#J.D. Payne

[neons]

“We are writing season three” (x) I LOVE THIS SONGGGG

[halbrannatar]

From Benjamin Walker's insta 🤩🤣

[ssdartvader]

The spots on the Sun

I am a viewer of the great show Rings of Power. My rating for this show is 10!

There is one problem that few people paid attention to. This problem is - How will the showrunner introduce us, the viewers, to the couple Galadriel-Celeborn. After all, in essence, Galadriel never even remembered her beloved husband. And this is bad, because it will be very difficult to Believe in her love. For example, I do not believe that Galadriel even loved her Celeborn. At least during seasons 1 and 2, Galadriel did not show that Celeborn meant anything to her. And this does not look like the love of a woman, even an elven woman for her husband. If they show us that Galadriel fell in love with her Celebrn again, then the question is - why did she not remember and did not even make attempts to find Celeborn? This does not look like love. I can't wait for the official announcement of the launch of Season 3!

To demonstrate the problem, illustrating with two ships, see the picture. I think the scale is obvious, where he is mighty, and where there is nothing but vague rumors.

It is necessary to provide a solution to this problem: 1) High-quality casting of the actor for the role of Celeborn 2) High-quality presentation of this actor 3) during filming, it is necessary to demonstrate at least some kind of relationship in the Morfydd-Celeborn pair, i.e. create a high-quality ship

[reyturnofbensolo]

“And those who watch every episode and [negatively] write about it on social media and make YouTube videos, we’re happy to have you guys too. It wouldn’t be a journey through Middle-earth without some TROLLS along the away”-J.D. Payne

😆

[lowcountry-gothic]

I may be in the minority but I kind of trust them on this one. I give them the benefit of the doubt. I don't want PJ film Elrond, either. And I don't think they're really going there. I watched that entire interview, and it seemed more like a joke casually thrown off than an actual insight into how they see the character. What seemed much more intentional was the line "We're going to break him." Which is actually accurate to everything Tolkien wrote about Elrond's story. He goes through some serious shit in the Second and Third Ages. Also it's important to notice only one of the showrunners, Payne, says the line about "men are weak" Elrond, and it's the other one, McKay, who corrects him. These guys know their lore.

Ok, but can someone tell the showrunners that we don't want "men are weak" Elrond? The one thing this show has been consistently praised on is how Rob's version of Elrond is closer to book Elrond. I would love to see him go through growth and development as a character - and that includes him taking hits, BUT he never lost his care and kindness for ME. That's literally his MO, takes all the hits and stays kind. If all the work Rob has done with his characterization of Elrond is just to lead to angry Peter Jackson Elrond, I will be so sad.

Elrond discussion starts around the 45 min mark

[hailturinturambar]

Thoughts on J.D and Patrick's interview (PART II)

The year can't end without one more analysis! By the way, I want to do more analysis of the show, but I haven't decided yet, so suggestions are always welcome! This interview is from August, but that's okay. After all, there are so many interviews that I'm almost lost!

Come on, one of the best things about the show, at least to me, is always the prologue. The prologue to the first season has a very well-structured foundation of the Elder Days and the beginning of Arda.

Morgoth's introduction as the First Enemy was brief but still impactful. However, nothing could have prepared me for the breathtaking prologue to season two.

We were all curious about the beginning of Sauron's journey. But the prologue was better than I could have hoped for.

I'm glad they changed it for season 2, I don't think it would have worked very well in season 1. Would they have introduced Sauron mid-season or would the scenes have been cut?

The second season is darker, so I think the dark prologue was ideal. We know a lot about Sauron's past in the books, but not in the adaptations. In the movies, for example, he's just Sauron, the Dark Lord, there's nothing more about him than that.

Well, I couldn't agree more. In episode eight of season one, just like Galadriel, we know that Sauron is the Enemy and that's it. But what do we know about Sauron before his encounter with Galadriel and his path of evil?

I really like that in TROP Sauron is not romanticized, but we are introduced to his past, to the events that shaped him and led him to do everything he did. Only when we know someone's past are we able to understand their actions.

I started rewatching TROP on December 23rd and I'm already at the end of the second season, and they're right. When we watch the first season again, after the prologue of the second season, everything seems different. No scene seems simple or out of place, no word seems meaningless.

We look at scenes in Númenor, for example, and we're like, "Yeah, that makes sense! That's why Halbrand/Sauron behaved like that." It's really interesting. Because I never thought the show would go that way in 2022.

We started and ended the first season with the question, "Who is Sauron?" In the second season, we finally know. Because we get to follow Sauron after Morgoth's defeat and how he tried to rise again. We see how he was betrayed by Adar and spent centuries recovering. And most importantly, we find out how Halbrand ended up on the cursed raft.

Tolkien left some great passages open, didn't he? These long passages of time without information are great for piquing our curiosity. And I don't know if Tolkien thought about them, after all, he had a very long story with many characters, maybe he left that blank period aside.

And I loved how this was worked into the series. Because in the books after Morgoth's defeat and Sauron's refusal to return to Valinor, we don't have much information. I always wondered how he ended up in Eregion or when this idea came to his mind.

I try my best to pay attention to the details in the show, there is always hidden information. And it is extremely satisfying to watch the passage of time in Sauron's transformation. We know from the books that Sauron can return, but we don't know how that process works.

So it's fascinating to watch time pass, the climate change, but Sauron's form also change. From a tangle of worms emerging from a pool of blood, to Sauron's mortal form as Halbrand.

I humbly believe that Sauron does feel pain. When Morgoth fought Fingolfin, Morgoth felt pain and his pain reverberated throughout Middle-earth. Morgoth felt pain because he had been in one form for too long, just as Sauron did. Sauron spent too much time assuming many forms, so why wouldn't he feel pain if a Valar was able to feel it?

In my opinion, the key point in any show or book is the "what if?" What if Sauron felt pain? What if Sauron is capable of having feelings? The what if is the big cherry on the cake that keeps our curiosity and makes us spend hours theorizing about a character.

I think Sauron is capable of feeling everything, whether it be emotions or pain. However, I believe that this feeling is not as we imagine it. It is, as has been said, an ambiguous feeling. We will never be able to understand the extent of Sauron's honesty about what he is demonstrating or pretending to feel.

Now that's a point that keeps me awake! In case you don't remember, I commented on my opinion about the sea monster in my analysis of Sauron and Galadriel.

The sea monster and Sauron is a never-ending question. Because as Payne said, Sauron may have seized the opportunity, or it escaped his reach. Could the Valar be trying to destroy Sauron? Maybe, it would make a lot of sense.

I'll go a little further. The Valar may have sent the monster to destroy Sauron before he could do any more damage. But Sauron is a dark master and knows all beasts, so he may have influenced the monster so that he wouldn't be killed in the shipwreck. So why would the monster attack the raft?

A second attempt by the Valar? Maybe. But I like to play with the idea that Sauron summoned the monster when he recognized Galadriel. That way the humans were eliminated and he had his path clear for deception. I guess we'll never know!

The problem of writing stories as tales of legends is that we miss a lot of things. I say this from experience. Because in my book that I wrote this year, the prologue is a story about more than 200 years about the old times in the history before the first chapter. And a lot of things happened in these 200 years of history. So, if I were to rewrite each passage, a lot of new information would emerge.

This is the big difference between the show and the movies. In the trilogy (or the Hobbit trilogy) the Third Age material is all written, it just needs to be adapted. But in the First and Second Ages, a lot of things are reported, but not detailed.

Giving the Ring to Círdan could involve infinite possibilities, but we don't know them. Personally, I loved the ring story created for the show. All the depth given to the scene and the giving of the rings was a spectacle.

Yes, all adaptations have their flaws and successes. But overall, I am extremely pleased with the adaptation of TROP and the changes or additions made by those involved. An adaptation is never exactly the same as the book, we know that. But what I love about TROP is that we are presented with scenes that make us think, "Oh yeah, that's something Tolkien would have written!"

[alltrekvarnews]

La Temporada 2 de 'El Señor de los Anillos: Los Anillos de Poder' Conquistará la Comic-Con de San Diego.

[ladyhawke]

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER Q&A with Charlie Vickers, Morfydd Clark, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. December 3, 2024

[luzriels]

J.D. Payne: "His hopes for what would happen come crashing into the reality of what has happened, and you’re watching the innocence and optimism of Elrond in Season 1 give way to the world-weary jadedness that we see of the Elrond in the Third Age. It’s pretty breathtaking." ROBERT ARAMAYO as ELROND in The Rings of Power 📰 TV INSIDER ↵

[halbrannatar]

Trop Berlin Premier ✨

[ag-updates-and-archives]

L.S. Dunes: “Making music together is an intimate relationship. We’re not f*cking, but we are giving each other all of our selves”

L.S. Dunes was never supposed to be a ‘proper band’ but, even by the prolific standards of its esteemed personnel, the post-hardcore collective have gathered unheralded momentum. Ahead of sublime second album Violet, we join vocalist Anthony Green and guitarist Frank Iero to find how what started out “low stress” has grown into a towering monument to positivity and hope…

January 15, 2025 Words: Sam Law Photography: Jonathan Weiner

L .S. Dunes’ abstract band name remains open to interpretation even within their five-strong gang. Back in 2022, explanations were offered on how these none-more-cultured musicians felt drawn to its rhythmic echo of the authors of great literary works: J.D. Salinger, W.B. Yeats, R.L. Stine… The imagery of shifting sands chimed with the realities of impermanence and change that weigh on men facing down middle-age. Even the ‘accidental monogram’ of LSD appealed: a drug for those looking to tap into their deeper consciousness, and to truly connect with the world around them.

Grabbing time with vocalist Anthony Green and guitarist Frank Iero to delve into imminent second album Violet six days before Christmas, however – a period when even the busiest players have called it quits for the year – we can’t help but wonder whether ‘L.S.’ still stands for ‘Low Stress’?

“Eh…” Anthony grins, knowingly. “The meaning of that name does change from time to time.”

Currently battling a sinus infection while in recovery from from a nasty norovirus at home in Doylestown, PA (“It was like a cycle from a scary movie. Your kid would have four days of pooping and throwing up, then three days later you would get it, too!”) the singer could be forgiven for eschewing press duties. Likewise, Frank is with family in New Jersey, relishing the calm before a jam-packed 2025 including a My Chemical Romance U.S. stadium tour whose 365,000 tickets recently sold out in a matter of hours. Neither man – nor bandmates Tim Payne and Tucker Rule of Thursday and Coheed And Cambria’s Travis Stever – need the project that was started as an easygoing distraction in the depths of lockdown. But the more of its mesmerising moments and glitteringly sincere sounds they unearth, the deeper they feel compelled to dig.

“It’s funny,” Frank picks up. “Anything that you do, that you really love and care about and put effort into, is going to come with some kind of stress at times. You’re gonna push yourself. You’re gonna want to expel extra energy into it. The biggest stress for this band is scheduling. Everyone is so busy and has so many things to do that it’s hard to make the touring and release schedules work. That can be stressful. But the important stuff – the creative side, making the music, enjoying the craft of being in a band – has never been stressful. That’s the easy part.”

“A certain amount of stress is good in any situation,” agrees Anthony. “It helps with growth. It draws focus to things that might need attention or care. But generally L.S. Dunes’ stress has to do with ‘outside stuff’ like planning or time. The inside stuff has always been right where it should be.”

Keeping track of every show they’ve ever played is many a musician’s dream but, predictably, Frank and Anthony have long since lost count. Both are surprised, all the same, to learn that L.S. Dunes have played over 100 shows between first hitting the stage at Riot Fest 2022 and today. Having insisted that this band is by no means a side-project, the proof is in those miles racked up.

“Anything worth doing is worth doing for real,” Frank grins. “But no-one is telling us to do it. None of us need to be away from our families. We’re driven by love for the music we’re making. Being a professional musician is a dream I’ve had since I was a kid. More people than I can count told me I how wasn’t good enough, or that it wasn’t going to work out. So to still be so fired-up after 20 years, rather than being beaten down, is an incredible thing.”

"We knew this was going to be more than a side-project"

Hear Anthony on why the members of L.S. Dunes are drawn to the band "like a magnet"

Maintaining ‘creative purity’ isn’t an issue, but that kind of hard-touring means survival within the music industry machine. Fortunately, navigating it together has only bound them closer.

“Dealing with the music business is a lot like dealing with the force of a wave,” Anthony explains. “We have the benefit of knowing what it’s like to go out there and be crushed by that wave. To go too far from shore. To go for too much. With L.S. Dunes, we’re so much more able to go out there and set our own pace, surf around, enjoy it more. We’re not fighting anything. We’re not biting off more than we can chew. It’s a luxury to choose how much of that force we give ourselves towards.”

“You’ve got to navigate the business side,” Frank runs on, “but what a great fucking problem to have. It’s like finding diamond shoes that are just a little too tight. It’s made this band stronger and our music more fully-realised, too. The story of us making our first record Past Lives during the pandemic has already been told. We’d written instrumentals that were jammed with riffs and melody. Just so full of notes. Then Anthony came in and, I don’t know how, but he found space for his vocals and ripped it.

“Making an album second time out, we were writing with the expectation and understanding of what everyone would bring to the table. We knew it was a record fans were actually going to listen to: a follow-up to another one they already had. We’ve lived and toured together on the road, getting closer as human beings, creatives and bandmates. We knew each others’ idiosyncrasies and insecurities, when to leave space in something you’re writing for someone else to fill-in. Those trust-falls are so important for an endeavour like this. Making music together or having this kind of creative bond – this give-and-take – with other artists is an intimate relationship. We’re not fucking, but we are giving each other all of ourselves...”

Frank Iero knows the old musicians’ fable of Tom Waits and the empty guitar may be more myth than reality but, as with the best tall tales, facts shouldn’t be allowed to get in the way of the truth.

Legend has it the infamous Californian troubadour walked into an anonymous music shop one day, lifted an old six-string from the racks, rolled it over, turned it upside down, rattled it, shook his head and left. A week later, he returned to the same store and picked up the same guitar, raised it to his face, sniffed the fretboard, peered into the sound hole, hung it back on its stand and went on his merry way. Another seven days passed and he was back to go through the same odd routine. The store owner came over to ask why the esteemed Mr. Waits had so deeply examined this instrument without ever strumming a chord, and if he’d like to properly take it for a spin. ‘Nah,’ shrugged old Tom. ‘That one ain’t got any songs left in it.’ Then he left the store never to return.

“It’s true, man,” Frank grins at the beloved anecdote. “I really believe that every instrument has a soul of some sort; something inside it that you need to draw out. Every so often you’ll get that ‘Harry Potter chooses a wand’ moment where there’s a connection that just blows your hair back.”

Such was the feeling when Frank received a new Fender Highway Acoustic Electric X from a friend close to the beginning of Violet’s creative process. Immediately falling in love and sitting down to noodle through a thank you video, the record’s title-track hit him in its gorgeous entirety.

“It just fell out of me,” he says, the recording still available as proof. “I believe that song was meant to come from that guitar on that day. Sometimes, you’ve just got to follow the road signs.”

"We’ve all been artists our entire working lives, we don’t have anything left to prove"

Hear Frank on why there is no fear of failure in L.S. Dunes

Chronicling L.S. Dunes’ short existence so far, such instances of organic alchemy and easygoing serendipity are in plentiful supply. Anthony stresses that rather than conventional milestones – massive shows, hitting sales targets – the defining moments are smaller-scale, more personal: crying together over shared loss on the bus; tapping into their “telepathy” as songs come together; seeing the signs and synchronicities that prove this band was meant to be.

“It’s too profound to be about some accolade or accomplishment,” he says. “It’s not something obvious you can just put your finger on.”

Frank sighs. Not undermining their other, more conventionally successful bands is a priority for all of L.S. Dunes. But that success is a double-edged sword whose swing it’s liberating to escape.

“I’m gonna be as honest as I possibly can,” he gives a cautious, lopsided smile. “When you’re in this line of work for as long as we’ve been, a certain sense of legacy and fear can creep in. Bands that have been around for a long time can become wary of taking risks and creating something new that might ‘tarnish a legacy’ or ‘disrupt a legendary status’. In this band, there’s none of that.”

Frank has spoken before about his fandom for English art rock icons Radiohead, and there is something of what he describes in how that band’s core members – Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood – founded The Smile to forge onward musically without the weight of legacy. Following the thought, it’s fascinating to think whether the reaction to Metallica’s mega-divisive Load/Reload era would’ve been kinder had The Four Horsemen dropped those albums under a different name.

“We’re in a very unique place,” Frank continues. “We’ve all been artists our entire working lives: 20-something years each. We don’t have anything left to prove. We’re not afraid of pitfalls. There isn’t any trepidation. At the same time, L.S. Dunes is still a new band and we’ve got our whole creative lives in front of us. There aren’t any preconceived notions of what a second L.S. Dunes album should sound like in the way there might be for a fifth or sixth Thursday or Coheed or My Chem record. We’re writing the script as we go along. No rules. Nothing to prove.”

Unfettered creativity sees Violet unfold in bold and unexpected ways. Lead single Fatal Deluxe is both familiar and fresh, bridging the band they were and the one they are becoming with equal measures shimmer and swagger. Paper Tigers pulls together its sludgy tempo, big riffs and soaring vocals to euphoric effect. The aforementioned title-track is a masterclass in grandiose, melancholic post-hardcore: beautifully layered, emotionally complex, unapologetically mature. No song is more emblematic of the sublime interpersonal chemistry than opener Like Magick. A late-in-the-day addition that started life as an Anthony Green solo song, its build from a low, breathy intro is true to the title – a starry sleight of hand that proves anything is possible with spark and a little belief.

“Music is magic,” Anthony evangelises. “It can be a time-machine. It can be a healing force. It can be anything you want. As a musician, sometimes you forget that in pursuit of ‘The Big Song’, but when you really whittle it down it’s just you with your record player and your fucking soul. And how those things harmonise. That’s the fundamental foundation of everything [about this band].”

Frank grins. “You and I might not have grown up together. We might not know each other. But from thousands of miles away I can put my finger on a string on a piece of wood, have that vibrate into a microphone and record it, then when that’s played back, it resonates this little drum inside your head and conjures up an emotion: happiness or sadness, hope or nostalgia. How magic is that?!”

"Music should surprise you, it should be magical"

Hear Frank on the joy of having no boundaries to your creativity

Painted in terracotta pink, slate grey and wavy greens and blues, Violet’s cover depicts a figure in a boat at sea. Contrasting coldly with Past Lives’ orange and beige artwork – five equal elements in perfect harmony that might represent the members of the band – it feels more eerily unexplained. From this writer’s perspective, it is an image of a wraith, perhaps the Grim Reaper himself, trapped in a storm. Frank and Anthony stroke their chins at this observation, like psychologists whose patient has just seen a blood-splatter in a Rorschach test. Darkness or light, they insist, is in the eye of the beholder, and their own understandings of the image are grounded firmly in hope.

“Are those stormy seas, or are they open waters?” challenges Frank. “Is it sunrise or sunset? Is that figure trapped or are they escaping? Are they looking for something? Longing for it? I’m happy that artwork isn’t actually purple. With the title Violet, that would be too much. But beyond that it’s important that things can’t be fully defined. Open-ended ideas are key. I like to think it’s a person alone, fighting for a way out. To me, that’s hopeful. But maybe I’m the one who’s fuckin’ nuts!”

“It’s like a Tarot card,” elaborates Anthony. “It’s so interesting to me that someone might see Death in that image. Reading Tarot, when you draw Death, you’re actually foretelling a new beginning. Often, new beginnings mean killing something old. That can be hard. But it can also be necessary.”

Over those 100-odd shows L.S. Dunes have played so far, past negativity had worn on the vocalist. Although far from a permanent fixture in their set, the closing line of Sleep Cult – ‘Sorry that I wish that I was dead’ – particularly needled. The kind of artist who needs to re-live the root emotions every time a song is sung, it was a lyric that drew him back into a shadow that he thought he had escaped, and he’d often stumble offstage emotionally rinsed and in tears.

“If I’m going to be singing a song 100 times I need it to light my path,” he reasons. “I was in a real dark place when I was doing Past Lives – and I hate it when artists say that because people are in a real dark place all the time – but I was honestly going through such a tough patch. Feeling free from some of that I selfishly wanted these songs to represent it. Hope is a weird word. A lot of the time hope is about letting go rather than hanging on. I needed to make something that meant that even if I found myself in that destructive mode, it was about destroying something that needed to be destroyed rather than my will to keep going.”

Lyrically, the word ‘violet’ does not appear on this album bearing that name. Originating from the vocal sounds Frank overlaid on his instrumental, it stuck with both that song and this longer chapter. Research would reveal that the colour represents spiritual wisdom, acceptance, strength and creativity. The flower has medicinal purposes. Lapsed Catholic Anthony remembers how priests in Lent would wear violet vestments to symbolise both the brutal passion of Jesus Christ and the promise of salvation and rebirth that always comes in the spring. As writing progressed, it became emblematic of a subtle, cerebral optimism that pulses throughout.

‘You have got a hope that there is something more for us to make / In the midst of understanding / Brick by brick we split the take,’ Anthony croons on I Can See It Now… close to the record’s beginning. By the end, he’s waving farewell to, ‘All the words in history / Aggravate to based in longing / All the wounds that I forget / Things I thought would last forever...’

Understanding. Conciliation. Acceptance. As feelings go, they haven’t the bombast or inherent drama of new love or heartbreak, outrage or jubilation, but these songs know they’re just as capable of changing our world. First time out, L.S. Dunes raged against the atrocities of January 6, 2021 on Bombsquad. In January 2025, 12 months since entering the studio again with producer Will Yip, Violet will blare as the perpetrators of that day take back the highest offices of power.

“We’ve had this secret that we were waiting to release out into the world,” Frank says. “And, for me, to provide something that feels hopeful or uplifting at a time when things aren’t hopeful or uplifting – to be a light in the darkness – is an artist’s job. Things happen for a reason. Maybe that makes this the best time for Violet to come out. In times of darkness, the last thing that we need is more despair. I was asked recently what, other than music, makes me hopeful on a daily basis. Honestly, it’s my kids. They allow me to see on a second-by-second basis that not everything is dark and shitty. The kids I’m surrounded with know the difference between good and bad. They want things to be better. They see what’s fucked up. They think it’s crazy when we can’t seem to fix it. Being an inspiration for them is so important: showing that [that fight] is not all for nothing.”

Conventional success – that double-edged sword of fame and fortune we spoke about earlier – may not be the endgame for L.S. Dunes, but there’s nothing lacking in sense of achievement.

“Success is about being friends and caring about each other,” stresses Anthony. “There are plenty of people my age doing this job that don’t even like it anymore, but they don’t know anything else. To be 42 and still making this music and building this band for each other is a gift. There isn’t some big thing we’re working towards. It’s about doing what we’re doing. That gets more exciting to us every day. If that feeling stops at some point, we’ll know what to do. Until then, we’re going to keep digging and writing music and playing shows. It’s what we’re made of. It’s who we are.”

“I’m never thinking about the end,” nods Frank. “Success is being there, being present, being gracious for the time we have. I continue to write and create things without thinking about it much in the same way that I don’t think about the next breath I’ll take. It’s just what I do. And in the same way that no-one knows when it’s the last time to go outside to play pretend with their friends, I won’t know the last music I ever make. I just keep going and going and hope that the next thing is better than what came before...”

Violet is released on January 31 via Fantasy Records.

L.S. Dunes are on tour in the UK and Europe with Rise Against from January 28. They will also play headline dates in Leeds on January 30 and Cardiff on February 10. Get your tickets now.

[littlesparklemairon]

Does Patric have to be Scully?

Q8. There are some camera shots looking down on Galadriel when she is in need of healing that almost looks like an eye in the middle of the shot…there is a very popular theory that this is Sauron checking in / looking down at her -  could you confirm or is this just a neat shot for the camera?

JD: When it comes to artistic interpretation, and the role that creators take on once they've put their work out into the world — there's this idea in literary criticism of “the intentional fallacy,” which critiques the notion that to truly understand the meaning of a work, one needs to somehow go back and figure out the author's original intent. Sure, authorial intent can shed light on what a work is trying to accomplish, just like we did with Arondir a second ago - “Oh, actually, we're going for this other thing, and people took it this way…” And we're always game for that. But what's also fascinating and really rewarding, I think, as creators is that... once you create something, it's out there in the world. And people are going to have all kinds of readings of it. 

And sometimes themes will have bubbled up in the writing and in the production that you weren't even necessarily aware of — either subconsciously, or happening as a sort of collective unconscious of the entire group of people that brought this thing together. Then, people in the world will take the finished work and start analyzing it from all kinds of different directions, and we’ll look at their readings and feel like, “wow, that's a really smart and sophisticated reading. I really like that.” Patrick, do you have anything you want to add? 

Patrick: Yeah, it was just a neat shot for the camera.

LOTR_on_Prime QnA with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay : r/LOTR_on_Prime

[hikarielizabethbloom]

This is what J.D. Payne said about Sauron in the first season:

"There’s something in him that is sort of vaguely reminiscent of Gollum, when you watch it again, where you see these two forces driving within him. In some ways, Gollum is to Sauron as Sauron is to Morgoth, a little bit. The One Ring is operative on his consciousness at all times. And even maybe if he tried to turn away from it and be Mairon, the Maia, who, in the beginning, was good, there's this shadow that has operated upon his soul that he is enslaved to, that you always see, every decision he makes, takes him, in one way, towards the good, but it also takes him towards power. And power is his addiction. Watching back, with that in mind, it's fun to pick apart everything he says, or if he does retreat from the decision he makes."

It's possible Sauron thought to do "good" for a time, but power is his addiction, his way to further corruption. I don't care about Charlotte Brandström's words about his 'love' for Galadriel because the way it was framed on screen? Was not 'love', especially not romantic love. It will always end up looking twisted and extremely dark, and I'm not sure we should casually call this 'love'. I agree with Charlie Vickers when he insists on not using that word, because he doesn't wish to 'romanticize' the merciless, obsessive, abusive and cruel feelings that Sauron, a fallen angel with a god complex, can have for someone.

I don't mind that people find haladriel interesting, but after season 2? I cannot see Galadriel willingly go to him, not even for the affection she had for Halbrand. Sauron may want to possess her, but she will not yield to him, she will not be a willing participant in this.

This is interesting.

In real life I wouldn't call this love. Absolutely.

In fiction I do because it make things more interesting. It raises the stakes. If you take away Sauron's capacity for love then somehow he is less accountable for his actions. Because if he can't love then he does not really understand the damage he is inflicting upon others.

But I NEED HIM TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS ACTIONS.

If he does love and still acts the way he did/does, then it is worse. Because he knows what it means to love, to care, and he doesn't care at all. Hell, he punishes the people he loves and loves/ed him in return. He did to with Adar, Celebrimbor and Galadriel. He will do it to Numenor. He destroys the things he loves because his love his selfish. He takes something pure and twists it untill it's not even love anymore. It's obsession. It's revenge. But once upon a time the love was there.

But no, I don't see Galadriel as in love with what Sauron is now. Same goes for Sauron. He loves Galadriel's light as long as he can use it for his bidding. They're both hunted by ghost of the other but they will never yield.

I don't see their relationship as a 'love conquers all' type, more like a 'love was not enough' one.

I don't know if I'm can explain myself clearly when it comes to them. Because it's complicated. Because I want it to be complicated. Because I love their twisted love story but, in canon, I want Galadriel as far from him as she can get.

In fanfiction, that is a different story...

Edit: I want to add that by acknowledging his ability to love I want in no way excuse Sauron's actions. Quite the opposite. Because he cares, he understands the difference between good and evil and he still chooses evil. That is canon.

He's not doing bad things for good reasons. The 'I want to heal ME' is just the company tagline. He is doing horrible things for horrible reasons.

[love-and-doom]

"If ever there was a show that first needed to walk in order to fly (you fools), it was "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power." Though far more enjoyable than the internet would have you believe, the debut season of the mega-budget Prime Video series struggled too often to define its approach to J.R.R. Tolkien's idiosyncratic lore. The same can't be said for the much-improved season 2, a darker and more villain-centric adventure that took the foundation laid by its previous eight episodes and carved out its own identity altogether. More so than any fantasy series this year (yes, even "House of the Dragon"), "The Rings of Power" truly came into its own.

For those willing to follow a modern twist on Tolkien canon, creators/showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay crafted a particularly thrilling — if radical — reinterpretation of the Second Age of Middle-earth. What if our greatest heroes in Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo) showed a more human side over how to deal with the temptation of the rings? How about the centuries-long rivalry between Charlie Vickers' deceptive Sauron and Sam Hazeldine's fallen Elf Adar culminating in a three-episode siege on Eregion? And, through it all, that shapeshifting diva Annatar captured the hearts and minds of unsuspecting characters and viewers alike. I'm not condoning his season-long gaslighting of poor Celebrimbor (Charlie Edwards) ... but I get it"

Nice as hell to see the show being praised 🤗

[hailturinturambar]

Thoughts on J.D and Patrick's interview

Loving the new interviews and I hope we get more content. It will be a while before season 3 is released, so anything we get is very important. And since an interview with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay came out, I decided to share my opinions again.

I'm biased, because I have a visceral obsession with Jack Lowden, but I agree with Patrick and J.D. Jack as Sauron/Mairon rescued the beauty of the Elder Days and the delicacy of the Maiar and Elves of the First Age.

When we look at Jack Lowden's Sauron, we glimpse what Tolkien described in his books. As Patrick and J.D. say, aneglical, cherub. And this is how I imagine Sauron when he was in the service of Morgoth.

It is interesting the changes that Sauron undergoes physically when his new form is destroyed. And not only in appearance, but we have a change in his characteristics. Jack and Charlie are Sauron and the similarities are obvious, but we still notice that each one represents a phase of Sauron.

As for the time in Númenor, I admit I'm worried they'll change the actor, but considering Charlie remained as Annatar, I don't see why it would be any different. After all, he's now known in Númenor as Sauron in his Halbrand form. Charlie mentioned in an interview (I don't remember which one) that he's looking forward to the Sauron armor. So I assume he'll remain as the main form.

In my opinion, one of the biggest hits of the second season was Sauron's prologue. In the first season, we have Galadriel's prologue and she is narrating her story and the Elder Days.

This point of view, let's say, is the point of view of the heroes. Of the Elves who knew the beauty of Valinor and witnessed the evils caused by Morgoth and Sauron in Arda. This changes abruptly in the second season.

It's like one book told by the hero and the other by the villain. It's Sauron who is now telling his story. We get a more detailed introduction to Adar and his sons, how they were in Sauron's service and why they betrayed him.

What interests me most about the prologue is that we get an explanation for how Sauron came to be the mortal man Halbrand. We have a Sauron who is without a master and has to make his own way in Middle-earth, and then we see a broken Sauron struggling to survive. Until we finally meet Halbrand.

And indeed, Sauron's past explains much about his hatred of Elves and Orcs, and how he sees himself and the goals that will guide Sauron to Celebrimbor's path in Eregion.

When Tom's first episode came out, I saw a lot of negative comments about the character's portrayal. I like almost all of Trop's decisions in how the characters are presented, so I can't be impartial at times, but I still don't understand the criticism.

When we think about Tom Bombadil, we can't base ourselves on all previous sources. PJ fans often criticize the choices made by TROP, but Tom was an interesting addition. Is he different from the LOTR period? Of course he is! We are too far removed from Frodo to use such a comparison. LOTR Tom is not TROP Tom. He still has a long way to go.

Saruman was a general assumption, I would say. But I wouldn't want it to be Saruman. That character, in my opinion, can wait. I don't see a need for him in the plot right now. And I would like to know who this new character is in TROP. I like the characters created in the show, so I'm curious.

My opinion on this point may be a bit controversial. The mystery of who Sauron is in the first season was intriguing, I think for all of us. Even though we suspected Halbrand, we thought that many characters could be Sauron or that perhaps Sauron would not be introduced at all.

And I particularly enjoyed the reveal of Sauron at the end of season 1. This new form with new traits and deceptions was different from the Sauron in the books and I enjoyed how they set up the Halbrand/Sauron storyline.

As for Gandalf/The Stranger, well, I found it a bit tiresome in the second season. It was generally obvious in the first season and I was following the revelation closely. But I don't think it needed to be dragged out until the second season. Anyway, it wasn't that bad and maybe I'm being harsh.

I don't see how this could have worked and I don't like it one bit. I'm glad they changed it.

Sauron in Adar's camp doesn't make sense to me. Sauron was in Eregion forging the rings, why go to Adar's camp? We already had Halbrand meeting Adar at the beginning of the season. Galadriel and Adar meeting again didn't need Sauron's intervention or influence. It was time for us to glimpse the reunion of these two.

I can't think of Sauron in Adar's camp as anything other than an attempt to maintain the idea of ​​Sauron and Galadriel's romance. Other than that, it wouldn't add anything to the story. And I liked how they did it better.

I love SW, so I think this was the ideal reunion. Two opposing forces of Light and Darkness dueling, each trying to resist the temptation of the other, while being influenced by them.

I never thought of Elendil and Míriel as a couple when I read the books that featured the tales of Númenor. But as soon as I laid eyes on them in the series, oh my!

The chemistry was right there, being rubbed in my face. And if we think about Míriel and Elendil's future after the arrival of Sauron and the Fall of Númenor, that's what attracts everyone the most, isn't it? All the anguish and the impossibility of being together. I'll pick up my crumbs!

I was so infuriated by the comments on the internet when the Orc family was introduced. In short, I think it proves how ignorant people are of Tolkien's work if they didn't understand what was being represented there.

Everything in TROP talks about the tragedy that befalls all beings in Middle-earth. Why would it be any different with the Orcs? We know about all the evils caused by the Orcs, but in a war, evil comes from all sides, right? Comments about "TROP humanizing the Orcs" make no sense and are only said to harm the audience's view of the series.

TROP simply presents the point of view of all the characters and how they see themselves. Feeling sympathy or not for each one is not forced, it is just presented. And I like this dynamic.

The most important thing in Tolkien is the duality of the characters. Even though in the Third Age the line between black and white is more defined, in the first stories it is not. And TROP explores this well.

Because for Adar, they are not Orcs, they are children, and that is how they also see themselves. Because they are like the Elves, they have lives and families and live like all beings. But it is their choices that separate them from Men and Elves and that is where we enter the tragedy.

They are seen as monsters, so they do not fight for a different vision, because they would never be able to be seen any other way. Even though Adar's actions are wrong, like Sauron's, with both Adar and Sauron, we end up becoming attached to these damaged characters and we feel sorry for them.

No, don't be mean and tell me about season 3!

J.D. and Patrick's love for the history of Middle-earth is truly infectious. It's remarkable that they put their souls into the show and are committed to telling a beautiful story that honors Tolkien.

Don't judge me if you like the movies (I like LOTR, but not more than the series) but I feel that in TROP we really travel to Middle-earth, in a way that connects different people from different places and different ages.

I first watched the LOTR Trilogy (I hated The Hobbit movies, don't judge me) when I was a child or almost a teenager, I don't remember well. And although I liked it, I didn't feel completely connected.

But that's how I feel about TROP. When I watch an episode, I feel the same way I do when I'm reading one of Tolkien's countless books. And that feeling is so good.

TROP makes me feel at home, living the story. TROP means comfort to me and I hope the series lasts a long time.

[honeytoken]

So they planned for haladriel to meet earlier. Yeah i truly now believe the Elrond kiss being Sauron in disguise. Even the way he interacted with Glug and carried himself in the camp.

Not these writers having good ideas but not knowing how to follow through.

We lost so much.