The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Doomed to Die
September 30, 2024 7:32 AM - Season 2, Episode 7 - Subscribe
In the penultimate episode of Season 2, the remaining elven force of Lindon follow King Gil-Galad into battle to stop Sauron still at work in Celebrimbor's realm of Eregion. As the city remains under siege by Adar, Celebrimbor fights Sauron's influence as the nine rings are completed. Elsewhere, the fate of Khazad-dum becomes a conflict between father and son.
No hobbits, no Numenor, and no Southland people in exile, in this episode. No Tom Brown and the Stranger.
No hobbits, no Numenor, and no Southland people in exile, in this episode. No Tom Brown and the Stranger.
I wish I dug this show, because the episode titles are fantastic.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:05 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:05 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
I wish I dug this show, because the episode titles are fantastic.
About half are coming out of the original rings "poem" from Lord of the Rings. I, too, appreciate the borrowing!
- I really hope they don't drop Arondir. He's one note but a lot of fun.
On the podcast I listen to, they claimed they saw Arondir moving on the ground after Adar made relatively quick work of him, so I'm just going to go with that. I like my elf with a mission, too. I also suspect Arondir might get a second go at him, but that conflicts with another theory of mine:
Sauron is going to flip the orcs to his cause, citing Adar's blatant disregard for their welfare (from their perspective). I think this has a major likelihood given how the season began with Sauron losing the Uruk over telling them many would die, which is already happening under Adar. Sauron will probably make some speech of the like, "Hey, let's go home to Mordor. I got some forging to do at Mount Doom, and y'all can just hang out and keep the trespassers from coming in!"
I am pretty excited to see how Nenya (Galadriel's ring) plays into the finale. We also have Elrond's oath to Galadriel to put taking down Sauron over saving her out there to be absolutely ignored for Galadriel's sake. I'm mixed on the kiss, but felt it was kind of some sloppy writing to allow for the distraction needed for Elrond to pass over his clothing pin.
I could copy and paste Alex404, but I just agree with ya! So I'll just run with that. A friend of mine brought up a poignant line from Elrond in Fellowship of the Ring:
Celebrimbor's suffering has been heart breaking and blessed is the timing of Galadriel to show up and convince the elven guard that no, their leader, isn't nutso after all. Expecting Sauron to just be taken prisoner by five elves with swords was...well, a bit nutso. Maybe it was entirely intended to give Galadriel time to flee with the nine rings. I think that was what Celebrimbor promised? But still!
We do have a lot, and by a lot, I mean A LOT, of areas to cover by the end of next episode. I think we will see (for good or bad):
posted by Atreides at 12:35 PM on September 30 [2 favorites]
About half are coming out of the original rings "poem" from Lord of the Rings. I, too, appreciate the borrowing!
- I really hope they don't drop Arondir. He's one note but a lot of fun.
On the podcast I listen to, they claimed they saw Arondir moving on the ground after Adar made relatively quick work of him, so I'm just going to go with that. I like my elf with a mission, too. I also suspect Arondir might get a second go at him, but that conflicts with another theory of mine:
Sauron is going to flip the orcs to his cause, citing Adar's blatant disregard for their welfare (from their perspective). I think this has a major likelihood given how the season began with Sauron losing the Uruk over telling them many would die, which is already happening under Adar. Sauron will probably make some speech of the like, "Hey, let's go home to Mordor. I got some forging to do at Mount Doom, and y'all can just hang out and keep the trespassers from coming in!"
I am pretty excited to see how Nenya (Galadriel's ring) plays into the finale. We also have Elrond's oath to Galadriel to put taking down Sauron over saving her out there to be absolutely ignored for Galadriel's sake. I'm mixed on the kiss, but felt it was kind of some sloppy writing to allow for the distraction needed for Elrond to pass over his clothing pin.
I could copy and paste Alex404, but I just agree with ya! So I'll just run with that. A friend of mine brought up a poignant line from Elrond in Fellowship of the Ring:
"The time of the Elves is over — my people are leaving these shores. Who will you look to when we've gone? The Dwarves? They hide in their mountains seeking riches — they care nothing for the troubles of others."Which makes me wonder, as much as I want to see Durin and his army come magically popping up out of the earth to save the day for sad, desperate Elrond, that they fail to do so. Part of my enjoyment of this show rises from the fact that I have forgotten a whole lot of the expanded lore from Tolkien, from his appendixes or Forgotten Tales and so on. I know the general beats, but a lot of specific things have faded in time - which makes for more exciting television!
Celebrimbor's suffering has been heart breaking and blessed is the timing of Galadriel to show up and convince the elven guard that no, their leader, isn't nutso after all. Expecting Sauron to just be taken prisoner by five elves with swords was...well, a bit nutso. Maybe it was entirely intended to give Galadriel time to flee with the nine rings. I think that was what Celebrimbor promised? But still!
We do have a lot, and by a lot, I mean A LOT, of areas to cover by the end of next episode. I think we will see (for good or bad):
- Numenor will sink.
- Sauron will flee/move himself to Mordor and setup shop at Mount Doom.
- Saruon will retrieve the Nine rings, perhaps making Elrond choose between the Nine and Galadriel.
- The Stranger will reveal himself as Gandalf. I know, I know.
- The Stranger will not defeat the evil sorcerer, that'll be next season?
- We will see Isildur and Theo again...I guess for five minutes or something?
- Balrog in Khazad-dum???
- * Which is kind of happening fast, if so, but at least Pharazon's annoying kid will become fish food.
posted by Atreides at 12:35 PM on September 30 [2 favorites]
Yeah, the LOTR-adjacent reddits I see in passing on my Reddit frontpage have been kind of livid about this episode. I can't speak to it since I never read the source material. It does kind of makes me wonder if this is an aspect of cstross's Expectations of Malleability where canon can shift to account for different presentations.
Anyway, as someone whose sole exposure to "canon" has been Jackson's movies, these have been great fun. Arondir is kind of annoying like an Elf Cosplayer in the same way Worf is a Klingon Cosplayer. (elf-a-boo and kee-a-boo? maybe?), but yeah, it's nice to have an alternative perspective, too.
posted by Kyol at 2:25 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Anyway, as someone whose sole exposure to "canon" has been Jackson's movies, these have been great fun. Arondir is kind of annoying like an Elf Cosplayer in the same way Worf is a Klingon Cosplayer. (elf-a-boo and kee-a-boo? maybe?), but yeah, it's nice to have an alternative perspective, too.
posted by Kyol at 2:25 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]
I don't understand how a big budget high production value show set in the LOTR universe can leave me so cold (I have read the Silmarillion & LOTR multiple times) . I usually have to watch the episodes in 2-3 sittings since I get intensely bored. I think it's the tone mismatch between Tolkien & whatever this is. Jackson's effort wasn't perfect, but it worked much better with me.
I appreciate the part with Annatar, but I wish the writing was better, the gas lighting is a little bit too on the nose, it feels like better writing would have elevated the show, but I might be asking too much.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 4:55 PM on September 30
I appreciate the part with Annatar, but I wish the writing was better, the gas lighting is a little bit too on the nose, it feels like better writing would have elevated the show, but I might be asking too much.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 4:55 PM on September 30
I too have been waiting for this post, as this is the episode where I finally gave up on the rings of power. I was also bored, using the world’s most expensive show as background noise when I’m working in the kitchen, and even then I’m not excited enough to finish this episode.
The battle scene has been stewing for a few episodes, but still felt unearned somehow - the deaths of the female characters was pretty close to fridging, except the writing forgot to make any character memorable. Sauron is the only character who we get to spend significant returnable time with this season, and let’s not forget that he’s evil incarnate; I guess Jeff Bezos must think he’s a relatable hero.
Finally, I can’t get over this program that features a lot of immortal, Demi-mortal, and super long-lived characters rushing the plot line and having everything happening in what feels like a fortnight. The writing for this is so bad that I wish Amazon had just stuck to selling books.
posted by The River Ivel at 4:34 AM on October 1
The battle scene has been stewing for a few episodes, but still felt unearned somehow - the deaths of the female characters was pretty close to fridging, except the writing forgot to make any character memorable. Sauron is the only character who we get to spend significant returnable time with this season, and let’s not forget that he’s evil incarnate; I guess Jeff Bezos must think he’s a relatable hero.
Finally, I can’t get over this program that features a lot of immortal, Demi-mortal, and super long-lived characters rushing the plot line and having everything happening in what feels like a fortnight. The writing for this is so bad that I wish Amazon had just stuck to selling books.
posted by The River Ivel at 4:34 AM on October 1
Sauron is the only character who we get to spend significant returnable time with this season,
Celebrimbor is right there. Oof.
posted by Atreides at 9:06 AM on October 1
Celebrimbor is right there. Oof.
posted by Atreides at 9:06 AM on October 1
It's fascinating to me how much of a spread there is in the enjoyment of the show. I think the writing is good and is doing what the writers/showrunners intend? To each there own. I think it's the best adaptation of Tolkien material outside of the original Jackson trilogy (not a super high bar, I'll admit).
Here's the reddit where all the fans seem to hang out: https://www.reddit.com/r/LOTR_on_Prime/
posted by Alex404 at 9:42 AM on October 1 [1 favorite]
Here's the reddit where all the fans seem to hang out: https://www.reddit.com/r/LOTR_on_Prime/
posted by Alex404 at 9:42 AM on October 1 [1 favorite]
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Thoughts: hoo boy.
These days I don't much care for huge battle scenes, but for what it was it was really well done imho. And if at this point you're on board with the hearts on your sleeve melodrama style of the show, there was a lot of pretty great acting. Celebrimbor and Sauron continue to be the MVPs of this season. Sauron's gonna Sauron, but seeing him yeet that elf lady off the rampart was still pretty shocking. As for "Brimby" (as he's apparently called online, which tickles me)... yah... I guess his forging days are behind him.
I found Elrond's dismay about the absence of the dwarven reinforcements to be pretty heartbreaking. And the way various characters from Adar to Galadriel interact with the orcs continues to create sympathy for the orcs without redeeming them. It's one of the storytelling threads I'm most appreciative of the show, because there's so many ways to handle it badly, but it's always been a fundamental problem with the lore.
At the same time, the show isn't above some good old fashioned orc splatstick, with orcs being used as shields, or that one mean horse-killing orc being... well... cata-yeeted into the castle wall.
Some lingering thoughts:
- I really hope they don't drop Arondir. He's one note but a lot of fun.
- I guess the haters are now pissed about the Galadriel/Elrond kiss? :shrug:
- Adar keeps winning but I guess there's many reasons to think his number might be up next episode.
- This episode was already quite long, but there's still so much to do in the season finale! If they manage to close everything out for the season without annoying me in anyway I'll be impressed.
- Doing so will necessitate them revealing that the Stranger is a blue wizard. We'll find out in a few days I guess!
posted by Alex404 at 7:52 AM on September 30 [2 favorites]