Random thoughts on S2E4 in no particular order. And yes, there are spoilers.
Galadriel's status continues to nag me. It's not about her fighting and being hot-tempered. She probably would be past that phase by the Second Age, but I don't really care. It's that she's a subordinate in someone else's army.
Tolkien has her settling in various places, but never answering to a king. But whatever. The story is the story.
What the hell is Tom Bombadil doing in Rhun? I'm so happy to see him finally get some screen time that I don't even care. That guy's accent was all over the place, though.
Galadriel talks about how she's starting to see into the otherworld after she gets her ring. Gil-Galad mentions prophetic visions. Elves, especially the older ones and the ones who've been to Valinor (Galadriel definitely yes, but I think Gil-Galad was born late in the First Age, in Beleriand, like Elrond) can already do those things. I guess they just want to give the rings as many non-visible elf powers as they can.
The developing hobbit origins are fun to see.
Galadriel and Elrond's route to Eregion doesn't make much sense to me. I'm pretty sure the road through Bree and the (future) Shire was already there by then. They seem to plan on crossing the Baranduin (yep, good old Brandywine) by an elf bridge somewhere north of the Shire, then decide to go south when they see that it's been destroyed. Crossing at any point that would take them through the Barrow Downs would mean using the bridge on the road they should have taken in the first place, or taking some kind of ferry. If you cross at Sarn Ford, you don't need to go anywhere near the Barrow Downs.
And okay, the Barrow Downs. Those barrows were Third Age graves left by Arnor. They wouldn't be there yet. I mean, sure, that ground could always have been cursed before the Witch King sent evil spirits there, but you wouldn't think the Dunedain would build even more barrows on a used (and cursed) graveyard. But hey, who (other than Peter Jackson) doesn't love seeing barrow wights? Weird thing, that "using their own weapons" rule, but I get not wanting it to be too easy for the elves to clobber them.
Update: Apparently I was at least partially wrong. I just read elsewhere that the ancestors of the Edain also built barrows at Tyrn Gorthad back in the First Age and the later Dunedain revered them, which is why they buried their lords there. As far as I know, though, there's still no reason to think the ground was cursed before the Witch King sent evil spirits into it. I guess Sauron could have pulled the same stunt in the Second Age, as they sort of implied.
That mud worm thing was pretty cool.
Hey, an entwife! I can't remember when
Tolkien said they left, but he did say they went east. I'm also not sure where exactly Arondir and Isildur are supposed to be when they meet the ents.
In case you wondered,
Tolkien did say, "the number is unknown" about the Istari, before talking about the five who came to the Grey Havens. So the Stranger doesn't have to be
any of those. I hope he's not, since those definitely didn't arrive in a fireball and didn't show up until the Third Age. It also means that there's no reason the bad guy in Rhun couldn't be there. Interestingly enough,
Tolkien did suggest that maybe the Blue Wizards founded magical traditions in the far east.
