Yeah, my mind involuntarily ran through all the "they're taking our JERBS" memes I've seen during Tamar's rant, which is not a good thing IMO. I think reducing the Númenóreans' resentment to something so prosaic misses the point. It is, however, in keeping with ROP's diminishment of the role of the Valar, who were the primary focus of Númenórean grievances in the books. The Eldar of Eressëa were demonized as "spies of the Valar," but the Eldar of Middle-earth were not treated as enemies—which is not to say they were loved by the King's Men.Aravar wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 3:22 pmI think Pharazon's speech was better at setting out the Númenórean sense of superiority, rather than the lazy "they took our jobs" them in the previous episode. The series still has not come to grips with the other side of the coin: fear of death and the envy of the elves' deathlessness.
(Insert obligatory disclaimer that I don't think changes are automatically bad, I just think making this so mundanely political is less interesting than the fundamentally religious tensions in the books.)
I got a different impression: I think Elrond was trying to display empathy for Durin III's complicated feelings about his father, while also encouraging him to take the opportunity Elrond doesn't have. Or at least, Elrond wanted to be seen as empathetic. I think it came across well, though, and hope it's not undercut by future duplicitousness.