You don't need to like or subscribe, I'm not doing these videos for the clicks but to express myself and my feelings about the series. Take note those people whose only constructive critique is "you're just doing these videos about this fantastic show for the clicks". It's why I never ask people to "like and subscribe, join our patreon and buy my merch!" because I am not making them for that. If you're curious about the other videos in the series: Part 1. Numenor: th-cam.com/video/Wx2JI6PrXGo/w-d-xo.html Part 2. Galadriel: th-cam.com/video/tPCnm_d6oG4/w-d-xo.html
Very honorable of you mate, unfortunately, your cunning plan has not worked, and I have liked and subbed to your channel ;) But seriously, really good discussion there of the lore relevant to this character. I read LOTR and the Hobbit more than once before I even finished high school, but never got to the Silmarillion, so I do appreciate videos like this.
I genuinely subscribed because I really enjoyed the last 2 videos in this series especially when you compared the differences between the harbour of númenor in the show and the book, even showing an actual depiction of some harbour in ancient Greece. Quality stuff mate 👌
But how can I resist such a well explained video? Alas, I'm weak and my hand clicked on the like button. Too late, mate, you'll have to bear with us ;)
Gil-Galad being the one to be "deceived" by Sauron and portrayed as the person who motivates Celebrimbor to begin smithing the rings of power is an absolute joke.
Maybe it's not such a big deal. The rings were made over the course of an afternoon and were inset with cheap plastic "jewels". These 3 rings are probably just a birthday gift for celebrimbro's 12 year old niece or something.
Exactly... King of the Effin Noldor! The elves should have been glowing or radiating power, as immortal and magical beings.. Celebrimbor from rings looks like someone who is about to change my oil at the local jiffy lube...
Gil-galad was an elven-king. Of him the harpers sadly sing; the last whose realm was fair and free between the Mountains and the Sea. His sword was long, his lance was keen. His shining helm afar was seen; the countless stars of heaven's field were mirrored in his silver shield. But long ago he rode away, and where he dwelleth none can say; for into darkness fell his star in Mordor where the shadows are. - the Fall of Gil-galad
I love when people throw these quotes in here. Just showcases Tolkien's talent and the beauty of his work, got chills reading this. Meanwhile Amazon: "Rocks sink because they look down and boats float because they look up"
Gil-galad being great warrior but also the most successful and most powerful of the elven kings, the longest reigning High King, good ruler who managed to increase the power of the elven realm! But also someone with moral integrity and goodness! Someone with great diplomatic sense, that's how they should have portrayed him, heroic larger than life figure that still can be humanized but also shown as ideal to strive towards.
@@brianp6859 this line was really really bad, it's incredibly awkward, and it basically is convoluted metaphor that is pointless, and obviously it downplays any sense of wisdom of the elves! But it's more a disrespect for the great character of Finrod Felagund, sister of Galadriel, king of Nargothrond, philosopher and warrior!
Gil-galad was always steadfast and vigilant to confront the shadow. There is a reason why he could see through Annatar's deception along with Cirdan and Galadriel. This show made him a passive and manipulative king.
@@shok24199 True like every other scheming and lying politician. The fact he's manipulating Elrond as his herald is disgusting. Elrond was always loyal to his king and Gil-galad trusted Elrond to hold onto Vilya.
Gil-galad is supposed to be the epitome of wise nobility. He’s fills the vacuum left by Thingol’s death, as the veritable High king of Elvendom in Middle-earth in the 2nd Age. Even the grey elves, sea elves & wood elves (many of which DO NOT love the Noldor) pay him homage. I wish they gave this character proper gravity in the show
Your video essays are explaining the contrasts between the original material of Tolkien and the new series very well. I was shocked when I started watching the series. What Amazon did with the lore of the Second Age is so sad and without love or care for the original material or even for good storytelling. For someone who still loves the work of Tolkien it is hard to bear - I fear I am still a very orthodox Tolkien fan! Thank you for expressing your thoughts.
"Auta i lóme!" and "Aurë entuluva!" On September 3rd, the Tolkien phandom awoke and found half of the Tolkien-verse under the dominion of the corporate machine theyocracy. Thus we bring "council in these dark times,": EXSURGE TOLKIEN, our current channel's counter series. It is now beyond a doubt that The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power" is independent of Tolkien and his world's Orthodoxy. ROP a schism that will leave a forever rift between the phandom and wrought confusion for years to come.
@@adtastic1533 Join us for our Exsurge Tolkien counter ROP heresy series on our channel, it will make you feel better during these dark times. Peace be too you.
An “orthodox Tolkien fan” …. Now that’s a tagline/descriptor with which I can agree! I also find that of the 10 Tolkien characters depicted in the show (out of a cast of 22-23), all are NOT aligned with their book counterpart. I do not understand why the show resisted depicting the characters as they’re written.
I’m so glad that Amazon doesn’t have the rights to The Silmarillion- it would break my heart even further if they got their hooks into Túrin Turambar (or any other part of the lore). He’s long been my favorite character from that era, and I know that the showrunners/ writers don’t have the talent to be able to accurately portray him or his tragic tale. Combining that level of complexity and sensitivity while still retaining his absolute badassery would be a feat that I know they couldn’t handle. On a very related note, I can no longer hear the term “showrunner” without it having a negative connotation. It’s become a byword for people who have no respect for the lore, it’s author, or it’s fans, and think that they can do it better than the original. Thanks for the video!
In Amazon's Silmarillion, the tale of Beren and Lúthien begins with Beren being killed by Morgoth and follows Lúthien on her quest for revenge, in which she defeats both Sauron and Morgoth with her martial prowess, as Huan the cowardly puppy watches in disbelief.
I wish that one day, hopefully within my lifetime, someone makes a faithful, high-quality adaptation of the Fall of Gondolin. Imagine how epic the fight between Ecthelion and Gothmog could be and my boy Glorfindel is there too.
They have the rights for everything else, but still they decided to make a (fake) second age story. I think in the bottom of their hearts they knew they couldn't make a better job than Jackson, so they immediately rejected the idea of making their own lord of the rings and hobbit versions. Talentless, without confidence, driven by greed and personal agendas. Bad way to start a new project. It was DOA.
@@Duke_of_Lorraine It kills me that in their attempt to make an already excellent character more in line with *The Message*, they just made her dumber and more emotional. And we’re the sexists?
@@alejandrobernal9200 apparently the only way a character can show strength is by killing many enemies on the battlefield. Wisdom and gravitas matter not. Surprising I know.
I couldn't believe what they did to Gil-Galad. How does Amazon get all these characters with familiar names and twist them into something unrecognisable? Actually they did that to the entire canon.
Because it’s being written by untalented writers who care more about agendas and appealing to certain demographics rather than caring about telling good stories with well written characters
@@ItsSVO Their reasoning: "I do not understand this story, and I am a good person with right beliefs, so this story is wrong." Some people perceive everything backwards.
Bilbo's mithril shirt is of dwarf-make, not from Gondolin (that would be his sword, Sting). Eregion was founded in the Second Age because of the discovery of mithril by the Dwarves: "Later some of the Noldor went to Eregion, upon the west of the Misty Mountains, and near to the West-gate of Moria. This they did because they learned that mithril had been discovered in Moria." "750 Eregion founded by the Noldor." LotR, App. B
I think this series missed an opportunity to explore the Blue Wizards in the East where little to nothing is known. Instead of reinventing the material and characters we already know and love, they could have explored something new. What are your thoughts on this?
They could have showed us the other cultures of Midle Earth that were never seen, and at the same time they could have had their series with absolutely no white person being cast. Instead they did this.
I am of the opinion that if they did actually, genuinely, care about diversity, they'd create stories about the East. It's the perfect area to create stories without treading on lore, has ties to the Numenorian plot with a bonus inbuilt anti-colonial-exploitation message, and has the canonical POC of Middle Earth.
I read the 5 basic books, plus the Book of Lost Tales, Unfinished Tales and The Lays of Beleriand 30 years ago. The Ring of Powers lore changing is giving me a brain aneurism. Great video, keep the good work.
The saddest part of this is that Gil-Galad sacrificed his life along with Elendil to take down Sauron during the Siege of Barad-dur. This show is an insult to their sacrifice.
What a coincidence! I just found your other two videos about the Rings of Power, and not even an hour later, you upload a new one. I have to say you have a fantastic way of expressing your opinion from an earnest and forthright perspective of Tolkien's lore. It really is refreshing to be reminded again of the depths of all of the different characters and history that Tolkien wrote. Definitely a palate cleanser after begrudgingly watching this show because I am addicted to dissecting the mechanics of storytelling and watching train wrecks. lol I will say, in a sort of devil's advocate way, that they didn't have rights to The Silmarillion, The Unfinished Tales, or practically any of the characters or events needed to tell the story of the Second Age. It is no excuse because the retconning and restructuring is quite deliberately and clumsily done. Honestly, I feel that they could have hired much better writers and showrunners with more knowledge and respect of Tolkien's lore and still pulled off an amazing story with what little of the Second Age they had rights to. So even in the lenience of copyright issues, this was a failure.
As others and myself have put it, if they genuinely cared, both about the story and representation, they could have easily set the story in the East of Middle Earth. There you have just enough canon to work from but also extreme freedom to make stuff up without treading on anyones' toes. You'd get to work with the canonical POC people in Middle Earth in a way that seems a lot less of a half-arsed attempt at diversity and representation than the current method. Also, as a bonus the stories of Harad would create a great tie-in story and cultural foil for Numenor, which would add a lot more complexity and context to the sins of the nation of Numenor and the hatred of the Harad and Easterlings and Gondor. It would have been the easiest and most effective approach with good writers, but noooooo, they decided to be lazy and deliberately drive up unnecessary drama.
And the thing is, while the sets and (some) costumes are pretty, they're also incredibly bland. Virtually nothing about this series looks or feels like Tolkien.
And we get like 10 seconds of them each episode... All the other scenes feel small, few extras, 10 houses in the village, small rooms in Numenor, Moria is like the private chambers of Durin and on and on... They wasted all the money.
I personally prefer Gil-galad as the son of Fingon for numerous reasons, but this is an excellent video defending his character all the same. Thank you for speaking out!
I actually think GG being the son of Fingon makes more sense as he becomes the High King, because if he was the son of Orodreth he wouldn't have been the rightful heir of the crown, Elrond would. To think RoP made the last great king of the Elves a deceitful and lying politician is heartbreaking.
I quite agree! I have many reasons for believing GG as Fingon's son is more cohesive to Elven history as a whole and to his individual character - and you've hit one of them here 😊
What if TROP does exactly what is supposed to do, purposely muddying the pool and distract from the deeper message of Tolkien, what if this entire Billion dollar series is just one big psy-op
Macca, id love to see you flesh this series out, hearing someone knowledgable about Tolkien get to gush is always a joy. Its very refreshing compared to all the Rings of Prime shills spouting bullet points found on wiki trying to justify such a terrible show.
I wonder….. Did the show even attempt to ask the Tolkien estate for the rights to the FEW pages of The Silmarillion & Unfinished Tales needed to tell a correct 2nd age story? One only needs a few pages, not the entire book.
@@wd2989 True, but then they didn't need the extra source material in order to be true to what they had. The fundamental changes to the character of Galadriel, and the utter botching of Tolkien's time line were not forced upon them - they did that themselves.
While Maglor in the pre-LotR writings survived (this was adopted into the published Silmarillion), in later writings Maglor perishes by casting himself into the sea: "The last two sons of Feanor, compelled by their oath, steal them, and are destroyed by them, casting themselves into the sea, and the pits of the earth." Letter 131 "The other two Silmarils were also taken by the Valar from the crown of Morgoth. But the last surviving sons of Feänor (Maedros and Maglor), in a despairing attempt to carry out the Oath, stole them again. But they were tormented by them, and at last they perished each with a jewel: one in a fiery cleft in the earth, and one in the sea." Concerning... The Hoard Maglor's death is also implied: "The sons of Eärendil were Elros and Elrond, the Peredhil or Half-elven. In them alone the line of the heroic chieftains of the Edain in the First Age was preserved; and after the fall of Gil-galad the lineage of the High-elven Kings was also in Middle-earth only represented by their descendants." LotR "Galad occurs also in the epessë of Ereinion (‘scion of kings') by which he was chiefly remembered in legend, Gil-galad ‘star of radiance’: he was the last king of the Eldar in Middle-earth, and the last male descendant of Finwë except Elrond the Half-elven." Shibboleth of Feanor
Oh huh there you go! I didn't realise there were lore conflicts about his fate, that makes sense! In my comments on the last video I was working from the Silm account, so my bad. Suffice it to say, by all accounts he's out of the picture by the Second Age, it's doubtful the Halls of Mandos would release him anytime soon!
I remember when the Hobbit films were released and tons of people argued that the arkenstone was a silmaril because of the bit where it says that one of the sons of Feanor cast himself into a chasm.
If the concept of "I'm not mad, just disappointed" was a youtuber. These videos have made me go from "Hold on this doesn't seem right" to "What the hell do they think they're doing?!"
It is interesting how the PJ films portrayal of Gil-galad even though he was barely in one scene in the prologue :) was somehow more accurate than the one in the show entirely focused on the time of reign of Gil-galad, that is the blue colors and the emblem of white stars, which reminds one of the writing detail that was outside their licensing, the letter of Gil-galad in Unfinished Tales! :) "When Aldarion left the chamber, Meneldur looked at the letter that his son had given him, wondering; for he saw that it came from King Gil-galad in Lindon. It was sealed and bore his device of white stars upon a blue rondure. Upon the outer fold was written: Given at Mithlond to the hand of the Lord Aldarion King's Heir of Númenórë, to be delivered to the High King at Armenelos in person. Then Meneldur broke the seal and read: Ereinion Gil-galad son of Fingon to Tar-Meneldur of the line of Eärendil, greeting: the Valar keep you and may no shadow fall upon the Isle of Kings. Long I have owed you thanks, for you have so many times sent to me your son Anardil Aldarion: the greatest Elf-friend that now is among Men, as I deem. At this time I ask your pardon, if I have detained him overlong in my service; for I had great need of the knowledge of Men and their tongues which he alone possesses. He has dared many perils to bring me counsel. Of my need he will speak to you; yet he does not guess how great it is, being young and full of hope. Therefore I write this for the eyes of the King of Númenórë only. A new shadow arises in the East. It is no tyranny of evil Men, as your son believes; but a servant of Morgoth is stirring, and evil things wake again. Each year it gains in strength, for most Men are ripe to its purpose. Not far off is the day, I judge, when it will become too great for the Eldar unaided to withstand. Therefore, whenever I behold a tall ship of the Kings of Men, my heart is eased. And now I make bold to seek your help. If you have any strength of Men to spare, lend it to me, I beg. Your son will report to you, if you will, all our reasons. But in fine it is his counsel (and that is ever wise) that when assault comes, as it surely will, we should seek to hold the Westlands, where still the Eldar dwell, and Men of your race, whose hearts are not yet darkened. At the least we must defend Eriador about the long rivers west of the mountains that we name Hithaeglir: our chief defence. But in that mountain-wall there is a great gap southward in the land of Calenardhon; and by that way inroad from the East must come. Already enmity creeps along the coast towards it. It could be defended and assault hindered, did we hold some seat of power upon the nearer shore. So the Lord Aldarion long has seen. At Vinyalondë by the mouth of Gwathló he has long laboured to establish such haven, secure against sea and land; but his mighty works have been in vain. He has great knowledge in such matters, for he has learned much of Círdan, and he understands better than any the needs of your great ships. But he has never had men enough; whereas Círdan has no wrights or masons to spare. The King will know his own needs; but if he will listen with favour to the Lord Aldarion, and support him as he may, then hope will be greater in the world. The memories of the First Age are dim, and all things in Middle-earth grow colder. Let not the ancient friendship of Eldar and Dúnedain wane also. Behold! The darkness that is to come is filled with hatred for us, but it hates you no less. The Great Sea will not be too wide for its wings, if it is suffered to come to full growth. Manwë keep you under the One, and send fair wind to your sails. Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 2, Aldarion and Erendis Obviously not all details could have been portrayed that way like this: "It is recorded that Ereinion was given the name Gil-galad 'Star of Radiance' 'because his helm and mail, and his shield overlaid with silver and set with a device of white stars, shone from afar like a star in sunlight or moonlight, and could be seen by Elvish eyes at a great distance if he stood upon a height'." Unfinished Tales, Part Two: The Second Age, II Aldarion and Erendis, Note 24 The fact that movies of PJ somehow managed to use the aesthetic scheme, the blue and white stars :) it's amazing really, in the show instead we get golden ceasar, emperor of Rome hehe with golden laurel leaves ahaha :) and yet I don't think we even see any emblem or heraldry that is compliant with the lore (even the song of Gil-galad fall mentions the silver shield and stars on it :)) The blue rondure makes the use of blue colors for surcoat also plausible in the lotr films :) in a way continuing the blue color scheme of the predecessors Fingon, Fingolfin (blue shield, banners) etc. Very curious thing isn't it? :)
I reference the letter in its entirety in the video because it's one of the few written direct insights into the exact type of character he is. Yeah, his crown in the PJ films is much more befitting for an elven king than the 'not Rome' aesthetic.
@@TheOuterCircle it's also interesting to note that friendship with Aldarion also tells us something of Gil-galad as a person, Aldarion received many gifts from him, lots of support praise, it shows how the king is generous and this one moment when Aldarion gives Ulbar's wife the gem he received: "When Ulbar's wife came forward Aldarion took her hand. "Will you receive this of me?" he said. "It is but little return for six years of good man's aid that you gave me." Then from a wallet under his tunic he took a jewel red like fire, upon a band of gold, and he pressed it into her hand. "From the King of the Elves it came," he said. "But he will think it well-bestowed, when I tell him." Then Aldarion bade farewell to the people there, and rode away, having no mind now to stay in that house."
The Gil-Galad in lore went toe to toe with Sauron in his prime, with Elendil fought beside him on Mount Doom after a 7-year long war, the Gil-Galad in RoP show wouldn't even last 7 minutes in that battle.
Aside from Bilbo’s mithril chain mail being from Moria (a minor detail) you are spot on. Honestly at this point it’s better to ask what are they doing not to a single character but rather what are they doing with Tolkien’s work???
I couldn't believe that character in the show was supposed to be Gil-Galad. I have to wonder how the copyright laws work. Could they not have any of the lore or timelines even resemble what was laid out in the Silmarillion and other materials they didn't have rights to? It seems like they could at least have done a worldbuilding iceberg approach and set up a world shaped by those timelines, all while not referencing any of the names outside of what rights they purchased. Oh well, it's obvious that it was NOT a labor of love like the Jackson series, but rather a bland corporate product.
Do these hacks understand anything Tolkien wrote? I doubt they ever even red his books. Merely watched the vastly superiour trilogy before and then went after rumors of what Lord of The Rings actually is about amongst their... Politizised social circle on Twitter.
Magical barrier in front of Valinor actually did exist... in the First Age. Earendil the Mariner was respected because he managed, by using Silmaril, to pass the barrier and ask Valar for help against Morgoth.
Yes, and again after the fall of Numenor and the reshaping of the world. But not in the middle of the second age, where the Undying Lands could be viewed from Numenor on a clear day.
I shudder to think what this series is going to do with Cirdan and Glorfindel should they even be introduced. They'll probably have perms like Elrond and Celiberace-brimbor!
I love the PJ movie armour and spear, his shield is a thing of beauty, and his crown is so much nicer in the PJ films than his Roman wreath in this series.
(Sir, your service is greatly appreciated! You and others spreading the fact-gospel about this lore is a god-send in the wake of this WOKE-BULLSHIT or these ANTI-POP-CULTURE-ACTIVIST. As someone who has never read the books, an entrant through Peter: Jackson's trilogy, I say thank-you.)
That was a wonderful breakdown. Consider me subscribed! One small nitpick I will point out, at least by my understanding… Sauron was actually unrepentant in the first age. He hid from the Valar after Morgoth was captured, and tarried in Middle Earth. Correct me if I’m wrong on that one, it’s been a couple years since I’ve been through the Silmarillion.
@@TheOuterCircle I believe one who is unwilling to face the consequence of their actions is still unrepentant, but that is splitting hairs at this point. Your content, insight and perspective on the world of Tolkien is an absolute breath of fresh air. I watched every one of your other videos after this one. If you made a lore series on the Legendarium, I’d tune in. Again, wonderful work my friend. Cheers!
Really like your videos on Rings of Power as a longstanding LOTR fan (and also collector of the GW miniatures). I have a little force of Noldor High Elves actually that I adore One thing occurred to me after hearing about the Mithril plot and the elves dying is how it makes them similar to the Warhammer 40k Dark Eldar (Drukhari). The whole living forever but having to stave off death somehow thing. I feel like introducing this plotline to the LOTR high elves is totally wrong to how they are supposed to be. Clinging on to their immortal lives and everything. Does anyone feel the same?
Elrond is coming, great grandson of High King Turgon, Son of Earandil the Mariner. Also known as "just some guy". Kinda like how Tar Miriel asks who Elendil the Tall is, you know damn well who he is.
Might? Dislike we have barely seen Gil-galad they clearly does not not what to do whit him. And I can’t really get over a NOLDOR king telling someone to break his oath.and this elf is a descendant of Feanor
I have a theory about who Sauron is and I think it goes along well with the way the show is going . . . Through experimentation with Mithril for elf supplements and perhaps with the help of awakening a Balrog (which will be much more like awakening a scientist (picture Marvel style Doctor Hulk or whatever he turned into when he was no longer cool, Elrond (Sauron), discovers the ability to make a clone. Elrond (Sauron), clones himself, and instead of the clone becoming bad, the clone chooses to oppose Sauron's rule (which explains why he went with Isildur to destroy it, why he stayed on Middle Earth until it was finally destroyed, and why eventually he will turn evil and jump out of the boat heading to the undying lands with Bilbo, Gandalf, and Frodo (who might also jump out of the boat, but that's TBD). He'll then swim back to Middle Earth by himself or with everyone else in the boat who jumped out, re-discover the scientist Balrog and forge similar but weaker rings and attempt to rule Middle Earth, thus setting us up for a new streaming show after the 3rd movie.
As much as I can understand (and feel the same btw) that people are upset that the series doesn't fit to "the lore" of Middle-Earth as presented in various books I do have to think of the fact that 1. Amazon does not hold the right to use those books hence has no access to the content that might present the characters and history in more detail and 2. that Tolkien himself left quite a mess behind with rewrites, reinventions and all kinds of horrible and nasty changes. I still follow mostly the Silmarillion's stories in which Gil-Galad is the son of Fingon. Thus he should be one of the few blond Noldor that are around. It pissed me of quite a bit in the depiction of him in PJ movies and this series. But than again - Tolkien changed his whole background so who knows what is right and what is wrong. The point is don't look for mistakes due to published material outside of the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit and the Appendices. While modern Tolkien scholarship might have moved on that is the material the series was allowed to us (they still screwed up enough I admit).
It's terribly disappointing - but not at all surprising - to see how TRoP has diminished his character. The show is an abysmal failure and I honestly hope they fire the entire staff and start over - but they won't. They'll just pump more money into shill sites and reviewers and continue to suppress negative reviews on their site. What a detestable company Amazon is.
My thoughts are utter disgust at how Amazon are trying to corrupt a masterpiece like Tolkien's world. I for one will never forgive such hubris at Amazon thinking they could do Tolkien's world better than Tolkien himself. Such bloody hubris.
I do think thousand year life spans in a non peaceful world would very much increase the risk of dying horribly at some point. So any elven King or leader would have bad odds to contend with.
Your basic premise is wrong. In that you think the show runners are making a TV show for entertainment purposes. No, they are making a propaganda piece to push certain "social viewpoints". Gil-Galad isn't badly written because the writers misunderstands Tolkien. Gil-Galad is specifically written this way because he represents a certain type of character that the writes wish to vilify for "reasons". All characters of this "type" in the TV show are written in the same manner to push a certain viewpoint upon the audience. It has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with the ideologies of those writers and show runners. Just be happy that the show is so terribly done and written by people without a drop of talent that they cannot do harm to Tolkien's legacy as they are transparent as glass in what their efforts to "make Tolkien reflect the modern world" really means.
Also make a video titled, Rings of Power doesn't understand Tolkien's ELVES because they have destroyed this race, everything about them is just wrong in the series.
I’m halfway through episode 5 and I just had to google Gil-galad after thinking he seemed a bit shady for a high elf king. His portrayal lacks any kind of Grace or otherworldly energy
It was over in his very first appearance, where they portrayed him as an average politician, who needs Elrond to write his speeches for him. Absolute joke
He not a bad actor. I had hope for him. He looks similar to Mark Ferguson. Who played gil-galad in pj's. I blame the writers and the direction they gave him. From interviews he seemed to understand the character
This show was poorly conceived from the beginning because they have to pander to normies to make more money. That means cramming as much memberberries from LOTR as possible into one show. Given that they're all but guaranteed 5 seasons, they could have gone for a slow burn and took the time to tell some of the great stories of the second age, instead of cramming 3500 years of history into about a week and a half.
@@toodlescae how the hell did they imagine they could represent characters like Galadriel or Elrond without any rights to their most important source material...
@@robertblume2951 i know they had a wholly different agenda with the show. I'm just questioning who in their right mind would even believe that the show is taking place in the second age of midddle earth? Literally nothing matches with what is written except names and even those names don't match their characters 😁
@@OljeiKhan They don't. The people that like it are doing a Viserys and willfully blinding themselves to the truth so they can have pretty dumb action.
I am not aware of the full picture, but as far as I know they do not have full rights for the content of Tolkien’s writing. So, may be they cannot portray things the way you want them to be, which is closer to the original, because they have no rights to make it like the original? Just theorizing here
Do you seriously think that ROP "Galadriel" isn't going to survive the pyroclastic flow from Mount Doom? Remember, this show is the epitome of weirdness...
@@mikem9001 You know, you can die from the heat just from getting close to lava in real life. I hate the Hollywood trope where it’s treated as just water that burns you. Also, on the topic, they recently found a man in Pompeii whose brain was turned to glass by the pyroclastic flow from Vesuvius.
They basically bought the name rights of characters found in the lotr books (not silmarilion) and made a show thematically similar to lotr. Thats it. Try to enjoy it, since obviously it has nothing to do with the lotr universe. Just like Shadow of mordor/war games.
@@imperialinquisition6006 I like mordor but war is a mid game ngl. Also you can play the story mode for 30-40 hours, the tv series is only 8 hours long and it tries to squeeze an ENTIRE AGE, obviously things are going to be different. I don't blame the writers for it. Plus they dont have the rights for silmarillion which has most of the stories and characters arcs in the second age. I have my gripes about some characters but the show so far has been great imo.
they can give those tolkien characters justice if they want to but they choose not to, there are no rights problem in this aspect, its just a writing one, and btw this is the most expensive tv show ever made and its about the tolkien's second age, it should be exceptional, you can buy the best talent out there with that money, "try to enjoy it" shouldn't be a option, were not talking about some propriety that non one cares for, this is tolkien, you have no excuses to make a epic fail like this.
Your mistake is thinking the show writers care about the lore in the first place. I guarantee you, they don't. It's just another group of outside writers who want to hijack the property and turn it into something of their own. I'm not even a big Tolkien fan but I've seen this happen to many properties that I've enjoyed in the past. I loved Jackson's Rings movies but that is the extent of my knowledge, I won't hide it. I've also heard to some degree about the expaned material Tolkien created. But unlike the writers of the show I don't have an inflated ego to disrespect franchises. When I create something it's considerate to the source material. Of course there will be times where I want to expand on it but I'm still considerate to the intentions. I think that's a giant problem in Hollywood writing. The problem with fan fiction writers is quite often what they write about comes from a narcissistic place. They want to change or continue a story for their benefit, not the story's. It may be a working formula for transformative media like fan fiction but not for official properties because the expectations of the audience is different.
This video came up, and decided to listen to it, at the beginning you said your heritage of being Australian would allow you to pronounce it right What if that also makes you a little bias with no amends
I think you heard it wrong, he said that as an Australian he may struggle pronouncing words correctly, due to his accent. As another Australian who has tried to teach herself Quenya, I can say from experience that our accent indeed makes it harder to pronounce some Elvish words, although probably no harder than the quirks of other English Language accents.
Your pronunciation of Gil-Galad is more accurate than anything then the RoP writers put in any of their shit scripts. I doubt the RoP writers have one tenth the information on this character than you've laid out in this video.
You don't need to like or subscribe, I'm not doing these videos for the clicks but to express myself and my feelings about the series. Take note those people whose only constructive critique is "you're just doing these videos about this fantastic show for the clicks". It's why I never ask people to "like and subscribe, join our patreon and buy my merch!" because I am not making them for that. If you're curious about the other videos in the series:
Part 1. Numenor: th-cam.com/video/Wx2JI6PrXGo/w-d-xo.html
Part 2. Galadriel: th-cam.com/video/tPCnm_d6oG4/w-d-xo.html
You should do it for both: to express yourself and to get subscribers. There's nothing wrong about that.
Very honorable of you mate, unfortunately, your cunning plan has not worked, and I have liked and subbed to your channel ;)
But seriously, really good discussion there of the lore relevant to this character. I read LOTR and the Hobbit more than once before I even finished high school, but never got to the Silmarillion, so I do appreciate videos like this.
You cant tell me what to do! Liked and subed
I genuinely subscribed because I really enjoyed the last 2 videos in this series especially when you compared the differences between the harbour of númenor in the show and the book, even showing an actual depiction of some harbour in ancient Greece.
Quality stuff mate 👌
But how can I resist such a well explained video? Alas, I'm weak and my hand clicked on the like button. Too late, mate, you'll have to bear with us ;)
Gil-Galad being the one to be "deceived" by Sauron and portrayed as the person who motivates Celebrimbor to begin smithing the rings of power is an absolute joke.
Good point.
Everyone who have their name in the credits of this farce should be rounded up and executed
Maybe it's not such a big deal. The rings were made over the course of an afternoon and were inset with cheap plastic "jewels". These 3 rings are probably just a birthday gift for celebrimbro's 12 year old niece or something.
@@tobsw3802 Perhaps the Numenoreans helped - they had already learned the secret of making 3D-printed armour out of plastic. 🤣
Exactly... King of the Effin Noldor! The elves should have been glowing or radiating power, as immortal and magical beings.. Celebrimbor from rings looks like someone who is about to change my oil at the local jiffy lube...
If Amazon made a WW2 series : Churchill is the one who trusts Hitler and convinces Chamberlain to sign the Munich Agreements.
Acutally, it would be more like Queen Elizabeth I is Winston Churchill's Niece and tells him to stop trusting Putin of Nazi Germany.
See, I probably would watch that if it at least had good acting and production values as an alt worlds tale.
No no... these disney neo socialists will want Hitler to be the good guy
personally would say...this is series is as accurate as having Churchill be at the battle of Hastings.
@@mr.s2005 nah, it's like if Churchill was alongside Julius Caesar.
Gil-galad was an elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing;
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.
His sword was long, his lance was keen.
His shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven's field
were mirrored in his silver shield.
But long ago he rode away,
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.
- the Fall of Gil-galad
I wonder if Tolkien ever sat down and wrote a full version of the Fall of Gil-Galad.
It would be nice if he had.
I love when people throw these quotes in here. Just showcases Tolkien's talent and the beauty of his work, got chills reading this. Meanwhile Amazon: "Rocks sink because they look down and boats float because they look up"
I read this with Clamavi di Profundis' tune
Gil-galad being great warrior but also the most successful and most powerful of the elven kings, the longest reigning High King, good ruler who managed to increase the power of the elven realm! But also someone with moral integrity and goodness! Someone with great diplomatic sense, that's how they should have portrayed him, heroic larger than life figure that still can be humanized but also shown as ideal to strive towards.
@@brianp6859 this line was really really bad, it's incredibly awkward, and it basically is convoluted metaphor that is pointless, and obviously it downplays any sense of wisdom of the elves! But it's more a disrespect for the great character of Finrod Felagund, sister of Galadriel, king of Nargothrond, philosopher and warrior!
Gil-galad was always steadfast and vigilant to confront the shadow. There is a reason why he could see through Annatar's deception along with Cirdan and Galadriel. This show made him a passive and manipulative king.
This show made him a politician, not a king.
@@shok24199 True like every other scheming and lying politician. The fact he's manipulating Elrond as his herald is disgusting. Elrond was always loyal to his king and Gil-galad trusted Elrond to hold onto Vilya.
@@shok24199 Kings were politicians.
....and thick as a whale omelette.
Gil-galad is supposed to be the epitome of wise nobility. He’s fills the vacuum left by Thingol’s death, as the veritable High king of Elvendom in Middle-earth in the 2nd Age. Even the grey elves, sea elves & wood elves (many of which DO NOT love the Noldor) pay him homage. I wish they gave this character proper gravity in the show
Your video essays are explaining the contrasts between the original material of Tolkien and the new series very well. I was shocked when I started watching the series. What Amazon did with the lore of the Second Age is so sad and without love or care for the original material or even for good storytelling. For someone who still loves the work of Tolkien it is hard to bear - I fear I am still a very orthodox Tolkien fan! Thank you for expressing your thoughts.
"Auta i lóme!" and "Aurë entuluva!" On September 3rd, the Tolkien phandom awoke and found half of the Tolkien-verse under the dominion of the corporate machine theyocracy. Thus we bring "council in these dark times,": EXSURGE TOLKIEN, our current channel's counter series. It is now beyond a doubt that The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power" is independent of Tolkien and his world's Orthodoxy. ROP a schism that will leave a forever rift between the phandom and wrought confusion for years to come.
Easy to be a loyal Tolkien fan when what they replace it with is total horse shit.
@@adtastic1533 Join us for our Exsurge Tolkien counter ROP heresy series on our channel, it will make you feel better during these dark times. Peace be too you.
An “orthodox Tolkien fan” …. Now that’s a tagline/descriptor with which I can agree!
I also find that of the 10 Tolkien characters depicted in the show (out of a cast of 22-23), all are NOT aligned with their book counterpart.
I do not understand why the show resisted depicting the characters as they’re written.
I’m so glad that Amazon doesn’t have the rights to The Silmarillion- it would break my heart even further if they got their hooks into Túrin Turambar (or any other part of the lore). He’s long been my favorite character from that era, and I know that the showrunners/ writers don’t have the talent to be able to accurately portray him or his tragic tale. Combining that level of complexity and sensitivity while still retaining his absolute badassery would be a feat that I know they couldn’t handle. On a very related note, I can no longer hear the term “showrunner” without it having a negative connotation. It’s become a byword for people who have no respect for the lore, it’s author, or it’s fans, and think that they can do it better than the original. Thanks for the video!
In Amazon's Silmarillion, the tale of Beren and Lúthien begins with Beren being killed by Morgoth and follows Lúthien on her quest for revenge, in which she defeats both Sauron and Morgoth with her martial prowess, as Huan the cowardly puppy watches in disbelief.
@@P_OmSa Huan is only a coward because he hasn’t “seen what she has seen”. 😆
I wish that one day, hopefully within my lifetime, someone makes a faithful, high-quality adaptation of the Fall of Gondolin. Imagine how epic the fight between Ecthelion and Gothmog could be and my boy Glorfindel is there too.
They have the rights for everything else, but still they decided to make a (fake) second age story. I think in the bottom of their hearts they knew they couldn't make a better job than Jackson, so they immediately rejected the idea of making their own lord of the rings and hobbit versions. Talentless, without confidence, driven by greed and personal agendas. Bad way to start a new project. It was DOA.
They have basically taken most of Gil-Gadad and Elrond's actions and used them for Guyladriel. Leaving empty characters with familiar names. It sucks.
They've also taken Feanor's character and used it for Guyladriel - she is fundamentally evil!
Now Elrond is Galadriel. Without magic.
Meanwhile Galadriel... instead of reading through Annatar and feeling a great darkness in him, she falls in love with totally-not-Sauron.
@@Duke_of_Lorraine It kills me that in their attempt to make an already excellent character more in line with *The Message*, they just made her dumber and more emotional. And we’re the sexists?
@@alejandrobernal9200 apparently the only way a character can show strength is by killing many enemies on the battlefield. Wisdom and gravitas matter not. Surprising I know.
I couldn't believe what they did to Gil-Galad.
How does Amazon get all these characters with familiar names and twist them into something unrecognisable?
Actually they did that to the entire canon.
Because it’s being written by untalented writers who care more about agendas and appealing to certain demographics rather than caring about telling good stories with well written characters
@@ItsSVO Evil can only twist and destroy, it cannot create anything of beauty or true value.
@@ItsSVO Their reasoning: "I do not understand this story, and I am a good person with right beliefs, so this story is wrong."
Some people perceive everything backwards.
Just like Morgoth when he turned elves into orcs.
Can’t wait for “Rings of Power doesn’t understand Mordor.”
Bilbo's mithril shirt is of dwarf-make, not from Gondolin (that would be his sword, Sting). Eregion was founded in the Second Age because of the discovery of mithril by the Dwarves:
"Later some of the Noldor went to Eregion, upon the west of the Misty Mountains, and near to the West-gate of Moria. This they did because they learned that mithril had been discovered in Moria."
"750 Eregion founded by the Noldor."
LotR, App. B
Was thrown a bit there too.
I think this series missed an opportunity to explore the Blue Wizards in the East where little to nothing is known. Instead of reinventing the material and characters we already know and love, they could have explored something new.
What are your thoughts on this?
Agreed. It's a blank canvas for them to explore without breaking something
series missed an opportunity overall
Let's not have them ruin the Blue Wizards before we got to know them..
They could have showed us the other cultures of Midle Earth that were never seen, and at the same time they could have had their series with absolutely no white person being cast.
Instead they did this.
I am of the opinion that if they did actually, genuinely, care about diversity, they'd create stories about the East. It's the perfect area to create stories without treading on lore, has ties to the Numenorian plot with a bonus inbuilt anti-colonial-exploitation message, and has the canonical POC of Middle Earth.
Gil Galad was done so dirty... Such an epic character reduced to a pathetic joke on rop.
Can't have an epic dude
@@darkhighwayman1757 ....in a pathetic show. Yeah that's right.😂
@@queenberuthiel5469 How true!
I read the 5 basic books, plus the Book of Lost Tales, Unfinished Tales and The Lays of Beleriand 30 years ago. The Ring of Powers lore changing is giving me a brain aneurism.
Great video, keep the good work.
The saddest part of this is that Gil-Galad sacrificed his life along with Elendil to take down Sauron during the Siege of Barad-dur. This show is an insult to their sacrifice.
Gil Galad is shown more like a CEO of a very few elves. It is a joke how a high king is shown in such meager way.
In this anything-but-Tolkien show, he's Fail-Galad.
What a coincidence! I just found your other two videos about the Rings of Power, and not even an hour later, you upload a new one. I have to say you have a fantastic way of expressing your opinion from an earnest and forthright perspective of Tolkien's lore. It really is refreshing to be reminded again of the depths of all of the different characters and history that Tolkien wrote. Definitely a palate cleanser after begrudgingly watching this show because I am addicted to dissecting the mechanics of storytelling and watching train wrecks. lol
I will say, in a sort of devil's advocate way, that they didn't have rights to The Silmarillion, The Unfinished Tales, or practically any of the characters or events needed to tell the story of the Second Age. It is no excuse because the retconning and restructuring is quite deliberately and clumsily done. Honestly, I feel that they could have hired much better writers and showrunners with more knowledge and respect of Tolkien's lore and still pulled off an amazing story with what little of the Second Age they had rights to. So even in the lenience of copyright issues, this was a failure.
As others and myself have put it, if they genuinely cared, both about the story and representation, they could have easily set the story in the East of Middle Earth. There you have just enough canon to work from but also extreme freedom to make stuff up without treading on anyones' toes. You'd get to work with the canonical POC people in Middle Earth in a way that seems a lot less of a half-arsed attempt at diversity and representation than the current method. Also, as a bonus the stories of Harad would create a great tie-in story and cultural foil for Numenor, which would add a lot more complexity and context to the sins of the nation of Numenor and the hatred of the Harad and Easterlings and Gondor.
It would have been the easiest and most effective approach with good writers, but noooooo, they decided to be lazy and deliberately drive up unnecessary drama.
But don't forget, the sets and scenery are all very pretty!
And the thing is, while the sets and (some) costumes are pretty, they're also incredibly bland. Virtually nothing about this series looks or feels like Tolkien.
And we get like 10 seconds of them each episode... All the other scenes feel small, few extras, 10 houses in the village, small rooms in Numenor, Moria is like the private chambers of Durin and on and on... They wasted all the money.
I personally prefer Gil-galad as the son of Fingon for numerous reasons, but this is an excellent video defending his character all the same. Thank you for speaking out!
I actually think GG being the son of Fingon makes more sense as he becomes the High King, because if he was the son of Orodreth he wouldn't have been the rightful heir of the crown, Elrond would.
To think RoP made the last great king of the Elves a deceitful and lying politician is heartbreaking.
I quite agree! I have many reasons for believing GG as Fingon's son is more cohesive to Elven history as a whole and to his individual character - and you've hit one of them here 😊
I think Gil-galad got the crown, because Turgon’s only child was a woman, and she couldn’t inherit it, so her descendants were out of question too
What if TROP does exactly what is supposed to do, purposely muddying the pool and distract from the deeper message of Tolkien, what if this entire Billion dollar series is just one big psy-op
This series is pure gold. Smart, respectfull, unique and filled with relevant data and your view
Macca, id love to see you flesh this series out, hearing someone knowledgable about Tolkien get to gush is always a joy. Its very refreshing compared to all the Rings of Prime shills spouting bullet points found on wiki trying to justify such a terrible show.
"The Elves are taking our jobs!!!"
Does Rings Of Power understand any of the characters as written by Prof. Tolkein ?🤔🤔🤔
No. The writers had ZERO source material to work from. 😂😂😂😂😂
I wonder….. Did the show even attempt to ask the Tolkien estate for the rights to the FEW pages of The Silmarillion & Unfinished Tales needed to tell a correct 2nd age story?
One only needs a few pages, not the entire book.
@@wd2989 True, but then they didn't need the extra source material in order to be true to what they had. The fundamental changes to the character of Galadriel, and the utter botching of Tolkien's time line were not forced upon them - they did that themselves.
While Maglor in the pre-LotR writings survived (this was adopted into the published Silmarillion), in later writings Maglor perishes by casting himself into the sea:
"The last two sons of Feanor, compelled by their oath, steal them, and are destroyed by them, casting themselves into the sea, and the pits of the earth."
Letter 131
"The other two Silmarils were also taken by the Valar from the crown of Morgoth. But the last surviving sons of Feänor (Maedros and Maglor), in a despairing attempt to carry out the Oath, stole them again. But they were tormented by them, and at last they perished each with a jewel: one in a fiery cleft in the earth, and one in the sea."
Concerning... The Hoard
Maglor's death is also implied:
"The sons of Eärendil were Elros and Elrond, the Peredhil or Half-elven. In them alone the line of the heroic chieftains of the Edain in the First Age was preserved; and after the fall of Gil-galad the lineage of the High-elven Kings was also in Middle-earth only represented by their descendants."
LotR
"Galad occurs also in the epessë of Ereinion (‘scion of kings') by which he was chiefly remembered in legend, Gil-galad ‘star of radiance’: he was the last king of the Eldar in Middle-earth, and the last male descendant of Finwë except Elrond the Half-elven."
Shibboleth of Feanor
Oh huh there you go! I didn't realise there were lore conflicts about his fate, that makes sense! In my comments on the last video I was working from the Silm account, so my bad. Suffice it to say, by all accounts he's out of the picture by the Second Age, it's doubtful the Halls of Mandos would release him anytime soon!
Note also that Maedros died by throwing himself into magma, yet its pretty clear that Guyladriel is going to survive a pyroclastic flow!
I remember when the Hobbit films were released and tons of people argued that the arkenstone was a silmaril because of the bit where it says that one of the sons of Feanor cast himself into a chasm.
“Im Australian and my accent is thick” This made me laugh. I feel you being a Texan myself.
Seemed all right to me, but then I live in Ballarat.
Australia is the British version of texas
@@masonjones9961 That is wrong in SO many ways . . .
@@masonjones9961 😅😅😅
Too bad, mate. I liked and subscribed.
If the concept of "I'm not mad, just disappointed" was a youtuber.
These videos have made me go from "Hold on this doesn't seem right" to "What the hell do they think they're doing?!"
It is interesting how the PJ films portrayal of Gil-galad even though he was barely in one scene in the prologue :) was somehow more accurate than the one in the show entirely focused on the time of reign of Gil-galad, that is the blue colors and the emblem of white stars, which reminds one of the writing detail that was outside their licensing, the letter of Gil-galad in Unfinished Tales! :)
"When Aldarion left the chamber, Meneldur looked at the letter that his son had given him, wondering; for he saw that it came from King Gil-galad in Lindon. It was sealed and bore his device of white stars upon a blue rondure. Upon the outer fold was written:
Given at Mithlond to the hand of the Lord Aldarion King's Heir of Númenórë, to be delivered to the High King at Armenelos in person.
Then Meneldur broke the seal and read:
Ereinion Gil-galad son of Fingon to Tar-Meneldur of the line of Eärendil, greeting: the Valar keep you and may no shadow fall upon the Isle of Kings. Long I have owed you thanks, for you have so many times sent to me your son Anardil Aldarion: the greatest Elf-friend that now is among Men, as I deem. At this time I ask your pardon, if I have detained him overlong in my service; for I had great need of the knowledge of Men and their tongues which he alone possesses. He has dared many perils to bring me counsel. Of my need he will speak to you; yet he does not guess how great it is, being young and full of hope. Therefore I write this for the eyes of the King of Númenórë only.
A new shadow arises in the East. It is no tyranny of evil Men, as your son believes; but a servant of Morgoth is stirring, and evil things wake again. Each year it gains in strength, for most Men are ripe to its purpose. Not far off is the day, I judge, when it will become too great for the Eldar unaided to withstand. Therefore, whenever I behold a tall ship of the Kings of Men, my heart is eased. And now I make bold to seek your help. If you have any strength of Men to spare, lend it to me, I beg.
Your son will report to you, if you will, all our reasons. But in fine it is his counsel (and that is ever wise) that when assault comes, as it surely will, we should seek to hold the Westlands, where still the Eldar dwell, and Men of your race, whose hearts are not yet darkened. At the least we must defend Eriador about the long rivers west of the mountains that we name Hithaeglir: our chief defence. But in that mountain-wall there is a great gap southward in the land of Calenardhon; and by that way inroad from the East must come. Already enmity creeps along the coast towards it. It could be defended and assault hindered, did we hold some seat of power upon the nearer shore.
So the Lord Aldarion long has seen. At Vinyalondë by the mouth of Gwathló he has long laboured to establish such haven, secure against sea and land; but his mighty works have been in vain. He has great knowledge in such matters, for he has learned much of Círdan, and he understands better than any the needs of your great ships. But he has never had men enough; whereas Círdan has no wrights or masons to spare.
The King will know his own needs; but if he will listen with favour to the Lord Aldarion, and support him as he may, then hope will be greater in the world. The memories of the First Age are dim, and all things in Middle-earth grow colder. Let not the ancient friendship of Eldar and Dúnedain wane also.
Behold! The darkness that is to come is filled with hatred for us, but it hates you no less. The Great Sea will not be too wide for its wings, if it is suffered to come to full growth.
Manwë keep you under the One, and send fair wind to your sails.
Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 2, Aldarion and Erendis
Obviously not all details could have been portrayed that way like this:
"It is recorded that Ereinion was given the name Gil-galad 'Star of Radiance' 'because his helm and mail, and his shield overlaid with silver and set with a device of white stars, shone from afar like a star in sunlight or moonlight, and could be seen by Elvish eyes at a great distance if he stood upon a height'."
Unfinished Tales, Part Two: The Second Age, II Aldarion and Erendis, Note 24
The fact that movies of PJ somehow managed to use the aesthetic scheme, the blue and white stars :) it's amazing really, in the show instead we get golden ceasar, emperor of Rome hehe with golden laurel leaves ahaha :) and yet I don't think we even see any emblem or heraldry that is compliant with the lore (even the song of Gil-galad fall mentions the silver shield and stars on it :))
The blue rondure makes the use of blue colors for surcoat also plausible in the lotr films :) in a way continuing the blue color scheme of the predecessors Fingon, Fingolfin (blue shield, banners) etc. Very curious thing isn't it? :)
I reference the letter in its entirety in the video because it's one of the few written direct insights into the exact type of character he is. Yeah, his crown in the PJ films is much more befitting for an elven king than the 'not Rome' aesthetic.
@@TheOuterCircle it's also interesting to note that friendship with Aldarion also tells us something of Gil-galad as a person, Aldarion received many gifts from him, lots of support praise, it shows how the king is generous and this one moment when Aldarion gives Ulbar's wife the gem he received:
"When Ulbar's wife came forward Aldarion took her hand. "Will you receive this of me?" he said. "It is but little return for six years of good man's aid that you gave me." Then from a wallet under his tunic he took a jewel red like fire, upon a band of gold, and he pressed it into her hand. "From the King of the Elves it came," he said. "But he will think it well-bestowed, when I tell him." Then Aldarion bade farewell to the people there, and rode away, having no mind now to stay in that house."
The Gil-Galad in lore went toe to toe with Sauron in his prime, with Elendil fought beside him on Mount Doom after a 7-year long war, the Gil-Galad in RoP show wouldn't even last 7 minutes in that battle.
Super simple: RoP writters and producers: men = bad, women = stronk!
Aside from Bilbo’s mithril chain mail being from Moria (a minor detail) you are spot on. Honestly at this point it’s better to ask what are they doing not to a single character but rather what are they doing with Tolkien’s work???
sorry but who sold the rights to Amazon in the first place? Tolkien estate? 250 million? thats what it costs to destroy Tolkien legacy
I couldn't believe that character in the show was supposed to be Gil-Galad. I have to wonder how the copyright laws work. Could they not have any of the lore or timelines even resemble what was laid out in the Silmarillion and other materials they didn't have rights to? It seems like they could at least have done a worldbuilding iceberg approach and set up a world shaped by those timelines, all while not referencing any of the names outside of what rights they purchased. Oh well, it's obvious that it was NOT a labor of love like the Jackson series, but rather a bland corporate product.
Why does fotr gil galad who was a background character in a blurry flashback look better than rop gild galad
Do these hacks understand anything Tolkien wrote?
I doubt they ever even red his books. Merely watched the vastly superiour trilogy before and then went after rumors of what Lord of The Rings actually is about amongst their... Politizised social circle on Twitter.
The show la Gil (see no evil, hear no evil) Galad
Magical barrier in front of Valinor actually did exist... in the First Age. Earendil the Mariner was respected because he managed, by using Silmaril, to pass the barrier and ask Valar for help against Morgoth.
Yes, and again after the fall of Numenor and the reshaping of the world. But not in the middle of the second age, where the Undying Lands could be viewed from Numenor on a clear day.
"There never was much hope," he answered. "Just a fool's hope".
I shudder to think what this series is going to do with Cirdan and Glorfindel should they even be introduced. They'll probably have perms like Elrond and Celiberace-brimbor!
Mention Gil Galad's armor. It is awesome.
I love the PJ movie armour and spear, his shield is a thing of beauty, and his crown is so much nicer in the PJ films than his Roman wreath in this series.
@@TheOuterCircle I still cringe at the ridiculous dressing of the characters...it is bargainbin vs the well thought out costumes of the movies.
(Sir, your service is greatly appreciated! You and others spreading the fact-gospel about this lore is a god-send in the wake of this WOKE-BULLSHIT or these ANTI-POP-CULTURE-ACTIVIST. As someone who has never read the books, an entrant through Peter: Jackson's trilogy, I say thank-you.)
Uh, Bilbo's shirt was made by the dwarves and was a gift from Thorin himself.
That was a wonderful breakdown. Consider me subscribed! One small nitpick I will point out, at least by my understanding… Sauron was actually unrepentant in the first age. He hid from the Valar after Morgoth was captured, and tarried in Middle Earth. Correct me if I’m wrong on that one, it’s been a couple years since I’ve been through the Silmarillion.
He was repentant but afraid of punishment, so fled and hid.
@@TheOuterCircle I believe one who is unwilling to face the consequence of their actions is still unrepentant, but that is splitting hairs at this point. Your content, insight and perspective on the world of Tolkien is an absolute breath of fresh air. I watched every one of your other videos after this one. If you made a lore series on the Legendarium, I’d tune in. Again, wonderful work my friend. Cheers!
Really like your videos on Rings of Power as a longstanding LOTR fan (and also collector of the GW miniatures). I have a little force of Noldor High Elves actually that I adore
One thing occurred to me after hearing about the Mithril plot and the elves dying is how it makes them similar to the Warhammer 40k Dark Eldar (Drukhari). The whole living forever but having to stave off death somehow thing. I feel like introducing this plotline to the LOTR high elves is totally wrong to how they are supposed to be. Clinging on to their immortal lives and everything. Does anyone feel the same?
Do they understand any of the source material? Why should Gil-Galad be different?
Please do Elrond as well.. Apparently despite his ancestry, he is not counted among the great lords of Gil Galads court...?
Elrond is coming, great grandson of High King Turgon, Son of Earandil the Mariner. Also known as "just some guy". Kinda like how Tar Miriel asks who Elendil the Tall is, you know damn well who he is.
good on ya, these vids are great
Might? Dislike we have barely seen Gil-galad they clearly does not not what to do whit him. And I can’t really get over a NOLDOR king telling someone to break his oath.and this elf is a descendant of Feanor
I have a theory about who Sauron is and I think it goes along well with the way the show is going . . . Through experimentation with Mithril for elf supplements and perhaps with the help of awakening a Balrog (which will be much more like awakening a scientist (picture Marvel style Doctor Hulk or whatever he turned into when he was no longer cool, Elrond (Sauron), discovers the ability to make a clone. Elrond (Sauron), clones himself, and instead of the clone becoming bad, the clone chooses to oppose Sauron's rule (which explains why he went with Isildur to destroy it, why he stayed on Middle Earth until it was finally destroyed, and why eventually he will turn evil and jump out of the boat heading to the undying lands with Bilbo, Gandalf, and Frodo (who might also jump out of the boat, but that's TBD). He'll then swim back to Middle Earth by himself or with everyone else in the boat who jumped out, re-discover the scientist Balrog and forge similar but weaker rings and attempt to rule Middle Earth, thus setting us up for a new streaming show after the 3rd movie.
How about "rings of power don't understand a fucking thing about Tolkien books" ? xD
The way Gil Galad is potrayed in the series is just unbearable.
As much as I can understand (and feel the same btw) that people are upset that the series doesn't fit to "the lore" of Middle-Earth as presented in various books I do have to think of the fact that 1. Amazon does not hold the right to use those books hence has no access to the content that might present the characters and history in more detail and 2. that Tolkien himself left quite a mess behind with rewrites, reinventions and all kinds of horrible and nasty changes. I still follow mostly the Silmarillion's stories in which Gil-Galad is the son of Fingon. Thus he should be one of the few blond Noldor that are around. It pissed me of quite a bit in the depiction of him in PJ movies and this series. But than again - Tolkien changed his whole background so who knows what is right and what is wrong. The point is don't look for mistakes due to published material outside of the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit and the Appendices. While modern Tolkien scholarship might have moved on that is the material the series was allowed to us (they still screwed up enough I admit).
Nice
It's terribly disappointing - but not at all surprising - to see how TRoP has diminished his character. The show is an abysmal failure and I honestly hope they fire the entire staff and start over - but they won't. They'll just pump more money into shill sites and reviewers and continue to suppress negative reviews on their site. What a detestable company Amazon is.
Is MESBG content soon to follow? 🤔
I think I'll dust off my Numenoreans.....
How did you like the news about Celeborn's death from the latest episode? :D
Thank God they under-utilized his character. Imagine what would they turned him into if he got more screen time.
My thoughts are utter disgust at how Amazon are trying to corrupt a masterpiece like Tolkien's world. I for one will never forgive such hubris at Amazon thinking they could do Tolkien's world better than Tolkien himself. Such bloody hubris.
I do think thousand year life spans in a non peaceful world would very much increase the risk of dying horribly at some point. So any elven King or leader would have bad odds to contend with.
Your basic premise is wrong. In that you think the show runners are making a TV show for entertainment purposes. No, they are making a propaganda piece to push certain "social viewpoints". Gil-Galad isn't badly written because the writers misunderstands Tolkien. Gil-Galad is specifically written this way because he represents a certain type of character that the writes wish to vilify for "reasons". All characters of this "type" in the TV show are written in the same manner to push a certain viewpoint upon the audience. It has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with the ideologies of those writers and show runners. Just be happy that the show is so terribly done and written by people without a drop of talent that they cannot do harm to Tolkien's legacy as they are transparent as glass in what their efforts to "make Tolkien reflect the modern world" really means.
My opinion, Ring Of Power doesn’t understand everything, 🤷🏻♂️
I have refused to watch the dumpster fire that is rings of power but I like the background videos
Also make a video titled, Rings of Power doesn't understand Tolkien's ELVES because they have destroyed this race, everything about them is just wrong in the series.
I prefer him as the son of Fingon.
The only positive thing I can say about the show is that it doesent disciminate. It makes ALL of the characters in the show terrible xD
I’m halfway through episode 5 and I just had to google Gil-galad after thinking he seemed a bit shady for a high elf king. His portrayal lacks any kind of Grace or otherworldly energy
I had no idea you’re a warhammer channel
The showrunners have never read the Silmarilion, I can guarantee it.
My brother in Christ, this series does not understand basic human/humane interaction. Leave alone Gil-Galad.
I would rather see a show of The Last Ringbearer fanfiction by Kirill Eskov
he's incompetent in order to make Galadriel look good.
It was over in his very first appearance, where they portrayed him as an average politician, who needs Elrond to write his speeches for him. Absolute joke
I was so excited to see him in live action..what makes it worse is I maintain that Ben Walker is a good actor.
He not a bad actor. I had hope for him. He looks similar to Mark Ferguson. Who played gil-galad in pj's. I blame the writers and the direction they gave him. From interviews he seemed to understand the character
Amazon's Gil-Galad looks like Steven Seagal..
This show was poorly conceived from the beginning because they have to pander to normies to make more money. That means cramming as much memberberries from LOTR as possible into one show. Given that they're all but guaranteed 5 seasons, they could have gone for a slow burn and took the time to tell some of the great stories of the second age, instead of cramming 3500 years of history into about a week and a half.
People keep saying they didn't have the rights to the Silmarillion , what did they have the rights to regarding the second age?
The Appendices from the LOTR books. Possibly some info from The Hobbit abd LOTR books that Peter Jackson didn't use. That's it.
@@toodlescae how the hell did they imagine they could represent characters like Galadriel or Elrond without any rights to their most important source material...
@@OljeiKhan Repreaent? Like they cared.
@@robertblume2951 i know they had a wholly different agenda with the show. I'm just questioning who in their right mind would even believe that the show is taking place in the second age of midddle earth? Literally nothing matches with what is written except names and even those names don't match their characters 😁
@@OljeiKhan They don't. The people that like it are doing a Viserys and willfully blinding themselves to the truth so they can have pretty dumb action.
A few?
Did they use the same actor for Gil-Galad?
This show is an abomination to the lore of Tolkien Amazon messed up doing this show and they won’t forget this mistake
I am not aware of the full picture, but as far as I know they do not have full rights for the content of Tolkien’s writing. So, may be they cannot portray things the way you want them to be, which is closer to the original, because they have no rights to make it like the original?
Just theorizing here
regardless it is no excuse for the poor writing and descration of the character.
the show made all male characters into idiots and all female characters into insufferable smug girlbosses ... it's a joke
Rings of Power Doesn't Understand Anything From Tolkien's Lore.
What's Your Point ?
This show is an abomination, Galadriel is insufferable one sec I will elaborate
Do be honest, it makes sense that elves all die horribly since they can’t die naturally.
Do you seriously think that ROP "Galadriel" isn't going to survive the pyroclastic flow from Mount Doom?
Remember, this show is the epitome of weirdness...
@@mikem9001 You know, you can die from the heat just from getting close to lava in real life. I hate the Hollywood trope where it’s treated as just water that burns you.
Also, on the topic, they recently found a man in Pompeii whose brain was turned to glass by the pyroclastic flow from Vesuvius.
Gil galad is a gilgachad but in amazons poop fest its a giga sad
You're telling me they already had an amazing story written for them? Who'd have thought?!!!
They basically bought the name rights of characters found in the lotr books (not silmarilion) and made a show thematically similar to lotr. Thats it. Try to enjoy it, since obviously it has nothing to do with the lotr universe. Just like Shadow of mordor/war games.
At least the characters and story of the shadow of war games is compelling. With some very good game mechanics.
@@imperialinquisition6006 I like mordor but war is a mid game ngl. Also you can play the story mode for 30-40 hours, the tv series is only 8 hours long and it tries to squeeze an ENTIRE AGE, obviously things are going to be different. I don't blame the writers for it. Plus they dont have the rights for silmarillion which has most of the stories and characters arcs in the second age. I have my gripes about some characters but the show so far has been great imo.
they can give those tolkien characters justice if they want to but they choose not to, there are no rights problem in this aspect, its just a writing one, and btw this is the most expensive tv show ever made and its about the tolkien's second age, it should be exceptional, you can buy the best talent out there with that money, "try to enjoy it" shouldn't be a option, were not talking about some propriety that non one cares for, this is tolkien, you have no excuses to make a epic fail like this.
Your mistake is thinking the show writers care about the lore in the first place. I guarantee you, they don't. It's just another group of outside writers who want to hijack the property and turn it into something of their own. I'm not even a big Tolkien fan but I've seen this happen to many properties that I've enjoyed in the past. I loved Jackson's Rings movies but that is the extent of my knowledge, I won't hide it. I've also heard to some degree about the expaned material Tolkien created. But unlike the writers of the show I don't have an inflated ego to disrespect franchises. When I create something it's considerate to the source material. Of course there will be times where I want to expand on it but I'm still considerate to the intentions. I think that's a giant problem in Hollywood writing. The problem with fan fiction writers is quite often what they write about comes from a narcissistic place. They want to change or continue a story for their benefit, not the story's. It may be a working formula for transformative media like fan fiction but not for official properties because the expectations of the audience is different.
This video came up, and decided to listen to it, at the beginning you said your heritage of being Australian would allow you to pronounce it right
What if that also makes you a little bias with no amends
I think you heard it wrong, he said that as an Australian he may struggle pronouncing words correctly, due to his accent. As another Australian who has tried to teach herself Quenya, I can say from experience that our accent indeed makes it harder to pronounce some Elvish words, although probably no harder than the quirks of other English Language accents.
@@anarlote5658 Its Quenya, mite!
@@mikem9001 'Kn oath!
Westernesse is not pronounced like Mayonnaise. 😂 sorry, I needed to point it out, Despite the disclamer at the beginning.
Your pronunciation of Gil-Galad is more accurate than anything then the RoP writers put in any of their shit scripts. I doubt the RoP writers have one tenth the information on this character than you've laid out in this video.
I don’t think rings of prime understand reading
Luckily I don't care about show's lore.
Only Moorcock could save the show. The pacing and bad directing not to mention distort all the characters.
This series is a train wreck. I'd begrudgingly overlook breaking of lore -- if this fan fiction was at least entertaining. But, it can't even do that.
Sad thing is Gil-Galad is the most lore accurate representation in RoP and Gil-Galad representation sucks.