If Sauron, the villain from JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, could take the form of a weapon capable of unlocking the greatest fantasy books of our time, it would be in Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings. “Precept”.
Jeff Bezos’ desire to create a Game of Thrones-like alternative to Prime looks like a great idea on paper. If only it had stayed like this.
Years ago, Peter Jackson dared to adapt Tolkien’s vast mythological world into one of the greatest film adaptations of our time, even if it had its flaws.
Not so with the Ring of Power.
In many ways, it’s not even an adaptation, but some distant cousin, low on self-esteem and sulking in the dark – the Gollum of modern visual storytelling.
In a sane world, the Ring of Power would have followed the path of Éomer, who was exiled from Rohan, but for far better reasons.
Ring of Power Season 01: The Beginning of the End
“I wish this had not happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all those who live to see such moments. But it is not theirs to decide. All we have to do is decide what to do with the time we are given.
“Game of Thrones” started with an average of over 9 million viewers and ended with nearly 46 million viewers. Ring of Power averaged 8.9 million viewers on Prime before fading away.
This is Coyote’s moment, chasing Roadrunner off a cliff and briefly hovering in the air before falling.
When the smoke finally cleared, only 37% of people who watched the premiere had finished the season. While the show has been overwhelmingly punished from a political perspective by the fanbase, the reasons are multifaceted.
Successful shows have higher ratings in their season finales than they did in their premieres. That’s not the case here, not even close.
Ring of Power Season 02: Another Downgrade
Amazon continues to tout its numbers. However, the problem is twofold.
“Well, my dear friends, our friendship in Middle-earth finally ends at the seaside. Go in peace! I will not say: do not cry, for not all tears are evil.
JRR Tolkien “The Return of the King”
First, Amazon doesn’t define “viewer,” perhaps for obvious reasons. Because Amazon doesn’t reveal how it measures viewership, a deeper analysis couldn’t be conducted.
Second, Luminate and Samba, two TV technology companies that provide instant measurement and ratings analysis, both reported massive churn on the show that has not been reversed.
Season 02 premiere ratings were 50% lower than the Season 01 premiere, and Season 02’s overall ratings remained lower, even after adding one day to the most recent season’s overall ratings.
bad dialogue
First of all, the entire dialogue is terrible. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Maybe that’s true, but in the case of Ring of Power, it didn’t pay off.
Remember, Tolkien was a master of linguistics, and the dialogue in Ring of Power is a pale shadow, grasping at adjectives and adverbs that mean nothing, convey little information, and simply fill a creative void.
Galadriel: You haven’t seen what I’ve seen.
Elrond: I have seen my share.
Galadriel: You haven’t seen…what I’ve seen.
It’s enough to send someone into a coma, drooling on the pillow and unconsciously rejecting the world and everything in it. It’s no surprise to see the whiplash’s return as a direct result of conversations in this series.
Artificial personality conflict
Theater is the driving force behind some of the most popular shows, but theater for theater’s sake is different.
Everybody argued with everybody. Camaraderie and friendship are cursed in the face of arguments and reasons for quarrels.
Galadriel tries to bully everyone, never understanding why it does her no good.
As a result, she doesn’t advance the narrative – the writers do so by setting up cheap and pointless plot points that just happen to be at the right place, time, and necessity.
The original Lord of the Rings featured rich friendships, heartbreaking betrayals, and lasting unity (the word “friendship” wasn’t part of the title, as everyone was constantly at each other’s throats).
There’s nothing clever about each character’s actions. It’s hard to argue that they do anything of their own free will, as their choices rarely reflect characters that exist outside of chaotic neutral. Come here and do this. Why? Who knows?
Yet, somehow, it magically moves the plot forward. Some characters are involved in seemingly aimless subplots, while some have background experiences that are never explained, even if they are relevant to the present.
High fantasy requires a lot of effort to immerse the audience.
The premise is so fictional and fantastical that there is no room for error. This immersion is often broken by constant bickering, missteps, weirdness, and out-of-place character motivations.
discard source material
Long before Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Amazons (well, whatever that was), Tolkien had a loyal audience.
It’s not necessary, or even possible, to please every Tolkien fan. But Ring of Power is so far removed from Tolkien’s vision that it bears no resemblance. This is a separate story that could also take place on a separate planet.
It lends the showrunners a pathological arrogance. From sympathetic orcs to an awkward change of background for Galadriel, there’s no better way to drive away a loyal fanbase than pissing off the lore.
Her mother’s name is Nerwen (“boy and girl”), and she Grow into talI was even beyond the scale of the Noldor woman; she was strong in body, mind, and will, a match for the loremasters and athletes of the Eldar’s youth.
——”The Unfinished Story”, author: JRR Tolkien
For whatever reason, the Ring of Power diminished Galadriel’s immense strength and intelligence in favor of taking on an annoyingly bullying personality and hitting everything with his sword. It’s a cheap way to hint at power while ignoring the far more complex and powerful Galadriel of legends.
This permeates the entire show, and to the extent that Tolkien fans still exist, it’s a wonder.
Drawing convenience
Nothing echoes lazy writing more than sudden, highly unlikely conveniences that always propel the plot forward. This is immersive experience at its finest.
- The wandering Galadriel meets Sauron
- The Númenórean army arrives at Bronwen’s village
- Mordor’s volcanic formations
- Mythril legend destroyed
- Sauron’s mark on Finrod
- All about Harfoot
- The Birth of Mithril (vomiting)
- Elves lack healers, unless they don’t have one
The list goes on and on. You could compile a list for each episode if you included minor plot conveniences and quirks.
If you’re willing to give up a little faith and watch Ring of Power purely for mindless fun, then you can enjoy the show. But for those looking for character-driven storytelling, adherence to lore, and a complex, logical plot, Ring of Power is a barren wasteland.
fantasy for fantasy’s sake
If you like Ring of Power, there’s nothing wrong with that. Some people like satisfaction videos, which feature endless compilations of removing blackheads and popping pimples.
Trying to recreate an existing story set in Middle-earth is no easy task. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is an exception, especially considering the drastic drop in quality of the Hobbit prequels.
However, Ring of Power doesn’t even try.
There’s a difference between incompetent filmmaking and deliberate destruction of the original material. Somehow, showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne manage to do both with equal gusto.
Even if Amazon’s vague ratings disclosures are entirely accurate, each episode costs a whopping $60 million to produce. With three seasons left, it’s a huge money hole for Amazon.
It’s a show with no tension (everyone knows where the characters end up), huge and truly offensive changes to the source material, some of the worst dialogue on television today, glaring plot holes, and some of the worst dialogue ever foisting one of the most ridiculous plots on viewers in the history of television.
In short, it’s fantasy for fantasy’s sake — Jeff Bezos’s attempt to bring Game of Thrones to Prime.
Maybe one day we’ll get the Galadriel we deserve, along with a proper storyline covering the Second Age of Tolkien’s world. But that’s not the case with Ring of Power, and it never will be.
