Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[InfiniteCharger]

I'm talking about the Elves and why they set up a watchtower in the first place when they are shown to have zero means of actually enforcing the place against something bad happening.

What is the purpose of the watchtowers if they aren't being shown actually watching anything or signalling for reinforcements? You can't tell what's going to happen other than starvation or an attack because the show is literally not showing us anything useful out of the Elves at the Watchtower.

The point these people keep missing is this tower is completely made up by Amazon. The whole point in the story of how the rings were made is that Galadriel founded Eregion as an Elven REALM to defend against Sauron's threat. And it is in Eregion that Celebrimbor set up his school of Elven smithing and worked with the Dwarves, which in turn attracted Sauron to show up in the guise of Annatar. That is the entire flow of the story in the books. This out in the middle of nowhere tower with random southlanders is just another example of Amazon's made up story being far worse than what Tolkien actually wrote. And it appears that at every point they are deliberately being as different from the lore as possible bordering on them trying to have their own "version" of Tolkien that they can own which has its own continuity from anything else in film, animation, games or anything else. If that is true, then they should have made sure that this 'alternate universe' was more compelling and interesting than what is in the Lore so that even those 'Tolkien Purists' could appreciated this on its own merits separate from how faithful they are to Tolkien. At this point the only thing they are doing is making a mess because the story is just a jumble of coincidences and contrivances instead of a naturally flowing narrative that makes sense and is easy to follow whether you are a Tolkien expert or not. It isn't that difficult to make such a story as you can see these kinds of stories in games all around you everywhere. An elven Tower by itself is not how Elves work in most high fantasy works, they typically have an outpost consisting of many Elves which could have towers in trees and so forth to defend an area.... In fact, something like what we see in WOW all over the place. So how come is it that games, books, anime, comic books and all other sorts of media are more able to fit in with the lore that Tolkien wrote than this series? It is trying so hard to be different that it stands out like sore thumb and the question is why?

[rhorle]

They are found out because they literally burned an entire village to the ground.

Nope. They were found out because a villager, by chance, had a cow graze from "bad grass" and brought it to the local healer. Arondir then went to investigate after ignoring the same sign earlier. As he heard about it from the tavern. That is the point "they got found out" as it is the what caused that village to be investigated in the first place. They were slowly expanding their reach.

Just because an outpost is a "watch tower" doesn't mean it can automatically see an entire area. Of course it is incompetence. I'm not sure why you still think that is some kind of argument. People in stories can be incompetent. It isn't a bad story just because people are incompetent. The entire point is that they were incompetent because of their belief that there was no longer a threat.

There is nothing authentic about a contrived setting for a narrative that lacks purpose in the grand scheme of things.

The forces of evil re-appearing, potentially regaining the allegiance of ancient followers, and regaining an ancient powerful weapon is not something that lacks purpose in the grand scheme of things. It is building the world. Something you claim to want out of the show before things become important yet complain when it is done before it has a real purpose. Strange, right? Which is again why you bring galadrial and racism into this to deflect from your poor argument. I'm surprised you didn't mention the word 'hit' as well. I'm not arguing what I want to argue if I'm directly countering your points. Lol.

[InfiniteCharger]

I don't think it's that important how far the reinforcements are and how much time would it take for them to to come to aid (at least at that point in time). The tower would be night impossible to conquer by people who are not trained in warfare and do not posses some serious siege equipment - so I think we can safely assume the humans of the Southlands were never seen as an immediate threat, uprising or not.

As for the tower's purpose - it seems that there was none, and wasn't it the reason why the elves were finally called back? It was a relic of old times, when the threat was real and the elves were afraid of Sauron's return. But obviously it wasn't happening, and the tower & the elves were there... because they were always there. This isn't THAT surprising, really; the tower had a purpose long time ago, that purpose was slowly diminishing. There always has to come a time when you deem something useless. The elves did that, calling the people back. We don't know the whole story & the past (and the show is slow enough without additional explanations of the history). One can assume that in the past, immediatelly after the war and Sauron's disappearance, the tower was only a single element of a bigger system, and with time, it was the only thing left. And the elves finally decide even that last thing is worthless.

Helms Deep and Minas Tirith were relics of old bygone times and worked fine didn't it? That idea of it being old doesn't contradict the point that the tower itself as shown is useless, no matter how old it is. If the tower isn't able to serve its purpose as designed, then it is worthless. The point being that a "watch" tower implies being on a high up vantage point from which you can see extremely long distances. Let's not forget that photo of the tower they put out even before the show premiered:


https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/ent...ers-new-images

[Veggie50]

Nope. They were found out because a villager, by chance, had a cow graze from "bad grass" and brought it to the local healer. Arondir then went to investigate after ignoring the same sign earlier. As he heard about it from the tavern. That is the point "they got found out" as it is the what caused that village to be investigated in the first place. They were slowly expanding their reach.

Just because an outpost is a "watch tower" doesn't mean it can automatically see an entire area. Of course it is incompetence. I'm not sure why you still think that is some kind of argument. People in stories can be incompetent. It isn't a bad story just because people are incompetent. The entire point is that they were incompetent because of their belief that there was no longer a threat.



The forces of evil re-appearing, potentially regaining the allegiance of ancient followers, and regaining an ancient powerful weapon is not something that lacks purpose in the grand scheme of things. It is building the world. Something you claim to want out of the show before things become important yet complain when it is done before it has a real purpose. Strange, right? Which is again why you bring galadrial and racism into this to deflect from your poor argument. I'm surprised you didn't mention the word 'hit' as well. I'm not arguing what I want to argue if I'm directly countering your points. Lol.

I wouldn’t say incompetent… I’d say complacent.

[rhorle]

The point these people keep missing is this tower is completely made up by Amazon.

How is that something that can be missed when Amazon is writing the story? However Amazon is taking hints from Tolkien's work as he has garrisons not renewed because it is thought the threat they were looking for no longer existed. https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Calenardhon

It is also strange for you to argue that elves would never have small outposts and instead always built large cities. It doesn't matter if other high fantasy elves did something because those are not tolkiens work. If you want to bring other fantasy works into this then anything the Amazon show is doing isn't a problem because it is nothing revolutionary to the fantasy genre, right?

[Syegfryed]

My point is that the show hasn't actually given purpose to the Watchtower because we aren't shown or told what the Elves are even capable of even IF they detected Humans going bad in the Southlands.

The purpose of the watchtower is to justify the villagers going there later. Thats it

the show have an awful amount of bullshit that happen to justify some other nonsense crap to happening, its not organic or logic.

Like how the villagers left where they were without any supply/food, why they would do such massive retarded move if it was not for the later events of the boy going back?

[rhorle]

I wouldn’t say incompetent… I’d say complacent.

It is one and the same if that complacency leads to them not actively doing their job. Remember Arondir heard a rumor that wasn't ultimately reported or acted on. It wasn't until he saw physical proof (the cow) that he took it seriously. He was the only one shown to still care about their duty and he still initially ignored it.

[bledgor]

The purpose of the watchtower is to justify the villagers going there later. Thats it

the show have an awful amount of bullshit that happen to justify some other nonsense crap to happening, its not organic or logic.

Like how the villagers left where they were without any supply/food, why they would do such massive retarded move if it was not for the later events of the boy going back?

You mean it isn't logical when running away from the threat of enemies (aka orcs) to take 0 food/animals? That is crazy talk!!!!!!!

/s

Just hearkens back to one of the worst problems of this show that is present in all the story lines, the lack of timescale/time passing.

Elrond moving from Eregion to Khazad-dum? Fast travel! Not even talking to Durin IV about making the tower? No worries next episode it is several months of construction in!

Galadriel going from the farthest reaches of the north and back? Then out to sea, then in swim mode/raft mode/rescused by ship? Who fucking knows! Might be days might be months, shit it could be years, spin the wheel!

Harfoots? a few days, maybe a week? who knows!

Arondir? A few days? Who knows!

[Triceron]

Just because an outpost is a "watch tower" doesn't mean it can automatically see an entire area.

Then for the purpose of the narrative, it lacks verisimilitude.

It is a contrived plot line that sets up the characters to fail and outline their incompetence/complacency. And that is a clear criticism of this entire plotline lacking substance and being filler for the mere introduction of Arondir.

Again, it's not a matter of being 'surprising' or 'disappointed' or whatever you think this is about. At this point my only criticism is that it's so far being little more than filler. As we are discussing, what would be different if this were literally a mere footnote? Would things be all that different?

The forces of evil re-appearing, potentially regaining the allegiance of ancient followers, and regaining an ancient powerful weapon is not something that lacks purpose in the grand scheme of things. It is building the world.

And it could be done without elaborating a footnote into an entire POV arc IMO.

Like, we don't have an arc devoted to the whereabouts of the Men in other parts of the world. We don't need to know to understand that there will be more than just the Numenoreans and Southlanders and Elves going to war.

If they want to show scenes of Orcs causing chaos in the Southlands, then they totally can do so, without having to introduce an entire subplot of Elves and a watchtower.

Strange, right? Which is again why you bring galadrial and racism into this to deflect from your poor argument.

I'm bringing up your tendency to slather accusations on to arguments you don't seem agreeable. I haven't deflected anything, I've addressed every point of your argument and added this caveat on top that you're literally trying to argue for the sake of arguing.

You can feel free to disagree with any of my points here, but you aren't even doing that. You're excusing the bad writing while also pointing out the same things I am; that if not for the main character this arc would be a mere footnote and doesn't really amount to much. You then say "So what", as to imply it's not a problem, and so you've finally come to realize the point that my criticism isn't outing any actual problem, merely pointing out that this is a poorly-chosen plot to elaborate into a full PoV arc. It is a symptom of a greater problem - that of pacing.

Otherwise, you've been attacking me for 'not criticizing Tolkien's work' or some other inane argument for the sake of arguing.

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The purpose of the watchtower is to justify the villagers going there later. Thats it

the show have an awful amount of bullshit that happen to justify some other nonsense crap to happening, its not organic or logic.

Like how the villagers left where they were without any supply/food, why they would do such massive retarded move if it was not for the later events of the boy going back?

It gets even worse than that though. Like, what is the narrative importance of having Villagers even go there? There isn't one. We're already shown that some Southlanders took to the seas.

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So how come is it that games, books, anime, comic books and all other sorts of media are more able to fit in with the lore that Tolkien wrote than this series? It is trying so hard to be different that it stands out like sore thumb and the question is why?

This is where I think the video linked a few pages ago really hits the mark. It's a bunch of writers checking off boxes, and getting too tunnel-visioned in maneuvering the plot in twists and turns rather than seeing the path they're leading through. It's seeing the forest and not seeing the trees. It's the lack of attention to detail and properly developing character motivations and narrative. Nothing feels authentic, and it all feels like it's guided by the 'hand of god'.

[InfiniteCharger]

How is that something that can be missed when Amazon is writing the story? However Amazon is taking hints from Tolkien's work as he has garrisons not renewed because it is thought the threat they were looking for no longer existed. https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Calenardhon

It is also strange for you to argue that elves would never have small outposts and instead always built large cities. It doesn't matter if other high fantasy elves did something because those are not tolkiens work. If you want to bring other fantasy works into this then anything the Amazon show is doing isn't a problem because it is nothing revolutionary to the fantasy genre, right?

I was talking about people like you not Amazon obviously. If Amazon's purpose was to make something that could stand on its own, then they should have put effort into making it so. What we have now does not stand on its own or even in comparison to anything else.

If the purpose of that tower is to serve as an observation point to detect enemies and prevent them from surprising you, then it failed. And since this tower was created as almost an alternative to Eregion being the base of Elven operations against Sauron in the early to mid second age, then it fails as a substitute and replacement for that existing narrative. Eregion and this Tower are relatively close to each other in this series and by extension should be part of the defensive structure in the region. But it isn't because it isn't shown or mentioned that there is any defensive structure outside that tower connecting it to Eregion, Lindon, the Silvan realm or anything else. And I did not say that outposts are large cities, as opposed to an outpost meaning a small fort with housing, barracks and other amenities to support whatever activities the Elves are intended to take on. Therefore this tower exists only in this narrative as a substitute for Eregion which itself was created by Tolkien to serve as a center point for many important story arcs in this period of the second age, including being the Elves defensive position against any potential activities of Sauron and the location where Sauron appears in disguise to forge the Rings .

[rogoth]

Helms Deep and Minas Tirith were relics of old bygone times and worked fine didn't it? That idea of it being old doesn't contradict the point that the tower itself as shown is useless, no matter how old it is. If the tower isn't able to serve its purpose as designed, then it is worthless. The point being that a "watch" tower implies being on a high up vantage point from which you can see extremely long distances. Let's not forget that photo of the tower they put out even before the show premiered:


https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/ent...ers-new-images

on this point you're actually wrong, in the lore this type of 'watchtower' was usually a great citadel with a 'seeing stone' inside, all linked together to form a communication network that spanned great distances, it wasn't used as a term to literally describe what we would assume a 'watchtower' to be in regards to real world examples, for example 'the great watchtower of amon sul' was barely much above ground level with the main castle complex sat on a hill for defensive purposes, not for actual long distance viewing (although it was a happy by-product of such a placement), but obviously because these writers are amateurs there's no real distinction made as to whether it's a legitimate watchtower designed for long distance viewing of the immediate surroundings or whether it's a 'watchtower' to house one of the palantiri etc, so in your defense this lack of clarity leaves it open to interpretation.

[InfiniteCharger]

on this point you're actually wrong, in the lore this type of 'watchtower' was usually a great citadel with a 'seeing stone' inside, all linked together to form a communication network that spanned great distances, it wasn't used as a term to literally describe what we would assume a 'watchtower' to be in regards to real world examples, for example 'the great watchtower of amon sul' was barely much above ground level with the main castle complex sat on a hill for defensive purposes, not for actual long distance viewing (although it was a happy by-product of such a placement), but obviously because these writers are amateurs there's no real distinction made as to whether it's a legitimate watchtower designed for long distance viewing of the immediate surroundings or whether it's a 'watchtower' to house one of the palantiri etc, so in your defense this lack of clarity leaves it open to interpretation.

I am going by what this show actually depicts which is a traditional watch tower and it serves to fail that purpose. Given that it is completely made up by Amazon for this series, it is shown as failing in that task also by Amazon's own writing. The actual lore surrounding the use of watchtowers and how they work in the Legendarium are a separate issue here.

[Xath]

If Tolkien came out today, no one would care. He's notable because he basically got the fantasy genre ball rolling, not be cause anyone really gives a shit about his supposed creative/literary genius.

You can't make that claim because without Tolkien the genres of today would look very damn different.

[rhorle]

I was talking about people like you not Amazon obviously.

Right. How do you think something like that can be missed when Amazon is writing the story. It isn't written by Tolkien so of course things are being created for the show. Just as Jackson took liberties for his two trilogies.

The tower is a defensible base of operations for the area. It can offer a vantage point but doesn't fail just because it doesn't see every last inch of land they oversea. That doesn't even happen in the real world and it wasn't until the advent of satellite imagery that it became a real capability. An alternative to Eregion? What are you smoking? A small elven outpost is not an alternative to Eregion. We actually have Eregion shown on screen. Lmao.

Have you even watched the show or are you just argue from influencers and articles?

[Xath]

Yes, the kind of coincidence that could only realistically happen if there were powers at work in the world. The ones Galadriel mentions as being responsible. The same ones that cause leaves to fall from the tree in Numenor and also gave Elrond's dad the job of flying the evening star across the sky.

Tolkien's world is populated by godly and angelic beings that are very interested and frequently (if subtly) active in the welfare of the Children of Illuvatar.

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Biggest issue with modern discourse, people don't want to form an opinion they just want to regurgitate click-bait.

I read summaries I don't watch youtube clickbait I'm also not giving an hour of my life when I have a backlog of 50 plus shows to watch mediocre shlock that is insulting to the name of Tolkien.

[Triceron]

The tower is a defensible base of operations for the area. It can offer a vantage point but doesn't fail just because it doesn't see every last inch of land they oversea. That doesn't even happen in the real world and it wasn't until the advent of satellite imagery that it became a real capability.

The problem is it doesn't see anything at all. The story would be no different if it were literally an abandoned Watchtower that was just there from the first age, and the Elves having already left hundreds-if-not-thousands of years ago.

Introducing Arondir is literally the only reason the Watchtower Elves have any connection to the plot.

Again, we could literally boil down this entire Arondir arc into being a footnote, because it's serving no real purpose in the overall narrative. We don't need to see the Orcs having taken Elven slaves. We don't need to know they were building tunnels in secret from the Elves of the Watchtower, they could merely be doing it to shade themselves from the sun. There's even zero connection between the Elven Adar and the Watchtower group - I half expected them to unveil some connection like him being a known traitor or defector, but he's a completely mysterious newcomer. There's no real connection between the Watchtower Elves and the actual greater plot other than the PoV being centered on Arondir.

The entire arc could be focused on the Humans and Orcs and wouldn't be any different. In the context of the overall narrative, the Watchtower literally serves no other purpose than being 'a place where the Humans take refuge'.

[rhorle]

The problem is it doesn't see anything at all. Literally Chekhov's gun failing to fire.

Just because it doesn't see everything doesn't mean it sees nothing. Why even post such silly exaggeration as that? It is necessary for the elves to have a local base so bring up Chekhov's gun mises the mark for a second time in one post. Lmao.

[cyberglum]

You mean it isn't logical when running away from the threat of enemies (aka orcs) to take 0 food/animals? That is crazy talk!!!!!!!

/s

Just hearkens back to one of the worst problems of this show that is present in all the story lines, the lack of timescale/time passing.

Elrond moving from Eregion to Khazad-dum? Fast travel! Not even talking to Durin IV about making the tower? No worries next episode it is several months of construction in!

Galadriel going from the farthest reaches of the north and back? Then out to sea, then in swim mode/raft mode/rescused by ship? Who fucking knows! Might be days might be months, shit it could be years, spin the wheel!

Harfoots? a few days, maybe a week? who knows!

Arondir? A few days? Who knows!

It was a mistake to bind the stories together with the meteor landing. If the writers hand any foresight they could have had the first half of the season just follow each story then slowly reveal the chronological order of each of them, Then shift up a gear and have each plot line impact on the next. That at least would have been fun to watch and unravel, plus it would have got rid of the disparity in the time passing in each story.

[tikcol]

It was a mistake to bind the stories together with the meteor landing. If the writers hand any foresight they could have had the first half of the season just follow each story then slowly reveal the chronological order of each of them, Then shift up a gear and have each plot line impact on the next. That at least would have been fun to watch and unravel, plus it would have got rid of the disparity in the time passing in each story.

The writing is atrocious. They're not telling a good story. I could settle for a cohesive story but it's not even that.

The script is atrocious.

I don't have any qualms with the actors themselves. On Galadriel particularly, you could have had Cate Blanchett acting those scenes and it would still be atrocious. As far as I'm concerned, so far, it's not the actors fault. Even if we can't say for sure that's the case, so far it's my stance that the actors are mostly blameless for the poor performance on screen.

[Triceron]

Just because it doesn't see everything doesn't mean it sees nothing. Why even post such silly exaggeration as that? It is necessary for the elves to have a local base so bring up Chekhov's gun mises the mark for a second time in one post. Lmao.

I'm literally explaining its context in the narrative.

It literally sees nothing that it's meant to see. The show literally has the Watchtower being unable to see the very thing it's meant to look out for. That is not exaggeration, that is literally how the plot unfolded and the reason the Elves were all going to leave. They literally saw nothing until it was too late, and what they did see was literally a matter of plot convenience stringing along Arondir to find out because the entire arc is centered around him.

It is necessary for the elves to have a local base

Except it's not necessary for the Elves to be there at all. That is the point. They're only there because they wanted an Elf main character there, and had no other way to insert one into the story other than to put Elves at the Watchtower. That is counterintuitive to world-building because it's Chekhov's Gun. They were completely unnecessary to the plot because the plot would literally be the same if there were no Elves there at all and they'd all went home instead of being captured. They serve no purpose to the story.

Would the story would be any different if Arondir were a Human character instead? Would it even be any different if Arondir were not there at all?