My late review and complete analysis of Rings of Power Episode 1 and 2. Was quite a bit of work, I hope you like it or found it useful. i added a few translations or transcripts of some texts we see in the show and I'm quite negative about the whole Galadriel story arc. Makes no sense. Would love it if comments stay civil - as it's usually the case. So more discussion about the topic, less about politics I can't change. Also there might be some typos in this, I was pretty tired when I completed editing. Artwork and special thanks to (links in the description): Kimberly80 Ted Nasmith Jenny Dolfen Art Sara Morello Art Pete Amachree Firat Solhan

I might be totally wrong but I think meteor man is Gandalf. He's struggling with the limitations of his human form since he never experienced something like this. What looks "evil" is him overusing his now limited power. He's also already starting to wear gray. My guess is that he befriends the Harfoots and gets them settled save in the Shire and maybe does some behind the scenes activities in the war. The reason that this early appearance in Middlearth is not recorded in the books is that he wants to keep the Hobbits a secret, so at the very end he embarks a ship to then "officially" arrive in gray heaven in the third age. He might take a detour back to Valinor for some centuries of vacation as well. It's pure speculation but that's how I would have written it. That it's Sauron doesn't make sense since in LotR it mentioned or at least hinted that he didn't know of Hobbits or underestimated them which he wouldn't when he was meteor man. Balrog is complete nonsense since they already fought in the war before and the one in Moria was freed by the dwarves digging too deep. A totally new character would be totally anticlimactic after the reveal. I'm wondering about Theo, though, and who he is and who he might become. If it turns out there's some royal ancestry he could become the witch king. After all those wild speculations, thanks for your in depth analysis and pointing out all the details and putting them in perspective.

You were right when this gave fans of Jackson's films, more questions than answers from the prologue. However that led me to your channel, and I'm very much enjoying this journey of learning more about one of the greatest creations of artistic exploration.

Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

I really appreciate you being here man. Thank you for all your efforts these past few years.

I liked the first two episodes, but I feel like Amazon could've saved a couple billion dollars by telling essentially the same story but with different names for characters/places. The somewhat-mangled Tolkien lore didn't bother me, but I felt that they used the lore more as a coat of paint than as something something essential to the show.

You make very in depth videos. Great job, sir.

What could have been a love letter to Tolkien's mythology, turned into something very beautiful, but empty (at least until now). I'm still waiting for the series to flow. What I thought they could show: a) Sauron as a (pseudo) Promethean figure impacting the peoples, beliefs and cultures of prehistoric men, in a religious engineering; b) Galadriel reflecting on her role and moving towards the queen-philosopher archetype; c) Show Harad and Rhûn an inspiration (as Tolkien said in 1966) from the myths and histories of Africa and Asia. But only elves, only dwarves, only hobbits. And that's after 6 movies.

I enjoy your analysis even though I am so disgusted by the liberties the production has taken that I find the whole show to be a disgrace to Tolkien‘s legacy. Your love for his secondary world shines through all of your discourse, that‘s why I‘ll keep on watching your videos even if I sometimes have to shout at the screen…

I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would! Beautiful visually! Thanks for your review!

Loved this review. Very close to how I feel! Nice to see someone who’s not totally hating or totally loving

Italked to people who are no huge book nerds but liked the Jackson films and they lliked the show very much so far. So they get their audience they aim at. To me it was a mixed bag, negative was the raft scene and many of the Galadriel dialogue. Positive was the proto-hobbits and the men of Darkness.I even liked the idea they perceive the remnants of the elven army as an occupation force... that is both much different frommthe books, but an interesting invention.

I’ve tried to avoid being negative, but you’ve captured a lot of how I’m feeling about the show right now. I have to sort of ignore the books as I watch, which is kind of awkward and occasionally painful or even outright funny if I think of them too often. It feels like they’ve missed the point of Galadriel the character entirely in order to have a more standard fantasy hero, and they made that hero be Galadriel just because she’s popular from the films. There are things I like: Elrond, Khazad-Dum and the hobbit village are terrific and the casting and acting are basically flawless across the board, except for Gil-Galad, whose role is admittedly thankless so far. He seems like the clueless high school principal or the police chief to Galadriel’s cool rebel or maverick cop. One problem at this point is that if people without book knowledge do like the show and try to look up lore online, they’re gonna be really confused. Someone, who *must* be Gandalf, showing up in a meteor is especially weird. My wife’s concern with the show is that they’re making too many compromises and it’ll wind up being just a fantasy series too motivated by money to actually hit the real themes. Galadriel being so different is the worst offender in this regard so far, but evil being a kind of zombie-like magical disease / goo also seems like a problem to me. I’ll still keep watching, though, just for more Elrond and Nori if nothing else.

i took this series to be less Tolkien canon and more Tolkien Fan Fiction...it is only in this context where I can be less critical and perhaps more appreciative of the efforts seen thus far. agreed that the Galadriel character is simply not the same Galadriel we knew from Tolkien's texts. what i think they are attempting to do is show a long character arc, where, over thousands of years, Galadriel goes from vengeful and hotheaded to a more introspective and strategic elf that she is known to have been from Tolkien's publications. is that the actual case? who knows. i was not overly impressed with the show, but i didn't find it reprehensible, either. it was pretty. the visuals were stunning and the soundtrack was excellent. i enjoyed durin and disa...but I need more content before I can be definitively positive. and that positive review is contingent upon actual character and story depth. to be determined. so far it's been a bit shallow. (i'm trying to be as non-toxic and diplomatic as possible)

I appreciate this video with its structured critique very much. Don't worry about it being "late", KZfaq was filled with raving negativity anyway. I found myself to find a surprising amount of interesting segments in these first two episodes, for a show that was clearly not going to be in the "canon world". I was prepared to not watch further if the show as a whole came out too poorly, but am glad to at least want to see the rest of the first season now. High points: Elrond and the actors in general. Low points: Elven plate armor, the type that wasn't even decorated. And yes the whole part played out at sea, all of it. Surprise: The Harfoots weren't terrible. A bit too silly yes, but not terrible. 😋

First 2 minutes and you said we might have to block out the books. Truer words are seldom elucidated. The writers are human and are not big fans of Tolkien. The actors said what they are about, "The book Tolkien never wrote." It does not seem like fan fiction, but Hollywood fiction. Halbrand? They have a Galadriel without Celeborn with no explanation of where he is. Elrond talks her into going back to Valinor, but no mention of Celeborn of the Woods? I do not know why they use Tolkien's name, it is just typical Hollywood. I've seen all I'm going to see. Call it Game Of Thrones.

I would've liked it if the harfoot plotline was playing out secretly in the past and the stranger and halbrand were secretly the same person but everyone seeing the meteor at the same time makes that imposible

Can't wait for episode 3 - when will we watch together? Thanks as always, great video.

I keep wondering, why did the villagers refuse to believe their healer when she was (from their perspective) dead serious?

Love your vids

I paid pretty close attention to things such as the casting and different aspects of the show since it was announced, so I pretty much knew the lore was going to be vastly compressed. I definitely foresee things will continue to be a shock for the Tolkien mega fans. Overall, I liked it so far. Hopefully all the setup the story is doing actually has a good payoff. My biggest issue is the butchering of who Galadriel is supposed to be, the actress herself is doing a good job I don't blame her for the writing.

Also have a lot of thoughts on the First Age prologue, but I'm really tired now and already pushing it. In short, I quite liked it, though completely understand how disappointing it could be for any fan who knows the Silmarillion well - no right or wrong answer here for sure. I do think this would make a very interesting topic for deeper discussion though; what is the core essence of the FA and it's impact on the Second, if you can't or don't want to tell the story of the Silmarils (except, apparently, in passing - perhaps one of those high-level 'negotiations' with the Tolkien Estate?), the Oath, the Edain etc? I think they made some clever choices that leave the blanks there, ready to fill in. Just my two cents.

I'm thinking watching the show and pretend its not a tolkien story so I can enjoy it. I'm not being flippant. I love too much the story to be able to accept the casting, the artistic liberties, its just too much to stomach for me. Anyhow, I hope the show success and i hope one day they truly produce one that truly respects the essence of the story like PJ LOTR.

Will we get a short summary for EP 03? Don`t want to watch an 8h video and prefer Ibo somewhat ore condensed ^^

I appreciate your honest review. I know Jackson wasn't true to the lore exactly, and took some freedoms. I think it worked out for the best. I will continue to watch in hopes that it will become more true to Tolkien's vision.🙏 I would like to also mention Glorfindel is one of my favorite characters, and wished we could have seen more of him.

I am overall enjoying the show at the minute, I'm looking forward to see how it plays out

I liked the serie but I share this criticism because the series costs over one billion dollar and I expect more

Oh man - I have so much to say about this show. I suppose the most important thing is I'm excited to see the next episode, and that definitely wasn't a given beforehand, so huge sigh of relief there. On your second trailer breakdown, I commented I desperately hoped they weren't going to go for a vagrant Galadriel kicking names and taking butt. Although the weakest of the storylines so far, I can say with confidence now I'm down for it after seeing Morfydd Clark's performance for myself. Still, I disliked the second episode on first viewing because of the whole ocean sequence. I *hate* the idea that the High King could bestow the return to the Undying Lands as some kind of royal boon, rather than a spiritual imperative achieved by each elf individually. This is by far *my* biggest problem with the lore changes the show has made so far. It put me in a pretty dubious mood for the rest of the episode, and by the end I felt like Galadriel had just been completely sidelined on a raft for the purpose of showing a cool sea monster. It was so static and pointless. It baffles me they spent sooo much money on this sequence just to brute-force the characters into a series of deus ex machinas to reach their destination. I said the same thing back then: Galadriel as a diplomatic envoy to Numenor actually makes sense for her book character and would have been a far smoother transition for the series. I was also honestly prepared to hate the Harfoots, expecting a cringe-worthy facsimile of PJ's Hobbits - nope. They're delightful, just as Tolkien described the ancestors of 'modern' Hobbits. The actors are all old-hands who absolutely kill it (especially Markella Kavenagh) and the dialogue is pretty much the best in the show, only edged out by the Durin-Elrond elevator chat (mmwah! 'chef's kiss'). In fact, the Dwarvish stuff was so good I have trouble imagining it being handled any better. Just enough to sell the wonder, not too much for it to seem silly. Which is especially impressive when you consider how they had to create it from whole cloth. If any self-proclaimed fan watches these scenes and continues to declare the casting an insurmountable issue, I question their taste and sincerity in the most absolute terms. I guess we'll have to see how they get on with Numenor then, which is in a similar place inspiration-wise - although they've evidently had the larger pool of Numenor art and Tolkien comments on the matter, to draw from. Overall, exciting times! *Edit* : Grammar and run-on sentences.

Watched the show, finally managed to watch this, cannot agree in a lot of places, acting is like a plank of wood thrown into the water, it will not sink but it will not make you stop in aghast about the briliance of it, the script is slower then a glacier and the abundancy of tropes and PJ references is just... ugh, to much, camera also takes a lot to waste (either dwarfs are to tall or elfs to short - probably the later if taken into consideration ep.3), this show is 4/10 as a generic fantasy and 2/10 as a Tolkien adaptation

The problem with the prologue is that despite the grandious story it fails to tell, it actually does not matter for the story Amazon tries to tell. Imagine if Fellowship of the rings started with a summary of the downfall of Numenor.

Do you know the new KZfaq channel Rings&Realms? Highly recommended

What you and I call "good" is an individual opinion. I can UNDERSTAND why you like it, and I respect your opinion. I am good at ignoring lore and adaptation. LOTR from Peter Jackson ignored it a lot. Some of it bothered me, some didn't. But for thr most part, he remained faithful to Tolkien. I can't at all separate lore and adaptation with this show, because it's so bad. I also understand that they only had a few pages to go off of. But their idea of creative liberties is so negligent that I hope this show fails on such an extreme level that the show runners learn a lesson: don't ruin a good thing by destroying the original. So many excuses to justify this as a good show. They could have pleased both sides. But instead they wanted to make their own tolkein story. They did, and failed. To call this a slow burn is an insult. It's the equivalent of watching grass grow, while at the same time being eaten by ants and stung by bees.

Most expensive show ever made with material that just isn't enough. It makes the show feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.

Thanks for the video, I agree with your overall impression on it! Yes, Galadriel's story line and characterization feels a bit to contrived, I hope they'll improve on it in the following episodes. As the language geek you are, here's the next task for you: What is written on the entrance door to Khazad-dûm?

This show so far has been at best a 3 or 4 out of 10 for me. I understand they need to make changes, but imo they're doing them needlessly, confusingly, recklessly, and worst of all self-righteously. Changing Galadriel into some spited, disrespected girlboss on a missiom to show how badass she is, is just silly.. reminds me too much of that Captain Marvel mess. Elves, dwarves, hobbits, southlanders, and Numenoreans to, for no reason at all, be multi-ethnic communities is ridiculous. At least have some story to make it make sense, since we all know multi-ethnic communities don't happen in real life and since Tolkien wrote this for England he probably wouldn't have imagined it this way either. Say Arondir is Sindarin, say Disa is from Nogrod or something, say the harfoots and/or stoors &/or fallohides are living together or something and trading together. There's no reason for multi-ethnic communities to exist except immigration or as refugees, so play on that instead of just playing the race card anytime it's brought up. And they're honestly just pushing too much together all at once. The first episode should have just been Galadriel on her quest. Show them defeat an orc ambush or something, show one gets hurt and she's caring and sympathetic, maybe he dies. Show she actually gives a shit about her companions, and they work together. Give even brief intros for the other elves. Maybe for the troll, have her actually work together with them. She could've saved an elf and blinded the troll with a bright magical light, then the other elves jump in and she can still get the killing blow. It's too much jumping around, too much lore deviation, and too much nonsense. Forget 3 or 4 out of 10, I'd give it a 2.

I found your videos maybe 2 weeks ago and I love your work! Your videos are exactly what I need to balance out the negative feelings I get from watching how they butcher the lore. Trying to be accepting and watching with new eyes but it is really hard. I really love the show visually and musically! That's a 10/10 for me. But lore-wise and script-wise I really cringe sometimes. So thank you for your videos and I will be following every video! Greetings from Sweden👍👌✌️

For a legally limited adaptation I think it is very good. It will bring more people to the Silmarillian. Which I think is also good. Try to ignore the pretentious armchair critics. They just need something to judge.

I love the episode so far. I'm also not happy that they don't have rights to the Similarion which in my opinion has greatly affected their writing. Anyways I'm curious to the degree to which they have changed from the books and I'm overall still cautiously optimistic and looking forward to your upcoming reviews 👍🏾

Best analysis for the series ive seen on youtube ; thanks so much!!!

ha, you made an typo with cirith ugnol... so all your arguments are invalid :)

Please stop compere this show to any of the Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales lore. They don't have right to it, so even if they know how it was in Tolkien works they have to improvise just to avoid any similarities which may drive to sues. It's hard and I like how they plot it so far with what they got in LOTR and appendix.

i also really disliked the way they depicted the elves. their short and sometimes brown hair also irritated me

Great review my friend. I am a huge fan of Tolkien and have read all of the books multiple times. I really don't like the portrayal of Galadriel in this show. To me it isn't even the same character. Also I'm not fond of the elves having short hair. I know it's a small thing but it bugs me. I think the writers haven't read the books and aren't familiar with the characters or the lore.

Celebrimbor actor looks way too old for the character.

Honestly Chris, I’m so so disappointed so far. I don’t like the liberties they’ve taken, how they are portraying many important characters nd the dialogue is soo bad in many scenes. Most of the visuals are pretty, but even then all that glitters is not gold.

I want to like it but I cannot

Der putzige deutsche Akzent!

I disagree with your introduction explanation. I feel that Peter Jackson did a better introduction within 4 minutes than Amazon did in 2 hours.

Apart from its production value, the whole thing is a mess. The writing is abysmal at all levels.

My favorite part was when Galadriel said IT'S MORBIN TIME!, and kicked the T-1000 into the volcano.