As the outrageously expensive second season of the Amazon show “The Rings of Power” is reaching its midway point, I feel extremely underwhelmed and disappointed as a lover of all things “Lord of the Rings.” Though this was the most expensive show made to-date, critics are unimpressed with the quality and loyalty to source material.
Set in the “Lord of the Rings” universe, which was created by J.R.R. Tolkien, the show takes place during the Second Age (in relation to the Third Age, when the events of “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” take place.) The Second Age is a period of around 3,500 years, beginning with the rise of the island nation Númenor, a powerful kingdom of long-lived people who eventually became the kings of Gondor and Arnor in “Lord of the Rings”– this is who Aragorn descended from. The events of the age include the forging of the rings of power, Sauron’s deception, the fall of Númenor, and the following wars between Sauron’s forces and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Though these events take place over thousands of years, the show crunches everything together, so it –for the most part– all takes place simultaneously.
The things that irked me beyond belief were the differences between the source material and the show. There were so many things that don’t make sense, from differing character personalities, to timeline crunches and even new characters original to the show. The show attempted to pander towards audiences with all of the qualities of the “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, but not all of those things work in this time setting, and attempting to completely replicate the feeling of the movies makes the show feel vague, and the characters barely relate or interact with each other.
As a Tolkien fan, I’m obliged to believe they should have stuck more strictly to the source material rather than pandering and attempting to make characters and events more “relatable.” I will admit, the source material for the show is not as in-depth or specific which makes it more difficult to adapt. The story is pulled from multiple Tolkien sources, mainly histories of Middle-Earth, like “The Silmarillion,” without dialogue or much character-oriented story. I understand the disconnect and difficulty when compared to the films based on fully fledged out stories of Tolkien. I believe it could have been so much better, though, it’s such a beloved story with unique and beautiful aspects that aren’t given nearly enough thought or love in the show.
One of my main complaints about it is how immortal characters were portrayed. As I previously mentioned, the show did a lot of pandering and attempts to increase relatability and humanity of characters. The main way it did this is through humanizing non-human characters. Imagine the elves of “The Lord of the Rings” – immortal beings, most of them thousands of years old, with a magic and beauty that people could practically see radiating from them. The elves in the show are not like this. They lack wisdom that must be gained over millennia– character interactions were far too straightforward and easy, they lacked the nuance and intelligence the characters in the books have, not to mention their magical senses. Most elves are able to see others’ intentions and can see into hearts, this was not showcased at all in the show. They hardly seem elevated or powerful.
Their appearance was also lackluster. They are meant to be nearly glowing, with beautiful features, being extremely tall and with a certain light in their eyes, but the show characters look like normal people with pointy ears. They even gave most of the male elves short, modern haircuts, which makes no sense. Elves were really written as sort of androgynous, very fair and elegant regardless of gender, they’re meant to all have long hair– with their budget I’m confused about the lack of a wig budget. I’ll admit, the costumes can be pretty cool, but they don’t seem unique enough or hardly magical fantasy enough.
Galadriel, one of if not the singular protagonist of the show, was described in the books as being terrible and beautiful, tall and daunting yet fair, with the glow of the Two Trees of Valinor, gold and silver both in her hair. Not to mention she was a high society princess born with a higher rank. She also has a stronger ability than most to see into people’s hearts and intentions. In the show, she’s short and kind of meek, and was constantly cast aside and ignored in political conversations. Her character was built on strong will and the power of judgment, yet in the show she’s shown as very headstrong and nearly irrational. She seemed young and clumsy despite her thousands of years of life. Her character was entirely changed to be the struggling protagonist with a relatable character arc, despite her long character development before the events of the show which make her an established leader, revered and wise by that point in the books.
The fact that Elrond seems above her in rank in the show was baffling. For one, Elrond was so much younger than Galadriel, he marries her daughter! Yet they appear the same age in the show, Galadriel looking possibly even younger than him. Galadriel was a daughter of a previous king of the Noldor, born in Valinor. Elrond was a half-elf, born much later in Middle-Earth. He eventually did become a leader in Rivendell, but at the time of this show he would be very young. I believe he honestly would’ve made a much more relatable and interesting main character than Galadriel. They had to change Galadriel to have this struggle even though she would’ve been established and leading in high-society. Elrond already was born with this struggle being a half-elf, not born into as high of nobility as Galadriel, and being young during this time. He would’ve been much easier to make relatable and it would make more sense for him to have a character arc as a younger character.
Those are my problems with the elves, but there’s also such a big problem with the timeline. The fact that the Númenor plot was even in the show was annoying. Elendil and Isildur being directly from Númenor was just crazy. Gondor and Arnor were the main forces present during the forging of the rings and the first wars, but they’re showing the characters, King Elendil of Gondor and Prince Isildur, who cut the ring off Sauron’s hand, as Númenoreans and not from Gondor. They were meant to be descended from the kings of Númenor, yes, but had been kings in Gondor and Arnor for thousands of years before Elendil and Isildur did their thing.
There was also a big lack of involvement of the Istar, like Gandalf and Saruman. There is the mysterious Stranger character, who seems more like Gandalf than anything, though there could be a plot twist there. If it was Gandalf, his climactic arrival on Middle-Earth via meteor was totally incorrect. He was sent by the Valar on a boat to aid in Middle-Earth, and arrived at the Gray Havens/Lorien. He did not have amnesia or forget his identity, or any of that. He went to Middle Earth right after Saruman and Radagast did, and with a purpose. They’re trying again and again to add a character development factor that just doesn’t exist on that scale with old immortal characters. The lack of these old characters was sad, because they were involved in the events.
The inclusion of hobbits is also strange and especially pander-y. They have nothing to do with the stories of the forging of the rings or other events of the age. They just had to add a wander-lusting hobbit to appeal to that part of Lord of the Rings. It’s really cheesy and doesn’t relate to the other plot lines at all, it’s completely fabricated just so they could have hobbits. I like hobbits, but they should have just let the story be what it is, which was awesome and just doesn’t need hobbits yet. They also added another whole plot line around the people of the Southlands and around Mordor, which was also totally cheesy and adds extra characters no one asked for.
All of the little pieces of the show don’t add up. The concept was good, and some of the visuals were astounding, but much of the characters, plot lines, and writing felt tacky, shallow, and overall trying too hard to include everything all at once. Though the story is beloved and quite interesting, with great fantasy elements and all the things that make “Lord of the Rings” so enticing, it’s also all over the place–and the storylines spread out and disconnected in a very messy way just so they could include more content. It overly humanizes and attempts to give arcs to ancient immortal characters where it doesn’t make sense just for a relatability factor. Though I will admit, I won’t stop watching the show because of these things, it’s still “Lord of the Rings” content that maintains at least some of the charm of the original story.
