The Rings of Power 6: For Better or for Worse
I have some questions.
Last Friday, the sixth episode of The Rings of Power was released. So far, it’s doing great. The reason for that seems to be the increase in action scenes. There had been complaints about the excessive amount of exposition in previous parts. I don’t mind being given background information — I’m not a dedicated fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, and my knowledge of the lore is limited, so exposition helps me understand what’s going on. What bothers me are inconsistencies, and this episode had a few. If you don’t want spoilers, you should leave this page now.
- Doing some orc math.
Though predictable, the scene where Arondir makes the tower fall on the Orcs is undoubtedly exciting. However, it was hard for me to focus on the action when my mind kept going back to something else: where are the rest of the Orcs? There are plenty of Orcs marching on the bridge, and they couldn’t all have been inside when the Elf blocked the door. When they zoom out, there’s nothing there. Logically, there would also have been Orcs locked on the outside of the walls instead of on the inside. It doesn’t make sense that they would’ve all gone through in such a short period of time. Mainly because they would probably stop marching in once the tower started falling.
2. Those Númenóreans are just that smart.
I had two problems with the arrival of the Númenóreans in the Southlands. On the ship, they’re discussing the sunrise as it’s happening. Meanwhile, back at the village, the Orcs are fighting because it’s dark outside — so, it’s sometime during the night. Is the village really that far from the coast that the Númenóreans are in a whole different time zone when they arrive? That seems to be the only logical explanation, because by the time they get to the village night is changing to day as well. If they really had to travel that far, I hope they gave the horses a few breaks. The animals went straight to battle when they got there. Maybe those are special horses.
The second problem: how did the Númenóreans even know the village needed help? I don’t have many theories for that one. Did Galadriel see it coming? Did she automatically know where to go once they arrived? See, some exposition would’ve been very helpful in this case. Instead, they cut a whole chunk of the story. We’re missing a piece of time from that conversation on the ship to when we see the Númenóreans galloping towards the village, and it could’ve been… enlightening.
3. Isn’t Galadriel supposed to be one of the “good guys”?
Adar and I don’t agree on a lot of things. In fact, we probably don’t agree on anything else. However, I admit he has a point when he tells Galadriel that if she’s looking for evil she could just look in the mirror. First of all, that comeback was on point. Second, I don’t blame him for having that opinion of her. Galadriel did tell him she was going to kill all of his offspring and leave him for last. Yes, we’ve seen before how the hunger for revenge makes her act out, but this seems a little over the top. Isn’t that most villain’s origin story, anyway?
Also, I seriously hope they don’t turn Galadriel and Halbrand’s relationship into a romantic one. They seemed to hint at that when the characters were having a moment — you know, after bonding over their shared hatred of Adar. They’ve made many mistakes in this TV show, but mixing romance with those two would be my villain origin story.
