Rings of Power S1E3

Alllright this is the right story to do for this series. Elendil showed up. That means RoP is filming exactly the right moment in Middle Earth history... or they're crunching hundreds of years into one season. Either way, these are the best events to do.

Familiar events in ME history:

• the creation (nigh unfilmable -- where Malick at)
• Beren & Luthien (highly filmable, and I wouldn't be surprised if the next spinoff is this, though it's more detached from the LotR everyone knows and loves, so it's a slightly harder sell. RoP is a step in this direction. I bet Beren & Luthien is adapted in the coming years)
• downfall of Numenor, Last Alliance of Elves and Men (apparently this is RoP, great choice)
• Bilbo's journey and ring-finding (Hobbit)
• War of the Ring (LotR)
• Fourth Age (anti-climactic. You know it has to be peaceful, so there isn't much tension, however much you think you want to watch Sam rule the Shire)

Downfall of Numenor + Last Alliance is the obvious choice, so I am pleased.

I suppose history is broken into ages for a reason. Each represents a distinct drama. Makes sense to step back to the Second Age, which precipitates LotR with some familiar names. Maybe RoP even condenses the entire Second Age... an understandable idea. Next I wouldn't mind seeing the First Age. I want to see Morgoth/Melkor, Earendil, Manwe, Luthien,... Also I wouldn't mind some more Third Age stuff, although then you're in hot water trying to redo Aragorn and the like. You're getting closer and closer to Jackson, so your task gets harder and harder, meaning fans get more and more sensitive.

I sadly but seriously can't wait for Nori to be permanently traumatized. That seems to be how these things go, and should go -- Frodo, Sansa, Harry Potter, Liesel in The Book Thief, all of it. The series can't really actualize without such loss of innocence. It's too bad it has to happen, but as an adult viewer, I need the innocent storylines to convert into fierce drama to stay interested.

Taking after Jackson: Nori's father looks like Merry... ancestor? Elrond and Galadriel look like their Jackson versions. Best of all... the guy on the shipping calling "Isildur" just like Hugo Weaving.

Obviously Halbrand is very Aragorn: insecure heir to a bloodline fallen from highest heights, needed to unite a cynical diaspora, also rugged.