[Galadriel55]

Rather than post my own stream of consciousness, I will go off Form's. Mainly to jog my memory, because I watched this yesterday.

Originally Posted by Formendacil

Megalithic carving in Númenor! I mean, of course there is! Argonath weren't a new idea.

Yeah, I think we saw these in the promos already, and back then I also thought "Argonath".

Originally Posted by Form

Why does no one kneel in Númenor? Is this a call-something to Aragorn kneeling to the Hobbits?

I took that to be more as a reference to Numenor's individualistic and somewhat prideful tendencies - a variation of the theme of "we should kneel to no one, not even the gods" perhaps, changed to "no one should kneel ever, we are FREE MEN here". Though Numenor most definitely made a lot of countries around it kneel in the metaphorical sense at least, so maybe I'm just making excuses for it.

Originally Posted by Form

Does Halbarad have some history with the Captain? That was a weird hug.

Ditto.

Originally Posted by Form

Isildur has a sister? Okay, that's plausible. Anárionya? What's the feminine for Anárion?

I am just glad her name turned out not to be Carine, as stipulated in one of the leaks. Even with an umlaut over the E, I hated that name. What was she actually called? Earien?

Originally Posted by Form

Why "queen-regent"? This is weirdly topical--it's the reverse of "Queen-Consort Camilla." Can 21st century people not tell by context which is meant when someone is called "Queen." But why "REGENT?" Why not "regnant"? Regent suggests it's on someone's behalf--which is the exact backwards fact of Mîriel's story.

Yes. And I feel like the "Queen Regent" is another thing I've heard somewhere, probably also the leaks/gossip, and it still puzzled me when I heard it. My reaction was "Regent... for who?", and it took the rest of the episode and lack of any actual claimant to the throne appearing for me to realize they probably misnamed her. Though perhaps we are gonna find out that she actually is a regent. Or - hang on, did Elendil not say that the king who saved Elros's library was still alive but forced to abdicate? Is Miriel the regent for him? So he didn't truly abdicate, but was sort of forced to relinquish all practical power?

Originally Posted by Form

"There's common sense and nonsense" is a great phrase!

I think the Harfeet expressions are one of my favourite things about the show so far.

Originally Posted by Form

Are all these names just taken from the Automated Hobbit Name Generator? Give me a Deágol!

Lol, that would be nice. Most of them sound decent. Why does Nori have to be named Nori? Can we pretend that she is Norry, short for anything other than Elanor - even if it's just Elinor? Or Nora, like you say?

Originally Posted by Form

Wait, is Anárion older or younger than Isildur here? Surely the HoME could sue if he's older.

I was confused about this too. It almost sounded like Isildur is the younger brother.

On the subject of Isildur, does it bother no one else that he is nicknamed "Isil"? It just doesn't sound like something you'd do with Elvish names. Hobbit names - yes. Elvish - no.

Originally Posted by Form

How hard is it to make a Warg that looks like a Wolf? That is a Hyena.

Yup. Definitely hyena. On cocaine. And badly CGI'd. But -

Originally Posted by Oddwen

The warg looked like what a chihuahua thinks they look like.

This is also a very apt description.

Originally Posted by Lalwende

But there was a genuinely sinister side - the idea that Harfoots who get left behind when they 'migrate' are really left behind. Very Darwinian. And realising that Poppy was all alone. I get the feeling that this is going to be part of their story.

Yes, agreed. I am still liking the Harfoot development, including the sinister side. And the "back of the caravan" crew - Poppy and Norry's family and *cough*Olorin*cough* are definitely going to be Up To Something.

The other thing I liked here, which I don't think was mentioned, was Galadriel's realization that Sauron's sign is a map. I think the theme was developed sufficiently to make it a nice "big reveal", and it does make some logical sense - communicating to illiterate minions about the place of assembly. What doesn't make sense is why Sauron was using the symbol as far back as Finrod's death. What, has Mordor always been his back-up plan that far back? Imagine the Orcs chanting Harfeet style - "and if someone falls off the path or gets left behind, just find the mountains that look like our sigil"? Or was the implication more that this actually was Sauron's sigil, and he made Mordor look like that on purpose, claiming it as his own even back in the day?

The things I disliked about the episode? Honestly, too numerous to muster the energy for a proper rant at this point. And I don't think I care sufficiently for it. I'm in a good mood and would rather talk about the pleasanter things.

I also realized that for the past, like, ever I've been calling Harfoots Harfeet and not even realizing.