The timeline is sped up. Which makes practical sense, I guess. If you want the human characters to be consistent over several seasons, you have to speed up and squish the timeline. Since the canon version is defined by the lifespans of deathless elves.

One thing I’m a little disappointed about is they seem to be largely glossing over tensions between various elvish groups. I liked that Tolkien’s elves were seriously flawed, with their immortality giving them greater scope for cruelty and grudge-holding. Gil-Galad was impressive partially because he was able to unite…

Aesthetics intended to evoke a vast ship, I assume. Makes sense since Numenor is a nautical culture and Gondor is made up of Numenorians descendants. 

I will be deeply disappointed if the Witch King of Angmar came about because he picked up a sword as a child. Halbarand does seem like a more ideal candidate for Nazgul-hood. 

The robot is replacing a comatose child, but doesn’t look like him. It really leans into the creep factor though. 

Ghostwriters cost money and you have to trust them not to poison your image. 

What are you babbling about?

Good question. Seems like it’s either they were making money off it (so kept it up) or weren’t really tracking/moderating anything.  I would be curious to know what kind of money they made off the video. Gross. 

The website operated like YouTube at the time. Comedians could freely upload videos without prior approval. 

Sauron is definitely higher up than the balrogs. Presumably because he has abilities related to originally working for Aule.

They also, ironically, don’t understand that the characters change over time. Tolkien is clear that Galadriel in her youth was a very different person. She (understandably!) grew and changed a lot over thousands of years and numerous wars and losses.

My favorite is the people bleating about how the show made Galadriel a “Mary Sue.” As if Tolkien didn’t break his pencil listing how she was the bestest of the best at every single thing (Athletics! Lore! Tall! Best hair!). They need to take it up with him.

Aren’t all the balrogs Maiar?

I thought it was sweet to see hobbits as his introduction to having a body and living on ME. Of course he was able to love ME as a whole after meeting hobbits. Sort of the way Treebeard feels connected to the hobbits because it reminds him a little of meeting Entings. 

Yeah I think this is confusing the Eregion story with the Numenor one. The Numenorians are powerful enough to take Sauron prisoner, but he ultimately suborns them and it results in the destruction of Numenor. 

Yeah, her father being Finarfin is important. 

Honestly, I even own a bunch of the extra books of Tolkien’s notes (love Peoples of Middle Earth) and I really enjoyed this. It is a bit like putting a bunch of his “histories” in a blender but I don’t think that was a bad thing. 

An article about menstruation is going to talk about people who menstruate. What are you babbling about? You shouldn’t define women by their ability to menstruate but equating menstruation with being a woman makes sense?

I don’t find it disappointing at all. It’s a specialized skill. I don’t find the necessity of stunt coordinators or medics disappointing either. 

Experience with simulated sex? Because most actors in Hollywood movies are not having actual sexual on screen.