I would rather forget this exist honestly...

Boromir has roughly 20 minutes of screentime in Fellowship of the Ring, and you see what kind of character he is and how much he changes before the movie's end. Galadriel only has 8 minutes and you feel the kind of being she is--immortal, ageless, powerful, and beautiful. Galadriel in Rings of Power has EIGHT whole episodes and buttloads of focus on her, but not only does she try way too hard and fail to develop any kind of character, she never changes and it's almost NEVER portrayed as a problem.

You actually rewatched this thing? You deserve a raise, that's a seriously tough chore.

The Best Line Of The Rings Of Power: RandompersonwhoIforgotthenameof: "Why do you keep fighting?" Galadriel: "Because I cannot stop". So inspiring!!

I have several problems with the show, but here's my two main ones: > Galadriel is potentially upwards of 10000 years old. She does not come across as this in the show: she's hasty, petty and self-centred and acts very much like a 20-something rich girl, not an entity that's older than the sun. Even in Peter Jackson's movies, most elves were usually portrayed as aloof, serene and cryptic to give that 'alien' feel about them. > The creation of the Rings. Why did they have to aim so low? I always imagined that the creation of the rings was more about the _process,_ involving alchemy/sorcery and all the incantations and intentions put into them, rather than simply the metallurgy. It takes away their mystique of being all-powerful relics capable of bending reality, when here they're just just shown to be a repellent for magic-elf-cancer or whatever's wrong with them.

What is the main problem of the show - and the most significant “mark” of a bad writing - is what I call “false tension”. The author establishes some problem: a conflict, a danger, something that makes tension - and then just drops it. Nothing has consequences and all these “false tension” periods are extremely short: say, the problem is established in ep1 and forgotten in ep2. In RoP the plot of the whole show is made of false tension shticks: If Elrond loses the competition he will be banned from the Dwarven realm forever - no, that’s okay, nobody mentions it ever again. We have to leave the village and hide behind the walls of a stronghold if we want to live - nope, actually, we should leave the stronghold and go back to the village. Dwarven miners are trapped! - never mind, they are fine. Bronwin is wounded and going to die! - seconds later she is okay. No one should notice that Miriel is blind - next scene she is wearing a blindfold. And so on and so forth. It seems that it is the only way to move the plot forward that the screenwriters know.

I’m surprised you didn’t touch more on Halbrand and how the show is trying to turn Sauron, the literal embodiment of self servicing evil, into a “morally gray anti hero with flaws”. Once that reveal happened and I heard their plans for his character in the future seasons, I tapped out big time

One of the big problems with the elf/woman relationship is that it doesn’t acknowledge the seriousness of it. The interracial relationship is seriously controversial in this world. Aragorn and Arwen are literally the third couple EVER in the history of middle earth. Every one of those relationships if fraught with tension and heartbreak because of the nature of it, whether the immortal has to watch their loved one die live on without them, or the immortal ends up dying and the family of the immortal is grieved by their loss. The human usually has to prove themself enormously to the elf’s family before there’s even a hint of approval. But in this relationship there’s none of it. They just suddenly like each other for apparently no reason. And there’s no gravity behind it. I didn’t sense any chemistry either. It’s literally so pointless. And this is one of MANY examples where RoP blatantly copied the “formula” of Lord of the Rings. ✅ Elf + dwarf friendship, ✅ elf + human romantic relationship, ✅ hobbit + wizard friendship, ✅ mysterious rugged guy who’s really smart for some reason (Halbrand is supposed to look like Aragorn in FotR), to name a few. Instead of creating new and unique relationship dynamics they just used the same ones that already existed all over again, assuming that because it worked in Lord of the Rings and people liked it, it will likewise work and be liked in this, without really considering WHY those relationships and character types worked in the original.

I still don't understand how a handful of solo youtubers can make better stories, than whole teams of paid writers.

Peter Jackson didn’t “betray” Tolkien. He adapted the books into movie format the best that he could. Amazon had no intention of doing this. All they wanted, their entire goal of the show, was to make the Lord of the Rings their own thing and start a new franchise they could milk for years to come. Any “lore” that may be infused into the story exists only as a facade to to convince existing Tolkien fans to watch the show. They took the very core of what made Lord of the Rings so cherished, the struggle between good and evil, and butchered it beyond all recognition. Frodo, Aragorn, and all the other characters in Tolkien’s world were ready to give their very lives for the safety of Middle Earth. The Rings of Power destroyed that notion, betraying the very soul of what made Lord of the Rings so great. I cannot convey how disappointed I was with this show. There was so much potential, so much promise, and all of it was squandered trying to turn the Lord of the Rings into something it wasn’t. Unfortunately I can’t say I’m surprised. The current trends in Hollywood and big budget movie and show making in general seem to be milking existing franchises for all they are worth before moving on to the next one and rinsing and repeating. Be it Star Wars, The Witcher, Game of Thrones, Marvel, even the Disney princess movies, it’s just really disheartening to see so many beloved franchises treated with such utter disrespect and in some cases even pure, deep seated contempt for the original material.

What also puzzles me: Galadriel is already married at that point in time and her husband has dissappeared. We hear about that during S1 at some instances.But she doesn't care the slightest about him (more about the tempest in her from the extra hot Burritos she had at breakfast...)

As a Tolkien book nerd, one of the most painful things is knowing how this Series must seem to non-nerds, and what it tells about the whole Arda-Universe. They'll never know many great characters and stories the universe holds, that could have been made into great shows ... including stuff that RoP touch a little. The Ring War, Feanor and his brothers, Beren and Luthien, Tuor, The children of Húrin, The end of Gondolin, Isildur, the history of Númenor. This chance to let everyone know how timeless, dark, complex, non-fantasy, epic, funny, sad humanity-explaining, philosophical the stories in this universe are, has been WASTED. It could have been like House Of The Dragon, like Breaking Bad, like The Dark Knight. But they opted for THIS.

In Tolkien's work, the cardinal sins seems to be pride that hurts others, vengeance, and generally not acting with understanding and compassion. Every time a character exhibits these flaws, they must face some sort of punishment. This is so prevalent that it is practically a law in Tolkien's universe. And I'm not just talking about the blatantly evil character- this applies to the heroes too. The showrunner seem to have missed this entirely. It's almost like they're saying "It's okay to be cruel and vindictive as long as you think you are in the right." Sauron would have approved of this message. Good job.

Halbrand not being a reverse Aragorn story, where he is the king that was promised but fails, is such a missed opportunity. Him being Sauron was too predictable.

Not only is the Harfoots' treatment of their lame or injured cruel, it's also counterproductive to their survival. There is no analogous real-world counterpart to this behavior; no nomadic tribe in history has ever behaved like this. Even the Fremen in Dune treat their sick and injured, distilling them for water only when they're beyond saving.

Here’s a hot take. What if they make Halbrand the main protagonist and make us get very invested in him. And then end the series with a surprise. At almost the same time as they reveal Gandalf.

It really doesn’t make sense that Galadriel would be this driven by rage since she knows her brother will be brought back to life in the undying lands…

Here's my problem with the Elrond-Durin story line. I liked the idea of flashing out the way elves perceive time and the problems that come with that, like not being there for Durin's important life events. I liked how Durin is upset and how Elrond apologizes after Durin explains it, cuz that means he realized something that otherwise he might have not known. So I really like that an elf comes to understand the impact time has on other races. The problem is that they used Elrond to do this. He is the only elf you can't use for that purpose. His father was a mortal and so was his TWIN BROTHER. If any elf has any understanding of how time goes for other races, how dying of old age works and how important it is to be there for mortal beings, it's Elrond. And if the show wouldn't have shown his lineage, maybe I could forgive it. But no, they wanted the cake, so there is Elrond in the Numenor history library thingy with the first king of Numenor, aka his twin brother. This show just wanted the names and treated everything else like an afterthought. I still maintain my opinion that it's purpose was money laundering. Literally the only explanation I can find for this showvs existence

I think that you’re ideas for improving the motivations for Galadriel are excellent; not only would it make us root for her as a character and give much more weight to her decisions, but that personality would align much more closely with the Galadriel of Tolkinien lore. And I would go further-why does she have to fall at all and become vindictive, cruel, and spiteful? It would be enough for her to try to do the right thing but have her wisdom clouded by her desire to take vengeance for her brother and accidentally aid the rise of Sauron. Her character flaw becomes willful ignorance to achieve her goals despite her great wisdom instead of a brainless tough girl persona, and she actually experiences the consequences to boot! I frankly can’t understand why they decided to turn Galadriel, one of the greatest elves remaining on Middle Earth, into a stereotypical tough Marvel heroine with anti personality. And a side note: the elf-human romance is a complete disgrace. This is NOT something that happens on a whim in Middle Earth. It utterly cheapens the depth and brilliance of Beren and Luthien’s relationship as well as that of Aragorn and Arwen. For Tolkien, those relationships served as pivotal events in his mythology, shaking the very foundations of the world and highlighting in the most powerful way the greatest theme in Tolkien’s works: sacrificial love! In any other fantasy story, sure, whatever, throw your inter-race romance in, the fans love it, who cares. But NOT in Middle Earth. Not in Tolkien’s world. Of the hundreds of lore elements that this show butchered, this might be the worst, and I’m not exaggerating.

Among the show's many problems, the final confrontation between the Harfoots, Wizard and 3 Witch Chicks was one of the most confusing sequences I've ever seen on screen. Characters bounced all over the location or popped up without context, the cuts in the action were jarring and there was no point of reference for anything happening. It was so confusing that I honestly thought my internet had glitched and the show had skipped forward by accident 😂

The Rings of Power also lacked one thing Game Of Thrones and Lord of The Rings both had ... ... Sean Bean

I genuinely feel bad for so much of the production crew that probably worked their hardest for this show, so much from the sets, to the incredible music, to even a good amount of the effects look very impressive, specially for a TV show, honestly it's even directed well and has some beautiful cinematography in a lot of episodes... it really shows how writing is the primary element that brought everything else down

Tolkien would tell you that you don’t need to be an expert on something to know if it sucks 😂

One of my pet peeves is when characters don't communicate or withhold information for no reason. At the very end of the series, there is NO reason why Galadriel doesn't share the Halbrand/Sauron reveal with Elrond, who literally shows up five seconds after he leaves and asks what happened. It would have been a hail mary buzzer shot attempt at the last second to show Galadriel has grown by admitting her wrongdoings and she didn't even do it then. ALSO, why would a character who's spent the entire series screaming about Sauron's return not IMMEDIATELY scream about it once she's proven right? Also the weird random shot of Adar's horse getting up after it was knocked over completely took me out of it and made me laugh. It was so hilarious that they randomly cut away from hugely important dialogue to make sure we knew the horse actor is ok lol. And the SOUTHLANDS fade to MORDOR word art thing was so stupid. The writers oscillating between worrying we're too smart and are gonna guess their twists and thinking we're too stupid to recognize mount doom is jarring.

Not only is the mithril plot line contrived, it is also materialistic. Exactly the sort of plot amazon would be responsible for. Its a bacterization of Tolkien's lore, like the elves need their magic batteries changed.

For me, the disjoint between Rings of Power and Tolkien was WAY bigger than just not adhering to Tolkien "lore". The problem was that series didn't adhere even remotely to Tolkien's most fundamental vision. Tolkien was primarily writing about Good and Evil, and the quintessential traits associated with Goodness were loyalty, selflessness, guilelessness, and honor. Not every Good character was perfect...some were flawed by pride or doubt...but any hero of Tolkien's would throw themselves on a grenade to save a friend. The whole worldview of Rings of Power is toxic to the Tolkien worldview. I can't think of a character in Rings that wouldn't put themselves first. A bunch of amoral guileful post-modern antiheroes. Those simply do not exist in Tolkien. Within minutes of the series' start our brains are polluted with the image of a Galadriel who would leave one of her followers to die in the cold because he can't keep up. Can you even IMAGINE Tolkien writing that behavior for any character but a base villain? The writers of Rings are so profligate with their psychopathic characters that I wonder about their own psychological makeup. Can they even distinguish between Good and Evil? Were they even aware that Galadriel or the Harfoots casually leaving friends to die the instant they become inconvenient was mentally sick? Seriously, if you are going to hire someone to write a Tolkien story, probably the first thing you should do is find out if they can distinguish right from wrong.

The biggest issues for me were realted to scale. Time, distance, area, population size, the volume of boat holds ...none of these things were established and the world felt empty and unestablished

It is both fascinating and frustrating for me to watch these kind of videos. I enjoy hearing people explaining how something can be improved, especially in regards to storytelling. But, it is frustrating that billion dollar companies aren't able to get hold of people who are great at the very basics of storytelling, when you don't have to look further than UKposts to find a bunch of people giving great advice. They pay screen writers, directors and producers to do worse jobs than what people on UKposts do as a hobby.

You said that you love the visuals and I get that for the CGI, its great. But the sets and some of the costumes look like when I visited Disney Land in Paris - cheap plastic everywhere. That is also the main theme for me with this series: every other minute I get pulled out of the story: Sets look different than animations, some great acting then some horrible acting, scenes where people behave like a 5 year old thinks that people behave, fights straight out of Xena Princess Warrior, hundrets of horses on 3 ships, and on and on and on... This is like 90s trash TV with an amazing budget.

Interesting that you should mention House of the Dragon when talking about changing plot points. GRR Martin had some firm words to say about people working out what was to come: “And there is a temptation to then change it-‘Oh my god, it’s screwed up, I have to come up with something different.’ But that’s wrong, Because you’ve been planning for a certain ending and if you suddenly change direction just because somebody figured it out, or because they don’t like it, then it screws up the whole structure.” That was one of the problems with RoP, they were so desperate to come up with something that no one would know in advance that the ended up causing some major problems.

Nothing is worse than waiting for a specific moment from the book and it not happening or to tell someone who watched it with you “oh well it’s not like that in the book”

Also, it's woke.

Fully agreed that the whole Harfoot plot should have been moved to Season 2, where it might actually tie into the rest of the story. There is another connection point which is the precision guided lava projectiles from Mount Doom eruption destroying a few trees in the Harfoot grove and nothing else, hundreds of miles away. That is some precision shooting there, Tex. There are so many boneheaded contrivances happening in the RoP that it beggars belief.

So far, the show hinges upon the character of Galadriel, and she's been a pretty unsympathetic (many would say downright unlikable) protagonist. That's the biggest reason for its poor reception amongst a lot of fans imo. You laid that out very well.

The harefoots actually sang about how nobody gets left behind whilst leaving behind a family with a crippled father. Literally neanderthals took better care of their sick and crippled.

Changing the source material and having a mystery just for the sake to have a mystery is the greatest mistake any showrunner can make. Often times, there is a good reason why things play out as they play out. Take game of thrones for example, the first couple of seasons and all the books that exist so far paved the way for a showdown between the night king and Jon. Yet, just for the sake of having a surprise, they suddenly changed from Jon to Arya. One of the great mistakes the last season of GOT did. Also, movies dont need mysterys to be great. I watched LOTR likely already 100 times, I am not surprised by any means by any of the plot points. Why do I still keep rewatching these movies? Because they are INSANELY GOOD. The writing, the locations, Peter Jacksons methods to build tension, the music, the acting, the costumes, practical effects, the attention to detail, you really get pulled into the world of middle earth. If you as a director feel that you desperately need a surprise moment for your movie/series to be good, that just shows, that everything else is lacking. Dont get me wrong, surprise moments can be great, as the red wedding in GOT and the death of Ned Stark in the first season have showed us, but a surprise may NEVER come at the cost of a good, logical and compelling story.

I would also argue that the Khazad Dum segment gave me one of my biggest disappointments BECAUSE Elrond, Durin, and Disa were so well done...that the way the tension between Durin and his father built just felt off. Like...we see almost no serious tension. Then there's the mithril explosion and he comes in griping about some fight he had with his dad. Then the episode ends with them reconnecting. If we'd SEEN the fight, then the back-and-forth of their relationship would be so much stronger, and the eventual rejection would land so much better.

16:41 because Galadriel needs to be seen as this "strong and independent woman" so therefore, for the sake of girl power, at every turn she is strong and independent and combatting anyone who gets in her way rather than creating a contrast with her vengeful self later

33:44 - They have resolved the mystery of the stranger: he’s undoubtedly Gandalf… ”If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose”, Gandalf (Fellowship of the Ring, Mines of Moria) “When in doubt, Elenor Brandyfoot, always follow your nose”, The Stranger.

The Lord of the Rings films were shot as if they were re-enacting historical events. That's what I appreciated about them. They weren't aware of being fantasy. The world felt completely real. I didn't get the same feeling from The Hobbit films or from the Rings of Power. But I enjoyed them still.

Don't forget - Amazon was not able to acquire the rights to the Silmarillion for adaptation. Only the appendices.

You lost me at "parts that were good"

The funny thing about the discourse about ROP is so many formed negative opinions without even watching the show. I can’t count how many people have just gone along with the hate instead of thinking for themselves. Good old group think.

Wouldn't Galadriel wanting to go to Valinor destroy her entire arc?

The makers of ROP don't understand Tolkien. They certainly don't understand the characters. There's no fixing this mess. The music was the only good thing about it.

Your change to have Galadriel hear a whisper that Sauron might be back instead of hunting him is so simple but I think improves that storyline so much because, like you explained, we see her at her best and makes her decision to jump off the ship more compelling

Amazon also messed up Wheel of Time by making book readers guess what is going on. Seeing the book story play out would have been so much better. There was no reason to make viewers guess what the f**k was going on. Daenarys storyline always felt like it was merely a place where outcasts, criminals, and the disowned go to be forgotten. Nothing about her affects those on the other continent, but the other continent greatly affects her. A bit like how your toilet only flushes waste into the sewers and nothing ever returns. Daenarys is the queen of the sewer.

I know from certain who individuals who have connections to the show that it was a nightmare behind the scenes. people were fired left and right, writers couldn't agree what story they wanted to tell, the show was originally about a young Aragorn, some wanted to adapt the Silmarillion but didn't have the adaption rights to the book, the Tolkien estate giving them a long list of things they could and couldn't do on the show such as referencing the movies (even though the showrunners wanted to connect ROP to the movies) writers being fired because they wanted to insert more woke elemets into the show and was met with disapproval, a Tolkien scholar being fired, COVID19 impacting everything, the originally being 10 episodes but somewhere being changed to 8 instead, Jeff Bezos allegedly visiting the set and was furious on what he saw and demanded changes to be made in the middle of shooting. All in all, this show was produced with everyone's hands tied behind their backs, not really knowing what they wanted to do and the clock was ticking, and the best they could come up with was fan fiction.

I couldn’t agree more about the pacing being such an issue. I tried so hard to enjoy this show but it dragged for way too long. It wasn’t until maybe the last 2-3 episodes that I really became invested and then it ended

And for Tolkien, that was a spiritual struggle, and the movies portrayed that so very well. So the movies truly kept the spirit of Tolkien and his philosophy as part of the films which grounded them in Tolkien’s religious thought. It was subtle but it was very much there. It tied the films to the man. It was what Tolkien would have wanted, for sure. He wasn’t opposed to adaptations DONE WELL. That’s the key. Jackson and primary actors “got” Tolkien’s mindset and belief system

Watching this 1 year later... I'm still so disappointed with the show. I haven't thought about it at all since it aired and the thought of re-watching season 1 feels like torture. That says it all really.. Its sad because this failure impacts future LOTR lore movies or TV shows.

The plotline you described for Galadriel was what I was expecting to see when the show was setting up the plot. But no, I was very disappointed and confused. When she jumped off the ship I literally laughed out loud because it was so ridiculous.

I was more invested in this youtube video than the actual show. I didn't even watch beyond episode 4.

15th top viewed original show of 2022 with 9 billion minutes of viewership at only 8 episodes is hardly a failure.

Don't worry too much about us hardcore fans. We knew you weren't as deep in as we were when you pronounce his name "Tol-Kin" and not "Tol-keen". But despite our pedantry we are (at least I am) happy to see you making this video and having more people enjoy his works enough to make video essays about them. Plus this is how I get to experience the show since I couldn't stomach watching it. XD

If I had to describe this show in one sentence, I wouId refer to Bilbo: it feld thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.

Most of the show looks great then you realize on a re-watch how they cut a lot of corners. For example, the human solders are waring printed shirts instead of actual armor.

Does anyone remember those UKposts channels that got free trips to support this show back then?

Mistake number 2 - making young Elrond a wimpy librarian mixed with a civil servant

The best thing about this show was making fun of it!

Random Film Talk explains how Elrond is an absolute bad friend for Durin, being used to betray his friend and telling his secrets indirectly. Interesting how different this friendship can be seen

I'm usually not a fan of fan-fiction. But I'm convinced that if you'd put a handful of very passionate Tolkien fans together that have no experience in screenwriting they would've put out a better story. For me this show is the perfect example of "What not to do when screen-writing".

My comments are in refrence to the Harfoots story line. Now I've not read any of the Appendecies or any other source materials, so I may be wrong in this assumption, and my comment comes from watching the LOTR and Hobbit movies. And to me in my opinion is that the Harfoot is important because it gives you the story of how the Istari (Gandalf) came into exsistance, and how he became friends to the hobbit race. It sets up a story that would bring you to how gandalf becomes close to the hobbits and the baggin's family. It doesnt get told that way because the series never gets to explain this in the future seasons episodes. This also sets up how Galadriel got tempted by the power of Sauron to be his queen. Which ties into the time that Galadriel tells Frodo when offered the ring of power in the Mirror fountian. That she would be Queen and all would dispair. The Final one of Arondir and Bronwyn break the Tradition by becoming lovers to setup the story of how Aragorn comes to be born. As he is half elf half human. Like I said I could be wrong on some of these points but after watching the movies, that is how I see these stories interlaced with the movies. The sad thing is that it won't be told because the series was cancelled. I think if Guillermo del Toro had told these stories they would have been a bit more telling in the stories, but again we may never know!

I’d have to agree that mystery for the sake of mystery is a major shortcoming of the series. One of the best parts of the first season is the friendship of Durin and Elrond. For me it sparked an interest in discovering who Durin is. It’s fortunate in this case that there is a lot of information about him. Knowing his doom, how it is a consequence of his desire to help Elrond, makes the scenes of them together precious.

When does Galadriel transition from a warrior elf to powerful sorceress? Her whole persona is so different. The depth at which she speak is like 2 different person.

I was watching a nerd of the rings' video about the rings of power when I got this video as a suggestion. Great content!

Halbrand could’ve been the first ‘wraith’ instead of rushing to reveal the big bad. Also takes Elrond a long ass time to convince the dwarves to help build the forge, but then the forge seems to be built in like two seconds? Similarly the rings are created extremely quickly

If you want a fantastic form of the story that could have been told in this show, i can suggest more the video series by Tolkien Untangled! They have such great comprehension of tolkien’s story telling, it is truly awe-inspiring

I love how well you explain all this, especially since I myself am so bad at it lmao. Now I have a vid to point my friends towards. The only thing about Halbrand I managed to vocalize is "Why the heck did they make Halbrand when Annatar is ALREADY A THING" and then proceed on a rant about how Hallbrand is a doormat the whole season and actually extremely incompetent just so people would have only the slightest doubt about him being Sauron (and it still didn't work, we all knew it). Instead they literally could have called him Annatar, make him so fucking charismatic that even the AUDIENCE, who KNOW what's up, fall for his crap, only for the inevitable to happen. What was the reason, again, that they change so much of what actually happens? Something about not having rights to certain media so they can't actually do it right? How stupid is that???

About the Southlands thing, there are more than a couple of villages in the Southlands. There are many, as well as larger settlements further south. They're not going to be adjacent to each other like modern towns and cities or even like unincorporated areas where you have settlement along the roads. They're going to be small settlements, miles apart. Tirharad and Hordern if you go by the placement on the map of the Southlands in the show, are about 50 miles apart, the distance from Boston to Providence along I 95. There are likely other small settlements on the way that have no impact on the plot, but can't be seen from the others. In medieval Europe, most settlements were several miles apart. If you were to take a drone video of a village in medieval times you'd likely see no signs of other settlements around. Keep in mind as well, the Southlands is not just latter-day Mordor but also Gondor, so on the other side of the mountains are other settlements as well. That being said, I'm not defending the show, it was a disappointment, but I find the argument that you have to show every farming village in the Southlands for them to exist a little funny. Plus the major settlements would have been on the other side of the mountains, in fact the show references Pelargir, a major port city.

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your version of pacing and story arcs, and what better stories they made. It's clear you have a much stronger grasp of storytelling than the writers of this series. Thanks for the acknowledgement that you were analyzing this from a story perspective and not a canon loyalist view. I thought all your comments were spot-on.

Great breakdown that gave new perspectives that I haven't heard before! I really liked your comparison between Galadriel and Frodo, and why it's hard to root for Galadriel. I also laughed at Halbrand being the king of the southlands - containing like 100 filthy and worn down hobos; and at the harfoots being cruel, leaving their people behind and having the audacity to read out the names of those who they had left behind lol.

The moment you started to tell the changes u'd make in guyladerial story arc from somewhere between 18:00 to 19:00. I immediately started to see her differently in a positive manner. Goes to show what big a difference just a little bit of good writing can make.

19:38 you started out strong, I can even see it working, until you said "follow the same beats" and "I have a tempest in me!" flashed before my eyes. And I started laughing as memory began to play back, right from when she jumped off the boat to swim back to Middle Earth up to actively helping to create the 3 rings after figuring out Sauron's identity.

Creating Mordor by destroying the land, in my opinion, would be more of a Morgoth thing and not Sauron. Sauron didn’t want to destroy middle-earth, he wanted to rule it whereas Morgoth just wanted to destroy everything

speaking of Tom Bombadil.. it would have been so weird tonal if they shoehorned whimsical Tom Bombadil singing and dancing in between them fleeint the Nazgûl, getting on the bucklebury ferry and arriving at brie, being chased by Nazgûl again xD

I apriciate you honesty about not knowing the soruce material. its tragic that, even when ignoring the bad story, the story that they do tell is told poorly. if the second season isn't canceled, hopfully very few people wtach it.

I love when Dom Pulls up next to Wonder Woman and says” who left the fridge open?”

Your new take on Galadriel's storyline is magnificent

About Tom Bombadil: How do you translate him to the screen without him being ridiculous? I'm not sure they could have pulled it of without making him hateable.

I...was actually *most* frustrated with Elrond and Khazad-dum. The Dwarves were the story I was most looking forward to and therefore the one I was most disappointed with. Also, simply making Elrond the connection between Celebrimbor and Durin is as massive a waste of time as the Harfoot story. I really found it...less than believable. I would fix it, simultaneously saving time and compellingly answer the question "Why did the Dwarves accept the rings from the Dark Lord who destroyed their friends in the first place?" by resetting the story back to the version that can *only* be found in the Appendices. Elrond being childhoid friends with Durin IV makes NO sense. Where would they even have met? Elrond has no reason to have been in Khazad-dum and NO dwarf child has reason to be at a distant Elven court, especially if the Dwarves don't much care for those Elves...which is pretty obviously Durin III's attitude. There is also no reason to invent and waste the time to tell a complete BS origin story for mithril. Dwarves live in the mountains. Mithril is an ore in Middle Earth. It needs no more origin story than does iron or zinc, the audience just needs to be made aware of its existence, the importance of its properties, and how easily it can be obtained. What are its properties? It is more incorruptible than gold (gold can still be very easily cursed, which is why the one Ring is made from gold rather than mithril), sturdier than iron, exceedingly lightweight, and is a better medium than any other ore for laying positive magic. How easy is it to obtain? The only places on the planet that mithril can be mined are the Undying Lands and Khazad-dum. This is also why *everything* about the forging of the three rings in Season 1 was complete BS. Sauron would never have chosen to work with mithril, and Nenya (which was specifically designed and crafted by Celebrimbor *without* Sauron's knowledge) is the only Ring of Power that should have been made with mithril. Pain-In-My-K weren't just making up surprises for Tolkien fans with that one, they were showing their ignorance of Tolkien's ore properties by deciding that mithril is just magical in general, rather than realizing that it is merely a medium and specifically a positive medium. Celebrimbor is a highly skilled craftsman who lives only a few days travel from Khazad-dum. Maybe a few weeks, if the entrance the Fellowship used was created later specifically for Celebrimbor and his Elves. Craftsmen need materials to craft, and Celebrimbor specifically works in stone and metal. I wonder where the nearest source for that is (she said sarcastically)? Even if Durin initially had no reason to know Celebrimbor from Adam, Celebrimbor would have known, in general, about the great mining and crafting of Dwarves and where to find their greatest city. The Dwarves were not isolationist. They traded goods and found customers to buy or commission their works. I know Bilbo told Frodo in the movies that his mithril mail was made by the Elves, but if memory serves, that coat was actually made *by* the Dwarves *for* an Elven child, but war prevented delivery. The audience doesn't even need to be shown the progression of Celebrimbor approaching Durin for supply from his mines, discussion of why he would need raw materials rather than finished goods, followed by geeking out together over crafting and a lifelong friendship. All the audience would need to see is that these two kingdoms do a lot of trade because their respective kings bonded over mutual respect of each other's crafting skill. Celebrimbor makes the first 16 rings with Sauron and, because Durin is such a dear friend and he wants their kingdoms to continue growing together, Celebrimbor gives him one. Then Celebrimbor makes the final three rings in secret while Sauron makes the One in secret and Durin does all sorts of amazing things in Khazad-dum with his ring. Et voila, we have a believable friendship between Elf and Dwarf, a ring of power in the hands of the most respected Dwarf lord in all the world, and no time wasted with making up completely incomprehensible origin stories for all of the above. But the moment Sauron finished and put on his Ring, Celebrimbor became aware of him through its connection with all the other rings he made. We now have an interesting dilemma for the friends to face. So, we've got a ring in the hands of one Dwarf Lord, what about the other six? This is where Amazon's original character Disa comes in. The only thing about Disa that needs to be rewritten is her backstory. Making her one random black nobody dwarf in all of Khazad-dum is an almost criminal waste of character potential. Contrary to popular complaint, Tolkien absolutely *did* have different races in his work, but he wrote race as a function of geography and none of his major stories were focused on the geography where darker races lived. There are *seven* great Dwarf clans, and we have only ever seen one of them on the screen. Four of them are never definitively located in any of Tolkien's published works beyond "way out east of Gondor somewhere." Not even in the more obscure texts of the Legendarium are all seven placed on a map. However, Durin is established as being greatly revered by *all* Dwarves. It would not be beyond belief for a different clan to be willing to marry one of their daughters to the direct heir of Durin himself. Really, since we're switching out Elrond for Celebrimbor, she could marry Durin himself and we would stil have the interaction between friend and wife of friend, rather than the more distant friend and daughter-in-law of friend. Set one, or even two of those four clans further to the southeast and you suddenly have a whole bunch of plot-relevant dark-skinned Dwarves. In Disa, there would now be a warm, sympathetic character to introduce connections between the Dwarf clans and show the other clans all the amazing things Durin is doing with his ring. Hey presto, the other Dwarf Lords now have an incentive to accept rings of power, no time has been wasted with pointless "origin" filler, and the audience isn't bored out of their skulls by political maneuvering between characters they have no emotional conection with (which is pretty much the only other believable option for why the Dwarf Lords accepted Sauron's "gifts").

Here’s how I would change the series. Discard it and forget it ever happened

I am really impressed, and happy to say so, You, Sir, are incredibly articulate, in a most entertaining way! Being an old guy and fan of LOTR, and other similar genre. But of course LOTR, by far, the best. Sadly, in modern media, everyone has a voice. Unfortunately too often it seems to weigh in favor of negativity. Very impressed of how well balanced you presented your perspective, your effort for fairness was obvious. I enjoy too few youtubers with similar quality of character. You stand out, even among them. Ok,enough with the compliments. Though I never did too much deep diving, beyond the books, I have read enough about the background of the writer and the LOTR story world, to better appreciate & enjoy the story. I spent a career as an Army Infantryman, and that means my Brothers and I have had a tremendous amount of "hurry up and wait" (idle time) over the years. Reading of course, was the most popular way to use that time. Funny thinking about it, people saw us as big tough Soldiers, deploying to some of the most dangerous places in the Middle East & North Africa, if only they knew how many times we'd have conversations geeking out on LOTR. So many fun memories. Once, there was a small town we had befriended, and often humor was an important part of our bond. Once, we practically had most of the towns children, and more than a few adults helping us to find a rumored Legendary village populated by short, hairy footed people that live in a secret place called the shire. My guys would share short stories with anyone who'd listen. One of our interpreters, poor guy. Needless to say it really put a challenge to his skills. But he enjoyed pretty much every bit of it. It really struck home the idea of the things that can be born from combating hardship. Never planned, never even considered as a strategy, Just some curious Town Folk asking about certain books they commonly saw Soldiers with. Sadly, this was way more the exception than the rule, how we were received. But, this was truly an unexpected joy. I know this sounds corny & cliche, but we get too few wins, which made this all the more special. Thank you for the effort on a great job you did for this video! And hopefully my story was a little enjoyable treat for you, in return for the fine job you did. I am so looking forward to becoming a Grandfather, especially when I get to share the magic of LOTR with my Grandchildren, one day. Take good care Young Sir, keep em coming. God Bless You!

Unfortunately, even with your rewrite, Galadriel jumping off the raft would still be nonsensical and akin to wanted-death as she should have drowned (given the distance from any land).

I dont think the pacing alone will fix the series since the writers have also written the series in a way where the decisions feel sometimes way too simplistic or just plain silly. One of the silliest things for me in season 1 was when the mysterious (who is probably Gandalf) stranger said before the fight that "i am good". That doesnt feel like something that a character should be telling but it should be rather be shown through his actions. Also Galadriels decision to just jump off the boat and start swimming back towards the Middle-Earth just feels like something that doesnt fit into a triple AAA produced tv series. Also Galadriel doesnt show a ounce of regret about the way she treats people around her in season 1 since it seems that just like the sea..."she is always right". A main character or any character should also grow during the seasons as a person but so far to a viewer it seems that Galadriel can do no wrong. Also the fast traveling happening in the show needs to end since it makes the world feel much smaller than it was in the movies. Oh yes and that volcano scene was something else. I knew that elves were magical but didnt know that they are able to survive a full blast from a volcano (which can be as hot as 1200 degrees celsius btw.)

What they did to Galadriel should be seen as a crime and all the writers should be charged and sent to jail.

Let's just pretend that this never happened and wait for a reboot to do it better.

In the island of men, galadriel could turn worst, according to your story because she feels they are ungrateful for what the elves did for them. But no, she was pissed since the beginning so no difference there.

I absolutely loved your break down of the branching narratives and your names for different kind of ones. I never thought of it that way but wholeheartedly agree that a branching narrative is better than multiple plots just happening to happen parallel to one another, and as someone interested in writing stories Im going to definitely hold onto that lesson.

Goldman watching soo much rings of power material: you have not seen what i have seen!

The Hobbits were, living in a stable, fairly prosperous environment ,some were good, some were small minded snobs. The Harfoots seem to occupy a much more precarious environment where they have to abandon those who can't keep up.

When i first watched the show i really liked it. However, the moment the mysteries were done and I actually had time to think about it, the show quickly derailed for me. It claims to be centered around the LotR world, yet much of it doesnt feel Tolkien, just generic fantasy. It also has a billion lore problems, and not just nitpicks, but genuine problems. Like, why did they focus on mithril being the solution when it was supposed to be more nuanced? Where are the 7 rings for the dwarf lords and the 9 rings for mortal men? Numenors maps show their port cities yet they treat middle earth as something they havent even touched before. Why are they implying the wizard to be gandalf when the blue wizards are the only ones that came to the east (yes, two wizards, not just one). If anyone around me still enjoys it, thats fine, but I can't defend this anymore.

Other commenters have already noted this but I concur: Tolkien Untangled's detailed plot outline of an alternative approach to the material shows what could have been. Watch that and forget the ludicrous fanfiction celebrating its first ignominious anniversary. Or just read the books.

I think they needed you to help them 100% your idea of the pathways of the narrative is BANG on.

We have hobbits at home. The hobbits at home:

When the expectation is to subvert expectations. "Turns on left blinker symbol, turns right". Wow. So unexpected, so original.

House of the Dragon is top 3 seasons of Game Of Thrones up there with seasons 1 and 3. What a difference someone who cares about the source material and telling a good story can make. Specially because HOT D came after the worst season of GOT.

As someone who has read LOTR many times as a child and teen, memorized the story long before the first LOTR movie came out in my late 30s, I have one easy test to assess any change to an original storyline. Even though there were times in the LOTR movie where I said to myself where was a so-and-so scene/event. The insertions made by the Peter Jackson movies were seamless and even though I knew a particular event was not true to source material whether by omission or something that was completely new, I didn't give it second thought and pretty much accepted the new material as part of the original canon. Not so much with the abortion made by Amazon, my mind struggled to accept any of it as being part of Tolkien's world. It was the insertion of modern day sensibilities that felt completely out of place. Made me angry.

"After rewatching the series"... WHAT? You suffered such a torture? That's serious dedication!

There's actually a lot of potential for an arc for galadriel that matches the books. With the defeat of Morgoth most of the elves return home, but a few who love middle earth stay. They found hollin. It is worth pointing out that the original elven ring bearers were elrond, kirdan, and Galadriel. Even after the fall of hollin these three stay and found their own mini-kingdoms through the power of the rings. They are DESPERATE to cling to this last little bit of "elvendom on earth". That could create a fascinating character arc with flaws and strengths. Is she kind and caring? Yes, but she has a drive to be "a queen" like all those of her heritage that are now dead. We only see the end of this arc in the movies where she gives up the ring, the last chance to keep her last vestige of her own power in the land she loves. Elrond could be driven by a desire to live up to his father's legacy as the great hero of humans and elves alike. He could feel overshadowed by the numenorians (his brother's family line) for their great works and the great good they do for the world. This would mean that his decision not to keep the ring at rivendell, making for himself a great story, but to send it off and bring on the destruction of his home becomes more poingiant.