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Latest Posts by papugaka - Page 3
I ALMOST DIED BECAUSE IT'S SO SIMILAR TO HOW I FEEL DUDE YOU'RE FUCKING AWESOME THANK YOU SO MUCH
especially this part!
The fire becomes real, he can sense how it flickers around them, crackles, consumes, but it stays concentrated in Sauron’s touch, heady and dizzying, nauseating and healing. The pain overwhelms the edges of his senses, he thinks he screams. He thinks, his head falls back, all the noise stolen from his lips, and the screaming lives only in his heart. He thinks he cannot quite tell where he is anymore, except that the light is inside of him, around him, and he craves it, and he hates it, and he needs. He knows.
And Sauron knows.
And he knows only Sauron.
I'll sip your soul in Wake your desire I am the promise and a liar
Show me your hands and No misbehaving I'll pin the wire and you'll be waving
Barn scene breakdown-2
Tears in Adar’s eyes are still seen even as he turns to face Galadriel’s slurs again.
Adar’s turning slowly, showing us he’s gradually taking in everything Galadriel is saying.
Adar raises his eyebrows ever so slightly (gif above). As used to abasement as he is, he’s still taken aback by the extent of this threat and the sheer cruelty of it.
This makes him truly angry for the first time.
Galadriel wasn’t ready to receive this slap.
Adar rams it in
He speaks in a clear voice, through his teeth, jaw clenched, completely sure of what he’s saying. This is the second and last time after “we are creations of the One, the same as you“ line that he speaks like this.
(I really love the fact that in Sauron’s northern fortress in Ep.1 Galadriel does look into an ice mirror to see her reflection. Also, a good hint at her future magical Mirror)
3, 2, 1, Galadriel goes supernova
As we can see, she’s not into carrying out her lengthy torture threat.
And of course Galadriel is angry. Adar basically said she’s worse than him, and she isn’t ready to acknowledge that some creature she’s seeing as inferior has managed to dig very deep. But she has enough self-consciousness to know she has stepped over the line with her threats and has really touched the darkness.
Also, take notice that by moving towards Adar Galadriel moves away from the light sources in the scene – and literally into the shadow.
Meanwhile, someone has been taking his anger management courses:
But this also can be viewed as
Even with a dagger at his throat, Adar does the same thing he has already done – puts up a fight for the self-naming of his people, as small a thing as it is.
And oh, look at that, isn’t that Galadriel in darkness and Adar cast in a little light!
What’s interesting though is that he says the word with his eyes closed. When you do this, you’re not ready to face your opponent as you think it’ll provoke them even more than what you’ve just said. This is the behavior of a victim that too much about abuse.
Still, he finds strength to open his eyes and face her, even if afterwards, ready to receive whatever she might unleash for his boldness. He’s shown as weak and broken and defeated but also very strong, a duality that Mawle plays to an excellent extent.
But Galadriel is done. Now that Sauron Emotional Support Group Halbrand has arrived, she’s not into prolonging this argument that she has been hopelessly losing
We know Adar knows a lot about pain. And yes, all he does is twitch with one eye, showing us another extent of Mawle expertise in doing micro-expressions (Joseph, how do you even do that without moving your other eyelids).
He glances down and to the left, seemingly inhales. He was probably ready to get something much worse as a punishment.
Galadriel turns back as if in second thought and silently challenges him
But Adar is also done. He lowers his head, submitting to Galadriel’s position of power, showing he isn’t into arguing as well.
As the argument is over, Galadriel leaves.
Sauron’s like “yes, mighty Commander of the Northern Armies, the low-man Halbrand bows before you“
As soon as she’s out, Adar pulls himself even closer (I love the hand tap). He’s not watching Halbrand, he’s not 100% sure who he is but he’s confident enough.
Halbrand’s silence makes Adar double-check.
camera, please stop falling over for the love of jesus we know adar’s defeated
And with that the emotional train wreck that is this scene is over, I’m gonna go pray on Mawle’s acting skills
If you want me to break down anything else, feel free to write in the comments or PM me or anything else
Barn scene breakdown-1
Second part coming in a couple of hours as I have to rewrite it due to network collapse *sigh*
Now that it was announced that Joseph left… Guess all I have left are these precious little bits of his acting mastery. Get ready, this scene is an emotional train wreck
Let’s do this.
First shot, camera heavily tilted to the left.
Before Charlotte Brändström said this angle was to show how Adar tips Galadriel off balance, me and my partner had a discussion on whether it is to show that they’re both Distorted (yes, with Melkor’s darkness) or it is a victory OR even sin scales leaning towards Galadriel.
Galadriel’s standing dagger in hand, full body towards Adar, in an undeniable position of power, although she’s keeping her distance to be able see Adar clearly.
Adar is stripped of the gauntlet and whatever piece of rusted shit tip of sauron’s spear lol he’s carrying for a knife, he’s sitting in a very insecure pose, back to the wall, legs drawn to chest, his pierced hand hugging his mangled one.
Also, take notice how the light falls through the openings, just slightly casting Galadriel in itself and never touching Adar. They’re both quite deep in the dark, aren’t they? :)
Adar’s listening but looking past Galadriel, somewhere down and to the left of her (from Adar’s POV).
What might seem as a wandering gaze is actually a gaze fixed on her dagger. He doesn’t seem to fear her at all but it quite seems he’s waiting whether the torture is going to arrive or not. He’ll be looking at the dagger more or less until Galadriel threatens to torture the orcs.
Ah, there we go. Let me close-up.
The moment Galadriel says “the Sons of the Dark“ Adar’s lips’s corners twist down in a bitter smirk. (A vid might show it better)
And yes, “the Sons of the Dark“ does sound like it’s some title, something these elves chose to be, a name that they might carry with pride as the servants of Melkor. Adar is both bitter and angry at the assumption.
Adar glances at Galadriel for the first time.
The self-naming thing is the only thing he will put up a fight for. He doesn’t even begin to argue with the twisted, the ruined, the slaves, the scourge, as he knows his fight won’t matter to his captor, that all his statements will be disregarded.
The self-naming doesn’t interest Galadriel either (understandable, the Orcs are her enemy, she doesn’t want them to be humanized), as she cuts in
(Adar’s back looking at the dagger)
Adar bursts out laughing. At least what he substitutes for a burst of laughter.
He could’ve told her, he really could, all the stuff that passed unnoticed in the forest before her very eyes. But would she ever believe him, the enemy, that her friend is the true Enemy?
It is Adar’s continuous stare at the dagger that seems to make Galadriel realize she’s holding onto it.
I’m not guessing whether she has tortured Orcs before, but she’s really not into torturing in cold blood someone who resembles her kin so uncomfortably. She glances at the dagger in doubt, then finds another way.
We know this threat’s enough to make Adar start talking.
But it’s also the only thing that actually makes him look away from the potential source of his own torture (the dagger) for the first time and look at the potential source of torture for his Uruks (the sun). He blinks as the threat settles in.
It’s also the first time you can see his eyes glisten with unshed tears.
He starts talking while looking at the Uruks.
(Interesting word choice, though, he calls Melkor Morgoth, “The Black Foe of the World”, a title Feanor gave him and Elves used as an insult. But it is probably because tRoP doesn’t have the rights for “Melkor”)
He will never even once glance at Galadriel during his speech.
(Interesting word choice-2, though, as it shows us Adar called Sauron something else. Tar-Mairon probably, the guy loved that name)
He now stares into nothingness and his lips tremble when he talks about a power over flesh. The tears in his eyes can be fully seen now.
Mawle is playing it full PTSD-flashback mode, tbh. The sheer amount of shit Adar’s seen is reflected in his tired and strained expression.
Also let me point out this is the first time he’s ever talking about his feat of taking down the greatest Maia to walk Middle-Earth. Not a good time, not the best person to spill out to.
“He bid as many as he could follow him far North. But tried, as he might, something was missing. A shadow of dark knowledge that kept itself hidden. Even from him.“
And oh, Galadriel believes him really well.
She has been there, she has been to the stronghold where Sauron died, she has even felt the coldest chamber where the Uruk torture and, presumably, the murder occured. She blinks as shifts gaze as she realizes Adar’s telling the truth.
Adar’s not forgiving Sauron for what he did. He’s looking even lower than before, completely at the floor, even shaking his head a little bit.
He calls the Uruk “children”, he also expresses his discontent with what Sauron did.
And that’s what (quite literally) pulls Galadriel out of trance.
She has been unconsciously leaning towards Adar as he was telling the story but now that the spell is broken, she pulls back and keeps distance.
This is the first time he says these words out loud, “I killed Sauron”. It seems it’s hard for him to believe himself as at first he states it differently, “I split him open”, and only then makes himself acknowledge and say “I killed Sauron“.
It’s a confession Adar makes more to himself then to Galadriel.
Of course she doesn’t. She unifies everything that is connected to Melkor and can’t take in that someone on THAT side might actually not be on Melkor’s or Sauron’s side.
Now it’s Adar who’s not impressed at all. The camera does a job of breaking the viewers neck to see it, and I have a feeling it was to further deepen the misunderstanding between Galadriel and Adar. Galadriel just can’t see him right.
He tilts his head and looks back up at Galadriel for the first time since his story. Lets out an amused exhale (can’t show that on a gif!)
Adar seems to know the drill. I guess it’s not his first time talking to the Elves as an Uruk. So the Elven concept of “Orcs are indescibably inferior to us“ is very well-known to him.
By now he’s just saying it for her, mocking her, showing her he knows what she’s about to say.
But Adar is wrong, it wasn’t the Uruks in whole Galadriel was thinking of.
Oh that contempt in her eyes as she’s looking him up and down. She doesn’t see him as a threat, she doesn’t see him as a leader, she doesn’t see him as anything at all.
And then we get aboard the actual emotional train wreck that is this scene because Galadriel’s view of the world finally snaps Adar (and it’s not the personal insult that gets him but her view of the Uruks)
Galadriel’s isn’t taking that. For her, Orcs are definitely not a race of their own. They’re mindless beasts unleashed by Morgoth/Sauron.
Galadriel gets Adar even more, notice how his lips tremble and how his eyebrows and lower eyelids move before he says “a heart“. That’s what it looks like to argue and not believe you’ll ever be heard.
He isn’t heard. For Galadriel, Orcs are connected to Melkor, therefore they’re evil and that’s all there is to it.
And so Adar appeals to the only being they both have little knowledge about, trying to get to her through religion, if nothing else works.
They interrupt each other during this argument, the dialogue speeding up, showing each one passionately standing their own ground, ready to defend their own view of the world.
Galadriel isn’t ready to comprehend that Orcs may not want to serve Melkor/Sauron and may have wishes of their own. Something as simple as a home or just a life. Adar’s simply tired and miserable from hitting against the wall even as he tries again and again. There are tears in his eyes as he says the “just as worthy of a breath of life“ line. Firstly I thought it was just light reflection but no, the tears are perfectly seen when he blinks (after the word “life”). This freaking moment breaks my heart every time I see it
Galadriel’s world collides against that. She hasn’t the slightest idea what to do with his words at first as they don’t match anything she thinks or believes in. She just stands there as her brain is trying to cope.
Adar saves her the need to immediately answer.
He’s looking at the floor, at the tunnel dig from Orodruin.
Galadriel’s brain copes. And it does so the easiest way, repelling everything she has just heard, so her world may stay the same as before.
Galadriel is rejecting everything Adar has said, repeating out loud what she has always thought about the Orcs.
Ah, if anyone is interested, if we take the headcanon of Adar awakening at Cuivienen, he is around 5 900 years old, of which ~288 he was free & happy, and here’s the count
Years of the Trees
lasted 1 500 Valian years OR 14 373 solar years. 14 373/1500; 1 Valian year is ≈ 9,6 solar years (a little less)
Year 1050 Elves awaken at Cuivienen.
30 Valian years of peace (288 solar years) for the Elves.
Year 1080 first Orcs successfully created.
420 Valian years or 4 032 solar years in captivity until the beginning of the First Age.
First Age
lasted 590 solar years (no Valian years anymore)
Second Age, according to the show
is set ~ 1000 years after War of Wrath
288 + 4 032 + 590 + 1000 = 5 910 years old (a little less, as I rounded off the Valian/solar ratio)
I'll sip your soul in Wake your desire I am the promise and a liar
Show me your hands and No misbehaving I'll pin the wire and you'll be waving
I went to riot on reddit, every Adar / Joseph Mawle stan welcome to the cause. This shitty slander shouldn't go unnoticed and unanswered.
You're welcome to repost, reblog, share, do anything on any platform
VERY AGGRESSIVELY PREPARING TO DRAW A THOUSAND ARTS WITH ADAR-JOSEPH MAUL TO 24
@primevideo pls kick someone up there to release a note that'd say Joseph Mawle is okay and was not recast in "Rings of Power" for any health issues or smth like that
I can't reach you on Twitter. We're nervous here, pls give people some explanation
I was eating dinner when I saw this news, and it felt like my head exploded and went flying around the kitchen. Sitting here and can't stop crying.
:(
girl: *draws scars more inconspicuously so they don't disfigure the character too much* woman: … HOW ABOUT MAKING IT WORSE
Forest scene breakdown
Okay, everyone’s already said it was great. Let me tell you it was cinematically ingenious, because it makes us believe that the actual abuser (Sauron) is the abused (as Halbrand) and the abused (Adar) is the abuser (for viewers & Galadriel).
There’s a TLDR below.
After getting a spear through his hand, you can see Adar struggling on whether he still wants to try and grab the bundle because his gaze wanders between the bundle and his hand.
He seemingly decides he won’t make it away, so he turns around to see the attacker.
Sauron is already waiting to meet his eyes. The shot is a clear one, set vertically so we can easily see the facial expressions of the one we know as Halbrand. His head is tilted sideways, he is smirking, teeth showing, his jaw set, his breath heavy – he is clearly satisfied.
I dunno whether the next thing he does was intentional or it was just Charlie moving his feet taking a better position, not to say whether it had any role to play in Adar recognizing Sauron, yet…
He does a circular movement with the spear which certainly moves the blade inside Adar’s hand. Was it purposefully done to make it hurt? I have no idea.
Next moment Adar is looking up and while we may think we all saw the fear and the trembling, it is not the case. Up until today a lot of people claim there is no recognition at all, and you know why?
Not only because Adar says “no” but because the shot is tilted, bent sideways. This is not the camera angle at which we recognise emotions clearly.
And this was 100% done on purpose.
I’m giving it to you clear and with some metacommentary
All of these emotions flash so rapidly they are horrifyingly hard to catch. Add to that the camera tilt – voila, a lot of people understood nothing! Some put in that it was just Adar fearing death.
Adar denying Sauron the satisfaction makes someone go very angry.
The shot is, once again, straight and vertically set. You can clearly see Halbrand’s eyebrows move in confusion, then understanding comes in. For the viewers it is seen as Halbrand acknowledging Adar’s lack of memories, while in reality Sauron just goes
Steps on arm to pull out the spear but does so uncaringly, indicating he’s not concerned with what Adar’s feeling at all:
(Adar gasps but doesn’t flinch or even move his hand closer to himself: he’s all too familiar with pain, as we know)
Jaw angrily clenched:
Sheer act of dominance + quite a interesting thing if you think about Sauron & Adar relationship. Sauron steps on Adar like he’s nothing, like he’s a thing. Adar doesn’t even flinch, the “been there, done that before” moment.
Also, the shot is upside down, Adar’s face is covered with his hair, his eyes are all but closed. It is impossible to say what exactly is he feeling.
It is very obvious what Sauron/Halbrand is feeling with his nostrils flaring and jaw still clenched
“I hate you for what you did”.
It is clear he’s going for a kill (although no one would be able to stop a spear like that but oh-kay, he’s a goddamn Maia).
Reminding you, that at this moment Adar has both hands free. And still he decides to do nothing. He doesn’t try to grab Sauron’s foot or to cover his throat or anything. With his eyes fluttered shut, he just accepts his fate and the revenge Sauron is about to inflict.
It is perfectly seen he is afraid of death. And when Galadriel calls out to Halbrand, Adar doesn’t even try to look at his unexpected savior. His gaze is still fixed on Sauron.
Once again, very clear shots. All the faces and all the anger are perfectly seen.
Sauron’s gaze is fixed on Adar in return.
And Galadriel is like “they have a history, poor Halbrand…“. Her eyes are fixed on Halbrand, the shot showing her concern and compassion for him, because Galadriel has no idea it isn’t Halbrand that is the victim. And the viewers follow her trail of thought and emotion.
Then comes the part that tricked most of us.
Attention, please.
The shot is once again upside down, there’s hair all over Adar’s face, the camera does a JOB of filming this from the opposite direction of where Adar’s staring (at Sauron), so we don’t see his eyes or much of his face.
The fact that we don’t see his face clearly makes us rely on what he’s saying. And what he’s saying sounds like a mockery, although it’s actually a bitter retort.
Doing nothing to resist physically (probably knowing it is impossible against Sauron), Adar still puts up a verbal fight.
This might be the first time he says his pain out loud.
But it looks like it’s Adar who is guilty. Galadriel is even more concerned. The camera shows us that she is awaiting Halbrand’s reaction and his response.
The camera tilts sideways, showing us less hair, more face:
It seems a mockery once again. And now it is. This “woman” line concerned me for a while because I couldn’t get why would Adar mock Sauron with something as distant as a woman lover (Angbang forever, mates), something he clearly wasn’t interested much in.
Then it dawned that Adar is probably referring to his lover. Someone that Sauron, or Melkor, tortured and hurt (and most probably put to rape and breeding orcs…) and made die a long time ago.
Look at that bitter smile.
But oh, Sauron doesn’t like to be mocked for his deeds, does he? He’s once again trembling with rage, it’s perfectly seen:
While we are made think Adar hit the spot in Halbrand’s past life.
The camera’s certainly now zooming in, indicating there’s a tension building between these two. The shot is still tilted, making it hard to analyze Adar.
Adar’s breathing it out very accusingly. The wound of letting his orcs be put to torture is still fresh, in contrast to the probable woman he had lost a long ago. If we take into account that Sauron commanded legions of orcs during the First Age, then Adar is talking about thousands of his children being sent to fight and die by Sauron and for Sauron.
Really, what did Adar do to Sauron that could match the kind of pain Sauron brought him?
Then Galadrial cuts the string of tension:
Of course she’s protecting the person she knows! Any of us would do that.
Now this is the most mysterious moment. While it seems it’s Halbrand remembering his family, it is actually Sauron… grieving over Adar’s betrayal? He looks genuinely hurt, like he’s almost on the verge of tears.
And then this.
Okay, let me slow it down for you:
It seems like Adar, seeing that hurt look on Sauron’s face, realizes something. Something that makes him feel some kind of awe and breathe in in disbelief. Probably he’s shocked he meant something to Sauron. Probably he’s impressed that he managed to truly hurt him. Probably he thought it wasn’t possible.
Galadriel has a different reaction seeing that face.
This seems to settle Sauron for now but a whole complex of emotions is still clearly shown in the last, most close-upped of all shots:
TLDR: The composition of this scene gives us straight, clear shots of Halbrand & Galadriel while giving very angly, difficult shots of Adar for us not to comprehend his emotions well so we’d not guess Halbrand is SUS too early.
pls somebody save adar little meow-meow
I saw this small stuff go well:
So I shouldered my job as a cinema critique and set off to do a full analysis of that scene.
Teaser.
All of Halbrand/Sauron's shots:
Meanwhile, every single Adar shot:
age 1 and 2 where everything is the same but sauron in the forge acts LIKE THAT
Gif rights: @haladrielgifs
I can’t unsee the similarity between this and an old but gold video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blPFDWEMRDU
There are English subtitles for this. The line the dude is screaming all the time is just “EYYYYYES”
We are creation of the One, Master of the Secret Fire, the same as you. Just as worthy of a breath of life and just as worthy of a home.
I have little work to do, so I’ve been staring at this gif for, like, half an hour, and guess what?
You can see exactly the moment where his fear and disbelief, coming from some familiarity of the pose/position/Halbrand’s face, that this is Sauron turns into “no, I’m putting too much into it, shouldn’t be doing that, Sauron is dead and I saw him die“.
His “No” then is punctuating that.
Joseph Mawle is a king of micro-expressions, honestly.
gif credit: @bluedaddysgirl
Then @papugaka said Adar’s gaze is moving slightly to Sauron’s spear and back to Sauron, and it seems true.
Knowing Sauron had a spear, just how many times exactly did Sauron take that dominating stance over Adar in the past that it takes Adar one second to recognize it in a low man?
I remember someone asking Bear McCreary whether there was an Adar theme and him answering that the brass in Nampat was all his.
But apparently there is? It's called "Adar Lord-Father", it just didn't appear in the released album for the series
Gotta go brag my latest Sauron/Adar fic then
I thought it would be natural for Adar to give names to the newborns in his troop
First bit of some Sauron/Adar stuff delivered to those in need
Srsly, why isn't there more, we're doing a bad job, bad, bad job as a fandom, lol
(@kingofrhun you wanted it, I know)
Dark Lords
Galadriel threatened Adar that she would slaughter his children in front of him, Sauron might be the one to do it, to make his revenge as painful as possible.
commission for my friend (ﾉ>ω<)ﾉ :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆
see no difference
When the light of the Valar still shone.
Adar is my favorite character, so he will suffer the most from my great love …and Sauron's love too
sauron goes brrrrrrrrr
