The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Review (Finally)

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Television

I want to talk about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Why? This is a no brainer. I’m a modest fan of J. R. R. Tolkien’s work, so the concept of a tv show set in Middle-earth during the Second Age, was always going to interest me. When the show was released, I happily read several articles about it; which included positive and negative reviews, plus everything in between.

In September, I wrote a blog about some creative negative reviews about the show, because I didn’t know when I would get a chance to view it. That changed a few weeks ago, when I promised myself a reward for surviving 2022, in the form of watching the show.

So during my holiday break, I watched the show over three nights, which involved rain, a snoring and farting dog; as well as UMC2 getting out of bed multiple times, to check to see if the house was still there. I’ve also just finished The Fall of Gondolin, so the timing was written in Varda’s stars.

After watching the first season, I thought in my infinite wisdom that reviewing The Rings of Power would be a smart idea. Maybe.

Image by Marco Ianna from Pixabay

The first thing I want to discuss and acknowledge, is how difficult it is to adapt any prequel medium; let alone a famous one like The Lord of the Rings. The pressure on the crew and cast to satisfy the media, fans, critics, and the public would be immense. Imagine if a tv show was developed to focus on the founding of Hogwarts, from Harry Potter, or the creation of Panem, from The Hunger Games? The social media response would be madness.

The reaction to The Rings of Power was always going to be mixed. The show’s expectations would be higher than a person that’s fantastic at jumping, on a day they have a special reason to be jumping. Among the viewership, there would die hard Tolkien fans, The Lord of the Rings trilogy fans, movie fans, fantasy fans, critics, and the casual viewer.

Would people be comparing the show to the movies? How accurate do you want the show to follow the source material? How much artistic license can you use? How do you keep old fans happy, but not alienate new fans, and vice versa? Would people want to see more of Middle-earth or are the movies enough?

That’s all well and good Scott, but what are your thoughts on the show? Wow, what an original question!

Let’s break this down into four sections.

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

Things I feel The Rings of Power, may need to improve on

  • The sets were amazing, but they looked new. They didn’t look like they were hundreds or thousands of years old.
  • Some dialogue could do with some polishing.
  • Elrond’s oath to Prince Durin about mithril was strange, because he ended up discussing the metal with many non-dwarven people.
  • Even though time is not absolute, it was difficult to determine how much time had passed. eg The Númenóreans journey to Middle-earth and Galadriel’s adventures.
  • Why was Halbrand in the middle of the Great Sea in the first place?

Things I liked in the The Rings of Power

  • Having a mortal human man (Aragon, Beren and Tuor) falling in love with an immortal elven princess (Arwen, Lúthien and Idril) had been done before. So it was refreshing to see a immortal male elf (Arondir) in love with a mortal human woman (Bronwyn).
  • The costumes, sets, CGI and music were outstanding.
  • Witnessing the creation of Mount Doom and the conversion of the Southlands into Mordor, was an unexpected and excellent surprise.
  • Adar and the Orcs winning, was actually a moral victory.
  • The concept that not everybody hated Sauron, was a quite clever idea.
  • The design of Númenor was visually gorgeous; especially their ships.
  • Travelling by map was great for viewers unfamiliar with Middle-earth.
  • Elrond and Durin’s relationship was special, because not only did it highlight inter-species friendships, but it also looked at what it would be like having an elf as a friend. Elrond missed 20 years of Durin’s life, because 20 years is nothing to an immortal elf.
  • Finally showing us female dwarves was great.
  • Having Sauron play the hero and victim in his own story, was unexpected. The more I thought about it, I more I liked it.
  • Because Nori discovered and helped Gandalf, it explains as to why the wizard has a soft spot for hobbits. Not including Bilbo, of course.
  • I’m bias as a New Zealander, but the cinematography was beautiful.

Things people are angry about

Complaining about casting non-white characters:

This is embarrassing and idiotic. We live in the 21st century, so we have evolved into a global community. Because of this, stories like The Lord of the Rings have been translated and spread around the world; it’s a global brand. This means people from all walks of life, in hundreds of different countries, are already or possibly potential viewers and fans.

Why would the production company alienate these people, by casting all white actors? People need to see themselves on the big and small screen, because we need to reflect society and reality. The fantasy genre is not just for straight white males; it’s for anybody. So anyone complaining about non-white actors in the show, really need to join us in the 21st century. Seriously, come join us, we have Salt and Vinegar chips!

Complaining about the pace of the show:

I’ve read several complaints about how the show was slow, boring and lacked action. I can understand this, but for me it was a slow burn. Yes, it did start slow, but it didn’t end that way. As the show progressed, tension, intrigue, drama and action, started to develop. You can’t have a show that has action and drama in every scene, because that would be exhausting and pointless.

Yes, some parts of the show were slow, but that was by design; it needed to be that way. An example of this was when Theo found the sword hilt, that just happened to be what Adar was looking for; but what did it do? What was its function? You had to wait to discover the secret.

Basically, I had the attention span to watch all eight episodes and not be bored. The pace of the show was fine.

Complaining about Galadriel’s personality:

For this one, people were upset about how Galadriel was so combative, argumentative, arrogant, selfish and unpleasant. The main reason viewers felt that way, was because they were comparing Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel to Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel; which was always going to happen. That was unavoidable.

Yes it’s true that Galadriel is not all about kittens and rainbows at the start of the show, but we need to remember two things:

1.) Galadriel’s brother Finrod, was killed in battle against Morgoth, and her husband Celeborn, is missing, believed dead. She is suffering and angry. She knows Sauron is alive, she just needs the evidence to prove it. The way is she is obsessed with finding Sauron is questionable, but Galadriel’s not wrong.

2.) Clark’s Galadriel is thousands of years younger than Blanchett’s Galadriel. The Galadriel in the future (The Lord of Rings) is wise, compassionate and sympathetic. She has crafted these traits over thousands of years, because she has evolved and changed; just like us. Are you the same person you were 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 years ago?

No, you’ve changed, along with your opinions and the way you see the world. Why would a fictional elf that is thousands of years old, that has gone through terrible life experiences, be any different? In order for Galadriel to be the wise elf we know in The Lord of Rings, the journey that she has started in The Rings of Power, will take her there.

You can actually see Galadriel’s emotional growth from the first episode to the last. It’s her story arc; all great characters have them. Galadriel has made mistakes, because even fictional elves are not infallible. We know what Galadriel’s final destination is, but we get to tag along with her on that journey. Galadriel will change and develop over the course of the show; that’s the point many people have missed.

Things I’m looking forward to seeing in the show

  • Hopefully watching King Durin III and Gil-galad, become more compassionate leaders towards other races.
  • Exploring what the three elven rings, Narya, Nenya and Vilya can do.
  • More battles.
  • Spending time with Sauron and his shenanigans.
  • The forging of the seven dwarf rings, and exploring their abilities.
  • The forging of the nine rings, destined for the leaders of Men; but also the corruption of the mortal men. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
  • The forging of the One Ring by Sauron and how he uses it.
  • More battles.
  • The downfall of Númenor.
  • The return of Celeborn and Isildur, but also the rise of Elendil.
  • Maybe some Balrogs.
  • Gandalf interacting with the world.
  • More battles.
  • The Harfoots settling in the Shire. Maybe.
  • Seeing Arondir and Bronwyn marry.
  • Watching the relationships between the elves, dwarves and mortals develop.

If it’s not obvious, I liked The Rings of Power. Is it perfect? No. Is there room for improvements? Yes. Am I going to return for Season Two? Yes, yes I am. The show has added to the Middle-earth lore. There is huge potential for the show, so we can pray to Eru Ilúvatar, that Season Two will blow us away.

But that’s my humble opinion. Have you seen The Rings Of Power? What are your thoughts? Please let me know.

That’s it for me, I’ve off to raid the pantry before bed. Thanks again for following Some Geek Told Me, read some banned books, walk your dog, and I’ll see you next week.