Thread by @CameronBorgQeen

1/ #RingsOfPowerOnPrime episode 1 rewatch liveblog begins now🧵

a.i "Nothing is evil in the beginning" is the first line of this series, and I couldn't wish for a better one. In LotR this line is about Sauron and how far it is possible to fall when starting with good intentions.

2/ a.ii How the show intends to use this line is unclear. It's possible it could be as simple as describing life in Valinor: what was (or seemed like) an Eden—the rest of the monologue describes the world in terms of youth and innocence. But of note is the first montage we see:

3/ a.iii A group of children in white play a variation on Blind Man's Bluff, where each except the "blind man" appears to be making noise, some by tapping sticks on stones, to lead (or mislead) him. It feels idyllic and possibly is a metaphor for what will be Galadriel's quest

4/ a.iv Galadriel will be following thin clues to search for Sauron for roughly 1000 years before the main plot of the show even begins. In Blind Man's Bluff part of the goal is to be able to identify a person without using sight once you catch them. And Sauron is a shapeshifter.

5/ a.v That quote can also refer to an underlying metaphysical interpretation of Ea that suggests evil is just a privation of inherent good that is present in all things that are given being, including Sauron (and Morgoth) and these kids that are about to wreck Galadriel's boat.

6/ a,vi Incidentally I wonder if the redheaded elf child is meant to be the young version of Thondir, who seems to be the closest to Galadriel in later scenes. If this were the Silmarillion, he might be one of the Ambarussa twins (he seems too young—and too short—to be Maedhros)

7/ b.i When we first see young Galadriel she is sitting off by herself, not playing with the others, whispering to her paper boat as she folds it. Is she imbuing it with some kind of power that will cause it to unfold or keep it afloat?

8/ b.ii The landscape here, as with this whole show, is stunning—I *believe* this is Valinor—though I have to note the irony of what appears to be white foxglove (digitalis) growing all through the fields the kids are playing in: a potent poison, though maybe not for elves.

9/ b.iii What's coming is a representation in miniature of the first Kinslaying, something that the show probably can't refer to, which is a real shame because I think it has a lot of major implications for how character interaction works later on, particularly with Celebrimbor.

10/ b.iv It does give this moment an air of Fall. As with the Kinslaying, the art of a half-Teleri elf—a swan ship, even!—is destroyed by the artist's kin. It also shows us Galadriel is set apart and that her astute perceptions of the world may not always be believed.

11/ c.i Again, the landscape, the cinematography, the lighting work, all of it plays together to create this incredible atmosphere. Even the monochromatic costumes with the subtle details add to that. Incidentally I love how their figures are dwarfed by the dark tree in this shot

12/ c.ii If I have any quibble it is that I want to see Finrod bedecked in jewels—he is the one the Nauglamír was made for after all! And as with many of the costumes in this series, the fine detail work is sparse compared to PJ's films, and close ups often reveal machine work.

13/ c.iii Costuming an entire series during COVID and under strict deadlines to match film standards is an incredibly hard thing to pull off, however, and despite my craft/construction quibbles, I do find I really like many of the costume choices, especially when seen in motion.

14/ c,iv I appreciate the bond we get to see between the siblings in this scene, though I'm unsure about the metaphor Finrod uses here or why he feels like he needs to describe why ships float and stones do not at this particular moment, except that it is for the viewer's benefit

15/ c.v The light the ship looks up to could suggest Varda or even Earendil—fitting for a ship metaphor. Earendil is not even born yet, but history here is fuzzy and the 8-pointed star—maybe more symbol of Earendil than House of Feanor in this show—appears everywhere the elves do

16/ c,vi That darkness is vast and alluring may refer to how powerful Melkor was, or how easy Fall is, or even the Void that Melkor spent so much time in before Ea began. It drags you down and pulls you off course. This metaphor is about buoyancy but also ultimately about gravity

17/ c.vii A stone "seeing only downwards" just means nothing about it stops gravity from doing what gravity always does. Nothing "keeps it on the Straight Road" or, er, something like that. It's also a metaphor about vision and choices, and knowing which way is "up," in a sense.

18/ c.viii When Galadriel asks how she can know which way is up (what is light and what is dark) if water can reflect the light from above (wait, is this also a metaphor about spatial disorientation during flight???) Finrod whispers the answer to her.

19/ c.ix I assume this is again for our benefit—so we as the audience don't know until it is time to know, dramatically—but the effect is to suggest very subtly that there could be something special (or possibly risky or forbidden) about the knowledge he is about to give her.

20/ c.x incidentally I love the care he has for his little sister in his face here. I still wish he had longer hair and jewels—though I'm less bothered by the short hair in and of itself than I imagined I might be—but other than that he really does look and feel like Finrod to me

21/ c.xi So it makes his foreshadowing statement that he won't always be around to show her what the truth is all the more painful. I imagine he only meant he wouldn't always be by her side at any given moment, not that he'd be dead—cut off from her the way he is in this shot.

22/ c.xii I was a little judgey about this shot (or at least the scope of the city in the distance) when I first saw it, but in the context of the scene, set in motion, with the music playing and the light moving, it's really breathtaking and my hat is off to all who worked on it

23/ d.i If I take this truncated version of The Darkening onwards at face value, I wouldn't know that there were beings called Valar, or that the elves had not always been in Valinor, that the Silmarils had anything to do with their war, or that elves are not mortal like men are.

24/ d.ii I also wouldn't know there had ever been an Oath or who swore it and why. Despite early guesses that that is what is depicted here—and the ensuing upset about Finrod participating—this moment seems merely to be a declaration of war against evil and nothing more sinister.

25/ d.iii From the perspective of Episode 1, the strife that led the Noldor to Middle-earth was nothing but honorable. Whether this will hold true going forward is up in the air. Is there something we are not being told? If not, this changes everything that comes after.

26/ d.iv No Helcaraxë or ship-burnings here, though this image of the fleet sailing through the rain curtain that surrounds Valinor is stunning in its own right. We can guess that that *might* be the first sunrise we are seeing in the distant East, though the show doesn't say.

27/ d.v It would be interesting, in, er, light of Finrod's metaphor, to chart how often the image of moving towards light from amidst darkness appears in the show. The previous image of the fleet of ships sailing towards Middle-earth and the sunrise is likely not the only one.

28/ d,vi The map we see of M-e when the elves arrive is one that does not include Beleriand. Though Arondir is apparently from there, we aren't given any visual clue about where that was or that it was destroyed. We also don't get the sense that other elves were already in M-e.

29/ d.vii The drowned shots from the war suggest either that there were civilizations here when the elves arrived or that they built them, only to see them destroyed. The sense of the scope of the devastation, while not as clearly continent-crushing, is still significant.

30/ d.viii The choice to keep Galadriel in this dress brings earlier happy times back to mind, sets them against the devastation, and suggests she is nearly unchanged since her childhood interactions with her brother. I get the impression she has not fought up to this point.

31/ d.ix I also get the impression on the rewatch that we are meant to understand that Finrod went to hunt down Sauron *after* Morgoth was defeated. Meanwhile Galadriel is still in that dress, which she seems to wear through the entire First Age (or the show equivalent thereof).

32/ d.x The "hunt" dialog feels like attempts to adapt already-existing Tolkien dialog in ways that fall one word short of working. Does a trail grow thin? Does it make sense for something to pass out of both thought AND mind? The locations absolutely evoke an older world though.

33/ d.xi When Thondir says years have passed since the last orc was sighted, does he mean to suggest they think they literally wiped out *all* of the orcs? That has some unsettling implications that I hope the show takes time to explore.

34/ d.xii So far we haven't gotten an explanation of who or what the orcs are, just that they are "Morgoth's orcs" and they began to multiply again under Sauron. Depending on what the orcs in the show are envisioned to be and what the elves know about that, this could get messy.

35/ d.xiii We've also not been given any sold info on whether this world is flat or round, so the claim they are at the "edge of the world" could be literal. While we don't get a crossing of the Helcaraxe here, we do get this beautiful shot that clearly evokes it.

36/ d.xiv This is a scene that I think wants to show us how obsessed Galadriel is with this mission. This is her with "the eye of a commander," unwilling to stop, at least until she knows one of her company has fallen at which point we see her fundamental caring nature resurface.

37/ e.i I'm curious how it is Galadriel knows that Not-Utumno is where Morgoth's orcs gathered after his defeat, or that it was Sauron who gathered them there. Could some of that turn out to be ever so slightly wrong in some way? I keep getting the sense we're missing something.

38/ e.ii I like the idea that evil sucks up heat. If evil is the privation of the good then I am perfectly content to think of it like subatomic particles losing energy. Or even as entropy itself: the movement from order to disorder (fitting considering Melkor's early exploits).

39/ e.iii That invokes a contradiction that parallels the one that arises with Sauron & heat. If evil sucks up heat but does not give off heat itself & S is burning hot, what does that mean? If Melkor represents chaos & Sauron desired order, but followed him, what does that mean?

40/ e.iv Galadriel says the orcs were meddling with powers of the unseen world (this would be the "spiritual" side and not material), something Sauron would be well versed in. But why does the orc appear to have been sucked into the wall or melded with it? Necromancy gone wrong?

41/ f.i Again the harfoot-associated landscapes are gorgeous, and this introduction to harfoots as dangerous creatures of folklore for men is delightful. I can't think of a way to express that and turn it on its head better than this shot of this kindly old camouflaged face.

42/ f.ii That said, there's something about the general look of the harfoots that feels like a stageplay. I think it's set dressing and hair choices that fall into a kind of uncanny valley between the clearly anachronistic but relatable hobbits and a sense of nursery book twee.

43/ f.iii It's the brightness of the colors in the fabric against the deliberately mussed hair with the perpetually fresh-looking leaves as hair ornaments—never quite enough to even act as camo like the straw does in that first shot. Style-wise, it never sits logically together.

44/ f.iv and I feel like it *could* fit together with a few tweaks. I really like the choice to play up hobbits' ability to hide. Does anyone remember that quote that suggests in later days after LotR the Big Folk would sometimes hunt hobbits? Staying hidden is a legitimate need.

45/ f.v The berry scene is just darling and really evokes simple joys, the magic of childhood, and harmony with the land. The musical cues chosen for this scene are also spectacular and you can feel the characters' emotions. It feels like a little tucked away spot in Middle-earth

46/ g.i It has only just dawned on me that Elrond is not wearing any shoes. Also, I can't help but notice that this glade has the same white foxglove looking flowers in it that were in Valinor. Lastly, I know it has been discussed to death but what is with the veiled servants?

47/ g.ii What is special about the *next* session such that Elrond (without a realm of his own) cannot attend? Does it have to do with Celebrimbor's request? What's up that we're not being told? And is this Elrond conceived as having the same high lineage as in The Silmarillion?

48/ g.iii The design of Lindon and the mallorns is gorgeous. I wish we could get the chance to see more of this architecture at mid-distances: the jump from ultrawide establishing shot to much much tighter scenes makes the tighter scenes feel disconnected from this location.

49/ g.iv The set decoration balance between the other-worldly and the naturalistic in Lindon is handled much better than with the harfoots, I think. Whether or not the mallorn leaves would be on the ground at this time is up for debate, but visually everything looks spectacular!

50/ g.v Incidentally, I really appreciate seeing these elven ladies working on this tapestry. Gender role woes aside, it functions to tell us this is a place where the inhabitants see themselves as definitively living in a new era of peace and beauty with time for art-making.

51/ g,vi Galadriel "refusing to heed any limits placed upon her" seems well in keeping with the headstrong and brilliant person she was in Valinor, though I think that Elrond's general demeanor to her feels less respectful than I would expect. Is she not conceived as his elder?

52/ h.i Back with the harfoots: I wonder if Marigold is really going to feel free from the worries of settled peoples in a couple of episodes when the apparent contradictions to their way of life are revealed in episode 3. Meanwhile Nori is definitely our proto-hobbit adventurer.

53/ h.ii I just... I just don't believe those are real leaves or that she would choose to put them in her hair that way. Maybe if there were more? Or we saw harfoots switching them out and putting new leaves in there would be more of a sense of authenticity? I'm not sure.

54/ i.i I appreciate that they want Galadriel to look ageless but I'm distracted by what looks like digital beauty work under her eyes (and not a little bit annoyed that male elves are allowed to look different ages but not female elves apparently). Either way Morfydd is lovely.

55/ i.ii This scene is jaw-droppingly beautiful don't get me wrong—I feel bad even saying this because wow—but it seems so Neoclassical in design: figures ordered carefully against their surroundings, but standing out from them, the Roman motifs, the stoicism, the rationalism.

56/ i.iii Consider the concept art for it. Just as stunning in terms of composition, but the inclusion of the arches melds the space and the figures into the trees. Film doesn't automatically capture that same Romantic, painterly style, of course; the shot is extraordinary as is.

57/ i.iv I can't be the only one who saw this moment and went: "Cate?"

58/ i.v I keep wondering if the inclusion of what feels like religious iconography in some of the costume choices (always for the women 🤨) is to draw a comparison to the cultists in later episodes. The women in green have the same scroll holders as Elrond—what is their function?

59/ j.i Some greensman on this production bought a shitton of foxglove. This lighting design is incredible and I love how the trees are themselves the architecture of this space (and a subtle indication of elvish timelessness to be able to create such a place with living things).

60/ j.ii I'm feeling Galadriel's snarl at Elrond's annoying patronizing of her. I know I'm not the only one to say this but the dynamic established between her and the men around her is rather frustrating. I realize rights issues necessarily leave their shared histories fuzzy.

61/ j.iii Is Gil-Galad granting her passage back to the West a consequence of not being able to legally invoke the Valar except in certain circumstances? It's an odd choice otherwise. I can't square it even with Arwen's "transfering of her ticket" to Frodo, which was symbolic.

62/ j.iv This whole scene leaves me questioning two things: under what circumstances has Galadriel "seen things" Elrond hasn't? Where and when? And when did they develop this friendship? Without a full backstory this all reads as a blur. I can accept it, but I am hoping for more.

63/ j.v This can all be worked out in future episodes, of course, I just hope it will be, and we aren't stuck in some in between place where they want us to imagine the Silm events happened through easter eggs, while also giving us hints of backstory that seem contradictory to it

64/ j,vi I wonder how we square her fears about her PTSD becoming everlasting in Valinor with Frodo's hope that in Valinor (or Tol Eressëa) his own will be cured? Personally, I wanted the Galadriel who refuses to return out of pride. Would that be less interesting? I don't know.

65/ k.i I am no expert on pseudo-medieval tavern culture, but is it common for tavern keepers to butcher meat AT the bar? And what temperature is it here? Some people are wearing fur layers on top and some are bare-armed. Also, what on earth do these women have on their heads???

66/ k.ii "knife ears" made me cringe I bit but I like this interaction between Arondir and Rowan. I hope we get more nuanced exploration of these 1k year-old animosities, though the pitfalls of layering in-world racism on top of out-world racial dynamics is looming uncomfortably.

67/ k.iii Rather than jumping straight to orcs I would have loved an ep that focused on daily life here, particularly Arondir and Bronwyn's. We've just met this place & these people & suddenly everyone has to flee. Which reflects something I feel about the first ep as a whole.

68/ k.iv I ❤️ that Arondir describes the interconnected nature of elvish art, elvish healing, elvish beauty in contrast to (but without derision) the very human and very material experience of making salves Bronwyn describes (particularly like his use of the term "artificers").

69/ k.v The exteriors of this location are gorgeous. The wild natural chaos of the set dressing feels more authentic than with the harfoots. I love the idea of carved or molded wood or leather breastplates but I'm not feeling the green man motif or the distressing/camo patterns.

There's Orodruin again, look'n all peaceful. Not foreshadowing anything at all. The fact that Medhor mentions Tuor/Idril but thinks they ended in tragedy either means me doesn't know or doesn't accept the belief that they ended up immortal together in Valinor. I can't tell which.

Arondir is referred to as Silvan in something promotional, I think. I know it's been said, but I don't understand why Silvan elves are taking orders from the High King of the Noldor (unless, again, we're meant to understand the inter-elf dynamics in this world very differently).

Stunning. I don't know what the budget breakdown for this show is but damn I hope whoever worked on these landscape shots was really well compensated *stares at Amazon*. "barren scrap of rock?" This place should be super fertile unless he's referring to a recent past eruption.

I want to know more about why Arondir's demeanor is so starkly different from that of Medhor or Revion who both come off as pompous by comparison. It is because he was "a grower"? His attraction to Bronwyn as a healer? Another reason I wish this storyline moved more slowly.

More gorgeous set dressing and lighting work. Though admittedly the first thing my brain said was "how did she get that blue dye?" and then immediately jumped to associations with the Virgin Mary. It's rather conspicuous. If Theo is Halbrand's son then he could be the future king

75/ m.ii Why! Why is Hordern "to the east" if it looks like this on the map? Why? I think this is the start of this show seeming to really struggle with time and distance and direction as it tries to keep its plots running together.

76/ n.i The "dress armor" is so Pre-Raphaelite and the color palette more Romantic, but the blocking and cinematography still feels very Neoclassical.

77/ o.i When Gil-Galad says "we foresaw" when was this? Who is "we"? Was this a topic that came up at that council meeting Elrond could not come to? Presumably Celebrimbor was there. This is feeding into my "Annatar is already involved" suspicions. [cont.]

https://twitter.com/CameronBorgQeen/status/1568702226012700675?s=20&t=ob4FiiMDcBkbFwcos1OiUg

78/ o.ii Maybe Annatar came to Lindon and knew he had to get rid of Galadriel, so influenced this "council" to get her to leave so he and Celebrimbor could get moving on this project. We just haven't seen him yet because our Lindon POV is always from outsiders who don't see him.

79/ p.i I really like this interaction between Sadoc and Nori. I need to know how they made this book though. How did they make or find all that paper? What're the covers made from? How many of the harfoots can read and write in this language?

80/ p.ii I also want to know what he means by the skies being strange or by the stars having their eyes open when they should be sleeping. Are they in the wrong position? Should there be cloud cover when there isn't? Are they brighter than usual? So many questions!

81/ q.i This removing of their armor and weapons feels like a kind of "cleansing" of the trappings of the impure world. The imagery here is certainly screaming that they are entering something like heaven or an afterlife in paradise where the materials of war would be frowned on.

82/ q.ii Or perhaps it's more a relinquishing of worldly things? I think the veiled attendants must specifically serve some purpose related to Valinor and maybe that is why they are veiled. As others have pointed out: why do THEY get to come and go from Valinor as they please?

83/ q.iii White birds, singing, approaching a mythic land in a ship—major Imram vibes: "white birds rose in wheeling flight, and the lifting boughs were bare. On high we heard in the starlit sky a song, but not of bird: neither noise of man nor angel’s voice..."

84/ q.iv The choice to have her intentionally turn to the camera here is interesting. There's nothing in that direction to look at *other* than us (though it is roughly halfway between the light and Finrod's dagger). An interesting moment to make this character's gaze unabsorbed.

85/ q.v What could "touched the darkness" mean? A couple of guesses: it's a comment on the Problem of Evil and how darkness defines light in contrast. Or, it's about "reaching out blindly in the dark," like Bilbo in that tunnel, and allowing Providence/Fate/Chance to take hold.

86/ q,vi The latter makes the most sense here since this moment of jumping out/down and into the dark water parallels what's about to happen with the meteor. The Stranger will touch down and meet Nori, another chance encounter, which will almost certainly alter the flow of events

87/ q.vii Meanwhile Galadriel will meet Halbrand out in the vast sea. While at first I found this moment irrational, that's **exactly** how very profound choices that steer the flow of Providence work: pitying Gollum and leaving him alive is not rational, but it saves the world.

88/ q.viii Add this to my list of reasons why I think Annatar is already in Lindon. The timing makes us think it is due to the meteor but I think it is due to the decision of whoever this "we" is that made up "the council." And we haven't seen Gil-Galad since this scene have we?

89/ q.ix Even though yeah I admit this looks totally sus. (I still think it's misdirection though!)

Wow, that was 1 ep and it took me 89 tweets what even am I doing on Twitter. 😂