This story likes to dance around things that might reveal who a character is and what their motivations are, but it stops short of revealing exactly who that character is.
For example: there were three strange looking women that appeared, they were very interested in the crater left by the Stranger, and the Stranger himself.
Ultimately, their goals and intentions were revealed, and were not good. But just like us, they were fooled. In this case they had fooled themselves, and they fell into their own trap. And in doing so they gave us a few more clues to the identity of the "Stranger". We now know that if the Stranger was not who they believed he was, then in fact he was somebody, something else. Somebody who we hope that he is.
That seems to be the theme here, not just the theme of the show but it's also embedded in Tolkein's books and stories and appendices. Misdirection.
We have to remember that Sauron fooled ELVES, as wise and intelligent as they are, they fell for it. But mainly Galadriel fell for it. And when she fell for it, so too, us.
She was basically fed what she wanted to hear and that caused her to set upon a course of action that will affect the very landscape of not just middle earth but Numenor and all other lands from the stories.
A lot of people, when talking about this show, are distraught because they feel that "Tolkien is being rewritten".
This is not so. This is exactly what he wanted, although it never happened in his own time, it is happening now. He wanted other people to expand upon what he had already written. So his works, starting with the Silmarillion, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Rings appendices, and his several books of Lost Tales... They are a tapestry which gives us something to start with and to build upon.
As long as we don't stray too far from the themes and characters that have already been developed. And this show does a very good job of keeping to the stories that have already been written.
We forget that Tolkien wanted to write these stories because he felt that Britain had no mythology of its own. Thanks to Tolkien, now they do.
So the framework we are given here that started with The Hobbit and then Lord of the Rings, can be viewed as this new mythology.
Those of us who are familiar with the history of events from middle earth, can now see those events in much more detail. There were Catastrophes and Eucatastrophes all through the history of middle earth, bad things that happened and good things that happened.
And this season stops with one of the good things that happened, a eucatastrophe, even though it was surrounded by catastrophes.
In fact all through this episode some very horrible things have happened to most of the groups that are shown, but with each of those groups of people, the Elves in their city, The Harefoots as they travel with The Stranger, The Numinorians... something good develops from each of those catastrophes.
We are going to have to wait to check in with the fate of Durin's Folk and the Southrons.
For example: there were three strange looking women that appeared, they were very interested in the crater left by the Stranger, and the Stranger himself.
Ultimately, their goals and intentions were revealed, and were not good. But just like us, they were fooled. In this case they had fooled themselves, and they fell into their own trap. And in doing so they gave us a few more clues to the identity of the "Stranger". We now know that if the Stranger was not who they believed he was, then in fact he was somebody, something else. Somebody who we hope that he is.
That seems to be the theme here, not just the theme of the show but it's also embedded in Tolkein's books and stories and appendices. Misdirection.
We have to remember that Sauron fooled ELVES, as wise and intelligent as they are, they fell for it. But mainly Galadriel fell for it. And when she fell for it, so too, us.
She was basically fed what she wanted to hear and that caused her to set upon a course of action that will affect the very landscape of not just middle earth but Numenor and all other lands from the stories.
A lot of people, when talking about this show, are distraught because they feel that "Tolkien is being rewritten".
This is not so. This is exactly what he wanted, although it never happened in his own time, it is happening now. He wanted other people to expand upon what he had already written. So his works, starting with the Silmarillion, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Rings appendices, and his several books of Lost Tales... They are a tapestry which gives us something to start with and to build upon.
As long as we don't stray too far from the themes and characters that have already been developed. And this show does a very good job of keeping to the stories that have already been written.
We forget that Tolkien wanted to write these stories because he felt that Britain had no mythology of its own. Thanks to Tolkien, now they do.
So the framework we are given here that started with The Hobbit and then Lord of the Rings, can be viewed as this new mythology.
Those of us who are familiar with the history of events from middle earth, can now see those events in much more detail. There were Catastrophes and Eucatastrophes all through the history of middle earth, bad things that happened and good things that happened.
And this season stops with one of the good things that happened, a eucatastrophe, even though it was surrounded by catastrophes.
In fact all through this episode some very horrible things have happened to most of the groups that are shown, but with each of those groups of people, the Elves in their city, The Harefoots as they travel with The Stranger, The Numinorians... something good develops from each of those catastrophes.
We are going to have to wait to check in with the fate of Durin's Folk and the Southrons.