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    The Rings of Power - Discussion

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved No Escape from Reality
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    • ArkandelA
      Arkandel @Kestrel
      last edited by Arkandel

      @Kestrel This is my all-time favorite quote about the way Tolkien envisioned his Elves, as spoken by Treebeard:

      “Elves began it, of course, waking trees up and teaching them to speak and learn their tree-talk. They always wished to talk to everything, the old Elves did. But then the Great Darkness came, and they passed away over the Sea, or fled into far valleys and hid themselves, and made songs about days that would never come again. Never again.”

      Mind you, I am enjoying the show, but I wish they wouldn’t make Elves… optimistic. They have lost, and can see their own end, even in the Second Age; they are nostalgic about what came before, not optimistic about what’s yet to come.

      This is perfectly captured in the nature of the Three, which are neither weapons nor tools, only ways to preserve and maintain. As a race they aren’t even trying to expand; just to keep what they have, and not decline further. They love Middle Earth but it’s their nature to retreat, reflect and ultimately diminish.

      ArkandelA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
      • ArkandelA
        Arkandel @Arkandel
        last edited by

        d80ed712-85b6-40ca-beb1-1363bdb6eed8-image.png @Arkandel

        G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 5
        • G
          GF @Arkandel
          last edited by

          @Arkandel “This authority who’s dead and therefore can’t speak for himself totally agrees with my opinions, which I shall now prove he would do by citing nothing he ever said which would support my assertion.”

          AriaA ArkandelA 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 3
          • AriaA
            Aria @GF
            last edited by

            @GF said in The Rings of Power - Discussion:

            @Arkandel “This authority who’s dead and therefore can’t speak for himself totally agrees with my opinions, which I shall now prove he would do by citing nothing he ever said which would support my assertion.”

            I tend to assume anyone who does this to complain about “wokeness” is basically just the kid in Jojo Rabbit – running around with his imaginary friend in his head, telling us all what he’d want, with all perception of said imaginary friend completely divorced from reality, and to be taken about as seriously as, yes, Taika Watiti playing Hitler.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
            • ArkandelA
              Arkandel @GF
              last edited by

              @GF Well, J.R.R. Tolkien’s opinions on race were… pretty clear, I think. We don’t need to resort to necromancy or anything. 🙂

              “I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White." - JRR Tolkien, in his own words, denouncing any conscription of his stories to a specific race.

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              • G
                GF @Arkandel
                last edited by

                @Arkandel In case my post came off as addressing you rather than Elon, I’d just like to clarify that now.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • Sam HydeS
                  Sam Hyde
                  last edited by Tez

                  ADMIN EDIT by Tez:

                  Removed racist content.

                  PavelP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • PavelP
                    Pavel @Sam Hyde
                    last edited by

                    @Sam-Hyde Hi! We don’t do racism here. So cut it out.

                    He/Him. Opinions and views are solely my own unless specifically stated otherwise.
                    BE AN ADULT

                    ArkandelA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                    • ArkandelA
                      Arkandel @Pavel
                      last edited by

                      @Pavel Oh yeah? Well, Elves suck. Fucking know-it-alls.

                      ArkandelA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • ArkandelA
                        Arkandel @Arkandel
                        last edited by Arkandel

                        On the other hand the depiction of Dwarves in this series is fucking amazing and possibly the best part of it for me. I didn’t see that coming! Disa and Durin are awesome.

                        Online posts trying to guess who Sauron is are so funny, too.

                        <literally any new character appears>
                        <DiCaprio meme pointing at screen>

                        ArkandelA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • ArkandelA
                          Arkandel @Arkandel
                          last edited by

                          Durin + Elrond are amazing!

                          D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                          • D
                            dvoraen @Arkandel
                            last edited by

                            @Arkandel said in The Rings of Power - Discussion:

                            Durin + Elrond are amazing!

                            Disa always wanted a new table.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                            • Third EyeT
                              Third Eye
                              last edited by

                              I’ll probably have more coherent thoughts later but I dipped by toe in over the weekend and I am hooked, in spite of myself. Seems really well-done all around.

                              I want something else to get me through this
                              Semi-charmed kinda life, baby, baby
                              I want something else, I'm not listening when you say good-bye

                              She/Her or They/Them

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • WizzW
                                Wizz
                                last edited by

                                I gotta admit, some of the shine came off for me in the episode before last when Galadriel confronted Halbrand and was basically like, “ugh pathetic, man you’re above these commoner rags.”

                                I know it’s probably an incredibly silly thing to complain about considering this is Tolkien but like, the whole romantic fantasy of how noble and divine the concept of monarchy is just strikes me as gross now. Maybe I’ve just grown out of it, which doesn’t bode too well for my enjoyment of the series.

                                Durin and Elrond do indeed still kick ass tho.

                                ArkandelA KestrelK 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                • ArkandelA
                                  Arkandel @Wizz
                                  last edited by Arkandel

                                  @Wizz I’m a bit miffed about Gil-Galad being… well, disagreeable. Not quite a villain but certainly douchey if you get my drift.

                                  Come on. It’s this guy:

                                  Gil-galad was an Elven-king.
                                  Of him the harpers sadly sing;
                                  the last whose realm was fair and free
                                  between the Mountains and the Sea.

                                  His sword was long, his lance was keen.
                                  His shining helm afar was seen;
                                  the countless stars of heaven’s field
                                  were mirrored in his silver shield.

                                  But long ago he rode away,
                                  and where he dwelleth none can say;
                                  for into darkness fell his star
                                  in Mordor where the shadows are.

                                  On the other hand complaints by hardcore fans are getting absolutely ridiculous at this point. One person actually complained Numenorians are too short - why isn’t Elendil a giant?

                                  Good luck finding a bunch of 7 foot tall good actors who fit the roles.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • KestrelK
                                    Kestrel @Wizz
                                    last edited by

                                    @Wizz said in The Rings of Power - Discussion:

                                    I gotta admit, some of the shine came off for me in the episode before last when Galadriel confronted Halbrand and was basically like, “ugh pathetic, man you’re above these commoner rags.”

                                    I know it’s probably an incredibly silly thing to complain about considering this is Tolkien but like, the whole romantic fantasy of how noble and divine the concept of monarchy is just strikes me as gross now. Maybe I’ve just grown out of it, which doesn’t bode too well for my enjoyment of the series.

                                    Durin and Elrond do indeed still kick ass tho.

                                    I feel the same way. I’ve loved Tolkien’s world and books since my earliest memories of being able to read at all, and I’m still greatly enjoying the show, but depictions of servile adoration for fictional monarchies hits different now.

                                    WizzW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                    • WizzW
                                      Wizz @Kestrel
                                      last edited by Wizz

                                      @Kestrel
                                      I hate when people and publications act like there’s some sort of rivalry between this and GoT or like you have to choose one over the other or whatever because that is just endlessly dumb, but I do think in this one area you could actually make the case that GoT is the better series in that on the whole it doesn’t mimic Tolkien’s weird glazed-eye fawning over feudalism like so many other fantasy series and presents it at least fairly realisticly as deeply flawed and problematic instead.

                                      I was very much the same as a kid and just took it all at face value, lol. It almost makes me wonder if that’s at least some part of why so many modern people have this rosy fondness for actual real world monarchies, just having grown up with these glowing and romantic fantasies? If even remotely true…big oofs.

                                      ArkandelA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                                      • Third EyeT
                                        Third Eye
                                        last edited by

                                        To some degree the fawning over feudalism is something I accept as a genre convention within fantasy. I won’t say it doesn’t bother me, it’s one of the things that makes me not entirely engage with the genre, but I kind of accept it going in. For all the things I dislike about A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin does undercut this in interesting ways at various points (and was quickly followed by a legion of imitators who did it less well, just like Tolkien).

                                        I want something else to get me through this
                                        Semi-charmed kinda life, baby, baby
                                        I want something else, I'm not listening when you say good-bye

                                        She/Her or They/Them

                                        P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                        • P
                                          Pyrephox Administrators @Third Eye
                                          last edited by

                                          @Third-Eye I really wish that more governmental systems were explored in fantasy rather than strong-state hereditary feudalism, especially the kind that tends to downplay or eliminate the role of guilds, militaries, and cities. There were so many interesting possibilities even around the same time period that most of these fantasies draw from, and if you’re adding magic, then things should be different!

                                          Which is not as relevant to a Tolkien adaptation, but still.

                                          KestrelK RinelR 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 4
                                          • KestrelK
                                            Kestrel @Pyrephox
                                            last edited by

                                            @Pyrephox said in The Rings of Power - Discussion:

                                            @Third-Eye I really wish that more governmental systems were explored in fantasy rather than strong-state hereditary feudalism, especially the kind that tends to downplay or eliminate the role of guilds, militaries, and cities. There were so many interesting possibilities even around the same time period that most of these fantasies draw from, and if you’re adding magic, then things should be different!

                                            Which is not as relevant to a Tolkien adaptation, but still.

                                            I think Sauron starts a jeweller’s guild at some point, and I’m looking forward to seeing the Apprentice style politics of Celebrimbor’s inexplicable mad scientist energy trying to get them all in line.

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