What Went Wrong with Rings of Power?
There is plenty to criticize about season one of The Rings of the Power. The bar was set to the point that expectations may have reached unrealistic levels. For that, Amazon only has itself to blame. So, while other fantasy TV shows won’t get this level of scrutiny, it will unapologetically be applied here.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SEASON ONE OF THE RINGS OF POWER
The Show Largely Failed to Generate Tension or Create Dramatic Situations
Season one focuses on Lady Galadriel’s hunt for Sauron, the arrival of a stranger from the stars, the discovery of mithril, and the threat of orcs in the Southlands aka Mordor. That should be plenty for a season, perhaps too much but let’s look at each.
First, Lady Galadriel spends over half the season in transit, discovering flimsy or outright ridiculous clues to Sauron’s location all while the show hints that her travel companion Halbrand, might actually be Sauron (the song lyric “it was Agnes all along” comes to mind). This carried on straight to the finale.
In one of the least satisfying reveals in TV history, her discovery of Sauron was entirely by accident and is largely disconnected from every other event taking place in season one. Halbrand being Sauron had zero impact on the stranger or the Harfoots, it didn’t impact Arondir or Bronwyn, and his “gift” to the elves on how to use the mithril was so clumsy it insulted the intelligence of the audience.
Ironically, if he didn’t help them forge the rings, the elves would be forced to leave Middle Earth. Seems like something a dark lord would want…
Discovering Halbrand was Sauron didn’t matter. Much of the audience already knew it or guessed it. Even if you didn’t, the twist had little impact. Even Galadriel seems to move on instantly from the discovery despite the fact she spent centuries looking for him.
The “who is Sauron?” hook could’ve worked if it had been better executed, trying harder to use the lore and misdirection to keep the audience guessing. They did not do that. It is baffling how one writes a LOTR prequel and make Sauron not matter.
The arrival of the comet man concludes with the “big” reveal that he’s a wizard, probably Gandalf. Whoever he is, his dealings with the Harfoots were trivial. Only his encounter with the three white- clad wraiths mattered. The show wanted to establish his friendship with Nori but we don’t know why this is important. Even if he is Gandalf, so what? His motivations are, thus far, unrelated to Sauron or the rings of power. So, why should we be emotionally invested in this whole subplot?
The discovery of mithril had some impact but most of the run time was spent depicting Elrond and Durin’s relationship, the internal politics of the dwarves, and the hidden threat of a balrog. There are some great moments between Durin and Elrond, with Disa also contributing to some nice scenes. The problem is, these moments really didn’t matter. The elves found a way to save themselves without requiring large amounts of mithril ore anyway.
After all that, the most significant event was Durin handing a piece of mithril to Elrond, which gave them enough to forge the rings.
The conflict in the Southlands provides the most tension, action, and drama. It uses new characters, including a largely unknown villain, and unique stakes unrelated to LOTR. This subplot had the most potential and delivered at least some emotional punch.
Yet, there are so many scenes and subplots in season one that left the audience asking “why does this matter?” or “why should I care?”
Slow, Unfocused Narrative
Season one was approximately 8 hours of TV. Out of that 8 hours, a baffling amount of runtime was spent on scenes that minimally advanced the plot or, in some cases, did not advance it at all. One way to determine this is ask if the plot would be impacted if [X] scene or character was removed.
If we removed the scenes with Isildor and his friends sailing, getting into a fight, and reconciling before going to the Southlands, would plot be any different?
If we didn’t see Elendil’s conflict with his son and daughter, would anything else have changed? Nope.
If Eärian (Isildor’s sister) had not met Ar-Pharazôn’s son or drew the King alone in his room only to find the palantir, would anything have changed? At this point Eärian has contributed nothing to the plot, other than catching the attention of Ar-Pharazôn’s son and “convincing” him to commit treason. All that did was reduce the expedition by two ships. Did that make a difference on later events? Nope.
What about the forbidden love of Arondir and Bronwyn? Nope. Whether they were in love or not, it hardly mattered to the plot. Things would’ve proceeded the same way if they were mere acquaintances. Their romance could’ve been a source of tension between Bronwyn and her son Theo, or her fellow Southlanders but the show didn’t bother to explore either possibility. Instead, the other characters barely notice the two are into each other.
Did we need Harfoots in this story? Not really, although it appears the showrunners felt a Tolkien TV show needed hobbits because, to them, Tolkien = hobbits.
It is likely a lot of these irrelevant scenes and characters will impact events in later seasons. The showrunners decided to introduce them and set things up for season two, which we won’t have for almost two years. Playing that kind of long game definitely weakens your first season, which typically needs to hook your audience on its own. Experienced producers and showrunners would’ve known that.
Confusing or Ineffective Dialogue
Tolkien’s work revolves around language. He created entire languages before he finished LOTR. To put it simply: words matter more than just about anything else in Tolkien’s work. It isn’t the battles, the landscapes, or even all the magical powers. It is the language.
The Rings of Power failed miserably in this respect, with dialogue that is awful by any standard. Characters habitually speak past each other, use awful metaphors and nonsensical aphorisms. Questions are left unanswered to frustrating effect.
What is worse, character motivations were contradicted or confused. In some instances, characters completely changed their perspective and motivations without explanation.
This show needed some serious writers but apparently didn’t bother to hire any.
Troubling Perspective on Good and Evil
The producers and showrunners stated that it felt only natural to write a LOTR story that reflected the world of today. Apparently, there worldview is a relativistic moral perspective that is in absolute opposite of Tolkien’s. Season one never depicts the battle of good and evil in Tolkienian fashion, or even in a manner befitting high fantasy.
Everything is gray. Heroes are flawed and villains are misunderstood. The protagonist, Galadriel, is arrogant, cruel, tyrannical, and infuriatingly foolish. Her decisions lead to the reemergence of Sauron. It was Galadriel who convinced herself he was the heir to the kingdom of the Southlands, and could be redeemed. Why? because she had a feeling, or maybe it is because she believes she is always right.
How heroic.
Sauron fled the Southlands finding himself adrift in the sea. He wanted to work in a forge in Numenor. He did not want to be king or return to the Southlands. It is Galadriel that drove all of that and ultimately inspired him to resume his ambitions of domination.
Galadriel, the protagonist, is responsible for just about every horrible thing that happens from this point on. Talk about tearing down one of the wisest, most powerful and beloved Tolkien characters.
Halbrand/Sauron is an honest, decent person throughout this show. Galadriel is a monster.
The Harfoots—intended to be adorable hobbits—are also monsters. Whoever falls behind is left behind. Whoever causes trouble gets their wheels stolen. Whoever breaks any rules, regardless of the harm, is at risk of being banished. Hearts as big as our feet? Not really. These are not the hobbits of the idyllic Shire. The show seems to be unaware of that throughout season one. It seems to think they’re wonderful, quirky, whimsical folk who value friendship… while also leaving their kin to die on the road.
Then there is Adar and the orcs. Their motivation is creating a homeland of their own: the right to self-determination. They care about their injured and dead. They face an enemy that desires to wipe them out completely, despite the fact they have not been a significant threat in centuries.
Why did the show make Adar and the orcs somewhat sympathetic in their aims? Why are the Southlanders depicted as awful yet Halbrand’s arrival and introduction treated as a glorious triumph on par with the return of the king of Gondor?
The show does not appear to have a clear perception of good and evil, or rather isn’t interested in depicting one. If so, why make a fantasy show based on Tolkien’s work? His world is ill-suited to a gray, relativistic worldview. The fact that no one at Amazon realized this puts either their competence or motives for making this show into question.
Disrespectful Adaptation of Tolkien
It is more than just violating the lore, the world-building, or changing a few names or the order of events. The very core themes of Tolkien’s work were ignored or outright destroyed.
The misappropriation of dialogue, songs, and riddles demonstrates a complete lack of regard for the source material, treating it as just words that sound cool. It is all just there to be repurposed and redeployed for an entirely new kind of story. Tolkien didn’t write these things because they sound cool. They were written with intent to fit into a beautifully complex narrative tapestry. The people behind The Rings of Power didn’t care.
Tolkien detested allegory and loathed the rewriting and manipulation of his work, especially his characters. Despite feeble attempts by Amazon to defend their adaptation, Tolkien did not advocate people using his life’s work as a sandbox. We do not need to guess his intent. In the many interviews and letters we have from the author, his thoughts on the subject are clear.
There is also a stunning lack of attention to detail in The Rings of Power. Everything down to something as basic has how to smelt metals, the team behind this show did not care about the details at all. The sheer number of mistakes and plot holes is proof positive of it.
A lack of attention to detail is as anti-Tolkien as you can get.
All this went wrong and more. For a concept to be this deeply flawed, there is but one remedy. The Rings of Power should be cancelled, the creative team terminated, and a new team brought in start from scratch. This show is simply irredeemable.