even without the beard, nothing about her looks like a dwarf. It reminds me of a typical MMO where male character models look look like what they are supposed to, but then the female character model is just a "sexy" version with dyed skin
>female character model is just a "sexy" version with dyed skin
Its not even sexy. It looked photoshopped smooth, like an instagram photo.
Actually thats applicable to alot of these.
Edit: permanently banned for this comment
Edit: ban has been removed.
Ironically the show could have done wonders by having a good actress portray an ugly woman by modern standards, make her a gross, bearded fat dwarf, and then write her to have fans love her.
But instead, they went sexy dwarf route.
Basically saying, women have no point in our show unless they're hottie thotties.
Exactly that! That's the thing that bothered me most about WoT aswell. If you watch lotr everyones clothing is always dirty, just look at Ganalfs cloak when he's riding to Rohan, that shits black at the end! In WoT they are walking around for like weeks and their clothing looks like it's fresh out of the washing mashine. Making stuff look dirty just makes it feel way more real. Make stuff broken and used, dirty, not perfectly functioning. That's what gives a fantasy world a real feel.
Another few examples that come to my mind: Minas Tirith isn't shining in a perfect white, its greyish and dirty, the gate is rusty. Bilbos gate with "no admittance" is mossy, holy shit Aragorns hole outfit is just so done, the chainmails, the glove, everything. Their faces (except for legolas maybe but hes an elf) are dirty when they should be dirty. Take a look at wheel of time, thoose people look like they wash themselves more often than I do in quarantine! Ahhhh. Okay sorry rant is over, but yeah, I agree, wayyyy to polished
Actor: ok, I'm ready for the next scene.
Pail-guy: wait, you're missing something.
Actor: I got everything on, what else could I-
*splat*
Pail-guy: there, now you're ready.
Legolas not being dirty is another big point too though. The elves in LOTR all did look this polished (well... Maybe not this much). The fact everyone else was covered in filth really showed to highlight how different the elves were to the other races.
These images seem more like high quality behind the scenes photos Vs final visuals (if that makes sense). Like I doubt this is the cinematography / color grading style we’re gonna actually get. (At least I hope not)
The only thing that gives me Middle - Earth vibes is the picture of the dwarf, who reminds me of Balin from The Hobbit movies. Anything else feels like a Game of Thrones knockoff.
It feels more like generic fantasy #3427 to me. At least GoT had its own "style", even in the latter seasons were they went with "everyone wears black leather" anyway.
I came here to say this exact thing. Very disappointed in the atmosphere. Peter Jackson and the good ole boys made it so freakin easy for everybody too. The original trilogy was the best attention to detail of any set/costume design probably in history, so I understand it's hard to beat that, but you can at least take some hints from their team.
There’s obviously a ton of photoshop done to these stills though. Hopefully the final show will looked a bit more “lived in”. The off the rack look of the costumes is a bit concerning though.
I got Witcher vibes as well. The Elf with the torch reminded me of a cross between Yara and Grey Worm of AGOT, and the elf in the field looks like Filavandrel.
Yes, they describe her in the Vanity Fair article as an “angry and brash” version of Galadriel, a few thousand years younger than the LOTR trilogy Galadriel.
Ignoring potential lore issues, I think it just shows a lack of respect for the fantasy elements of the story. They’re trying too hard to humanize her, but she’s not human and would still have been thousands of years old at the time. I understand a story making need to make them relatable in some ways, but they also need to be believable and contribute to the worldbuilding. These creatures live for thousands of years and those like Galadriel have incredible responsibilities and capabilities besides - and so her conflicts and struggles probably should be a bit less petty and shortsighted than “angry and brash” would seem to imply. Characters should be somewhat relatable, but not every character has to relate to your teenage angst, or every modern societal issue for example. The mystical and fantastic elements of a fantasy story are important - to worldbuilding in particular.
Forgetting the lack of respect for the source material, the lack of respect for fantasy and fantasy elements is one of the things I most hated about the WOT adaptation. It results in terrible world building, things like shitty costumes, and plot / characterization / lore issues galore. With WOT, I think a lot of it boiled down to mediocre writers / showrunners who thought they were “above” fantasy. Maybe we get the same here, which would be far more of a tragedy with LOTR.
Maybe that makes me some kind of weird, stodgy fantasy elitist. But I find it hard to immerse myself in a fantasy world when there’s not enough investment in and respect for worldbuilding and the different rules / realities of a fantasy universe - different from those of our own.
I've been saying this and I got a lot of backlash for it...the first red flag was the fact that they started production on this show immediately after Christopher Tolkien died. He was the only one safeguarding what his father built. He made it clear that Amazon can't contradict anything his father wrote and that he has some veto power over Amazon. Well, Amazon just waits for him to die before making this show so I fear it is going to be a slap in the face to JRR and Christopher Tolkien.
People can be mad at me for saying this but I have read everything from LOTR to the Hobbit to the Histories of Middle Earth, The Fall of Gondolin, Beren and Luthien, The Children of Hurin and so on. It is a magnificent achievement this universe is and it needs to be respected. If they can't respect it then do not attempt this show.
Don’t feel bad about being an elitist, if we didn’t have people with standards, then everything would appeal to the absolute lowest common denominator, which is unfortunately what has happened with almost every creative work in the past 15 years.
most of this work lately is not creative at all, its the same mushy grey goop masquerading as fantasy. These people have no idea how to make something diverse or inclusive, they just go nuts with a paintbrush or gender brush then demand praise and laurels for being "progressive" when all they are is lazy and untalented hacks.
When it comes to first looks or first images. Everything always looks meh. Just look at the first look for Cavill as Geralt. It will always look better from a cinematic lense.
There are at least three versions of Galadriel's backstory.
She shouldn't be the same character seen in the end of the Third Age with a story that is starting long before the Second.
Galadriel's strength was never in the sword but in her wisdom and magic.
She told Feanor (probably the greatest elf ever at that time) to sod off.
She was the only one who figured out that Annatar was up to no good.
And did everything without a sword.
I hope, hope, hope that this is first draft of some random photoshoot.
Otherwise only the dwarf is somewhat fitting. The rest is just.. I dunno, there's something uncanny valley about the others..
Oh sweet lawd..
I just had to go over the clothes again.. it looks like some form of softcore witcher costumes mixed with a bit of GoT.
I'm sure I'm way biased due to the books and Jackson's renditions, but.. I'm scared. Hold me.
Its so sad to see yet another mediocre production come to fruitition. Considering how much Amazon is spending on this, I can't blame this just on sheer corporate meddling. I'm starting to think that there is just a general lack of talent in media production atm. Or at least within the American mainstream/Hollywood approved pool of candidates.
For all the complaints Disney's Star Wars received, at least it looked Star Wars-ish.
Jim Lahey: Feel that?
Randy: Feel what Mr Lahey?
Jim Lahey: The way the sh\*t clings to the air Randy...
Randy: Sh\*t clings to the air?
Jim Lahey: Its already started my dear good friend.
Randy: Whats started, Mr Lahey?
Jim Lahey: The Sh\*t Blizzard.
I know what you mean. Its in small part because these stills have not been cinematically colour graded so it's like a picture version of the soap opera effect.
I actually started reading the books right before I found out that it was a TV show. I finished half of the first one. Have you read the books? Are they any good in the long run?
The books are great. A lot of people will tell you they slow down after book like.... 5? 6? I forget. And they definitely do. Like, a lot. I found myself skipping almost whole chapters because I couldn't read anymore descriptions of braid-tugging and the thread used in the clothing. Some people are into that though. But each book always had some good elements, and the last book Jordan wrote into the finishing of the series by Brandon Sanderson is awesome.
I recommend them to people but tell them not to feel bad about skimming chapters in the middle or just reading like a wikipedia type summary if you can find it.
Yeah, I mean for some reason I feel like even though they have a big budget they used "cheapest" ways lol.
Regardless I am sure its fine in the long run probably not every elf has short hair. Just... the 2/3 we've seen O.o
I promised myself I wouldn't get the picky but my brain can't understand it. Seems like a whole new world that isn't middle earth.
I could accept maybe that *some* elves have short hair since, as best I can tell looking into it, Tolkien never said that elves as a whole wear their hair long, just that every elf he described had long hair. So perhaps just as Cirdan and Mahtan had beards contra the usual appearance, maybe some preferred a shorter hair. I could accept that.
*Elrond* with shorter hair though? That I much less am willing to accept. I'm less certain if anything Tolkien wrote explicitly states so, but the very nature of elves being an incarnation of permanence and stability, the idea that they'd be the type to occasionally take to a new hairstyle or, worse yet, style based on greater social cues seems quite unlikely to me. I'd assumed that Elrond at the end of the third age looked much the same as he did when he reached maturity, including hairstyle, and that this would generally be the case for most elves
Between that and the beardless dwarf woman, I dunno. I guess in the scheme of things these are fairly minor complaints, I'm not saying *the whole thing is ruined and unwatchable because waaaah wahh*, more that I just think it bodes poorly for the bigger picture. If they're going to expand and extrapolate and create new stories beyond what Tolkien did, I would only trust that to be a quality endeavour if they're showing sufficient respect toward what Tolkien did create. And these aesthetic choices betray a possible mindset on the showrunners part that Tolkien is more a broad guideline than the necessary core of the show
The costume and character design is generic and looks like something from a kids' movie. It doesn't fit LotR at all and doesn't even come close to living up to the world class work that was done for the films.
Probably might be a weird complaint, but I really dislike the hairstyle of the dude in pictures 4 & 6. It looks far too modern for me, jarring every time I see it.
Say it ain't so...
At this point, I'd prefer the Marvel approach. Slap a Snapchat filter on the guy and give us back Hugo Weaving, de-aged and everything
Only the dwarf actually looks like it comes from the same world as the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Everything else feels like cosplay. It's to polished and the backgrounds look like greenscreen over an actual physical background.
First looks can be deceiving, so I hope this was just vogue wanting to go with a super polished look to try appealing to larger audiences.
Just quoting here:
"I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend \[...\] which I could dedicate simply to: to England; to my country. It should possess the tone and quality that I desired, somewhat cool and clear, be redolent of our 'air' (the climate and soil of the North West, meaning Britain and the hither parts of Europe: not Italy or the Aegean, still less the East), and, while possessing (if I could achieve it) the fair elusive beauty that some call Celtic (though it is rarely found in genuine ancient Celtic things), it should be 'high', purged of the gross, and fit for the more adult mind of a land long now steeped in poetry."
J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 131 (1951)
"Having set myself a task, the arrogance of which I full recognized and trembled at: being precisely to restore to the English an epic tradition and present them with a mythology of their own: it is a wonderful thing to be told that I have succeeded"
J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 231 (1956)
LOTR should have never been revived in such way
Tolkien wrote a private letter to Christopher where he complained about how multiculturalism was making the world small and boring. He also complained about how English becoming a world-wide language was "a damn shame."
That is why I dont understand the interpretation of his work by the director. Tolkien was a man of the early 20th century, with views of a man from the that time. Saying things like "It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien’s work would reflect what the world actually looks like,” is nothing but ingenuine, as tolkien clearly did not want that, he didnt even want it to be pan-european, just british and celtic.
It looks fucking BTEC. It looks like a computer game franchise brought to life.
The cameras are too clean....everything is too bright and well defined
I dunno.....hopefully the story and script is good enough because looks and aesthetic wise I'm not a fan fam.
I had low expectations.
It’s not even met that. Compared to the LOTR movies this looks incredibly low budget. Just looks so cheap and low effort.
Except for the Dwarf. He looks good.
I had hope but this really does look like left over game of thrones concept art and costume design. I don’t feel it fits with what weta created previously. The armor has no connection with prologue of the fellowship which was the second age.
Aside from everyone looking like comic con cosplayers for a generic fantasy show, what worries me the most is a lot of these character are OC characters…I have a really bad feeling about this.
Wait really?
... why though? You have one of the most expansive worlds ever created in fiction, with a backstory for near every character from tbe beginning to the world till now... and the producers just went "nah, fuck all that, look at what WE made!"
Amazon. Idiots, the lot of them.
The immaculate costumes, makeup and sets etc completely takes away from the immersion. Its kind of generic looking or something. Maybe its the lighting? Also I think when this vibe includes any not-so-good acting the issue is compounded and the show is ruined. Maybe im too picky but this is exactly why I stopped watching Wheel of Time.
Too soon to judge really from just photos I suppose but my expectations have sadly diminished.
Holy fuck lmfao what an utter disaster. This is peak comedy. Only thing funnier could be reading comments from people defending this nonsense. Show's dead on arrival.
Absolutely going to be a train wreck, unfortunately I think people will watch it. Not people who care about the actual source material, I mean bug-man consumers.
So disappointing, this unfortunately is exactly the kind of imagery I pictured when I heard Amazon was making a show. I wanted so badly to be wrong. I hope I still am.
I am gonna say it but why does every western show needs blacks for the sake of diversity. At the same note where are the Asian ethnicities like Indian or Chinese, what about native Americans. Why does everything need to have black actors.
It's like we are back in the 50s when Khan was played by a white guy...
People are saying 'why are you uncomfortable watching a diverse cast in lotr? When the question should be: why do you feel like an all white cast is morally wrong?
Diversity is fine, depending on the show. I will skip this and just rewatch the movies. PC culture can fuck itself.
No LOTR or Fantasy vibes at all by this pictures.
I hate associating fantasy with our modern world/society and these pictures are full of this associations for me.
There are versions of Galadriel (in Unfinished Tales, if I'm remembering correctly) where she is a warrior- she fights in the first kinslaying in defense of the Teleri, and again after crossing the ice and her and her company are beset by Morgoths army. In LOTR appendices, she's part of the assault of Dol Guldur and its stated that she is the one that cast down the walls. She's also described as an Amazon who puts her hair up when she participates in athletic events, though I'd have to look it up to give you a good reference for that one.
To be fair, Tolkien never put everything together from his letters, and the unfinished tales are, obviously, unfinished- so it's hard to say what would have ended up canonical if he had published some of those stories. In some versions she does not fight, but shows up after the kinslaying. Many battles in the Silmarillion are not descriptive the way they are in LOTR- there are times she was present for battles, or could have been present, but her role isn't stated. It's clear she's powerful and thoroughly invested in the fate of Middle Earth, moreso than almost any elf. I think it's fair to say that by the 3rd age, she's not a warrior in the traditional sense- but I think it's also fair to say that they're not pulling Galadriel the fighter out of nothing. I hope they do her justice
These pictures make it look very cheap and the multi culti cast seems forced. I have a feeling we're gonna be bombared with cheap CGI instead or detailled costumes and mindblowing make-up.
From these pictures, despite not being all for a black dwarf, that image is the only one giving me actual Tolkien vibes.
I have a very strong feeling this is gonna be the quality of Wheel of Time. If so, I'd be utterly dissappointed.
I'm interested to know if that's the star of feanor on the woman's armor in the first picture. It doesn't look like it has the full 8 points on it but the lines around on it on the armor feel like it's might be an interpretation of it.
"Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made. ... The Shadow that bred them can only mock; it cannot make: not real, new things of its own."
Pretty much how I feel about this modern, political, so called rehash.
Hey white people...HEY...tell Hollywood to remake Shaka Zulu, but Shaka is Tom Hardy and blacks British are invading. Tell Hollywood to remake Almos' a man but with Tom Holland. Hey White people tell Hollywood to remake The Color Purple but with Gale Gadot and Racheal Ray....
I think it would be cool to see a raceswapped Roots. Brad Pitt as Kunta Kinte and all the plantation owners are black. I'm sure the bugmen would absolutely cream themselves seeing a white man get whipped.
Hate me or what ever but I want a good and reasonable explanation for the black dwarven princess.
And no it's not racist, I only want a logical explanation like different dwarven clan from the South or something like that and I'm happy.
And more beard.
I love lord of the rings, I have spent most of my life reading and watching it, am a bit confused about Gadireal in amour and being ship wrecked - Last i thought she was ruling with Celeborn under gil-galad ? Can someone help me understand because am confused
A black elf.
Of fucking course there is a black elf.
Edit: I got permabanned without warning or explanation due to this comment. What a joke.
Edit 2: thanks to the kindness of another mod, I have returned to you now, at the turning of the tide.
When you are making a show, the audience has certain "Expectations" that you have to respect. This show doesn't seem to do that, they just want to use "LoTR" as a brand and make a TV-series with their own ideas, ignoring even the basic expectations of how this universe supposed to look like. Seems like they got the big budget, and they spend it all on GOLDEN and RICH backgrounds and costumes, but the plot and direction are arbitrary.
no beard on the dwarf woman my disappointment has hit a new low
even the Witcher got that one right
i didnt even realize she is a dwarf lol
Wait she’s supposed to be a dwarf??? I assumed she wasn’t cuz no beard
Same for me, though she was human until I read the comments!
even without the beard, nothing about her looks like a dwarf. It reminds me of a typical MMO where male character models look look like what they are supposed to, but then the female character model is just a "sexy" version with dyed skin
>female character model is just a "sexy" version with dyed skin Its not even sexy. It looked photoshopped smooth, like an instagram photo. Actually thats applicable to alot of these. Edit: permanently banned for this comment Edit: ban has been removed.
Wow really? What the hell. Um, Mods can you fix this if true?
Can someone tell me what caused the ban here? Is the comment edited? Afraid I’m going to break a rule I’m unaware of now.
Haha, I guess that edit sums up the mods on this whole subreddit.
Ironically the show could have done wonders by having a good actress portray an ugly woman by modern standards, make her a gross, bearded fat dwarf, and then write her to have fans love her. But instead, they went sexy dwarf route. Basically saying, women have no point in our show unless they're hottie thotties.
It looks shit
Yeh I want to see a nice looking chin of hair on that Sophia actress! She’s very pretty and I think a beard would suit her well!
The yassification of the Dwarven race by Hollywood.
This is the only criticism so far that I agree with
Lol this is going to be so bad. I didn’t even know she was a dwarf. Boo. 0/10.
Oof. Something about these seems way off, like they are so overly polished, or something like that.
I agree. It looks too clean/fake. The Wheel of Time had this same issue in my opinion.
It looks the same and that's just depressing.
I agree.
Exactly that! That's the thing that bothered me most about WoT aswell. If you watch lotr everyones clothing is always dirty, just look at Ganalfs cloak when he's riding to Rohan, that shits black at the end! In WoT they are walking around for like weeks and their clothing looks like it's fresh out of the washing mashine. Making stuff look dirty just makes it feel way more real. Make stuff broken and used, dirty, not perfectly functioning. That's what gives a fantasy world a real feel. Another few examples that come to my mind: Minas Tirith isn't shining in a perfect white, its greyish and dirty, the gate is rusty. Bilbos gate with "no admittance" is mossy, holy shit Aragorns hole outfit is just so done, the chainmails, the glove, everything. Their faces (except for legolas maybe but hes an elf) are dirty when they should be dirty. Take a look at wheel of time, thoose people look like they wash themselves more often than I do in quarantine! Ahhhh. Okay sorry rant is over, but yeah, I agree, wayyyy to polished
I couldn't watch WoT. Everyone was clean, young and attractive. Came off like a CW show and I couldn't take it seriously.
I think it has to do with things being shot on location as opposed to sets and green screens.
They need to keep a mud pail in the studio.
Actor: ok, I'm ready for the next scene. Pail-guy: wait, you're missing something. Actor: I got everything on, what else could I- *splat* Pail-guy: there, now you're ready.
Legolas not being dirty is another big point too though. The elves in LOTR all did look this polished (well... Maybe not this much). The fact everyone else was covered in filth really showed to highlight how different the elves were to the other races.
Something about the ears on the Elves threw me off. Like you can tell it's an obvious prosthetic, it might look better in motion though.
A lot of people are pointing out the hair or lack of it.
It just looks fake
Yeah, you're right. It's definitely the ears.
They look terrible.
These look like they're from a stills camera rather than a cinema camera which could play a role in that
Keep in mind these are photos. Once the scenes go through post production it will likely look better.
These images seem more like high quality behind the scenes photos Vs final visuals (if that makes sense). Like I doubt this is the cinematography / color grading style we’re gonna actually get. (At least I hope not)
The only thing that gives me Middle - Earth vibes is the picture of the dwarf, who reminds me of Balin from The Hobbit movies. Anything else feels like a Game of Thrones knockoff.
It feels more like generic fantasy #3427 to me. At least GoT had its own "style", even in the latter seasons were they went with "everyone wears black leather" anyway.
Shannarah Chronicles lol
I came here to say this exact thing. Very disappointed in the atmosphere. Peter Jackson and the good ole boys made it so freakin easy for everybody too. The original trilogy was the best attention to detail of any set/costume design probably in history, so I understand it's hard to beat that, but you can at least take some hints from their team.
Amazon have more money than Peter Jackson ever had. That's the most dissapointing thing.
There’s obviously a ton of photoshop done to these stills though. Hopefully the final show will looked a bit more “lived in”. The off the rack look of the costumes is a bit concerning though.
I totally agree. From these pictures it looks like I am going to hate this.
The armor literally looks like bootleg Witcher costume bought off eBay.
I got Witcher vibes as well. The Elf with the torch reminded me of a cross between Yara and Grey Worm of AGOT, and the elf in the field looks like Filavandrel.
Came here to say the exact same thing...
It’s giving…once upon a time
What's Elsa doing in LotR: RoP?
For real…and that second picture…you could tell me that’s a still from an Enchanted Forest flashback and I would 100% believe you
Two things. Cosplay photoshoot vibe. Galadriel with a sword already shown they completely missed the point.
Yes, they describe her in the Vanity Fair article as an “angry and brash” version of Galadriel, a few thousand years younger than the LOTR trilogy Galadriel. Ignoring potential lore issues, I think it just shows a lack of respect for the fantasy elements of the story. They’re trying too hard to humanize her, but she’s not human and would still have been thousands of years old at the time. I understand a story making need to make them relatable in some ways, but they also need to be believable and contribute to the worldbuilding. These creatures live for thousands of years and those like Galadriel have incredible responsibilities and capabilities besides - and so her conflicts and struggles probably should be a bit less petty and shortsighted than “angry and brash” would seem to imply. Characters should be somewhat relatable, but not every character has to relate to your teenage angst, or every modern societal issue for example. The mystical and fantastic elements of a fantasy story are important - to worldbuilding in particular. Forgetting the lack of respect for the source material, the lack of respect for fantasy and fantasy elements is one of the things I most hated about the WOT adaptation. It results in terrible world building, things like shitty costumes, and plot / characterization / lore issues galore. With WOT, I think a lot of it boiled down to mediocre writers / showrunners who thought they were “above” fantasy. Maybe we get the same here, which would be far more of a tragedy with LOTR. Maybe that makes me some kind of weird, stodgy fantasy elitist. But I find it hard to immerse myself in a fantasy world when there’s not enough investment in and respect for worldbuilding and the different rules / realities of a fantasy universe - different from those of our own.
I've been saying this and I got a lot of backlash for it...the first red flag was the fact that they started production on this show immediately after Christopher Tolkien died. He was the only one safeguarding what his father built. He made it clear that Amazon can't contradict anything his father wrote and that he has some veto power over Amazon. Well, Amazon just waits for him to die before making this show so I fear it is going to be a slap in the face to JRR and Christopher Tolkien. People can be mad at me for saying this but I have read everything from LOTR to the Hobbit to the Histories of Middle Earth, The Fall of Gondolin, Beren and Luthien, The Children of Hurin and so on. It is a magnificent achievement this universe is and it needs to be respected. If they can't respect it then do not attempt this show.
Agree 100%
Don’t feel bad about being an elitist, if we didn’t have people with standards, then everything would appeal to the absolute lowest common denominator, which is unfortunately what has happened with almost every creative work in the past 15 years.
most of this work lately is not creative at all, its the same mushy grey goop masquerading as fantasy. These people have no idea how to make something diverse or inclusive, they just go nuts with a paintbrush or gender brush then demand praise and laurels for being "progressive" when all they are is lazy and untalented hacks.
I would go as far as saying the guy you're replying to isn't even an elitist. He just respects the genre and knows what makes it great
When it comes to first looks or first images. Everything always looks meh. Just look at the first look for Cavill as Geralt. It will always look better from a cinematic lense.
Cavill is amazing in his role as Geralt. The series are just awful overall, in my opinion.
Look up a picture of Mia Wasikowska from the big battle in 2010's Alice in Wonderland. Basically concept art for this galadriel.
There are at least three versions of Galadriel's backstory. She shouldn't be the same character seen in the end of the Third Age with a story that is starting long before the Second.
Agree with the cosplay thing 100%, but iirc Galadriel was a warrior before she "retired"? Maybe that's where they're going with it?
Galadriel's strength was never in the sword but in her wisdom and magic. She told Feanor (probably the greatest elf ever at that time) to sod off. She was the only one who figured out that Annatar was up to no good. And did everything without a sword.
Fair. And even if she ever had used one, this is the look? It's very... Marvel.
I hope, hope, hope that this is first draft of some random photoshoot. Otherwise only the dwarf is somewhat fitting. The rest is just.. I dunno, there's something uncanny valley about the others..
Sadly, having a Superbowl trailer ready implies this is certainly not a first draft...
Oh sweet lawd.. I just had to go over the clothes again.. it looks like some form of softcore witcher costumes mixed with a bit of GoT. I'm sure I'm way biased due to the books and Jackson's renditions, but.. I'm scared. Hold me.
Its so sad to see yet another mediocre production come to fruitition. Considering how much Amazon is spending on this, I can't blame this just on sheer corporate meddling. I'm starting to think that there is just a general lack of talent in media production atm. Or at least within the American mainstream/Hollywood approved pool of candidates. For all the complaints Disney's Star Wars received, at least it looked Star Wars-ish.
I'm just astounded you know? The amount of money and time thrown at this production, and this is the result.
I'm from Russia and all the Tolkien fans are on fire here after the shots from the series. I am glad that in the West, the majority is also outraged.
*internet hug* hang in there 😭
I thought Galadriel was a nickname, based on the way she wore her hair which had something to do with her superior athleticism
Did not realize the last picture was a behind the scenes type. I was like "what in the Kamino fuck is that scene??"
Ugh it's gonna suck I can feel it, I feel it in the wind
Jim Lahey: Feel that? Randy: Feel what Mr Lahey? Jim Lahey: The way the sh\*t clings to the air Randy... Randy: Sh\*t clings to the air? Jim Lahey: Its already started my dear good friend. Randy: Whats started, Mr Lahey? Jim Lahey: The Sh\*t Blizzard.
I feel it in my fingers , I feel it in my toes
This doesn't even look like LotR
It looks like The Shannara Chronicles
No vibes of LotR at all. feels like Game of Thrones directed by Michael Bay
I wanna be optimistic but this all looks terrible
Hope is the first step on a road to disappointment.
Why does it all look so... cheap? Not sure if that is the right word, but it just doesn't look realistic from these photos at ALL.
I know what you mean. Its in small part because these stills have not been cinematically colour graded so it's like a picture version of the soap opera effect.
God I hope that's it...
Evil cannot create.
Anyone still enthusiastic about this show is living life with a lot more optimism than I’ve ever experienced.
[удалено]
Morgoth has crept back through the Door of Night in the shape of Bezos.
Wheel of Time 2.0
I actually started reading the books right before I found out that it was a TV show. I finished half of the first one. Have you read the books? Are they any good in the long run?
The books are great. A lot of people will tell you they slow down after book like.... 5? 6? I forget. And they definitely do. Like, a lot. I found myself skipping almost whole chapters because I couldn't read anymore descriptions of braid-tugging and the thread used in the clothing. Some people are into that though. But each book always had some good elements, and the last book Jordan wrote into the finishing of the series by Brandon Sanderson is awesome. I recommend them to people but tell them not to feel bad about skimming chapters in the middle or just reading like a wikipedia type summary if you can find it.
WoT? Yes the books are amazing.
I feel like elves should always have long elegant hair…. It’s always been shown like that. Oh god I’ve started
That was my biggest thing. I feel like it’s unimportant and petty or something but my first thought is the elves’ hair looks fuckin stupid.
Yeah, I mean for some reason I feel like even though they have a big budget they used "cheapest" ways lol. Regardless I am sure its fine in the long run probably not every elf has short hair. Just... the 2/3 we've seen O.o I promised myself I wouldn't get the picky but my brain can't understand it. Seems like a whole new world that isn't middle earth.
100% agree. There is no such thing as an elf with short hair.
I could accept maybe that *some* elves have short hair since, as best I can tell looking into it, Tolkien never said that elves as a whole wear their hair long, just that every elf he described had long hair. So perhaps just as Cirdan and Mahtan had beards contra the usual appearance, maybe some preferred a shorter hair. I could accept that. *Elrond* with shorter hair though? That I much less am willing to accept. I'm less certain if anything Tolkien wrote explicitly states so, but the very nature of elves being an incarnation of permanence and stability, the idea that they'd be the type to occasionally take to a new hairstyle or, worse yet, style based on greater social cues seems quite unlikely to me. I'd assumed that Elrond at the end of the third age looked much the same as he did when he reached maturity, including hairstyle, and that this would generally be the case for most elves Between that and the beardless dwarf woman, I dunno. I guess in the scheme of things these are fairly minor complaints, I'm not saying *the whole thing is ruined and unwatchable because waaaah wahh*, more that I just think it bodes poorly for the bigger picture. If they're going to expand and extrapolate and create new stories beyond what Tolkien did, I would only trust that to be a quality endeavour if they're showing sufficient respect toward what Tolkien did create. And these aesthetic choices betray a possible mindset on the showrunners part that Tolkien is more a broad guideline than the necessary core of the show
Yeah as someone who is super into long hair on a guy seeing them with short hair is just meh. They look like they’re from any other fantasy show now
she didnt even look like a elf too me lol
The costume and character design is generic and looks like something from a kids' movie. It doesn't fit LotR at all and doesn't even come close to living up to the world class work that was done for the films.
Peter Jackson giggling on his couch
I imagine him facepalming into his couch. Looking at these pictures is painful.
Dwarf looks good
The only one that looked real to me sadly
Probably might be a weird complaint, but I really dislike the hairstyle of the dude in pictures 4 & 6. It looks far too modern for me, jarring every time I see it.
And he's meant to be an elf. What are they doing...
Apparently meant to be Elrond…
Say it ain't so... At this point, I'd prefer the Marvel approach. Slap a Snapchat filter on the guy and give us back Hugo Weaving, de-aged and everything
Only the dwarf actually looks like it comes from the same world as the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Everything else feels like cosplay. It's to polished and the backgrounds look like greenscreen over an actual physical background. First looks can be deceiving, so I hope this was just vogue wanting to go with a super polished look to try appealing to larger audiences.
Just quoting here: "I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend \[...\] which I could dedicate simply to: to England; to my country. It should possess the tone and quality that I desired, somewhat cool and clear, be redolent of our 'air' (the climate and soil of the North West, meaning Britain and the hither parts of Europe: not Italy or the Aegean, still less the East), and, while possessing (if I could achieve it) the fair elusive beauty that some call Celtic (though it is rarely found in genuine ancient Celtic things), it should be 'high', purged of the gross, and fit for the more adult mind of a land long now steeped in poetry." J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 131 (1951) "Having set myself a task, the arrogance of which I full recognized and trembled at: being precisely to restore to the English an epic tradition and present them with a mythology of their own: it is a wonderful thing to be told that I have succeeded" J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 231 (1956) LOTR should have never been revived in such way
Tolkien wrote a private letter to Christopher where he complained about how multiculturalism was making the world small and boring. He also complained about how English becoming a world-wide language was "a damn shame."
That is why I dont understand the interpretation of his work by the director. Tolkien was a man of the early 20th century, with views of a man from the that time. Saying things like "It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien’s work would reflect what the world actually looks like,” is nothing but ingenuine, as tolkien clearly did not want that, he didnt even want it to be pan-european, just british and celtic.
Oh dear there went most of my hope. This looks not good at all
It looks fucking BTEC. It looks like a computer game franchise brought to life. The cameras are too clean....everything is too bright and well defined I dunno.....hopefully the story and script is good enough because looks and aesthetic wise I'm not a fan fam.
I had low expectations. It’s not even met that. Compared to the LOTR movies this looks incredibly low budget. Just looks so cheap and low effort. Except for the Dwarf. He looks good.
Ah, I see they have taken the Hobbit approach of making everyone look like a characateur of a flesh and blood person.
The first word that comes to my mind looking at these is "generic".
Looks about what I would expect a modern Hollywood perspective of lord of the rings would look like.
Rootless, cosmopolitan, and without a soul. Yup, it’s modern Hollywood.
Man this is gonna suck isn’t it?
Dwarf woman has a really cool design and costume, but she doesn’t look like a dwarf or from LOTR. She looks like she’s from another show.
Really? I think even the costume gives me marvel "thank you for saving my people" vibes.
Maybe it will look less cheap in motion.
I keep telling myself that but I know it's just a futile cope
This all looks too clean. Where’s the dirt?
Nope. Not interested.
Hair clippers CONFIRMED lore accurate? One of the actors has a fade - he’s just come out of the barber shop
This is gonna suck
I hate to be cynical but these photos give me major CW vibes and not in a good way.
Right
Oh man. They are gonna ruin this as bad as Disney ruined Star Wars.
Wow this is going to be such a hot garbage.
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In The Witcher series they've put elves with fucking afros. So, yeah... we're screwed.
I had hope but this really does look like left over game of thrones concept art and costume design. I don’t feel it fits with what weta created previously. The armor has no connection with prologue of the fellowship which was the second age.
I'll stick to the written canon, thanks.
Aside from everyone looking like comic con cosplayers for a generic fantasy show, what worries me the most is a lot of these character are OC characters…I have a really bad feeling about this.
Wait really? ... why though? You have one of the most expansive worlds ever created in fiction, with a backstory for near every character from tbe beginning to the world till now... and the producers just went "nah, fuck all that, look at what WE made!" Amazon. Idiots, the lot of them.
I really have a bad feeling about this series.
You and everyone with a brain who gives even a shred of a fuck about LOTR
So the CW has taken over Lord of the Rings?!
I’d rather watch paint dry than look at these boring ass ‘first images’
The elf ears look off to me. Did they stick out that far in the films? They look a lot like Witcher elves instead Tolkien elves.
Amazon shopping for props internally after firing WETA for some unknown and ungodly reason.
The immaculate costumes, makeup and sets etc completely takes away from the immersion. Its kind of generic looking or something. Maybe its the lighting? Also I think when this vibe includes any not-so-good acting the issue is compounded and the show is ruined. Maybe im too picky but this is exactly why I stopped watching Wheel of Time. Too soon to judge really from just photos I suppose but my expectations have sadly diminished.
What part of New York is this set in?
The soulless, cosmopolitan, modern section.
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Holy fuck lmfao what an utter disaster. This is peak comedy. Only thing funnier could be reading comments from people defending this nonsense. Show's dead on arrival.
Absolutely going to be a train wreck, unfortunately I think people will watch it. Not people who care about the actual source material, I mean bug-man consumers.
Hollywood is lost. I've been watching so many old movies because everything new is dog shit and I fall asleep.
JEFF BEZOS
Getting Netflix Witcher vibes. 😕
Everything except for the dwarf is kinda ass
So disappointing, this unfortunately is exactly the kind of imagery I pictured when I heard Amazon was making a show. I wanted so badly to be wrong. I hope I still am.
I can honestly say I am not looking forward to this. It smells funny already
Looks like cheap cosplay
Compare to this " the hobbit " seems like a masterpiece
yeah, in 5 years we're probably going to be looking at the hobbit trilogies like "fuck, I wish we went back to the shit river scenes"
Ugh I want to be excited for this but....everything looks cheap.
No beard on the dwarf ? I'm already disappointed
I am gonna say it but why does every western show needs blacks for the sake of diversity. At the same note where are the Asian ethnicities like Indian or Chinese, what about native Americans. Why does everything need to have black actors. It's like we are back in the 50s when Khan was played by a white guy...
People are saying 'why are you uncomfortable watching a diverse cast in lotr? When the question should be: why do you feel like an all white cast is morally wrong? Diversity is fine, depending on the show. I will skip this and just rewatch the movies. PC culture can fuck itself.
Looks terrible tbh
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Elf dude looks like Prince Charming from Shrek, yikes
He look like a frat boy, like the type of elf that'd slip something in your drink.
No LOTR or Fantasy vibes at all by this pictures. I hate associating fantasy with our modern world/society and these pictures are full of this associations for me.
Since when was Galadriel a warrior or a commander of armies? They're making some wild changes with this show.
There are versions of Galadriel (in Unfinished Tales, if I'm remembering correctly) where she is a warrior- she fights in the first kinslaying in defense of the Teleri, and again after crossing the ice and her and her company are beset by Morgoths army. In LOTR appendices, she's part of the assault of Dol Guldur and its stated that she is the one that cast down the walls. She's also described as an Amazon who puts her hair up when she participates in athletic events, though I'd have to look it up to give you a good reference for that one. To be fair, Tolkien never put everything together from his letters, and the unfinished tales are, obviously, unfinished- so it's hard to say what would have ended up canonical if he had published some of those stories. In some versions she does not fight, but shows up after the kinslaying. Many battles in the Silmarillion are not descriptive the way they are in LOTR- there are times she was present for battles, or could have been present, but her role isn't stated. It's clear she's powerful and thoroughly invested in the fate of Middle Earth, moreso than almost any elf. I think it's fair to say that by the 3rd age, she's not a warrior in the traditional sense- but I think it's also fair to say that they're not pulling Galadriel the fighter out of nothing. I hope they do her justice
I am def not watching that. I want my love for lotr to endure
The only reason I’m happy Christopher Tolkien is dead is so he doesn’t have to witness this!
Elf with a buzz cut LMFAO
Does somebody just have on a plain t shirt in the 3rd pic?
Why is there a cheap bradley cooper version with a regular modern t-shirt? 😫
Uh oh…
They spent over a billion on this?!
Am I the only one who thinks the costumes largely look stupid?
These pictures make it look very cheap and the multi culti cast seems forced. I have a feeling we're gonna be bombared with cheap CGI instead or detailled costumes and mindblowing make-up. From these pictures, despite not being all for a black dwarf, that image is the only one giving me actual Tolkien vibes. I have a very strong feeling this is gonna be the quality of Wheel of Time. If so, I'd be utterly dissappointed.
Lame
As planned these look like images taken from the witcher. Looks cheap as f*** and without soul.
Look how they massacred my boy
I'm gonna be THAT guy, but does black elves makes sense?
I hate to be negative.. but this reaaaaaallly tanked my expectations for this show. What a shame. I hope im wrong
I'm interested to know if that's the star of feanor on the woman's armor in the first picture. It doesn't look like it has the full 8 points on it but the lines around on it on the armor feel like it's might be an interpretation of it.
Black elf? Agenda over basics of the lore? Fool of an Amazon.
"Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made. ... The Shadow that bred them can only mock; it cannot make: not real, new things of its own." Pretty much how I feel about this modern, political, so called rehash.
Hey white people...HEY...tell Hollywood to remake Shaka Zulu, but Shaka is Tom Hardy and blacks British are invading. Tell Hollywood to remake Almos' a man but with Tom Holland. Hey White people tell Hollywood to remake The Color Purple but with Gale Gadot and Racheal Ray....
I think it would be cool to see a raceswapped Roots. Brad Pitt as Kunta Kinte and all the plantation owners are black. I'm sure the bugmen would absolutely cream themselves seeing a white man get whipped.
Hate me or what ever but I want a good and reasonable explanation for the black dwarven princess. And no it's not racist, I only want a logical explanation like different dwarven clan from the South or something like that and I'm happy. And more beard.
Who shaved that elfs head? That just looks weird. No beard on the dwarf, big nope.
I love lord of the rings, I have spent most of my life reading and watching it, am a bit confused about Gadireal in amour and being ship wrecked - Last i thought she was ruling with Celeborn under gil-galad ? Can someone help me understand because am confused
Lets face it, we're all confused by this and I'm a book fan as well. The Fëanorian looking star on her armour is really throwing me off.
Ummm 🤨 $500 million on this?? Looks really corny
The only thing I really have a problem is the dwarf woman. She looks wayyy too beautiful and neat to be a dwarf. Dwarves are usually rugged
A black elf. Of fucking course there is a black elf. Edit: I got permabanned without warning or explanation due to this comment. What a joke. Edit 2: thanks to the kindness of another mod, I have returned to you now, at the turning of the tide.
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Horrible.
When you are making a show, the audience has certain "Expectations" that you have to respect. This show doesn't seem to do that, they just want to use "LoTR" as a brand and make a TV-series with their own ideas, ignoring even the basic expectations of how this universe supposed to look like. Seems like they got the big budget, and they spend it all on GOLDEN and RICH backgrounds and costumes, but the plot and direction are arbitrary.
Please make it stop.
Not impressed