The Main Problem with the Rings of Power series

So, the final episode was a mixed bag like the rest of the series. 

• The “Wizard” storyline ended pretty much as I expected (disappointing, lazy, and predictable). The story of the Istari belongs to the Third Age. There is no narrative reason for the writers to cram them into the Second Age (especially given that they already have too many other storylines to properly unfold). (But it looks like the proto-hobbits won't be around for next season? Or is that too much to hope?) 
• The Durin III conclusion made no sense. (He single-handedly managed to bury the balrog with a swing of his axe? And since the dwarves now know that a balrog lies beneath Khazad-dûm, why would they later “dig too deeply” and release it in 1980 of the Third Age?)
• The Númenor storyline feels forced and under-explained. (You would have no idea of the central role that the “fear of mortality” vs “faith” plays in the conflict between the “Kings’ Men” and “the Faithful.”) 
• The Adar story was a surprise and I found it moving. 
• A solid ending for Celebrimbor. (I like how he manipulated Sauron into killing him, thereby ending his torment.)
• Sauron/Annatar is a joy to watch whenever he's on the screen (the actor Charlie Vickers really captures the essence of the character). 
• And … how the hell is Gil-Galad the High King of the Elves? He’s portrayed as an indecisive doofus in the series.

Taking a step back and considering the series overall (both seasons), the MAIN PROBLEM with it is that it comes across as something written by people who are only familiar with the Peter Jackson films but have been given some notes and lines to use from the novels. It’s as if a group of people thought about what a cool “prequel” to the movies would involve, and, almost as an afterthought, were given a sheet with a list of things from the Second Age to mention as well. 

Sadly, The Rings of Power is not what a series that aimed to tell a story about some key events of the Second Age – as described by J.R.R. Tolkien – would look like. It is no wonder that people who actually like the writings of Tolkien find it so disappointing.

Finally, I assure you that this almost certainly will be my last post on this frustrating television series for some time (at least until the third season is imminent).

Rings of Power Season 2 Thoughts

Season 2 of The Rings of Power is definitely better overall than season 1. But the series remains, on balance, disappointing.

Below are some quick thoughts on RoP season 2.

Positive:

• The sets in both seasons are great. Ost-in-Edhil, Númenor, and (especially) Khazad-dûm look amazing.
• Many of the actors are quite good and are well cast for the characters they represent (e.g., Elendil, Annatar, Celebrimbor, Durin IV, Elrond, Miriel, Ar-Pharazôn). 
• I like the new character Adar and the nuance that he brings to the condition of orcs in Middle-earth (a topic with which Tolkien himself struggled throughout his life).
• The original character Arondir also is cool (and well-acted).
• The relationship and interactions between Celebrimbor and Annatar this season are quite compelling. Annatar’s “gaslighting” of Celebrimbor is well done overall, I think. (But I’m annoyed that the relationship unfolds over a period of months instead of decades.)
• The portrayal of Sauron (Annatar) this season has been excellent. 

Negative:

• I’m still really annoyed by the grossly compressed timeline. Smashing together events from the middle of the Second Age – the forging of the rings and the war of Sauron and the Elves – with events near the end of the Second Age – the fall of Númenor – irritates me to no end. 1700 years reduced to … 170 days?
• Not only does the compressed timeline make a mess of the history of Middle-earth, it creates too many storylines, none of which are adequately developed. E.g., Why is Númenor split between the Faithful and the King’s Men? Watching the show, you’d have no idea (aside from the prospect of “elves stealing jobs”!?!). 
• The “Wizard and proto-hobbits” storyline is terrible and pointless. It doesn’t even have a minimal connection to anything that Tolkien wrote. It’s an attempt by the writers to ram into the series a “Gandalf and the Hobbits” origin story. There already are too many storylines in the show and it definitely does not need this one. (The actor who plays the Wizard is quite good, though.)
• The scripts, especially dialogues, are often quite bad (albeit slightly improved from last season).
• Middle-earth feels too “small” in the series. Characters pop around the vast land (from Lindon to Ost-in-Edhil to Khazad-dûm, or from Pelargir to Ost-in-Edhil) far too quickly. (A great virtue of the original Peter Jackson trilogy was that it conveyed a real sense of the enormity of Middle-earth, the far distances and wildlands of the world.)
• Related to the previous point, the pacing always feels off, too rushed. 

Overall, I stuck with the second season primarily because of the Annatar-Celebrimbor storyline. While not perfect, I found it compelling enough to want to keep following it (in part because the actors are excellent). I also think that Elendil is a great character, but the Númenor storyline has been underdeveloped this season (and wastes time with silly tangents like the “sea worm” trial). I’ll reserve final judgement until after the final episode (this week), but so far, I’d give the second season a 6.5/10.

On the Trailers for Season 2 of the Rings of Power

There have been two recent trailers for the next season of Amazon’s The Rings of Power series. One from Comic Con a couple of weeks ago (link) and the final one released before the second season starts on August 29th (link). 

For illuminating discussion of both, I recommend the commentaries posted by the “Nerd of the Rings” (here and here). I don’t watch that much on YouTube (or anywhere, really), but I do follow the NotR and have enjoyed many of his videos about Middle-earth history. I think that he’s been pretty fair about the series – he gave the first season a 6/10 (see his review here), which strikes me as about right. 

I had planned to post a proper review of season one myself, but I never got around to it. Suffice to say that I found it to be very much a “mixed bag.” The sets and scenery were top-notch: Númenor, Khazad-Dûm, and Ost-in-Edhil all looked absolutely amazing in my opinion. And some of the storylines were compelling (e.g., the Elrond-Durin relationship; the character “Adar”). But others were terrible (e.g., the whole “mithril-cures-Elf-cancer” storyline that the writers pointlessly invented; the portrayal of Galadriel’s character throughout the series). The writing was often disappointing if not cringe-inducing (e.g., Pharazôn’s “Elves-will-steal-our-jobs” speech), and the conclusion – with the lacklustre creation of the three Elven rings before any of the others – was not especially promising for the series’ future. Finally, the cavalier attitude of the writers towards Middle-earth canon – especially the compression of 1700 years of history into a few years for the sake of the series – still grates on me.

But I have to say that the two trailers (to which I linked above) have me somewhat excited to see how the second season turns out. A proper “Annatar-Celebrimbor” relationship would be great to watch (even if it unfolded absurdly quickly compared to Tolkien’s timeline). And I retain (probably a fool’s) hope that the “Stranger” will turn out to be a Blue Wizard rather than Gandalf. 

Even though the second season starts on August 29, I probably will not be able to watch any episodes until mid-September, as I’ll be busy with travel and work. But I’ll post my thoughts here one I manage to watch a few episodes. 

The Hunt for Gollum

When I learned last year that Warner Bros would be coming out with some new movies set in Middle-earth, I was pretty sceptical. But I am now cautiously optimistic, as the first new film, tentatively entitled The Hunt for Gollum, will star and be directed by Andy Serkis and be produced by Peter Jackson.

I was disappointed overall by season one of The Rings of Power – and, based on some purported leaks, am dreading season two. But with The War of the Rohirrim coming out later this year, and The Hunt for Gollum in 2026, perhaps all is not lost for cinematic Middle-earth.

The Rings of Power — Season 2 Rumours

 

Warning: spoilers about season one of The Rings of Power and rumours about season two below.

The first season of The Rings of Power was visually amazing. I have to give the show credit for some remarkable sets, especially those of Khazad-dûm, Númenor, and Ost-in-Edhil. But the writing — the storylines, dialogue, and so forth — was definitely lacking overall. A few elements were okay — the relationship between Elrond and Durin was often charming, the new character “Adar” was intriguing — but overall it was quite disappointing. 

Especially vexing were all the gratuitous deviations from Professor Tolkien’s creation. I can understand changing elements of the established canon for the sake of the medium (e.g., removing Tom Bombadil and replacing Glorfindel with Arwen in Peter Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring). But so many of the changes in season one of TRoP were not simply unnecessary but painfully ridiculous. I loathed the “time compression” –- squishing 2000 years of history into maybe a decade or so. The whole “mithril-as-the-cure-for-Elf-cancer” invention was utter nonsense. And the existence of two “Durins” at the same time annoyed me. But I don’t wish to go through all the problems with the first season again.

Because of the weakness of the first season, I don’t have a lot of optimism about the next one. The One Ring website recently reported on some purported leaks about the second season and, well, it looks pretty grim. Granted, these rumours may all turn out to be vapours. But I remember dismissing the “leak” that “Halbrand” was Sauron — it just seemed too ridiculous and obvious — only for that to turn out to be the case.

Granted, the idea of presenting an episode (or a few episodes) from the perspective of Sauron could potentially be really cool (so long as the show didn’t try to present him in a sympathetic light, a kind of “emo Sauron”). And I would love to see the Song of Creation –- the Ainulindalë –- portrayed well on the screen. But, based on the first season, I really doubt that the writers for TRoP have the chops to pull these things off.

And many of the other rumoured elements of the second season look absolutely terrible. A son of Sauron? (Who is killed by Adar?) Tom Bombadil revealed to be in fact Morgoth (apparently bound in this form as punishment from Mandos)? And Goldberry in fact Ungoliant? What? If true … why?!?

I pray to Eru that most of these “leaks” turn out to be nothing more than jokes.

Further discussion can be found at The One Ring and (in video form) The Nerd of the Rings. (As usual, I largely agree with the perspective of the latter.)

The Hedge Knight: Dunk and Egg coming to HBO

 

The first four seasons of The Game of Thrones HBO series are among the best ever produced for television. (The later seasons were weaker, especially the last two, although I didn’t loathe the final season.)

The recent House of the Dragon series was fine. But it lacked any especially sympathetic or engaging characters in the mould of Arya, Tyrion, of even Jon Snow. 

Fortunately, some stories written by G.R.R. Martin in the world of Westeros that do include a couple of sympathetic and charming characters — “Dunk” (Ser Duncan the Tall) and “Egg” (Aegon V Targaryen) — will be made into a series: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. 

I’m cautiously looking forward to this. 

Best Wishes for 2023

I hope that all reading this old blog had a pleasant holiday time and that the year ahead brings them much happiness and peace.

 

My wife kindly got me these cookies. Obviously, she knows me well! I felt a bit guilty eating them but comforted myself in the knowledge that more could be obtained in the future.

 

 

I haven’t been too active here over the past couple of months. Hopefully my posting rate will pick up in the spring, as I thankfully will not have to travel so much for work.

 

In particular, I’d like to catch up on the following items:

 

§  Update the log for my regular “Greyhawk” (D&D 5e) campaign. A lot has happened since I last posted, some of it even a bit entertaining (I think).

o   The adventurers finally managed to defeat Lareth and clear out the Moathouse (more or less); soon they will be moving beyond Hommlet.

 

§  Update the status of my irregular “Against the Witch-King” (Against the Darkmaster) campaign.

o    Most of the characters have been created – and they’re an interesting mix: a Dúnadan lady of Arthedain (a champion or “ranger”); two Lossoth brothers from Forochel (one a scout, the other a shape-shifting animist or “shaman”), and a Dwarven scholar from the Ered Luin (sage).

 

§  Post descriptions of my characters for the Mythic Babylon campaign I played in over the past few years (which wrapped up last summer) and the Return to the Mountains of Madness campaign I’m currently playing in (using the Mythras rules).

o   I’m not keeping logs for these campaigns (I generally only do that for the games I’m running) but I think that these characters may be of some interest to others, especially people interested in the Mythras system and its associated settings.

 

§  Return to my top-10 list of fantasy and science-fiction films. (I’ve only covered number 10 so far!)

 

§  Write up some final reflections on The Rings of Power series (which I found to be very much a mixed bag).

 

I’m watching Andor right now and finding it to be excellent. I had skipped the two most recent Star Wars series (the Boba Fett and Obi-Wan ones) but I quite liked both seasons of The Mandalorian. This series is even better, in my view. It doesn’t really feel like a “Star Wars” show to be honest – but that’s probably a good thing, given how badly the movies degenerated in quality after The Empire Strikes Back. The notable exception in recent years is Rogue One – the best Star Wars movie since Empire in my judgement – and so perhaps it’s no surprise that Andor is of such high quality, given that it’s a Rogue One prequel. Check it out if you haven’t already!

Thoughts on the Rings of Power and House of the Dragon

[Note: minor spoilers below.]

 

“The Rings of Power” (TRoP) and “House of the Dragon” (HotD) are both just past the halfway points for their respective seasons. Overall, there is no denying that the writing and acting in HotD is superior. Yet I find myself feeling rather indifferent to its story and characters. Unlike the original “Game of Thrones” series, there are no characters that I really care about – no one remotely as interesting, entertaining, or sympathetic as Tyrion or Arya. I kind of hope that Daemon doesn’t eventually become king, as he clearly would be a rather bad one, but he’s not in the same league of awfulness as, say, Joffrey or Cersei (or at least not yet). (However, episode six reveals Larys Strong as perhaps a spiritual villainous ancestor of Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, so perhaps there’s some hope.)

 

Overall, I just don’t care that much about how things in HotD will turn out. Should Rhaenyra become queen?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Whatever. 

I’ll keep watching it, though, as I’m enjoying it well enough (and I’m a sucker for fantasy).

In contrast, TRoP – despite how deeply frustrating and frequently disappointing I have been finding it* – has certain hooks in me. I also care about some of the characters more than I care about any of the ones in HotD. Part of this of course is carried over from Tolkien’s writings. For instance, Elrond and Elendil are two of my favourite characters from the history of Middle-earth, so I find myself invested in their stories despite the series’ flaws. And Ar-Pharazôn’s tale is a great one, so I want to see how it is presented in the series. But I also find the “new” villains (or potential villains) far more intriguing than anyone in HotD. Adar in particular stands out, but I also want to know who Halbrand is (and what his story will be), likewise for “The Stranger,” and others.

 

In particular, I find myself obsessed with finding out (hopefully by the end of this season):

 

-       Who is Adar?

o      Is he Maglor [my current guess given his gauntlet]? Eöl or Eöl’s son Maeglin? [Of course, unlike Maglor, those two are supposed to be dead...] Sauron? What is his plan? Why does he care for the orcs so much? [Perhaps he helped Morgoth form the first orcs from captured elves in ancient times?] Why does his armour have a design similar to Gil-Galad’s?

-       What is the deal with the broken dark sword?

o      Why does Adar want it? What role (if any) will it play in transforming the Southlands into Mordor?

-       Who is the Stranger (“Meteorite Man”)?

o      Is he Sauron/Annatar? An Istar? A balrog? Something else? [My current guess is that he’s one of the Istari. I’m hoping he’s a Blue Wizard but worried that lazy writing will make him Gandalf.]

-       Who is Halbrand?

o      Is he Sauron? The Witchking? A different future Nazgûl? The king who makes the oath to Isildur at the Stone of Erech, only to break it during the War of the Last Alliance? [The latter possibility would require relocating the people of the Southlands to the White Mountains; not entirely implausible, given that the Southlands are doomed to become Mordor.] Is he Theo's dad?

-       Who is Sauron?

o      Someone already in the show, one of the above? Someone yet to appear? Is he already giving Celebrimor advice “offscreen” as “Annatar”?

-       Who are the weird cultists who appeared briefly in episode 5 and seem to be tracking the Stranger?

o      Surviving servants of Morgoth independent of Sauron? Servants of Sauron? Future Nazgûl?

-       How will the friendship between Elrond and Durin IV unfold?

 

So I have lots of questions. I just wish the show had better writers!

 

It's an odd thing to recognize one series as clearly superior overall yet care much more about what happens in the other.

 

I will say this for TRoP: the sets are beautiful. The scenes of Lindon, Khazad-dûm, and Númenor are amazing. And I like the look (and music) that they have created for Númenor: somewhat Minoan/Mycenean in terms of colour, murals, and overall aesthetics. The Númenorean ships look distinctive and cool. I especially liked the statue of Eärendil the Mariner with his welcoming hand – a nice contrast to the raised palms of the Argonath statues (Elendil and Isildur) that we see in the “Fellowship of the Ring” movie.

 

 

* Some of my frustrations and disappointments with TRoP:

 

Here are the three things that I find the most vexing about TRoP so far:

 

First, as I’ve mentioned before, the series writers are greatly compressing the timeline of the Second Age. Roughly, they are squeezing almost 2000 years of history into perhaps a decade or two: it covers events from shortly before the forging of the rings of power (the 16^th century) to the War of the Last Alliance (the 35^th century). I really dislike this move and think it’s unnecessary – the series could’ve had two parts, the first covering the forging of the rings of power and the War of Elves and Sauron, and the second covering the downfall of Númenor and the War of the Last Alliance.

 

The portrayals of some of the characters, especially Galadriel and Gil-Galad, strike me as simply terrible. Galadriel is comically monomaniacal (she’s not a son of Fëanor!). And Gil-Galad comes across in the show as an oleaginous politician. I really hope they improve as the series progresses. (In contrast, others, e.g., Elendil, Pharazôn, Elrond, and Durin IV, are solid in my view.)

 

The whole invented story about how a Silmaril (plus a pure elf, an evil balrog, a tree on top of the Misty Mountains, and a bolt of lightning) caused the creation of mithril – and (adding to this absurdity) that only mithril (because it contains some of the light of Valinor thanks to the Silmaril) can “cure” all the Elves that remain in Middle-earth – is absolute rubbish. I’m really hoping that the Silmaril-mithril story turns out to be false within the series. Elrond does refer to it as apocryphal, and in the previous episode Adar refers to the many “lies” told about Middle-earth. So perhaps this is a false tale promoted by Annatar to obtain mithril for his own purposes? (Fingers crossed!)

 

The Sandman – Season 1

Here’s my quick review of “The Sandman” (the 2022 Netflix series)…

I recently finished watching “The Sandman.” The series is named after its protagonist, also known as “Morpheus," “The King of Dreams,” or simply “Dream.” Morpheus is one of “The Eternals” (others that we meet in the series include “Death” and “Desire”). He’s the ruler of “The Dreaming,” the realm experienced by mortals when they sleep. Alas, he was captured by a mortal sorcerer in 1916 (the intended target was Death, but mistakes were made). The series follows his escape from captivity a century later, and his subsequent experiences.

 

Back in the 1990s I loved Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics. But I haven’t read them in over twenty years, so watching this series still seemed fresh and surprising. Nonetheless, there were a few things that I remembered quite well (in particular, the “The Sound of Her Wings” episode).

 

The first season is interesting because it consists of two multi-episode stories (episodes 1-5, which concern Morpheus’s capture, century-long imprisonment, escape, and recovery of his artifacts; episodes 7-10, which focus on the “Dream Vortex” Rose Walker, and the renegade nightmare “The Corinthian”), and three self-standing short stories (episode six, “The Sound of Her Wings,” and episode eleven’s two stories, “Dream of a Thousand Cats,” and “Calliope”).

 

Overall, I think “Calliope” and “The Sound of Her Wings” are the strongest of the season’s five stories (but “Dream of a Thousand Cats” is quite fun). The former could’ve been written by Rod Sterling, and the latter is simply wondrous (the story that I still remembered quite well, give its impact on me when I read it in my twenties). What I liked the most about “The Sound of Her Wings” is that it cleverly mocks the view that, if given unending life, humans would come to yearn for death.

 

Of the multi-episode stories, the second is definitely the weaker in my view, although The Corinthian is an impressively creepy character. One problem I had with the second story is that Desire's motivation was never really explained. Specifically, I didn’t understand why that character was trying to mess with Morpheus. (I can't remember now if it was clearer in the comic version.)

 

Finally, I should mention that the casting and acting is quite good overall. Tom Sturridge in particular was apparently cultivated in a vat specifically to play this role.

 

Overall score: 8.5/10.

Foreboding (and Hope?) regarding The Rings of Power series

I haven’t been following the various announcements concerning the forthcoming Rings of Power series lately, given my disappointment with the “time compression” that will be used for the series (that is, compressing about two millennia of events into perhaps a century or even a mere decade).

 

But I did watch the "Hopes and Fears" video from the “Nerd of the Rings.” I think that I largely agree with the mix of hopes and fears expressed by “the Nerd” (although I’m probably a bit more pessimistic overall). If you’re also a Tolkien fan, and both interested in and concerned about the forthcoming series, I recommend checking out this video.

 

(By the way, I’ve watched a few other “Nerd of the Rings” videos on various topics concerning Middle-earth. They’re generally of high quality and impeccably researched. I recommend them.)

Disappointing news regarding the Rings of Power Middle-earth series

Vanity Fair has an article that (finally) provides some real information about the forthcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power television series (from Amazon).

 

Overall, I regret to say that I’m quite disappointed.

This paragraph, explaining the key difference between the series and the original Tolkien history, is most dismaying:

‘In the novels, the aforementioned things take place over thousands of years, but Payne and McKay have compressed events into a single point in time. It is their biggest deviation from the text, and they know it’s a big swing. “We talked with the Tolkien estate,” says 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.”’

Good grief. This is so …infuriating.

 

If one is going to make a series with five seasons during the Second Age, that series could easily be broken into two parts covering the following two pivotal periods: 

A. The forging of the rings of power, followed by the War of Elves and Sauron (SA 1500-1700).

 

B. The capture of Sauron by Ar-Pharazôn, the downfall of Númenor, and the War of the Last Alliance (SA 3261-3441).

While no mortal characters (dwarf or human) could carry over from A to B, there are mortal characters who could persist for two centuries throughout both periods (given the long lifespans of Númenoreans and dwarves [just over two centuries, conveniently enough!]). And the persistence of Elrond, Galadriel, Gil-Galad, and Sauron would provide the narrative connection between the two periods.

 

There are many other things in the article that do not look promising, but the above misstep strikes me as the most calamitous.