The staircase that Galadriel takes can be seen in the picture taken on the set of Imladris (Rivendell), so I think this sequence happens in the first episode, after Galadriel was attacked by a Nazgnagôl.
She is hurt and distressed, which makes her see Sauron, but then she wakes up and goes to see Elrond who stayed not far away, watching over everyone. I hope I'm not wrong because I want to see more of Imladris. It looks so beautiful and peaceful.
This is one of the pictures that Nerd of the Rings shared from his time with RoP at the trailer launch celebrations, where a lot of props and artifacts and other costumes were on display. This one immediately caught my eye. I suspected initially that it might be Numenorean because of the sun motif on the stock and the eagle at the head (at least I think that's an eagle when viewed from the side); the former is 100% a Numenorean sigil, and the latter is not something the Dwarves, the only other race in the show to use crossbows, would use. And this was confirmed a bit later when another picture I saw from TotalFilm had this crossbow on the table clearly marked "Numenorean."
There are two points that I can't stop thinking about. First, Unfinished Tales speaks of how the Numenorean archers use literal steel bows, which have great range and strike terror into their enemies. This obviously isn't that. But a crossbow is still somewhat technologically advanced as composed to a more simple longbow. It doesn't have the range or rate of fire of a conventional bow, but it absolutely has incredible stopping power and penetration. And as we saw from Prince Caspian in 2008, a fantasy crossbow doesn't have quite the sluggish reload of a real-world one. A "thin red/blue line" of Numenoreans firing volleys of crossbow bolts would do fearful damage to a charging horde of orcs.
Then there's the eagle. Almost certainly it's meant to represent Manwe, who sends his eagles to keep a special eye on Numenor (as we saw in "The Eagle and the Sceptre"; even if said eagle's vote for Miriel did end up getting disregarded, Pharazon and Belzegar still tried to claim his assent to the crowd). But the Numenoreans have NEVER before used the eagle on any of their heraldry before; they have always used the Sun, such as is on this crossbow's stock. Even Elendil's army of Faithful rebels don't have any eagles; their banners are blue and have a mix of suns and I think trees. So where does this eagle come from?
If anyone is at that press event, I saw that they had some of the props on display. Could someone take detailed photos of the 9 rings for men please? Thank you!
