He means four seasons just for the Dance of the Dragons. We’re not going all the way to Robert’s Rebellion.

Frodo actually does come from wealth though. He starts the story by inheriting a mansion though, and neither he nor Bilbo seem to work. But this seems incidental to his heroism or lack of heroism in the main plot. Sam though you’re absolutely spot on about.

They’re not involved in the anime movie at all - the anime is being done by Warner Bros. and New Line based off of the movie rights - it was initially gonna be an HBO Max thing.  It’s two entirely different production companies.

You are correct. Udûn is the Sindarin name for Utumno (which is Quenya). It does predate orcs, but not by much - orcs were said to be created there, it’s where Melkor supposedly bred and corrupted his servants.

Udûn is also the name of Morgoth’s fortress in the frozen north, his version of Mordor, and where he created the orcs. Considering the discussiosn Adar has with Galadriel, and that we see a flashback to that frozen fortress from the first episode, that’s a third interpretation of the title.

They are yes, but that also would imply that they’re allowed to reference things outside of LOTR & appendices - the map of Numenor they use on the show only appears in Unfinished Tales, for example. Sounds like they have leeway for referencing things outside of their official rights, with the show working closely with…

Witchfinder-General is about Matthew Hopkins, not Tomas de Torquemada. It’s set during the English Civil War not the Spanish Inquisition.

You’re right - it was Anguirel wielded by Maeglin, not Anglachel, I got them confused. However, they’re basically sister swords, forged from the same meteorite.

And introducing special surprise guest, Sting!

There’s also people suggesting that Theo’s sword is at least partially inspired by Gurthang - which, fun fact, was Maeglin’s sword (under a different name) before it was Turin’s.

This new episode mentions Armenelos by name as the capital city of Numenor, a name that only appears in The Silmarillion.

He’s made the comment about the rebels being based on the Viet Cong and the Empire being the US several times, not just in one interview. Notably, that exact comparison is made in the intro to the first script treatment of the movie. “

The showrunners themselves when asked about wizards like Gandalf said something like “Maybe, but there are also other beings like Gandalf too who exist, he’s not the only one” and also the constellation the Stranger is looking for is Gemini missing two stars. When the harfoot elder is muttering about the skies being…

The Silmarils actually are mentioned in The Lord of the Rings - but Aule, who the dwarves on the show toss around casual references to, is not! The movies omitted any reference to the Silmarils though, probably to avoid even approaching material from The Silmarillion. This show hasn’t shown the same hesitation, since…

They only have the rights to The Lord of the Rings (including appendices) and The Hobbit, but the show is made with the cooperation of the Tolkien Estate who have apparently given them the go ahead to reference other stuff on approval - for example, the show’s map of Numenor comes from Unfinished Tales.

It’s probably…

The Gray Havens are not to the west of Middle-earth. They are a harbor  city within Lindon, also called Mithlond. 

The map is especially odd, because later in the scene they say “Middle-earth was left in ruins” and they show a bunch of stuff under water. The actor that plays Arondir also says that he’s from Beleriand.

Except for the Numenoreans - the Numenorean royal family is all 7 feet tall!

True - maybe it is still just barely visible from Meneltarma.

Major spoilers, but this would raise major questions for how the show’s Numenor storyline is supposed to play out. As Tolkien wrote it, Tol Eressea is actually supposed to be visible from Numenor, even though they’re forbidden from sailing there. It’s almost kind of a Garden of Eden situation with Valinor as the tree.…