Hey guys, and welcome to my review for the Rings of Power, Episode 3, Adar.
So another one down and I’m just gonna say right away taht I didn’t much enjoy this
episode, and to be honest this show in general really isn’t inspiring much hope.
I’ll talk more about that at the end, but for now I’ll just say that I’m going to
changing the criteria for my top 5 moments for this show as I was actually having a hard
time coming up with 5 scenes I really enjoyed.
However, one of the parts of this show that I do really like is catching the references
to peoples and events from the books, and seeing how they integrate or adapt that history
into this world.
So for the Rings of power, my top 5 moments will basically be the top 5 references I enjoyed
from the books.
By the way I’ll try to keep possible spoilers for the show to a minimum but be aware they
still might come up once in awhile.
So with that in mind let’s dive right in with what I thought was the fifth best moment
of the night and that was the introduction to the island of Numenor.
A central part to the history of the second age, and the ascension of men in this world,
Numenor was an island raised by the Valar in the middle of the sea of the sundering
seas, and I think the show did a great job dsiplaying the majesty and grandeur of their
civilization.
In the books Numenor became the most powerful realm in the world outside of Valinor, with
a vast maritime empire, and for the most part I think the show demonstrated that well.
I enjoyed hearing galadriel talk about the history of Numenor and the Elves and again
this is taken from the books as they were once great friends but grew estranged and
then hostile when men started to resent the immortality of the elves.
Moving onto the number four spot we stay in Numenor with the introduction to several characters
including Queen regent Miriel, Chancellor pharazon, Elendil and Isildur, all taken from
the books and similarly play a central role in the fate of their kingdom.
Although the show is changing the story quite a bit, especially with the addition of Galadriel,
the biggest changes I noticed was that the timeline has been greatly condensed.
For example, in the books the rings of power were forged around 1200 SA, while Isildur
was born in 3209SA.
In the show however Isildur is already an adult and the rings have yet to be forged.
So it seems their tying various events spread throughout the timeline all together.
The relationship between Queen Miriel and Ar-Pharazon will also be interesting to watch,
as they will both play an important role in what is to come.
For the third best moment of the episode, I went with the orc leader we saw at the end,
they called Adar.
If this is Sauron, as they are hinting, then I believe he is in his fair form, which is
no doubt referencing Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, the beautiful form Sauron took in order
to pass among and trick the elves.
It will be interesting to see if this really is Annatar, as to me this was one of the more
interesting things to happen in the episode, and I’m curious to see how a wise and charming
Sauron might be portrayed.
For the number two spot I went with Galadriel talking about Elrond and Elros.
The mixed blood brothers born to the mightiest bloodline in all of middle-earth, descended
from human chieftains, elven kings and even a maia queen.
As they had both human and Elven ancestors, the brothers were allowed to chose their own
destiny, with Elrond preferring to become an immortal elf, while Elros chose the life
of a mortal man, becoming the first king of numenor and living over 400 years.
Many of the great men of the second and thirds ages, including Ar-pharazon and Aragorn were
the descendants of Elros.
And finally what for me was the best moment of the episode, I chose thee Elves rebelling
in the orc slave camp.
For me all the scenes in the camp were the best part of the episode as it reminded me
of one of my favourite stories from the books.
I really like seeing their portrayal of captured elves, as this is one of the sadder parts
of their history, with many elves really were captured, tortured and enslaved by the orcs
of morgoth and sauron.
In some cases they were even convinced to turn against their own people, and so were
released to act as spies for their secret masters.
One of my favourite stories from the first age, was the tale of the Elf Gwindor, whose
brother Gelmir was taken captive by the enemy in the battle of sudden flame.
Hearing nothing of him for years, Gwindor went on with his life and led a contingent
of men to fight in a great alliance against Morgoth in the Battle of Unnumbered tears.
Yet victory for the allies in this battle was dependent on Gwindor and the forces of
the west staying hidden and waiting until they were signalled by the eastern army to
attack.
Knowing this was their plan, the orcs brought out Gelmir, still alive after years in captivity,
and in front of everyone butchered him in a cruel, gruesome manner that so enraged his
brother Gwindor, that he abandoned the plan and led his men in a mad charge aganist the
enemy, which then caused the rest of the western army to follow.
And while they inflicted great damage upon the orcs, they fell right into Morgoth’s
trap and thus lost a pivitol battle which turned the tide of the war in favor of the
Dark Lord.
There were other interesting stories about elves taken captive as well, including one
about Maedrhos, the eldest son of feanor, and cousin of galadriel who lost his hand
while a captive of the enemy until rescued by another cousin fingon.
As a result of all these stories coming to mind, I really enjoyed watching these scenes,
especially when they started fighting back, as the Elves clearly had skills but still
could not defeat the more numerous armed orcs.
I like that they’re not afraid to kill off elves and show limits to their abilities.
The only slight criticism I have is that the orc aversion to sunlight seemed a bit exaggerated,
as they were afraid of sunlight and preferred darkness but should still be able to function
in daylight if necessary.
So those were my top my five moments for the night, and like I said at the beginning I
really don’t know if this show is for me.
It’s only been three episodes but so far I’m having the same problem I did last week,
ass Im finding this show incredibly boring.
This time I actually took note of where I lost interest, and it was twice.
First at the 29 minute mark when galaldriel went riding on a horse, and again at the 54
minute mark when galadriel goes to visit her friend in prison.
At both of those times I found myself reaching for my phone or losing all interest in what
was happening.
I don’t think it was the specific scenes I didn’t like, just that it all feels so
soulless.
It’s probably not a fair comparison, but since I’m review both shows I can’t help
but think about my experience with the Rings of Power as opposed to House of the Dragon.
Although it’s only been three episode for House of the dragon, they already are making
me feel things and I’m invested in the story and characters.
For me none of that is true with the Rings of Power.
Although much of the show is beautiful and the acting is good, I don’t find the dialogue
well written, nor the characters compelling.
When I watched HOTD or GOT in the early seasons, there were moments were I was legitimately
tense, where my heart beat faster or my jaw dropped because of something surprising, where
I cheered for something joyous, or got teary eyed over an emotional scene.
It didn’t all happen at once, but even in the first few episode of those shows I was
experiencing some of those emotions.
Yet I haven’t had that for the rings of power, with perhaps the sole exception being
the war of wrath scene in the opening of episode one, which I very much enjoyed.
Since then, nothing has captivated me, and I can only hope things will improve in the
next few episodes.
Even the hobbit scenes which I previously enjoyed are becoming tiresome, as the Nori
character is acting increasingly selfish in a way I don’t enjoy.
To me hobbit adventurers are compelling because they’re reluctant heroes, who ultimately
long for hearth and home, but she seems determined to pursue her ambitions no matter how much
it might hurt those around her.
I thinkn I would like this character better is she stumbled into adventure despite her
best efforts to focus on caring for her family.
Overall I gave this episode a 4 out of ten, as there were certain things I liked but as
a whole it can’t keep my interest.
So that’s it for my review of the Rings of Power, Episodes 3.
What did you guys think of this one?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments and if you haven’t already, be sure to check
out my spoiler free Prelude to the Rings of Power video, as well as my spoiler filled
videos about the Rings of Power, Kingdom of Numenor and Second Age, which go over all
the events of this period in detail.
Links found below.
So that’s it for now, thank you all for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.