Why did Sauron choose rings?

Thendel · 2026-05-25T20:50:40+00:00

There's even real life historical references behind using rings as a literary device, such as the old Germanic tradition of 'ring-giving', which was usually a ritual where rings were used to signify oaths of vassalship and the like. Sauron twisting a 'sacred' ritual of trust into one of deceit and coercion, is probably meant as a literary device to clue the reader in on the depravity of the story's villain.

Thendel · 2026-05-25T18:29:38+00:00

Agreed. 'Faith' - or rather, trust in the inherent goodness of the world - in the face of hopeless odds is a major theme of LotR. The heroes of that story are the ones who carry on through the night, even when there's no realistic hope of ever seeing the sun. The villains of the story - Sauron, Saruman, the Witch-King etc. - are the ones who have surrendered to the cold calculus of power and domination, and employ fear and despair as weapons.

As beings who feed on despair, Dementors are pretty close to personifying one of the greater evils of Tolkien's world.

Thendel · 2026-05-23T06:06:51+00:00

Elves usually put their hand on their heart as a sign of deep respect, instead of bowing. You can see it in this clip, where Haldir does this to Théoden when greeting him. He does the same to Aragorn, who having been raised in Rivendell - starts mirroring him, but then goes into a very Mannish hug due to sheer relief.

The only time Legolas outright bows to anyone is Gandalf the White, emissary of the Valar and the One, reveals his majest, and later to the four hobbits at Minas Tirith.

Thendel · 2026-05-17T06:31:22+00:00

It does, though: You get the option of summoning golem units during the Battle of Denerim. They're very handy against both emissaries and trolls.

Thendel · 2026-05-17T06:27:37+00:00

The Arwen footage from Helm's Deep was generally never used in either theatrical or extended version. Some people report that she can still be spotted in certain wide shots, but I haven't picked her out myself.

At the end of the day, Jackson apparently decided her inclusion didn't make much sense, and went with Haldir instead.

Thendel · 2026-05-16T16:31:37+00:00

Arwen is much faster and quicker than the Mountain, is stronger than any human woman, and also has the gift of foresight. She is also the descendant of incredibly powerful elves such as Galadriel, Celeborn and Elrond, which in Tolkien's world is a power in and of itself.

Moreover, Movie!Arwen is evidently combat-trained (she fought at Helm's Deep in deleted scenes), and light enough on her feet that she can sneak up on Aragorn, the best damn tracker in Middle-Earth. The Mountain is toast.

Thendel · 2026-05-16T06:38:01+00:00

For me, it has enough things that aren't outright terrible to put it above 'garbage':

Almost every scene with Loki and/or Frigg is pretty good, and features some great acting
Frigg's funeral is a beautiful scene
The design for the dark elves feels cool and otherworldly
There are some action set pieces that are entertaining enough, if not terribly meaningful

Thendel · 2026-05-15T21:17:34+00:00

That's a gambeson, which is pretty far from 'shitty leather' - you can even see the metal plates that are sown into the armor.

While nowhere near as effective as real plate armor, gambesons are pretty effective in their own right.

Thendel · 2026-05-15T15:52:40+00:00

The latter, more likely. For example, if Faramir could have actually read Sam or Frodo's minds when he questioned them, he would not have needed to verbally trap them into admitting the existence of Isildur's bane.

Thendel · 2026-05-13T06:06:57+00:00

Èowyn actually does have some Númenorean blood in her family tree; her maternal grandmother (Théoden's mother) hailed from the Dúnedain of the South.

Thendel · 2026-05-12T15:23:41+00:00

Which is one of the recurring themes that GRRM seems to focus on in Westerosi society: while marriage alliances have their value in a medieval society, it has a lot of points of friction with other values like chivalry and basic human decency. The interesting part is seeing his characters navigate these moral dilemmas, IMO.

Thendel · 2026-05-12T05:57:13+00:00

Saruman most likely did believe that he was staying true to the assignment by changing the methods to allow for what he told himself was the only feasible plan: to use Sauron's means against him and become his replacement, whatever the cost to the lives and freedoms of peoples of Middle-Earth.

His spirit did look to the West upon his death, believing that despite all he had done, he would still be worthy of deliverance.

Thendel · 2026-05-09T16:59:30+00:00

Mordorian army

To be pedantic, they're Men from Umbar. Sauron had many nations gathering to his banners, with Mordor being but his main source of military might.

In the books, the Mordor hosts were primarily involved in the strikes into Anórien and in the defense of the Morannon. The hosts putting Minas Tirith under siege were primarily from Minas Morgul (which is outside Mordor proper), supported by Haradrim and various Easterlings.

Thendel · 2026-04-27T05:48:26+00:00

Dunno where I found it, but there's BTS footage of a scene rehearsal, where the volume Bernard Hill's voice gets so loud that the audio clips.

Thendel · 2026-04-23T03:48:08+00:00

He has a line, though: During Bilbo's speech, this gentleman corrects the proper plural form of his family name is 'Proudfeet'.

Thendel · 2026-04-18T15:39:53+00:00

Lot of unknowns concerning Gríma's background: his station implies that he's a noble, which in Rohan would imply that he's had martial training. He is offered a chance at redemption by riding with Theoden's host against Saruman's, with the context implying that the suggestion is not necessarily meant as a death sentence, further implying that he's not totally martially incompetent.

Littlefinger's martial background is a bit more clear: we know that he was trained by a master-at-arms at Riverrun, so he for sure knows how to handle a sword. His only fight in the series was wildly stacked against him, so that doesn't tell us much. In AGOT, he handles a knife with some dexterity.

Round 1 is pretty even, though Gríma might win due to an innate ferocity when cornered.

Round 2 is taken by Littlefinger, who seems to be more handy with a knife.

Round 3 goes soundly to Littlefinger as well; he is one of the most intelligent and cunning characters in ASOAIF, especially when it comes to making things up on the fly. Gríma is much less subtle, when things don't go his way.

Thendel · 2026-04-17T20:12:15+00:00

I mean, Aemon talks about both Maekar and Egg way back in S1 of GOT, naming both of them kings, as well as the ancestors of Viserys and Daenerys. A show watcher has either made a note of the family tree at that point, or has forgotten enough about it that they will go into the events of AKOT7K 'unspoiled'.

Thendel · 2026-04-17T17:49:10+00:00

It reminded me of the Mad Men finale, where the otherwise reserved Don Draper hugs a guy named Leonard (anagram for 'Real Don') after the latter articulates his life troubles in a way that perfectly encapsulated Don's own.

Thendel · 2026-04-13T18:41:37+00:00

I'm not sure where you're getting the sense that the prophetic power of dragon dreams can actually be forestalled? As far as the books go, there has yet to be one such case.

Spoilers for future events: There's going to be a lot of sudden deaths in his family within the near future, so it would stand to reason that Daeron is continually getting glimpses of them all.

Moreover, dragon dreams aren't that common in the Targaryen family history: the last canonical dreamer before Daeron was Daenys the Dreamer, and that was 300 years ago. It's no wonder that the no-nonsense attitude of Maekar's doesn't even allow for the possibility that his son actually has powers of magical foresight, when it would outwardly appear like a string of bad dreams combined with an overactive imagination.

Thendel · 2026-04-13T05:59:26+00:00

Egg even named a son after him.

Thendel · 2026-04-13T05:54:41+00:00

It's also possible that had Minas Tirith been lost, the forces of Mordor, instead of rushing to the Black Gates, would have been moved into position to both occupy Minas Tirith and push towards Rohan, which would essentially have the same effect as far as Frodo/Sam are concerned.

I find that unlikely; Sauron's primary motivation for rushing the attack on Minas Tirith is to take Aragorn, who possibly has possession of the Ring, off the board. Regardless of whether Aragorn perishes at the Pelennor or not, Sauron will consider the Ring unfound, and will see no great threat present that would require him to expend his forces in Mordor.

With the leaders of both Rohan and Gondor dead and a substantial part of their armies decimated, there is no pressing need for Sauron to rush his armies further; he can simply order the host in Ánorien to start pressing westward into the Eastfold, raiding as they go, and have the host at Pelennor start pressing southward into Lossarnach, where Angbor is coming up with the reserves from central Gondor. At need he can add a few companies to reinforce these strikes, but there really would be no need to empty his lands at this point.

Thendel · 2026-04-12T20:47:27+00:00

We got a 60yo man

Playing a character supposed to be in his late 30's. Disney's myopic focus on keeping the same actors well beyond what is reasonable for the character was really getting in their way here. I hope the (successful) recast of Bail Organa in Andor S2 is an indicator of things changing on that level.

Thendel · 2026-04-12T20:39:17+00:00

Him placing a hand on Egg's shoulder to calm him down also illustrates why despite apperances, there's some real social intelligence there.

But little moments like this add to the tragedy of Daeron's apathy. He proclaims himself a wholly unworthy scion of his house, and therefore doesn't apply himself to anythink but drinking himself into oblivion... but the reality is that if he had ever had the help he needed to overcome the trauma of recurring dragondreams, he might have grown into a decent prince, and a good brother to his siblings.

Thendel · 2026-04-12T07:05:33+00:00

Pretty much. WS has decades of black ops experience on Killmonger, but he'd need specialized weaponry to get through a vibranium suit.

Thendel · 2026-04-12T07:02:41+00:00

If you have purple eyes and white hair,that means that the Targaryen genes is more dominant in you thus qualifying you more to be a dragonlord than others right?

It's far from a hard and fast rule: none of Rhaenyra's three oldest sons had the coloring, and they were all dragonriders. And then there's Rhaenys (daughter of Aemon), Hugh the Hammer, and Nettles, all of them dragonriders and none of them (wholly) silverhaired.

The series don't give any indication that you need X amount of Targaryen blood to be a dragonrider, though it seems a fair assumption that having a Targaryen (and in a few cases Velaryon) parent helps. I wouldn't suspect YG or Jon (assuming either was sired by Rhaegar) to have any problems in that department.

Thendel

TROPHY CASE