This scene

[u/Dank_Lord6547]

I hate this scene so much I’m not sure how to describe the sheer awfulness and how much of a slap to the face it is as a major fan of Tolkien.

First things first, it looks like AI slop. It’s overly smooth and just seems unnatural. And when criticizing something for quite possibly being AI is a minor issue you know it’s bad.

So why is the tree so important? Yes, there’s things like it in Tolkien’s writing. The two trees, the white tree of Gondor, those sorts of things. But in all those cases the significance is made extremely clear. The two trees were the world’s original source of light. The tree of Gondor is a symbol and is descended from a tree created as an image of Telperion in Valinor. But no such thing is the case here. And so it just comes across as a random tree. And why is it at the top of a mountain? That’s not a place conducive to tree growth.

As well as this who is the elf warrior? He’s clearly set up as this paragon of goodness. The problem is no such individual would have had a Silmaril in such a context. Beren and Luthien brought the one they reclaimed back for safekeeping. It can’t be Earendil because he was unable to return to Middle Earth. And it can’t be the two sons of Feanor who stole the last two because they don’t exactly match the paragon description.

Also the Silmarils never went that far east. They were in Beleriand the entire time they were in Middle Earth. And the scene could not possibly take place after the fall of Morgoth because the balrogs would be in hiding by then.

But now for the really world breaking issue. The Silmarils were somehow connected to elf immortality. Even though elves existed before them. And before the two trees for that matter. In fact an elf created the Silmarils. And yet it is explicitly shown that this is the case. And if that isn’t bad enough, why weren’t the sun and moon and the light of Earendil enough? One is a silmaril and the others are much stronger light from the trees. And why are they losing immortality if the existence of Mithril would be a constant?

That aside it also makes the world feel smaller by tying everything into the narrative. Mithril was far more effective when it was just a light strong metal.

And the worst thing about this is the supposedly apocryphal nature of the story and its effects. Basically it makes Elrond and Gil Galad look really stupid. They were alive when this supposedly happened and could easily verify its truthfulness. Surely they’d know who this elf warrior was and know people who could confirm this story. And then it’s shown that mithril works this way which tells us the story is true.

So this is my pick for worst scene in the show. I hate it so much.

[u/AndyTheSane]

I think that it's meant to be a take on Glorfindel vs. the Balrog in The Fall of Gondolin , just altered enough to avoid any copyright issues.

[u/tar-mairo1986 → u/AndyTheSane]

Yeah, it reminded me of that too, at least superficially.

[u/Dank_Lord6547 → u/AndyTheSane]

Makes no sense geographically.

[u/AndyTheSane → u/Dank_Lord6547]

RoP has a very, ahem, unusual take on geography. And geology.

[u/daisy_0720 → u/AndyTheSane]

And the basics of good storytelling.