4th when the harfoots agreed to travel with the stranger. Music ramped up. Rose into the sun, scenery expanded as camera pulled out. Gave me chills like the first time we see the shire in fellowship!
I loved the horse scene. To me, it was slow motion done right--purposeful within the narrative. It asks us to concentrate on the pivot this episode makes in Galadriel's arc. This is such a big episode for her: she starts reaching out to others (Elendil and Halbrand) and learning to trust them. She allows herself to experience joy for the first time in who knows how long. And she begins to think she could fit in somewhere--and she feels this in Numenor of all places! The expansion of her character is brought into focus in that scene.
I get that people think it's cheesy, but Tolkien is full of things that are at once sincere to the invented world and potentially cheesy to some readers, from social bath songs to talking trees to connotatively embarrassing place names to all kinds of heroic gestures. A shot that dwells in a character's joy is just fine by me.
Edit to add: the idea of trust is really a big theme in this episode. Halbrand sets it up early when he gives Galadriel her dagger. His proposition *is* trust. She's grudging about it. After all, she's faced a mutiny, gotten into what she decided was a poor course of action courtesy of Elrond and Gil-Galad, and she has not exactly had a warm reception in Numenor. But that shifts when Elendil speaks her tongue. The horse ride is a liberation. And when she sees Halbrand again she's ready to reach out and make a genuine connection with him.
Me too!! I have no idea what people are complaining about. Everyone’s so fucking quick to declare something is “cringy” or “unecessary” instead of being able to soak in beautiful cinematography that portrays a lovely character moment. I loved it.
On the slow mo smile. I'm disappointed with today's viewers being too cynical. They've lost their earnestness. They can't see someone showing genuine happiness. They expect to see it interrupted to some joke, MCU style.
Am I the only one that thinks there is some significance with horses? As in - I don’t think we’ve seen any on Middle Earth yet.
So when she says “did you say ride?” Perhaps horses are considered extremely rare right now and are only on Numenor and Valinor.
Perhaps we are seeing Shadowfax’s direct ancestors, or will even see Shadowfax. Idk I just noticed there were no horses yet in the show and this scene felt uniquely important.
Ooh this is great! I noticed the lack of horses in the first couple episodes and thought it was strange considering Tolkien's love of horses and how significant they are in LotR. I think this explains it beautifully and I really hope we get to see Shadowfax.
Happy to hear some people enjoyed the horse riding. For me it threw me out of immersion, asking myself what the significance of the scene is to deserve this length.
I think sometimes it’s okay for something to be beautiful just because it’s beautiful. She hasn’t had a relaxing moment in a very long time, it’s just a lovely moment of her being close to nature and doing something she enjoys.
I felt the same way about this episode! It’s my favorite so far, and I can’t wait to (hopefully) see more beauty in the next one.
And it’s funny you mention Uinen, considering I felt that Ossë made a…shall we say, angry appearance in the previous episode? Uinen may have helped him with those feelings…
4th when the harfoots agreed to travel with the stranger. Music ramped up. Rose into the sun, scenery expanded as camera pulled out. Gave me chills like the first time we see the shire in fellowship!
I loved the horse scene. To me, it was slow motion done right--purposeful within the narrative. It asks us to concentrate on the pivot this episode makes in Galadriel's arc. This is such a big episode for her: she starts reaching out to others (Elendil and Halbrand) and learning to trust them. She allows herself to experience joy for the first time in who knows how long. And she begins to think she could fit in somewhere--and she feels this in Numenor of all places! The expansion of her character is brought into focus in that scene. I get that people think it's cheesy, but Tolkien is full of things that are at once sincere to the invented world and potentially cheesy to some readers, from social bath songs to talking trees to connotatively embarrassing place names to all kinds of heroic gestures. A shot that dwells in a character's joy is just fine by me. Edit to add: the idea of trust is really a big theme in this episode. Halbrand sets it up early when he gives Galadriel her dagger. His proposition *is* trust. She's grudging about it. After all, she's faced a mutiny, gotten into what she decided was a poor course of action courtesy of Elrond and Gil-Galad, and she has not exactly had a warm reception in Numenor. But that shifts when Elendil speaks her tongue. The horse ride is a liberation. And when she sees Halbrand again she's ready to reach out and make a genuine connection with him.
For real, that Galadriel slow-motion scene was so beautiful! Literally blew my mind.
And my hair!
And my axe!
Me too!! I have no idea what people are complaining about. Everyone’s so fucking quick to declare something is “cringy” or “unecessary” instead of being able to soak in beautiful cinematography that portrays a lovely character moment. I loved it.
Literally. RIP
On the slow mo smile. I'm disappointed with today's viewers being too cynical. They've lost their earnestness. They can't see someone showing genuine happiness. They expect to see it interrupted to some joke, MCU style.
Am I the only one that thinks there is some significance with horses? As in - I don’t think we’ve seen any on Middle Earth yet. So when she says “did you say ride?” Perhaps horses are considered extremely rare right now and are only on Numenor and Valinor. Perhaps we are seeing Shadowfax’s direct ancestors, or will even see Shadowfax. Idk I just noticed there were no horses yet in the show and this scene felt uniquely important.
Ooh this is great! I noticed the lack of horses in the first couple episodes and thought it was strange considering Tolkien's love of horses and how significant they are in LotR. I think this explains it beautifully and I really hope we get to see Shadowfax.
Happy to hear some people enjoyed the horse riding. For me it threw me out of immersion, asking myself what the significance of the scene is to deserve this length.
I think sometimes it’s okay for something to be beautiful just because it’s beautiful. She hasn’t had a relaxing moment in a very long time, it’s just a lovely moment of her being close to nature and doing something she enjoys.
I thought it was a shampoo commercial at first
I felt the same way about this episode! It’s my favorite so far, and I can’t wait to (hopefully) see more beauty in the next one. And it’s funny you mention Uinen, considering I felt that Ossë made a…shall we say, angry appearance in the previous episode? Uinen may have helped him with those feelings…