Yawn. This “rumor” is just another jeremiad from one of the people who decided they hated this show as soon as they found out a person with the wrong skin color might be in it. I can also cherry-pick subjective online articles to “prove” my point that Rings of Power is “better” than House of the Dragon, see: Which Fantasy Prequel Rules Them All: The Rings of Power or House of the Dragon? While, as I discussed above, I think even the most ardent fan of this show would concede that it took half the season to find its feet and get rolling, the last half of the season really tied everything together, and, in my opinion, stuck the landing, and, for every “I hate this show, elves can’t be black” or “they didn’t stick 100% to the (fragmentary and often contradictory) source material the Tolkien estate licensed to them” caterwauling, there has been a ton of positive reaction online as well. By any metric, the notion that “this show has been more of a failure than Amazon could have imagined” is simply laughable. I’m sure they might wish it was even more of a success, but it’s clearly been a success. Just looking at the engagement here on this forum, there are 50+ pages of discussion of Rings of Power and 14 pages of discussion about House of the Dragon. While maybe ten pages of the discussion about Rings of Power are, admittedly, posts from Jim B. crapping on it every day, that still leaves way more discussion and engagement for Rings of Power here than for House of the Dragon. Even if some of the people posting about it are people hate-watching it, they’re still watching it, and, at the end of the day, the number of people watching and engaging with a TV show is what makes it a success. And many, many people are clearly watching and enjoying it, even if their positive reactions inevitably don’t draw the same attention as the endless “this is the worst show ever, and I’m going to log on every day to remind you that I think that” diatribes from Jim B and others.
You keep saying this, but can you point out where the material from The Hobbit and the LOTR (including its appendices) are contradictory and fragmentary (as in, incomplete)? IIRC those adjectives may describe content found in Unfinished Tales or the History of Middle Earth, which Amazon does not have the rights to use.
I do not hate this show, I simply do not like it for the sad dialogue and wooding acting. As well as there is absolutely no emotional connection for me. You can enjoy it all you like I will not be watching it anymore. But OTOH I will watch HotD next season. As I see no other reason to post here. Goodby.
@MrCJF addressed this point above. As he notes, and I agree, really the only “finished” works in the Tolkien canon are the Hobbit and the three Lord of the Rings books proper (excluding the appendices).
No mention of the Appendices in his post, if I'm looking at the one you're referring to. Considering JRRT himself wrote the Appendices and published them within his lifetime, how can anyone say they are incomplete or contradictory? I admit they are broad strokes in many sections, so there is plenty of room for interpretation.
I couldn’t give two turds about loyalty to canon, race of the Elves or whatever just make an entertaining fun show Rings of Power was neither
I don’t want my middle earth entertaining. The merry Hobbit movies cured that desire in me. I want my middle earth serious.
My point was/is that in fleshing out the bare bones appendices, they can be expected by Tolkien fans and the estate to be fatihful to the rest of the published works - they can't, for example, have Elendil or Isildur killed off before the final battle that was the prelude to LoTR. But there are some parts of the published stuff that is vague and contradictory - including the history of Galdriel - who is an essential character in any telling of the second age story. The writers are essentially free to choose their own history for her, as long as it leads to the character we meet in LoTR. The same applies (to a lesser extent) to Sauron, who went missing for great chunks of the second age in the written works.
I want it to have depth. These characters all seemed two dimensional to me, in a land that didn't seem real enough.
They didn’t to me. And “entertaining” would certainly not cure that anyway. Cue a series like The Witcher. More action, but every scene reads like a wiki page.
Since the creators are allowed to work with any of the LOTR material, I'd prefer that they do something with the Bombadil story.
This thing about black elves is a total red herring and you need to get over that. I, nor anyone else, had a problem with that. Show me where they did? My only comment on skin tones was that the harfoots should really be all the same colour (an inbred small tribe). Over a few generations they would be uniform. Now I couldn't care less if they made them all black, white or whatever, just make them the same. It's so wrong and quite disgusting to suggest people don't like this show because people are racist or sexist or whatever. People don't like it because the scripts are awful first draft stuff, the direction is poor, casting is very uneven and some, probably the majority, of the acting is bad. Simple as that. I'll leave the lore stuff to others in general but bad writing and bad acting aside I am not a fan of 'warrior' Galadriel as a concept, reading the books it's not a portrayal I recognize and I don't think is necessary at all.
It's kind of stating the obvious, I hope those with open minds watch this (506) House Of The Dragon Finale’s Viewership Numbers Are Insane - YouTube House Of The Dragon Finale’s Viewership Numbers Are Insane Clip from John Campea's show. Campea is a big fan of Rings of Power and he doesn't mention that show anywhere in the video. Chap named Ryan Condal was the HOTD executive producer and showrunner and he must get a lot of credit for these great results. He was developing a Conan show for Amazon but he got fired as they wanted to concentrate on another show, you've guessed it, Rings of Power. So they guy Amazon fire goes off and we can all see what has happened. Rings of Power's viewing figures have been steadily dropping over each week fwiw. No-one at Amazon in private would say this has been a success, quite the opposite. Bad viewing figures, mainstream media criticism and massive fan backlash (and I don't accept fans are inherently 'toxic' or whatever, they are just fans, people and studios need to stop attacking fans). If someone liked the show that's wonderful. But don't pretend it is Citizen Kane, that's daft.
Enjoyed it well enough that I am 3/4 of the way through a second viewing to see how it scans knowing who Sauron is
After two viewings, overall I'd have to say I enjoyed this more than the Jackson films - as watching that more felt like checking boxes for what they got right and what they altered or omitted while - not having committed Silmarillion and LOTR appendices to memory - I am able to more enjoy suspense here - apart from "I know Galadriel/ Elrond/ Isildur/ Sauron/ Balrog won't die" awareness diminishing some suspense.
Tom would have been around during the timeline. I think they could come up with something, but perhaps like Jackson, they are reluctant to tackle Bombadil. Even Tolkien, as far as I know, never came to a conclusion about his nature, and said as much in interviews. Whatever anyone would come up with would make some faction of the fandom at large irritated. Best way to work him in is to keep his origins fairly mysterious, other than to acknowledge that he is eldest and fatherless. Goldberry should also be acknowledged. We know that Gandalf had contact with him, but not the specifics of their discussions. They could have Galadriel or Elrond or Meteor Man consult with him or attempt to learn about his powers, but no way should they have Tom Bombadil confront Sauron or the Balrog or interact with anybody outside of his geographical "realm". It seems that Bombadil would receive visitors, but did not venture out of his territory.
Maybe meteor man is actually Bombadil. Those cultists could have gotten it wrong twice. And he did live near those Harfeet.
I think Meteor man is a blue wizard. The showrumners have said that no third age persons would appear in the second age. (Except ofcourse those that live in both)
I wouldn't rule it out, but considering that Bombadil was supposed to have arrived in Middle Earth before pretty much everyone including the Elves, it would seem to contradict what little we do know about him. Unless Eru or the Valar plucked him out of his land, stuck him on a satellite which then dumped him near the Harfoots. The writers would certainly have some 'splaining to do if Meteor Man is Bombadil. And if the Harfoot girl that leaves with him becomes Goldberry, well then things have taken a disturbing turn.
Yeah I would leave well enough alone if I were the makers on this one. As has been demonstrated by many readers, they can turn on anyone who dares to do anything in this space and Bombadil would be like a red rag to a bull.
Wow, we just got around to watching the final 2 episodes of Rings of Power and I thought they were spectacular. For me, the show totally redeemed itself in the last 2 hours: lots of surprises, defeats that turned into victories... which then went south real fast. And several shocking surprises about our lead characters that I never saw coming. I'm glad I avoided reading all the spoilers on the net, because I thought the finale fired on all cylinders and worked very well. Can't wait for the next season. Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 8 Review - Alloyed
I finally got around to watching this. I watched the first episode way back over Labor Day weekend and enjoyed aspects of of it quite a bit but it obviously it didn’t hook me and it took a minute for me to get back around to it. Once I saw episode 3 and Numenor I was hooked. I thought ep’s 3, 4 and 6 were really great and made the series. I think my 2 criticisms are probably a) the harfoots were a bit too twee and tiresome — I did think Poppy and especially Nori were very good but in general I’d sigh at the start of each harfoot tribe scene as it wasn’t as compelling as the rest of the show (the actors, etc) and b) the Halbrand/Sauron reveal was really kind of underwhelming. I expect more of SAURON. It would have worked better for me if Halbrand were just an agent of Sauron and also if he were a bit more suspect throughout. The whole final scenes with the forging of the rings is pretty compelling though. It is a nice setup. Highlights to me are, yes: Galadriel — I loved Morfyd Clark’s portrayal throughout, Elrond, Finrod, Durin (the younger and the older), Celembrimbor. Honestly there’s a lot to like: The Numemorians, the southlanders and the story of the hilt and the creation of Mordor (that was really cool), meteor man, the 3 witches and the idea of the harfoots (if not as much the execution). I would watch this again. I look forward to the continuation. I hope they don’t change their approach. Stay their course.
Joseph Mawle has quit from Rings of Power, so they are recasting Adar. Joseph Mawle Explains Why He Exited The Rings of Power His is a big blow. I'm not the only one who thought he was one of the best actors in the series, he really brought some complex humanity to a story that is often "balck and white" moralising.
