Review: "The Rings of Power" premier

Amazon's Lord of the Rings adaptation is entertaining but underwhelming

Galadriel hunts for the Dark Lord Sauron in the frozen wastes of Forodwaith. (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power)

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
     Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
     One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
     One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
     One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

So begins perhaps the greatest epic saga in the English language, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I was first introduced to the realm of Middle-earth when I was thirteen years old, which was around the same time that director Peter Jackson’s masterful trilogy of Lord of the Rings films were taking theaters around the globe by storm. In the two decades since, I’ve become a dyed-in-the-wool Tolkien enthusiast. I’ve read The Silmarillion multiple times, and I listen to The Lord of the Rings audiobooks (the Robert Inglis narration) at least once a year. I love being swept away by the power and the beauty of the Middle-earth legendarium. I’m quite certain that I would not be the writer I am today without The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien’s books changed my life.

In the lead-up to the release of Amazon Prime’s new Lord of the Rings streaming series, The Rings of Power, anticipation and anxiety among Tolkien fans have been intense. The online rumor mill churned out an endless barrage of breathless speculation and toxic invective. I tried to avoid most of this discourse, but the few behind-the-scenes articles I read gave me pause: The show would be set in the Second Age of Middle-earth (millennia before the events of The Lord of the Rings), and yet the creative team did not have the rights to use the pivotal Second Age material found in The Silmarillion. It seemed plain that many new characters and plotlines would be created out of whole cloth. I decided early on not to set my expectations too high or set myself up for crushing disappointment. Still, I was also determined to evaluate the series with an open mind.

For this review of the two-part premier (Ep. 1 “The Shadow of the Past” & Ep. 2 “Adrift”), I have decided to refrain from a detailed recapping of the plot. Instead, I will focus on my general first impressions, what I liked and disliked, and my hopes and concerns for the future direction of the show.

On the positive side, the production design was marvelous, especially for locations such as Lindon and Khazad-dûm, evoking the Peter Jackson films. Composer Bear McCreary does a commendable job with the musical score. (I’ve had the Khazad-dûm theme stuck in my head for days!) Overall, these first two episodes were serviceable fantasy entertainment suitable for families to watch together.

However, for hard-core Tolkien fans like myself, I would advise not to expect a faithful adaptation of The Silmarillion, and to set your expectations accordingly. If nothing else, The Rings of Power is surely the most elaborate and expensive piece of LOTR fan-fiction ever created. As I watched the story unfold on screen, I was reminded of the legions of generic (but entertaining) Tolkien-imitations that crowd the shelves of the sci-fi/fantasy section of any bookstore.

Like many other contemporary TV shows, the narrative of The Rings of Power bounces back and forth between several loosely connected plot threads (including a mix of familiar characters and new additions): Galadriel’s single-minded hunt for Sauron, the hobbit Nori Brandyfoot’s encounter with the enigmatic “Stranger”, the elf Arondir’s investigation of missing villagers in the Southlands, and Elrond Half-Elven’s journey to the dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm. The dwarf sequences were, for me, easily the highlight of the premier! In fact, every time the story shifted away to Galadriel or Arondir or someone else, I was impatient to get back to the dwarf stuff! This admission may reflect negatively on the quality of the show as a whole, but I honestly would much rather have been given a series centered entirely on the dwarves and their fascinating culture than the bland and slightly disjointed series as it is.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the premier for me was the pre-title sequence which presents viewers with a gross oversimplification of the lore of the First Age, the Blessed Realm of Valinor, and the War of the Jewels against the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. This, combined with the time compression (scrambling a bunch of events from across the Second Age into a jumble) and the plethora of new characters invented for the show, served only to distract and disorient me. I was left with the distinct impression of a series largely unanchored from Tolkien story-wise, and that’s a shame.

The showrunners are likely banking that the average viewer will not have read too deeply into Tolkien’s legendarium, and thus will not be sensitive to these issues. Perhaps they’re right. As I said before, these episodes were fine entertainment. The series has the potential to explore some intriguing character arcs, and I’m sure some incredible set-piece battles and surprising revelations await us later in the season. I plan to review each new episode right here on Missio Dei. I’ll also be joining a discussion panel of fellow Tolkien enthusiasts for the “Secrets of Middle-earth” podcast on the StarQuest Network each week until the season finale! Although I fear that The Rings of Power cannot possibly live up to my dreams of a definitive on-screen adaptation of Tolkien’s Second Age tales, it will doubtless introduce a new generation of fans to Middle-earth. Whatever may come, the Professor’s legacy lives on.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien