Elves traverse from their lands as orcs crawl from the depths, defying their alleged extinction, and Mordor smolders in the distance. Mankind prepares for war, dwarves conspire with their sworn enemies, and hobbits travel with a gray wizard. There’s no doubt that this is Middle Earth, but a disclaimer would do the spectator well.
This is not Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
This is “The Rings of Power,” a show that has been gradually releasing its second season since Aug. 19, 2024. The show is described as an “epic drama set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’…” that “…follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth” (IMDb). In other words, it’s a dramatized retelling of beings (hobbits, humans, strangers, and elves) having existential crises over all-powerful rings.
The synopsis might sound like a recipe for J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” but as mentioned before, it’s not. Elinor Varner, a Tolkien finatic, explains, “‘The Rings of Power’ is based off of the appendices of ‘Lord of the Rings,’ which is an early draft and condensed version of ‘The Silmarillion’.” Even then, the series relies heavily on the directors’ creativity, which is a product of them “catering” to the audience. CNET, a website for media reviews, has a review on “Every Episode of ‘Rings of Power’ Season 1 Compared to Tolkien’s lore.” In it, the author notes “deviation” of Tolkien’s original plot to make the show “a lot more palpable to modern audiences.” Also, certain plot twists on the directors’ part versus what actually happened in Tolkien’s world seem to be a “compromise for modern audiences”. The key word, compromise, elicits a question from bookworms and cinephiles alike: is the compromise working?
For people like Varner, who view the show through a “Tolkien lens”, the differences are more obvious. Varner’s history with Tolkien’s original works started at “The Hobbit,” which led to her reportedly “devouring any other books by Tolkien I could get my hands on.” When it comes to “Lord of the Rings” books versus the movies, Varner favors the books “100%” because, “They tell so much and yet leave just enough of a gap that the reader actually has a job and can use their imagination.” Even with this preference, she has watched the first season of “The Rings of Power” and what had been released of the second. According to her, even though the directors don’t have rights to “The Silmarillion,” “The Rings of Power” could be using more from “The Lord of the Rings” appendices than they are.
As it is, one of the most noticeable compromises in “The Rings of Power” is with the elf Galadriel, an important character from “The Lord of the Rings”. In “The Rings of Power”, she’s a warrior. This caters to the new type of feminism, the one that shouts “girl boss” and ignores all else. This change in Galadriel’s character from the Tolkien counterpart irks Varner the most, and she explains, “[Galadriel’s] power comes in being a safe haven, not a warrior. Her strength is in her femininity, not in her warrior prowess. Would she have been tough, determined, and well-trained? Yes. But that is not what she relied on. She was strong in her identity as one of the oldest beings on Middle-Earth, one of the few to have seen the Light of the Two Trees, and as a woman. She was not constantly trying to prove her worth by war.”
Not only does the show change Galadriel’s character almost entirely, but it pushes her warrior status on the viewer. There are many promising storylines in “The Rings of Power,” which I appreciated in the first season. I was able to pick and choose which characters I wanted to follow more closely. However, if this is the intended purpose, why is it that when I watched the first season through a second time, I could distinctly tell who the main character was?
The one and only Galadriel.
Galadriel seems to have the camera on her for everything. She dissociates with her friend, Elrond, even though he did only what he thought was best for her. Meaning, he was part of the reason why she had the opportunity to go to the beyond (Valinor) where she could be at peace, but she literally swam away from it for the “greater good.” The tension between Elrond and Galadirel is even more noticeable in the second season. However, the message behind their relationship is elusive, and Varner asks, “What is the director trying to do? Are they rivals? Are they friends? Is this a friends to lovers trope?” Referencing Tolkien’s original works, Varner exclaims, “IF SO let me remind you that she is his MOTHER-IN LAW!!! Galadriel’s character is so wrong and Elrond is so petty that I just can’t. These are the two who basically lead the elves after Gil-Gad’s departure? No wonder Sauron returns and they resort to hobbits.”
Despite the offputting relationship between the two elves, Varner enjoyed the directors’ creativity in regard to the friendship that understandably had more tension. “I love the relationship between Durin and Elrond. Elrond was a great diplomat, and I love how this is portrayed. He also had a deep care for not only the elves but for other races too…” Varner explains. In Tolkien lore, the elves and dwarves are enemies. Elrond and Durin are exceptions to this, and the show does a good job of displaying the problems that something as simple as forbidden friendship can bring. Through this storyline, spectators of “The Rings of Power” also get to see the inside of Khazad-Dûm (the dwarfs homeland, AKA the Mines of Moria), which is desolate in “The Lord of the Rings.”
Unfortunately, for many viewers, the loud messages and even the vivid scenes in “The Rings of Power” became tiring. The first season’s budget was $100-150 million dollars, but it ended up utilizing $465 million dollars (SCREEN RANT). As I rewatched the first season, I commented on how most of the costumes were well done and gave me “Lord of the Rings” vibes. The locations and decorations were thought out and very intricate, but in the end it added up to too much.
There are so many other things that could be said about the show (both bad and good), but that would take ages, and unfortunately we’re not elves. The point is: there are some storylines of “The Rings of Power” that can be watched with a passion, but when the show makes one wonder if the villain is Sauron or Galadriel, it puts its message into question.
“The Rings of Power” focuses on darkness, both in the world and in our hearts. The line that set Galadriel’s ambitions in motion, “sometimes we cannot know until we touch the darkness,” goes hand in hand with the inquiry: how far is too far?
The show dances around the question, trying to mask it up by “enhancing” Galadriel’s girl-boss aura. Whether or not the spectator is supposed to like Galadriel is not entirely clear, but for Varner, Galadriel comes off as “100%” whiny. Some of the storylines in the show focus on applaudable aspects like forgiveness, but the persistent “will darkness consume us” nature of the series feels overused and misused. Not only this, but “The Rings of Power” has missed the real meaning behind Tolkien’s universe.
Hopefully, the show will come to a better ending than the trope that it’s been portraying so far. After all, according to Varner, Tolkien’s universe is encapsulated as something more. “All in all, it’s a promise, I think. It’s a reminder that, ultimately, the darkness will not and cannot win. All of us will depart from the Gray Havens one day, the only question is whether we will make it to Valinor.”
