The Rings of Power - S02 Teaser Breakdown

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[00:01:47] Welcome back to a long-expected party. The Rings of Power lore cast is back in full swing.

[00:01:53] We are the Lorehounds, your guides to Tolkien's world of Middle-earth. I'm Jon.

[00:01:57] I'm David.

[00:01:58] And I'm Marilyn.

[00:02:00] And we're here to discuss the new teaser trailer of The Rings of Power season 2.

[00:02:06] We did not do an outline for this one, guys.

[00:02:08] Right, we're winging this one.

[00:02:09] We're just having fun here, folks, so join us.

[00:02:13] But we did have quite a lot of prep actually for this. We have a whole visual guide to this

[00:02:20] teaser that we're going to be posting in the show notes of this podcast. So you can check it out.

[00:02:25] It's on Notion. It'll be for the public. We normally do all our Notion stuff just for our

[00:02:29] Patreon Supercast subscribers, but this is going to be sort of a sample of our work.

[00:02:34] There's a picture of each still in the whole teaser. There's a description of the shot for

[00:02:40] your visually impaired folks, and just to remind you, and there are our individual thoughts on

[00:02:46] what's going on as well as the quotes that are within the narration that's in the scenes.

[00:02:51] So plenty of stuff there. Check that out in the show notes.

[00:02:54] You can also get early and ad-free access to all our podcasts by subscribing on Supercast

[00:02:59] or Patreon for as little as three bucks a month. And we've also got a Discord server.

[00:03:04] David, tell me about Discord.

[00:03:06] Discord's a great place to chat and connect with others in our community. It's kind of a virtual

[00:03:13] water cooler space. Think of a forum board, but a little bit more real time,

[00:03:19] but still has that same kind of vibe to it. And we can post a link to the teaser reaction video or

[00:03:28] the resource that we have here on the Discord as well. Anyway, we've got channels set up for all

[00:03:35] the different projects and shows that we're covering. We've got a great moderator team.

[00:03:39] We actually call them our Dunedain. Dunedain? Dunedine? I always forget the plural.

[00:03:43] Dunedine.

[00:03:44] Dunedine. I don't want to get in trouble with my pronunciations.

[00:03:49] Dunedine is the plural. Dunedan is the singular. All right.

[00:03:52] That's what it was. Dunedan was the singular.

[00:03:56] And so they help keep the server organized and running smoothly. And it's a great group of

[00:04:02] people to come nerd out about all the things that we love, all the pop culture stuff that we love.

[00:04:07] It surely is a great group.

[00:04:09] Yep. Plenty of great stuff happening over at the Lorehounds. Stick around for the end of the

[00:04:14] podcast. We'll go over all that. But for now, boy, it's been a while. It's been about a year

[00:04:19] and a half since The Rings of Power season one.

[00:04:21] Hasn't it been longer?

[00:04:23] I think it ended October 2022. So it's been about a year and a half. It'll be two years

[00:04:29] by the time this airs.

[00:04:31] Gosh, it almost feels like longer.

[00:04:33] I know. I know. But...

[00:04:34] I'm having trouble even remembering season one.

[00:04:37] I know. I know. So we got to do a rewatch.

[00:04:40] Yes. Great.

[00:04:40] I know. Yeah. I've been watching.

[00:04:42] Hey, listen, if you're listening to this, go to the show notes or put into your podcast

[00:04:49] application and search for Rings and Rituals and go listen to that podcast because that's Marilyn

[00:04:56] and her good friend, our good friend, Dr. Sarah Brown of Syngham University.

[00:05:02] And they do an analysis of season one of Rings of Power by looking at all the rituals that are

[00:05:09] depicted on screen. But then I think the cool thing that you do, Marilyn, is that you widen

[00:05:13] that out not only to the legendarium at large, but then you actually start to talk about ritual in

[00:05:19] our daily lives and the power of ritual and how that shapes us. And I think that's one of the

[00:05:24] things that makes Tolkien such a rich body of literature is because he brought his whole self

[00:05:30] into his work. And so we see ourselves so embedded into the words that he wrote down, even though

[00:05:36] we're in a very different place in a very different time.

[00:05:40] Yes. Yes. It's remarkable how many things that I overlooked have been highlighted

[00:05:48] by doing this work and conversing, conversing, talking.

[00:05:52] Talking with using words?

[00:05:54] It has been a while, hasn't it? Using words. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. And what it made me realize

[00:06:00] is one of the potentially excellent aspects of adaptation is you're looking at something

[00:06:09] through a new lens, through a new window. And so when you see how this group or this person

[00:06:16] has interpreted something that you know and love very well, you're suddenly thinking about it in

[00:06:22] a different way. That may be positive, that may be negative, but you're thinking about it a different

[00:06:27] way. And so you can stand back and say, well, now why do I disagree with him? Oh, it's because

[00:06:32] this and this and this or wow, I hadn't thought about this thing, but I think they may be right

[00:06:36] about this. So yeah, for those of you who are wondering how you're possibly going to binge

[00:06:41] all of those at once, don't worry about it. We give synopses for every single episode.

[00:06:47] And you know what?

[00:06:48] I can remind you right away.

[00:06:48] I think Tolkien is something where if you asked JR Tolkien one question about his lore,

[00:06:53] he'd give you 10 answers.

[00:06:55] Easily.

[00:06:55] It's okay to have interpretations of this stuff. And today we're going to be talking about an

[00:07:00] interpretation of this. And I think that's a great way to look at the rings of power,

[00:07:05] because the rings of power is not something that's canon.

[00:07:07] Even though canon is kind of a funny thing in Tolkien, but it's not it's not the books,

[00:07:12] right? We can just have fun with this. We can be like, hey, these are the cool set pieces that

[00:07:17] we're taking out of Tolkien's work. These are the themes. These are the cool visuals. And I

[00:07:22] think that that is going to be a great time. And season two is looking great. I'm stoked about

[00:07:29] this trailer. Why don't we go around and fire takes? I am I am. I'm just you and now to

[00:07:36] Maryland, Maryland, start us on what's your what's your hot take for the hot mountain of doom?

[00:07:42] Well, in general, the trailer is on a higher level in terms of things are starting to stir.

[00:07:54] Action is taking place. We had a lot of scene setting and character introduction and so forth

[00:07:59] in the first season, which was lovely and needed. And now, you know, Sauron is breaking out his

[00:08:06] moves and we don't see as much yet about Newman, but I think we're going to be seeing a fair bit.

[00:08:13] And is your daughter's wandering around in the coasts of Pilar here in that area and finding

[00:08:19] some interesting things? And yeah, it's yeah, they're they're bringing a lot more to bear,

[00:08:25] turning up the volume, turning up the intensity, it seems.

[00:08:28] Mm hmm. David, I the thing that I'm most pleased by with this teaser is that they gave us a

[00:08:37] definitive date and they didn't play coy and futz around with, oh, coming in the summer or in the

[00:08:44] fall or whatever it was like. Twenty twenty four. Yeah. But it was right there. Boom. Like right

[00:08:51] into the trailer, August twenty ninth definitive. When we have that kind of definitive commitment,

[00:08:58] it it actually heightens our excitement. It gives us something to look forward to.

[00:09:03] Right. If if we had walked into Jackson's Lord of the Rings first movie,

[00:09:09] unsure if they were going to green light the rest of the movies, it would have changed our experience

[00:09:15] of it. But when you walked out of that movie, knowing that the next one was coming, your

[00:09:20] excitement level is already at a greater level. And so walking into something like

[00:09:25] Dune part one, we didn't know, is there going to be a part two or not? So when it ended and you're

[00:09:29] just kind of like, oh, yeah, it's a very frustrating experience. So I'm really glad that they were

[00:09:36] just very clear and unambiguous about that. So a thumbs up. Thank you for doing that and making

[00:09:43] our lives a little bit saner since we have so much to cover this summer anyway with House of

[00:09:49] the Dragon. And we can actually plan ahead. We can. It's a three episode drop, I think,

[00:09:55] for the first. A bit extensive. Yeah. That's a bit much. Anyway, beyond that, I thought this was

[00:10:03] a really good teaser. It is certainly whetted our appetite for a lot of excitement, drama.

[00:10:11] It looks like we're going to get some great battles. We've got some monsters. We've got

[00:10:15] some eagles. We have no idea what's going on with the Harfoots, which is fine. But there's more

[00:10:23] because this is just the first of some more stuff that's coming out. Seems much darker. And so the

[00:10:28] dramatic stakes are higher and that's great because this is a fraught period of time, right?

[00:10:37] If I understand correctly. And so we should feel uneasy and destabilized and the things

[00:10:44] changing around. And so the teaser did a very good job of that. So like the action junkie in

[00:10:49] me got excited because there's looks like some great fun there. But at the same time,

[00:10:54] what are these creepy crawlies? What's going on? Why is it dark? What's Sauron doing? It looks

[00:11:02] like we'll talk about each of the scenes, but there was enough question and enough unease

[00:11:08] and darkness that it gave me exactly what I wanted for this. I really want them to come

[00:11:13] out swinging hard and really trying to be confident. And hopefully they brought in

[00:11:19] some more people to help them with the production because I think we all had

[00:11:23] some reservations about last season. They kind of got lost in the middle bits.

[00:11:27] They got muddled.

[00:11:28] I know John. Yeah. Muddled. And that was really, you're a little crestfallen at the end of season

[00:11:35] one. I think actually I turned around a little bit at the end of season one. I think at the

[00:11:39] end of season one, I was pretty hopeful. If you go back and listen to our wrap up,

[00:11:42] I think I was hopeful on it. And the reason is because they did get a little lost in the middle.

[00:11:48] I think with their side pots, I think they just, their pacing was a little bit off. And I,

[00:11:52] there were a couple of lore decisions I disagreed with, but I think I can get over it.

[00:11:56] But I think at the end, they were going into such an interesting direction with things like

[00:12:02] the stranger and the Harfoots and the way that they're telling this new moon, Numenor story

[00:12:08] is really interesting to me. So I am actually pretty excited to see season two. I'm, I'm very

[00:12:13] hopeful. Don't let me down. Showrunners don't let me down. You, the first thing we, well,

[00:12:19] as we were all waiting for the trailer to drop this morning, right after it dropped,

[00:12:23] you lit off like a candle and started putting together the notion stuff.

[00:12:31] You were on fire. And I was like, man, I had a, I had a pretty crazy work day. I was on calls

[00:12:36] back to back all day. And so the next thing I turned around and like, wow, John went to town.

[00:12:42] I took a screenshot of every single shot and we're going to, we're going to break it down

[00:12:46] and we're going to make sure that you can follow along.

[00:12:49] Having done a lot of this kind of work, John, I have to say your efficiency at this stuff astounds

[00:12:57] me. It would have taken me twice as long to do it as what you put together. So I have to say,

[00:13:02] I'm really impressed. And I'm just really grateful that you are willing to pour yourself into this

[00:13:07] work because when we get into the season proper, it's going to be at same with house of the dragon.

[00:13:12] For those who are interested, we have a house of the dragon show guide that John built.

[00:13:17] It's an Aaron and Brian, of course, as well. So the three of you guys,

[00:13:22] the amount of work that goes into it is incredible, but it's just really a labor of passion.

[00:13:27] Absolutely.

[00:13:27] And we really hope that you guys can enjoy it because it's so helpful to have this. I was

[00:13:33] watching house of the dragon episode six and what were we doing? One and two, three, four,

[00:13:38] five and six lot the other night. And I had the, our house of the dragon show guide. I was like,

[00:13:42] oh wait, which dragon is that? And I could just go to the bestiary and I could scroll through the

[00:13:46] pictures of the dragons. I go, okay, that's the one and that's the name. That's the writer. Like

[00:13:50] I had all the information I needed in my mind and I didn't have to tear myself away from the screen.

[00:13:55] Stop, do a bunch of Googling, get spoiled. But it was just right there on my phone,

[00:14:00] really quick and easy to get to. So I'm so grateful for it.

[00:14:04] Just hold onto your elf pants because

[00:14:07] Hold on your mithril

[00:14:08] Yeah, hold onto your mithril

[00:14:10] Hold on your mithril, yes

[00:14:12] Hold on to Duren's beard because we are, I'm working on the, I'm working on the

[00:14:19] rings of power show guide too. I've got so far three views that you can do the characters in.

[00:14:24] There's a race view where you could just see elf, man, dwarf and car foot and whatever else.

[00:14:29] I have an elven faction of you where I break down the noldor into the house of feanor,

[00:14:33] house of fenarfin, house of fengolfin. I break down the Telerian to the Sindar, the sylvan elves.

[00:14:39] There will be more to come. And there's also a mannish faction view where you can see Numenorean,

[00:14:44] Southlander. If we see other men, I'll add those too. So there's going to be a whole

[00:14:49] slew of things. And I figured out how to hide different groups. So now,

[00:14:54] now when you go into the elven faction view, you won't see any men.

[00:14:58] It'll just be the elves, which is really fun.

[00:15:01] Isn't Norsan cool? Anyway, it is.

[00:15:03] Listeners, you should write in and tell us your favorite story about how you've been

[00:15:06] using John's guides and David's guides.

[00:15:08] Well, I think John is, is the Matt is B is swiftly becoming the master.

[00:15:13] Once I was the one guy to rule them all. That's what we should call it. One guy to rule them all.

[00:15:18] There you go.

[00:15:18] I just named it. Perfect. This is great. All right. Let's we're having fun here. We're

[00:15:24] having fun here, but I think it's time to roll into this trailer. I do want to say,

[00:15:28] yeah, we are going to talk spoilers here. And what I mean by that, because this is a

[00:15:33] tricky thing. The show is pulling new things with potlines, but it's largely based. If you

[00:15:38] don't know this, it's largely based on Tolkien's writings around the second age of middle earth.

[00:15:42] They are all pulled from the appendices of the Lord of the rings. You can read the whole thing

[00:15:47] there. There's references to what happens within the story of the Lord of the rings.

[00:15:51] It's more fleshed out in extended writings like the Silmarillion and unfinished tales

[00:15:55] of Numenor and middle earth. However, they don't have the rice of these. So they are still based

[00:16:00] on the writings of the Lord of the rings. But we're going to talk about the events in Tolkien's

[00:16:04] writing. So things that haven't happened in the show yet, because this is all about wild

[00:16:07] speculation. This is where we can have our dreams be pseudo reality.

[00:16:13] So can I, it's all right if I share one thing that I did find as a sort of a spoilery thing?

[00:16:19] Well, I don't want to talk production spoilers. So if you got a clue about something that's

[00:16:22] definitely going to happen, I don't want to say that. What I want to talk about is based

[00:16:27] on the images we're seeing and based on our knowledge of Tolkien. What do we think is in

[00:16:33] the shot? Because I sat down and did a whole analysis like this for the behind the scenes

[00:16:40] trailer that came along. Which is packed with a bunch of other information as well.

[00:16:44] Oh my gosh. I mean, it's yeah. We only have time for one podcast tonight.

[00:16:52] Oh, don't worry. I can move swiftly. You'll move them in.

[00:16:57] Okay. So let's get into it. Spoilers ahead. Leave if you do not dare to venture into spoilers.

[00:17:04] The Rings of Power teaser trailer begins with a picture of Sauron, Halbrand,

[00:17:11] Hauron, Halbrand slash Sauron looking upon the newly active Mount Doom from a distance.

[00:17:17] And then there's a closeup shot that looks like pretty much the same shot, but looking at his

[00:17:23] face. But Marilyn disagrees. This could be a different shot.

[00:17:27] I also disagree. Yeah, I think it's a different shot. The lighting is all different.

[00:17:31] He looks different too in terms of his facial hair and...

[00:17:34] Okay. He also has his affect has changed when he was looking at Mount Doom before he was like

[00:17:39] licking his lips and saying, oh, thank you for getting this ready for me. And now I'm prepared

[00:17:43] to take it over. And then the second one, he's looking almost pensive, which is odd for Sauron,

[00:17:49] but there you are. Yeah.

[00:17:52] We also have the quote of Durin IV. I just want to read quickly.

[00:17:56] An evil, ancient and powerful has returned.

[00:18:00] Yep. But of course, we don't know what he's talking about. If it's this or it could be

[00:18:06] the Balrog. David?

[00:18:08] The cloaked figure that is approaching the cliff area, the viewpoint here of what

[00:18:17] is most absurdly got to be Mount Doom, has like the cloak billows out and they're wearing some

[00:18:23] sort of headdress. And so it's really, the person seems very tall and lanky. So whether that is

[00:18:34] Sauron or not, I don't think it's the next shot that they're showing us where the person's,

[00:18:43] where Sauron's face is, it's much more like a firelight or a torch light, something that's

[00:18:48] much closer. Yeah. So, so you don't think that this is the end shot of last season? Because

[00:18:53] we did get a shot that was almost identical to this from last season. And it did show Halbrand's

[00:18:59] face right after it zoomed in on him. So that was definitely him standing there in the end of the

[00:19:04] last season, but maybe it is a new shot this season. And this person is very heavily cloaked.

[00:19:08] You can see the cloak flapping in the wind as it, and it's quite a long, large cloak. So

[00:19:15] it's unique. It's distinct. Classic Darth Vader cloak.

[00:19:18] Very much so. Yep. But you know what's funny is that whatever the headgear that the figure is

[00:19:25] wearing, it really reminds me of the Nazgul and what from the Jackson movie. Interesting.

[00:19:34] The, oh God, my brain is so fried. The main king of the Nazgul.

[00:19:42] The witch king. The witch king.

[00:19:43] The witch king. Yeah. Angmar.

[00:19:44] Angmar. That's right. That's right. It looks very much like his headgear. At least it reminds me of

[00:19:50] that. And I'm not saying that it is. I'm just saying I get those kinds of vibes. Like there's,

[00:19:54] this is, this person is wearing something that's very significant on their head.

[00:19:58] I think it's the hood from the cape.

[00:20:00] Yeah, me too. I don't think we can have, I do not think we can have the witch king yet or any of

[00:20:05] the- No, no, no, no. I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying the visual style is giving me vibes.

[00:20:09] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hear what you're saying. Yeah. I'm just going to finish my thought for

[00:20:12] anyone listening. The Nazgul will not appear until after they, the men who get the rings are

[00:20:18] corrupted so they can't be around here. Correct. And it's got to take at least,

[00:20:21] you know, 500 years or longer. Yeah, something like that. Yep.

[00:20:24] I want to move on to the amorphous slimy goop that grows up for the ground. What is that?

[00:20:31] You know, this is where the new trend to have dark scenes so that you can't tell what's going on

[00:20:38] just really gets up my nose, which is an interesting comment given something that

[00:20:43] happened on Space Babies. But nevermind. See, I actually saw a theory online-

[00:20:47] What did you see? Oh yes.

[00:20:48] That this is- Oh wait.

[00:20:50] Are we, oh, this is just a theory? Okay.

[00:20:53] A theory. A theory. This is like the spawn of Sauron, like this is Sauron after he's been

[00:21:00] defeated in some form, like- Reconstituting?

[00:21:03] Reconstituting. No, I don't think so.

[00:21:05] Well, I'm thinking in a flashback. This could be because remember Adar says, I killed him.

[00:21:11] So maybe this is the spirit of Sauron- It could be a flashback.

[00:21:13] In darkness sort of reconstituting. This is what happened after Adar killed Sauron.

[00:21:18] Well, now I'm also thinking of the opening sequence of the shivering sands and then the

[00:21:25] black snakey slime that goes all through it. So maybe you've found a connection there.

[00:21:30] Well, there's certainly a visual language happening with the sort of

[00:21:33] root snake-like things that come later in this.

[00:21:36] Good point. So they're definitely establishing.

[00:21:40] And all throughout this trailer, we get the camera shots of us moving forward at level,

[00:21:47] ground level as whatever is just before the camera is moving. And so the whole teaser gives

[00:21:54] us this forward motion feeling, right? We're constantly moving in, we're pushing in, we're

[00:22:00] examining something. And so this definitely captures that, establishes that energy because

[00:22:06] that happens at this beginning. But yeah, what it is, no clue. I mean, this has got to be a

[00:22:12] Payne and McKay invention. My best guess is it's a second age slime monster.

[00:22:17] I was going to say venom from the Spider-Man movies, the Sony Spider-Man movies.

[00:22:22] That's pretty good.

[00:22:24] But I like that you said about definitely evil creeping up from the depths.

[00:22:28] So did we skip the little thing with Durin giving his speech?

[00:22:33] Yeah. I mean, I included the quote in the Hal Brown thing, but yeah,

[00:22:36] I should have gotten a little shot of it.

[00:22:38] He's sort of rallying troops here, right? He's giving a speech to convince people of something.

[00:22:46] Yeah. And I do think that this is, you know, the ball rock they're referring to. I don't

[00:22:51] think he's doing Sauron just yet. Okay.

[00:22:53] I think so.

[00:22:56] So I want to move on to Galadriel, muddy Morphid Galadriel, we've been calling her because

[00:23:02] you've got Morphid Clark doing an excellent job playing Galadriel. She says, prepare yourselves.

[00:23:07] And her and a band of elf warriors hold their swords up in the darkness.

[00:23:11] This was not as bad as Legolas skateboarding down a flight of stairs.

[00:23:19] Could hardly be worse.

[00:23:21] But it was very much Avengers assemble as the camera pans around, each of them

[00:23:27] readies their weapon and does their little flourish.

[00:23:31] So this is very much, I think, targeted at the 13 year old and all of us going like,

[00:23:37] oh, cool. Like, oh yeah, it's amazing.

[00:23:39] It worked on me.

[00:23:41] Fair enough.

[00:23:41] I liked it.

[00:23:45] It wasn't so, it was so short that it didn't make my eyes roll too far back up in my head,

[00:23:51] but it was the one sort of, I think it was the silliest part of it.

[00:23:54] But at the same time, I'm ready to see some ass kicking, some elves kicking some ass here.

[00:24:01] So, well, I'm just glad to see that she finally braided her hair, wrapped her hair,

[00:24:08] hair, wrapped it around her head as any sensible warrior would do.

[00:24:12] You ain't pulling that.

[00:24:14] Not without getting close enough to that being the last thing you ever do.

[00:24:19] So I want to make clear here, like the elves, the Noldor that we're looking at here,

[00:24:25] they are Kali Kwendi.

[00:24:27] They saw the light of the trees and they are filled with that holy energy.

[00:24:31] And so they are smarter, faster, stronger than the elves that we see in the third age.

[00:24:37] The elves that, you know, you meet in Rivendell mostly.

[00:24:41] But this is something that I'm really glad that they're showing on screen.

[00:24:45] Like these are fierce warriors.

[00:24:46] These are really tough people.

[00:24:49] That's a cool, that's a cool insight.

[00:24:50] That's good to know.

[00:24:52] And interesting, I'm noting too, that there's in terms of casting,

[00:24:57] there's a little bit more diversity going on in this as well.

[00:25:00] So I think they're widening out who they're going to have as actually playing

[00:25:05] these different characters, the different, choosing different actors,

[00:25:09] not going with a specific, you know, body type or hair or facial look.

[00:25:16] Yeah.

[00:25:16] I do miss the long haired elves, but that's a costuming choice.

[00:25:20] I don't.

[00:25:22] They were just, well.

[00:25:24] Elrond's rocking the short cut though.

[00:25:26] Nah, no, no, no, no.

[00:25:27] Give me Hugo Weaving's hairstyle.

[00:25:30] Well, you've got Gil Gallad's hairstyle.

[00:25:32] That's true.

[00:25:33] So you can be content with that.

[00:25:34] Never me.

[00:25:37] And I noticed he even put his in a chunky braid at one point,

[00:25:39] but it's still hanging down his back.

[00:25:42] All right.

[00:25:43] So, you know, we of course get Elrond joining the party during that same scene.

[00:25:48] I think his costuming is better this season.

[00:25:50] He looks, I think you point out Marilyn, he looks a little older, less boyish.

[00:25:54] He does.

[00:25:54] He does.

[00:25:55] And of course, you know, that the first season we basically saw the diplomat and Harold Elrond.

[00:26:02] Now we're looking at battle Elrond and he was in the Teen Titans.

[00:26:06] Now he's in the Titans.

[00:26:09] Basically.

[00:26:11] All right.

[00:26:12] We've got an unknown character holding their hands out in front of them.

[00:26:15] Palms up.

[00:26:15] The palms are covered in blood.

[00:26:18] This one puzzled me.

[00:26:20] So these little fluttering things look to be mobs to me.

[00:26:25] See, I buy that.

[00:26:26] I liked when you said that.

[00:26:27] Yeah.

[00:26:29] And so that gives us pause because moths aren't inherently evil,

[00:26:35] but when we see the blood on the hands, which also gives us a very Christ-like illusion,

[00:26:41] right?

[00:26:42] Because their palms are bloodied there.

[00:26:46] It's a confusing set of visual images and I don't think we're meant to know or understand what this

[00:26:52] is.

[00:26:53] The temple look, is it Numenorean?

[00:26:55] Is it Egyptian?

[00:26:56] Is it in the dry lands where we see the stranger lady?

[00:26:58] Oh, I don't think it's Egyptian.

[00:27:00] No, no, but I'm saying it has-

[00:27:01] Egyptian influence.

[00:27:02] I know, I'm just joking.

[00:27:03] I'm just joking.

[00:27:04] There's no Egyptians in this world.

[00:27:06] I really think this is out east.

[00:27:08] Yeah.

[00:27:09] I think this is potentially something to do, set up for stranger or the stranger encounters

[00:27:16] on their wanderings or so forth, thinking ahead to other scenes that we're going to talk about too.

[00:27:20] Right, because it has that dry, dusty brown coloring to it.

[00:27:23] Yeah.

[00:27:23] But it's also, any ritual with blood on the palms to me is not a good ritual to bring-

[00:27:31] Sure.

[00:27:31] Rainbows and unicorns.

[00:27:33] No, is she-

[00:27:34] And anybody doing that kind of ritual, the only place that we've really seen that kind

[00:27:39] of ritual so far is through the trio that I call the Hissy Sisters.

[00:27:43] Right, the Hissy Sisters.

[00:27:45] Yeah, because every time they appear, the music goes, sa-ya-ya.

[00:27:49] I think there's, it's easy to interpret the moths as being summoned by the person with

[00:27:57] the bloodied palms.

[00:27:59] But then in the next scene, the moths are invading into the room.

[00:28:03] So if these shots are slightly out of sequence, then is the stranger, this feels stranger

[00:28:10] magic, these moths, the way that they're moving and flowing into the room.

[00:28:13] And so I don't wonder if the person with the bloodied palms is not summoning the moths,

[00:28:18] but is being surrounded by them as they come in.

[00:28:23] So-

[00:28:25] Well, I thought of the moths as being something that they chose to turn into as a means of

[00:28:29] escape.

[00:28:30] Because it's a lot harder to take out an entire entity when they're all in pieces, right?

[00:28:34] Right.

[00:28:36] You mean the Hissy Sisters turned into moths?

[00:28:39] Right, yes.

[00:28:39] Oh, okay.

[00:28:40] In order to get away.

[00:28:42] I don't remember that.

[00:28:43] And now I'm looking at this, that's last season.

[00:28:45] Yeah.

[00:28:45] Now that I look at this, the pot-bellied heater stoves on either side of the doorway in this

[00:28:52] next image also speak to me of a desert clime.

[00:28:57] Right.

[00:28:58] And her armor and, I'm assuming it's a woman, her armor and the greaves-

[00:29:03] The wristlets, yeah.

[00:29:04] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:29:05] Are they greaves or-

[00:29:06] No, greaves, I think go up to the elbow.

[00:29:09] I would call them wristlets or wristbands or something like that, but I'm not an expert

[00:29:14] in this.

[00:29:15] So listeners, write in.

[00:29:16] Right.

[00:29:16] Tell us what you saw.

[00:29:18] And the dress and the fabric are definitely not, don't feel as Numenorean as some other

[00:29:24] things.

[00:29:24] No, no.

[00:29:25] I was thinking Khazad-dum initially, but hearing what you said and just letting it flow, I'm

[00:29:31] thinking more and more that this is some ritual that those who were worshiping Sauron,

[00:29:38] you know, out beyond the Sea of Rune and so forth.

[00:29:41] Got it.

[00:29:41] Rion?

[00:29:42] And we do know from Tolkien's extended writings, I need a citation, I was trying to find one,

[00:29:49] but we do know that there's this idea that the blue wizards went out into Rune-

[00:29:56] Yes.

[00:29:57] And they created magical cults.

[00:29:58] Or-

[00:29:59] And so I think that's where we're going with some of this, but I think that the magical

[00:30:03] cults already exist.

[00:30:04] So I don't think the strangers of blue wizard, I know Marilyn, I know we're going to have

[00:30:08] a fight.

[00:30:08] No, no fight, just saying alternatives.

[00:30:11] But I do think that-

[00:30:12] Blue wizards might have gone out there to deal with the cults rather than starting them

[00:30:15] themselves.

[00:30:16] Sure, sure.

[00:30:18] I don't buy it.

[00:30:18] I think Gandalf's going to get out there and be like, oh, what's this?

[00:30:25] Why did you do this?

[00:30:26] This wasn't in our mission.

[00:30:27] Well, we've got a whole big single stranger scene.

[00:30:32] So-

[00:30:33] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:30:34] Definitely wrestle over it when we get there.

[00:30:36] Why don't we go out to that?

[00:30:39] Well, we did talk a little bit about the moths coming in the room.

[00:30:42] I think that was a really cool shot.

[00:30:45] Yep, yep.

[00:30:46] I think we're next on the forest floor.

[00:30:48] Yeah, let's talk about the Unknown Voice, which says, and the rest of him slithers in.

[00:30:56] And you have roots rapidly growing across the forest floor.

[00:31:00] They look like snakes slithering.

[00:31:03] Yeah, they really capture a snake-like vibe to it.

[00:31:06] This feels very elvish, this forest with the lights that you can see.

[00:31:11] If you pause, you can see the design of the lights.

[00:31:14] They have that teardrop-y type of shape.

[00:31:18] Oh, I see what you mean.

[00:31:19] Yeah, okay.

[00:31:20] Yeah.

[00:31:21] Interesting.

[00:31:22] I could make almost nothing out of this because of the darkness.

[00:31:25] So I'm really pleased that you highlighted one thing and added light to it.

[00:31:29] So you could see there's actually a person standing there.

[00:31:31] Yeah, so then these slithers are heading towards a person.

[00:31:35] And their head is cut off in the shot.

[00:31:38] And we just see them standing in a dark green robe.

[00:31:41] And we see their hands and then just their neckline.

[00:31:43] So hard to say if it's a man or a woman.

[00:31:47] But there's definitely a figure there.

[00:31:49] Well, Keller Brimboe likes to wear dark velvet robes.

[00:31:52] Okay.

[00:31:52] Dark green velvet robes.

[00:31:54] And I do have a theory about who the voice is that's speaking,

[00:31:57] but I'm not going to share it because it's spoilery.

[00:32:00] Oh, did it come from the spoilers?

[00:32:01] It came from the spoilers.

[00:32:04] But it feels very much like Sauron infecting and spreading out his power, right?

[00:32:10] That's the vibe that we're getting from this.

[00:32:12] Which is why I think this may be Mirkwood.

[00:32:15] Oh.

[00:32:16] Still called the Greenwood.

[00:32:17] Does that line up though?

[00:32:18] Does that line up in timeline?

[00:32:21] Because Mirkwood didn't really exist until after the fall of Sauron in the Second Age, right?

[00:32:26] Not until the late Third Age when the old forest became Mirkwood.

[00:32:31] Well, it was infected for a time and then I thought Orodruin, not Orodruin, Legolas's father,

[00:32:43] Orodruin, grandfather, sorry, who did go to the battle with Sauron and at the close of the Second

[00:32:55] Age.

[00:32:56] So there were elves, Sylvan elves living in the forest and I'm pretty sure it started to darken.

[00:33:02] Okay.

[00:33:03] And that was part of why they decided to march off.

[00:33:06] Listeners write in, please.

[00:33:07] I don't have my resources at hand either.

[00:33:10] I'm either misremembering or confusing, but my first thought was, yeah, if he's trying to take

[00:33:15] over the world, I hope they try to hit Fangorn or Old Man Willow.

[00:33:19] They'll get it back with interest.

[00:33:22] And then I wondered if this might also produce some ants at some point.

[00:33:27] Oh, that's interesting.

[00:33:28] Antwood and messing around with trees.

[00:33:30] They're going to hear from them sooner or later, I would think.

[00:33:33] Yeah.

[00:33:33] Because we're definitely interpreting these slithering vine things as being evil.

[00:33:39] I would say so.

[00:33:41] Right.

[00:33:43] I mean, that's the whole point of a trailer and a teaser and these kinds of things is

[00:33:47] to sometimes sow misdirection.

[00:33:50] Subvert our expectations.

[00:33:52] Exactly.

[00:33:52] Do you hear us, Benioff and Weiss?

[00:33:54] We're talking about you still.

[00:33:56] Yeah.

[00:33:58] I think it's fine even if it doesn't line up with the timeline, which it sounds like it might based

[00:34:02] on what you're saying, Marilyn.

[00:34:03] But even if it didn't line up with the timeline, like they're already moving up the ball.

[00:34:06] Right.

[00:34:06] They're they're just we've compressed this to like a very short period.

[00:34:12] The fall of a Reggion, which is something we're going to talk about in a minute,

[00:34:15] doesn't happen until like centuries before the fall of Numenor.

[00:34:20] Yeah.

[00:34:21] Yeah.

[00:34:21] So this is really compressed.

[00:34:24] Definitely.

[00:34:25] So anyway, why don't we head into a quick break and when we get back,

[00:34:31] we'll go further into the forest.

[00:34:34] Into the woods.

[00:34:59] We've got an army of orcs marching through the forest with torches.

[00:35:32] And they're not singing into the woods.

[00:35:35] Definitely not.

[00:35:36] Where are they heading?

[00:35:37] My guess is a Region.

[00:35:39] Where Celebrimbor is.

[00:35:42] I have no idea where this could be or what the battle is.

[00:35:46] The question is, do they later on when we see a sequence of a horse charge, a cavalry charge,

[00:35:54] is that the same battle?

[00:35:55] Is this the same group of orcs where we have Galadriel and Elrond and Avengers assemble?

[00:36:02] So visually it's all the same dark forest land, but it's hard to know.

[00:36:10] There's a lot of forests and a lot of orcs in Middle-earth.

[00:36:13] Right? Isn't there like forests all over the place and moving around?

[00:36:17] This is before, well, I don't know how long before the Numenoreans came and clear cut

[00:36:22] vast swaths of the Sutherlands and made enemies of the Dunlendings for most of the rest of their

[00:36:29] history.

[00:36:30] I saw a YouTube video once where the person who produced it had little tokens for all

[00:36:36] of the main sort of characters and then moved it.

[00:36:38] And it was just sort of narrating all these moving around things.

[00:36:41] And it was like, whoa.

[00:36:43] Yeah.

[00:36:43] I have no idea.

[00:36:45] And people have extracted all of this detailed information out of all of the texts.

[00:36:50] It's really incredible.

[00:36:51] The scholarship, the YouTube scholarship is pretty astounding.

[00:36:54] It sounds like Matt from Nerd of the Rings.

[00:36:56] Okay.

[00:36:57] Yeah.

[00:36:58] It was exceptional.

[00:37:00] So what I'm getting at with this Eregion stuff is, David, if you'll recall, when we did our

[00:37:04] Second Age podcast where we talked about this whole thing.

[00:37:07] After the Rings of Power were forged, Celebrimbor, the ruler of Eregion, is taken captive and

[00:37:15] killed by Sauron.

[00:37:17] The whole city of Ostinedo, the capital of Eregion, is burnt and destroyed.

[00:37:22] And there are just a few elvish refugees that go with Elrond to found Rivendell.

[00:37:27] Mm-hmm.

[00:37:28] But so I think that what we're doing is we're leading up to the finale, which will be the

[00:37:34] siege and destruction of Eregion.

[00:37:36] Okay.

[00:37:37] I think that would be a good place to leave it.

[00:37:39] Sure.

[00:37:39] And that would build a natural arc for the season.

[00:37:43] Are we doing eight episodes this year?

[00:37:45] Eight episodes, sounds like.

[00:37:46] Okay.

[00:37:47] So that would be a natural arc.

[00:37:48] And then to end it at a kind of a cliffhanger-y point that would make a lot of sense from TV

[00:37:54] production standpoint.

[00:37:55] Yeah.

[00:37:55] Well, I-

[00:37:55] I think if you want to leave it on hope, because hope is never mere, you should have Elrond

[00:38:02] sort of lay the groundwork for Rivendell.

[00:38:05] Right.

[00:38:05] Like this would be a nice valley to settle, like right at the end.

[00:38:08] Right.

[00:38:09] Yeah.

[00:38:09] What I want to see before that is the doors of Khazad-dûm bursting open and Prince Doran

[00:38:16] leading an army of dwarves to the rescue of his friend Elrond.

[00:38:21] That'd be cool.

[00:38:21] Because again, that's what happens-

[00:38:23] Okay.

[00:38:23] In the actual text is that Sauron overruns Eregion.

[00:38:29] And even though Gil-galad and Elrond have come with armies to try and relieve it, they

[00:38:36] eventually get- are surrounded.

[00:38:40] And the dwarves come along and burst in on their rear and break up the armies enough

[00:38:45] so that Elrond and Elves can group together and escape, as Jon was saying, towards the

[00:38:50] mountains and build the refuge of Doran.

[00:38:54] Okay, that would be cool.

[00:38:54] That would all be great fun stuff.

[00:38:56] Because at some level for the non-Tolkien, for the casual fan, right?

[00:39:03] The people who've seen the movies and enjoy the general lore, these little snippets really

[00:39:10] help to glue us and excite us into the things that we know.

[00:39:16] Mm-hmm.

[00:39:16] So, it's a tricky thing to create the deep lore for the people who really close read

[00:39:22] the text, but at the same time make it accessible enough for the casual fan.

[00:39:30] And there's one line that I love so much in Unfinished Tales where it talks about Galadriel

[00:39:38] making her way through Khazad-dûm on her way to the other side to Lorien.

[00:39:45] And she looks upon the dwarves with the eyes of a general.

[00:39:50] Now, I really hope that Peyn and Mekhit...

[00:39:52] Well, I'm sure they've read the sentence, but I would love to see them build on that.

[00:39:56] Right.

[00:39:57] And have some kind of interaction in which Galadriel is the one with Elrond who is reaching

[00:40:03] out to the dwarves and saying, look, we're going to be toast.

[00:40:05] Right, we got to...

[00:40:06] We really need your intervention.

[00:40:08] And, you know, the king saying, get out of my realm and Prince Durin saying, look,

[00:40:15] we're going to do this as my friend.

[00:40:17] Which could call back to the scene that we see of Durin at the beginning of this,

[00:40:21] where he's saying, you know, there's an evil arising, you know, this evil is awake.

[00:40:24] Exactly.

[00:40:25] Yeah.

[00:40:25] Exactly.

[00:40:26] Very cool.

[00:40:27] That works.

[00:40:29] Yeah.

[00:40:30] Is it too much for me to ask for a dwarf to yeet an orc with their hammer?

[00:40:36] No, it is not.

[00:40:37] Just like hit them so hard they go flying.

[00:40:41] And invented the game of golf at the same time.

[00:40:42] Yeah, yeah, there you go.

[00:40:44] Sorry, that's been done already or will be done.

[00:40:47] Okay, so Celebrimbor looks towards a light source and shields his eyes with his hand.

[00:40:53] In the next shot, Celebrimbor looks at the light source and you see a silhouette of a

[00:40:57] person begin to appear.

[00:40:59] Who is that?

[00:41:01] Gee, I wonder.

[00:41:02] So this light source, again, we're talking about, you know, these visual styles and they

[00:41:10] played a lot with it in season one.

[00:41:13] To me, this light source and with the person standing there, it makes an eye.

[00:41:19] And that person creates the darkness for the pupil to be.

[00:41:23] And so it's just like, it's so Eye of Sauron to me.

[00:41:26] It just, it's really.

[00:41:28] Yeah, I like that.

[00:41:29] And to do that subtle visual work, I really appreciate that kind of stuff.

[00:41:34] Again, it's for the casual fan.

[00:41:37] You'll pick up on something like that and go, oh, isn't that looks like the eye?

[00:41:40] And you know, a very easy, easy reference to throw in.

[00:41:45] It's also a bit of a callback to Peter Jackson's envisioning of Galdadriel and Gandalf and

[00:41:52] Elrond appearing in the old Fortress of Dol Guldur.

[00:41:57] OK, right.

[00:41:58] And Sauron, this is when they first realized, OK, Sauron is back and Gandalf is plastered

[00:42:02] against the wall.

[00:42:03] And we see the sort of continuous loop of the eye forming Sauron forming the eye forming

[00:42:09] Sauron.

[00:42:11] Yeah, and I do think that we need to bring in the next shot into this discussion because

[00:42:16] that shows Halbrand, Sauron as a new character, which I think I think it's almost indisputable

[00:42:25] that it's going to be called Anatar, that this is going to be the Lord of Gifts.

[00:42:28] And David, if you'll recall from our from our second age podcast, Sauron then changes

[00:42:34] appearance to look like an elf to look fair and to be this like, hey, you know, I'm I'm

[00:42:41] from the Valar.

[00:42:42] I'm super cool.

[00:42:43] I passed the vibe check.

[00:42:44] I'm coming in a ray of light.

[00:42:47] Look at that right here.

[00:42:48] I'm coming in a ray of light.

[00:42:50] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:42:51] I'm really cool.

[00:42:52] Good pick.

[00:42:52] And I'm going to be giving you the best gifts ever.

[00:42:56] There's going to be a lot of politicking this season because one of Sauron's goals is to

[00:43:01] sow discord between the elves and so make Celebrimbor start to doubt his relationship

[00:43:07] with Gil-galad.

[00:43:09] Am I being taken advantage of by Gil-galad, who's the, you know, the high king of the

[00:43:14] Noldor?

[00:43:15] Who is he to have that title?

[00:43:16] I'm one of the sons of Feanor.

[00:43:20] Well, and also.

[00:43:21] Grandson, don't at me.

[00:43:24] Again, according to the texts, neither Gil-galad nor Galadriel ever trusted Annatar.

[00:43:33] And Celebrimbor didn't really either.

[00:43:37] Well, he.

[00:43:38] He tolerated him, but he didn't.

[00:43:40] He didn't ever make any rings with Annatar, and he chose to deliberately avoid making

[00:43:46] the rings without Annatar, which is why the Elvish rings remain uncorrupted.

[00:43:49] This is true.

[00:43:51] He also really wanted the knowledge that Annatar was promising.

[00:43:57] And I think it was a question of he was willing to gain that knowledge in despite of the warnings.

[00:44:06] Because again, in the text, it says that they couldn't read his mind.

[00:44:10] And this goes back to Asanwe because he was always closed.

[00:44:15] Right.

[00:44:16] He closed off, right?

[00:44:17] He closed off his thoughts.

[00:44:18] Right.

[00:44:18] And presumably they told Celebrimbor that.

[00:44:22] Which is sus anyway.

[00:44:24] Exactly.

[00:44:24] It depends on which version you read.

[00:44:26] I mean, in one version, Celebrimbor is deeply in love with Galadriel and makes her the special

[00:44:30] gem and so on.

[00:44:31] So as John had mentioned earlier, Tolkien had 10 different answers to one question.

[00:44:37] But I think he was mostly Celebrimbor, what we hear in the first season, I really want

[00:44:45] to make something that will excel my grandfather.

[00:44:50] And something of beauty, something of power, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:44:53] So is this Numenor?

[00:44:56] No, no, no.

[00:44:56] That's Eregion.

[00:44:57] This is Eregion.

[00:44:58] OK.

[00:44:58] Yeah.

[00:44:59] Yeah.

[00:44:59] So visually they're establishing this blue green light and sort of twilight space.

[00:45:08] So OK, that makes sense.

[00:45:10] And these people are running around like there's chaos happening here.

[00:45:15] Yeah, well, this could be the beginning of the end.

[00:45:18] Right.

[00:45:18] And you'll notice that blue and green are the colors that you see most often in

[00:45:22] Elvish warrior clothing.

[00:45:24] OK.

[00:45:25] And maybe all clothing.

[00:45:26] I don't know.

[00:45:27] I almost didn't recognize him here.

[00:45:29] They really did a they slimmed up his face and his hair.

[00:45:33] He cleaned up nice.

[00:45:34] This is a different.

[00:45:35] This is a different actor.

[00:45:37] This is a different actor.

[00:45:38] No, this is not Charles Tully Vickers.

[00:45:40] Are you sure?

[00:45:41] Hand on heart, sure.

[00:45:43] No.

[00:45:44] That can't be true.

[00:45:46] Well, check it out.

[00:45:47] I don't believe you.

[00:45:49] No, I don't accept that.

[00:45:50] Maryland source me.

[00:45:52] OK, I was thinking it's Charlie Vickers because they're trying to show the audience.

[00:45:57] This is the same person.

[00:45:59] This is Sauron, but his appearance is supposed to be different in like theoretically has

[00:46:04] a different face.

[00:46:04] And so the elves are deceived and not recognizing him as hell brand.

[00:46:07] That was my theory.

[00:46:08] But if you're telling me this isn't Charlie Vickers, then I'm blown away.

[00:46:11] This new actor is playing Sauron's original form, while Charlie Vickers will be playing

[00:46:20] the hell brand.

[00:46:21] That's what it says.

[00:46:22] Are they playing because somebody else played Sauron in like the dark lord form, right?

[00:46:26] Is that what you're looking at?

[00:46:28] I really I don't I I'm looking at Charlie Vickers here.

[00:46:32] I feel like I tell you that it is not Charlie Vickers and I can't see anymore without adding

[00:46:38] in spoilers.

[00:46:38] OK, well, all right.

[00:46:40] That's cool.

[00:46:41] That's some cool casting that they're able to match these two.

[00:46:45] Yes.

[00:46:46] So like you said, John, that Annatar is looking like Sal.

[00:46:51] Like if we have to do double takes and it's really two physically different actors, that's

[00:46:56] very cool.

[00:46:57] That is a very cool thing.

[00:46:58] I'm looking at the dictionary definition of gaslighting.

[00:47:02] I feel like it's happening to me right now from Marilyn Arpukula.

[00:47:06] She she's got a live on mind.

[00:47:08] She she's she's Annatar me.

[00:47:15] Exactly right.

[00:47:17] She's been here with us this whole time, John.

[00:47:21] I am telling you the truth as I understand it to be so I may be getting gaslighted by

[00:47:26] a whole bunch of other sources myself.

[00:47:28] It's not like the Internet has not been known to do that before, but I'm open to it if they

[00:47:34] if they have a physically if a different actor.

[00:47:35] I think that's going to be very cool.

[00:47:37] I like that.

[00:47:38] Fair enough.

[00:47:39] All right.

[00:47:39] So we get this wide shot with the release date, August 29th.

[00:47:44] Yeah.

[00:47:44] Yep.

[00:47:45] This is the coast of Numenor, right?

[00:47:46] I think I think we can agree that or Pilargir.

[00:47:49] What's the mountain in the background there?

[00:47:52] That would be Meneltarma.

[00:47:54] Yeah.

[00:47:54] Numenor.

[00:47:56] That it feels very like that to me.

[00:47:59] Because Numenor has got that great mountain temple, right?

[00:48:01] Meneltarma.

[00:48:02] Where you go to talk to the eagles.

[00:48:05] You go to talk to the eagles, which we see an eagle soon.

[00:48:07] So we'll talk about that.

[00:48:10] Yeah, I can't.

[00:48:12] I can barely make out where the OK, this may be hunting Markleys, but between the G and

[00:48:19] the U in August there, it looks like there's a bunch of people on the cliff.

[00:48:25] I'm going to smack you down.

[00:48:26] All right.

[00:48:26] We're going to Elrond.

[00:48:28] There are there are something.

[00:48:32] There are people there.

[00:48:34] There's a stairway going up.

[00:48:35] I see what you're saying.

[00:48:36] I'm just joking around.

[00:48:38] If you enlarge it so it's big on your screen, you can definitely see that there's some things

[00:48:43] going on.

[00:48:44] OK, John, I've just seen two different stories saying two contradictory things.

[00:48:49] So I think it's a question of.

[00:48:51] Oh, come on, Internet.

[00:48:52] Can't you be clear?

[00:48:55] Come on, Internet.

[00:48:55] If I've seen Leaks Maryland, I would say give them very little credibility because.

[00:49:01] Wide berth.

[00:49:02] Fair enough.

[00:49:02] There's a lot of rumors.

[00:49:04] I'm I'm still convinced until I hear definitively otherwise, that is Charlie Vickers to me.

[00:49:09] OK.

[00:49:11] I'm not putting any points on it.

[00:49:13] All right.

[00:49:13] No, no, Internet.

[00:49:14] Fair enough.

[00:49:14] Fair enough.

[00:49:16] We get Elrond and Galadriel riding on horseback through a grassy field toward grassy hills

[00:49:22] and then another close shop of Galadriel in the same scene.

[00:49:25] Where are they going?

[00:49:26] Are we sure that that's Elrond?

[00:49:28] I mean, I'm not saying that it's not, but.

[00:49:30] I thought it was Elrond as he passed.

[00:49:32] Yeah, I thought so too.

[00:49:33] You can only see it in that picture I took, but in the shot, I think it's Elrond.

[00:49:37] OK.

[00:49:37] I think so, too.

[00:49:38] I think so, too.

[00:49:40] Yeah, and there's that beautiful blue green color again in her cloak.

[00:49:44] Exactly.

[00:49:45] Yeah, I'm imagining that they're heading towards Khazad-Dum to warn the dwells,

[00:49:49] warn the dwarves and ask for help against Sauron.

[00:49:54] All right.

[00:49:55] All right.

[00:49:56] And I'm just a little worried about that look in Galadriel's eyes again with that close

[00:50:00] up shot of her while she's riding.

[00:50:02] What is it with Galadriel in writing?

[00:50:05] She has that Fae look at her eyes.

[00:50:08] Remember from the first season where she's riding the white horse across the sand?

[00:50:12] Yeah, there's that great line that I just read with Tewi Tolkien on Silmarillion stories,

[00:50:17] if you missed it.

[00:50:18] But there's this great line that they use to describe Fae and Orr.

[00:50:22] But even if he had known, it would not have deterred him,

[00:50:24] for he was Fae consumed by the flame of his own wrath.

[00:50:29] Nice.

[00:50:30] Yep.

[00:50:31] That's Galadriel right there channeling her uncle.

[00:50:34] Right, right.

[00:50:36] Well, I don't know that she'd go that far.

[00:50:37] But yeah, I don't think she ever got that bad.

[00:50:40] She wouldn't even give him three a hair.

[00:50:42] Come on.

[00:50:42] Yep, that's true.

[00:50:43] That's true.

[00:50:46] Let's go to the next scene.

[00:50:47] We've got an unknown character with long hair and a white puffy garment sinking into the sea.

[00:50:52] I thought it looked like Muriel at first, but I see other theories in the notes here.

[00:50:57] Well, I just wondered if it was Isildur's mother and there was some kind of a flashback going on.

[00:51:04] I think you're right, actually.

[00:51:05] We know she drowned.

[00:51:06] And it doesn't really look like Muriel to me.

[00:51:08] In fact, there was in the behind-the-scenes trailer,

[00:51:12] there was another shot of this same image.

[00:51:15] And she looked too pale.

[00:51:18] I agree with that.

[00:51:19] Yeah, I'm changing my answer now.

[00:51:21] I'm copying you on the test, Marilyn.

[00:51:23] You are certainly welcome to do that.

[00:51:27] Well, and they do something that a lot of trailers do too,

[00:51:31] is put two scenes that have visual look similarities together back to back.

[00:51:36] So in the next scene, we get some sort of giant kraken shark octopus monster.

[00:51:43] Actually, you know what I think that is?

[00:51:44] I think that is a sunken ship and she is dangling from a rope.

[00:51:49] Oh no, that's definitely some sort of Tolkienian kaiju.

[00:51:54] Yeah, it's moving in a trailer.

[00:51:56] Oh, it is?

[00:51:57] It is.

[00:51:57] And its arms come billowing up around her.

[00:52:01] Is this the same thing that was attacking Galadriel's ship?

[00:52:05] Right, wasn't there something that...

[00:52:06] Yeah, I'm wondering if that's...

[00:52:08] I couldn't remember.

[00:52:09] Which then, you know, they're like, Elendil, why are you saving her?

[00:52:12] Well, maybe that's why.

[00:52:13] She's like, I can't let somebody else be thinking of the same monster.

[00:52:17] Interesting.

[00:52:19] So is there anything in Tolkien's writing about kraken and sea monsters and stuff?

[00:52:26] Closest I can think of is the watcher in the water in Moria.

[00:52:29] Yeah, yeah.

[00:52:30] I mean, they call it the worm and that's kind of Tolkienian

[00:52:35] because wurm is the German word for dragon.

[00:52:41] And so if it's a sea dragon, then calling it a worm kind of fits in with that whole thing.

[00:52:46] But no, the only time we see the sea, particularly that I'm thinking of,

[00:52:50] is when people are crossing to Valinor or crossing back.

[00:52:55] Until we get to Numenoreans, of course,

[00:52:57] and then they're sailing all over the place, except, of course, west.

[00:53:02] So maybe they were the one who discovered krakens and sea worms and whatnot.

[00:53:06] Yeah, this thing definitely has eyes and teeth and a big mouth and...

[00:53:09] I will take your word for it.

[00:53:10] And by the time of the Third Age when the Red Book is written,

[00:53:15] because remember, this is all in universe text,

[00:53:17] most of the Numenorean knowledge is gone.

[00:53:20] Like that washed away.

[00:53:23] I see what you did there.

[00:53:26] Fair enough.

[00:53:28] All right, we've got Deesa.

[00:53:31] I think you're right, Marilyn.

[00:53:33] That's her in the voiceover saying,

[00:53:34] every soul in Middle-earth is in peril.

[00:53:37] And then we have just a shot of her looking over her shoulder, all worried.

[00:53:42] Yeah, looking forward to seeing more Deesa for sure.

[00:53:46] Oh yeah.

[00:53:47] Marilyn, can you talk about here the part of the behind-the-scenes video

[00:53:52] where she's saying, you ain't seen nothing yet, basically,

[00:53:55] with the dwarf women.

[00:53:57] Sure, let's see where are my notes.

[00:54:02] When you're in costume on the set,

[00:54:04] you're going to discover even more wonderful things to do.

[00:54:07] Deesa's actress promises that we only caught a glimpse of this in the first season

[00:54:11] and that they're really going to let loose.

[00:54:14] Yeah, and then we get a shot of Deesa with two other dwarven women singing,

[00:54:18] I'm assuming, singing to the stone.

[00:54:20] And again, the actor says, this time you will see us in all our glory.

[00:54:27] So I mean, I was already blown away by the one scene we did see of her

[00:54:32] singing to the stones.

[00:54:33] I can't imagine how they're going to up that game, but that's what they're playing.

[00:54:37] Is that what the moths are doing?

[00:54:38] Do they control moths too?

[00:54:41] No.

[00:54:42] I don't think moths would do very well in Chazandum.

[00:54:45] Now hear me out, didn't Gandalf whisper to a butterfly to get the eagles?

[00:54:51] He did in the film.

[00:54:52] I thought it was, was it a moth or a butterfly?

[00:54:54] Maybe it was a moon.

[00:54:54] It was a luna moth.

[00:54:55] It was something that was actually close to endangered species in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

[00:55:01] So they went through a lot of sweat to get that moth in there in the original.

[00:55:07] So that's where I was going back with the moths in that previous scene.

[00:55:11] That's why I was thinking.

[00:55:12] I know.

[00:55:12] Yeah.

[00:55:13] Yeah.

[00:55:13] I don't think we're limited to the books in this.

[00:55:16] You know, we can pull from the Peter Jackson nonsense.

[00:55:18] Oh, I mean, this whole series.

[00:55:20] They practically salted the first season.

[00:55:23] Yeah.

[00:55:23] I mean, yeah.

[00:55:24] I really want to see them branch out on their own more this time.

[00:55:27] I agree with that.

[00:55:28] This is a more general sentiment I wanted to put out here in general is I don't need

[00:55:32] an explanation of this is how we got here in the Lord of the Rings.

[00:55:35] And this is how we got here in the Lord of the Rings.

[00:55:37] I want them to tell me a compelling story from beginning to end about characters and

[00:55:40] stories and themes that feel their own.

[00:55:45] Because they've made these characters around, they've made these cultures their own.

[00:55:49] They've really presented them in their vision and their understanding.

[00:55:54] So own it, guys.

[00:55:56] Please.

[00:55:57] And this is something that we've talked about in House of the Dragon, which is another prequel

[00:56:01] series.

[00:56:02] You know, we care about Rhaenyra and we care about these characters and we want to see

[00:56:07] what happens to them on an emotional level more than just a factual level.

[00:56:12] And so even though we might know their eventual fate, they need to sell that to us.

[00:56:16] And that's the same thing in Rings of Power.

[00:56:19] Definitely.

[00:56:21] We've got old King Doran, King Doran IV, the third.

[00:56:25] I'm sorry.

[00:56:25] I have to correct this in the thing before I get added.

[00:56:29] Looking up through a hole in the rock at a source of light as he shields his eyes.

[00:56:37] He trapped.

[00:56:38] I have a feeling he's not going to make it out of here.

[00:56:42] No, I think I think Prince Doran IV is becoming King Doran IV.

[00:56:47] Yeah, yeah.

[00:56:48] I was reminded of the hole that he looked through when he dropped the leaf down into the Balrogs.

[00:56:53] Very clean porch that got him so cross.

[00:56:59] And the light that he's shielding his eyes from could be Balrog flames.

[00:57:04] It's weird that they had him say fly, you fools in that scene, you know?

[00:57:10] Well, he wasn't talking to the Balrog when he said that.

[00:57:12] I know I'm just joking around.

[00:57:14] So am I.

[00:57:17] The bridge in Khazad-Dum, it looks like Khazad-Dum to me,

[00:57:21] gets hit by a large projectile and a section collapses.

[00:57:24] Marilyn, this seemed to exhaust you.

[00:57:27] Well, you know, if this is the Balrog making hay of Khazad-Dum,

[00:57:33] they're really messing up the timelines.

[00:57:35] And I can understand the temptation.

[00:57:38] You know, they already did the intro in the first season to say,

[00:57:41] hey, look, we can do a Balrog.

[00:57:43] So all right, fine.

[00:57:45] I guess it was too much to expect that they would say, no, no, no,

[00:57:50] we're sticking to the timeline and we will not have a Balrog because we don't have a Balrog in this

[00:57:54] particular chunk.

[00:57:55] Well, medium in the message, right?

[00:57:57] We've got to do stuff to get it on screen.

[00:58:00] So this definitely feels like the bridge.

[00:58:04] You shall not pass.

[00:58:05] Oh, yeah.

[00:58:06] Well, I don't think, well, I'm not certain that it is the bridge because

[00:58:12] It gives the vibe.

[00:58:13] It has the vibes though.

[00:58:13] Again, going back to that.

[00:58:14] Similar, yeah.

[00:58:15] Similar architects, similar constructions, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:58:18] I don't think it's this.

[00:58:19] No, I know it's not the same one because that one was an arch.

[00:58:22] And this is clearly a good point.

[00:58:23] Very good point.

[00:58:28] I'm here all night.

[00:58:29] You couldn't resist.

[00:58:30] No, I couldn't.

[00:58:31] He's very quick at Googling for these sound clips and loading them.

[00:58:36] He's a master.

[00:58:38] I pitched this on another podcast, but you gotta listen to properly Howard's review

[00:58:42] of Pulp Fiction where they discover that we had You Make My Dreams Come True loaded up

[00:58:47] and they just riff on it for like two minutes.

[00:58:49] It cracked me up.

[00:58:50] All right, we get this unknown character fighting through a crowd.

[00:58:53] Upon reflection, I think this is a lend deal and I think this is connected to the flashback

[00:58:58] that now it's all coming together for me.

[00:59:00] If this is if you get the flashback earlier that Isildur's mother is dying and drowning

[00:59:06] and maybe a lend deal is like, let me have my wife.

[00:59:08] I need to go save her.

[00:59:09] And he can't get through.

[00:59:10] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:59:11] At first I thought Isildur in a crowd of Southerners was a good idea.

[00:59:15] But then I realized that it's a different kind of story.

[00:59:18] And a crowd of Southerners that he's upset in Palagator.

[00:59:21] But I like that story thread that you're weaving there, John.

[00:59:25] So yeah, I'm definitely getting a lend deal vibes for sure.

[00:59:31] And then we have Galadriel, of course, screaming is this in the darkness?

[00:59:35] Yeah, yeah.

[00:59:36] Oh, we missed that.

[00:59:38] We missed the orc licking his knife, but whatever.

[00:59:41] No, that's next.

[00:59:42] Oh, no, are they?

[00:59:44] Is it is it?

[00:59:46] You're right.

[00:59:46] It's next to my outline, so it's next now.

[00:59:48] Yes.

[00:59:49] Let's talk about Galadriel.

[00:59:50] My bad.

[00:59:51] Yes, it's such a short scene that when I was jogging the shuttle on the on the YouTube video.

[00:59:57] It's all right.

[00:59:57] Yeah, yeah, it's tough.

[01:00:00] Yeah, I had to I had to really try hard to pause at the right moments with this.

[01:00:03] Yeah, yeah, it's a tough one.

[01:00:05] I'm now looking at that light and for some reason I'm thinking the the memorial grove of trees.

[01:00:12] Mm hmm.

[01:00:13] Is this the same thing where the slithering are happening?

[01:00:18] That's an interesting question.

[01:00:20] That's a very she having sort of PTSD with how brand Sauron,

[01:00:26] you know, with the way they left her in the water and the way he had her relive her brother's death

[01:00:30] and things like that.

[01:00:31] Is he still messing with her?

[01:00:32] So he's just like popping up every now and then to mess with her.

[01:00:35] I mean, I mean, why?

[01:00:36] Why wouldn't he?

[01:00:37] You know, he's he's a demiurge.

[01:00:38] He can do a lot of stuff.

[01:00:40] Was there any voiceover with this scene?

[01:00:42] Do you remember?

[01:00:43] I don't see one here.

[01:00:44] So I think there must not have been, but I just wanted to wanted to make sure about that.

[01:00:47] And the clip that you grabbed of the screenshot is perfect because it's at the height of her

[01:00:54] emotional reaction to whatever is coming at her.

[01:00:57] This is a fear reaction, right?

[01:00:59] This is like, this is terror.

[01:01:01] This is not even fear.

[01:01:02] This is terror.

[01:01:03] Yep.

[01:01:04] This is a very like, oh my God.

[01:01:08] Which is why Balrog is the first thought you might go to.

[01:01:11] But there's other possibilities, I think.

[01:01:14] Then of course we do a hard pivot in tone to an orc licking his knife.

[01:01:18] Very delicious.

[01:01:20] Getting ready for the meats.

[01:01:22] Getting the meats ready.

[01:01:23] It's back on the menu.

[01:01:24] The meat's back on the menu.

[01:01:25] The orcs are looking good here.

[01:01:26] Why do they know what a menu is?

[01:01:28] Exactly.

[01:01:30] Well, you know, the second age was a more cultured time.

[01:01:32] So.

[01:01:33] Exactly.

[01:01:33] You know, Adar taught them about menus perhaps.

[01:01:37] Great looking set.

[01:01:38] Great looking orc.

[01:01:40] Yeah, really, really great visuals in this whole trailer.

[01:01:42] But this orc is just, it's so sharp and the makeup looks perfect.

[01:01:47] Yeah, it's very impressive.

[01:01:49] It looks like he's in the ruin of a building that he just torched and ravaged.

[01:01:55] Maybe.

[01:01:55] Yeah, he's, yeah, definitely.

[01:01:58] Let's move on.

[01:01:58] Yep.

[01:02:00] Darkness will bind them.

[01:02:01] You know, you get this wide shot of, it looks like it's

[01:02:07] I don't know.

[01:02:07] Where is this bridge?

[01:02:08] Maybe Numenor, this is leading up to like the Palantir tower.

[01:02:12] It looks like the bridge that led to Os Tirith, but

[01:02:16] I think it could be the beginnings of Barad-dur.

[01:02:20] Okay.

[01:02:21] Okay.

[01:02:21] And we get, of course, the call back to the famous poem,

[01:02:24] One Ring to Rule Them All.

[01:02:26] But a nice ironic twist to that, darkness will bind them.

[01:02:30] I could read that as

[01:02:31] In the darkness.

[01:02:32] The growing darkness will bind together the peoples of Middle-earth.

[01:02:37] They will all come together to fight.

[01:02:39] Right, to fight back the darkness.

[01:02:40] Growing evil.

[01:02:41] Right, right.

[01:02:42] Because this is the last alliance of men and elves.

[01:02:44] Like this is when they fight together.

[01:02:46] More so than even in the Third Age.

[01:02:50] Definitely more so.

[01:02:53] The hands of Galadriel, Gil-galad and an unknown character.

[01:02:58] I'm doing that with tongue and cheek.

[01:02:59] We know who it is.

[01:03:01] Hold the three elven rings together.

[01:03:04] It's Círdan, right?

[01:03:05] Can we just agree with that?

[01:03:07] I hope so, but it could also be Celebrimbor before he gave it away to Círdan.

[01:03:12] Oh, yeah.

[01:03:13] So there are six rings in this.

[01:03:17] Yeah, well, you know, Gil-galad.

[01:03:19] Hi, King, gotta show off.

[01:03:23] He's got some bling.

[01:03:24] Is that drip or is that art for Christmas?

[01:03:26] We would call that bling.

[01:03:27] I think the kids call it drip these days.

[01:03:29] They call it drip.

[01:03:30] He's the Rizzler.

[01:03:32] The Rizzler.

[01:03:32] He's got that skibbity, you know?

[01:03:34] But you know what?

[01:03:35] We do actually see a scene.

[01:03:37] I don't remember which teaser it was, but we do see a scene where he's not wearing his gold lame.

[01:03:43] He looks so much more like a leader than one might follow.

[01:03:48] Yeah, he's got some growth to do.

[01:03:50] There's nothing quite as bad as hearing boomers and Xers trying to use alpha and Zed slang,

[01:03:59] it just, and we had slang too.

[01:04:04] Boomers were the inventors of, well, no, slang goes even further back.

[01:04:08] Are you a boomer, David?

[01:04:10] You're not a boomer, are you?

[01:04:11] No, I'm X.

[01:04:12] I'm X.

[01:04:13] X, that's what I thought.

[01:04:14] I'm the boomer.

[01:04:14] Yeah, that's what I mean.

[01:04:15] But yeah, all these kids these days always thinking that they're the ones who invented

[01:04:20] the new slang and we've had slang for a long time, y'all.

[01:04:23] Well, the whole thing about slang itself goes back to the medieval period, I believe.

[01:04:28] To what?

[01:04:29] To medieval times and earlier.

[01:04:31] So, yes, the concept of slang itself has been around, but.

[01:04:34] So Cure Don.

[01:04:35] The forms.

[01:04:35] So Cure Don.

[01:04:37] Bringing us back on track.

[01:04:39] Cure Don.

[01:04:41] I think he was cast.

[01:04:42] I thought I thought we had a production deal where he was cast.

[01:04:46] That's what I remember you saying last year.

[01:04:49] He was confirmed very, very soon.

[01:04:51] Yes.

[01:04:52] After the end of the first season.

[01:04:53] I thought it was even during the season.

[01:04:55] He would put an appearance.

[01:04:56] Yeah.

[01:04:57] I don't know about casting, but the character is.

[01:04:59] Yeah.

[01:05:00] Expected to appear.

[01:05:01] Cure Don, of course, means shipwright.

[01:05:03] And he's also just called Cure Don the shipwright.

[01:05:06] He is the guy building ships to go back to Valinor in the West.

[01:05:13] And I hope he's also the guy who finally straightens out these people about their

[01:05:16] hurrah and their fears of fading on it.

[01:05:21] And I'm very optimistic that this might be the case because the very next image we see

[01:05:25] is of a restored tree of Lindon.

[01:05:29] All those leaves look lovely and golden and healthy to me.

[01:05:31] I've been playing this little clip of the tree over and over again on my big screen.

[01:05:36] And on the tree, there are tendrils of golden light on some of the branches.

[01:05:44] Sort of weaving and wrapping it around it.

[01:05:47] So that's interesting.

[01:05:49] But at the same time, what's also interesting is these leaves are popping out

[01:05:54] and they're going from green to gold.

[01:05:57] So as they're unfurling, they come out green and then they start to shift gold.

[01:06:03] So I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but there's definitely...

[01:06:13] I wonder with those sneaky, slithery things too what's going on.

[01:06:17] There's, I think, I'm not ready to put any internet points down on anything quite yet.

[01:06:23] I have a theory.

[01:06:25] My theory is that this was Annatar's attempt at gaining the trust of the god.

[01:06:30] Ah, clever.

[01:06:32] That he came along and healed the tree to demonstrate his good powers of light and healing.

[01:06:40] And small wonder that he knew how to heal it since it was Sauron that caused it in the first place.

[01:06:45] This has long been my theory and now I'm building onto it with this theory.

[01:06:49] Because the leaves go from green to gold as soon as they come out.

[01:06:55] So if it's corrupted in some way, if it's not real, or there's a...

[01:07:00] It's tainted whatever is coming into them.

[01:07:03] It's not green and healthy and yay, it's actually going...

[01:07:06] It's cycling faster into a death spiral.

[01:07:09] Well, Annatar Sauron could have just overdone the juice.

[01:07:12] Exactly.

[01:07:13] I don't think there's any...

[01:07:18] I mean, I don't think there's any prohibition to him using healing power and ability or whatever.

[01:07:24] Because that's how he started off.

[01:07:27] Especially now before he loses his fair form.

[01:07:31] Forever.

[01:07:32] I think later he might have some limitations on that.

[01:07:35] Especially after he pours all his power into the One Ring.

[01:07:39] And now everything is focused on domination.

[01:07:42] He did give up some powers to empower another faction of his power, section of his power.

[01:07:52] Subset?

[01:07:53] Subset, there we go.

[01:07:56] All right, let's go to Khazad-Dum again.

[01:07:59] King Doran holds a blue ring.

[01:08:01] He's got the Dwarven Ring.

[01:08:02] I was like, wow, we are going through this quickly.

[01:08:05] We are moving along.

[01:08:07] Yeah, I heard that they're doing all the Dwarven Rings in this season.

[01:08:10] I'm into that.

[01:08:11] I mean, they really should do all the Men Rings too at the same time.

[01:08:15] It was seven, right?

[01:08:16] Seven for the Dwarves?

[01:08:17] Dwarf Lords and their Halls of Stone.

[01:08:19] Right.

[01:08:19] And I like this detail that the Dwarves, because they have a different origin story in their

[01:08:26] nature, that it was harder for him to use the rings on them.

[01:08:32] They were more stubborn and resistant.

[01:08:34] And so then I look at this big blue rock that Durin's got here and it's like,

[01:08:37] oh, they had to have some really chunky stuff there to really infuse the power to sort of

[01:08:43] work them over.

[01:08:44] Yeah, so the Dwarves never become raised, right?

[01:08:49] They're not dominated by the ring.

[01:08:51] Well, they are to the extent that the rings will increase their...

[01:08:57] Their greed.

[01:08:57] They called it gold sickness, but their greed.

[01:08:59] Yeah, their lust for gold and amassing greater and greater wealth.

[01:09:03] And that's the vibe that I'm reading from this image.

[01:09:06] And that also could be what contributes to the rift between King and Prince.

[01:09:10] Well, I think what I mean is the ring will have a negative effect on them, but they're

[01:09:16] not going to be commanded by Sauron ever.

[01:09:19] Oh no, no, no, no.

[01:09:19] That's never going to happen.

[01:09:21] And so they might...

[01:09:22] They're not going to be Darth Durin.

[01:09:23] They're going to be like an Inquisitor.

[01:09:26] Bling, Durin!

[01:09:29] Nobody dominates a Dwarf!

[01:09:31] I like it.

[01:09:33] Back to the Elves.

[01:09:33] Arendir knocks his bow and points it at an unknown threat.

[01:09:37] A character stands behind him.

[01:09:38] I'm thinking it's Isildur.

[01:09:40] Looks like.

[01:09:41] Feels like it.

[01:09:42] They're teaming up.

[01:09:43] He's jumping over, as I look at this more, he's jumping over what looks to be like a

[01:09:49] little wagon, a little covered wagon part or something.

[01:09:53] But he's definitely doing some serious Elven parkour martial arts because he's spinning

[01:09:59] and flying through the air.

[01:10:00] Mm-hmm.

[01:10:01] And then it's almost as if the way that they cut the scene, there's a bit missing out

[01:10:06] of this in between that and when we see...

[01:10:09] Yeah, there's definitely...

[01:10:10] These are two different...

[01:10:11] This is one scene, but there's a time slice missing out of this because when he knocks

[01:10:17] his arrow before he lands, the background changes.

[01:10:21] The people who are standing there, their positioning changes.

[01:10:24] Tricksy teaser maker!

[01:10:26] They just don't want to tell us what he's shooting at.

[01:10:30] We do see, of course, a wide shot of the palace on Numenor with an eagle flying toward the

[01:10:36] palace.

[01:10:36] I don't think I actually got the trajectory of the eagle in this screenshot, but it is

[01:10:40] there.

[01:10:41] Oh, there it is!

[01:10:41] Yeah.

[01:10:43] There it is.

[01:10:44] I think I see it.

[01:10:44] It's very slight movement, but it's flying in straight over.

[01:10:47] Mm-hmm.

[01:10:48] This is just really confusing.

[01:10:51] Yeah.

[01:10:52] Yeah.

[01:10:53] Let's talk about all these three shots together.

[01:10:55] All three together.

[01:10:56] Thank you.

[01:10:57] We see the eagle perch in the window, and then Farazone is in front of it.

[01:11:01] With a sword drawn.

[01:11:03] I mean, what...

[01:11:05] Is he defending himself from the crowd that's coming towards him, or is he about to rally

[01:11:11] the troops, you know, sort of, for freedom kind of thing?

[01:11:18] The first question is, did he ride in on it?

[01:11:20] Which I don't think so.

[01:11:20] I don't think so.

[01:11:21] After reviewing it, I think he comes up to it.

[01:11:24] That relieves me greatly, because I was really having to work to make that make sense.

[01:11:29] Yeah, I don't think so, because you can't see him on the back of it, and then you can't

[01:11:33] see him in front of it right away.

[01:11:34] He then stands in front of it after.

[01:11:36] What I think is, eagle comes and is like, Manwe is watching.

[01:11:42] Get your shit together.

[01:11:44] Let's figure this out.

[01:11:45] And then Farazone's like, you see the domination of the Valar, how they try to enforce their

[01:11:51] will upon us?

[01:11:51] They send their birds.

[01:11:52] They want to come see us in person.

[01:11:54] They send a stupid bird to talk to us.

[01:11:56] And so that's why he's raising his story.

[01:11:58] He's like, for Numenor, not for the Valar.

[01:12:00] And then, you know, I think that he's going to be, you know, rebutting the arguments of

[01:12:08] the eagle, and he'll be prosecuting the case against Manwe that I've been making on Silmarillion

[01:12:13] stories this whole time.

[01:12:15] So I have a question for you.

[01:12:17] Do we think that Halberd has come back and is now the power behind all Farazone's increasingly

[01:12:26] mad schemes?

[01:12:27] It's a good question, because in the books, you know, of course, we have Sauron coming

[01:12:33] as Sauron, right?

[01:12:34] Saying just like, I'm not so bad of a guy.

[01:12:38] You don't know me that well.

[01:12:39] You know, maybe I was with Morgoth for a time, but I'm a changed guy.

[01:12:43] You know, I'm a Maia.

[01:12:45] I'm one of the holy ones.

[01:12:46] We're gonna do great things together.

[01:12:48] You know, we can rule the galaxy together as father and son.

[01:12:53] In here, I think that because you had the whole interaction with Galadriel, and she's

[01:12:57] telling them about the story of Sauron, I don't think they can do the same thing.

[01:13:00] So a great way to sidestep that is Halberd was vouched for by Galadriel, and they don't

[01:13:08] find out that he's Sauron, because they've already gone back to Numenor.

[01:13:12] So Halberd then goes back to Numenor as Halberd and is like, you know, I know a lot about

[01:13:17] what you're trying to do here.

[01:13:18] Let me talk to you.

[01:13:19] You know, he's just kind of whispering in Fyrosohn's ear and trying to get him to raise

[01:13:25] up these king's men.

[01:13:28] Yeah, which one of the big questions I had for the second season is, A, is Galadriel

[01:13:35] going to warn the Sothrons and warn Numenor, etc.?

[01:13:39] It's hard to do that in Numenor, right?

[01:13:41] That's the whole problem is they're so disconnected from Middle-earth.

[01:13:45] Except for Elendil.

[01:13:47] But Elendil's stuck in Numenor right now.

[01:13:52] Right, but we do see a lot of scenes of Elendil on the coasts.

[01:13:58] Now that could be, of course, the western coast of Numenor, so I don't know.

[01:14:01] You can make up all kinds of things, can't you?

[01:14:03] But if she doesn't let them know soon, and from the way we heard her voiceovers saying

[01:14:12] he's been here all along in a very panicky kind of voice, I tend to think that that's

[01:14:17] not the first thing she does in episode one is to send out bulletins.

[01:14:22] She could figure out a way to send a warning if, you know, but I think that the shame and

[01:14:29] perhaps distraction from something or other happening.

[01:14:33] And maybe Anantara is distracting her too, who knows?

[01:14:37] But I'm having a hard time.

[01:14:39] I don't really know what her base is going to be, right?

[01:14:41] Is she going to hang out in Nodai-Gin for a while?

[01:14:43] Is she going to go off in the forest?

[01:14:45] At some point there's a scene of her standing and really crying hard.

[01:14:52] And I looked at that and I thought, oh, thank goodness.

[01:14:56] She's finally starting to do some healing here.

[01:15:00] It's going to be like Galadriel, do you want a hot chocolate?

[01:15:03] Like she's going to lose it.

[01:15:07] But it's got to happen.

[01:15:09] And it does.

[01:15:10] I mean, I think her face looks different.

[01:15:12] Now maybe that's just my mind kind of interpreting things the way I'm, you know, cognitive bias

[01:15:17] kind of stuff.

[01:15:18] But yeah, that's a really interesting question for me.

[01:15:23] And I'm wondering how they're going to answer it.

[01:15:26] So speaking of crying people, we've got Theo in the next shot.

[01:15:29] Just looking out into the darkness and crying.

[01:15:34] The absence of Bronwyn combined with this shot really makes me think that things aren't

[01:15:40] going well for her this season.

[01:15:42] Yes.

[01:15:43] Well, if you look at the behind the scenes trailer, you see a Rondir letting a funeral

[01:15:49] pyre.

[01:15:51] And the actor, um, who plays Rondir says the darkness did reach him.

[01:15:58] He's received the biggest blow to his spirit thus far.

[01:16:02] I think that Bronwyn dies sometime early in season two, which grieves me deeply because

[01:16:08] she was one of my favorite characters.

[01:16:10] And maybe not, but I don't know.

[01:16:12] I'm not sure how else to interpret that.

[01:16:14] I wasn't the biggest fan of that plot line.

[01:16:17] I thought that it dragged at times, but certainly sad.

[01:16:20] You don't want to see a kid lose his mother.

[01:16:23] No, and I think that could be another piece that will set him on the path of becoming

[01:16:28] one of the nine.

[01:16:29] Do you think he'll be interesting?

[01:16:32] I've seen a theory that he'll become the king that the king of the dead.

[01:16:37] Yeah, the Oathbreakers.

[01:16:39] Yeah, the Oathbreakers.

[01:16:40] That's also quite possible because there is a potential for him to hook up with his

[01:16:45] Yuldor for a time.

[01:16:48] And his strength to the Southlands, he, when Galadriel and Halbron were leaving it in episode

[01:16:54] eight, um, you know, Bronwyn shouts strength to the king, but Theos shouts strength to

[01:16:59] the Southlands.

[01:17:01] So I don't know if there's any particular weight to the different choices of words there.

[01:17:05] Right.

[01:17:06] Um, speaking of characters looking off into the distance, we've got an unknown character

[01:17:11] might be a sealed or might be a new character looking up into the darkness.

[01:17:17] Is this a sealed or I'm the more I look at it, the more I think it is.

[01:17:21] That was my reading of it.

[01:17:23] Yeah, I think so too.

[01:17:24] Okay.

[01:17:26] Then we have molten projectiles flying toward what appears to be Austin et al, the capital

[01:17:31] of Eregion.

[01:17:33] Hopefully we'll get a good battle.

[01:17:34] I really hope that the season finale is fantastic.

[01:17:38] Then again, we thought that like the start of Mount Doom would be the finale and that

[01:17:43] was episode eight, I think in season one out of 10 or six out of eight, whatever it was,

[01:17:50] it was a couple episodes before it was, it was six out of eight, six out of eight because

[01:17:56] you have fooled us the eye and um, a Lloyd at our

[01:18:04] podcast about that recently.

[01:18:05] I know, I know.

[01:18:07] I even know the names of the

[01:18:10] so Adar's evil twin leads an army of orcs, a mass character stands behind.

[01:18:16] I don't know.

[01:18:16] First of all, how we feeling about the look of new Adar?

[01:18:19] He seems fine.

[01:18:20] Yeah.

[01:18:21] Yeah.

[01:18:22] Yeah.

[01:18:23] They're doing wonders with hair and makeup and stuff.

[01:18:26] Yeah.

[01:18:27] I almost forgot that it wasn't Joseph mall for a minute.

[01:18:30] Mm hmm.

[01:18:30] And there's another scene of him and uh, I thought, oh, there's that.

[01:18:34] Our, and I thought, wait a minute, he wasn't supposed to.

[01:18:37] And then I said, oh wow, look at that.

[01:18:40] They really did some good work there.

[01:18:42] Yeah.

[01:18:43] Is there a conflict between him and Sauron coming?

[01:18:45] Oh yeah.

[01:18:46] Hello.

[01:18:46] Come on.

[01:18:47] Huge.

[01:18:48] He already claimed to kill him once.

[01:18:49] If he comes back again, I don't think he's going to say, oh dear, I'm so sorry.

[01:18:53] I was having a bad hair day.

[01:18:56] Yeah.

[01:18:57] That was the other.

[01:18:58] I created for you and you can't hold a grudge against me.

[01:19:01] That was Joseph mall.

[01:19:06] Yes.

[01:19:07] Then we get the stranger.

[01:19:08] He's back.

[01:19:09] He's in ruin.

[01:19:10] It looks like, yes.

[01:19:11] And I would say so he is slamming his staff into the ground and looks like creating a

[01:19:17] windstorm that's leaving the wicked witch of the East holding on for dear life.

[01:19:21] No, no, that's Nori.

[01:19:23] I think you're probably right.

[01:19:24] That's, that's, I think that's naughty because she's got the big skirts.

[01:19:27] Yeah.

[01:19:28] It looks like her clothing.

[01:19:29] Okay.

[01:19:30] There's some little flag like, um, projection above the well, which is an interesting looking

[01:19:38] well too, because it's got that big lid bell thing on it.

[01:19:41] So this is a well on a bell, you know?

[01:19:43] Yeah.

[01:19:43] Two for one.

[01:19:44] There's only so many stones in there.

[01:19:45] So you've got to be efficient in your building.

[01:19:47] Blue wizard Gandalf.

[01:19:50] What do we, let's go.

[01:19:52] Ding, ding, ding round one.

[01:19:53] I'm in team Gandalf.

[01:19:54] Yeah.

[01:19:56] It didn't, wasn't there some fragment where Gandalf had come and then went and then came

[01:20:01] again?

[01:20:03] Yeah.

[01:20:04] There is one text that implies that Gandalf was here in the second age.

[01:20:07] Would they have access to that?

[01:20:09] Would they be able to, to use that?

[01:20:11] They have the case by case agreement.

[01:20:13] Okay.

[01:20:14] Right.

[01:20:14] So they could maybe pull that in.

[01:20:16] Also it's just like, I think they're kind of just playing jazz a little bit sometimes,

[01:20:21] you know?

[01:20:22] Sure.

[01:20:23] Yeah.

[01:20:24] Well, I mean, I, I won't say they fooled me about Sauron because there were a couple of

[01:20:29] times by episode four, there were a couple of times when I said, Oh gosh, I really hope

[01:20:35] that that's not what they're going to do.

[01:20:37] And they did.

[01:20:38] So I was hoping, all right, well maybe this'll be a double, double trick fake up.

[01:20:44] And they're throwing all these Gandalf things in here and saying, Oh, okay.

[01:20:47] No scandal.

[01:20:47] And then, ha ha.

[01:20:49] No, I am.

[01:20:50] My name is Alatar and I am a blue wizard.

[01:20:52] Yeah.

[01:20:52] It wasn't, it wasn't my favorite line to hear.

[01:20:55] I am good.

[01:20:57] But you know what?

[01:20:59] Yeah.

[01:20:59] That was, it's fine.

[01:21:00] It's fine.

[01:21:00] We're moving on.

[01:21:01] Uh, but I don't know.

[01:21:02] That was when I stood up and fist pumped and cheered.

[01:21:05] So.

[01:21:05] Okay.

[01:21:07] I do like that we're going to a different landscape.

[01:21:11] We're moving away from the lush forests and coastlines and.

[01:21:14] We're on Arrakis.

[01:21:15] Yes.

[01:21:15] Or is it Tatooine?

[01:21:17] Uh, yeah, more, more Tatooine than Arrakis here.

[01:21:22] No, no, no big worms.

[01:21:24] Right.

[01:21:26] Maybe.

[01:21:27] We don't know.

[01:21:27] And I just, all I thought was Moses striking the ground with his staff and building a new well.

[01:21:31] Oh, I like that.

[01:21:31] That's a good one.

[01:21:32] Yeah, that's a good one.

[01:21:33] And that is, you know, arguably why he didn't go to the promised land in some interpretations.

[01:21:40] Because he struck the ground with his staff?

[01:21:41] Because he did something and said, I give you water instead of God gives you water.

[01:21:47] Oh, no, that was a big mistake with Yahweh.

[01:21:49] That was a whole thing.

[01:21:50] That was a whole thing.

[01:21:52] Yeah.

[01:21:52] Uh, all right.

[01:21:53] So Mighty Morphid Galadriel is back.

[01:21:55] She's the coolest.

[01:21:56] She's shooting fire arrows at orcs and causing explosions.

[01:22:00] That's a double arrow knock too.

[01:22:02] It's awesome.

[01:22:03] Yeah, I'm loving it.

[01:22:03] Well, don't you always do double arrow knocks?

[01:22:05] I mean, come on.

[01:22:07] I'm not as I'm not as badass as Galadriel.

[01:22:10] So yeah, I never did double knocks either.

[01:22:13] I did actually study archery for a semester in high school.

[01:22:15] So there are times when I look at the things that they're doing.

[01:22:19] I say, oh, your wrist is going to really hurt when that's over.

[01:22:23] I think this is because there aren't any actual bowstrings going on.

[01:22:26] Right?

[01:22:27] Then I think this is a mixed scene here.

[01:22:30] I don't think her her arrows hitting is the same, but that's just typical trailer stuff.

[01:22:36] Haven't you ever played a video game, David?

[01:22:38] Have some hope.

[01:22:39] You know, you see the barrel of oil there.

[01:22:43] You shoot it with your fire arrow.

[01:22:44] It goes boom.

[01:22:45] Come on, have some fun.

[01:22:47] Well, we've got we've got our friend.

[01:22:51] What's his name here?

[01:22:52] Elrond.

[01:22:53] Elrond.

[01:22:53] God, my brain is fried with his pretty cool looking new helmet.

[01:22:58] Are we are we in for this helmet?

[01:23:00] I'm pretty good with it.

[01:23:01] I like this a lot.

[01:23:03] When's he going to shave his head like a Hatamoto?

[01:23:05] That's with his with the ponytail.

[01:23:08] Yeah, I think he's hot enough without having to imitate anybody else.

[01:23:14] And then we got a big shot.

[01:23:16] We charge.

[01:23:17] Yeah, the cavalry charges.

[01:23:18] My question is, who is this?

[01:23:20] My best guess is Proter here because of the armor.

[01:23:23] That's where I am.

[01:23:24] It looks very much like Elrond did the lead here.

[01:23:27] Well, could be.

[01:23:29] And they definitely set up the shot.

[01:23:31] Well, you know what it is, because the lighting of the trees and the Elrond shot is the same.

[01:23:37] And there's a flash of a little blue flag behind him.

[01:23:41] And then when you see the charge, there's blue flags.

[01:23:45] There's banners of the same color.

[01:23:47] So it feels very much of a piece.

[01:23:52] Yeah, I don't know why.

[01:23:56] Do we hear much about Elvish cavalry?

[01:23:59] I'm just trying.

[01:23:59] Not really.

[01:24:00] Not that I know unless he's leading another if they're not Elvish.

[01:24:04] Yeah.

[01:24:05] But you can just be leading a he is half man.

[01:24:08] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:24:10] But and these trees are while the grass is green, these trees are dead.

[01:24:16] Are there is it just misty in there?

[01:24:17] No, they're dead.

[01:24:19] They're dead.

[01:24:19] Oh, yeah.

[01:24:22] Those evil roots are the black slime one or the other.

[01:24:25] Is that Mr. Smoke?

[01:24:26] Like, is that smoke coming up from burn trees?

[01:24:29] Probably smoke from burn trees, which is why, again, I really would love them to take this

[01:24:35] opportunity to show us some ants the way they did briefly when the comet was landing in the

[01:24:39] first season.

[01:24:40] Oh, that's right.

[01:24:41] Yeah, I forgot about that.

[01:24:42] I hope they just didn't do that once, you know, his fan service and then never again.

[01:24:48] All right.

[01:24:49] We are already running long, so let's keep going.

[01:24:52] Who is the next character?

[01:24:53] Is that a dwarf?

[01:24:54] It's beardless, but who knows?

[01:24:57] I think that's what's his name?

[01:25:00] Killer Brimbor?

[01:25:00] Mm hmm.

[01:25:02] Oh, that was my thought, too.

[01:25:03] You don't look like it to me.

[01:25:05] Okay.

[01:25:06] Under extreme stress, unless we're seeing the Curedon for the first time.

[01:25:11] Yeah.

[01:25:11] Silence.

[01:25:12] That could be.

[01:25:13] Yeah, I know.

[01:25:13] I was staring at the thing trying to think.

[01:25:15] One, two, three, four, five.

[01:25:18] I can't.

[01:25:19] I was trying to count the rings, but it's hard to freeze frame that because it's such a fast.

[01:25:23] Right.

[01:25:23] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

[01:25:26] At least seven rings there.

[01:25:27] Eight, nine.

[01:25:28] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

[01:25:31] It could be up to nine rings there.

[01:25:34] And to answer your question, David, they did make a lot more rings

[01:25:37] that there were considered essays in the craft.

[01:25:40] Yeah, lots of rings.

[01:25:40] They started off small and then built up their technique.

[01:25:41] Yeah, I remember John saying that when we were doing the Second Age podcast

[01:25:46] that there was more than one.

[01:25:48] Yeah, that's why when Bilbo picks up the ring,

[01:25:51] Gandalf's like, huh, there are a lot of magic rings.

[01:25:53] Mm hmm.

[01:25:54] Could be a problem.

[01:25:55] Could not be.

[01:25:56] Maybe probably not a problem.

[01:25:58] And then.

[01:25:58] But my heart tells me.

[01:26:00] Yeah, eventually he's like, oh, we are totally screwed.

[01:26:03] Actually, I could see this being Celebrimbor trying desperately to destroy any rings

[01:26:08] because Sauron's armies are advancing.

[01:26:11] So the next scene with the guards here.

[01:26:16] Yeah, well, actually we could talk about this whole chunk together basically

[01:26:19] because this is the guards into the explosion and the reveal.

[01:26:24] So in the first part of the guards being guardi.

[01:26:30] I'm surrounding Annatar, Sauron, whoever they're going to call him.

[01:26:34] In the background, Celebrimbor, and he's looking bloodied and rough,

[01:26:40] as is the figure who's dropping the rings into the fire.

[01:26:44] Ah, good catch.

[01:26:48] And he's wearing a similar outfit.

[01:26:50] It's not exactly the same.

[01:26:51] It's hard to tell because that is the dress.

[01:26:53] What was that stupid dress that everybody lost their minds over?

[01:26:56] The green robe.

[01:26:57] Yeah.

[01:26:57] Remember there was a bathrobe.

[01:26:59] Well, there was some dress of the internet thing where nobody could tell what the color was.

[01:27:02] And it was a few years ago.

[01:27:04] I think he's a green guy.

[01:27:06] Green seems to be his go-to.

[01:27:08] Anyway, I'm pretty sure that that's him putting the rings in the fire.

[01:27:12] And then this looks like the burnt out ruins of his workshop.

[01:27:20] Yeah, it could be.

[01:27:21] Could be.

[01:27:22] And then, of course, we get this explosion with water and air pushing everything out.

[01:27:28] Then what are we looking at there?

[01:27:30] Baradur?

[01:27:30] Is that something else?

[01:27:33] Well, let's admit that they could be messing with us and putting something completely unrelated in.

[01:27:38] Yeah, I'm adding a question mark to that description.

[01:27:41] It freezes as the water vapors expand out.

[01:27:46] So it starts off not frozen.

[01:27:52] Yeah, there's just sort of grass and trees, kind of mountainous subalpine.

[01:27:57] And then it freezes as the ice definitely forms.

[01:28:03] Yeah, and that castle really reminded me of the castle in the north where we first see

[01:28:08] Galadriel and her small band of warriors.

[01:28:10] Yeah.

[01:28:10] Is this a flashback?

[01:28:11] Galadriel and her merry men?

[01:28:14] Something like that.

[01:28:15] Ooh, maybe.

[01:28:16] And I'm trying to decide if...

[01:28:17] Maybe that's because we get that whole thing earlier where it might be Sauron's death.

[01:28:22] And then the group comes out.

[01:28:23] Okay.

[01:28:24] Oh, interesting.

[01:28:26] And then so maybe this whole hand twist is not anything to do with this explosion.

[01:28:30] No, I think those are two separate things for sure.

[01:28:33] Okay.

[01:28:34] I think so.

[01:28:35] I think so.

[01:28:36] So cool detail, missable detail here.

[01:28:38] As the rings of power font objects spin in and we pull back from this explosion,

[01:28:47] there is frost on the letters.

[01:28:50] Ooh.

[01:28:51] And as they settle back down, the frost melts away until...

[01:28:56] Oh yeah.

[01:28:57] And then it gets hot.

[01:28:58] Then we get a sort of a warm flame underneath it.

[01:29:01] So we've got a little song of ice and fire going on here.

[01:29:03] Oh my God.

[01:29:04] Get out of your hot tea brain.

[01:29:06] We're talking about Lord of the Rings.

[01:29:07] We're mixing our stew.

[01:29:09] We got Dune going on.

[01:29:10] We got some Star Wars going on.

[01:29:12] No mixing of flames.

[01:29:14] Sauron!

[01:29:15] Sauron!

[01:29:18] Well, it is kind of an interesting balance because the first

[01:29:23] stronghold of Sauron was the ice castle and now he's got the volcano neighborhood.

[01:29:29] So he's gone from ice to fire and I'm not a GOT stan, so don't worry.

[01:29:36] Or an HT fan.

[01:29:37] All right.

[01:29:39] We are running long on time here.

[01:29:41] Wait.

[01:29:41] My wife tells me.

[01:29:43] That's normal.

[01:29:44] My wife tells me that she needs help with something.

[01:29:47] So we're going to do quick feedback and then we're going to do our outro.

[01:29:51] Let's do quick feedback.

[01:29:53] We've got Drunkill saying, but you can quote this if you don't get enough replies, which we didn't.

[01:29:58] The visual effects work for the landscapes and wide shots is stunning.

[01:30:02] However, a few elements look to Hollywood slash Marvel universe,

[01:30:06] such as the tree roots and the sludge monster.

[01:30:08] Still, I can't wait for season two.

[01:30:11] Yep.

[01:30:12] Heard.

[01:30:13] Yep.

[01:30:13] I hear you.

[01:30:14] And, you know, visual effects might not be finalized in a teaser.

[01:30:16] Yeah, exactly.

[01:30:17] Oh, that's a good point.

[01:30:19] Then Layla says, hi.

[01:30:21] Hi, Layla.

[01:30:22] It's been a while.

[01:30:23] I was very nervous.

[01:30:24] What'd you say?

[01:30:25] I was just saying thanks, Layla, for the.

[01:30:26] Oh, I'm sorry.

[01:30:28] What did you say?

[01:30:30] All right.

[01:30:32] He's going to town.

[01:30:33] He's gone mad.

[01:30:33] He's absolutely going to town.

[01:30:35] Hi.

[01:30:36] I was very nervous for this trailer.

[01:30:38] After seeing it, I'm back on the T-Rop train.

[01:30:42] Awesome trailer, especially in line to the effect of Sauron was here the whole time.

[01:30:49] And long haired Halbrand slash Anatar made me so happy,

[01:30:52] slash relieved, slash hopeful that they're going to fix the holes in the Oregion plot.

[01:30:57] And my man Farazone on an eagle.

[01:30:59] Let's go.

[01:31:00] We can't wait to listen to your coverage, Layla.

[01:31:04] Awesome.

[01:31:05] Yeah.

[01:31:06] All right.

[01:31:07] Well, it's been a lovely time breaking down this trailer with you all.

[01:31:11] The team's back together.

[01:31:13] The gang's back together.

[01:31:14] I missed you guys.

[01:31:15] And you shall be called the Fellowship of the Ring.

[01:31:20] Dramatic music.

[01:31:21] Da-da-dum, da-da-dum, da-da-dum.

[01:31:24] Well, come on, you didn't pull that piece too?

[01:31:27] All right.

[01:31:28] All right.

[01:31:28] Supercast and Patreon are great ways to support us.

[01:31:31] You can get ad free and early podcast for as little as three bucks a month.

[01:31:36] You can get our show guides.

[01:31:38] You can get more notion goodness like the one that you got a sample of this time by seeing

[01:31:42] our trailer breakdown.

[01:31:43] You get a show guide.

[01:31:45] You get show trackers, which David puts together.

[01:31:48] You can see when things are coming like rings of power, newly announced.

[01:31:51] Woo-hoo, I just updated the show tracker.

[01:31:53] Very exciting.

[01:31:54] And you get exclusive episodes like second breakfast and more Tolkien content like Shireside

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[01:32:06] Join us there.

[01:32:07] Talk about the trailer.

[01:32:08] Talk about anything Tolkien.

[01:32:09] Talk about anything else you want.

[01:32:11] We've got our affiliates.

[01:32:12] David, hit me with the affiliates.

[01:32:14] Well, Radioactive Ramblings has been busy.

[01:32:18] They were covering Invincible and they're going to be picking up the boys after they finished

[01:32:23] their Fallout or yeah, Fallout coverage.

[01:32:25] And then it seems like Aaron has picked up a new co-host and they're doing deep Fallout

[01:32:30] lore.

[01:32:31] They're actually going back into the origins of the world and breaking it down, doing a

[01:32:35] second AG style podcast.

[01:32:38] So very cool.

[01:32:39] But yeah, they're going to be doing a full episode to episode coverage of the boys when

[01:32:44] it comes out, which we are very grateful that they're going to do that.

[01:32:46] So go check them out.

[01:32:48] Rings and Rituals, Marilyn, where are you now?

[01:32:51] Episode five, episode six?

[01:32:53] Chapter five, chapter six?

[01:32:54] Well, the next episode is dropping tomorrow, I believe.

[01:32:56] Is that correct, John?

[01:32:57] Yep.

[01:32:58] And in terms of recording, we've gone up through episode six.

[01:33:06] Okay.

[01:33:07] So we still have to do the Eye and Alloy, but episode six won't appear until two weeks

[01:33:14] from tomorrow.

[01:33:15] Right.

[01:33:16] All right.

[01:33:16] So you got plenty more coming.

[01:33:18] Yeah.

[01:33:18] And so go start to re...

[01:33:21] Yeah, because you guys do episode to episode of season one.

[01:33:24] Yes, we do.

[01:33:25] So this is a perfect time to start catching up on your season one rewatch.

[01:33:28] Yes, it is.

[01:33:29] And your companion podcast.

[01:33:30] Synopsis in every episode.

[01:33:32] Right, with Rings and Rituals.

[01:33:33] Woolshift Dust, Alicia is covering Beacon 23, season two.

[01:33:39] And then we've got Properly Howard movie review.

[01:33:42] They took a little break on their Felonies and Fugazes, and Steve and Anthony had their

[01:33:48] own discussion of the Dune II movie.

[01:33:50] I learned that when it came out, and I had been advertising it as a re-release.

[01:33:54] So now I have to retract my statement.

[01:33:57] You know, it's a whole...

[01:33:58] What did you say?

[01:34:00] Sentiment.

[01:34:00] It's just, it's not good.

[01:34:03] Anyway, Felonies and Fugazes is their current season, and they just did Pulp Fiction.

[01:34:08] And I believe Gross Point Blank is going to be their next one.

[01:34:12] So good season.

[01:34:13] And then we're going to do Severance with them once we get a date for that.

[01:34:17] So we're going to do a joint coverage.

[01:34:19] I'm not saying a word about Severance when I do the outro until I get a release date.

[01:34:25] But I do want to plug, because we haven't updated our show notes yet.

[01:34:28] Star Wars Canon Timeline podcast by Alicia.

[01:34:33] That is going strong.

[01:34:34] She's doing the Old Republic.

[01:34:35] She's just doing an episode on the Knights of the Old Republic games this week.

[01:34:39] So definitely check that out too.

[01:34:41] It's terrific.

[01:34:42] All right.

[01:34:43] Very cool.

[01:34:44] For on the Lorehounds, we've got Hot D, House of the Dragon.

[01:34:48] We've got a weekly coverage of two episodes at a time from season one ahead of season two,

[01:34:52] where we'll be doing episode by episode coverage, full breakdowns.

[01:34:56] Alicia and I are going to be covering the Acolyte,

[01:34:59] which is a new Star Wars show set in the end of the High Republic.

[01:35:03] Alicia and I are also killing ourselves by covering Doctor Who weekly, weekly.

[01:35:09] But we're doing short episodes on it.

[01:35:10] It's not like, you know, super long discussions because it's a silly show and we love it.

[01:35:15] Alicia and I are also talking about X-Men 97 this week.

[01:35:18] So you got through three episodes very quickly.

[01:35:21] I know.

[01:35:21] And I also got roped into the MCU one more time for X-Men 97.

[01:35:25] I was surprised that you said you were going to.

[01:35:27] I absolutely loved it.

[01:35:29] I absolutely loved it.

[01:35:30] And I hope people will tune in.

[01:35:32] Yeah, I've heard a lot of people have been talking good stuff about that season.

[01:35:35] So.

[01:35:36] Okay.

[01:35:36] Lastly, coming this week, I just want to plug the Star Wars Film Festival A New Hope.

[01:35:40] It's finally back, folks.

[01:35:41] We're talking A New Hope.

[01:35:42] We're talking episode four, 1977.

[01:35:46] All your favorite moments with Han, Luke, Leia and accidental incest.

[01:35:50] So.

[01:35:52] Almost.

[01:35:53] Right.

[01:35:54] So anyway, I want to give our big shout outs here.

[01:35:57] David, our Discord servers.

[01:36:00] Yes.

[01:36:01] Opus the machine actually told me that he'd stopped supporting the server.

[01:36:05] And so he was enjoying.

[01:36:07] So stop thanking me.

[01:36:08] His name.

[01:36:09] But yeah, we can stop thanking him because he's not been on Discord much recently.

[01:36:13] So fair enough.

[01:36:14] But Gnarls, Aaron K, Taylor Thriller, Dork of the Ninjas and Doof71,

[01:36:18] thank you for supporting the community by allowing us to have a more nifty neato server.

[01:36:25] If you would like to boost the server, if you do Discord Nitro, go ahead, give us a boost.

[01:36:29] We would love to have the support because it's not for us.

[01:36:32] It's for our community.

[01:36:34] So Loremasters, top tier subscribers on Patreon and Supercast.

[01:37:11] And for ever last but never least, Adrienne.

[01:37:15] Thank you all so very much for your ongoing support.

[01:37:19] We couldn't do it without you.

[01:37:21] It makes a big difference to have the financial backing of all of our subscribers,

[01:37:26] no matter the tier, because we do this out of love, enjoyment, passion.

[01:37:33] It's not a day job for us.

[01:37:35] So every dollar that you guys are able to provide us helps us keep all of the systems in place

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[01:37:50] So if you would like to support us and support the community, please do so.

[01:37:53] We would greatly appreciate it.

[01:37:55] As Gil Gallad would say, Patreon subscriptions are never meager.

[01:38:01] And on that note...

[01:38:03] Good night, everyone.

[01:38:04] Good night.

[01:38:36] Star Wars Day, I'm excited to introduce the new Star Wars Canon Timeline podcast,

[01:38:41] where we will piece together the complete story of that galaxy far, far away in timeline order

[01:38:47] from the dawn of the Jedi through the great unknown following the sequel trilogy.

[01:38:52] This is a podcast for both Star Wars super fans and complete newbies.

[01:38:56] Listen to the short intro episode now to hear how it works and what to expect over the coming

[01:39:01] weeks as we set the stage for the new television series, The Acolyte, which we will be covering

[01:39:05] with weekly breakdowns.

[01:39:07] Subscribe to the Star Wars Canon Timeline podcast wherever you listen to take part in one of the

[01:39:12] most epic and expansive stories ever told, following all the twists and turns from start

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[01:39:18] May the fourth be with you all, all month and beyond.

[01:39:28] This is the place where Black is the main character, where we dive into something new

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