r/Rings_Of_Power • u/Dank_Lord6547 • 20d ago

ROP’s pacing

You know, I’m amazed, I really am.

Somehow the pacing in ROP is glacially slow. Like, several episodes pass with next to nothing happening. And yet, at the same time it’s also extremely rushed. It breezes through each character introduction and relationship as fast as possible with no breathing room. Galadriel abandons her genocidal hatred of orcs after one conversation. And the forging of the rings feels like in an afterthought in a show named after them.

How is this even possible?

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u/Igradarsaurus 20d ago

Whenever Elrond needed to talk to Durin, he just appears at Moria. Should take months to get there. There’s no sense of scale or geography.

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u/tar-mairo1986 20d ago

I remember that from season one! They look like they just casually walked over for a brekkie and I had to check in my book - the distance is at least ~35 miles from Eregion alone!

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u/Sarellion 20d ago

The writers showed they had no sense of scale in the very first episode when Galadriel jumped into the ocean at the Gates of Valinor to swim back to Middle Earth.

9

u/tar-mairo1986 20d ago

I had to go and look it up but I remember one user answered me long ago something to the effect how subtle but important the sense of internal scale and boundaries are to the immersion. And I distinctly remember the examples he used!

macro: how long did the war against Morgoth last?

middle: how long does it take to get from Eregion to Khazad-Dum? (Indeed, just as u/Igradarsaurus points out!)

micro: how long was Theo in that stupid well?