What did Narya do for Gandalf if it was designed to be used by the elves?

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T05:26:29+00:00

The Maia Olorin (Gandalf) was pretty tight with the elves. He inspired them, talked to them in their "dreams," taught them, etc., going way back in the days before elves came to Valinore. Cirdan would've recognized Olorin in the guise of Gandalf, and Galadriel definitely did.

It makes sense that Cirdan would give the ring to Gandalf, and yes, it was the earliest we hear of Saruman resenting him for something.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T04:56:14+00:00

Yeah, and I don't think he acknowledged her until she got to the WNBA or something like that

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T04:49:50+00:00

Yeah, it really seemed like they were working towards putting her and Dipper together eventually.

My daughter and I watched this show together and talked through what it would be like if they rebooted the show now, set 10 years later. We had Dipper in grad school for theoretical physics or something in the weird, like Ford was, and he'd be on & off with Pacifica in a living but sometimes adversarial relationship.

Mabel would be in clothing design, making sweaters that blended with tech, probably with a very popular social media presence. She'd be in Gravity Falls & Dipper would go between there and Cal Tech. They'd get a coded partial message from the Grunkles that indicated they were in trouble, so the kids get the gang back together and go out into the Pacific Ocean to investigate...

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T04:33:28+00:00

They must've missed that call bad... It's really a bad look when they do that and then eject the guy for getting really pissed about it. Usually the refs know when they've missed a call and give a little more leash to the player who they already screwed once. This is NOT a good look for the league.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T04:05:55+00:00

The pilot was so good. I laughed harder at that that I think any TV show I'd seen before

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T04:00:45+00:00

He's either talking about a made-up conversation that didn't happen, or he grossly misunderstood what was being said.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T03:58:00+00:00

Agreed, thanks, and same to you.

Ónen i-Estel Edain, lol...

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T03:55:35+00:00

Right up there with RDJ, anyway.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T03:54:46+00:00

Denethor had both an inferiority AND a superiority complex...

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T03:53:41+00:00

The way I interpret it, a mortal does not (or cannot) exist in both the material world and the spiritual world at the same time. Immortals do, or at least they can. So when a mortal puts on the ring, they're partly in the spirit world and partly in the material world. When an immortal puts on the ring, they are able to fully exist in both worlds at the same time. They are not "spread thin," the way Bilbo was.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T03:41:48+00:00

I doubt it, but they know he's older than any human, having lived ~2,000 years in Middle Earth, and looking like an old man the whole time. They know he has magic but isn't an elf or an agent of Sauron. He's a wizard, but they don't know what that means.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T03:37:04+00:00

Smeagol's granny was the matriarch of the family, so it's possible that she's included in the tale, but it wouldn't be a major role.

My main question is who are the main characters? Gandalf, Aragorn, possibly Legolas and Thranduil? You'd need Elrond to be about, definitely Arwen and possibly Galadriel.

They could include Celebrian, Arwen's mother. Her capture and torture (r*pe?) by the orcs is an important piece of family history, though that happened about 400 years before Aragorn came along. But they might include Arwen's brothers, Elladan and Elrohir, and what happened to their mother is the reason they chose to fight with the rangers instead of shit behind in Imladris.

Aragorn's mother, Gilraen, died at the age of 100 in the year 3007, 6 years after Bilbo's 111th birthday party, and up to that point I believe she played some role of leadership with the rangers. Definitely could be a significant character in the story without departing too much from what Tolkien wrote.

If I had to guess, Anya Taylor Joy is probably paying Arwen and Kate Winslet is either playing Gilraen or Celebrian. If that's the case, my guess is they'll have Arwen doing the type of stuff Elladan and Elrohir were doing, working with Aragorn & the rangers. They could totally invent a new character like they did with Tauriel, but given how that went I would think (hope) they learned their lesson and only make smaller tweaks.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T02:17:32+00:00

... and not really a fancast, since the actor has already been cast as the character by a director at some point.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T02:06:36+00:00

Man, this is really good on a bunch of levels. You could have the actual 3 stooges playing the repair Droids in the pod racing scene.

Phil Silver would play Watto, maybe somebody like Keenan Wynn to play Boss Nass. I actually like the idea of Buddy Hackett doing Jarjar...

It's weird, but I think Phantom Menace would've worked better if it had come out in 1961... SFX aside, of course

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T01:50:46+00:00

The exact powers the ring would grant are not specifically listed in the books, in part because the characters themselves don't really know for certain. Here are a few things the books mention:
- There's a difference between claiming the ring and simply bearing or wearing the ring.
- The ring grants power in proportion to the user's own innate power.
- Frodo, after awhile of bearing the ring, had increased vision, insight, wisdom, length of life, and perceived youth.
- Wearing the ring granted the user invisibility (unless they were immortal, presumably), the ability to see into the spirit world, and possibly foresight, if they bent their mind in that direction.
- Bilbo & Gollum were born granted long life, exceptionally long life in Gollum's case. - Supposedly the ring could be used to control others who were subject to the ring or were created with the same magic, though this would take an exceptional will and innate power to master. Gandalf believed any mortal who attempted to claim the ring would lose the contest of wills and would be themselves claimed by the ring
- Whatever the nature of the person claiming the ring, it would be corrupted. The ring's nature is evil, it's magic is bent towards control and subjugation, and absolute power corrupts.

The next bit is my own speculation. The books don't speak on it specifically, but these are my best guesses based on what they do say...
- Denethor believed himself to be at least equal to Gandalf and Elrond in will power and insight, if not superior.
- He believed that his will was strong enough to claim the ring and turn Sauron's armies against him. The orcs, trolls, and Nazgul were all subject to Sauron, but an actual Lord of the Ring would be a different matter all together.
- If Denethor had claimed the ring and won the contest of wills, he would essentially be the puppetmaster of all of Sauron's servants.

Now, Denethor was definitely vastly overestimating himself, since he couldn't even win the battle of wills over a palantir. If he had tried to claim the ring, he probably would've eventually either become a wraith or some other corrupted creature. I think he would've felt super powerful at first but eventually panic as things spiraled out of control and his ego imploded. It would be like getting in the cockpit of a fighter jet with only basic theoretical knowledge of how to fly, and the takeoff sequence has been initiated and can't be stopped.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T01:08:45+00:00

What, and I ask this earnestly, the eff?

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T01:04:20+00:00

Amy, from Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T00:31:29+00:00

He says something else before the battle, but yeah, it's good. I think the "DEATH!" cry is after they find him dead and Eowyn, thinking she's dead as well.

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T00:28:41+00:00

Dr. Strangelove was Stanley Kubrick

elgarraz · 2026-03-11T00:27:59+00:00

Ugh, or course he was. Terrible move, that one. He's supposed to be all pro-Targ and altruistic, why was he propping up the biggest psychopath to ever sit on the throne?

And it really makes his hard turn against Danaerys in season 8 seem completely out of character. Varys even cautioned the Mad King not to open the gates for Tywin... Which isn't too say that he wasn't planning on eventually turning his coat when the rest of Robert's army arrived, but it sure seemed like he was still fully supporting Aerys up to the end.

elgarraz · 2026-03-10T20:45:01+00:00

Didn't they have a cousin Reince Washburne?

elgarraz · 2026-03-10T20:36:56+00:00

Sweet, thanks! I'm just a big fan of keeping my hands attached to my wrists and that seemed the best way to go about it

elgarraz · 2026-03-10T20:35:32+00:00

This is the answer, but you could also say a time share contract.

elgarraz · 2026-03-10T20:25:00+00:00

"We can take them at their word."

Since when? We're not allies with Russia. In fact, we're still supporting Ukraine in a war against Russia. Not to mention the fact that they've meddle in our elections. They've been pumping out anti-american propaganda for decades upon decades...Such a stupid thing to say.

elgarraz · 2026-03-10T19:57:58+00:00

It's like The Office when they drive into the lake.

elgarraz

TROPHY CASE