Season 1 Episodes 1 And 2

“Surely you don’t believe the prophecies because you had a hand in making them happen? You don’t really believe, do you, that all your adventures and escapades were by mere chance, just for your own benefit?’ — Gandalf “It could have landed anywhere, but it landed here. I know it sounds weird, but somehow, I just know it’s important. As if there is a reason I found him. I.” — Norrie Bradyfoot If the writings of JRR Tolkien teach anything, it’s that the road goes on and on. In Middle Earth, stories never end, they live on in the characters who live them, the characters who tell them, and the people who read them. Stories are a living thing for Tolkien. He often likened them to trees, with deep roots and changing leaves that grow taller and fuller with each addition. Only in this context does a billion dollar adaptation of the appendices of Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord Of The Rings make sense. The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power does not demarcate the end of one story and the beginning of the next. Each beat resonates with the other, echoing the history and legacy of Tolkien’s creation and our relationship to the author’s work. JRR Tolkien’s masterpiece of literary wonder is not a hill. It is a mountain, made of Earth and ore, air and water and countless little pieces that reflect each other. Each part of its ecosystem has a story to tell that enlightens and enriches others. In The Rings Of Power, the viewer never consumes a story, but an entire story in a few lines. The expectations for the most expensive show ever are undoubtedly high, but the bottom line was to make something coherent out of the densest and most modern fantasy series on Earth. Would the audience go for a show that is not only full of folk traditions, but also about the traditions? G/O Media may receive a commission Unfold your phone’s capabilities Z Fold4 is Samsung’s premiere Galaxy smartphone, with a 6.2″ cover display that folds out to a 7.6″ wide screen inside, as well as an under-screen camera. If you order one today, it’ll give you a $150 Samsung credit toward additional accessories. The good news is that in its first two outings, Rings Of Power isn’t just good. It’s amazing. Showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay’s interpretation of Tolkien’s world doesn’t just match the world Peter Jackson created in the early 2000s, but also folds into a larger cultural story about Tolkien and what he continues to inspire. his work to the people. Rings Of Power makes it clear that every story in Middle-earth is part of the larger whole and treats every moment, big and small, with appropriate grace and grandeur, where a fresh berry is as miraculous as a wizard’s stone. The optimistic Rings Of Power finds the world a place of grandeur and mystery, a world worth fighting for. Payne and McKay have not only recreated a world familiar and alien, they do so with the confidence of filmmakers ready to make a three-hour King Kong. With so much history to unpack, director JA Bayona takes a page from Jackson’s book and opens with a prologue narrated by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), who immediately personalizes this story to draw us in. “Nothing is bad in the beginning,” Galadriel says in the opening shots, slowly revealing Valinor, Middle-earth’s equivalent of paradise, in the First Age. A young Galadriel sets a small paper sailboat in a stream in the Elf’s own Garden of Eden. When one of her friends sinks the boat, Galadriel shows her fighting spirit and attacks her bully before her brother Finrod (Will Fletcher) stops her. Their scene together has the same didactic patience as Why Do We Fall, Bruce? the Batman Begins series. Interestingly enough, this series starts from a similar place. Like Batman Begins, which was set in a time period that most comic book writers avoid, e.g. Batman’s formative years, LOTR: TROP focuses on the Second Age, a period largely left unfinished by Tolkien. Galadriel gives us the recap of the First Age, explaining how the first Dark Lord Morgoth destroyed the two trees of Valinor. This led to the centuries-old “War of Wrath”, which ended with Morgoth’s death, the rise of Morgoth’s apprentice Sauron, and the Elves leaving Valinor for Middle-earth. After the war, Finrod goes on the hunt for Sauron, making it his life’s mission to exterminate this evil. When Sauron’s forces kill Finrod, he is left with a mark on his shoulder that Galadriel spends the rest of the prologue hunting. Finrod’s death sparks Galadriel on a quest to stop all crime in Gotham City to hunt Sauron’s forces wherever they roam. No doubt people will disagree with this interpretation of Galadriel. We never knew her to be much of a fighter. However, normally Tolkien mentions that he fought alongside Finrod, and the show cleverly expands on this. Galadriel makes this threat personal, providing solid ground for the audience. With so many Dark Lords and strange Elven names and words, it would be so easy to get lost in the thicket. Payne, McKay and their writers’ room were right to give her a very clear target with Sauron while keeping an eye on the bigger picture. This is a personal battle for Galadriel, but one that affects each character in different ways. In her first proper scene, atop the mountains of Forodwait, Galadriel and her order of Elves find an old outpost, where she discovers the same marking as her brother’s, and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the Eye Of Sauron. After acquiring a Snow Troll, those under her command say they will travel no more. Galadriel had already defied the High King’s instructions. It’s time to go home. We leave the great adventure of the Elves and head into the wilds of Rovanion, where a nomadic tribe of halflings known as the Harfoots have set up camp for their harvest festival. Unlike The Shire, where the Hobbits reside in the Third Age, the Harfoots travel from place to place, setting up shop away from the prying eyes of big men, wolves, and other terrors. Their camp is reminiscent of the Lost Boys village in Steven Spielberg’s Hook, with secret compartments and clever string-based mechanisms. It’s probably catnip for kids with growing imaginations, and yet our Mr. Harfoot, Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), aspires to something more. The arrival of hunters and wolves near their camp signals to Norrie and a local elder named Saddock Barrows (Sir Lenny Henry) that there may be trouble in the south. Considering that Galadriel mentioned that the Mark of Sauron in the Snow Troll’s cave signaled to followers that the Dark Lord is moving north, we have to assume she’s right. Nori has a lot of Took energy, meaning she wants an adventure. “I can’t help but feel that there are miracles in this world beyond our wandering,” Nori tells her mother, Marigold (Sara Zwangobani). Considering what we know about Hobbits, like Bilbo, that’s an un-Hobbit thing to say, and yet, sometimes they surprise you. It is the same desire that drove Bilbo out of his door. Marigold responds with typical Hobbit aloofness. “I’ve told you countless times,” Marigold says. “The elves have forests to protect. Dwarves, their mines. Men, their grain fields. Even trees have to worry about the soil beneath their roots. But we Harfoots are free from the cares of the wider world, we are but ripples in a long, long stream. Our path was marked by the passing times.” We’ve heard all of this before, and it’s a strong contrast to Galadriel, who will soon have to choose whether to leave Middle-earth or stay and hunt Sauron. Back in the Elven city of Lindon, our old friend Elrond (Robert Aramayo) is scrambling, trying to find the perfect metaphor for Galadriel’s efforts (“Like spring rain over the bones of a dead animal”). Aramayo gives us such a warm introduction to what has traditionally been a very cold character. As High King Gil-galad’s (Benjamin Walker) right-hand man, Elrond is a politician by trade, but here, he’s Hobbit-like in his complacency, presenting himself similarly to Bilbo or Frodo in the Fellowship, nose-to-the-book and in peace in nature. Owain Arthur Photo: Courtesy of Prime Video In their first dynamite scene together, we see the gap between Elrond and Galadriel. Galadriel may be like Batman on a never-ending quest for revenge, but Aramayo plays Elrond like Obi-Wan Kenobi, countering the weight of that mythology with pure love for his friend. He wants to stop because he sees how much it hurts, a truth that Clarke and Aramayo play with honesty and gravity. Elrond informs Galadriel that Gil-Galad will celebrate Galadriel’s efforts (rather than punish her for insolence) by sending her and her order back to Valinor. “They’re going home,” Gil-galad proclaims, making the Elves look like a death cult. Galadriel tells Elrond that she does not want to bring her pain to an “immortal” and “unchanging” land. However, he agrees to go home. Even on the ship, Galadriel cannot give up the fight, clutching her brother’s dagger as the clouds open and welcome her to heaven. He looks deep into the camera, a striking and powerful shot that’s very different from the type of blocking or directing we’re used to in streaming shows. It’s an ambitious long close-up that Clark holds with strength and open heart as if waiting for the viewer to go on this journey with her. Of course, we agree and he dives off the ship. Finally, we jump to the Southlands, where a strange Elf named Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) watches over the men of the south, who generations earlier were followers of Morgoth. Sam Gamgee may be excited to meet the Elves, but those who didn’t grow up with the stories of Bilbo…

title: “Season 1 Episodes 1 And 2 Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-13” author: “Nathan Hough”

“Surely you don’t believe the prophecies because you had a hand in making them happen? You don’t really believe, do you, that all your adventures and escapades were by mere chance, just for your own benefit?’ — Gandalf “It could have landed anywhere, but it landed here. I know it sounds weird, but somehow, I just know it’s important. As if there is a reason I found him. I.” — Norrie Bradyfoot If the writings of JRR Tolkien teach anything, it’s that the road goes on and on. In Middle Earth, stories never end, they live on in the characters who live them, the characters who tell them, and the people who read them. Stories are a living thing for Tolkien. He often likened them to trees, with deep roots and changing leaves that grow taller and fuller with each addition. Only in this context does a billion dollar adaptation of the appendices of Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord Of The Rings make sense. The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power does not demarcate the end of one story and the beginning of the next. Each beat resonates with the other, echoing the history and legacy of Tolkien’s creation and our relationship to the author’s work. JRR Tolkien’s masterpiece of literary wonder is not a hill. It is a mountain, made of Earth and ore, air and water and countless little pieces that reflect each other. Each part of its ecosystem has a story to tell that enlightens and enriches others. In The Rings Of Power, the viewer never consumes a story, but an entire story in a few lines. The expectations for the most expensive show ever are undoubtedly high, but the bottom line was to make something coherent out of the densest and most modern fantasy series on Earth. Would the audience go for a show that is not only full of folk traditions, but also about the traditions? G/O Media may receive a commission Unfold your phone’s capabilities Z Fold4 is Samsung’s premiere Galaxy smartphone, with a 6.2″ cover display that folds out to a 7.6″ wide screen inside, as well as an under-screen camera. If you order one today, it’ll give you a $150 Samsung credit toward additional accessories. The good news is that in its first two outings, Rings Of Power isn’t just good. It’s amazing. Showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay’s interpretation of Tolkien’s world doesn’t just match the world Peter Jackson created in the early 2000s, but also folds into a larger cultural story about Tolkien and what he continues to inspire. his work to the people. Rings Of Power makes it clear that every story in Middle-earth is part of the larger whole and treats every moment, big and small, with appropriate grace and grandeur, where a fresh berry is as miraculous as a wizard’s stone. The optimistic Rings Of Power finds the world a place of grandeur and mystery, a world worth fighting for. Payne and McKay have not only recreated a world familiar and alien, they do so with the confidence of filmmakers ready to make a three-hour King Kong. With so much history to unpack, director JA Bayona takes a page from Jackson’s book and opens with a prologue narrated by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), who immediately personalizes this story to draw us in. “Nothing is bad in the beginning,” Galadriel says in the opening shots, slowly revealing Valinor, Middle-earth’s equivalent of paradise, in the First Age. A young Galadriel sets a small paper sailboat in a stream in the Elf’s own Garden of Eden. When one of her friends sinks the boat, Galadriel shows her fighting spirit and attacks her bully before her brother Finrod (Will Fletcher) stops her. Their scene together has the same didactic patience as Why Do We Fall, Bruce? the Batman Begins series. Interestingly enough, this series starts from a similar place. Like Batman Begins, which was set in a time period that most comic book writers avoid, e.g. Batman’s formative years, LOTR: TROP focuses on the Second Age, a period largely left unfinished by Tolkien. Galadriel gives us the recap of the First Age, explaining how the first Dark Lord Morgoth destroyed the two trees of Valinor. This led to the centuries-old “War of Wrath”, which ended with Morgoth’s death, the rise of Morgoth’s apprentice Sauron, and the Elves leaving Valinor for Middle-earth. After the war, Finrod goes on the hunt for Sauron, making it his life’s mission to exterminate this evil. When Sauron’s forces kill Finrod, he is left with a mark on his shoulder that Galadriel spends the rest of the prologue hunting. Finrod’s death sparks Galadriel on a quest to stop all crime in Gotham City to hunt Sauron’s forces wherever they roam. No doubt people will disagree with this interpretation of Galadriel. We never knew her to be much of a fighter. However, normally Tolkien mentions that he fought alongside Finrod, and the show cleverly expands on this. Galadriel makes this threat personal, providing solid ground for the audience. With so many Dark Lords and strange Elven names and words, it would be so easy to get lost in the thicket. Payne, McKay and their writers’ room were right to give her a very clear target with Sauron while keeping an eye on the bigger picture. This is a personal battle for Galadriel, but one that affects each character in different ways. In her first proper scene, atop the mountains of Forodwait, Galadriel and her order of Elves find an old outpost, where she discovers the same marking as her brother’s, and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the Eye Of Sauron. After acquiring a Snow Troll, those under her command say they will travel no more. Galadriel had already defied the High King’s instructions. It’s time to go home. We leave the great adventure of the Elves and head into the wilds of Rovanion, where a nomadic tribe of halflings known as the Harfoots have set up camp for their harvest festival. Unlike The Shire, where the Hobbits reside in the Third Age, the Harfoots travel from place to place, setting up shop away from the prying eyes of big men, wolves, and other terrors. Their camp is reminiscent of the Lost Boys village in Steven Spielberg’s Hook, with secret compartments and clever string-based mechanisms. It’s probably catnip for kids with growing imaginations, and yet our Mr. Harfoot, Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), aspires to something more. The arrival of hunters and wolves near their camp signals to Norrie and a local elder named Saddock Barrows (Sir Lenny Henry) that there may be trouble in the south. Considering that Galadriel mentioned that the Mark of Sauron in the Snow Troll’s cave signaled to followers that the Dark Lord is moving north, we have to assume she’s right. Nori has a lot of Took energy, meaning she wants an adventure. “I can’t help but feel that there are miracles in this world beyond our wandering,” Nori tells her mother, Marigold (Sara Zwangobani). Considering what we know about Hobbits, like Bilbo, that’s an un-Hobbit thing to say, and yet, sometimes they surprise you. It is the same desire that drove Bilbo out of his door. Marigold responds with typical Hobbit aloofness. “I’ve told you countless times,” Marigold says. “The elves have forests to protect. Dwarves, their mines. Men, their grain fields. Even trees have to worry about the soil beneath their roots. But we Harfoots are free from the cares of the wider world, we are but ripples in a long, long stream. Our path was marked by the passing times.” We’ve heard all of this before, and it’s a strong contrast to Galadriel, who will soon have to choose whether to leave Middle-earth or stay and hunt Sauron. Back in the Elven city of Lindon, our old friend Elrond (Robert Aramayo) is scrambling, trying to find the perfect metaphor for Galadriel’s efforts (“Like spring rain over the bones of a dead animal”). Aramayo gives us such a warm introduction to what has traditionally been a very cold character. As High King Gil-galad’s (Benjamin Walker) right-hand man, Elrond is a politician by trade, but here, he’s Hobbit-like in his complacency, presenting himself similarly to Bilbo or Frodo in the Fellowship, nose-to-the-book and in peace in nature. Owain Arthur Photo: Courtesy of Prime Video In their first dynamite scene together, we see the gap between Elrond and Galadriel. Galadriel may be like Batman on a never-ending quest for revenge, but Aramayo plays Elrond like Obi-Wan Kenobi, countering the weight of that mythology with pure love for his friend. He wants to stop because he sees how much it hurts, a truth that Clarke and Aramayo play with honesty and gravity. Elrond informs Galadriel that Gil-Galad will celebrate Galadriel’s efforts (rather than punish her for insolence) by sending her and her order back to Valinor. “They’re going home,” Gil-galad proclaims, making the Elves look like a death cult. Galadriel tells Elrond that she does not want to bring her pain to an “immortal” and “unchanging” land. However, he agrees to go home. Even on the ship, Galadriel cannot give up the fight, clutching her brother’s dagger as the clouds open and welcome her to heaven. He looks deep into the camera, a striking and powerful shot that’s very different from the type of blocking or directing we’re used to in streaming shows. It’s an ambitious long close-up that Clark holds with strength and open heart as if waiting for the viewer to go on this journey with her. Of course, we agree and he dives off the ship. Finally, we jump to the Southlands, where a strange Elf named Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) watches over the men of the south, who generations earlier were followers of Morgoth. Sam Gamgee may be excited to meet the Elves, but those who didn’t grow up with the stories of Bilbo…

title: “Season 1 Episodes 1 And 2 Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-02” author: “Mary Evans”

“Surely you don’t believe the prophecies because you had a hand in making them happen? You don’t really believe, do you, that all your adventures and escapades were by mere chance, just for your own benefit?’ — Gandalf “It could have landed anywhere, but it landed here. I know it sounds weird, but somehow, I just know it’s important. As if there is a reason I found him. I.” — Norrie Bradyfoot If the writings of JRR Tolkien teach anything, it’s that the road goes on and on. In Middle Earth, stories never end, they live on in the characters who live them, the characters who tell them, and the people who read them. Stories are a living thing for Tolkien. He often likened them to trees, with deep roots and changing leaves that grow taller and fuller with each addition. Only in this context does a billion dollar adaptation of the appendices of Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord Of The Rings make sense. The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power does not demarcate the end of one story and the beginning of the next. Each beat resonates with the other, echoing the history and legacy of Tolkien’s creation and our relationship to the author’s work. JRR Tolkien’s masterpiece of literary wonder is not a hill. It is a mountain, made of Earth and ore, air and water and countless little pieces that reflect each other. Each part of its ecosystem has a story to tell that enlightens and enriches others. In The Rings Of Power, the viewer never consumes a story, but an entire story in a few lines. The expectations for the most expensive show ever are undoubtedly high, but the bottom line was to make something coherent out of the densest and most modern fantasy series on Earth. Would the audience go for a show that is not only full of folk traditions, but also about the traditions? G/O Media may receive a commission Unfold your phone’s capabilities Z Fold4 is Samsung’s premiere Galaxy smartphone, with a 6.2″ cover display that folds out to a 7.6″ wide screen inside, as well as an under-screen camera. If you order one today, it’ll give you a $150 Samsung credit toward additional accessories. The good news is that in its first two outings, Rings Of Power isn’t just good. It’s amazing. Showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay’s interpretation of Tolkien’s world doesn’t just match the world Peter Jackson created in the early 2000s, but also folds into a larger cultural story about Tolkien and what he continues to inspire. his work to the people. Rings Of Power makes it clear that every story in Middle-earth is part of the larger whole and treats every moment, big and small, with appropriate grace and grandeur, where a fresh berry is as miraculous as a wizard’s stone. The optimistic Rings Of Power finds the world a place of grandeur and mystery, a world worth fighting for. Payne and McKay have not only recreated a world familiar and alien, they do so with the confidence of filmmakers ready to make a three-hour King Kong. With so much history to unpack, director JA Bayona takes a page from Jackson’s book and opens with a prologue narrated by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), who immediately personalizes this story to draw us in. “Nothing is bad in the beginning,” Galadriel says in the opening shots, slowly revealing Valinor, Middle-earth’s equivalent of paradise, in the First Age. A young Galadriel sets a small paper sailboat in a stream in the Elf’s own Garden of Eden. When one of her friends sinks the boat, Galadriel shows her fighting spirit and attacks her bully before her brother Finrod (Will Fletcher) stops her. Their scene together has the same didactic patience as Why Do We Fall, Bruce? the Batman Begins series. Interestingly enough, this series starts from a similar place. Like Batman Begins, which was set in a time period that most comic book writers avoid, e.g. Batman’s formative years, LOTR: TROP focuses on the Second Age, a period largely left unfinished by Tolkien. Galadriel gives us the recap of the First Age, explaining how the first Dark Lord Morgoth destroyed the two trees of Valinor. This led to the centuries-old “War of Wrath”, which ended with Morgoth’s death, the rise of Morgoth’s apprentice Sauron, and the Elves leaving Valinor for Middle-earth. After the war, Finrod goes on the hunt for Sauron, making it his life’s mission to exterminate this evil. When Sauron’s forces kill Finrod, he is left with a mark on his shoulder that Galadriel spends the rest of the prologue hunting. Finrod’s death sparks Galadriel on a quest to stop all crime in Gotham City to hunt Sauron’s forces wherever they roam. No doubt people will disagree with this interpretation of Galadriel. We never knew her to be much of a fighter. However, normally Tolkien mentions that he fought alongside Finrod, and the show cleverly expands on this. Galadriel makes this threat personal, providing solid ground for the audience. With so many Dark Lords and strange Elven names and words, it would be so easy to get lost in the thicket. Payne, McKay and their writers’ room were right to give her a very clear target with Sauron while keeping an eye on the bigger picture. This is a personal battle for Galadriel, but one that affects each character in different ways. In her first proper scene, atop the mountains of Forodwait, Galadriel and her order of Elves find an old outpost, where she discovers the same marking as her brother’s, and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the Eye Of Sauron. After acquiring a Snow Troll, those under her command say they will travel no more. Galadriel had already defied the High King’s instructions. It’s time to go home. We leave the great adventure of the Elves and head into the wilds of Rovanion, where a nomadic tribe of halflings known as the Harfoots have set up camp for their harvest festival. Unlike The Shire, where the Hobbits reside in the Third Age, the Harfoots travel from place to place, setting up shop away from the prying eyes of big men, wolves, and other terrors. Their camp is reminiscent of the Lost Boys village in Steven Spielberg’s Hook, with secret compartments and clever string-based mechanisms. It’s probably catnip for kids with growing imaginations, and yet our Mr. Harfoot, Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), aspires to something more. The arrival of hunters and wolves near their camp signals to Norrie and a local elder named Saddock Barrows (Sir Lenny Henry) that there may be trouble in the south. Considering that Galadriel mentioned that the Mark of Sauron in the Snow Troll’s cave signaled to followers that the Dark Lord is moving north, we have to assume she’s right. Nori has a lot of Took energy, meaning she wants an adventure. “I can’t help but feel that there are miracles in this world beyond our wandering,” Nori tells her mother, Marigold (Sara Zwangobani). Considering what we know about Hobbits, like Bilbo, that’s an un-Hobbit thing to say, and yet, sometimes they surprise you. It is the same desire that drove Bilbo out of his door. Marigold responds with typical Hobbit aloofness. “I’ve told you countless times,” Marigold says. “The elves have forests to protect. Dwarves, their mines. Men, their grain fields. Even trees have to worry about the soil beneath their roots. But we Harfoots are free from the cares of the wider world, we are but ripples in a long, long stream. Our path was marked by the passing times.” We’ve heard all of this before, and it’s a strong contrast to Galadriel, who will soon have to choose whether to leave Middle-earth or stay and hunt Sauron. Back in the Elven city of Lindon, our old friend Elrond (Robert Aramayo) is scrambling, trying to find the perfect metaphor for Galadriel’s efforts (“Like spring rain over the bones of a dead animal”). Aramayo gives us such a warm introduction to what has traditionally been a very cold character. As High King Gil-galad’s (Benjamin Walker) right-hand man, Elrond is a politician by trade, but here, he’s Hobbit-like in his complacency, presenting himself similarly to Bilbo or Frodo in the Fellowship, nose-to-the-book and in peace in nature. Owain Arthur Photo: Courtesy of Prime Video In their first dynamite scene together, we see the gap between Elrond and Galadriel. Galadriel may be like Batman on a never-ending quest for revenge, but Aramayo plays Elrond like Obi-Wan Kenobi, countering the weight of that mythology with pure love for his friend. He wants to stop because he sees how much it hurts, a truth that Clarke and Aramayo play with honesty and gravity. Elrond informs Galadriel that Gil-Galad will celebrate Galadriel’s efforts (rather than punish her for insolence) by sending her and her order back to Valinor. “They’re going home,” Gil-galad proclaims, making the Elves look like a death cult. Galadriel tells Elrond that she does not want to bring her pain to an “immortal” and “unchanging” land. However, he agrees to go home. Even on the ship, Galadriel cannot give up the fight, clutching her brother’s dagger as the clouds open and welcome her to heaven. He looks deep into the camera, a striking and powerful shot that’s very different from the type of blocking or directing we’re used to in streaming shows. It’s an ambitious long close-up that Clark holds with strength and open heart as if waiting for the viewer to go on this journey with her. Of course, we agree and he dives off the ship. Finally, we jump to the Southlands, where a strange Elf named Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) watches over the men of the south, who generations earlier were followers of Morgoth. Sam Gamgee may be excited to meet the Elves, but those who didn’t grow up with the stories of Bilbo…

title: “Season 1 Episodes 1 And 2 Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-24” author: “Joseph Sinka”

“Surely you don’t believe the prophecies because you had a hand in making them happen? You don’t really believe, do you, that all your adventures and escapades were by mere chance, just for your own benefit?’ — Gandalf “It could have landed anywhere, but it landed here. I know it sounds weird, but somehow, I just know it’s important. As if there is a reason I found him. I.” — Norrie Bradyfoot If the writings of JRR Tolkien teach anything, it’s that the road goes on and on. In Middle Earth, stories never end, they live on in the characters who live them, the characters who tell them, and the people who read them. Stories are a living thing for Tolkien. He often likened them to trees, with deep roots and changing leaves that grow taller and fuller with each addition. Only in this context does a billion dollar adaptation of the appendices of Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord Of The Rings make sense. The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power does not demarcate the end of one story and the beginning of the next. Each beat resonates with the other, echoing the history and legacy of Tolkien’s creation and our relationship to the author’s work. JRR Tolkien’s masterpiece of literary wonder is not a hill. It is a mountain, made of Earth and ore, air and water and countless little pieces that reflect each other. Each part of its ecosystem has a story to tell that enlightens and enriches others. In The Rings Of Power, the viewer never consumes a story, but an entire story in a few lines. The expectations for the most expensive show ever are undoubtedly high, but the bottom line was to make something coherent out of the densest and most modern fantasy series on Earth. Would the audience go for a show that is not only full of folk traditions, but also about the traditions? G/O Media may receive a commission Unfold your phone’s capabilities Z Fold4 is Samsung’s premiere Galaxy smartphone, with a 6.2″ cover display that folds out to a 7.6″ wide screen inside, as well as an under-screen camera. If you order one today, it’ll give you a $150 Samsung credit toward additional accessories. The good news is that in its first two outings, Rings Of Power isn’t just good. It’s amazing. Showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay’s interpretation of Tolkien’s world doesn’t just match the world Peter Jackson created in the early 2000s, but also folds into a larger cultural story about Tolkien and what he continues to inspire. his work to the people. Rings Of Power makes it clear that every story in Middle-earth is part of the larger whole and treats every moment, big and small, with appropriate grace and grandeur, where a fresh berry is as miraculous as a wizard’s stone. The optimistic Rings Of Power finds the world a place of grandeur and mystery, a world worth fighting for. Payne and McKay have not only recreated a world familiar and alien, they do so with the confidence of filmmakers ready to make a three-hour King Kong. With so much history to unpack, director JA Bayona takes a page from Jackson’s book and opens with a prologue narrated by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), who immediately personalizes this story to draw us in. “Nothing is bad in the beginning,” Galadriel says in the opening shots, slowly revealing Valinor, Middle-earth’s equivalent of paradise, in the First Age. A young Galadriel sets a small paper sailboat in a stream in the Elf’s own Garden of Eden. When one of her friends sinks the boat, Galadriel shows her fighting spirit and attacks her bully before her brother Finrod (Will Fletcher) stops her. Their scene together has the same didactic patience as Why Do We Fall, Bruce? the Batman Begins series. Interestingly enough, this series starts from a similar place. Like Batman Begins, which was set in a time period that most comic book writers avoid, e.g. Batman’s formative years, LOTR: TROP focuses on the Second Age, a period largely left unfinished by Tolkien. Galadriel gives us the recap of the First Age, explaining how the first Dark Lord Morgoth destroyed the two trees of Valinor. This led to the centuries-old “War of Wrath”, which ended with Morgoth’s death, the rise of Morgoth’s apprentice Sauron, and the Elves leaving Valinor for Middle-earth. After the war, Finrod goes on the hunt for Sauron, making it his life’s mission to exterminate this evil. When Sauron’s forces kill Finrod, he is left with a mark on his shoulder that Galadriel spends the rest of the prologue hunting. Finrod’s death sparks Galadriel on a quest to stop all crime in Gotham City to hunt Sauron’s forces wherever they roam. No doubt people will disagree with this interpretation of Galadriel. We never knew her to be much of a fighter. However, normally Tolkien mentions that he fought alongside Finrod, and the show cleverly expands on this. Galadriel makes this threat personal, providing solid ground for the audience. With so many Dark Lords and strange Elven names and words, it would be so easy to get lost in the thicket. Payne, McKay and their writers’ room were right to give her a very clear target with Sauron while keeping an eye on the bigger picture. This is a personal battle for Galadriel, but one that affects each character in different ways. In her first proper scene, atop the mountains of Forodwait, Galadriel and her order of Elves find an old outpost, where she discovers the same marking as her brother’s, and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the Eye Of Sauron. After acquiring a Snow Troll, those under her command say they will travel no more. Galadriel had already defied the High King’s instructions. It’s time to go home. We leave the great adventure of the Elves and head into the wilds of Rovanion, where a nomadic tribe of halflings known as the Harfoots have set up camp for their harvest festival. Unlike The Shire, where the Hobbits reside in the Third Age, the Harfoots travel from place to place, setting up shop away from the prying eyes of big men, wolves, and other terrors. Their camp is reminiscent of the Lost Boys village in Steven Spielberg’s Hook, with secret compartments and clever string-based mechanisms. It’s probably catnip for kids with growing imaginations, and yet our Mr. Harfoot, Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), aspires to something more. The arrival of hunters and wolves near their camp signals to Norrie and a local elder named Saddock Barrows (Sir Lenny Henry) that there may be trouble in the south. Considering that Galadriel mentioned that the Mark of Sauron in the Snow Troll’s cave signaled to followers that the Dark Lord is moving north, we have to assume she’s right. Nori has a lot of Took energy, meaning she wants an adventure. “I can’t help but feel that there are miracles in this world beyond our wandering,” Nori tells her mother, Marigold (Sara Zwangobani). Considering what we know about Hobbits, like Bilbo, that’s an un-Hobbit thing to say, and yet, sometimes they surprise you. It is the same desire that drove Bilbo out of his door. Marigold responds with typical Hobbit aloofness. “I’ve told you countless times,” Marigold says. “The elves have forests to protect. Dwarves, their mines. Men, their grain fields. Even trees have to worry about the soil beneath their roots. But we Harfoots are free from the cares of the wider world, we are but ripples in a long, long stream. Our path was marked by the passing times.” We’ve heard all of this before, and it’s a strong contrast to Galadriel, who will soon have to choose whether to leave Middle-earth or stay and hunt Sauron. Back in the Elven city of Lindon, our old friend Elrond (Robert Aramayo) is scrambling, trying to find the perfect metaphor for Galadriel’s efforts (“Like spring rain over the bones of a dead animal”). Aramayo gives us such a warm introduction to what has traditionally been a very cold character. As High King Gil-galad’s (Benjamin Walker) right-hand man, Elrond is a politician by trade, but here, he’s Hobbit-like in his complacency, presenting himself similarly to Bilbo or Frodo in the Fellowship, nose-to-the-book and in peace in nature. Owain Arthur Photo: Courtesy of Prime Video In their first dynamite scene together, we see the gap between Elrond and Galadriel. Galadriel may be like Batman on a never-ending quest for revenge, but Aramayo plays Elrond like Obi-Wan Kenobi, countering the weight of that mythology with pure love for his friend. He wants to stop because he sees how much it hurts, a truth that Clarke and Aramayo play with honesty and gravity. Elrond informs Galadriel that Gil-Galad will celebrate Galadriel’s efforts (rather than punish her for insolence) by sending her and her order back to Valinor. “They’re going home,” Gil-galad proclaims, making the Elves look like a death cult. Galadriel tells Elrond that she does not want to bring her pain to an “immortal” and “unchanging” land. However, he agrees to go home. Even on the ship, Galadriel cannot give up the fight, clutching her brother’s dagger as the clouds open and welcome her to heaven. He looks deep into the camera, a striking and powerful shot that’s very different from the type of blocking or directing we’re used to in streaming shows. It’s an ambitious long close-up that Clark holds with strength and open heart as if waiting for the viewer to go on this journey with her. Of course, we agree and he dives off the ship. Finally, we jump to the Southlands, where a strange Elf named Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) watches over the men of the south, who generations earlier were followers of Morgoth. Sam Gamgee may be excited to meet the Elves, but those who didn’t grow up with the stories of Bilbo…