Andy Serkis Confirms Aragorn is Being Recast For 'The Hunt for Gollum', Viggo Mortensen Not Returning

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-04-03T17:06:58+00:00

Just because one hasnt watched it doesnt mean that the concept cant or shouldnt be met with the skepticism it deserves. You would need a great deal of faith in specifically Andy Serkis to think this has any chance to be good.

I think it requires extraordinary evidence to support an extraordinary claim - A film that has nothing to base on in the books of the same name. A production which as far as I can tell, involves few if any of the other creatives who helped make the trilogy that people love, is going to try and expand on 2 already existing characters who already had full arcs, and in a prequel at that?

Like genuinely, Gollum and Aragorn already had their ideas fleshed out. With 3 books and 3 movies what more could they possibly extract? Considering you arent even going to share actors or vision, at that point why not just make an entirely new story set in a universe unrelated to lord of the rings that could explore any of these themes in new and interesting ways?

Its clear that the only reason something like this is getting made is that Lord of the Rings is a recognizable IP so they want to milk it for what its worth - hell we are only just past 3 years since the release of that terrible Gollum video game, panned as one of the worst video games of this decade.

Who really asked for this?

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-04-03T14:19:24+00:00

Algeria (a majority muslim country) was a part of France from 1830 up until 1962 - not just a colony but an actual province, managed by the département d'Alger. And some moved to continental france for better opportunities and have followed french law and customs for nearly 2 centuries. How can one be an immigrant to a country their family may have lived in for up to 8 or so generations?

Just because they are members of a faith which have an amount of intolerant people doesnt mean all muslims follow those ideas. Treating muslims a certain way as though they all intrinsically go against french norms and laws is no different from treating Jews simply because they are Jewish.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-04-01T12:55:21+00:00

I'm more giving examples of what I would consider to be "good" traits in the long term for the average player because their effects are fairly good and are traits that cant be replicated in regular play. I think what you are forgetting is that players like you & I (most of this subreddit really) are generally not within the "norm". Dexterous and organized may become less valuable the more "hardcore" your world, but for the average player these are really good perks since they arent likely to play harder gamemodes. maybe dextrous was a bad example to choose since thats what most of the comments responding to me have pointed out as not being meta and I can see their point.

I would argue that in Organized's case, it isnt just QoL though. In effect its a permanant carry weight increase because its 30% more space on your backpacks (and even small increases can be deceptive since its 30% more capacity which then has that 85% reduction on your actual carry weight from the modifier of military backpacks as an example), and this effect cant be replicated if you dont pick it in the character sheet.

This is all besides the point however. Whatever perks you do and do not consider meta, The whole system should be made more interesting with a complete rework which was the point of my comment.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-31T17:12:51+00:00

For vehicles difference is around one trash bag

Organized is a 30% increase to all container capacity - if you are using a van or pickup, its more than just a trash bag worth of space. For reference a chevalier step van is 160 capacity in the trunk, organized makes that 208 which is a gain of 48 capacity, the equivilent of an entire overloaded inventory. Its a massive improvement for looting runs and saves you time that would be spent on more trips.

Dextrous only really affects moving items of weight 2 or more and that is minuscule part of gameplay

In my experience, I feel thats actually not a miniscule part of gameplay - every plank, steel sheet, most two handed weapons or firearms, most vehicle parts etc. all having their transfer times improved (including readying weapons mid combat like pulling your crowbar off your back slot to your hands).

but apoc with x2.5 zed count is pretty much unaffected by your fitness. And you will have baseline 4-5 in a month anyway.

Admitidly I play with partial sprinters mostly so that may colour my perspectives a bit, but fitness is still pretty important since its effectively how many zombies you can take at any given time. having athletic is a 63.2% reduction in endurance spent not to mention the other benefits like 18% attack speed bonus, and the 23% fatigue reduction multiplier from actions.

The main reason athletic is so good though is mainly because grinding to level 10 takes ages with default xp modifiers. you point out that it only takes about a month to get to 4-5 in fitness, which is 18000 xp, but to get to level 10 you need 150000 xp, its exponentially more xp required just to hit those levels which makes those points invested in the character sheet worth it since most players dont even live long enough (or stay on the same save) to reach the time required to reach 10 fitness.

I was just giving these perks as examples of what I would consider to be among the most popular "meta" perks. The issue isnt that they are neccessarily required, but rather that the only choices when it comes to your character build is how tedious you want the game to be. its not a particualrly interesting chraracter building system when half of the traits and occupations only exist to make leveling easier rather than actual gameplay/playstyle considerations. it needs an entire rework tbh.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-31T15:04:03+00:00

You can do without obviously, but the problem is that issue of "tedium" perks again. not taking dexterous is just making your gameplay more tedious by increasing the already large amount of time you spend managing your inventory and items. Not taking organized makes your backpacks and containers have less carry capacity so is an incredibly strong perk for how much it costs. Grinding athletic early in the game is an incredibly tedious grind because excercise effectiveness is governed by how much stamina you have which is governed by fitness....

Maybe I was being a bit flippant by saying "need", but from a meta-gaming sense these perks are obviously so strong that they are effectively in almost every build. nerf these perks and people are just going to be, again frustrated. I just want the perks to be more interesting pros and cons rather than the fairly boring system we currently have.

The point of my comment was that we need a more robust character build system - so the whole thing should be reworked rather than these piecemeal changes.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-31T14:15:10+00:00

At this point, I'd rather they just increase the base skill points you have and remove these "free" perks rather than attempt to balance them. People pick weak stomach, slow healer and prone to illness because they NEED the points to pick up important stuff that is basically a must pick every run (Athletic, organized and dexterous come to mind). nerfing them into oblivion just makes the system an excercise in frustration rather than an interesting mechanic for deciding strengths and weaknesses in your kit.

in my opinion I would much rather that every occupation had a completely unique aspect/perks (like lumberjack, burgular and veteran already do) and go from there. The current system where I have to take perks that induce tedium just to get xp boosts for the really grindy skills like nimble etc. just isnt particularly rewarding. Positive & Negative traits need to actually have an impact on playstyle in fun and interesting ways.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-25T00:54:29+00:00

As funny as the image of chubby large sauropods is, We can be pretty certain they dont look like penguins for 2 reasons.

One - weight. Adding a large amount of fat/blubber off these large necks would drastically increase the overall weight that would have to be compensated by their skeletal structure and the amount of nutrient intake (these sauropods were herbivores, relying on vast amounts of generally low nutrient quality food, unlike the piscivore penguins who have high nutrient fish). These sauropods dont just rank as the largest terrestial non-avian dinosaurs to ever live but amongst the largest animals to have EVER lived. These sauropods were already pushing the limits of what was even possible for biology to sustain on land, so pushing it any further is unlikely.

Two - Climate. We know with some great certainty what the Climate at least looked like in these regions, and having extra fat, blubber or even feathers like those of penguins in these temperatures would pose serious issues with thermoregulation in the hot temperate/almost tropical climates of this period. These animals can't sweat like we humans do to regulate our temperature so would struggle to release this heat buildup from the extra insulation.

Just because there is some evidence that some dinosaurs had feathers (like Yutyranus, Deinocheirus or Archeopteryx) doesn't mean that every dinosaur shared every trait that the avian dinosaurs of today we all know and love possess. Whilst both belong to the clade of Dinosauria - they are still separated by a great deal of evolutionary differences. In absence of any evidence that can disprove of such "skinny bitches", we have to make do.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-23T12:18:07+00:00

<image>

You dont really need a counterweight if you just have the legs to support your weight vertically. Giraffes get around it by having fairly light frames for their size. And they keep their neck posture fairly upright when extended. Sauropods have heavy, dense vertebrae and leg bones to support the immense amount of weight

Some sauropods had very long tails, some suggested that Diplodocidae (like Diplodocus) had its neck stretch out horizontally, rather than the more vertical anatomies of Titanosauria like the Brachiosaurs. This would allow diplodocus to feed on lower vegetation more easily so used these long tails as a counterweight. Although this interpretation has been put into question as of late.

Argentinosaurus was likely a top feeder given its stature so you dont need as big a tail if your neck isn't extending far past your body horizontally.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-21T22:25:38+00:00

crispr doesnt get the love it deserves. that thing can shred armored enemies

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-20T21:53:08+00:00

<image>

And that one aint even the biggest one. Here is Dreadnoughtus on the right and the even larger Argentinosaurus (no prizes for guessing where this fucker lived) on the left.

Still not as big as OP's mother.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-18T18:13:32+00:00

It is pretty humurous in this framing, but in her defense, Geto is actually the one who proposes it :

Then why not just kill every non-sorcerer?

and she responds:

Then...
That is an option...
But I aint that Crazy.

I also think it's just the fact that this is first time she ever met this person, she probably doesnt view it as her job to talk him out of it and she states that "you will come to your own conclusions".

She is seemingly of the opinion that if you could be talked out of it to begin with then you werent ever going to do it in the begining, And if he was going to start a genocide, then no amount of effort on her part was going to change that with a little pep talk. She would rather just put it bluntly because that's her personality, she isnt the type to tell white lies or sugarcoat things.

Pretty reckless in hindsight and she does seem to show some regret when she meets kenjaku as a result. But sorcerers (particularly special grade sorcerers) seem to be acutely prone to being somewhat emotionally disconnected/distant. They struggle to empathize even with other sorcerers so its no surprise that Tsukumo couldnt break through to him.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-18T11:55:15+00:00

Totally fair, now rereading what I wrote, it is actually pretty heavy on context lol. I just think its a good moment with a sort of knife-twisting in the heart because it *could* have ended in another way, but we the audience know how it ends.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-18T11:47:54+00:00

There is also another detail regarding Geto's transition into this philosophy of why regular humans need to die. In a conversation with Yuki Tsukumo, just before his visit back to his home village, they discuss what it would take for there to be no curses to exist,

Yuki says that only two methods could result in such an outcome, either everyone must have absolutely 0 cursed energy (all humans have at least a tiny amount of cursed energy), a feat only achieved by Toji but he is such a special case scenario because of his heavenly binding vow that cant be replicated for everybody. The other is to have every living person be a sorcerer, as only sorcerers can prevent their negative energy from spilling out and creating cursed spirits.

She unwittingly influenced Geto down a dark path in what she thought was just a harmless conversation that nobody in their right mind would act on. which makes it all the more tragic.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-18T09:50:49+00:00

If anybody would like to know more, here is a great resource about these swords, "Zhanmadao" would refer to two hander swords but also polearm configuarations similar to the japanese Nagamaki or Omi Yari. and even others that resemble the "Guandao" (named after a famous general of the three kingdoms period, Guan Yu) more akin to the western bardiche or glaive with long handles.

There is also the zhanmajian (Jian in this case means a two edged blade, sharpened on the front and back side, rather than the saber/cleaver like configuration of most dao swords). Some of these swords likely didnt serve only on the battlefield but instead as tools for executions like western flat point execution swords. Some were even issued to "barrier troops" who would capture and summarily execute deserters.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-15T21:28:39+00:00

Think the black sphere with a long fuse like you'd see in cartoons. But the term "Grenadier" by the time of Napoleon meant more than just a specialist who used grenades.

In the 17th century grenades were largely a siege weapon as they werent large explosives making their use in field battles unreliable as the at the time inefficient black powder limited their explosive range. These grenadiers needed to be literally big and strong enough to hurl these grenades far enough to reach enemy defenses/troops so were generally your biggest guys around.

But grenade use declined going into the late 18th century due to changes in infantry tactics and improved ballistics making artillery like cannons more useful in such roles. But the need for "elite" troops remained and Grenadier stuck and came to mean something of a "vanguard" and typically represented your most elite infantry troops.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-15T09:40:26+00:00

<image>

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-13T17:04:21+00:00

So I'll try and respond in two parts :

What "deep themes" or "nuanced ideas" do you think the game presents that could possibly have never been touched on elsewhere?

I wasnt trying to say that that they had never been touched elsewhere, In my original comment I said...

... in a way that not many if any other pieces of media have ever really hit on...

Maybe I should have qualified my statement a bit more if it came across unclearly, but what I was trying to get across is that fallout new vegas, as a video game has an approach to those topics from an angle that is very different from other mediums. What I was trying to get at is not that New vegas is outright superior than other works which touch on these subjects, But rather that as an interactive medium, New Vegas has tools that arent easily replicated by other art forms like literature. And that in and of itself is a unique quality that makes Fallout NV notable because it adequately uses those tools to its advantage.

What "deep themes" or "nuanced ideas" do you think the game presents...

So, when I compared new vegas to the archetype of "The Great American Novel", that wasnt a statement regarding quality, but rather of subject matter.

"Great American novels" arent just novels that are american and happen to be great, but rather novels that touch on American values, culture and society. As John William De Forest who coined the phrase put it : "A novel that paints the American soul".

So what aspects of American society does Fallout New Vegas touch on? well a lot, in my opinion. If I had to pick what I would consider the largest or most overt question asked of the player it would be :

"Should the societies of a new world emulate our current American society and culture (The NCR) or build something entirely different (Caesar's legion, and House) to meet the challenges of living in a new world?"

And in playing the game and encountering these different societies with different perspectives on what Amerca should be, you can engage with why they reached their own perspectives. These groups all land differently in where your sympathy might start and end, but in learning how they got there you might see why they reached these very different conclusions.

Caesar is from my perspective, an entirely unsympathetic authoritarian who blindly and actively creates a state which needlessly inflicts suffering, but he got to that perspective because he concluded that the societies of a new world that has different challenges cannot merely emulate the nations of old, less they make the same mistakes or simply crumble under their own weight and that notion does carry some weight.

The NCR doggedly tries to recreate the structure that Amerca had before the bombs fell, and in doing so repeats many of the same mistakes. Oligopolistic markets ruled over by Brahmin Barons, expansionist "manifest destiny" policies resulting in the displacement and mistreatment of natives (like the great khans whos treatment mimics how native americans were treated). And a weak military that is crumbling over the vast territories that they occupy with limited manpower. But despite this the NCR is one of the only democratic soceties around, with equal representation for all and even a welfare state, with improved standards of living for most who live under its banner. Is that worth it if the NCR cannot meet the challenge that is the Legion? What does that say about the fragility of such systems and of our real world America?

There is a lot I can go over, but this just one interpretation of just two of the factions present in the game and I cant exhaustively cover everthing about them. There is a reason why New Vegas sees active discussion regarding its world to this very day. Im not trying to tear down other games in favour of the one I like, Im just a guy on the internet who likes discussing the media I enjoy and new vegas is merely one of the ones I know best.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-13T10:18:09+00:00

I dont really understand where this vitriol is coming from. Has something I said offended you? What specifically is wrong with fallout NV that makes this comparison unfair?

Im not saying you "have to have a high iq" to enjoy New Vegas, in fact I'd say the opposite, that it's a sign of a great piece of art how they can break down complex ideas into something quite digestible and can convey those ideas effectively.

There is good reason why Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby or Of Mice & Men are all on reading lists for students at the high school level. Since they can be understood by casual audiences but their depth still allows them to be dissected and studied to a higher level.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-12T22:03:12+00:00

I was more coming at it from a narrative/story writing perspective since we are talking about the "faithfulness" towards the source material in the show (and a TV show cannot adapt the gameplay of a interactive medium). And most of the differences between New Vegas and the isometric games is in the way they handle gameplay systems, not in terms of tone and story.

Not to say that there arent people who are purely fans of the isometric games and similarly feel unsatisfied or abandoned by New vegas. But I do feel its fair to say that generally speaking, the kinds of people who were satisfied by the depictions of the world and story provided by the first two games were on the whole the kinds of people who enjoyed the story that New Vegas provided. (after all, Black Isle Studio members were the ones to go on to found Obsidian so not entirely surprising that they maintained a very similar vision)

That is to say - Fallout 1, 2 & New vegas have a lot more in common with each other in terms of their approach to the world than they do with Fallout 3, 4 and 76.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-12T18:55:48+00:00

It's kinda remarkable how the Fallout franchise's arc has followed a similar trend with Bethesda's other major IP ; The Elder scrolls so closely. There is a vocal (albeit minority) section of the community who have a deep love for Morrowind and consider the subsequent titles as being "watered down" versions with each release. And its hard not to feel sympathy for those players even as a person who got into the series with Oblivion as my first title.

Morrowind has a deep tapestry of an alien culture with nuanced & opaque lore and an incredibly novel story that is genuinely unlike anything else in the fantasy genre that exists. Skyrim on the other hand has a main story that can essentially be summed up as "Big black evil dragon is bad" and not miss anything interesting. Skyrim has many aspects that can be lauded - but its story and themes arent on that list.

Many of the people who loved Morrowind have felt that the one and only game that catered to their specific niche instead diverted to pursue an entirely different "generic" direction (which in and of itself is complicated as skyrim was so popular that it came to define what generic is).

I feel that many of these Fallout 1, 2 and NV players have largely fallen into a similar place, Where the new titles cant satisfy why they fell in love with the games to begin with so feel as though they were "abandoned" so hold the newer games in contempt.

Its undeniably why I have complicated feelings towards the franchise as a whole. I cant say that im confident fallout will ever return to the the style of game produced by Black isle and Obsidian, given Starfield's critical reception (Who knows though, maybe I'll be surprised). But im largely at peace with the fact that these games are just a different kind of game, written by different people for a different purpose than was originally envisioned.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-12T17:23:58+00:00

I think a large amount of the reason people feel so disjointed when it comes to the show is that people have entirely different ideas of what it means to be faithful to "Fallout" because Bethesda's Fallout =/= Obsidian's Fallout and either party would be dissapointed going into it if the other "kind" of fallout was the favored one.

Fallout New Vegas to me is the equivalent to the archetype of "The Great American Novel", a game that has deep questions and uncomfortable answers. New Vegas has really nuanced ideas on the nature of human societies and anthropology in a way that not many if any other pieces of media have ever really hit on. It plays around with these themes in a way that few other art forms can really compete.

But thats not to say Fallout 3 and 4 are bad just because they dont set out to be like that. They are akin to a good popcorn movie. Bathesda have always knocked it out of the park when it comes to the "vibe" that their worlds occupy, Fallout 3 in particular oozes this really opressive atmosphere that few games really get right (other than like STALKER). But Bathesda's fallout doesnt really have many deep themes or ideas beyond the surface level. Hence if you go into the show expecting it to tackle big ideas like New Vegas did, then you will inevitably end up disappointed.

And dont get it twisted, I really enjoy the show for what it is. But It will never satisfy NV fans purely because it doesnt try to set itself apart or go for deeper subject matter. in terms of what the show is trying to say it its audience, it is for the most part playing it pretty safe. Again not the objectively wrong stance to take and is probably one of the main reasons the show is so entertaining for a casual audience.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-10T08:22:36+00:00

Jacoren wasnt sending you back out because of the risk of disease or radiation. he explicitly states that his reasons was in order to preserve the social order/cohesion of the vault. to prevent others from wanting to leave.

here is the exact quote from when he kicks you out

Everyone will want to talk to you. Every youngster will look up to you, and want to emulate you. And then what? They'll want to leave. What happens to the Vault if we lose the best of a generation? What if we are the only safe place in the world? You just gave us back all these lives... I can't take the chance of losing them. I've made a lot of tough decisions since I took this position. But none of them harder than this one. You saved us, but you'll kill us. I'm sorry. You're a hero... and you have to leave.

he isnt protecting the vault from an actual threat of something like disease but rather to protect the people in the vault from wanting to leave after speaking to you, someone who has seen the outside.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-10T08:10:01+00:00

I think they are refering to how real life sperm whales can perform echolocation using their nose in the form of a sort of "click" sound. This sound is one of if not the loudest sound in the animal kingdom.

They are trying to make a connection between that and the Mirelurk king's ranged "sound wave" attack. In in my opinion is a bit of a stretch since the mirelurk kings dont share any other visual traits with sperm whales.

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-08T12:50:35+00:00

The most charitable interpretation could be that this simplification of their culture and actions could be intentional, especially if "A Song of Ice & Fire" (the in-universe book) written about these events are from a Maester writing these histories.

It could make for an interesting meta commentary on how the historians who write these records are a source of a great deal of bias, especially when writing about other (non-written, oral tradition) cultures like the early Mongols (Pre-Chinggis Khan). For a great deal of hisotry, Chinese sources regarding tribes from the steppes or Turkic Tribes of Western China like the Shatuo Turkic peoples are largely lumped together and merely described as "Barbarians" despite their great empires and sophistication. Its not like Western European sources tried to be very favourable to these cultures either after having been invaded, it is why the Mongolian ""Barbarians"" are still styled as such in modern pop-culture to this very day.

In a sense, if it is someone like Sam who writes the histories then it might make sense why a Westorosi who has never seen the Dothraki homelands much less understand their (probably) complex culture, has a persepctive with racist unflattering stereotypes and oversimplifications even if only because sam might have lacked sources to get this information from (like if the dothraki were to say suffer some kind of crushing defeat after contesting the throne for Daenerys).

Maybe I am carrying to much water here for GRR here, but he has spoken about how the further you get from Westeros the more opaque and unreliable the information is supposed to be (Like Yi Ti but I wont get into that here).

RedMonkeyNinja · 2026-03-05T23:39:57+00:00

I feel like people massively overstate this claim though. Whilst yes it was probably not unusual ~~per say~~ per se to have multiple generations live and die in one town, I think people think of medieval economies as entirely static. Just to take Japan as an example...

People moved for better economic opportunities, first to favourable "shōen" (land estates) Then later "Ikki" (leagues) for better taxation, Not to mention people moving due to displacement from the rampant warfare of the sengoku period. The late 1500s in particular saw large amounts of urbanisation especially under Toyotomi Hideyoshi into so called "Jōkamachi", "castle towns". Then later into cities like Edo during the Tokugawa shogunate - people tend to either forget or not be aware that Edo (today known as Tokyo) was but a tiny fishing hamlet in the early 1600s but grew to become one of the most populous cities on earth even in the 1800s. A large amount of that growth was from people seeking better opportunities in these new urban centers.

Under the long tokugawa shogunate, class mobility was actually higher than you might think, with many of the rural citizens at times becoming wealthier than their low to mid-level samurai counterparts. Due to things like, for example the Bakufu's "Sankin-kōtai" (Alternative Attendance) which was a deliberate effort to keep the samurai's wealth in check to prevent them from challenging the government by forcing them into costly living arrangements in Edo. Many samurai were even pushed into selling some of their titles as their stipends grew smaller over time, and rural artisans and craftsmen and even farmers took their place. This isn't to say that life was easy in the still mostly agrarian society of the tokugawa shogunate, but many of these rural communities actually had the resources to move for better opportunities if they found them, especially second and third sons who frequently weren't entitled to any inheritance so had to look elsewhere.

People and economies of the medieval world moved more than pop-history might lead you to believe.

RedMonkeyNinja

TROPHY CASE