#kemen

[fukutomichi]

S1, Ep5 - Partings

[hobbitinthetardis]

okay this was funny

[lands-of-fantasy]

The Rings of Power

Entertainment Weekly Photos by Ben Rothstein

[17isrighthere]

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RINGS OF POWER Episode 4 — The Great Wave

[aadmelioraa]

isildur and kemen…numenorean failsons…disaster children…trying their hardest to unfuck their lives and making things 100 times worse for themselves and everyone else in the process…but somehow still making it out alive…iconic, amazing, spectacular, 12/10, no notes…keep it up, kids

[helenvader]

This video is an unplanned side-effect of the ever-elusive Nitwit in Númenor trailer.

It features (almost) the entire cast of Númenor. And a lot of Halbrand. Naturally.

Hope you'll enjoy it!

Also, thanks to @mamanmae for the willingness to see all the drafts and her enthusiasm for this silly thing! ♥️

[queenmeriadoc]

“Excuse me Kevin”

“It’s Kemen”

“Ok Kevin”

[incorrectringsofpower]

Anárion: Kemen! Kemen: Oh, hey Anárion. Anárion: For your crimes against the kingdom of Númenor, for everything you and your family have done and continue to do, we find you guilty. Your sentence is this. [He throws a milkshake at Kemen]

[laurinque]

Okay. I’m going to start 3 lists. A list of things we expect to see in The Rings of Power Season Two, a list of things I hope to see in Season Two, and some things we should see by the end of the series.

A. Things we can expect to see (some but not all of these have been mentioned in interviews with the show runners, writers, or actors):  1. Backstory for Adar and Sauron’s relationship 

 2. Círdan the shipwright (!!!) I’m guessing this involves Gil Galad

 3. Rhûn We know nothing about Rhûn so the creatives may go wild and create something amazing. I hope so! The wizard and Nori will go there. They may not like everything about it. (”To the East I go not.”)

 4. The death of someone named Durin. I won’t try to guess the number following his name.  5. Arondir not dying, please I beg of you. Will we see him again with Adar? Hopefully with Bronwyn

 6. Isildur and Berek and their adventures getting out of Mordor

 7. Celeborn (and Celebrían as I am reminded by @erinti-of-the-maiar )

B. Things I would love to see in Season Two, a wish list:   1. Revelations about Isildur’s mother   2. A revelation about Theo’s father   3. Anarion and what he’s doing and thinking about, and just more about the faithful of Númenor and the west of Númenor   4. Everything about Adar from his youth before he met Morgoth onward: his name, his age, his lineage, how he was turned from a young elf, possibly of high breeding, maybe even someone who saw the light of the Two Trees, to what he is now. Not every gory detail of course, just the gist of it. I want more Adar content. C. Things we should see by the end of the series in random order (we can all probably agree on most of these):   1. The making and distributing of the 7 dwarf rings and 9 human rings, including the turning of the Nazgûl. Kind of hoping Eärian won’t be one of them but I've already written off Kemen. (Theo?)  2. The Harfoots settling and starting the Shire. And as one brilliant person suggested, the wagon wheels becoming doors  3. Ar Pharazon becomes king, attacks Sauron in Middle Earth, Sauron surrenders. Sauron taken as prisoner to Númenor, chums up to Ar Pharazon and together they cut down and burn the White Tree and prepare an attack on the Undying Lands, yada yada yada then giant wave like in the palantir  4. Elendil and his sons escaping the destruction of Númenor and establishing cities in Middle Earth including Minas Tirith, eventually fighting Sauron in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Sauron loses a finger, etc.  ;-)  Death of Gil Galad and Celebrimbor.  5. Somehow, the beginning of the Rohirrim? It seems unavoidable   6. Arrival to Middle Earth of more wizards. I’ll be angry if they do to Radagast my beloved what the Hobbit movies did to him.    7. (Wishful thinking) At least a glimpse of Bombadil   8. The story of the ghost army?   9. Dragons?  10. Galadriel establishing Lothlórien, Elrond establishing Rivendell. That’s enough to start. I’m sure I’ll think of more, especially for the wish list. Please join in if you want!

[attheexactlyrighttimeandplace]

The Rings of Power is such a treat! Each episode is a gem in its own way and i can't get enough of it.

The best part being how each week is like an injection of a powerful mix of excitation for LOTR universe and desire to reread all Tolkien's work, as if rewatching the episodes multiples times isn't enough (I'm having very modest ambitions so far and starting with the appendices of the Lord of the Rings and planning The Silmarilion and the Unfinished Tales for next month...)

Some thoughts on episode 4 (full of spoilers for the series),

Episodes with no hobbits and more dwarves are a win. Actually anything involving Durin father and son, Disa and her children whom we see and don't see at the same time is a delight.

Howewer i don't see there a happy family story with their friend Elrond as a gentle and benevolent sponsor, like everyone seem to describe their bond. I think Elrond appreciate them a lot individually and as couple, enjoys truly their company, but he's by nature incapable to be a friend to them. I can't call friendship a relationship where he doubts his friend's intentions and invades their privacy with suspicious questions he has no right to ask. It could have been another kind of secret more personal to Durin like a real affair. So why did Elrond think it was ok to follow him and his wife and overhear their conversations? The little advice he gave to Durin in the end of the episode, under the form of a confession about his own his father, redeemed him a little bit, but only a little bit. I don't think the couple should trust him or consider him genuine. And it's not because they're dwarves that Elrond is acting this way in my opinion, but really because he can't trust people and can't resist manipulating them to serve his goals and ambitions, like he did in the first episode by colluding with Gil-Galad to send Galadriel to Valinor, out of their way, instead of discussing with her what the elves king has foreseen for her future.

The visuals of Númenor submerged by a giant wave were terrifying and stunning at the same time. What a way to start an episode! I totally empathized with queen Miriel: her panic is completely appropriate. This is the stuff of nightmares, more than any orc or Dark Lord could be and it's not even the work of the dark side. How could an alliance between elves (who are going to be blamed for it) and men work after so much destruction? But at the same time: what a way too to end a season! Because i can't imagine another season finale now than the real destruction of the island...

Loved all the scenes between Tar- Miriel and Galadriel. The verbal sparring between these two strong/competent women leaders was the best moment of the episode: be it the ego fight during the audience or the emotional revelation in the king's tower. In this later scene, the dialogues and acting were especially moving (all this inner conflict for Miriel, so ready to follow Galadriel but incapable to deal with any opposition and conflict, was really good characterization). My favourite part was Elendil staying by the side watching quietly "his" queens (queen of his heart for Galadriel and queen by legal authority and loyalty for Miriel) fighting each other, while trying a little joke to get some attention.

Romeo and Juliet aka Kemen and Eärien are too good and pure for this world, so of course, they will die. They had a dark cloud announcing their doomed fate on their head during the all episode, following them everywhere. It's insane how strong this vibe attached to them was despite all the cuteness of their dialogues and the extra romantic spirit of their costumes.

As expected Adar turned out to be an elf who has been seriously wounded, more likely tortured (captured or left behind by his squadron?) and has now joined completely the dark side. It's a charismatic and quite sad character and i'm really curious to know more about his past. I consider him to be literally the father of the orcs: the one who created them by torturing elves. In the first episode Arondir explained to Bronwyn that the elves healers are in fact artists who reveal the beauty inside everyone. I think Adar was doing the opposite job for Sauron Morgoth, a perversion of his past noble mission.

On the other hand i'm trusting less and less Arondir: did he make a deal with Adar or did Adar release him in a sick game to catch him later and make the hunt of the strong elf who deserted more interesting? Arondir got an interesting mix of action and romantic scenes for a character who was so close to die at the start of the episode. Almost too much, in as he's getting all the focus before getting really killed or turned evil like Adar. This dark turn wouldn't be surprising because the guy has no luck, not in love at least: the timing to kiss Bronwyn is never but never right. I think it will happen eventually (more than some kissing) but they might both deeply regret it. I mean i've got this theory that Theo's father is Halbrand, mostly because it's the only way i can explain for now the ongoing mystery about Halbrand's homeland (i think he was maybe from the same village as Bronwyn, the one that was emptied completely and burned to the ground by the orcs of Adar - that would explain Theo's attraction to the dark side if you believe like i do that Halbrand is the futur Witch King - and i fear his reaction if he catches Bronwyn and Arondir at one point (if Adar doesn't before him).

So far, all the human characters of the Southlands were invented only for the series and had little connection to the books or the films, that's why it was very satisfying when, intentionally or not the writers wrote the attack of the tower of Ostirith like a call back to the battle of Helm's deep. Of course it won't be as epic as in the LOTR films (there's no armies only civilians and the scale is something else), but just the awakening of my memories and of my nostalgia alone is a very nice feeling.

Halbrand and Galadriel keep getting a lot of attention and i still fail to see why? Sure they have chemistry but he's so clearly reducing her in the best case to her race, calling her elf all the time as if he's holding a grudge against elves, and in the worst scenario to someone he wants to dominate, to tame/control (like an horse to use a word that he used), and eventually possess sexually after the blacksmiths planted in his head that she wouldn't want him because she prefers men of better origin (the comment was clearly sexual, there's seduction/attraction but no really romantic feelings in his interactions with Galadriel)

Also this subplot makes Galadriel so stupid: why would she jump to the conclusion that he's a king in disguise just because he wears an insignia? Why does she refuse to believe his protestations and explanations that he found it on a dead man (whom he possible killed)? How can she believe that a real king would act like he did since she met him? He was traveling with poachers who were hunting the worm and have shot it with arrows, that's why the marine animal attacked them (she saw the arrow when she was underwater), he abandoned his shipmates to death, started a tavern brawl, stole the guild crest from the blacksmiths and beat them savagely etc.. In which way does this attitude compare to queen Miriel's regal posture in everything she says and does, or even a "lesser" noble man like Elendil? I don't know why she wants this bad to make him a hero, why she's being so blind to his objections. She keeps bringing his people and the emergency to save them and he showed no interest or care. It makes me crazy and that renders their scenes painful to watch, even though they were well acted and written.

EDIT: I just rewatched the episode and i realized that her position was clearly explained during the audience with Tar Miriel: Galadriel is desperately in need of a royal figure that could gather the men of The Southlands. They clearly won't follow an elf, and not even a numenorean queen can convince them given Númenor's closeness to the Elves. Only a leader born in the Southlands would be able to gather them under one banner. Thus Halbrand is her only and best shot at any attempt of an alliance, whatever the circumstances in which he came into the possession of the insignia, no matter if he's a real king or nobody. She's just trying praying very hard that he's not as bad as he pretends to be and taking a bet that nobody will detect his lies. Or rather, i really hope this interpretation will be proved to be true, because if not, i'm back to the part that i crossed out.

There's so much more to say, notably about Isildur who had a big episode, and his relationship with his sister Eärien, Pharazôn and his relationship with his son Kemen but this is already too long. I'm keeping the rest of my thoughts for future posts.

[fukutomichi]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power / S1 / 2 Sep. 2022 - 14 Oct. 2022 Leon Wadham as Kemen template by @thereigning-lorelai ♡

[gingy7891]

The Rings of Power 'Meet The Cast' Prime Video Photoshoot #2

[quietparanoiac]

I didn't realize you were in the middle of something important.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022–), 1x04

[makalauriels]

[aadmelioraa]

i started a númenor-focused rings of power discord server! if you'd like to join, dm myself or @brynnmclean for an invite. we're gonna keep it private since the fandom has so many trolls, but if you're interested in rings of power's númenor plotline and/or all things akallabêth, please let us know! absolutely no book knowledge necessary, show-only fans are more than welcome.

[elladanns]

high key think Pharazôn and Kemen are going to manipulate Eärien into thinking Elendil is the reason Isildur is 'dead' so she turns on him which is what leads to her building Sauron's temple to Melkor....