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Pellaeon

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  1. Growing up in the 90s, this was my reading order for the main writings — straight publication order: The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings The Silmarillion Unfinished Tales The Book of Lost Tales The Lays of Beleriand Today, there are a few new books which remix some of the writings in pleasing ways, so if you want to take advantage of them, here’s how I would go about it: The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings The Silmarillion The Fall of Númenor The Children of Húrin Unfinished Tales The Fall of Gondolin The Book of Lost Tales The Lays of Beleriand Here are the parts of the traditional books that you can (should?) skip if you read the new books: From The Silmarillion: Akallabêth Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age From Unfinished Tales: Narn i Hîn Húrin A Description of the Island of Númenor Aldarion and Erendis The Line of Elros From The Book of Lost Tales: The Fall of Gondolin I only recently finished The Fall of Númenor. It’s really enjoyable to sit down with one book and get the whole Second Age in chronological order. A very satisfying read. Anyone else here read it?
  2. I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen anything to make me believe there’s one all-powerful creative force controlling everything. It’s all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.
  3. The showrunners did say, “Season two has a canonical story. There may well be viewers who are like, ‘This is the story we were hoping to get in season one!’ In season two, we’re giving it to them.” If I were hoping for a turnaround, those are the sorts of words I’d like to hear.
  4. Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who debates him?
  5. I assume Kennedy and Johnson are simply saving face by answering the occasional question about it when it comes up. “Oh yah, would love to do it, someday, schedule permitting.” Uh-huh. A Star Wars movie trilogy is a $1 billion prospect. I assume such things don’t happen lightly, in people’s spare time. And I don’t think that kind of money gets risked on something so contentious as another Johnson Star Wars foray is certain to be.
  6. Same for me. The FYC album—both for the assembly and mix— is my go-to way to listen to the film score, plus Lights! Camera! Music! for the concert arrangements!
  7. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy [novels] > Star Wars Trilogy [all formats] > The Lord of the Rings Trilogy [movies] So I voted for Star Wars across the board since the poll was framed as being about the LotR movies (those versions of the characters, etc.).
  8. There’s one way of looking at Star Wars, based on the first two movies, which says the Empire is a Human Empire, and other spacefaring species have got other empires off the edge of the map, and that’s okay. And that’s why Mos Eisley Spaceport which is “farthest from” the “bright center” of the Empire has got all these alien pilots hanging out — it’s literally on the frontier. Imperial Center, then, would naturally be human-dominated (if not, indeed, the human homeworld). The franchise as it developed largely moved away from this, of course, throwing in ever more aliens. But there’s nothing wrong with one (out of dozens) of these Star Wars projects giving us a sensibility closer to the original.
  9. The most striking addition by JW is the Main Title (concerto for violin virtuoso), which is just not present at all in the stage musical. I have seen the movie many times (love it), and I also saw it off-Broadway a decade or two back. Was nonplussed by the stage show. Tiny orchestra more like a band, nobody could sing, the acting was rushed and hokey. But then I saw it at Chicago Lyric Opera this year, WOW was it good. Tears streaming down my face the entire time. Large orchestra, of course, and absolutely magnificent chorus (full disclosure: my wife is in it). They really captured the pathos of the movie. And the dancing really is something else to behold in person.
  10. Don’t you guys think the “gift” thing is mainly a reference to the famous Boromir meme? Likewise, Sauron simply walking into Mordor?
  11. Olórin is mentioned in The Lord of the RIngs, so, presumably allowed. Also worth noting that the show does mention Armenelos (capital of Númenor) and Sigin-tarâg (Dwarvish for “Longbeards”), neither of which name originates in The Lord of the Rings. Make of that what you will.
  12. The official talking point is that he’s a Wizard and otherwise it’s up in the air: The showrunners: https://movieweb.com/the-rings-of-power-showrunners-say-the-stranger-identity-open-question/ A writer: https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/is-rings-of-power-the-stranger-gandalf The actor: https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-gennifer-hutchison-interview-sauron-halbrand-the-stranger-gandalf-wizards-istar/ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  13. Wellp, what are the odds the studio hasn’t actually decided yet?
  14. Was something said in the show to the effect that the Stranger was “the other Istar”? That’s why I was thinking he was the second of the two. No, I don’t think so. Saruman spent some centuries or millennia in the East. Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings stated, “Many are my names in many countries. Mithrandir among the Elves, Tharkûn to the Dwarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not.”
  15. It seems more and more likely to me that the Stranger is one of the Blue Wizards. 1. Tolkien decided that the Blue Wizards arrived in Middle-earth in the Second Age. This nugget of information is not in any of the more well-known sources, but it is from Tolkien, so. If you were writing this show, you would jump at that opportunity. 2. They were active in the East / Rhûn / Rómen. That’s where the Stranger is headed, no? There was something about a constellation resembling an “R” rune. 3. One of the only things known about the Blue Wizards is that Pallando was the helper of Alatar. Another name for him is Rómestámo — East-helper. There was something about him being “the other Istar.” Alatar has preceded him. 4. “Follow your nose” — well, the Blue Wizards were servants of Oromë the Hunter. Sounds like a hunter’s instinct to me. Maybe Gandalf learned it from the Blue Wizards.
  16. “They came from over the Sea out of the Uttermost West; though this was for long known only to Círdan, Guardian of the Third Ring, master of the Grey Havens, who saw their landings upon the western shores.… Last came one who seemed the least, less tall than the others, and in looks more aged, grey-haired and grey-clad, and leaning on a staff. But Círdan from their first meeting at the Grey Havens divined in him the greatest spirit and the wisest; and he welcomed him with reverence, and he gave to his keeping the Third Ring, Narya the Red.” From Unfinished Tales, ‘The Istari’
  17. First note that in the books the point of the Elven Rings was not to forestall the Elves’ fading but rather to shape paradisiacal lands in Middle-earth (like Lórien): “They had refused to return into the West, and they desired both to stay in Middle-earth, which indeed they loved, and yet to enjoy the bliss of those that had departed.” And, “Those who had them in their keeping could ward off the decays of time and postpone the weariness of the world.” Now to your question: “While [Sauron] wore the One Ring he could perceive all the things that were done by means of the lesser rings, and he could see and govern the very thoughts of those that wore them. But the Elves were not so lightly to be caught. As soon as Sauron set the One Ring upon his finger they were aware of him; and they knew him, and perceived that he would be master of them, and of all that they wrought.” Quotes from The Silmarillion, ‘Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age.’
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