Thread by @DrNosy10

S1.E6 Breakdown of #TheRingsOfPower 🧵

This episode was very explosive. Not much #Tolkien to breakdown but very fun all the same.

Theory: This is Sauron's gauntlet. Adar claimed it as a trophy.

#TheOneRingQuisition

NEW LIFE

Adar plants some alfirin seeds and says a prayer before battle.

Quenya: `Vinya coivië... na vírië...`
English: "New awakening... To life..."

1. `My children, we have endured much...`

Adar's plans laid bare:

S1.E4— `That [the Southlanders] may live if [they] forsake all claim to these lands and swear fealty to him.`

S1.E5— `And soon [the sun] will be gone. And with it, the part of me that knew its warmth as well.`

2. `From Ered Mithrin to the Ephel Arnen`

Durnost = Location of Sauron's Last Stronghold in the Forodwaith that Galadriel & her company discover Sauron's mark (S1.E1)
Ered Mithrin = GREY MOUNTAINS
Ephel Arnen = South of Ithilien across the Anduin (South Gondor)

3. 'NAMPAT' means "death" in Black Speech

4. The watchtower at Ostirith and the bridge with a nearby lake.

The lake and watchtower are not part of the official geography or maps made by Tolkien. Their location is south of the vale.

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Map of the Southlands

- Ephel Dúath is the Eastern Mt range
- Yellow crosses mark future sites of future structures
- The Vale becomes the Valley of the Wraiths after the Ringwraiths capture Minas Ithil (renamed Minas Morgul)

Berek (primitive Elvish, "sudden") and Isildur (Quenya, "Moon" + "servant")

DAYBREAK

1. `Is it visible to yours already?`

Galadriel can see the rising sun and landfall. This is a flatearth so there is no geometrical horizon.

"Aragorn smiled. ‘Keen are the eyes of the Elves,’ he said." (The Riders of Rohan, #LOTR)

2. `Humility has saved entire kingdoms the proud have all but led to ruin.`

Is this foreshadowing the fate of Númenor? The proud in Númenor will play a role in her Downfall, but the humility of her survivors will allow them to resettle in the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor.

A view from the Sundering Sea— the dawning Sun over the lands of Middle-earth...

3. `It is strange.`

Elendil speaks to how he looks `east to see the Sun rise over the sea` and `west to see it set over the land`.

Now as he sails towards Middle-earth... he sees the dawning Sun over the lands of Middle-earth— hence it feels like night.

4. `She drowned.`

Elendil's grief— This arc creates conflict in Elendil's heart over the injustice of death upon Men.

In the Tolkien Legendarium, the death of Men (a "gift") is a total death, i.e., a death of the body and the soul. There is no reunion in an afterlife.

KEEP

1. `It is beyond our skill to destroy.`

The key cannot be destroyed. Theo watches as Arondir finds it a hiding place.

2. `You remember what you used to say?`

"In the end, this shadow is but a small and passing thing. There is light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. Find the light... And the shadow will not find you."

#LOTR— Sam sees a star above the Ephel Dúath in Mordor

3. `New life, in defiance of death?`

Tolkien wrote of alfirin... "those imagined flowers are lit by a light that would not be seen ever in a growing plant and cannot be recaptured by paint." (Letter 312)

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Let. 312— "Alfirin ('immortal') would be an immortelle, but not dry and papery...a beautiful bell-like flower...soft and gentle"

Immortelle are medicinal.

'Dry & papery' suggests alfirin had long-lived petals— a flower that "defies" death is one to plant before battle!

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Yavanna (wife of Aulë) is `the Valar [who] watches over growing things.`

Promises made under a tree... "And thus it was that Arwen first beheld [Aragorn] again after their long parting; and as he came walking towards her under the trees...her choice was made." (#LOTR)

BATTLE

1. The Southlanders ambush the Orcs.

2. Arondir discovers the deception when he notices that some of the "Orcs" are bleeding red rather than black.

3. Crushed alfirin seeds (medicinal, immortal) revive Bronwyn.

[Tyroe Muhafidin (Theo) is a stellar actor.]

4. The Númenorean cavalry enter the Southlands through the Vale (later named the Morgul Vale) in the Ephel Dúath ("Mountains of Shadow"). The Ephel Dúath is the eastern mountain range that borders the Southlands.

The Morgulduin river can be seen in the background (0:30).

5. Theo betrays Arondir and turns over the broken hilt to Adar to save his mother's life. Adar has a task for Waldreg.

Arriving south from the vale, the Númenorean cavalry charge Tirharad.

6. REAL STUNTWORK

[These are sooo technical that I don't know what names they have in the stuntwork biz.]

7. `Stab, twist, gut.`

8. "This I will have as weregild for..." (#TheSilmarillion)

9. `Commander of the Northern Armies`

Arondir and Theo look to Galadriel in awe.

10. `Noro lim!` ("Run swiftly")

‘Ride on! Ride on!’ cried Glorfindel, and then loud and clear he called to the horse in the elf-tongue: noro lim, noro lim, Asfaloth! At once the white horse sprang away and sped like the wind along the last lap of the Road.

(#LOTR)

YOU REMEMBER ME?

URUK

1. Moriondor (The Sons of the Dark)

'Morion' comes from the phrase "enga morion" (Quen. "dark one"); found in Fíriel's Song (The Lost Road, HoME).

Morion = "dark one" in reference to Morgoth
dor = "land" in Sindarin; but can also be adjective in Quenya: Nandor, Eldameldor

2. `Where is Sauron?"

Tolkien wrote how Sauron sought the "healing of desolate lands" in the SA. (Letter 131)

However, this seemingly "good" act was actually a veiled attack on the Valar. Sauron tried to coax the Elves into creating Valinor ("paradise") on Middle-earth.

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`Not of the flesh...over flesh.`

'Sauron the Sorcerer' (S1.E1) toyed with things of the Unseen World that led to further corruption— "a lust for domination." (L 131)

Enhancement of one's natural power, despite good intention, leads to the path of corruption & domination.

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The place where Sauron bid his followers to `follow him far north`.

S1.E1— The place where Sauron gathered the Orcs. The same place Galadriel's company mutinied against her.

Far north of the Forodwaith— Dûrnost ("hellish-city"); a place invented for the ROP story.

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`Dark knowledge...kept hidden from him`

Sauron seeks the dark powers of the 'Necromancer' where he seeks to render "invisible the material body, and make things of the [Unseen] world visible." (L 131)

We see Sauron wholly master this power in #TheHobbit.

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Sauron's arc is a representation of a "wholly evil will" & not an absolute evil. (L 131)

Stages of Sauron follows—
1. Desire to bring order per his own wisdom
2. Being an angelic spirit he was also proud & lusted for domination
3. Ultimate desire was to become a god-king

3. `I killed Sauron`

But Galadriel does not believe him. Does Adar simply believe he was able to 'split [Sauron] open'? How could an Uruk do that which an entire army of Elves could not?

4. "The best Uruk is a dead Uruk"

Galadriel regards the Uruk as a scourge.

Orcs were made by corrupting & enslaving Elves. Morgoth 'breed the race of Orcs in envy and mockery of Elves'. The Orcs multiplied; they became the bitterest foes of Elves. #Silmarillion

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`We are creations of the One...Master of the Secret Fire, the same as you.`

The Elvish origins of the Uruk means the Uruk were made of the same soul (fëa) and body (hröa) as Elves. Eru (the One) made the Eruhin (Children) souls from the Secret Fire; it is a part of them.

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Elvish origins of Uruk also means that their immortality & death is the same as Elves. Death involves separation of soul from the body.

Unlike Men, the souls of the Elves/Uruk/Dwarves are fated to be eternally bound to Arda, i.e., the soul does not perish.

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After death, where do these souls (houseless fëar) go? They go to the "Halls of Waiting" where they are cared for by Mandos.

#TheHobbit— 'Farewell, good thief,' [Thorin] said. 'I go now to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed.'

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The problem of the Uruk— To let live or to let die?

Orcs leave devastating harm & destruction in their wake— Galadriel is just to want their deaths. Perhaps it is better for Eru to decide the fate of Uruk, just like Elves.

Alive; there is no redemptive path for an Uruk.

5. `It would seem I'm not the only Elf alive who has been transformed by darkness.`

To Adar's point, Galadriel's hate has indeed changed her. Perhaps Gil-galad was right and wise to send her away after all.

6. `Who are you?`

Halbrand doesn't answer, but Adar has probably guessed the truth.

BE FREE OF IT

Galadriel knows there is a darkness in her— `Because I believe they could no longer distinguish me from the evil I was fighting.` (S1.E5)

Halbrand acknowledges that Galadriel has given him the hope to change for the better.

ALL HAIL

1. `Are you the King we were promised?`

A question is asked and Halbrand answers. But when Adar asked who Halbrand was, he wouldn't answer.

Who is Halbrand?

2. Númenoreans were generally taller and stronger in stature to the Low Men (Middle-Men) of Middle-earth.

Míriel towers over Bronwyn.

3. `When it was in my hands, I felt... Powerful.`

Theo speaks of the temptation he felt using the broken hilt. Arondir encourages Theo to rid himself of these feelings & passes him the bundled hilt.

`Give it to Númenor. To toss into the sea on their voyage home.`

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It's gone!

DOOM

1. Waldreg uses the sword hilt to trigger the mechanism releasing water from the dam/watchtower at Ostirith.

Both Galadriel & Elendil missed the importance of this tower from S1.E3— `The account of a human spy...He drew this. To record the tower's location.`

2. `Athae... no ídhui hí.`

"Athae" in Sindarin means "ease". The aethelas plant used by Aragorn in #LOTR derives its name from it.

Apparently, the horses of Westernesse somehow understand Sindarin.

3. Udûn means “Dark Pit” or “Hell” in Sindarin

FX: Water explosions and water in the tunnels was done with real trenches that were dug out and flooded.

#Science #TheRingsOfPower #VOLCANO