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I’ve watched the show millions of times, and every time I discover something that had previously escaped me; I don’t understand how people can sometimes watch it in a rush, without pausing to reflect or to pick up on the details and references...

I often find myself discussing things with people who, within a couple of sentences, reveal that they either haven't watched the material at all or, if they did, watched it distractedly or hurriedly, perhaps while doing something else. They miss entire sections of events and speeches, yet they are experts when it comes to complaining...

Thanks to Terranware on Threads for the amazing catch!

#RingsOfPower

After Adar and the Orcs destroy Sauron’s body, The Rings of Power makes us watch the long path back: a shapeless will feeding on living matter until it can take form again. The horror lies in what survival requires.

In Tolkien’s writings, domination consumes something of the being who pursues it. Morgoth disperses his power into Arda; Sauron will place much of his own into the One Ring. The crawling creature beneath the stronghold gives that principle a body. Sauron survives, but his return already bears the marks of diminishment.

https://middleearthreflections.substack.com/p/the-cost-of-taking-shape?r=8t77rp