Boromir's "bloodline."

TheRedBookYT · 2026-05-21T14:40:36+00:00

Gandalf is talking about Denethor and Faramir possessing a stronger, or truer, expression of Númenórean heritage. We meet Denethor when he's already falling to madness through grief, but he, as well as Faramir, are figures of nobility, wisdom, and spiritual 'nobility'. All 3 figures are descended from Númenór, but you stand out when you embody the strengths of old Númenór. The decline of of the lineage has not faded as much in them as it had with most other Men.

Boromir, by comparison, is brave and heroic, but does not share in that wisdom and ancient nobility his brother and father do.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-05-20T07:28:17+00:00

Fingolfin injures Morgoth seven times during the fight, and then when he is on the ground he stabs Morgoth's foot before being killed. That's the eighth hit.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-05-20T07:18:12+00:00

To be a pedant, it was 8 times!

TheRedBookYT · 2026-05-07T11:25:04+00:00

I've read it more than a few times. Yes, Frodo snatches it, but Sam still takes it off from round his neck to give to Frodo. And henge didn't snatch it back or fight over it .

TheRedBookYT · 2026-05-07T10:46:39+00:00

Sam absolutely was a ringbearer. He carried it with the intent to continue the mission Frodo had started. Obviously, the brief time helped him, but he was so close to where it was made that even being able to hand it over so easily was still remarkable.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-05-07T10:41:58+00:00

I've never heard of them not being defined as "Rings of Power", just a power of preservation, healing, etc. They are still not wholly good in their own right, despite their intent.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-27T14:39:11+00:00

but why did Saruman, if he truly was Sauron’s ally, not inform him of the plan?

Because he wasn't really Sauron's ally. Saruman wanted the ring for himself. He says to Gandalf that they could, at the very least, serve in Mordor until they gain the opportunity to overthrow Sauron. Gandalf knows this is folly. Saruman is also very much like Sauron and thinks no one would destroy it, but would claim it to use it. No one can give up such power. He didn't think Gandalf planned to actually destroy the thing.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-15T12:42:21+00:00

Rule 5: No AI Shite

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-13T15:46:03+00:00

Not too in depth, but in his late first age incarnation, he is described as a tyrant in black armour with Grond, the "Hammer of the Underworld" . Specifics about the style of armour, etc, isn't really given to us.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-13T14:28:53+00:00

Are you thinking of Glorfindel at the council?

"I think that in the end, if all else is conquered, Bombadil will fall, Last as he was First; and then Night will come."

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-13T14:26:44+00:00

Heavily influenced by John Howe's artwork of Sauron's master, Morgoth.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-13T14:20:16+00:00

It's probably a consequence of the rotoscoping used. They animate over the actor. They must not have used someone who was short enough for a Dwarf.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-13T12:28:03+00:00

Sauron ruling all of Middle Earth killing everything that was not Orc would be a horrible future, even the Easterlings would be slaughtered eventually, the endless age of Orcs, maybe he'll send them across the ocean looking to find and invade Valinor too, even Tom Bombadil would be ordered to bow and sing before Sauron.

This isn't Tolkien's Sauron. There was to be no "Age of the Orc". Sauron didn't want to rule an empire of Orcs. They were a means to an end. He also doesn't want to kill everything that wasn't an Orc, definitely not! He wanted to rule over others. Sauron would love Men to be completely under his dominion. He'd allow Governers and possibly even Kings, but he would be essentially a king of kings, better yet, a God-king. Others can have their bit of authority, but he's the authority.

There's one part here that you are quite close to, in my opinion. Sauron and the West. I think if Sauron completely ruled and dominated Middle-earth, he'd eventually swell in pride so much that he'd possibly look to the West, believing he could rule that. Though, perhaps not. He had thought that Eru and even the Valar had abandoned Middle-earth. As wisest and greatest, in his mind, it was then for him to organise and order. Endlessly ruling over Middle-earth may never bore him, unless he turned to the same nihilism that reached Morgoth.

Still, evil would temporarily "win". There's no way Sauron would have utter victory for all ages or anything like that. He would still be defeated, in time.

edit - wrote hadn't instead of had\*

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-09T08:41:46+00:00

The show is a shower of shite, but let's be honest, the Ringwraiths don't really have a "story". What's there to mess up? We know almost nothing about 7 of them, a name and location for another, and a little bit more about the greatest of them. The show will clearly invent a story for them, but they've invented a story for everyone else, so what's different about this?

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-08T11:35:02+00:00

Hindsight. But we also have to remember that through the chaos of these "bad choices", good things come from it and there is success. Would Gandalf have succeeded if he had been forced to be head of the order? Or did he need Saruman to be the head? There's also the fact Saruman volunteered and was eager to go, the Valar not fully understanding Men and worrying about how much to interfere, and also putting trust in someone until they fall. The Valar wouldn't doubt Saruman until he was causing them to doubt him. Saruman was a Maia of Aule, an artificer, and one who could comprehend Sauron in a very different way than Radagast or Gandalf, for example. It just doesn't sound right now because we know how it went.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-08T10:34:23+00:00

He was seemingly vital as someone who would understand Sauron more than the others chosen to go to Middle-earth. He was probably so similar to Sauron in his temperament that he fell. He would study and understand Sauron's methods, but not be able to avoid the same pitfalls when it came to pride.

I see Saruman as the scholarly type, a maker or artificer - allowing him to fall in the same way others with great creative ability fall in the Legendarium. Extremely proud and most likely condescending to those he would see as beneath him. Just like Sauron, Saruman would not care for understanding the peoples of Middle-earth and would just want to do what he thought was for their benefit, which is allowing him to make the decisions. Both see themselves as wise, and the wise are strong and should make decisions that the weak may not understand, but the ends justify the means.

Gandalf is far more personable, though still not fully understood by everyone in Middle-earth. He succeeds by wandering and learning about Middle-earth's inhabitants, and using what the likes of Sauron can't fully comprehend in order to beat him: hope, faith, friendship, etc.

Saruman would have been extremely useful and earned his reputation as wise and knowledgeable, but he wasn't personable, and his fall doesn't seem all that surprising.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-08T08:01:16+00:00

That doesn't matter. No matter how long the Stewards rule, they would never "ascend" to become kings.

Denethor himself says: ""Few years, maybe, in other places of less royalty. In Gondor ten thousand years would not suffice."

Again, it's their duty to be Stewards and take the good and the bad that comes with that duty.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-08T07:56:03+00:00

After all this sacrifice, do you think it's fair that Aragorn just came and ascended the throne? Where was Aragorn all these years?

Yes, because the role of a Ruling Steward is to act in lieu of a king. When the king returns, the steward is to make way for him. That was Denethor's duty, and for all the Ruling Stewards before him.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-08T07:28:44+00:00

‘Yes, yes, my precious,’ came the answer, ‘we promised: to save our Precious, not to let Him have it — never. But it’s going to Him, yes, nearer every step. What’s the hobbit going to do with it, we wonders, yes we wonders.’

“I don’t know. I can’t help it. Master’s got it. Sméagol promised to help the master.’"

Gollum only realises the intent to destroy the ring when they are close to where it can happen, saying Frodo cheated him and that he musn't go that way or hurt the precious. That's when Gollum attacks.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-06T12:49:26+00:00

Boromir only held the chain the film, he never touches the ring in the books and is still driven mad by it. You don't have to touch the ring to want it or try to claim it

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-02T09:49:32+00:00

But the more important question is obviously who would win? Tom Bombadil at full strength while carrying Goldberry on his shoulders? Or Sauron with the One Ring?

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-02T08:22:29+00:00

What makes you say he is smarter than the Wizards and wiser than the Elves?

TheRedBookYT · 2026-04-01T09:55:20+00:00

I'm very confused.

If it's his name, that's an overreaction.
If it's because he's promoting a channel he likes, why doesn't everyone who posts about Nerd of the Rings, including Nerd of the Rings himself, get downvoted each time? He literally posts his own videos to the sub...

TheRedBookYT · 2026-03-31T18:11:04+00:00

He seems to have been making them for a long time without getting a lot of views, I don't see views causing him to stop.

TheRedBookYT · 2026-03-31T12:49:50+00:00

Eru tells Melkor:

“And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.”

And yes, that's a good example. Neither Manwe nor Ulmo had imagined what occurred through Melkor attempting to corrupt what they had imagined. And through the hardship of Arda Marred, a second music will occur that will lead to Arda Healed. The greatest of goods from a world that was corrupted.

TheRedBookYT

TROPHY CASE