing Elrond to break an oath to his best friend Durin. Making look Gilgalad a terrible charakter and liar. But there is till time until all the water has run down the Anduin and therefore Iwill try to be patient and hope . Maybe you could make a video of the two kinds of hope in middle earth. Thanks for your work and being with us on this journey.

Nice analysis, just need to check the pronunciation of the e vowels. It's NumEnor, not Numinor, ErEgion, not Erigion, Celembrimbor, not Celibrinmbor etc etc.

Great review. Even if the show has some strange plots and inconsistent writing, I enjoy the series. There is still potensial for this to improve, and become a great series in the end. I just felt thrown off by this mithril plot, hope this can be explained better in the next episodes. The most intriguing aspect is all the mysteries that must soon be revealed. Very much looking forward to the next episodes, and more analysis on this channel🙂

I wonder how can you even stand to watch it? And this is a legitimate question. 😊😩

it's amazing what 10 extra minutes can do for the overall pacing, hope they keep it up with the 1hour runtime instead of 50min we got before. and i'm not really hung up on the mithril origin story (since the show itself is already telling us it's probably not true) so i agree, this was a pretty strong episode. i personally loved it. now, i didn't really keep up with rop news during its production but apparently the first 4 eps were filmed during heavy covid restrictions then the production had to take a break and all the other episodes of season 1 were filmed after it. just something interesting to point out, considering there is a noticeable jump in quality from episode 4 to 5. anyways, thank you for the review. looking forward to the second part of your Galadriel series.

I think we will disco e that sauron is female and a misunderstood good guy :(

Send help, I am in love with Elendil.

I don't understand all this critic as "not as Tolkian wrote it". If the lord of the rings movies would have been as written, there would be at least 9 movies. Movie 1, all 3 hours of it, would take place in the Shire with lots of singing and dancing. Movie 2 would have Strider (Aragorn) appear during the last frames of the movie. I doubt that would have been a success. The movies worked because they were a "readers digest" version of the books. Rings of power is a tv show, and the advantage of 5 seasons is to flesh out the story. So ask yourself this: Do you watch the lotr original movies or the extended editions. If the extended versions: Why?

I'm not a book fan, never had time to read Tolkien (except Hobbit) but the writing in this show is really moronic. So cliche and default fantasy with a Lord of the Rings watermark and trying to recreate scenes from the movies. Dialogue is so cringe it is painful.

They are probably working from notes. Tolkien reconned mithril into the Hobbit and was probably going to do the same with his Silmarillion collection of texts.

I really despise the speculation. It's just enabling them to keep producing cryptic soap opera. This has reached such an extreme these days that many times writers won't even try to make sense because doing so would spoil the audience's addiction to trying to figure stuff out.

I’ve gotta be honest, and maybe a little heretical here - I think that, for an adaptation, the idea that Mithril has the light of a Silmaril in it is actually pretty cool. And I’m not certain that Tolkien would totally despise that idea. I think it’s a neat way to connect the Silmarils to the LotR story, and it has an appropriately mythological tone to it. It also still works with the idea of the Silmarils being merged with the Elements, since Mithril being imbued with a Silmaril still makes it a part of the elemental Earth. But I certainly understand why some Tolkien experts are put off by the change.

That pic on the front tells more than thousands of words 😂😂.

Chris, I meant to say it a while ago, I think the show's often bizarre/crazy writing is most likely stemming from show's runners. They make the rules and writers deliver this God-awful content. Game of Thrones starting with season 5 had this problem, and then season 8 came along where Benjoff just decided he can write like George Martin.

You know despite all they nay saying I’m liking it. It’s far from perfect, duh. They’ve always said it’s an adaptation. They don’t have the rights. But hating it for hates sake is more than tiring.

My ass is so sick of marvel fans treating Tolkien's work like it'some "pop culture" expanded universe personality-forming bullcrap and not LITERATURE that was and will be adapted in many ways without "ruining" anything. No one gives a shit on how a lightsaber works or that Gilgalad is described having a pimple on his nose, like that's even remotely close to the fucking point.

Truly dislike this show and all it stands for… It has zero respect for Tolkien’s source material

Really bad episode. Nothing happened. They're still going to the tower like last episode and they're still going to Middle -Earth like last episode. Nothing progressed at all!

You can't polish a turd

The mithril drivel has finally had me switched me off. So far removed from lore that this isn't Tolkien anymore.

So many don’t understand, that not everything that is told by Galadriel or in the story overall must be true. It is mostly yet tombs revealed. The so called „Tolkien-Fans“ ignore some facts about this Mithril-story: Celebrimbor himself has been deceived by Sauron. The elves overall had no idea, that Sauron fooled them, until he made the One Ring. If you want to understand that better, watch the newest analysis of „Rings and Realms“. There is actual Tolkien-expert.

I basically know all the works of Tolkien. I have read all of them. To be honest. Nothing makes me angry. It's not like it destroys everything because Tokien's works exist already. But I feel bored when I watched the show. And everything feels so small. I don't know what it is. The Peter Jackson movies had things I felt were also the same cringe level but they had a magic, a magic that kept you glued to your seat. This show just doesn't had it for me yet. I hope it still comes around. With that being said their was a lot I enjoyed so far. To me it's not a terrible show by far. To me it's just...boring first and foremost which is the worst thing to happen to any show or movie...I hope it still develops in pace and mystery and plots.

using the word trigger this way brought me here to laugh because that tagline sure makes you sound like a defender of the show, which you can't possibly be, because those don't exist. twenty eight minutes to dissect something I can't get my original time back from wasting?

I just watched Andor 1-3 and it already has deeper characters and a more belivable world than this.

If you let go of the “lore”, it’s rather entertaining. That is how I’m moving forward. Hated the end of this one. Too much Michael Bay

I've really enjoyed this show, and I appreciate the difficulty of telling this story. If people do not like it, they should create something "better"