Galadriel's character is very well set up and perfectly in line with what we know of her in this period, she is not yet the great and wise Lady of Light - though she has always been beautiful and exceptional, she was also once prideful and wrathful. I do feel she ought to be a little more magical and ethereal given her status as the perhaps second greatest of the Noldor, but that is in all likelihood part of her planned arc from a willing supporter and leader in the rebellion of the Noldor, who crossed the Helcaraxe through sheer wrath at Feanor into the wise and kind ruler of her own fiefdom.
Celebrimbor's character is also really well established - the inferiority complex to Feanor, the ambition and desire (though motivated by good) for power, his admiration and partnership with the Dwarves being based on their ability to see beyond the "banality" of what exists and ability to impose their vision on what will be.... all brilliant, yet innocent, indictors to where his story will lead.
Even the original characters and plots feel well crafted and deferential to the spirit and word of Tolkien as much as they can be while telling their own stories - the Southlands as a precursor to Mordor, with the lingering remnants of the days of Morgoth worship are fascinating and we know from Tolkien that Morgoth first found Man to the East and did his best to corrupt them before they were influenced by the other powers. likewise the idea of the Elves as an occupying force is a great one, its fits their character at this time and the almost alien differences in their perspectives to the other races by still being so distrustful of present humans whose ancestors served the Enemy, for them these wounds are recent, for Men they are being unfairly punished for the sins of people long dead. It would be perfectly ironic for them to push these people towards someone like Sauron who would present himself as a liberator.
Speaking of Sauron they cast his shadow over the setting brilliantly, he feels like an ever-present shadow over the happiness of the current peace.
The Harfoots as nomadic proto-Hobbits is brilliant and I love their design and culture, they embody the virtues of home and the beauty of simple things that is so central to the Hobbits as the heart of Tolkien's world - I don't see how anyone is "creeped out" by these characters.
As for the Stranger's identity....
I'd bet good money on The Stranger being Olorin/Gandalf, as I said all along, its the option that makes sense, his arrival at ME at this time of Sauron's rising coincides with the retconned date Tolkien gave the arrival of the Istari in his later writings, his association with fire makes sense given he is "wielder of the flame of Arnor" and a "servant of the secret fire" and later bears Narya the Ring of Fire, also that his flames don't harm also aligns with him being a servant of good. This also makes him such a good parralel for Sauron "for he was the Enemy of Sauron, opposing the fire that devours and wastes with the fire that kindles, and succours in wanhope and distress". Likewise this would be a good explanation for his close love and association with the Hobbits. His lack of memory and almost child-like state also coincides with Tolkien's writings on the Istari "For it is said indeed that being embodied the Istari had need to learn much anew by slow experience and though they knew whence they came the memory of the Blessed Realm was to them a vision from afar off, for which (so long as they remained true to their mission) they yearned exceedingly. Thus by enduring of free will the pangs of exile and the deceits of Sauron they might redress the evils of that time".
People have this vision of the Istari arriving fully formed and knowledgeable to Middle Earth from a ship from the West, but this is never described so by Tolkien and we can equally conclude it was not so - afterall if they arrived with no memory and the child-like need to learn about the world how then did they sail from Valinor? We know that Gandalf or Mithrandir wandered for a little time before coming across Cirdan in the Grey Havens, whereas if he arrived from the West by ship the first person he would meet is Cirdan's people. Naturally Tolkien's word sometimes contradicts itself and so I have no problem with the writers using gaps and contradictions in the story to tell their own tales, especially where it doesn't "break" the canon.
Other things like how he speaks to the insects clearly invoke the moth from when he is a prisoner at Orthanc, and an explanation for the death of the fireflies could well be something all the like of him not yet having complete control over his power, hence his apparent sadness at their deaths.
Also they already have him wearing a sort of grey/brown-ish cloak....
It definitely isn't Sauron despite the show's attempts to make us think otherwise, Sauron has no need to arrive to ME by meteor - he is ALREADY there.
And the only theories that it is a Balrog make ZERO sense - the Balrogs already exist and are well-established as Demons for thousands of years before these events and should already be deep underground.
So yeah, I'm putting money on it being Gandalf, though if its one of the other Istari I wouldn't be shocked
I feel like this is Tolkien's world - the scope of the prologue in showing the Trees, snippets of the war with Morgoth and the Sinking of Beleriand (the sea LITERALLY red with blood is a fantastic image) were great. I think they did good in showing just enough without it feeling like THAT is the story we should be watching, they also did well to still convey the main points needed for this story using the limited references they can legally make without the rights to the Silmarillion (like showing the shadow of Morgoth but not Ungoliant in the destruction of the Trees, but at the same time not showing the COMPLETE destruction of the Trees in order to still allow for the possibility for book readers that Ungoliant had a part).
The scene when the Ship was returning to Valinor is, for me, perhaps the most "Tolkienian" scene ever put on screen, the forgotten song of home resonating to the returning Elves once more (but not to Galadriel whose heart was too heavy to fully feel the embrace of such a holy place), the parting of the skies and seas, the encompassing light, the birds.... it was beautiful.
Khazad-Dum was just stunning, rewatched the scene a few times, it was incredible to see it as a living city and this adaptation is already doing a great job of adding some much needed depth to the cinematic depictions of Tolkien's dwarves'.
I am a literature scholar, and a significant part of my work and written works are on Tolkien and let me tell you... this is Tolkien. Is it Tolkien with some liberties and creative input by others? Absolutely - but so was the LOTR movies. Indeed some of the clunkier moments like Galadriel's anime finishing move were done first and more outlandishly by Legolas in the movies - if we can forgive that we should forgive this.
Ultimately, Tolkien himself said he wanted to write a fully realized world in which other people might tell their stories and that is what we are seeing here.
So no, this isn't some generic fantasy or S&S flick, it isn't even low fantasy like GOT or HOTD, this is
HIGH fantasy well realized and I can't wait to see more.
Also anyone calling this series cheap looking because they are scrutinizing a still photo of a costume rather than waiting to see the costume and scene in question isn't being genuine. There is nothing cheap here, the costumes, settings, effects are all clearly richly produced and meticulously crafted. You can see the money on the screen. If you don't want to watch the show - fine, no one is making you. But don't resort to blatant bull like this to "justify" your opinion. Its your opinion, you don't need bull reasons to not watch something.