First Impressions of the first 3 Episodes of Rings of Power Season 2

Here my First Impressions of Episodes 1 to 3 of The Rings of Power Season 2.

► Disclaimer:
I have permission of the artists to use their art works.

► Artwork and special thanks to:

► Sources:
The Lord of The Rings (1954-1955) by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion (1977)
The Hobbit (1937; 1951)
Unfinished Tales (1980)
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981)
The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996)
The War of The Jewels (1994)
The Book of Lost Tales Part Two (1984)
The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987)
The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986)
Morgoth's Ring (1993)
The Road Goes Ever On (1967) by J. R. R. Tolkien & Donald Swann
History of the Hobbit (2007)
The Nature of Middle-earth (2021)

Maps:
Amazon (John Howe)
Edited by: Murdo
Aman map by ThePhilosophersGames

► Mistakes:
-

► Playlists:
If you are interested in Tolkien's legendary fantasy Epic The Lord of the Rings and his related works, here some recommendations:

► Time Codes:
Intro - 0:00

► Social Media:
The Philosopher's Games / TPhGames / TPhLore aka Chris

► Of Games and Rings Podcast:

#RingsOfPower #LotR #LordOfTheRings

[mattcoles]

I've only watched the first half of episode 1, but I quite like the idea that Sauron doesn't automatically control the orcs. He's not their creator so he doesn't immediately inherit their allegiance from Morgoth.

The scene where Gil Galad was wagging his finger for about 8 minutes felt slightly odd. It's like he had plastic surgery on that finger, and was really proud of it.

Maybe it was just my crap TV, but some of the scenes were very dark - so I had to close all the curtains and stand 10cm from the screen.

Presently surprised!

[PriscilaTV]

I love Círdan. He feels very " wise and old elf" for me. I love for Sauron now. He is so slimy! Looking forward to the Live.

[ZephyrOptional]

Wife and I watched E1 and she kept asking: “how was that done in the books”, and my response 90% of the time: “nothing like that is in the books”. S2 is already better than 1 but that not a very high bar. Dwarves and Orcs look great! Kind of liked seeing that super disturbing orc family! Tolkien: Galadriel and the wise were not deceived by Sauron. ROP: yes, yes they were… and we’re going to tell you how it happened. There are great stories in the second age, changes are fine and expected, but there is no good reason flip the story and charters upside down… and what evil they’re doing with Gil-galad’s character!

[lyannastark]

Same here with Gil-Galad, he behaved normally for once, and Galadriel is less insane so that's a plus. Numenor storyline is odd as I expected, and it's a shame.

[petarpetrov]

In constrast to the first season, I actually really like these 3 epissodes. Yes they are not the book/Tolkien but they are pretty good if we don't compare them to the actual story of Middle-earth.

[Don]

I’ll likely watch the first episodes in a day or two but just wanted to say I look forward to watching your coverage of it. I’m not expecting much from this season but at least, hopefully, we’ll get some good visuals, music, acting performances and action.

[l_Raro]

I really hope the director for the first episode has more episodes in the season cus their work was good and it be a shame not to see more of it

[aeldin]

I feel like I'm programed to hate the show, but I actually enjoyed the first 3 episodes. I think the show is much improved from the last season. I don't know if it's something I'll watch more than once though, we"ll see I guess.

[Edmon_Oilers]

crazy orc family that’s tough love lol

[thomasb.anderson]

gotta get me more longbottom leaf for the next episodes

[benkupiszewski]

SPOILERS IN MY QUESTION AHEAD:

Could someone explain to me the conceit of Adar and Galadriel think they can "kill" Sauron? In the first scene, we see Sauron acting like a politician and basically giving the orcs and Adar a choice to join him, and they trick him and "kill" him, but as an Ainu that isn't trapped in his physical body yet, shouldn't they know better? And Sauron reconstituted his body by being a Marvel symbiote from his blood after his fea expelled itself from his maimed body while being stabbed by consuming biomass seems again hokey to me. So I guess my questions are:

1) Shouldn't the orcs, Adar, Galadriel and the high elves know better, that they can't "kill" Sauron because they know he's not of Middle Earth or Arda really?
2) Do the orcs and Adar have enough free will agency to willingly revolt seems against canon because I interpret them as them being naturally be drawn to the most evil being around, which Sauron, is because he's the most powerful mafioso, so to speak. He's an ainu. I can see the Balrogs being resistant and independent of his will because they're all maiar but not orcs.
3) And if there in principle can be rogue orcs, why wouldn't Sauron breed some new ones who were loyal to him. They are the epitome of fodder.

It seems obvious to me that Sauron could not be overrun by an orc mob and would destroy them by his sheer superior constitution, or he would dominate their wills by sheer force of his vast dark personality and aura and maiar powers, or he would just breed a new army and destroy Adar and his horde militarily. This whole idea that he has long-term political enemies in Mordor he has to deal with seems stupid.

[develhuntr]

I really REALLY enjoyed the first 3 episodes

[keyboarddancers]

Does anybody know what TRoP is based on?

[robertherring]

If you like yelling "why TF would you do that" at your TV every 5 minutes for 3 hours, its right up your alley. At this point I watch it just to be able to follow along with everyone bagging on it. Lets face it, its too slow and is so far off from the lore its like bad (and ignorant) fan fiction. That was as nice as I can be.

[mygetawayart]

I'm fairly certain that season 3 will be the big Numenor season.

[Enerdhil]

Sneaky, selfish Galadriel is an improvement?😂🤣😆 OK.

[JSEITSONEN]

I do love how Gil-Galad plays a bigger role at least in these early episodes and his foreseeing "hindsight" is somehow preserved so far. Sauron´s prologue is also surprisingly well crafted and gives his story some added value and importance. We shall see later how this fairytale of Amazon lives up to, that all hope is not lost yet in ROP.

[primal]

The first three episodes of season 2 are way better than then all the other episodes of season 1 combined

[ChtistianeFiorito-qchh]

Fan fiction again. I do not feel it. It is pretty but it's not Tolkien.

[ocirontariocryptidinvestig]

the first season was unwatchable mostly due to the writing being horrible. I just ended up watching house of the dragon and that was amazing in comparison. until they fire all the season 1 writers I can't watch this trash.