I love all the discussions so far and the flavour each different guest has brought to it. It would be amazing if you can get Ken and especially Rachel Cushing Levine for the overall season wrap up episode!
Somebody tell Andy that Aragorn isn't the last Numenorean in Lord of the Rings! Faramir and Boromir (and lots of members of the Rangers or Gondorian nobility), also have Numenorean blood and extended life spans; its simply that it's more pronounced with him (because he's directly descended from Elros). When Faramir marries Eowyn, she explicitly brings it up to note that people might criticise him for marrying below his station. She's a princess and he's just a Gondorian nobleman, but she feels like he outranks her because of his Numenorean heritage.
@davidbeer5015 yeah, all the Dunedain are descendants of Numenor, although the term doesn't just refer to the Rangers of the North, it also refers to the descendants of Numenor in Gondor. So the likes of Faramir and Imrahil.
A major theme of the story has been free will. They've deliberately shown the orcs trying to express their will after Morgoth was imprisoned (Morgoth effectively made the orcs by corrupting elves into mindless slaves, dominating them and suppressing their free will; his greatest blasphemy). Obviously the "trap" behind the rings is that they can allow Sauron to manipulate and dominate the races. Over-riding their free will. Season 2 is likely to end with the forging of the one ring, Sauron's ultimate tool in this respect. I can see him using it to return the orcs to their previous slave status; effectively repeating Morgoth's greatest crime and crushing their will again. The purpose of Adar, and touches such as the orc baby etc, is to suggest that the orcs could be redeemable. The tragedy of the creation of the one is that it will immediately slam the doir on that hope.
I love all the discussions so far and the flavour each different guest has brought to it. It would be amazing if you can get Ken and especially Rachel Cushing Levine for the overall season wrap up episode!
Great discussion as always!
Highly recommend The Wheel Of Time as well if you’re looking for another fantasy show.
Somebody tell Andy that Aragorn isn't the last Numenorean in Lord of the Rings! Faramir and Boromir (and lots of members of the Rangers or Gondorian nobility), also have Numenorean blood and extended life spans; its simply that it's more pronounced with him (because he's directly descended from Elros).
When Faramir marries Eowyn, she explicitly brings it up to note that people might criticise him for marrying below his station. She's a princess and he's just a Gondorian nobleman, but she feels like he outranks her because of his Numenorean heritage.
Are not of the Dunedain in general also descended from Numenor? Though they don’t show in the movies, so can be easier to forget them.
@davidbeer5015 yeah, all the Dunedain are descendants of Numenor, although the term doesn't just refer to the Rangers of the North, it also refers to the descendants of Numenor in Gondor. So the likes of Faramir and Imrahil.
A major theme of the story has been free will. They've deliberately shown the orcs trying to express their will after Morgoth was imprisoned (Morgoth effectively made the orcs by corrupting elves into mindless slaves, dominating them and suppressing their free will; his greatest blasphemy).
Obviously the "trap" behind the rings is that they can allow Sauron to manipulate and dominate the races. Over-riding their free will.
Season 2 is likely to end with the forging of the one ring, Sauron's ultimate tool in this respect. I can see him using it to return the orcs to their previous slave status; effectively repeating Morgoth's greatest crime and crushing their will again.
The purpose of Adar, and touches such as the orc baby etc, is to suggest that the orcs could be redeemable. The tragedy of the creation of the one is that it will immediately slam the doir on that hope.