Ser Drewy

Finally caught up with this. I liked it. I think it's a good adaptation from what I remember of the game. It's faithful, slavishly so at times, though some parts are a bit unsubtle. I think both leads did a good job. I'm baffled by complaints that they weren't given enough time to develop, to be honest; I think that part of the show was well-done. I think they did a good job with the ending. It plays out better in dramatic form than video game form, I think. It's easy to lose the emotion in the gameplay IMO. Would've been nice to have a bit more not-zombies in the second half of the season, although I don't remember them really being that relevant in the second half of the game either, if I'm honest.

Sounds like a chance for Peter Jackson to do that Strider + Legolas buddy movie he teased in BOTFA....

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-vs-warner-bros-1235337625/ Middle-Earth rights are now split between Amazon and Warner Brothers who want to make independent movies. WB has allegedly expressed interest in bringing Peter Jackson, Phillipa Boyens & Fran Walsh back in some capacity. Boyens has been advising on the War of the Rohirrim anime. Amazon will continue on with their Second Age adaptation, now currently shooting its second season. WB etc will probably stick to the Third Age. One insider in the article suggests WB have plans to Star Warsify the property.

Tolkien commemorated on the new £2 coin: https://www.royalmint.com/annual-sets/2023/celebrating-the-life-and-work-of-jrr-tolkien/ Plus a new book coming in March. His translation of the Battle of Maldon.

A long and interesting critique about world-building and such in ROP from Acoup: https://acoup.blog/2022/12/16/collections-why-rings-of-powers-middle-earth-feels-flat/ A

Honestly, the burning of Winterfell in ACOK kinda feels like its serving that purpose already: the 'haven' has been attacked and taken over, and though our heroes will likely get it back, it'll never be the place it once was. King's Landing can't really be a Scouring-like place because it's been attacked multiple times in the setting and is deliberately set up as an unsafe place. Nowhere else has that resonance either.

GRRM estimates he's got "about 500 pages" to go. https://www.polygon.com/game-of-thrones/23499159/george-rr-martin-winds-of-winter-finish-release-date-pages

Interview with the showrunners about Sauron & Halbrand: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/10/sauron-rings-of-power

‘The Lord Of The Rings’ IP Broker Says Franchise Can Be As Big As Marvel & ‘Star Wars’, Reveals New Information About Embracer Group Deal

I believe Earendil's ship is made with mithril. The mithril stuff is just bizarre as hell. I'm not even sure what they're going with that, why it heals elves, and if they mean to have Durin's Bane go after the dwarves over mithril or something. Anyway: set pics from Season 2

From what I've seen, most casual viewers seem to think it's fine. But that's just my anecdata.

Didn't the Shadow of Mordor game turn her into a big tiddy goth girlfriend?.-

It honestly half feels like the treatment of the Rings were notes from Amazon executives demanding they put the forging in season one, and that's why it seems tossed in for the last episode. Not saying that is what happened, but it's such a strange choice to not dedicate a season's worth of development to the Rings. Like it'd make more sense to reveal the plan to make Rings of Power this episode and have Celebrimbor produce an "essay" ring, then Gil-Galad gives the go ahead and S2 focuses on the proper forging.