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The Plot: Like and Unlike Tolkien Novels

     Image via Lord of the Rings on Prime Twitter Account 

“Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.”

The series is expected to juggle multiple storylines. However, all storylines will center on the one incident giving the entire trilogy its famous name- “the forging of the rings.” McKay specifies, “Rings for the elves, rings for dwarves, rings for men, and then the one ring Sauron used to deceive them all. It’s the story of the creation of all those powers, where they came from, and what they did to each of those races.”

The Characters: Both Old and New

Cast: Inclusive Fellowship

The fact that The Rings of Power has made a concentrated effort towards inclusivity is also shown through the selection of its cast. Most notable are the selections of Ismael Cruz Córdova to play Arrondir and Sophia Nomvete to play Dwarven princess Disa. Córdova thus becomes the first person of color to play an elf in a Tolkien film, and Nomvete is both the first woman of color to play a dwarf and the first female dwarf in a Tolkien project.

Both characters are featured in the teaser trailer released on Super Bowl Sunday. Speaking to Vanity Fair, executive producer Lindsey Weber said, “It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien’s work would reflect what the world actually looks like…Tolkien is for everyone. His stories are about his fictional races doing their best work when they leave the isolation of their own cultures and come together.”

Concerns: Still Tolkien and Not Game of Thrones

     New Line Cinema

A major concern for fans was if The Rings of Power would emerge similar to Game of Thrones as news broke that an intimacy coordinator was acquired for the set. Dimitra Fimi, a Tolkien scholar, voiced her concerns, “My worry would be if it becomes a Game of Thrones in the Second Age… that wouldn’t be what one would associate with Tolkien’s vision.” However, fears were soon allayed by McKay who said they were staying true to the Tolkien tone- “a show for everyone, for kids who are 11, 12, and 13…”

Despite staying true to the overall Tolkien tone, Payne and McKay have made some notable deviations, with the most marked being the compression of a thousand years’ worth of events into a single point in time. As per Payne, “If you are true to the exact letter of the law, you are going to be telling a story in which your human characters are dying off every season because you’re jumping 200 years in time, and then you’re not meeting really big, important canon characters until season four. Look, there might be some fans who want us to do a documentary of Middle-earth, but we’re going to tell one story that unites all these things.”

Everything we know so far about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, both speculations and facts, have made it clear that we’re in for an undoubtedly exciting ride. Although the showrunners clearly have respect for the Tolkien tone, creative risks have also been taken. Only time will tell if these risks prove successful or not.