I imagine that horses were hard to come by in ME, with few cultures settled enough to be breeding them. I doubt there were none but the Southlands looked pretty hardscrabble.How did Halbrand learn to ride a horse so rapidly when there were seemingly no horses in Middle-earth in the Second Age before the Númenóreans brought them? Also how did he cut off Adar's escape? I guess being from the area he might know a short cut, but it seemed contrived.
Explain this(as did the movies, IIRC)
That's just Saruman creating Uruk-hai. When he was talking to Lurtz about the origin of Orcs (when explaining how Lurtz and his Uruk-hai were a perfected form of them) he said that the Orcs were once Elves.Explain this
![]()
Not original Orcs. Context.Explain this![]()
This is in line with my view, with the corrupting influence basically rendering them in to near automatons, having the impression of life, without the actual soul.Yes, the whole nature and origin of Orcs (and similar creatures) is best not examined in too much detail to avoid the implications of genocide at the end of the Third Age. My own personal (and incorrect) view is that some of the more powerful Maia could create soulless creatures (similar to golems in Jewish folklore) to do their bidding, particularly if these Maia had been trained by Aulë, Yavanna or Melkor, but this doesn't agree with Tolkien's various writings as others have noted upthread. I agree that only Eru could imbue living creatures with a soul.
My own personal (and incorrect) view is that some of the more powerful Maia could create soulless creatures (similar to golems in Jewish folklore) to do their bidding, particularly if these Maia had been trained by Aulë, Yavanna or Melkor, but this doesn't agree with Tolkien's various writings as others have noted upthread. I agree that only Eru could imbue living creatures with a soul.
Eh...maybe. He regarded reincarnation as poor theology in the real world but usable in a sub creative work.I expect Tolkien rejected that as it conflicted with his religious views.
Variety has posted an articles about the last episode, and it touches on the horses a bit. Apparently Morfyyd Clark had actually never ridden horse before she was on Rings of Power, and the horse she rode was named Titan.
That scene of Galadriel and Theo hiding behind a tree from the Orcs reminds me of something but I can’t place it.
although that brings up the Galadriel's husband (Celeborn bit)
We've seen him with her in Lothlorien in the movies. So she likely 'believes' him to be dead, but the question is whether he is captured or whether his soul is reincarnated like Glorfindel. I'm leaning towards captured and possibly Isildur ends up where Celeborn is.
We use essential cookies to make this site work, and optional cookies to enhance your experience.