From the team that brought you the award-winning show Retro Replay and the Emmy-nominated comedy series Con Man comes a new idea just crazy enough to be good. Introducing Couch Soup! I know, I know, you're probably wondering, what is Couch Soup? Well, Couch Soup is content for your hungry nerd soul. Daily articles from fans, not pundits, weekly podcasts that contain a multiverse of opinions on all things pop culture. Exclusive videos and weekly live streams where we laugh, scream, and sometimes have technical difficulties. All created by folks like you, the gamers, the film nerds, the TV, bingers, comic book lovers, bookworms, and pop culture enthusiasts all in one giant bowl of beautiful disgusting soupy goodness at couchsoup.com. Hey everybody, welcome back to Middle Earth, episode 5 just dropped, and this is the watching now podcast where we go full on nerd for streaming TV, Easter eggs, breakdowns, and sometimes spoilers, but listen, we're going to be doing spoilers. Because this is the Rings of Power and we are so jazzed to talk about it today. I'm going to be your host, I'm Drew Lewis, and I kind of run the show over here at Couch Soup, and I'm lucky enough to be joined today by three amazing guests. We added an extra special guest today, I'm so excited, but now let me talk about our OGs, we got on, who is our elf enthusiast slash sort of, like, just the ultra fan, I'm going to call you the ultra fan of the show, because that's what you are. But she comes from her TTRPG role playing channel called D5, you got to check it out, go over there and hang out with her on all the role playing stuff. And we got Chris Mills, who is our like, Tolkien librarian. Thank you for having me. So stoked. Our new social guest, Wizardway Chris, who is our resident elf boy, and she is known as the elf enthusiast. I do a lot of elvish stuff. Yeah, yeah, if you follow them, you'll notice that you put all these great translations of all the elvish stuff. So if you guys, if you're ever wondering, like, what does that say, if you're watching the show, what does that say? Where do you go? Wizardway Chris on most platforms. Yeah, no, absolutely. We're excited to have you. So let's get started with, we're just going to do real quick, a non-spoiler review of episode five called Halse of Stone. [Music] But let's start today with Chris. Yeah, this episode, I really enjoyed this. It seems like it's bringing the threads a little closer together. You've got a lot of dialogue. It's not as heavy on the action. You get to see a little bit more of the Sauron's wickedness. On, what did you think? I caught you mid-drink, sorry. You're dead. That's okay. I'll get over it. I liked this episode just as much as the ant wives and like all of that because it was very emotion driven. And I really appreciate that there's more of like this gaslighting and manipulation. But also last time I had tears of joy, this time I had tears of sadness. So I appreciate when it's being able to move me in such an emotional way, especially in like a bit of a whiplash. So I quite enjoyed it. Yeah, it'll be interesting. I'm interested to know which ways, which scenes kind of got you excited. I wonder if they're the same ones that I'm thinking of. But yeah, we'll get into that. That's great. Great to hear it. And wizard way Chris, what did you think the way that I have approached season two of rings of power is that their job here is to. We've threads into a noose and then hang us with it. So that's more of it. I love it. Episode five, we see everything starting to tighten into that rope. So all of the threads are starting to connect and combine and you're getting that common through line. And we just get a masterclass in manipulation from Charlie Bickers's Anatol. It's so satisfying and so sad. This is not going to end well. Yeah, yeah, it's like one of those shows where you're watching. You're like, I know the ending kind of and this is not going to go well for some of these folks. Isn't it? We're not going to see some of these people. Everybody knows the basic ending. It was the prologue in the Peter Jackson. It's like, we all know how this ends. It's kind of like when I'm watching Andor and I'm kind of like, yeah, I know. I know how this all goes. Yeah, you're still you guys. She's you in the face. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'm with you guys. It's sort of, yeah, this is not like an action. We didn't get any bad ass gladriel action or Elfen, you know, taken out 20 Orcs, but we got some. I felt like I was watching like every show that's like this, like it like that has a ton of lore behind it that you're sort of also doing a prologue to something. You need an info dump episode, like you need an episode where the characters are discovering learning. There's a lot of dialogue between characters and you're learning character growth. So I'm here for that for a television for a serialized television show, right? Obviously, if this was like a two hour movie, it'd be like, alright, I'm bored to tears, but it's not. And I'm thankful for it, actually, because I think we got a lot of good a lot of good moments that you guys have already brought up with. And a tar, color Brembar, some actually some interesting stuff even with the doors, which they're my, they're still my favorite. They're still my favorite. Sorry. Okay, well, that's our non spoiler review. I think we're all kind of coming down like we're still loving this episode or love in the show, even with episode five being a little slower, but it's, I think we're all saying it's worth it, which is cool. So let's, let's break it down scene by scene and warning for everybody spoilers after this. So here we go. We start off the show in Kazadoum, we get a nice sweeping mountain shot, kind of felt like the opening of two towers there for a hot second. I, for a moment there, I was like, am I hearing Gandalf? And it was, it was in my head. And we get a shot and the dwarves are, you get a shot of the seven rings and they have a nice little, I appreciate the, the sheen because the, like, color Brembar, like went the extra mile and created like a nice little casing for them where they all can sit. It felt like a, like a set I could buy, you know, attention to detail. Yeah, yeah, like, like, I almost want it for my room. He would. Yeah, look, right. Is he, Caleb Brembar is the type who 100% like if he's, if he's going to do this, he's got to have like two Smiths just working on the display case. Because showmanship. Yeah, I'm not throwing those rings in a little baggie. Come on now. Like, you got to get them like, yeah, seven, two, I mean, that's nice. It's nice. And we see King Durham take the first ring he chooses, he chooses the blue one for all those. If you're wondering, like, if you're going to choose a color, I don't know. Blackest blue is pretty solid. And rock. Yeah, probably. Well, it was probably the biggest compensation. Oh, yeah, we'll get into that because he definitely is compensating this episode, isn't he? And he starts hearing voices right away. And he starts walking down hallways. And he is in, we see him go into a mine shaft or a cave that the dwarves are digging in, walks right past his son during, during does a little nod and doesn't really acknowledge him. And he walks up the stairs and in a room and he puts his hand on a wall and he's like, we're going to dig here. And everyone's like, no, mate, like, that's a bad idea. That's a load. Well, why would you do that? Yeah, why would you do that? You're kind of like, come on, mate. And he's like, listen, we're digging you here. And he has like probably the best line. I've so far on the episode where he's like, next time I order you dig, you dig, you know, and that comes a little bit later. But he starts, he grabs, he during hands on the axe after some resistance and starts hammering away, which, by the way, the CGI on this thing is pretty good because it actually looks like it's pretty like heavy. Yeah, and I want to know what these hammers are made out of because those are badass and I want one, but it cuts through this rock right away. And in a hot minute, he's seeing daylight, boom, where boom doors are saved. And I will say, yeah, especially like just because, okay, so background, I have a degree in kinesiological sciences. What it's my job to look at people's bodies and know how they move. Okay, think of it like exercise science. So I watched this and had a completely different reaction because because poor during during the elder, shall we say, during the third. It was shoulders, maybe a little bit of back, but there was no core. There was no hips, no legs. He did not put his full body into it, but I was like, okay, well, he's the king. He's not typically down there in the trenches. I'll give this to him arthritis, you know, he's there in his full kingly robes and jewelry and everything and it didn't change to do any type of mining work at all. And that probably is in a practical way for the actor hindering movement. And they were reminded of Christopher Lee trying to get up the steps and you remember that he's I cannot get up with these dumb, dumb stuff. More to the point that he's he has the ring, which apparently is telling him exactly like where to be like Fonzie and hit the jukebox to make the thing happen with little effort. Yeah, and just two other things to point out in this seem like there's a quick montage and we we kind of see them kind of digging. He finds a few more places and they dig and and we see the sunlight being revealed and on the on the areas and cause a doom where we can they can now grow crops and it's nice and bright. And there's a big speech by Duren and everybody's cheering and my second my second favorite part other than the line is next time I'm already a dig you dig. I was like holy shit was everyone chanting Kaza doo doo I was like yes. So cool. I was like that is awesome. I was like I need that Kaza doom t-shirt like right now Kaza doo I need I need someone to make an edit of of the Kaza doom chance. But with do host. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Dwarf keyboard player drums and the heavy guitar. That's what I'm saying. I need to read it for us. It needs a remix 100%. I'm writing this down to chat with people for merch. Yeah. Give me that. There's a genre called dwarf metal at least one band that dresses up like dwarfs and these. Like look up the song you'd like it drew in into dwarves it's like there's a song called diggy diggy hole. Is the one that comes in. I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole. Yeah it's the lyrics are like that but they're just these dwarves that they're playing metal it's like it's really a thing. I'm so excited to look this up. There's also there's a history of especially Silmarillion lore being turned into metal. Oh wow. They're already talking and did an entire album called Mid nightfall in middle earth. I think it is. Oh wow. I don't know that one. It's metal and it's just it's definitely a tradition. It's definitely a tradition. Yeah. And there's a band called summoning. It's all talking metal. There's there's the band Amana Marth which is Mount Doom. It's like a whole thing. Really. Yeah. So this is Greg Yeon and the doors of doing are being revealed by Calabrambor and Chris's favorite guy. Narvie. Narvie. I didn't mention Narvie before but that was one of like my lore moments when you see this dwarf and like oh man that's Narvie he would be here. And then of course the way that we know that is he's the dwarf that made the door and it on like the whole second line under the arch of speak for an inn inter it says I Narvie made these doors and Calabrambor of Holland wrote these letters. Yeah, I want to hear that. I have it. Yes please. I would love to. Yes. Yeah. Okay, so the inscription on the doors of Dorin reads M. Dorin are in Moria which is doors of Dorin king of Moria. Um, Pedro Melon Amino. In Narvie high in the hunt Calabrambor or a Reggionte fantasy. So cool. My heart like he said speak friend and enter I Narvie made them like the doors. Uh, and Calabrambor of Holland drew these signs. I'm not crying. I have a question too. Is this where we have a resident language expert here. So can we can you talk a little bit about the mode in which this is written because I am myself and not an expert at all. But I noticed that, um, sometimes just from just correct me here too because I'd really only barely know what I'm talking about. Um, when you see these fan fanorian characters that are written, the vowels will be in these little symbols that either come over the preceding or following consonant. Yes. But in this mode, there are whole letters that are vowels sort of like how we have in an hour alphabet that are put in between the other letters just on their own. So what's going on with that? Uh, so basic breakdown of the language stuff here. Um, the elves were the first ones to make the cure, which are the runes. So the dwarven runes are actually originally based on an elvish runic language. Um, so when people say it's the dwarvish runes. They're technically elvish. Uh, they were co-opted by the dwarves and then the dwarves had a written language because of that. Uh, are you talking about Diron? Yes. Right. One of my favorite, favorite lore references from a previous episode. Um, we mentioned it. Yeah, the caliber, I'm not caliber, but Kirton was talking shit about, uh, about characters Diron. I love it. I would, I would take offense, but it was such a great callback. Uh, so we have, we have two main writing systems that are used in Middle Earth. One being the Kirth or Angarthas Diron, which then morphs into Angarthas Eregyon, Angarthas Erebor, Angarthas Moria. Uh, all used just in different realms, different time periods, but it's all based on also sort of a retcon of wide Anglo section runes are in exist in the Hobbit. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Uh, and then we have the secondary writing system, which is the Faeanorian alphabet, also called the Tenguar. The Tenguar is all of the really scripty, pretty stuff. Um, instead of harsh edges, you have a lot of curves. Uh, this is what the one ring inscription is, is written in. So this is a writing system that can be used for multiple languages, just like we use the Latin alphabet for English, French, Spanish, German, et cetera. Um, we can use the Tenguar to write anything in English. We can write, uh, other foreign languages as well, if you go with phonemic modes based on the sounds. Um, you can write Quena, Sindarin. Um, any, basically anything, it is a writing system. So what we see is that there are different modes for the Tenguar that are used in different situations or different time periods, depending. So what you're talking about with all of the symbols over top of, of things, those are called diacritic marks. Uh, those show up in the Latin alphabet as well. You see them a lot in German. Uh, you see them with, uh, the, the Maori. Um, uh, language language. I mean, we have some to work with. As those two diocritics over the E and A. Yeah. So, uh, the symbols that go over top letters are called diacritics. In the Tenguar, these are called the Tetar and it's called the Oma Tetar mode. Where you use all of those symbols and those are used as the vowels, uh, for that particular mode. So when you look at the one ring inscription, that is Oma Teta, uh, mode of the Tenguar. So you see the symbols being used for vowels. In the mode of ballerian, you use much, much fewer, way fewer, uh, Tetar. So you use them for a couple things like when you're using a W or when you are, uh, labelizing. Uh, or labializing, which is where you add an N, N, N in front of a explosive. It gets really technical, sorry. Uh, but you don't, you don't use them for the vowels. The vowels are given their own Tenguar, uh, their own letters. So you, so the, you're saying that the doors are torn. It's in the mode of ballerian are in mode of ballerian, which was used primarily by the elves in Eregion. Uh, but you do see it used a little bit later as well, but, but primarily Eregion, they used mode of ballerian. That was the typical mode. Um, cool. So, so, yeah, what, what we see on the doors of durian is mode of ballerian. So it just has slightly different rules and all of the vowels are actual characters instead of. So this is, this is still, um, this is cinder, right? Yes. So, so it's, it's like I was maybe thinking that, um, the, the way that they spoke at the time, maybe informed the choice of mode that they were using, but this is more of a historical thing that this is how they would write. They would write anything, any, any way. Yeah. At this place in time. I, I'm not. And clearly before if it's the mode of ballerian. Yeah, and I'm not entirely positive why they would choose to use mode of ballerian over omoteta. Um, partly, I think it's because the diacritics are a little bit more difficult to carve into things. This is why even elves still used the runic alphabet later in their own language, because if you're carving something into wood, it's much easier to use straight lines than try and do something with all these curves in it. So that makes a lot of sense, actually. Yeah. Cause you could carve those whole letters more easily a little bit easier or where they would become more apparent when, when carved and it makes things look a little less busy. Yeah. And just so everybody knows there will be a test after this episode. I could go on and on. This is, this is my hyper focus for the last 20 years. Like, I got about a third of that and, and that was already like way more than I could ever imagine. That's amazing. Uh, and, and just the fact that Tolkien had that sort of in his brain. Yeah. Yeah. Like when creating this, I mean, that's just mind blowing, right? Like, he was constantly revising. That's, that's one of the joys and curses of learning elvish is that you, you realize very, very quickly that you're just going to have to make artistic choices because Tolkien never intended for this language to be learned by other people. Oh, and, and just like any language, right? It evolves and adapts. Right. I mean, even dialects are different. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's different. Yeah. Which is the whole reason he started writing stories to begin with was to. Exactly. To create a fictional framework in which the languages could evolve and, and he could, and explain why and how these words are wrapped to be what they are. It's the language. He's really, he's really just a geeky linguist and he wanted to write a story that put context to all of his linguistic choices. No way. I love that. That's insane. Sorry. We got very destructive about the doors of do it but continue. The doors of do it and show up. Tolkien nerds on here. This is going to happen. Absolutely. It's so happy. But for, for everyone who doesn't know, and if you don't know, I mean, that's okay. But the doors of Dorne, you might have recognized from the, the, the Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring and where they, they, they were, they take turns into the minds of Moria in the Moria before they meet the Balrog. And Gandalf can't remember the, the, the, the Elvish word for friend. It's written on the door. It's so funny. It's so funny. Literally. Legolas is standing there just like saying it to himself in his head if he had just verbalized. Like this is what it says. It would have opened. Always correct. All you had to do is just read the inscription aloud, my guys. And that's a good lore point there too. And it ties into what we see in the show because if you remember when we first arrived in season one at, at Kazadum, there's the dwarf guard that kind of peeks out of the hole and he's there. It's a very unfriendly situation. Yeah. Now they're creating these, these doors, which are not the main doors into Kazadum. This is just a gate that's being created as the friendship between the elves of Origion and Kazadum. To aid to aid. The front door, as you might say, is on the other side of the mountains where they, where they come out in the fellowship. The main, the main doors. It's a door that you're making for your new friends. Yeah. It would say speak friend and enter and it wouldn't be as secret, secret as normal as normal as the doors normally would because this is something that was being made in friendship. Right. Yeah. Yeah. But I guess after a thousand plus years, it kind of becomes a bit less known. Right. Well, the thing is, even if a riddle, like most riddles, it's, once you know the answer, it's simple. If you forget, then they're just as secure as any other door. Right. And it just kind of got lost over time. Exactly. And that also shows how like compressed the timeline is because by the time they have the doors and by the time Origion is destroyed and Kazadum is a long time. They use those doors for a hot minute. Yeah. But because of the timeline, just kind of. Anatar is in Austin Edil, which is the main city of Edgion. He's there for 300 years in the action. 300 years. Yeah. So he's requesting the rings work. Like we are seeing a huge compression of the timeline in the show because they are forcing everything to happen within not just a short period of time, but one lifetime of men because they didn't want to have all the mortal characters dying off. This is not a dilemma. Understandable. Yeah. Like if we're going to include any recognizable mortal men, it's going to have to be a little bit of a sealed door. So that very much means everything has to be compressed to the very end of the second age. Squash it in the end. Yeah. So, Keller Brimbor celebrates the success of the dwarven rings. They're having like a little party. Anatar is not, not having any kind of like, I'm going to go through some. Internally screaming. Internally screaming. I'm going to go through some and mope. Yeah. And Keller Brimbor notices that his, his, his man crush is, is left him. It's such a, okay. Like I can't fully in words explain or express how incredibly good Charlie Vickers performances, because it's all about the, the non verbal communication that happens in these scenes. It adds so much depth because it's all part of the manipulation. Like even, even just, you know, you're toasting the dwarves and he chooses that specific moment to walk away. Totally. So conspicuously. Because he doesn't need to. Yeah. But, but he could have, if he wanted to put that show on, that he chooses this moment to walk away and draw attention to himself and draw Keller Brimbor away from the celebration is all part of the plan. Everything is so calculated. Yeah. And it's just masterfully written. So it actually seemed, go ahead. 100 percent. It's so good. Well, actually speaking of a Keller Brimbor. The leaves on his color piece look like the leaves of Lloria, but I don't know if they're holier. They're holier. Okay, is that what it is? Because they look so familiar. Most of the styling for Keller Brimbor specifically is going to be around the origin of the name Ereggion. Ereggion is the Holly land. Yeah, Holland. But it's based on Ereggion, the elvish, the Sindarin word for Holly. So most of the stylistic stuff on his robes is Holly leaves. Looks kind of Christmassy. It was so pretty. And I was like, that looks like the other leaves. But that makes so much more sense. The attention to detail that these cast embroidery in this is just so much fun. Apologies once again, we get sidetracked. But Anatar takes that moment to walk away and draw attention to himself. He does. And Keller Brimbor notices and follows him upstairs. And Anatar is like looking off into the distance, again, ignoring the party. And Keller Brimbor is asking like, hey, buddy, what's going on? Aren't you having fun at the party? And he's like, I feel the weight, the weight of our decisions. And we need to make the nine rings. Basically, he's like, listen, like this is all fun. But the brilliance is that he's not the one who says it. He manipulates Keller Brimbor into being like rings for men. And he's like, I didn't say anything about rings. And then Keller Brimbor actually calls him out on it and says, it's a game you play, isn't it? Right. Or like, you plant the seeds of something in a person's head and then make them feel like it was their idea all along. And I'm just like, it's one of those like, you can see that there's a little bit of electricity starting to go to that light bulb, but it's not enough to light it up just yet. Even like before that where he's like, you needed to, I told you to keep your speech short. And he's like, I don't remember you saying that. I don't remember you saying that. He was an abusive relationship. This is like triggering for probably a lot of people. Yeah. Honestly, trigger warning for the gaslighting and the emotional manipulation. It's pretty scary. It goes to a whole new level. A whole new level. Yeah. But I mean, let's give Keller Brimbor some credit here. He recognizes it enough here in this moment, even though Annatar makes a bold argument to say like, we will find the men that are the best of them. We'll find the kings and that are best of heart. Most noble of heart. Yeah. And I'm like, who does he name drop here? Baron. Turin. Turin. Not Turin, yeah. I thought it odd that he didn't mention Turin instead of Arndil because Arndil is the only canonical half-elf. Turin has tragic issues. Maybe he wouldn't be willing. You know, if you like, with under the assumption that the rings are actually good. Turin is not the person that you want to do with this whole dark ring cloud curse over him. Yeah. But Tur, Arndil and then Baron. Right. Right. Which are all. Which of these people are all in the same like line of descent with each other? No, you think about it too. Oh, really? Yeah. We're all connected in that co-mingling of mortal blood. Yeah. This is basically Elrond and Elros' family lineage. Yes, it's their family lineage. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the context. Yeah. The added level of delight for me in him name dropping Baron is that Baron represents Sauron's biggest mistake and biggest defeat in the first age. Not Baron himself, but Baron was in his dungeon with Finn Brod. This is how Finn Brod actually died. He didn't die in battle. He was in a battle of spells with Sauron and lost and then got, you know, ripped apart by werewolves. Which they did not do that because his body got werewolf claws all over him. Right. So if you know, you know. If you know, you just like I don't know. But Baron, Baron who is named dropped in this scene was also in the dungeon with Finn Brod during that. But Baron makes it out alive because Luthian Tenuviel and her hound Huon come and rescue Baron. And this Huon fights Sauron in werewolf form and defeats Sauron. So this was Sauron's biggest defeat in the first age. He loses an entire stronghold to Baron and Luthian. And so it must stick somewhere in the back of his throat. Like saying what a great human. That is a good point. Yeah, he's like sort of holds his nose and choke it out to say this. Yeah. So, so Kellabram were like smartly enough is like, no, I'm not doing it. I don't trust men. I'm not making the ricks. He puts his foot down and he stand up to him. Too easily comfortable. I'm not going to do it. Exactly. And it's like, I get it all good. Okay. I'm just going to do it myself. No, that's the best manipulation. Yeah. Someone tells you know, you say, okay, and then you present them with all of the negative consequences of them telling you no. The threat that is veiled in Sauron saying, I'm going to make them myself then is you're not going to get credit for this. So that's how it plays on his pride because could Sauron make these rings himself? Yes. He absolutely could. He has the skill set, but the point here is to use Kellabrambor as the front of this. Because in order to sell this to the rest of Middle Earth, it is much better coming from Kellabrambor. On that point, yeah, think about the bears of the three elf rings and all of the arguments that we're seeing in the show at this point. If there had been no involvement from Kellabrambor, if it had just been straight from Sauron, they wouldn't be using these rings. They would have been thrown into the engine. Right. Yeah, good point. So the scene ends there, and then we get, we're back to Numenor with Elendiel and Farazan, and we open on Farazan, and he's right away, you know, caress in his scepter. And that's a euphemism. And Farazan here is, he's kind of like he's feeling a little high and mighty high brown. His ambition is getting away with him, and he's telling a story of why the elves built the tower, where they built it so we could feel mortal. Yeah, the Menelterma was the holy site on Numenor when it was, you know, first constructed. It is the tallest tower on the island, on the tallest peak of the island, and it faces toward the west. It faces toward Valinor, and from the very top, on a clear day, if you have keen eyesight, you could see the tower of Tolarcea, which is the island that the elves inhabit off the coast of Valinor. But it's the closest thing to Valinor that you're going to get when you are immortal, and he makes the point, Farazan makes the point, they must have built it to mock us. The kings of Numenor, throughout the history of Numenor, they would reach a certain age, and they would basically let go. They would die, but they would let go of their spirits. They could gracefully just do that, and they would do it before they went senile. And before they started to degrade, as people do in old age, which is completely normal, and there was a very peaceful transition of power that way. The moment they start viewing mortality as a curse, they say, "Well, I'm going to keep power as long as I can then. I'm going to stay alive as long as I can, and you're not going to rip my power from me." And with that shift in paradigm, you get the greed for immortality. You get a character like Farazan. And you get a character like Farazan who takes it a few steps too far. Yeah. And as some Chemin, I hear that his name means something super interesting. I read this on threads from Wizardway Chris. Chemin is a Quenya name, which you could go into, like, why does this Numenorian whose father is all about rejecting the elven ways? Why does he have a Quenya name? It probably comes from his mother, and that is then used as a manipulation tactic from Farazan manipulating Chemin. But the name Chemin is Quenya for Earth. You see this in Chemin Tari, which is a Quenya name for Yavana. She's the one who made the ants. She's one of the Valar. But Chemin means Earth/soil, like the actual Earth beneath your feet. Thus, I'm not surprised Chemin is a dirtbag. He's a product of his raising, but... Man, is he a dirtbag? But I find it funny. I think that's in front of us all along. His name is Chemin, and that means dirt. Speaking of Quenya, he is... Farazan gives him a task, and we don't quite know what it is, but if he does this task, he will be revealed like what his mother... I forget exactly what he says. But there's something that his mother thought of... We wanted him to know. We don't quite know what the task was, and we never get the reveal in this episode of What Phasone Teases him with. But we do cut to the blind queen. She's still grieving after her failed coronation, and Alindeals with her, and ready to start a war. He's ready to rebel. He's sort of like... The ships are with you. I'm with you. We can rally. You can take the loyal. Yeah, 100% loyal, and you can get a sense. She puts her hand on his chest, and he almost goes to grab it, and she moves away, even though she can't see it, she can feel it. So there's definitely some love connection here. They definitely feel for each other. They're definitely hinting at that. I wonder if they will take this any further, and maybe I'm asking you guys to tell me, is this something that I'm looking at? That I'm perceiving again, like last week, I'm thinking, "Oh, glad you don't know, Ronda, but do a thing." And we made it to a bean like that. Don't be stupid, Drew. You know what I'm saying? And a nice way. You guys bridge that nicely that I brought it. There was a difference. But I'm wondering if there's something here. Am I reading this? Are you right to read chemistry in the performance? Well, not only chemistry, not only chemistry, because I think that's there, but do these two end up becoming something? More wise. The way you said it last time was, "Are they teasing a romantic relationship?" And the answer is no. Okay. That's my answer. Yeah, because last week you talked about it, because you were like, "Is it collateral? No, Ronda, could you get together?" Yeah, if you were like, "Well." Again, looking at the scene stuff and actor interviews and everything. Lendel, Lloyd O, and he plays a Lendel, has hinted that there is, you know, there are vibes there. Now, whether they are actually going to act on any of it, probably not. Okay. And that, you know, that owes to Tolkien being supremely non-sexual in his work. Even when there are notes of romance, it's not explored through a sexual lens, which, as an asexual person, I love that. Yep, that's great. That's great. I love it. See, I'm looking for my Game of Thrones sex scenes, y'all. Sweetie. Sweetie, I'm going to hold your hand when I say this. Can I get a little elf love happening, you know, with the ears and maybe a dwarf? I don't know. I might be into that. No. That, again, that's what fan fiction is for. Sweetie. And that is why the Tolkien fandom has a very long history of especially spicy fan fiction because there is no sex in the book. Yes. The queen ass, the queen ass. Wow. What did you see? You looked in the palette here. What did you see in the palette here? Right. And he's like, I saw myself riding away, like from Numenor. I don't know what it means. And she interprets it right away as like maybe Numenor saved. Right? This means you didn't see. She interprets this as you didn't see what I saw. Right. I saw the destruction of Numenor. Right. Right. And so right away she's saying, okay, then we got to go down this path. Maybe, maybe, you know, let's not do anything rash. Let's, you know, all like watch how this turns out. Right. She sends in. I'm trying to stop the prophecy. You fulfill the prophecy. Right. Miriel presumes that Elendiel seeing something other than the outright destruction of Numenor is a good sign. So whatever you see yourself doing, go ahead and do that because in her mind, that means Numenor survives. Of course, you never know how far into the future you are viewing with the Palantir. And also there is a hint of smoke rising in the distance. Yeah. So that was only one who saw that. And my mind immediately goes to the fires of the temples of Sauron to Morgoth when Sauron influences the Numenorians later on canonically. We don't know how they're going to approach that. Right. Interesting. Yeah. But I would love for that to be the fires of human sacrifices. Yeah. It's so dark, but I love it. Great. It could even be the when Sauron burns the tree of Numenor, which is kind of how it starts. He encourages Farazan to cut the tree down and find his way. Interesting. Elendiel's vision there, if it's the burning of Nimloth, the tree, then sealedor should be there escaping with a sapling. Yes. Is this true? Yes. Oh, wow. Sorry. I'm just giving up so far ahead. Interesting. And we know that the Palantir typically is right. We do, Elendiel follows her order. She goes down to the ships, and he sees right away that all of his men are being stripped of rank, and they're handing in their swords. The Kemen's there, stoking flames, and you're no longer the captain, and he's about to, looks like he's about to kind of rally the troops, but he turns, he remembers what his queen said, and he says, you're right, I am no, I am no captain, and Hansen, and Hansen in his sword, kind of quelling things as it were, and he has a bit of a one-on-one with his daughter. They definitely don't see eye to eye. He is not happy with her to see her choices. I am the only thing that I'm kind of like interesting about is Iarion, how quickly she turned against her father. I feel like I needed a little bit more hatred or reason for the hatred before getting to this point. I almost feel like I skipped a couple paragraphs somewhere. Like I understand why, but I needed a little bit more lead-up to that, because it's like- They tried, it's just lack of execution, I think. It's all of these things that Iarion is blaming and despising all have their root in the connection of Numenor to the elves. Right, which- And that's why she sides so firmly with Farazon, under the assumption that he would never consult that elf stone. Exactly, and cut to, thank you for that, Segway, Farazon, tempting fate here. We see him uncover the Palantir, we don't quite see him use it, because- Don't know if he used it or not. I mean, let's call it as it is. Curiosity. Yeah, kill- I don't know. Oh, you don't think so? I think it's fully possible for Farazon to be so convinced of his path and his superiority that he could just outright reject the pull of the Palantir. More looks at it in disgust rather than temptation. Because of what it represents. Yeah. So I could see it go either way, where he's a hypocrite and he uses it, or he is a true believer, quote unquote, and rejects it outright. We go to Linden, and Gil Gallaud has received the letter from Colorbrimbor, and we get a nice like montage of Vio. Oh, so good. And he's receiving counsel that they need a sale on Addar now or an ignore, and we should sell on Addar and ignore Gladriel's warning, and he's kind of, he's having the vision of the ring, some nasty things going down in his mind's eye, and he's not convinced. And then we get a quick shot of probably the worst shot in the whole episode of Elrond just running, just like, uh, and it's like, it's like, it's like a two second shot. We had to show the, the, the passage, yeah, I don't know, and then turning back. I don't know. I love the dramatic. Taking off. Yeah. I was like, what is happening right now? I, I, I personally left because I'm just like, no, no, not the cloaks, those, those become important three thousand years from now. I mean, it's not like, it's not like, it's just that, like he's running like down the street. Like, you can't like find a village with a horse and be like, all right, I got to make good time here. Like they literally run the whole way. That's an interesting point though. I was just a little, I was just the, the mortal encampments between Landon. Yeah. I just giggled a little bit. I was like, that's a little silly. He's still running. He's been running since episode last of like, but we love to watch the boy run. Okay. Curls. The only, the only thing point I want to make here is I find it interesting that like although the rings technically aren't corrupting the elves or in the sense that we know that the rings are corruptible or like how men can be corrupted by the rings, they are making, they are, they are adjusting decisions that may or may not have been made because of what the rings are telling people. Like, so we see that with glad you're ill. She's making decisions based on what the ring, the visions, the ring are giving them. And now we hear, we see Gogala making decisions wrong or right. We don't, you know, we don't know yet. But it's also important for the audience to know where the three are, where the three rings currently are at any given point. So because the ring was given from Galadriel to Elrond, we need to see Elrond moving that Elrond and that ring are back in Lindon at the moment. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, let's get to it. Kaza Doom, we're back. And Disa is not real thrilled about King Duren's ability to find the sunshafts with the ring's influence. She right away is like, hey, like, this is something that takes like years to craft. It is not something that you could do. Fails like Cheaton. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like nice. That's actually something I like her. And another comical moment, like other than I don't think the running by Elrond was supposed to be funny, but I laughed. But a somewhat comical moment here in Kaza Doom where Disa is trying to buy, I forget what you called it, like a singing stone, I believe, a tuning stone for their daughter. And there's a bit of a negotiation here and they learned that King Duren has put a ring tax. 100% tax on something on everything, like damn, subtlety, not his strong suit apparently. Yeah. Our first clue that things may not be going right with the king and the ring. And Disa bumps into somebody drops the stone 150 coin stone. Yeah. Yeah. Hold on to that thing. You just, you spent a little cash on that. It rolls forever. This thing rolls through the market down into this thing, into this cave that no one ever goes into apparently. Yeah. It's kind of reminded me of the wizard chasing his, his, his map. Yeah. My map of stone. Distinct. But it's funny. I mean, listen, I'm all for levity. Everybody needs a C-3PO in their show. And she goes into the water or she goes into the cave. It's got a nice little pool. She does a little singing finds her stone, which is nice, a nice touch. But something sings back. She reached down to the darkness and the darkness reached back out. Exactly. And it's pretty, pretty startling scene. She drops the stone. It shatters and the visual effect of, of the vibration hitting the water and coming towards her was fantastic. Mm-hmm. Love that. Did the, did the water remind anybody else of where Gandalf and the bow rock fell into kind of looks like that cavern. Yeah. So I was like, I'm not sure if that's deep enough, but yeah, like the, like the callback. Yeah. It looks very similar. Yeah. Same vibe. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's one of those things where I was like almost like subtle like, Hey, that kind of seems familiar. Yeah. I like that. And another comical kind of scene we see King Duren showing the rings to a bunch of other dwarves. And we come to find out that I thought I was watching like the other kings like, Oh, like the other king. Yeah. They're in the series. Yeah. But then he's like, and he slaps. They're not for you. They're for your Lord. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, Oh, the lackeys have showed up and we're getting just a little in between scene, but he talks about power. The moment of dwarven appreciation, someone, I had pointed out the wonderful diversity that we've seen in this season for the elves. And one person pointed out that the one hairstyle type that they hadn't seen was dreads. And so in this scene, we had one of the emissaries is a black dwarf. And he's got, he's got really nice dreadlocked hair. And so I was like, there are your dreads. That's right. We've seen everything now. We've got dreads. We've seen really tight curl patterns, really looser curl patterns. There's been so much diversity. I love that. You can hear it. But someone commented where the dreads and there they are. There they are. There they are. That is nice. It's nice attention to detail. And he during mentions to his to the emissaries that like, Oh, you can get the rings. You can have this incredible power, but you're going to have to give me something in return. We don't quite know exactly what, but we do find out later that it's a big percentage of the coin each half. And I believe fealty, like they need to kind of like represent recognize Duren as like the king, I think, or is that am I reading into that basically setting up a hierarchy. Yeah. Yeah. If they're providing cause with half of the wealth of all of their kingdoms, the doom is obviously the pinnacle of that hierarchy. Everything is actually having a conversation with Chris, your favorite guy. What's his name? Narvey. Narvey. Yeah. He's having a great conversation with Narvey and Narvey's the king freaks out. He's like, where's my ring? You stole it. There's a bit of like. That's my name. Anyone else of Billbo? Yeah. The paranoia. Yeah. Yeah. There's a little bit of that. And he's like in he in Narvey's like, you said the ring was heavy. And I found I thought this was a nice callback, but I guess my my issue here is like, and Chris, we talked about this in a couple of episodes where you were saying that the dwarves are, I guess, not necessarily immune to the rings, but immune to sort of Sauron's like. Yeah. It doesn't work out the way the Sauron wants. Yeah. The greed is the only canonical thing that that we're being shown in the show that some also in the books. Okay. Is it is it there's mention of how they will that the rings will make them richer and but also that it makes them agree to your. So. The vibe of the Dwarven rings is that they do not succeed in giving Sauron complete mind control over the dwarves. Yeah. Nobody ever successfully. Because the dwarves were created by Aule and he doesn't understand the full nature of them. Nobody ever dominates the Dwarven wills. Correct. But they but but but it plays up certain personality traits for the individuals. Okay. So you have the paranoia that durin already had is then amplified. Okay. His greed is amplified. Which is probably why later Sauron just wants to get all the Dwarven rings back whereas in the, I guess it's not really clear whether whether he holds the nine at the at the point of Lord of the Rings or if the Nazgos still wear them, it's not really clear. He does school nine. Yeah. The the Nazgul aren't even wearing the nine anymore by the time we hit Lord of the Rings. Sauron just casts them. Oh really? Oh, just carried around. Yeah. And his eyes. Those people have asked you before what happens to the nine when the one yeah is destroyed. I was just like, well, he had the nine. What's funny is some of the like he he Gandalf gets back some of the Dwarven rings, but some of the other Dwarven rings cut eaten by dragons. Oh, really? Destroyed by dragon. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Which also shows that these rings of power are not, you know, indestructible mind. Like Sauron's ring is we we we we leave Duren and we're back to a reggie on and there's trouble. There's trouble with the rings. There's there's there's tools flying around trouble right here in the city. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Trouble. And help me out. Is it Mira Miradania Miradania Miradania, which I I won't go huge into it, but Miradania is a conundrum for me because her name does not follow Elvish naming conventions. Oh, interesting. No, Elvish names end that way. Yeah, is not done with Elvish names if they had named her Miradan when Miradanell. You could have done different things that would have fit in the guidelines that Tolkien itself provided. So the the way that she doesn't have a truly Elvish name is pinging my spider sense. It's a little red flag. That's why I believe that she might still be Calabrian. She may still be Galadriel's daughter in my mind. Oh, really? This is fan theory. That would have been interesting. Wow. When she first when she first appeared we we thought she was born like thought that she was Calabrian and then they gave her the name Miradania and we're like but that's not even an Elvish name like Ariane's original name that was leaked was Corrine. Oh, that's her name. And we were like that's not an Elvish name. What are they doing? And of course she ended up being a Ariane instead. Now they are an actor did call her in the show Miradania. So that is the name she is under in current in world but it doesn't follow naming conventions so it might be a pseudonym. That's just a theory. I'm trusting the writers more and more with this show. So I am very curious about the naming of this Elv it's a bit sus but we'll see how it plays out. I'm willing to wait. Yeah. I think you might have to. That's very it's very much the the friend we all yeah I can wait. Yeah. Could be. Oh yes. Yes. Yes. I will play him. It's my job. It turns out the the tools flying around is actually Miradania and she's wearing a prototype ring ring of power that makes you invisible. We've seen this before with the one ring which is not I'm sure not a coincidence considering this had the full weight of Anatar behind it Sauron and it turns out that she's seeing the unseen world. She's seeing what photo I guess I'm assuming as a as a casual watcher in fan. This is like kind of what Frodo sees when he puts on the one ring he's seen when he goes into the Wraith world right in the Peter Jackson films it is it is essentially seeing into the unseen world. Yeah. Her arms that are hidden right and when calls out that she sees a dark shape with piercing eyes. So piercing eyes and fire you know skin of fire and all of us who know the Lord just like she sees Sauron. Yeah. Yeah. He's right there. He's the guy you're staring at that guy. Yes. That's him. Come on put it together. Who is who is who is not like he surprised by the disappearance and stuff but you see the look in Charlie like as Anatar's eyes where he's fascinated he's like oh I didn't know they could do that. Oh really? I saw it as like like that's how I read it. Yeah I saw it as like don't don't call me up don't call me you know like I saw it as like he's sort of like I didn't see fear I saw fascination he's just like yeah but almost like like he's not staring he's sort of like looking away you know like don't like what you do if you don't want to teach you to call on him yeah when when he when she starts to describe his actual form. Yeah. Yeah there's discomfort. There's this. Yeah there's wheels. Yeah. Yeah exactly. How am I going to spin this? He's already working on it. Yes. I hope I wasn't the only one that when she started to describe the place that she was in there she she says missed and she pauses and it says darkness. I was really upset that she didn't say shadow like missed and shadow from a Pippin song from Return of the King. I was kind of just in there. Yeah and I was just like I was just like she said darkness. I was just like a shadow just cloud and shade yes yeah I was whole it would have it would have been an interesting callback for them to have done that yeah and it's interesting she's basically describing like worst worst situation possible and it's here and everyone just kind of like oh that's not good and then like Kellebrimborn and Anatar like oh you're fine you're with friends. Everything's fine. If someone like was invisible one moment and then woke up and said like we're surrounded by fucking darkness there's a dark guy over here with fire eyes I'd be like well let's get the fuck out like that ain't good. They're all like seem to be fine with it I don't know like it seemed like she gave her pretty good warning here and everyone just kind of like yeah yeah weird ring shit. Well the first the first thing you do if you're the manipulator in the room is you call the person down you insist that everything is fine totally they both and that and that you are their friend and they are safe with you because I just think the other hours kind of should have been a little bit more alive just now maybe this ring stuff we're doing isn't okay. But you're back you're safe with me remember yeah remember how safe you are with me and taking that and weaving it into it's actually Kellebrimborn oh yeah who's who's the thing you saw and I didn't want you to see it until I helped heal him no no no I mean we could get there real quick during arrives right before Kellebrimborn was about to like give away like how do you make these rings the right way during here okay I'll go see him and he goes down and during right away is like listen there's something wrong with these rings my Kings he's not he's not he's greedy he's not doing the right thing he has never been his way his way which you know you know I guess you know see how he was super cautious about mining for me thrill it wasn't about the greed he wanted safety for his people for any put all those like saying not sanctions but like structures to not dig deeper and now he's like send a boy yeah yeah everything's fine and all the fail safes yeah yeah when when Kellebrimborn pushes him he's like no the rings are perfect you know there's nothing we didn't you know and then he's like well it maybe it's the ring maker and he calls out anitar right away and you know about this guy yeah and this even gets Kellebrimborn's wheel spinning a little bit more like you could see it like hit him in the face a little bit like yeah you know what that is the that is the rare that is the unknown element here you know the other daughter is up in the tower just looking down like like I have sight to be like if you know that this Maya knows exactly what has just been said yeah again the wheels start turning I mean that tower is pretty tall you think you can hear what's going on down there are you just using 29 we all know how far like a last can see that's true like you can read and it is just unless it's the rising smoke from a pile of orcs they suddenly just come upon oh oh yeah that those guys had something in his eye was on the eyelash it's fine so yeah then we get to back to anitar real quick he's like stops watching and goes back and he's comforting meredania and he's kind of quit like you said on he's kind of like saying hey everything's gonna be okay and Kelle I'm doing you know you saw this thing I found it interesting he asks him have you seen it and he said yes because it's like you're you're an emissary of the valor have you seen this unseen world and he's like yes of course I have yeah and and and he's just like most people who see it never want to come back yeah like yeah so many lives so proud of you I'm so proud of you for for resisting you're so great for resisting oh and and I'm so sad and you know it pains me to say and then just like that I didn't want you to see him like this yeah until I'd had the chance to heal him and of course she's like wait what yeah talking about Kelle Brimbor like I didn't even say it he lets her say it right so that it's more real and it was her idea and the way that she the way that he does this is is so sneaky not only does like this is also slightly random but the more we see of his like crown the more it looks like snakes serpents yeah the more it looks like especially in this episode yeah uh-huh it looks like snakes are starting to crawl in yeah and the way that he further manipulates her by complimenting her hair and the way it looks like a ladriel yeah and and I was like was like we like we've talked about the importance of her hair everybody knows the importance of it and what it means and for him to compliment her like that and kind of like you know take a look at spitting image for just a moment yeah and it works if she's flattered if she is then that's then that's a whole other level of uh-huh you just like my mom is this absent person in my life obviously uh and but but everyone admires her and there's a certain hero worship whether whether they're related or not there is hero worship involved so to be complimented as I like to go read Galadriel here's another uh you know obscure language thing so Galadriel Gil Gallad and Calabrian are all named for their hair really Galadriel uh is the cinder and cinderized form of uh allotario which is the after name that Calaborn gave her it's not her given name I didn't uh but she was so widely known by it because it described her it named her for her hair it is I thought she was crowned with golden radiance uh is is what Galadriel means Calabrian is uh she who's crowned with with a with silver stars or something with a silver firmament so named for her silver hair Gil Gallad Gallad being in both Galadriel and uh Gil Gallad he was named for the brilliance of his silver hair that could be seen from leagues afar even at night so the depiction of Gil Gallad as brunette is not accurate but I don't like it's like almost black dark hair but but those three it was it was he was named for the brilliance of his hair his armor and shield that could all be seen from leagues afar yeah the way that I didn't even know that so again the hair comparison being told that you have hair like Galadriel's again it just it keeps that's huge me that she remembered Calabrian yeah I also felt like Anatar or Sauron here is also also a little obsessed with Galadriel too right this also I saw this is kind of can be read that way yeah like not only see manipulating her and calling her like obviously comparing her beauty to something like Galadriel who was probably gonna be on pretty age but his obsession too with seeing her like the first season really implied that as well like he sees her in a way as a I almost want to say equal right like he would like her to be doesn't he ask her to join him as a point he sees her as the mightiest of the elder right yeah which she is basically mm-hmm she she is renowned in Tolkien's works uh and I believe correct me if I'm wrong Chris um that she's listed that it's basically her and Fayanor yeah the two greatest his later writings especially as yeah as he he he increased her stature with the later letter writings that that didn't end up being in the published Silmarillion um but yeah you're you're correct he kind of revised her character to uh to to be great and it's good this one of the things I like about this we had a lot of early criticism criticism from people in this show about um the whole aspect of Galadriel being a warrior or too much of a hero and as or something else but I think it's that's uh just shows a misunderstanding or lack of knowledge about what you're saying there it's again it's right there in the names Tolkien is is so good about giving us names that give us insight into character uh you know and and it's from little characters like Lindia song dude uh he is the he's a random Bard and Rivendell do we need to know anything more about this guy no so he's called song dude uh but then you get names like you get your hand man Camnier uh same same sort of thing but then you get names like Galadriel and you have lore behind them and Galadriel's mother name which is typically elves at least in Noldor in tradition uh the Noldor being this sect of the elves that uh Elrond Galadriel Gilgala they're all part of the family of Finway um in naming conventions elves are given a father name and a mother name and then later on typically they are given epistas or afternames uh Galadriel being one of those afternames for her her mother name which is typically regarded as being what's the word I'm looking for mothers were supposed to name their children with a certain sense of foresight so whatever they named their kid tended to be some aspect of them that they actually become um Galadriel's mother name is Nereren which is man woman she was Amazon Intimperment Tolkien says she was she was just as active and just as forceful in personality as any man there was gotcha okay so so it's again right there in the name all the criticisms and just like you guys don't know elvish obviously because like you're really cherry picking what you want to say and that's okay but if you take a deep look at the character yeah yeah she has depth oh my gosh that is so cool yeah we're back in Numenar for probably the most gut-riching scene of the episode okay um here we are at um an ancient shrine um and elendial and valentil right valentil valentil valentil valentil um are paying homage or paying respects lighting candles and sending them off to see I'm assuming for the dead who the fallen from the past the recent most recent battle in Middle-earth continue on um he says some very interesting words that will be familiar to fans of both book and of the trilogy um he's uh he says uh it's about uh green white a green country under a swift sunrise um and that's familiar because um in the return of the king it's one of the things that Gandalf is telling pippin in his little monologue while all of this chaos and war is going on um and that line is also specifically in return of the king it I think it's one of the last things to be said in the book um and I I immediately recognized it because I could hear it basically in Gandalf's voice because pippin's my favorite character it still doesn't sound so bad right so like it sounded so familiar because I just I anything that like pippin is in like this is my boy it's it's it's it's a nice moment it feels like we're we're witnessing you know you know them sort of paying respects and kimon comes in with uh some troops and condemns what's going on and he says this the shrine's been condemned you must vacate immediately and i'm getting into a pipeline or it's gonna be an aqueduct i think aqueduct yeah i mean aqueduct um and um they're gentrifying uh he's he's kimon like is like they're the soldiers are kind of rough-assing the the high priest and uh alindial kind of comes in and he stops him he's like let him and he's protesting because he wants to take the shrine because uh maybe one of you can remember but it's something about if the shrine contains the um the way way forward or or for for those of fallen i did i actually uh uh so there's a wonderful uh there are several wonderful lord of the rings creators but one of them is uh it's k um where she posted uh me when a new minority and says uh all the souls for whom she weaves will be lost uh looking at the statue of niana and i was like can you tell me more about this where i don't know who that is um and there was a video that she had just recently made yeah she made a video about niana it's great it was it you can probably formulate that way better than i can um so there are a couple things in the scene that are that are significant from a from a linguistic point of view uh first everyone says nasi a few different times the priest says it everyone echoes and then elendial says it uh but that's quenya so linguistically we see that anyone who has a quenya name anyone who is speaking quenya in noumenor they are the faithful so we have a distinct uh split between those who are going to be speaking elvish and those who wouldn't ever um and so you see a very a very easy split between the faithful and the kingsmen uh during the scene not only with the conflict that then ensues but linguistically they're saying stuff in elvish and then uh the quote old faithful man uh comes forward and and he's the one who speaks in sundrian uh he says which is if she's not stored or if i don't store this uh relic away the souls for whom she weeps will be lost yeah and this is a figurine for the vala niana niana who is always depicted as weeping um but she is the vala for grief and mourning um for finding strength and fortitude through hardship and grief uh and and courage i think but she is the vala who was in charge of question it's hard to put it in words but she's the one who was the vala that Gandalf followed before he became the Gandalf he was aurorian and this uh mia because he's on the same level as Sauron uh Gandalf as aurian followed niana as like his mentor if he want to view her that way uh and perhaps the way that they depict her here is a guide for souls yeah to the afterlife okay which for men we don't know what that is nobody does so uh she's just sort of seen as a bit of a shepherd here uh and they they have a lovely little ritual for for their fallen when they are faithful who believe in the vala yeah i actually thought it would have been really cool if uh once uh arand dio puts his little shell in the lake that it goes out symbolizing that his son isn't dead oh yeah or when it did a single shot i was hoping the light would come out the one that your mourning cannot be mourned yet exactly that would have that would have been really interesting right if it didn't continue floating away yeah yeah that's always something would happen but uh it's okay well too late now yeah yeah yeah it's my head canon yeah head canon though i love that uh so the the priest wants the statue um and uh kamen comes in he's like oh you you want it you want it and he throws it on the ground and shatters it like a completely just picks it up and just goes try yeah like class like you couldn't write a worse always do um man and alindial punches him as he deserves it oh the punch felt across he's needed to be punched into face yeah he did the whole season yeah uh and he finally gets just clocked um but then and then he kim and orders the guards to hold him and he's i'm gonna punch him back so he can punch him back like it's like like it's like back wow wow like just has zero this guy this kid is trying so hard to look like an authority figure yeah he's trying so man like he's got a pole cut though uh so it's the worst like this guy has zero character um and um the valondial stops him from punching alindial and uh a fight ensues everyone breaks out and fight he says valar forgive me and then and she's kamen's ass yeah well to be fair kimen gets a couple blows in i mean i you know it's a little hits in but you got to think he's small or muscles yeah he can't cook they hint that he's about the drown like valondial is about the almost drowned and he he doesn't he gets up knocks him over that's body mechanics though it's way more difficult when you're in when you're being pushed down yeah sorry my degree coming out again no i'm glad you do because i was like part of me was like i'm pissed about this because i feel like you could have like fallen backwards and brought him in at the same time that's what i was thinking is why don't you just go in and bring him with you yeah so uh kimen uh uh uh uh valondial breaks kimen's arm the just snaps the crunch oh that's that sound oh that's what we call an anterior subluxation of the glenohian world joint that is that is your shoulder being pumped out of joy oh gosh um and he's about he picks up the sword he's about to you know i i don't know yeah they hint that he might kill him but i don't think he ever would have i don't think he would have killed him yeah i don't think he would have killed him um he would have stabbed him through the knee you know something something you know take him out of commission a scar here and there um but alindial orders him not to put to put down the sword and walk away he does and we all the telegraph the telegraph shot a mile away uh uh kimen stabs uh valindial be in the back through the chest and kills him i and i normally pride myself in like knowing those types of shots and what they mean especially you know like the bus you know coming to hit someone with the road yeah like this i was so into the fight i did not recognize the camera and how it all worked that when he got stabbed i know i noticed that when valandial was stepping forward after dropping the sword right the camera was in a place where we couldn't see kimen yeah and i just like oh i know no pale and i just started crying yeah yeah uh that was not on my bingo card no i thought i knew i know valandial is eventually gonna die like it all yeah people do but but this you know this is different i wasn't expecting it going into watching this episode no if you had not told me that a character was going to die i wouldn't have picked valindial yeah same and this is this was the other one that i was like this reminds me of something um like has the same vibe i'm gonna try really hard not to cry again while talking about it but the way that irondia was can't even pronounce kark lake as i'm thinking too much um is holding him as he's dying is giving me such aragorn and boor mirror vibes that i could not hold it in that i was like this is giving almost like we didn't even have a whole ton with you know our little guy and yet there was something so powerful about his death because he's going to he's there defending doing what is right he's basically a surrogate son at this point because that's what i'm gonna make it worse yes please okay i'm gonna make it worse um please make it worse make me cry the uh the comparison that came to my mind is from a little movie called hook roofio roofie dying in peter pan's arms and saying i wish i had a dad like you that's that's the vibe i got and i was like this is heartbreaking not only did they already heard us with the never-ending story now there's this make it worse you did you see my nose is already like super room oh man yeah yeah that it's yeah brutal that hurt brutal uh and i mean and i just the again the trauma bond that had grown between these two because it's lost his sealed war and now and then deal is in a position to you know the one who was left that he was closest to after losing his son yeah and there was a nice and i think the other misdirection i think too that i think we all didn't see it come in was there is that moment with a villain deal and and and ellen and ellen deals the uh daughter um blanking on her name um yeah where she where she's like you were my best friend and she's like i i'll i can go talk to somebody to get you reinstated like she sort of like once she wants like earlier in the episode she wants like she she seems to like look care for him right and uh not and and more than just a friend and kevin did not like that so of course he was and there's do something there there is there is the jealousy there are a couple pointed shots there where we see kevin reacting to yeah the two of them touching right right and and then of course given the opportunity take out the competition take exactly um so we don't quite know what the repercussions of this year we did this is the end of the numerals of for for this episode but ellen deals seems to be arrested and will and claiming and will probably be blamed for the incident at um at the shrine i actually have a theory um so i was talking with some friends uh about how the internet is coming up with creative ways for kevin to die or i've seen that and i i came up with with my own and it's not like a short like ha ha it's like i was so mad and emotional um that i wrote i want him to be drowned by ellen deal when kevin thinks he's finally getting away from some sort of destruction to make it even more driven i think kevin will betray or abandon aryan causing her death so suddenly when kevin is pulled off his horse when it looks like he's gonna get away it's a lend deal and he drowns him in anger and revenge that's what i want to happen yeah everybody's getting creative with with how they want this character's demise yeah i think it depends on on whether he becomes one of the nazgul or not yeah but uh i want him to die well you know like if he becomes the witch king he gets killed by a woman so that's got there you go uh yeah there yeah we we have a certain comfort in knowing this dude's probably gonna die uh because yeah of the fate of noumenor yeah well not only that but i mean like i just don't think you create a character this awful and not have can we have a moment of appreciation though because the writers and the performance by the actor sure yeah i was thinking so well being the worst yeah yeah that the rage that i saw online yeah and and the grief that i saw line was so visceral i was like i did such a good job it's so good when you have a character like that it's like when you are watching her we're reading harry potter and and and you pay average more than Voldemort yeah yeah uh we're back in arregia now after the after the reagan here we go yeah um and just keeps getting worse yeah and annatar is putting on a masterclass yet again uh color bambour is like hey um did you do anything to the rings by the way and he's like long pause long long long gonna pause to where anybody should have been like you did didn't you you know yeah and he goes no and then there's a moment to where he's but we did and he wasn't oh that was so good not placing the blame on anybody but he's putting it on himself making it with it's like together yeah because because then he points out that the deception right behind the letter that that we forged these rings yeah under the cloak of deception that you told your high king that we weren't doing this and that deception has infected the rings and not only did you deceive but I saw you deceive and I didn't stop you there for our fault right yeah and he even poses a solution he's like listen you go to the king apologize you know and he's like commerce or psychology i can't do that like i they never let me forge anything again right yeah yeah yeah and for a craftsman who desperately wants to be remembered that is death yeah so he knew that and exactly what to say and of course on a tar knew that he wouldn't have suggested it if he thought that california would actually do it yeah chef care psychology masterclass california versus being played at this point and it's so and again props to the writers props to them crafting the show i most most of the time when i'm watching moments like this i'm like uh don't be an idiot you know you know like uh come on you're really your fault but listen editor's making a pretty good argument here like i'm like yeah you you kind of did lie maybe that has something like if i am not as ingrained in the lore as you guys are know all the things and blah blah blah now if i'm not noticing he's saying mumbo jumbo before he puts the mutual in i'm thinking maybe it is you know like maybe the beauty is that he's not necessarily fully lying like the yeah the grain of truth is what sal ron is so good at manipulating because it's good is is the craft like this is something that's that's directly from Tolkien that the the creation of art at the level that the elves make it and at the level that fan or and these great craftsmen make it it is truly not just an imparting of skill but of spirit yeah this is we see this dynamic where um Miriel who is fayonor's mother uh she loses all will to live and basically imparts all of her spirit into the creation of fayonor as a person and then fayonor having so much spirit makes these great things you know in his lifetime but he imparts his spirit or he uses the light of the two trees in the silmarils this is not just an imparting of skill it is an imparting of energy and spirit and so the close communion of anatar and kelebrimbor in the crafting of these rings that's how sal ron is able to insert himself into these things and influence them but it it goes both ways that kelebrimbor's influence is what makes the three so powerful that he went in with such great intentions is it is the three rings are a testament to kelebrimbor's spirit that he is kind that he is truly wanting the best for the world around him and and we see that used against him here in in just a masterful stroke of writing like the the writing is so good here yeah props because it's either either you confess to your high king or we forge ahead we deeper into the milestone absolutely and he he does he says uh he comes around and he's like you know you maybe you're right i can we can use these rings and he gives a rousing speech to his interns to his intern that i'm calling his is it i'm sure they have a a beautiful elvish name for intern um uh that's just swiping me or dying man yeah there you go um it's uh and but it's not really that arising i was laughing because it's like he's actually pretty bad right here he's sort of like uh we got to do better and you assholes got to do better too and if i find any one of you assholes not doing your weight uh you're no longer yeah you're no longer with me and i'm kind of like this is not really the pep talk i think these guys well this is bad well this is bad cop good cop exactly yeah so so he's kind of like yelling at him a bit and he's like we're gonna do the rings because you know we got to redeem ourselves we got to redeem ourselves you know because the dwarven rings aren't great and we got to like you know maybe it'll make our our legacy and he says our legacy you know he's like blah blah blah blah and he walks upstairs and he's like yeah yeah no we we have to work we have to not we have to not only make these good but we have to redeem the seven and we have to redeem ourselves right and the and the i think that it's really great too that his speech was also just like a little aggressive and not quite who they think like knew him as because it feeds into the further deception that he that this fiery figure was this dark spirit the new daniya saw oh did it fit so well into that theory yeah and then he goes upstairs just shaking yeah hands are shaking and and he can hear just footsteps away on a tar step in as good cop and reassure everyone and say i believe that we can do this and i know you won't disappoint me and you won't disappoint him right and like he he compli he he tries to explain away why kelobram boar is being harsh right right and it's good it's so good it manipulates me or danya further it manipulates kelobram boar because it also shows on a tar in a positive light look how he's even defending me now yeah and it places him in a more revered fashion to everyone else so that they'll listen to his if he's in and they'll look away if he's doing something probably that he made you know what i'm saying like it it just endears him more to them where they're probably going to turn a blind eye to him again you like a good job doing thing yeah exactly exactly um uh so this is a well-played situation i i i i love this scene it's really well done and we we we pan out the window this is the end of the of the of a regi on story but we pan out we see that orxor approaching um and uh that's not seen in the episode but let's rewind a little bit because we still have a little bit of kaza doom and linden yeah we had a little bit yeah a couple yeah so kaza doom we're back and duren is bursting the door and he's trying to convince his father um to um to not use the rings the rings are a problem there's something wrong with these rings yes there's devilry put into these rings yeah um and this is right right before this the king is telling um and he's telling narvie's like listen like you you set these you set these restrictions so we wouldn't mind too deep and he's like no no no no get rid of those restrictions there'd be gold in them hills um and by the hills i mean down in the mine uh and we get a nice shot of um uh like a cavern which is like riddled with like just tons of gold um and to shut up duren to shut up his son he's basically like yeah yeah that's great yeah the rings uh but by the way you did so good you you brought these rings to us blah blah blah you were right us befriending the elves was the right i'm exactly and he's like i'm so proud of you here take your duren deathless collar back that marks you as the air of the kingdom cut cut to duren walking into his wife wearing the thing and she's like did you uh son of she sees she sees the collar and she's like you did do yeah totally totally had agreement here yeah total like the husband's like oh i i i i i i tried i promise i tried and she's like you fool you know like can't not love him but like uh you know um and then she she makes duren promise to never wield the ring himself right and he says yes i think he does chris back me up here with the lore uh does duren the fourth actually ever wield a ring of power i know duren the third is given one but we never particularly know so so so yeah he so he he must because of that this would be um that would in that would make it be the the ring that ends up coming to uh as a throur and three yeah it's we we don't there's there's nothing said specifically about these characters because they're like to me i think it's a little strange that we have two dorans at the same time because they it's not just like a name that they that they give them it's uh they they really consider that duren the spirit of this it first father of the dwarves will come back and sort of be reincarnated and then that's when they will change the king's name to doran um so it's strange that there's two at the same time and and i know that that's kind of a little bit of a tangent when you're asking about the rings it's just that there's not a precedent to say does doran the third give doran the fourth a ring but if you if you we do know that it gets passed down the the line of kings so it's for sure it's reasonable they will delving to the point that they awaken the bow rock later true that happens in the third age it's yeah it's a third age in the second age right oh it doesn't give lots and lots of it's sort of like how we talked about the barrow whites last time too they're bringing in a lot of elements and put there there's a little an ad anachronistic things but um not a huge deal really you know it's it's just yeah it's a different it's a different version okay i i do see the bow rock being a major source of excitement as far as fandom is concerned about the dwarves of moria there you go yeah yeah like kazadoum is there for kazadoum is there for the story of its downfall just like numenor is there for the story of its downfall yeah oregano is there for the story of its downfall like that it's this will be a running theme yeah and i'm here for it i i i still like i remember watching fellowship in the theaters and and to this day them going through the minds of moria and and gendoff falling about like blew my mind like just absolutely just was like and the mo like i will still go back and just watch that entire scene from the moment they enter they enter like you know at the doors of doing i love it when you get off i'm like that is to me that is like some of the best like 30 minutes of filmmaking ever right like i am like that is incredible like it is just awesome it's like fantasy just chef kiss yeah the the the peter jackson fellowship of the ring movie was my first exposure to tolkin i didn't read books prior to the movies um i was a teenager so i was angsty as fuck but uh i saw fellowship of the ring and like i was moaning murder level distraught uh with with that that part of you know i i 100% believed death of gandalf yeah and oh really yes because i hadn't read the books i didn't know so you know it was truly impactful and i mean that that movie is what sparked my hyper fixation on elvish for two decades now so it's it's good storytelling and it's good film yeah so to uh we were back in linden and elron's done running uh and running all the way back to linden god god bless this kid running like a his art out baby even winded yeah running down the stairs just a powerhouse of uh of cardio talent yeah yeah um man and he tells good gallet uh we gotta go we gotta go uh calamor they're they're uh you know they're gonna attack you know adar isn't in mordor he's on the footsteps of a regeon yeah and if a regeon falls that is the jewel of elvendom we can't let a regeon we can't yeah exactly he shows the ring and he's like listen gladrill you know you know is is with adar blah blah blah and he's like no i got these visions and uh sarah's the real problem here uh we got a we got to make sure we're all combined and combine our forces to fight sarah uh and so we're we're it's our first glimpse of the ring sort of again not necessarily corrupting him but just making him feel it's still an influence it's an influence and making him make decisions that probably he would have made differently if the ring wasn't in his uh in his on his hand any any thoughts on this scene uh uh it's it's quick and it's short and it kind of just gives you a sense that like okay the impending doom of a regeon is is here i think we see a slight shift in gilgalad from having el rond be his his trusted herald to there being a connection between him and galabriel as ring bearers yeah we see a slight shift in galabriel has had visions i've had visions this is tapping into something that's different for us uh and el rond doesn't understand because el rond hasn't used a ring yeah will that be changing anytime soon we'll see what they do oh no because he he's literally holding one in his hand yeah he's he's hell bent against using it yeah and el rond didn't want the rings to be used even even as he's speaking in the council of el rond in in lord the rings so this is not a stance that he changes on really yeah i hope it's not a stance that he turns on real quick either i feel like they did a lot more yeah i want to see a process yeah they need to kind of struggle yeah um so we we're we're back uh with adar and adar's camp and we see uh gladriel get rolled in in a in like a wooden like prison a rolling prison yeah they let her out and uh adar's there to greet her and she pulls a knife on him and it's like i'll kill you i'm gonna take you out like i'll do it i dare uh yeah don't dare me yeah and he's kind of like i think we have the same enemy um and it kind of ends that's where we kind of in the the show um any any last thoughts on that scene i thought that that was the point for galabriel giving herself up she gave the ring to el rond she she put herself in a situation where it was very clear that she was going to be captured and taken to adar like if that's kind of where she wants to go yeah like they could have easily escaped she didn't have to do that but she's going to use adar and if she had if she had any sort of knife she could have gotten herself out of oh so easily she could have escaped yeah so easy yeah it's it's tough right because that last scene in the last episode she clearly was trying to get away right and then adar stopped her right but she probably could have taken him i don't know it's it's a little but he's ancient and old and seems pretty un-unkillable not unkillable but just harder to kill than the average orc right he's he's a formidable opponent right exactly so i don't know like they kind of made it seem like because she does say i'll delay them as long as i can right in the sense that either she's going to make make a bunch of trouble or take out their leader so that they're a bit more directionless what do we actually do he's yeah so i don't i don't know if her goal wasn't necessarily get captured but yeah it does seem a little like the plan here seemed like they did hint a little bit like but yeah we have we have a common enemy and i think that's the closing line of the episode yeah which i mean what just because she hates sauron too she's going to be okay with war on a radion yeah nah this doesn't really make sense i i don't think that she you know wants war to come to a radion yeah but i she likely thinks that if she can get in there and get sauron distracted by adar that she'll be able to put things right with kelvin bore and and things will somehow be okay or at least fewer casualties this is a great show this is much better than season one in my opinion oh yeah i think so and uh so please go tell your friends if you're watching this podcast or listen this podcast watching this you're liking what you're hearing uh convince your friends to to sign up to prime you know for a couple months watch some watch yourself some rings of power it's it's good i can't believe we're telling people i know right i know it's a bitter pill to swallow yeah but don't but if you don't i don't like it if you don't we don't get any we're cool big spars so you know there's no ethical consumption under capitalism and we just have to sometimes do things we don't like and get in order to get the things we want yeah you gotta pay for shit if you want it all right well let's wrap it up um that's it for today's episode we'll be back next week to recap episode six uh thanks for listening and watching and don't forget to leave a comment and all that stuff uh you know because listen if when you when you do that stuff it helps other people like you find us and uh we all want to hang out and be one big happy nerd family and that's all this all comes to work right and that's why we bring on our friends on thank you for joining chris uh chris thank you for joining and wizard quick chris thank you for joining and bringing uh your incredible knowledge of the elven language um again you could find chris online at wizard right chris wherever you're online it sounds like you're on instagram you're on twitter i'm i'm on most but i'm most active currently on tiktok and on instagram threads threads where i've been posting all my details after every episode i love it i also just started an elvish letter subscription service if you'd like to receive elvish letters in the mail to decode i mean that's something that i do now on my fucking incredible absolutely check me out over on patreon wizard way chris i we will do that yes 100 go do it thank you chris and don't forget to check out kauchik.com for all things unfiltered and authentic in pop culture where we break down all the all the nerdy stuff that you love uh if you like that if you like what we're doing here become a member there because it's just it's it supports us and it supports the people that uh that make shows like this and the writers of that of uh of that pop culture website so until next time thank you everybody and we will see you next week bye bye bye you you
In this episode of The Rings of Power, tensions rise as King Durin's newfound power from the rings leads to risky decisions in Khazad-dûm, while Annatar manipulates Celebrimbor into considering the creation of rings for men. Meanwhile, in Númenor, Elendil faces personal and political turmoil as Pharazôn consolidates power, and Galadriel arrives in Mordor with Adar. We are joined today by an Elvish language expert and Tolkien enthusiast WizardWayKris.
