MaroonStain said:

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If Star Man is Gandalf then that is just lazy writing. Gandalf is not 8,000 years old in LOTR.

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Do we have a hard age for Gandalf? We know the general time of his arrival to Middle Earth, but since he's basically a Maiar, he could be thousands of years old.

I just don't know what the point is of sending him (or another wizard) to Middle Earth with amnesia or whatever he apparently has.

redline248 said:

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MaroonStain said:

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If Star Man is Gandalf then that is just lazy writing. Gandalf is not 8,000 years old in LOTR.

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Do we have a hard age for Gandalf? We know the general time of his arrival to Middle Earth, but since he's basically a Maiar, he could be thousands of years old.

I just don't know what the point is of sending him (or another wizard) to Middle Earth with amnesia or whatever he apparently has.

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I think it's Tom Bombadil.

redline248 said:

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MaroonStain said:

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If Star Man is Gandalf then that is just lazy writing. Gandalf is not 8,000 years old in LOTR.

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Do we have a hard age for Gandalf? We know the general time of his arrival to Middle Earth, but since he's basically a Maiar, he could be thousands of years old.

I just don't know what the point is of sending him (or another wizard) to Middle Earth with amnesia or whatever he apparently has.

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He was created before the Music of Ainur, but not sent to middle earth until the third age.

There is a line from Tolkien about him walking among the elves unseen in the second age, but until this series that was always assumed to be in the Undying Lands and not middle earth.

From the Unfinished Tales:

". . . though he loved the Elves, he walked among them unseen, or in form as one of them, and they did not know whence came the fair visions or the promptings of wisdom that he put into their hearts. In later days he was the friend of all the Children of Ilvatar, and took pity on their sorrows; and those who listened to him awoke from despair and put away the imaginations of darkness."

yes, Tom Bombadil was there from the beginning. Though, who knows with the way the writers are playing with time lines.

I didn't realize this was going to be multiple seasons. They are probably going to cliffhanger the hell out of it, and then we will sit for 3 years waiting for them to spend their billion $ on the next one.

How is Arondir going to escape? I feel like he is supposed to be a hero of this show, so there's little chance he's corrupted into a servant of Sauron, right? They won't give him the Ned Stark treatment, will they?

MaroonStain said:

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redline248 said:

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MaroonStain said:

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If Star Man is Gandalf then that is just lazy writing. Gandalf is not 8,000 years old in LOTR.

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Do we have a hard age for Gandalf? We know the general time of his arrival to Middle Earth, but since he's basically a Maiar, he could be thousands of years old.

I just don't know what the point is of sending him (or another wizard) to Middle Earth with amnesia or whatever he apparently has.

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I think it's Tom Bombadil.

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Is there a reason it couldn't be the bird poop wizard from The Hobbit movies? No reason I think it might be him other than when he put on that shawl it reminded me of that kookiness he portrayed.

I'd like for it to be one of the Blue Wizards, and go with the version in which Tolkien had them showing up in the Second Age instead of the Third with Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast. Having this guy be kinda goofy, weird and out of it would make sense in that regard since it could be like "Wizard 1.0, beta version". After extensive beta testing, arrival via meteor is shown to cause mental instability...

I'm fairly certain the arrival of Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast is cemented in the timeline as occurring in the Third Age. Whereas the Blue Wizards had their backstory changed by Tolkien (a poster pointed this out to me earlier in this thread, thanks!). I know the show writers have had to change stuff, but the appearance of Gandalf in the history seems like something they shouldn't need to mess with. That's what I'm hoping for anyway!

Definitely Not A Cop said:

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MaroonStain said:

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redline248 said:

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MaroonStain said:

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If Star Man is Gandalf then that is just lazy writing. Gandalf is not 8,000 years old in LOTR.

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Do we have a hard age for Gandalf? We know the general time of his arrival to Middle Earth, but since he's basically a Maiar, he could be thousands of years old.

I just don't know what the point is of sending him (or another wizard) to Middle Earth with amnesia or whatever he apparently has.

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I think it's Tom Bombadil.

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Is there a reason it couldn't be the bird poop wizard from The Hobbit movies? No reason I think it might be him other than when he put on that shawl it reminded me of that kookiness he portrayed.

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It shouldn't be Radagast, Gandalf, or Saruman. They all were sent to middle earth during the third age. It could be one of the blue wizards because we know nothing about them compared to the other 3.

Re the blue wizards:
-They are always(?) mentioned as the pair
-Going super deep into an obscure part of the canon vs going with one of, if not the, most well known characters seems unlikely.

Watched 3, enjoyed it, but it could be so incredibly much better given the strength of source material.

Elindil actor is kind of stealing the show, but im not sure i understand the arc from average ship captain to most famous human hero. Same with isildur. Not really seeing the 'glorious big epic long lived numenorean' theme. They all just seem very average. Maybe thats on purpose but wasnt one theme of lotr that aragorn was a superhero among modern men even as a faded remnant of a greater gene pool?

Finally, i tried to put it aside, but i just cant watch galadriel without being distracted by how flat out frumpy she is.

Last time on the subject, but it is just flat out distracting. I grew up with fan art more like this







Yet we have galadriel and elrond being played by actors suitable for hobbits.

i mean, no offense to the lady, but who thought 'the fairest elf of all time' should cast this woman for the role:










i mean, not a bad actress, just think its the wrong role.

Anyway, cool enough i'll keep watching.

redline248 said:

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Even with a billion dollars amazon wasn't going to cast someone like Charlize Theron or Emma Stone

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CT is too old and ES is too short/not the right build.

redline248 said:

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MaroonStain said:

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redline248 said:

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MaroonStain said:

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If Star Man is Gandalf then that is just lazy writing. Gandalf is not 8,000 years old in LOTR.

---

Do we have a hard age for Gandalf? We know the general time of his arrival to Middle Earth, but since he's basically a Maiar, he could be thousands of years old.

I just don't know what the point is of sending him (or another wizard) to Middle Earth with amnesia or whatever he apparently has.

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I think it's Tom Bombadil.

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Wouldn't he have been around Middle Earth since the 1st age? I don't really know his history, other than old af

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I really have no idea. Some places say TB is older than Middle Earth, other sites say Gandalf could be 2,019 years old or 24,000 years old. Who knows...

OnlyForNow said:

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redline248 said:

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Even with a billion dollars amazon wasn't going to cast someone like Charlize Theron or Emma Stone

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CT is too old and ES is too short/not the right build.

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You understand my point, though, and even sort of help make it.

I think Galadriel's actress is doing fine, it's just that the writers created her character as somewhat brash and hard-headed instead of ambitious and charismatic. Maybe her character arc in this show has her develop into the powerful elf leader who is revered.

With how they appear to be condensing the timeline, where does this season appear to end/how many seasons are they planning for?

Orome said:

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With how they appear to be condensing the timeline, where does this season appear to end/how many seasons are they planning for?

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Currently planned for 5 seasons

cbr said:

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Watched 3, enjoyed it, but it could be so incredibly much better given the strength of source material.

Elindil actor is kind of stealing the show, but im not sure i understand the arc from average ship captain to most famous human hero. Same with isildur. Not really seeing the 'glorious big epic long lived numenorean' theme. They all just seem very average. Maybe thats on purpose but wasnt one theme of lotr that aragorn was a superhero among modern men even as a faded remnant of a greater gene pool?

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They already dropped the "from a noble line" when the queen and advisor were discussing him. Then he himself speaks Elvish, and mentions that not all of Numenor shares the queen and her courts hatred of elves.
Then there is his mention of the previous King not being dead and I thought also mentioned that king didnt hate the elves either.

Their city alone is indication of these men being a step above the men of middle earth, which is how the show intended it to be portrayed I think.

I will say that a good amount of that episode felt like I was watching a Stargate: Atlantis episode, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Particularly anything involving the elves being enslaved by orcs story, and the interaction between Helbrand and the 4-5 Numenoreans.

I don't remember the exact quote, but I liked her line about man not having the conviction to call destiny what it truly is.

Agree.

I like their casting choice. and to those who may think that LOTR version of Galadriel is ambitious etc, what?

She was basically a recluse - definitely seems like after a few thousand years from this point, she could turn into the Galadriel we've experienced.

Best characters when it comes to portrayal of who or what they are Arondir and Elendil, and it's not even close. I still think the showrunners missed a huge chance to give us a whole race of men from the East that are either black, brown, asian, or something other than white. They could have actually cast more people of color, created a full other Middle-earth culture and even have options for future stories with said cultures.

I would have had no problem with having a character like Arondir as the offspring of an elf and woman from the far east of Middle Earth, in a remote Elven outpost. A character who has grown up separated from both worlds and has struggled to find his way through the last so many hundreds of years. He becomes a scout so that he can remain isolated and away from the normal Elves who may look down on him, or the people who hate and do not trust him.

That would have been a very cool character to follow in a "fan fiction", since this is basically what this is. Instead... nope. Just mash it all up and don't explain any of it.

tomtomdrumdrum said:

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give it a rest

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It's part of the show they give us. This is a thread to discuss the show. If you don't like it, tough titties.

As someone who has read the books and was a big fan of LOTR and thought the hobbit trilogy was just okay is this worth a watch. I don't know much of anything about the Tolkien lore stuff but enjoy the middle earth setting and characters.