The revelation Queen Marwen is possessed by Saruman has quite a bit of foreshadowing for something unexpected. She references one of Saruman's lines from the Fellowship of the Ring, practices magic, and is the first one to advocate for the use of Orc slave labor. Tolkien scholars will also note the use of magic as only the Istari, elves, owners of a ring, and those of Numenorean descent can use sorcery. The people of Nurn possess none of this, making her spells very suspicious.
Even ignoring all of that, Marwen's situation is remarkably similar to Theoden's; she's the ruler of the area, appears absolutely ancient despite other outward signs of youth (her daughter only looks to be in her 20s or 30s, and yet Marwen seems at first to have another hundred or so years on her), and she relies on an outside adviser to function (in this case, her oracular flame). Even if you don't have much information on the lore of Middle-Earth, foreshadowing abounds.
Celebrimbor possessing Talion makes a great deal of sense other than just as a target of opportunity. As an ancient elf, he holds the people of Gondor with nothing but disdain because they're descendants of Numenor. Talion, by contrast, is a Northman who had nothing to do with their war on the West. Likewise, they've both lost their families to Sauron. The fact Talion has no prior experience with magic also makes him someone more easily manipulated (if one wishes to have a less charitable handling of Celebrimbor's motivations).
Every time you unlock a new rune slot, along with changing what abilities are equipped, the rune glows in a similar manner to the One Ring's writing. Especially considering that Celebrimbor was responsible for creating the heat-activated text in the first place.
The final boss of the Bright Lord DLC will not hesitate killing his own Uruks and will sometimes do that instead of chasing you. Why so ? Because you can brand them and he doesn't want that.
Most of the Wraith's abilities have to do with fire, right? Flame of Azkār, fire arrows, "branding" uruks. All of it stems from Celembrimbor's Ultimate Blacksmith nature.
Quite a few were disgruntled that the Final Boss is basically an anticlimax Quick Time Event, but really, that's basically the only way it could've gone. Because Celebrimbor was ripped into The Black Hand/Sauron's body, Talion was dying of the injuries that first killed him, and the only reason he could move at all was adrenaline... which wouldn't put off death forever, while his opponent was fresh and unhindered. And moreover, The Black Hand/Sauron needed Celebrimbor to get a body again, so Talion re-taking the wraith in desperate assault would've destroyed said body almost immediately anyway, forcing his spirit to flee. Either way, a full-out fight was impossible under the circumstances, and would've likely been a Hopeless Boss Fight even if it were possible.
Some Tolkien scholars were annoyed by the game not fitting with LotR's themes before it even came out. The game is a power fantasy, and Lord of the Rings is the ultimate "power corrupts" story. But at the end, Talion is corrupted by the power and is well on his way to becoming a new Sauron... and even before that, Celebrimbor himself has tried to use the One Ring against Sauron, so who's to say how far along his corruption is?
Among our three main weapons, the Wraith's Azkâr is the only one not significantly redesigned; just some runes and writing added. Why? Because it was made by Narvi, the dwarf who created the Doors of Durin, and one of Celebrimbor's friends in life. Even if he might've preferred an elvish design, and even with his questionable turn in motives, Celebrimbor doesn't want to disrespect the work of a friend.
The reveal that Shelob has a human form explains how she was able to arrange an alliance with Gollum.
The Bright Lord is noticeably more difficult than the main game, and while it can be justified as the developers wanting to offer a more difficult challenge, it's also because rather than an undead human causing some trouble for a few of Sauron's lackeys, you're now playing an Elf lord who is an actual threat to Sauron himself and stole his ring, so of course the Dark Lord would stop playing around and go at it seriously.
During one of Tallion's post-respawn conversations with Celebrimbor, the latter describes the Black Captains as aspects of Sauron's spirit made into flesh, "his malice, his deception, and his will to power". He's not just indulging in poetic language; he's enumerating them.
The Hammer embodies Sauron's malice, being the most plainly cruel of the three during his time onscreen, and generally playing the role of The Brute.
The Tower embodies Sauron's deception, with his mind games and illusions, which are potent enough to work even in the wraith world.
The Black Hand embodies Sauron's will to power; he's the one most directly orchestrating Sauron's return. Plus he's Sauron himself, so it'd be sort of hard for him to not embody his most noteworthy traits.
The Tower seems to be a little disjointed in terms of theme and design. He's a hulking brute of a man with a Nightmare Face that can somehow use illusion magic. However, during the Hammer's boss fight, he's labelled as "The Hammer of Sauron". If all the captains follow this naming scheme, then The Tower is actually "The Tower of Sauron", directly alluding to Barad-Dur, where Sauron's eye appears during the Lord of the Rings, along with all the associated Nightmare Fuel. Suddenly, the Mind Rape thing makes a lot more sense.
A similar revelation/bit of foreshadowing occurs if this naming scheme is applied to The Black Hand (of Sauron). The Black Hand of Sauron is Sauron himself, orchestrating his own return and exerting his influence over Mordor.
Celebrimbor's motivations get explained if you translate all of his elvish writings. I am The Bright Lord of Mordor. The silver hand that drives back the darkness, Reaching through the fog of night, To avenge those long betrayed. Arise from fields of death, And march forth from the shadow, Through the purifying flames of war, You who were once eldar shall be reforged. Beneath my hammer, The Bringer of Gifts, the Betrayer shall be un-made, I renounce the Blessed Realm. To redeem the Land of Shadow. And bind the walls of Arda, In place of the Dark Lord, You shall have light undiminished, All shall fear me and rejoice. Nothing ominous there AT ALL. Bonus points for that last line being a reference to Galadriel's lines to Frodo ("In place of a Dark Lord, You will have a queen!" - "All shall love me and despair!") when she was demonstrating just why giving her the Ring would be a verybad idea.
The quotes are especially horrifying when one remembers that in Tolkien's other writings it is revealed that Uruks are elves twisted by dark magic. 'You who were once eldar' could refer to all of the Uruks, and reveals another reason for Celebrimbor's ability to control them.
Talion's first vision of Celebrimbor in the prologue has the wraith appear in a flash of light; pretty standard stuff. But look closer, and it's shown that the vision resembles the Eye of Sauron...with Celebrimbor at the center.
The backstory of Talion and Ioreth, with him saving her from being assaulted by a Minas Tirith nobleman, sounds a lot like a PG description of either Attempted Rape or an If I Can't Have You… situation. It gets worse when you consider that, under the laws of Gondor, attacking him in her defense still earned him a death sentence since he was still an outcast attacking someone of pure-blooded Numenorean descent. He would have died if not for another nobleman's (her father Hallas') intervention.
