I couldn't keep a straight face hearing about the mithril plot. What did they say was happening to the Elves? Their light is being extinguished, their souls melting into nothingness, and they know that because a tree went black? Sorry,
what? I can see this as part of some mystical fantasy, but in the context of Middle-earth, the whole sounds ridiculous and contrived. (Captain Obvious prediction: this will be the back story for why they need the 3 Elven Rings etc. - but why can't it just be a more metaphorical fading? Not CGI enough?)
On a similar note, I suppose the creation myth behind mithril is just plausible enough (it's a good thing, but a bad thing, you gotta be careful with it etc) - but the myth sounded kinda slapstick. I think the Silmaril makes sense - a metal containing the light of the Silmaril is totally a plausible description - but everything else about it felt like a very half-hearted effort at mythos building. Also, if you are told to recite a
Song, you recite the
song, not a
prose retelling. Was it that hard to come up with one stanza to start it off before Elrond trailed off into the prose summary? It would have been a nice touch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pitchwife
But I liked the nod to "not all who wander are lost" in Nori's song - like Bilbo used an old Hobbit adage in his poem. And Nori's description of that Grove they're heading for sounds veeery much like Entwives!
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Yes, I enjoyed that line too! Just as I stopped quite paying attention to the song, my ears perked up again. And it's totally plausible that Bilbo did not totally make up that line himself but dug it out of some ancient history book, or, like you say, used some antiquated Hobbit adage!
But
where are they heading? I was trying to follow the maps. They passed the Grey Marshes (which I suppose are the Dead Marshes minus the dead - I thought the marshes came after the dead did, but that might just have been a Gollum story, and they did seem to get worse if before you could bring a whole caravan across), then they went more southeast (?) which I thought would mean Ithilien, but then they would clash with the Southlands geography and they were clearly headed Not There. East then? Into Rhovanion depths?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oddwen
That is the WORST broom I have ever seen. The shame of Numenor.
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I know, right?
On the bright side, Numenor has an anthem, and that made me kinda happy! The lyrics were not half bad either. So far I think the songs are the best part about this episode.
Very few things in the Numenor plotlines have been making sense to me, and I feel like I've just gone back to ignoring them except for the most superficial read and value. Sorry, but I can't take that Galadriel seriously, or Halbrand, and whatever they are weaving with the Numenorian politicians is still kept half in shadow. What I really don't get is what are Elendildaughter (Earien or something?) and Parazonson (Kenem? Kemen?) so upset about; they seem to
really not want the ships to sail... but why? Elendil is plausible enough, and I feel that I could enjoy his storyline. Isildur's is decent too, though not particularly canonical in terms of character, and so long as they don't call him "Isil" I am happy to wait and see where they take him.
Southlands plots are making more sense. At least you don't have Theo
waiting until it gets dark to escape creatures whose main bane is the sun. Theo is actually looking like a more decent sort of lad in this episode, not just a teenage Nazgul.
By the way, can someone remind me why the reverse-morgul blade is that? As in, why is it reverse? Because it takes something from the wielder (rather than leaving a piece of itself)?