#lotrop

Sauron already being in Eregion but going unnoticed by the people who canonically don’t trust him (Elrond, Gil-galad, Galadriel), because it’s Celebrimbor who is approaching people for this project and making them think it's his own idea, would be delicious drama because it would hurt everyone involved.

Celebrimbor - For… obvious banner related reasons.

Elrond - For aiding evil in the course of duty and letting his admiration and trust blind him. For bringing doom unto the dwarves in the form of 7 rings.

Gil-galad - Because he has unwittingly aided that which has come to destroy his kingdom. Suspicious and politically astute Gil-galad who is already aware that trouble is on the horizon and is doing his best to keep it at bay without alarming his subjects. Except by helping Celebrimbor whom he trusts for counsel, Gil-galad has doomed his kingdom by trusting bad advice. And this would be particularly terrible for a Gil-galad, son of Orodreth, who is most well-known for dooming his kingdom of Nargothrond (founded by Finrod from the prologue) by believing in terrible advice. All Gil-galad’s nightmares are coming true all at once.

Galadriel - Because from episode 1 we see her hunting Sauron across the far corners of Middle-earth. She’s spent so long away from home and has pushed herself and her followers to their limits, alienating everyone around her in the process, because she knows he’s out there. But all this hard work was for nothing, because the call is coming from inside the house and she wasn’t there to stop him.

Everything they are doing, all the missions and goals they have set for themselves? All of this will come to nothing. The road to hell will be paved with their good intentions.

Because… well… They’re Noldor.

Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On the House of Fëanor the wrath of the Valar lieth from the West unto the uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also. Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed shall they be for ever.

Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death’s shadow. For though Eru appointed to you to die not in Eä, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos. There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you. And those that endure in Middle-earth and come not to Mandos shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and become as shadows of regret before the younger race that cometh after. The Valar have spoken.