In defence of ‘The Rings of Power’
Like so many snarling orcs, I’ll most likely get slaughtered for this, but The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a wonderful TV show. Of course, at points, it can be a bit clunky, with parts of J.R.R Tolkien’s treasured works snipped away in the name of the timeline being more straightforward. It can also rightly be criticised for a handful of plot points that don’t make much sense. However, broadly speaking, the show is brilliant and undeserving of all the harsh, often threatening praise it gets on the internet.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s works and the Peter Jackson trilogy of films are some of the most cherished pieces of art in popular culture, so there was always going to be a lot to live up to. With regards to the show’s subject material, diehard fans who thought that the original story, which is told over thousands of years, would be the same in Amazon’s adaptation have a right to be angry. Despite this, when you think about it from a practical point of view, it’s not how TV works, as even House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones, was needed as a separate body of work, and that is only set 200 years before the events of the original series. Scope and time are everything, even with a $1 billion budget.
Before showering praise on the show, I would like to mention, which will probably get me in more hot water, this time from defenders of The Rings of Power, that there is one side plot in the show that was rather unnecessary. The romance between Arondir and Bronwyn. While it serves something of a purpose to break up the breakneck speed of everything happening in the Southlands and gives Arondir more of a motive to defend the area, at points, it gets in the way of the larger plot. The scintillating tension is spoiled by cheesy moments of flourishing love that belong in the Disney canon.
Maybe I’m a curmudgeon, as their relationship might become more critical in the second season, but as it stands, it is not so. Whilst we’re here as well, it must be noted that Elrond’s quiff is ridiculous. You wouldn’t see Hugo Weaving rocking one of these even if he played the younger version of the Elf Lord.
Criticisms aside, on the whole, there is much to love about The Rings of Power, even if you’re a diehard Tolkien and Jackson fan. As well as being extracted from the most cherished fantasy universe, the fact that it came with the tag of being the most expensive series of all time was a hefty weight to bear. Topping things off, being released on the same day as House of the Dragon was always going to hang heavy around the show’s neck.
However, The Rings of Power defied all expectations by not being a flop. It made good on its tag of being the most expensive television programme in history by delivering a multi-faceted script that was bustling with memorable characters, locations and set pieces.
Furthermore, by respecting the existing material in both the books and Jackson’s films, it still managed to feel connected to what we love whilst also doing something new and introducing new elements that still don’t feel unbelievable vis-a-vis Tolkien, despite what its detractors might claim.
In terms of the acting, all of the prominent cast members, in particular Morfydd Clark, Robert Aramayo, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Markella Kavenagh, Owain Arthur, Daniel Weyman, Charlie Vickers and Joseph Mawle, are all incredible, delivering a diverse array of roles that show almost every fundamental aspect of Middle Earth, from the pure Harfoots to the bastion of evil himself, Sauron.
A final point that many of the show’s critics seem to forget is that this is only the beginning. It might have been slow at points, with the titular rings only brought into the fold towards the end of the final episode, but as this is a tale that needs telling properly, it requires room to breathe and not to be rushed. In a few years, we will certainly be looking back on the first season as mere exposition, as we now do with the debut season of Game of Thrones.
This is just the start, and with the showrunner’s recently claiming that the role of Sauron will be like that of the dastardly Walter White in Breaking Bad, it is clear that the best is yet to come, particularly when you note what happens in Tolkien’s books and the explosive finale when the identity of Sauron was revealed.
For those who hate The Rings of Power, it might be worth watching it again.
