Set thousands of years before the events of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (LotR), the series takes 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 and the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor and the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
Understanding where The Rings of Power falls on The Lord of the Rings timeline is not exactly simple. The new series from Amazon does not follow Tolkien’s timeline exactly, instead condensing the events of the Second Age, which spanned thousands of years.
The Morning Brunch reached out to a few LotR enthusiasts to find out if this new series does justice to the original, and what we can expect from the show.
Channa Ferandopulle, a fan of the movies from childhood, observed that RoP doesn’t exactly rise to the standards of the LotR trilogy for him. However, he did note that it is a bit difficult to gauge the extent to which his views are influenced by the online hate that the show is getting.
“I’m peripherally aware of people complaining about everything from gender and race representation to clumsy dialogue, lack of attention to detail in costumes etc.,” he told us, highlighting that the compressing of the storyline is another major disappointment.
Overall, he told us that he is just okay with it. He pointed out: “Some of the performances and individual bits are quite good. The set designs and the lore and characters that you do get to see are pretty interesting. As a Tolkien geek I can appreciate it. But if you aren’t familiar with that stuff, I’m not sure how much mileage people will get.”
For Fernandopulle, RoP is just intriguing enough and since he knows approximately what’s coming next, it keeps him coming back for more.
Another superfan, Shehan Fernando also took a similar stance. He noted that while the show is visually stunning and has great landscapes, the story feels very slow-burn, saying: “It’s almost like we are all waiting for a final battle which seems to be taking forever to come.” However, on a more positive note, he added that he found the exchanges between the harfoots, Elrond, and Durin to be an absolute delight.
All in all, it seems that the show has some great potential, and the massive budget for filming and production has done the visuals justice. Fans are hopeful that the smaller kinks in the show will be ironed out as it progresses, and are eagerly awaiting the finale.