hey it's been a hot second
yes i am still alive even though i haven't posted for almost a month
in my defense i've had 😲✨school✨😲 and i've been working nonstop on my aralas fic (30K words so far 💪)
and ik i said i was gonna do a chapter on elrohir x legolas AND I STAND BY THAT and i PROMISE THATS GONNA BE IN THE NEXT ONE but i had no motivation to post and the rings of power finale gave me my first hint of inspo in literal weeks so here have this half-baked chaotic review of rings of power as a whole and my thoughts on the finale
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please enjoy this low quality meme i made after i watched ep7 of rings of power:
now please enjoy this second low quality meme i made after i watched ep8 as a recreation of the first low quality meme:
yeah. so it's safe to say i have THOUGHTS on the finale. and to get into THOSE we have to go back a bit and look at ep5 and ep7 and make some notes on what i thought ab those.
so ep5 sparked some new thoughts on the modernity of the show, which continues to be my biggest problem
like the whole thing with COMPLETELY rewriting the origins of mithril (????????) and making the leaves of lindon start to whither and go black felt VEEEEERY third age mirkwood to me
in fact, just the way that gilgalad was portrayed in general (though i admit i am not and have never been a gilgalad stan so if any second age girlies wanna correct me on this feel free) was VEEEERY similar to how thranduil was portrayed in the hobbit movies
which while they're comforting asf they're like the farthest possible thing from canon so rly not the best comparison
and the complete lack of gender gap???? like dgmr, i LOVED bronwyn being an absolute girlboss and slaying leading a whole ass village into battle - like yes queen tell them - but YOU'RE TELLING ME that in the SECOND AGE they'd have just followed her like that???? this is ANCIENT TIMES. there would have been SOME DOUBT as to her abilities to lead bc she's a woman like come on
like the elves i can understand since they barely even have a gender binary and i actually rly rly love that and the numenoreans i also accept bc they canonically had MUCH less of a gender gap but SOUTHERN COMMONERS???? IN THE SECOND AGE???
again, while i love bronwyn's character, there's still that element of unrealism in her costuming, her relationship w arondir AND her leading the townsfolk
and again, while that might've worked for the third age (e.g eowyn leading the ppl of rohan while theoden was at war) in the second age there would have been at least SOME sexism-centered conflict based around this
and i actually think that's a super interesting theme to explore !! like the gender gap (or lack thereof) in the second age versus the third and how it varied throughout the diff races
and the fact that they just kinda ignored that feels more third age-y and less second age-y to me which just continues to push this slightly off modernity that the show has
and the fact that everything is shiny and new and at the height of civilization does feel VERY second age-y to me, i've said in prev. chapters how much i actually LOVE this, but shiny and new doesn't necessarily mean modern western societal standards
(and yes i am looking at you, elves w short hair and YES I AM STILL MAD ABT THAT OKAY)
anyway, all of that being said, i am willing to make an exception w all the bronwyn stuff bc we gotta take one for the girlies ykyk
but keep all that second age vs third age stuff i just said in mind, we'll come back to that later
SO EP6.
i mean what's there to say abt this one??? everything that has to be said has already been said
i loved it, you loved it, we all loved it, i'm a hoe for cavalry charges (galadriel could run me over w a horse, i'd say thank you) and this was by far the best episode in rings of power
good, we good?? okay let's move on.
EP7.
inspired me enough to make a single low quality meme bc amazon rly said "oh yk who'd REALLY mess things up and create plot holes in our galadriel-centered show??? CELEBORN. yk, let's just KILL HIM OFF--"
like i??? i???? like I KNOW HE'S GONNA COME BACK IN A LATER SEASON BUT STILL
LIKE THEY JUST DIDN'T WANNA DEAL W THAT SO THEY CHOSE ✨DEATH✨
anyways i'm not all that mad abt it bc all that being said ep7 wasn't terrible as far as rings of power episodes go. i was actually invested in a character death for the first time in this whole show (rip valandil) and it gave us a bigger look at the character we were all convinced was annatar aka sauron (that one slim shady looking mf) but let's set that aside for a sec bc i have 600 words left until i need to cap this chapter and now we're getting down to the MEAT.
💥👹THE RINGS OF POWER FINALE👹💥
LISTEN AFTER THE SOLID 7.5 THAT WAS EP 6 AND THE SOLID 6.5 THAT WAS EP 7 I HAD HOPE. LET IT NOT BE SAID THAT I DIDN'T HAVE HOPE BC I DID. I REALLY REALLY WANTED TO LOVE THIS FINALE.
but as a celannatar shipper, an annatar stan and a celebrimbor stan........ i just couldn't.
like it was FINE at first but the more i think abt it the more i spiral and the more i realize i really really didn't like the rings of power finale
and i didn't realize this until a FULL DAY after i'd finished it, so maybe this chapter will open some eyes and make some ppl who liked it think more critically abt what the finale rly meant
but before we talk abt halbrand and the big reveal at the end of this finale, let's take a step back and look at some of the other mysteries that were unraveled in ep8 and a bit before
1) adar
i really had hope that adar was annatar aka mairon aka sauron LIKE I KNEW IT WOULDN'T BE BUT I STILL REALLY HOPED BC LOOK AT THIS MAN AND TELL ME HE WASN'T JUST PULLED STRAIGHT OUT OF AN ANGBANG FANART
(speaking of which i should rly do a chapter on celannatar and angbang but that's not the point)
but even tho it wasn't sauron and my kinslaying theory (that adar was one of fingolfin's sons that got left behind in the first kinslaying where feanor and his asshole sons burnt the ships and forced the company of fingolfin to cross north through the snowy mountains and that was why adar had those burn scars and he talked abt crossing snowy peaks at one point so i rly thought that was it) I STILL LIKE HOW HE ENDED UP and the reveal that he was an uruk-hai and the way he thought of the orcs as his children was such a cool theme to explore
2) the stranger
a dramatic reanactment of me watching ep8:
*before, hoping against hope*: the stranger is DEFINITELY tom bombadil
*when they entered eren galen aka future mirkwood*: OHHHHHHH ITS RADAGAST BC RADAGAST LIVES IN MIRKWOOD AND EREN GALEN IS JUST PAST MIRKWOOD
*when the slim shady mfs come in*: WAIT WHAT ITS SAURON????? *critical thinking ensues* wait no no no they have the wrong guy there's no way it's sauron bc he's a maiar and he served morgoth in the first war how does it make sense that he's just now being sent down to earth when he's been there for centuries????
*when the slim shady mfs start talking abt going to rhun*: OHHHHHH HE'S ONE OF THE BLUE WIZARDS BC THE BLUE WIZARDS LIVE NEAR RHUN
*when the stranger destroys the slim shady mfs and turns them into a bunch of moths*: *throws down computer* *opens window*
AGHHHHHHHHHHDJKLFHLWHFFKLHAKLFHDLFHJFH
goddamnit it's freaking gandalf.
*when nori the harfoot and the stranger aka most likely gandalf set off together in a very clear foreshadowing of bilbo and gandalf and later frodo and gandalf's journeys* yeah no its definitely gandalf.
FUCK.
yeah so am i upset that it's not tommy b?? yes. am i upset that they decided to completely forgo the lore since gandalf aka olorin isn't supposed to come in until the third age??? YES.
.....
........
oh you thought there was gonna be something else???? no there isnt i just really don't like this.
3) the slim shady mfs aka the rly ominous pale vitamin d deprived more than slightly maiar-esque ppl that we were all convinced were sauron and his servants:
this is like the one reveal i'm happy abt in this whole episode. THANK GOD it wasn't annatar. THANK GOD.
i mean we still don't rly know who they are and i am a liiiiiiittle upset that even though these 3 SEEM to be gender non-conforming and neither clearly masculine nor feminine we didn't get confirmation of this even though they're very clearly maiar and maiar are genderless and i'm a liiittle upset we got deprived of genderqueer rep in the legendarium BUT OVERALL-----
i'm so happy i don't have to deal w these mfs for another couple of seasons.
OKAY.
ALL OF THAT BEING SAID LET'S GET TO THE MAIN THING I WANTED TO RAGE ABOUT OOPS SORRY I MEAN TALK ABT
(and obviously spoilers and all that ig)
*deep inhale* LIKE WE ALL GUESSED THAT THEY WERE SETTING UP HALBRAND TO BE EITHER ONE OF THE NINE RINGWRAITHS OR THE WITCH KING BUT WE DIDN'T GUESS THAT HE WOULD BE MF SAURON????? AND EVEN SO WE ALL THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS GONNA BE LIKE A CORRUPTION ARC TYPE THING THAT WAS GONNA BE STRETCHED OVER MULTIPLE SEASONS AND WE WOULDN'T GET A FULL REVEAL UNTIL LIKE THE VERY END WHEN RINGS OF POWER INEVITABLY SPILLS INTO THE THIRD AGE BUT LIKE????
I MEAN THEY JUST WENT FULL ON W THIS FINALE. LIKE CREATION OF MORDOR, FORGING OF THE RINGS, SEDUCTION OF ANNATAR, CORRUPTION OF ANNATAR, RISE OF SAURON LIKE EVERYTHING.
honestly the only thing i'm surprised they didn't do was the great wave of numenor
and listen i REALLY REALLY WISH that i wasn't an annatar stan, that i wasn't a celebrimbor stan and that i wasn't a celannatar shipper.
truly, i'm JEALOUS of ppl that watched THAT scene w halbrand and galadriel ("you would make me a tyrant" "i would make you a queen") and went omg enemies to lovers dark romance what a power couple!!!
LIKE IF YOU LIKED THAT MOMENT GOOD FOR YOU I WISH I COULD BE YOU.
but in reality the only thing i was thinking was---------
"oh my god they straightwashed it."
AND LIKE LEMME EXPLAIN OKAY SO AT FIRST I THOUGHT THAT THE WHOLE THING W MF HALBRAND CONFESSING HIS LOVE FOR GALADRIEL AS MF SAURON (??????) WAS JUST LIKE GOING COMPLETELY OFF THE LORE RAILS AND I WAS LIKE "okay so we're doing that now cool cool cool it's giving 2014 lotr self-insert fanfiction but okay ig" BUT LIKE THE MORE I THINK ABT IT THE MORE I REALIZE IT IS CANON ITS JUST A COMPLETELY OFF INTERPRETATION OF THE LORE.
because think abt it. what is this scene rly???
its SAURON in the MORTAL DISGUISE of HALBRAND asking GALADRIEL to join him.
and what happened in the lore????
SAURON in the ELVEN DISGUISE of ANNATAR asking CELEBRIMBOR to join him.
see what i mean????
THIS is why ppl have shipped celebrimbor x annatar the way they were IN THE LORE for DECADES. we've spent SO LONG developing how the seduction and corruption of annatar would work....:
celebrimbor's just chilling, thinking of a way to make elves more powerful, freaking SAURON comes along in the elven disguise of annatar, freaking HOT and absolutely gorgeous, celebrimbor's like WOAHHHHHHH SOMEONE GET ME A GLASS.
annatar seduces (i'm quoting the lore) celebrimbor into forging these rings and later reveals himself as sauron and is like "haha i was evil the whole time!!" and celebrimbor is like "HOW YOU WERE SO HOT???"
then annatar now revealed as sauron asks celebrimbor to join the dark side, celebrimbor is like NO NEVER and annatar now sauron again retreats into mordor and celebrimbor takes one of the 3 elven rings for himself, gives one to galadriel and another to cirdan the shipwright
THATS THE LORE.
AND AMAZON SAW THAT AND WAS LIKE "yk what-- imma take that and COMPLETELY DECIMATE IT"
BECAUSE WHAT IS THE MAIN MESSAGE OF THE WHOLE ANNATAR STORY??
that all that is gold does not glitter.
WHICH IS LIKE THE WHOLE MF MESSAGE OF THE ENTIRE. GODDAMN. LEGENDARIUM.
annatar - beautiful but evil.
the silmarils - beautiful but evil
feanor and feanors sons - beautiful but evil
book!saruman - beautiful but evil
the MF RING - beautiful but evil
I COULD KEEP GOING.
SO WHERE DOES HALBRAND FIT INTO THIS????? NOWHERE. FREAKING NOWHERE.
THE WHOLE POINT OF SAURON PUTTING ON A BEAUTIFUL DISGUISE AND CORRUPTING CELEBRIMBOR INTO FORGING THESE RINGS AND STARTING A NEW CENTURY OF EVIL ON EARTH WAS THAT CELEBRIMBOR WAS BLINDED BY THAT BEAUTY.
SO THE MORTAL DISGUISE OF HALBRAND WHICH IS NOT BEAUTIFUL (at least not by elven standards so STFU YOU FANGIRLS) COMPLETELY DEFEATS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE STORY OF THE FORGING OF THE RINGS.
LIKE I DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE THAT HALBRAND'S SUGGESTIONS TO CELEBRIMBOR DURING THE FORGING WERE THE SEDUCTION OF ANNATAR UNTIL LIKE AN HOUR AFTER I'D FINISHED IT.
like we've shipped these two characters for DECADES since the appendices came out in the 90s, we've developed their story for DECADES in fics and fanart and now we FINALLY SEE THE CORRUPTION OF ANNATAR ONSCREEN FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER------
and it's ruined in every possible way it can be ruined. and what's worse they straightwashed it and somehow brought galadriel into this bc every girlboss needs a possible villain arc ig.
and it would have been PERFECT if halbrand in revealing himself as sauron had CAST OFF his mortal disguise and actually, yk, REVEALED HIMSELF. like w the blonde hair, pointed ears, burn scars, incredibly beautiful, yk, SECOND AGE SAURON.
but nooooooooooooooo even in the final shot of him ominously looking over mordor he still looks like halbrand which makes me VEEERY nervous bc that might mean them completely rewriting the origins of sauron and the origins of maiar in general which is a BIG no ❤
*deep, pained sigh*
so if you liked this finale and genuinely do not give a shit abt halbrand vs annatar and celebrimbor vs galadriel good for you !!! i really wish that could be me !!
but as a celannatar, celebrimbor and annatar stan..... i can't sit by and let them do this to my bbs
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AND THATS IT!!!!
we're rocking 2400 word chapters now so i guess that's cool
RoP for me is sitting at a 6/10, 3.5 stars overall.
hope y'all missed me bc i missed y'all sm <33
tysm for the reads, lmk your thoughts on the show and i'll see you soon <3
out ✨