Headscratchers / The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

The Stranger's amnesia

• If The Stranger is a Maia sent by the Valar to help the people of Middle-Earth, why is he sent with amnesia which effectively stops him from carrying out his mission? His amnesia doesn't show any signs of healing before he randomly comes across the trio of Sauron worshippers, who unlock his memories. Surely him being unwittingly healed by the enemy isn't something the Valar had planned?
  • There are several possible answers; for example: 1)Valar originally intended for the Stranger to live as an amnesiac mortal for a while so that he could develop a greater comprehension of free people before assuming his role as their guide. This way they could avoid making another Sauron by having Stranger learn humility, compassion and friendship without being burdened by his cosmic nature and knowledge; after all, Sauron was inactive at the time so no real need for haste. The veil would have lifted eventually, but the Mystics ruined that part of the plan. 2)Valar made a mistake when sending The Stranger out by underestimating the effects that an Istari incarnation and following meteor transportation would have on a Maiar. Since the Mystics managed to confuse him for Sauron they could have been wrong about the nature of his amnesia as well.
  • According to Unfinished Tales, the Istari were sent to Middle-Earth with hazy memories so they could have free will and learn like the mortals they’re charged with protecting.
  For it is said indeed that being embodied the Istari had need to learn much anew by slow experience and though they knew whence they came the memory of the Blessed Realm was to them a vision from afar off, for which (so long as they remained true to their mission) they yearned exceedingly. Thus by enduring of free will the pangs of exile and the deceits of Sauron they might redress the evils of that time.

Mordor’s food problem

• It’s been said before in supplementary material that Mordor has farmland to feed Sauron’s orc armies. However, in this show the first eruption of Mt Doom would be deadly to any plants in range of the blast, and those that survive would gradually die from the toxic fumes and perpetual clouding of the sun. Presumably the fields during Sauron’s reign are well past the volcanic ground zero, but Adar already has a sizable orc army in place. Are there already fields that they can farm for their colony? It didn’t seem like the Southlanders would have any farms that far away from the village. Or do Adar’s forces have to start planting right away in hopes their crops grow fast enough before many starve?
  • There is also the fishing option. Plus, Adar could have ordered to store food to get works by for a while.

Halbrand’s hesitance

• Why was Halbrand AKA Sauron seemingly so insistent on staying Numenor as a common blacksmith and unwilling to be made King of the Southlands? Was he lying to manipulate Galadriel with reverse psychology? Afraid of getting Adar's sword through his ribs again? Did he think at first he could accomplish more in Numenor? That seems questionable considering it’s unlikely just any human forge would be capable of reaching the feats he accomplished with Celebrimbor’s forge, and being a king would give him the status to worm his way closer into the Elves’ trust. If he was genuinely reluctant to pursue ambition again, why was he displaying the crest of the Southlands’ kingly line if it wasn’t an attempt at deception?
  • We can't know for sure until season 2. That said, it is suggested that Sauron got a mid-life crisis on top of his desire for redemption. His master epically lost the war, leaving his centuries of service worthless. His attempts to harness the Unseen World hit a major roadblock and Adar deposed him, leaving him with no power base to continue his research. So, with his goal to heal Middle Earth seemingly unattainable Sauron fell into depression and tried to reinvent himself. As for Numenor, Sauron, after winning the trust of its people, could have easily inspired them to build the super forge. The crest could have been a reminder of some sort, a way to claim a decent social level, or maybe Sauron just liked the trinket.
  • When Sauron was in Númenor, Celebrimbor's forge wasn't on his mind yet, since at this point he knew nothing about the discovery of mithril and what the elves were planning to do with it. Sauron may be powerful but he's not omniscient; it doesn't seem he had any ideas about making a ring of power until after he met Celebrimbor and learned of his plans for such rings. As for him insisting it seems at this point Sauron was mostly just improvising. When it seemed Galadriel was unsuccessful in getting Númenor's support, Sauron probably thought it would be best to distance himself from her (since they were clearly prejudiced against elves) and try to slowly gain the Númenorians' trust by other means. But when Galadriel managed to convince Míriel to send her army to Middle Earth, Sauron realised this was his best chance of getting revenge on Adar and taking back control of the Orcs, so he threw in his lot with Galadriel again.

Valar’s tears

• Miriel has seen a future where Numenor falls, and Galadriel’s arrival is apparently the first step in that. But after she sees the leaves of the White Tree fall, she interprets this as an omen from the Valar telling her to help Galadriel. However, aiding Galadriel ends up leading to a worse outcome for Middle-Earth in that they inadvertently put Sauron on a throne and give him the knowledge to create the corrupting Rings, and eventually he will worm his way into the court of Numenor and bring about its fall. Presumably the Valar were also the ones to send Miriel the vision and to tell Gil-galad that Galadriel’s intervention will make things worse, so why would they send Miriel another sign that would lead down the road of what they were warning against?
  • "Interprets" is the key word. Míriel's vision was meant to be a warning against going to Middle Earth with Galadriel, but she is clearly sympathetic to Galadriel and her mission, so she's basically just looking for an excuse to ignore the vision. So when the leaves fall, she interprets this as a sign to help Galadriel after all, even though it could be a sign of something else.

”Coaxing” the metals

• When attempting to forge the Rings of Power, Celebrimbor protests that the mithril is not responding to the attempt to bond it with other metals, to which Halbrand suggests he try “coaxing” them together instead of forcefully. When the forging of the Rings is seen, Galadriel’s blade is melted, and then the mithril shard is just dropped into the molten metal. How does this “coax” the alloy together?
  • Maybe Celebrimbor and Halbrand were focused on trying to melt mithril and when it "refused to" they immediately upped the heat, hence the explosions? Later on Celebrimbor, in a way, let mithril to take its time and "choose" whether it wants to mix into an alloy and then it did. Alternatively, perhaps mithril was actually reacting to Hilbrand's presence? The Silmaril were known to burn evil, and if mithril is actually derived from them, perhaps it retained a measure of the gems' anti-evil properties.

Galadriel's dagger

• Finrod's dagger, carried by Galadriel and instrumental to the ending of Season 1, has a tendency to appear out of nowhere despite Galadriel clearly not being able to carry on her costume. This is particularly head-scratching with her white under-gown in Season 1 Episode 1. Galadriel is particularly reluctant to relinquish the dagger on the boat to the Undying Lands. While we don't see her actually grab the dagger, when she dives into the sea, she is holding it in her hand in the underwater shot. When she surfaces and treads water moments later, she is not holding it. Where did she put it and when? The dagger and sheath aren't large, but they're not exactly small items. This is even more blatant in Episode 2, were we clearly see her swimming across the ocean, her gown plastered to reveal every part of her body, and there is no place she had put her dagger, yet when she treads water to spot the raft, she is suddenly holding it. Then when she is pulled aboard, it is gone. We see plenty of angles of her skin-tight soaked gown but no sign of the dagger, and the suspicious survivors would certainly have see its outline. When Halbrand pulls her out again, we see another angle of her soaked body and, again, no dagger. Later we see the light completely shine through her gown and - yup - no dagger. It somehow reappears when she is drowning and Halbrand finds it tied against her waist with the raft's rope (it isn't even secured to her body).
  • Out of universe, an obvious production mistake. In-universe, however, some elven items have enchantments put on them. Most relevantly, The Three can conceal themselves from the sight of others, as Gandalf and Galadriel demonstrate in the books. Moreover, this ability seems to go beyond mere invisibility, since Saruman did not take Narya from Gandalf, despite suspecting him to possess it. The elven rope, gifted by Galadriel, has a limited sentience and can untie itself if its owner wants it to. Glamdring and Sting can detect and supernaturally scare orcs.... As such, perhaps Finrod's dagger is enchanted to be invisible and return to its owner if they is too far from it? A useful quality in a weapon, in case the owner gets caught and is otherwise disarmed. Alternatively, it may be able to shift into the Unseen World; incidentally, Galadriel and Sauron can canonically perceive both worlds.

Water-powered eruption

• How exactly does a stream of water, falling on a floor of magma, lead to an eruption of a volcano? It's just water pouring on some very hot rocks. Obviously it evaporates and then the steam rises and escapes through the same hole that water comes through. Yes, it will create a pretty spectacular geyser, but what was there to explode?
  • The scientific principle behind water triggering volcanic activity is real, and known as a phreatic eruption. The mechanics are exaggerated in the show, as one would need far more magma than seen in Mt. Doom's lava lake, but the principle of water and magma interacting explosively is genuine.
    • But in that case it's ground water, coming from beneath, and evaporating with nowhere to go safely but through the magma - that makes sense. Here it was falling from above, with plenty of room to escape to.
    • The water pouring will not produce such spectacular results in real life, but this is Middle-Earth. For all we know, Orodruin is a sentient mountain akin to Caradhras; the plan could then be to simply piss it off as much as possible and enjoy the resulting show.

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