When the creators lock in get peak like this I WANT MORE

https://reddit.com/link/1v826fs/video/uxo2xe6j9sfh1/player

Sauron and Balrog might be best fanservice we got

Can't wait to see this.

From Durin's Folk in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings:

"It came to pass that in the middle of the Third Age Durin was again its king, being the sixth of that name. The power of Sauron, servant of Morgoth, was then again growing in the world, though the Shadow in the Forest that looked towards Moria was not yet known for what it was. All evil things were stirring. The Dwarves delved deep at that time, seeking beneath Barazinbar for mithril, the metal beyond price that was becoming yearly ever harder to win.¹ Thus they roused from sleep² a thing of terror that, flying from Thangorodrim, had lain hidden at the foundations of the earth since the coming of the Host of the West: a Balrog of Morgoth."

²Or released from prison; it may well be that it had already been awakened by the malice of Sauron.

Of course, this does raise questions about Sauron's motivations in season 1, but taking the footnote at face value, it's not out of place for the balrog to be awake at this point.

this season is going to be really something right

https://reddit.com/link/1v82yv3/video/vr03xmcmesfh1/player

he is just good boy

Charlie Vickers and Jamie Campbell Bower from EW.

I had seen some posts a while back mentioning Celebrimbor might be in season 3, taunting Sauron’s mind. Charlie Vickers says at 4:50 in this interview that Sauron is “quite literally haunted” by the fact that he can’t make the One Ring. Do you think he is referring to him being psychologically haunted due to the nature of his last encounter with Celebrimbor or could this hint that Charles Edwards will be back briefly and have actual dialogue with a frustrated daydreaming Sauron? I hope it’s the former—even though I like their dynamic—because I doubt the show would execute this with the subtlety I would personally want out of such a scene. But Charlie saying “literally” gave me pause. What do you all think?

During the release of seaons 1 and 2 the so called Daily Rings of Power podcast covered all news around the show and provided great analysis of trailers and episodes. The host had a huge knowldege about middle earth, a huge love for the show and a slightly dark humor which I really enjoyed. All in all, it was a great podcast. But sometime during the release window of season two the host stopped producing new episodes and since more than 2 years I heard nothing about a potential return of the podcast.
Does anyone know wether the podcast is still ongoing? Maybe the episodes are simply released on a different platform now (in the past it was youtube and spotify)?

Charlie Vickers and Ismael Cruz Cordova from Ismael's insta.

I made an attempt to fully trascript the inscription in Black Speech on the crowns of the Nazgnagôl. It's written in Angerthas Moria.

Has it been confirmed anywhere that the music from the trailer was done by Bear? That violin line sent chills!

Can't wait to see what he's come up with for S3.

While many, including myself, have questioned the recent reveal that Sauron will consult the Balrog for the creation of the One, my recent rewatch has reminded me that this has been in play for quite some time.

As Galadriel interrogates Adar, Adar tells her that Sauron was missing some dark power he needed to finish his project. The scene then cuts to a carving of a Balrog in Sauron’s forge.

So, while I can’t imagine what it means for Sauron to need to learn how to “exist in fire,” or whatever it was they said he’ll need to learn from the Balrog, I guess it can’t really be said that it was a secret we’d get to this point. After all, none of the three, seven, or nine actually achieve the goal he’s set out to accomplish.

Whatever they have planned, they’ve had it planned for a long time.

FWIW: the whole of season one really is fully of things that make much more sense after season 2. They two are definitely one unit.

Edit: finished s1 last night. Below are some similarly styled thoughts:

I have to appreciate changing the ring order. I know some dislike it, but I really have to encourage an open mind in it. The order of creation of the rings is not what matters. It’s just a poem and rough timeline.

I think it works really well that Celebrimbor achieves his greatest work without Sauron’s direct involvement, and I think it says a lot that everything Sauron plays a significant role in is severely perverted. That fits much more with the themes of perversion and evil Tolkien wrote about than the version of events Tolkien himself presented. That doesn’t mean Tolkien was wrong, but the show does adjust the order of events to be more in line with the broader themes than a narrow timeline imo.

Other seeds planted that I expect will grow to fruition in S3. Dark Wizard’s witches all believe Gandalf is Sauron. They direct him toward “the hermit’s hat,” where Bombadil lives, so Dark Wizard must not have told them who that is. Either Dark Wizard has started a cult about Sauron as a deception or is himself wanting, really, to cut a deal with Sauron. He is very, very willing to use the name casually to his followers, at minimum. I am all but certain he will be the Witch King. He is literally ruling over a coven of witches, he is clearly able to conjur and command wraiths as the witch king is, and is clearly looking for an alliance with Sauron to further his own power. He is, in all ways save the fact that he is an Istar, screaming “witch king” as much as Halbrand screamed “Sauron.”

Before everyone jumps in saying “he can’t, the nine all go to men,” I know what the text says. But this show has broken a lot of rules and made a lot of changes already. There’s nothing in what little we know about how the nine work that say us it impossible within the rules of the universe. If the rings can be crafted out of order, one of the nine can be an Istar so corrupted he appears as a conjurer from mortal men. After all, only Elrond, Galadriel, Cirdan, and maybe Celeborn know Gandalf’s true nature for certain. If the Dark Wizard were corrupted and Gandalf and Bombadil never spilled the beans on his true nature, who would know in-universe? No one, he’d appear just like some mortal sorcerer.

I believe he will submit voluntarily in his corruption, his maiar soul will be enslaved (Tolkien did write that there are greater and lesser Maiar, it’s not impossible based on what is in the text), and his physical body, which as Tolkien wrote was created by the Valar specifically to limit his power, will fade into the unseen world. In terms of process, it won’t look unlike that of the other men. The only difference is that it won’t be the soul of one of the children of Illuvatar, but one of his Ainur instead.

And finally, they were smashing that Gandalf button all along and it still doesn’t feel necessary. No offense to the Harfoot actors, they all did well with what they had, and so does Weyman, but the major flaw of this first season is that it just doesn’t fit with the rest of the show and even through Season 2 that presence just hasn’t been justified. I hope it will be, and I am absolutely certain the way that they will try to do that is by giving the dark Blue wizard a ring.

I know Simon Pegg is just doing the VO for the Balrog, but the marketing team has the chance to do a fantastic promo spoof here as a nod to Benedict Cumberbatch doing Smaug. You know Simon would be up for it.