In my last post I mentioned moving across the country for graduate school. Well, cut to over two years later and I have both graduated with a Masters in Applied Mathematics and slunk back to the corporate overlords in order to pay off the school loans I had to take. I joke but in actuality it’s going well. I managed to find a remote work opportunity so I could stay living in Colorado right along the front range of the Rocky Mountains. I got my Master’s from CU Boulder, and it only took a few weeks of exploring the nearby flatirons after class, hiking winding mountain trails to realize I didn’t much want to leave. So I started to build a life here: met new friends, found a partner, and added far too many outdoor hobbies than I have time to support. I, a Subaru driving rock climber living in southern Indiana, went on a pilgrimage to my kind’s mecca, and found a way to stay. There are several reasons I haven’t written in roughly 2 years, chief among them time spent deriving each aspect of the Gauss-Markov theorem and/or evaluating the best classification model using a ROC curve, but another answer might be some of the world’s best climbing, biking, hiking, and snowboarding is only a short drive away and that is a hard pull to ignore. No matter, I’ve once more found myself behind a desk working a job I wish was only 9 to 5, living for the weekend, and realizing I miss not just consuming works of fiction, but instead creating them. As such, I’ve decided to return to this blog, and my novel. As far as this blog, I’m aiming for a biweekly release schedule. As far as my novel, thanks to the encouragement of friends and family, I’ve decided to self-publish it. I’m currently going through a final edit and aim to have it published some time this winter. Will update with a more exact date as my plans crystallize. I’m excited to share more aspects of the release in the future!
In other news, I recently watched the final episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and while I fully understand some of the critiques leveled against the show, I must say I rather enjoyed it. To be clear, I don’t understand the racist or misogynist critiques, those are ridiculous, but I will be the first to admit there were moments of weak writing. Perhaps I am more forgiving than some due to my love of the franchise (I have a tattoo of the elvish word for friend on my wrist) but I’m merely enjoying seeing the second age adapted, and am eager to watch the next season.
For one, I disagree with those who thought the pacing too slow at the start, with too many disparate strands of story. While this is indeed subjective, and influenced by my knowledge of Tolkien’s writings, I was interested to see how this adaptation would condense many thousands of years of in world history into a story digestible for television. Worldbuilding and the setting up of arcs takes time, and aside from a few stumbles, I thought they did a decent enough job, with special marks for the costume, set design, and production, though with all the money spent it would be a travesty if that weren’t the case. I will admit a few silly moments, like (and here is where the spoilers begin) Galadriel jumping into the ocean to avoid going to Valinor. I know elves are capable of impressive martial feats, but the idea of swimming all the way back to Lindon was straight suicidal. I would have at least shown a few, very dangerous, very mysterious, islands off in the distance. This would have even been true to the lore as that section of ocean was meant to house such dangers and be nigh impassable aside from by the elves. In regards to Galadriel as a character, while sometimes her petulance and haughty childishness does border a bit on the extreme, I found this incarnation of her to be overall quite interesting, and Morfydd Clark’s performance solid. Anyone who has seen the main trilogy knows where her character will end up, and I’m excited to see her wade through the moral grey of vengeance to get there. I thought her conversation with Adar, the intriguing villain driven by a desire to create a home for the orcs (Mordor as the admittedly a little schlocky, but kinda fun, text reveal showed), really brought to light the strength of the show’s approach. Galadriel bares the corruption her obsession has bred even if it doesn’t show in her physical appearance, while Adar has the twisted features of one of the original Uruk.
I found any scene with Elrond, Durin, or Disa to be quite fun, and really enjoyed this incarnation of the dwarves. Perhaps it’s the romantic in me, but I also enjoyed Arondir, Bronwyn, and the scenes in the Southlands, though they weren’t without their silly moments. They could have done a bit more to establish Bronwyn’s leadership in the village and why anyone should listen to her. And why Arondir gave Theo the very blade that was corrupting him in the end, even if it was proven to be a fake, is beyond me. It felt a move purely for the shock of the reveal, and could have been much better orchestrated. Not to mention a better explanation as to why nobody checked should have been given, even a few comments on how it might corrupt any who gazed upon it would have helped. But in the end, I was full on shipping Arondir and Bronwyn, and I cared for the characters. I enjoyed seeing the impressive island of Numenor with its many gigantic statues, even if I did find the rationale for their shunning of elves to be a tad underdeveloped. I think it could have been improved by them playing up their jealousy of the elves and their immortal favor from the gods. Jealousy is a powerful and corrupting emotion. I enjoyed Elendil and I found Isildur to be a character flawed in a way that foreshadows his inevitable corruption by the one ring.
In regards to the season encompassing mystery of where is Sauron, I felt the final episode’s reveal to be a fun watch. I never truly believed the stranger was Sauron, and overall enjoyed the show’s take on a powerful being, unaware and uncomprehending of how his magic can hurt, finding his way in a new world. I enjoyed the Harfoots though did feel them a bit fickle, even Nori with how quickly she ran from the stranger after being hurt by the ice crawling up his arm. She had been hurt by him on accident prior. Her sudden shunning of him felt motivated by the need for an arc, as opposed to how her character as shown up to that point would act. But in the end I enjoyed his reveal as one of the Istar, and look forward to his journey to Rhun with Nori. As far as Sauron, I rather enjoyed Halbrand’s reveal and his subsequent vision filled palaver with Galadriel. His charisma, anger, and willingness to manipulate to bring about his own perception of peace were palpable. I will admit to his manipulation of Celebrimbor with the suggestion of alloys to stretch the impact of the small amount of mithril to be a tad underwhelming given Celebrimbor’s supposed expertise, but beyond that I am interested to see how the rest of the rings are created, and was excited to see Elrond, Galadriel, and Celebrimbor around the three rings, two of which they go on to bear in the case of Elrond and Galadriel. All in all, I’m excited to see where this goes, and am excited for the next season even if it will take a few years to arrive.
That about wraps up the first blog post in over two years! This will be the first of many, whether it be updates on my own writings or meanderings on whatever fiction I’ve recently consumed in whatever medium it was presented. For anyone who has made it this far, you have my many thanks. Your involvement is the only marketing I’ve got. If you’ve enjoyed my posts, I hope you’ll give my novel a shot once I publish it, and share my writings with any who you think might enjoy them.
All the best,
M. Weald
M. Weald 