i know what the lore says but ROP.... I have some questions
now I KNOW that there is no way Sauron and Galadriel ever met in Valinor as kids. I know the lore. But... the visuals of the opening scene of the show keep bugging me, especially after there were whispers of young!Mairon potentially being seen in S2.
“Nothing is evil in the beginning” is directly overlaid on a scene of a blindfolded boy who is being guided by a tapping sound from one of the children. (metaphor?)
“And there was a time when the world was so young, there had not yet been a sunrise” the camera remains focused on this boy. With reddish brown hair and light colored eyes that… well… having this boy and the young Galadriel be the first focused frames of the show is a certain introduction.
*Pause* I want to appreciate how the first thing this kid sees when taking off the blindfold is Galadriel and he gets… this expression. Like I’ve seen that expression before.
“Even then there was light,” is the voiceover when the boy looks at Galadriel and we and this boy are seeing her for the first time.
Notice how he is the ONLY one looking at her in this shot. As if he is the only one who can see her light.
As she is folding the origami boat, a young male voice is heard offscreen asking what is that. This is the second voice we hear in the entire show.
That’s alone is not what’s interesting. As the children approach Galadriel, the camera waits for the formerly blindfolded boy to peer his head around at her before switching to show Galadriel again.
(the boy just has a bit of a wry mischevious look to his face and VERY ambiguously shaped ears... like we know Halbrand has big ears and so are this little boy's but I've not found ONE shot where they look clearly POINTED.)
But he doesn’t talk to her though, that’s reserved for the rude boy.
*Also* the blindfolded-boy is wearing the simplest clothing out of ALL of the children. The two other boys have gold adornments on their tunics but the reddish-brunette has nothing. It's obvious even from behind how his clothing is the plainest of all of theirs... almost like a servant.
The episode don’t show who threw the first stone (👀). Nor they don’t show which of the kids’ throws finally sinks the boat. But… the formerly-blindfolded kid is running behind the pack for the majority of the time. Meaning he may have thrown it or did he stay out of the conflict, just remaining at the fringes.
But this boy in the simple clothing loiters in the back of the pack for the ENTIRE exchange of watching her ship. Like he wants to say something to her but isn’t.
This might be nothing... but if the show-runners truly had the main idea of basing the whole show around that line in the Mirror of Galadriel...
"blinded by the darkness, her light turned away from him, but nevertheless he gropes ever to see her. But still the door is closed.”
Somehow... this boy being the first to approach her, to almost be reaching out to see what the girl is doing... nothing is accidental in film and television. Particularly in the establishing shots of the show. It may be against lore. But nevertheless even in episode 2, Halbrand's introduction to the audience is a perfect mirror.
