00:00I'm the one your Lord Father wants.
00:02Set them free,
00:04and I will go willingly.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're talking about scenes in the Rings of Power series that either did not originate from
00:12J.R.R. Tolkien's source material, or were significantly expanded upon through creative liberties.
00:18My children have endured cruelties your bravest couldn't bear to hear spoken aloud.
00:24Are you prepared to spend their lives so freely,
00:28Adar?
00:30Number 10. Galadriel's lost brother.
00:33This mark was left as a trail for orcs to follow.
00:37The last time I saw it was on my brother.
00:40In the Rings of Power, one of Galadriel's motivations is vengeance for the death of her brother Finrod.
00:45As her early voiceover dictates,
00:47Finrod lost his life while fighting the war against Sauron and Morgoth.
00:51The tragedy fuels Galadriel's resounding hatred for Sauron.
00:55As told by the Silmarillion though, Finrod's fall is much more elaborate.
00:59In text, Finrod made an alliance with early men,
01:03ancestors of Aragorn in fact, and this kinship inadvertently contributed to Finrod's demise.
01:08My brother, Finrod.
01:17And my husband.
01:20Husband?
01:22Celeborn.
01:23While Finrod was murdered by Sauron in both versions,
01:26Galadriel's direct desire for retaliation is embellished on the show.
01:30The series also has Galadriel believing that her husband Celeborn perished in battles against Sauron.
01:35And so, we hunted.
01:40To the ends of the earth, we hunted Sauron.
01:45Number 9. The Rite of Sigyn Darag.
01:48Remarkable. I never dreamed to find your city so changed.
01:53Now of twenty years, Ulduar.
01:55Has it been only twenty?
01:58Tolkien never explicitly wrote about a friendship between Elrond and Prince Durin.
02:02But it's certainly a significant part of both the TV characters.
02:06It's in the spirit of the elven and dwarven bond shared by Legolas and Gimli.
02:10Well, this is a thing unheard of.
02:12An elf will go underground, when a dwarf dare not.
02:17Their kinship is best represented by the challenge of Sigyn Darag,
02:20the dwarven tradition of strength.
02:22Elrond uses it as a means to converse with Durin in the midst of a politically complicated Middle-earth.
02:27Here we go, elf.
02:31Elrond admirably holds his own.
02:33But his forfeit ultimately allows for dialogue that aims to establish a major alliance between dwarves and elves.
02:39Twenty years may be the blink of an eye to an elf.
02:44But I've lived an entire life in that time.
02:48A life you missed.
02:52Number 8. Miriel as the Queen Regent
02:55No one kneels in Numenor.
03:00Sorry.
03:03Speak, elf.
03:05As daughter of Numenor's king Tar-Palantir,
03:08Miriel is Queen Regent of the Numenorean people when we first meet her.
03:12And when Galadriel and Halbrand end up here,
03:14the Queen Regent makes certain to establish her authority.
03:17In Silmarillion history, though, Miriel holds no such command.
03:21The scene in which she shows Galadriel the Palantir never happens either,
03:25though it does foreshadow a great catastrophe that is consistent with Tolkien's writing.
03:44Adding to Miriel's character development includes a desire to reconnect the relationship between elves and men.
03:51Another conflict which has been dramatized in the adaptation.
04:05Number 7. Gil-Galad explains the divinity of Mithril
04:21He channeled all his hatred into the tree to destroy it.
04:24We've got a lot of love for Mithril, since it saved Frodo's life in The Fellowship of the Ring.
04:29But Amazon's series grants a further level of divinity to the metal that's, quote,
04:33as hard as dragon scales.
04:35Elf-king Gil-Galad expresses his belief to Elrond
04:38that there's an existential design behind this enigmatic material.
04:41As Gil-Galad sees it, the light of the heavenly Valar is present in Mithril,
04:46and the possession of that substance's power will rescue all of Elfkind.
04:50A power.
04:51A power as pure in light, as good, as strong, and unyielding as evil.
04:59They say it seeped down the roots into the mountain depths, where for centuries now, it has waited.
05:07Since the show also indicates the presence of Mithril in the dwarven minds,
05:11this is a setup for interaction, and hopefully, cooperation between elves and dwarves.
05:16I promised Durin never to reveal his people's secrets.
05:19And what if keeping your promise to his people meant ensuring the doom of your own?
05:38While the Lord of the Rings prologue does make a mention of Harfoots,
05:41the Rings of Power lets us really get to know them.
05:44They are ancestors of the hobbits that we know from the Third Age,
05:48and this introductory scene emphasizes their sense of community and resourcefulness.
05:53You know the rules. We're not supposed to be out this far.
05:56If we didn't do everything we weren't supposed to do, we'd hardly do anything at all.
06:00It's also the gateway to the audience with a few protagonists
06:04that the Tolkien prologue would not have otherwise allowed,
06:07most notably Sadek Burrows and Norrie Brandyfoot.
06:10Some of their communal traditions,
06:12such as the trailfinders and use of star books,
06:15were also invented for the show.
06:17It adds to the history of their race,
06:19albeit with particulars that have been newly developed for the series.
06:23If you don't mind, I'd just like to sit a while.
06:28Watch the sun come up.
06:32Number 5. Meeting Tom Bombadil
06:35Tom Bombadil is one of the most talked-about Tolkien characters,
06:39one that's only now making an on-screen appearance.
06:42In The Lord of the Rings, he saves Frodo and the gang in the Old Forest,
06:46and he makes comments suggesting that he may be one of the oldest folks in all of Middle-earth.
06:51We get to see him meet the stranger here,
06:53and he offers possibly important advice about heavy tasks
06:57that he has to do in order to survive.
06:59We get to see him meet the stranger here,
07:01and he offers possibly important advice about heavy tasks that still need to be done.
07:18His playful magical powers make him eccentric and enigmatic,
07:22trying to capture the essence of his character from the book.
07:25And his tendency to save people from unruly trees is still ever-present.
07:40Number 4. Forging the Elven Rings
07:50In Season 1's finale, Hellbrand unlocks the riddle
07:53that ultimately allows successful forging of the Elven Rings.
07:56While Sauron certainly influenced their creation in Tolkien's words,
08:00that didn't happen quite the same way.
08:02In the show, the Elven Rings were the first to be created,
08:05despite being chronologically last in the books.
08:08Tolkien also writes specifically that they were
08:11"...unsullied for having never been directly touched by Sauron."
08:23I had hoped to do the same for Middle-earth.
08:26The Rings of Power isn't exactly contradicting Tolkien's story,
08:29but the idea of using alloy,
08:31along with Hellbrand-slash-Sauron's direct participation in molding the three,
08:35provides a brand new scene.
08:37The use of Finrod's dagger as material was also added,
08:40though that story element does strengthen Galadriel's bond with the Rings
08:44and the optimistic potential that they represent.
08:53THE CREATION OF MORDOR
08:56THE CREATION OF MORDOR
09:20Tolkien never specifically described the exact creation of Mordor,
09:24but the Rings of Power writers have inferred their own version.
09:27During a consequential battle between humans and orcs,
09:30a follower of Sauron's evil servant Adar uses a magical sword
09:33to cast a wicked spell on the surrounding land.
09:36What follows is flooding, blackened skies,
09:39and a volcanic explosion that births Mount Doom and the land where shadows lie.
09:43Analyzing the text suggests that the eruption of Mount Doom took much longer,
09:47and Sauron shows his realm in the Southlands more for its geographic isolation
09:51than for a fiery and scary appearance.
09:53However, shortening the timeline of Mordor's creation
09:56helped the seventh episode's narrative reach a speedier climax.
10:13HALBRAND THE DECEIVER
10:15Introducing Halbrand may be one of the most controversial decisions
10:19that the Rings of Power showrunners have yet made.
10:24Not until you tell me who you are.
10:28You know who I am.
10:30Who you really are.
10:34Galadriel, I'm afraid I don't...
10:37His story sort of follows the model of Tolkien's writing,
10:40as book Sauron embodies a false form that ultimately manipulates the elves.
10:45He's a prominent cast member here, though,
10:47and his journey with Galadriel is a unique creation.
10:50Halbrand's cunning friendship with her is new,
10:53and it ultimately leads to this pivotal moment
10:55when Galadriel deduces that her ally is not who he seems.
10:59No penance could ever erase the evil you have done.
11:02That is not what you believe.
11:03Do not tell me what I believe.
11:05It seems the show writers wanted us to first meet Sauron with a human-like personality,
11:09perhaps in hopes of making the Dark Lord even more detestable as the story develops.
11:15Now who is this man?
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11:35Number 1. The Stranger's Identity
11:38A wizard does not find his staff.
11:42It finds him.
11:43Back when the Rings of Power was just a trailer,
11:46one of its biggest mysteries was the astral meteorite that carried the Stranger.
11:50There's been plenty of uncertainty among fans about his identity,
11:53but season 2's finale let us know,
11:55and it did so with one notable callback.
11:58Gandalf.
12:04That's what they're going to call me, isn't it?
12:08Now let the song begin.
12:10Though Tolkien's unfinished tales has Gandalf arriving in Middle-earth during the Third Age,
12:15there are hints in other texts that suggest he may have visited at earlier times.
12:20The writers ran with that idea and told an unexplored origin story for the emblematic wizard.
12:25Awakening the Balrog of Moria was another unwritten moment that we see.
12:37Run.
12:39Run, father!
12:45Run!
12:51The presence of both in one episode is darkly poetic,
12:54since Gandalf is ultimately the one that slays Durin's Bane.
12:58What was your favorite Rings of Power scene that didn't come from the books?
13:01Let us know in the comments below.
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