Borboren

Of all the bad stuff the showrunners have thrown at us the last 1,5 months, it is the plot itself that is the worst. And it's getting worse by the episode. The forging of the Rings of Power, the quintessential story of the Second Age, the name of the show, is done in just a few minutes? The only thing Halbrand/Sauron, who immediately decided to expose himself to Galadriel in Eregion, had to do was to advice Celebrimbor to make an alloy of mithril and other metals, and present it as his "gift"?

Annatar's cunning teachings and cooperation with Celebrimbor to slowly create ever more excellent Rings - Celebrimbor believing the Rings improve life in Middle-earth - that cause strife between Lind

And perhaps let Sauron win and take over Middle-earth (and Arda) entirely, while they're at it.

Galadriel just keeps getting more evil... Where, in previous episodes, she was just some arrogant and annoying Elf that always got was she wanted (with nothing to give back herself), she has now openly become a genocidal maniac.

The interrogation scene with Adar and Galadriel was not only "100% anti-Tolkien" - pretty much the whole series is, so let's not get further into that - but it really showed how evil Galadriel is. First, she threatens to torture the Orcs ("Perhaps we should bring our prisoners into the Sun light"); then she calls Orcs and tortured Elves ("your kind") "slaves" and "a mistake", concluding to vow "to eradicate every last one of you." On the other hand, Adar (the suppo

I'm sure it's not easy to be a screenwriter or showrunner. You have to think of a compelling and authentic story, with interesting characters, personalities, tension and dialogues. Especially when you have to come up with it all by yourself. Luckily for Amazon, you might think, many of this creative work has already been done for them: a complete world with its own mythology and legends, characters and histories, stories and narratives. Although far less concise and complete than the Third Age, of course, even for the Second Age, Tolkien has written enough to fall back to in case of a lack of own creativity. Just stick to the lore, it's not that hard.

Take for example the Numenor story line

Of the many shortcomings and disappointments of RoP has delivered until now, nothing is more painful to watch than the (jungle or woodland) hobbits, or "Harfoots" as we ought to call them. They remind me of that "puppet doll" people in the Return of the Jedi, but perhaps even more childish. Why did the showrunners include them? Just so we can see hobbits? Or to introduce "meteor man" to us in a very slow way?

I´ll be honest, I was very skeptical about this enterprise from the day this show was announced. My skepticism and fears only grew when the first trailers came out and now I´ve watched the first two episodes I can only conclude that it´s even worse than expected.

Let´s not even start discussing whether it´s Tolkien or not (it´s not of course).

No, it´s just a very poorly written story, elementary school stuff. It´s nothing more than a series of unrelated scenes and characters that don´t contribute to anything. It´s all so random. It´s clear the screenwriters haven´t read any of Tolkien´s works, perhaps from what they´ve found on Google or Wikipedia. The dialogues try to sound "intellectu

Interesting video analysis on Rings of Power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YywN8Z8nH_Y

Of the many, many YouTubers discussing the upcoming RoP show, I think Disparu nails it quite well: the show is made by arrogant and selfish people for arrogant and selfish people. These people don´t give anything about originality, authenticity or real diversity. They don´t even really try to pretend they want to honor Tolkien´s work, rather adapt (or "improve") it to their own narrow-minded standards, which they call "timeless". It couldn´t be less timeless in fact.

Anyway, check this video out.

Whatever the (feigned) noble reasons may be to include dark-skinned elves and dark-skinned dwarves in an adaptation of a mythical version of North-west Europe, that is Middle-earth; it is a form of (reversed) cultural appropriation.

Just as it is deemed offensive when (usually white) people wear costumes that depict stereotypes from non-western cultures (Pocahontas, "Indian warrior" and many more), it is valid to argue that Amazon seems to be doing something similar - only now the other way around. Tolkien´s elves and dwarves are creatures rooted in Germanic mythology. To give some elves and dwarves an "African look" feels quite off and based on politics rather than narrative.

To call peo

Many of the "guesses" (incl. by some Tolkien vloggers) whose hands are pictured on the promotional posters (Isildur, Anarion, Ar-Pharazon) indicate the story is set in the last centuries of the Second Age. By that time, the Rings of Power had already been forged for over a millennium and distributed among elves, dwarves and men.

Is this confirmed somewhere? I haven´t found any "official" source to back this up (but I haven´t looked the entire internet for it either).

A series called "The Rings of Power" would, IMO, require a solid history of the creation of the Rings. To fully explore Sauron´s plans to become a new Dark Lord through the Rings of Power, could take at least one complete se

After my XXth reread of LOTR I came to the following conclusion about the Mouth of Sauron and his (lack of) knowledge concerning the Ring.

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There are several instances in the books in which Frodo (or other members of the Company of the Ring) avoid mentioning the Ring to allies, as it is a too important or confidential topic to talk about. Even Celeborn and Galadriel didn´t wish to discuss this matter in front of their fellow Elves in Caras Galadhon. Only by accident did Sam tell Faramir about the One Ring (luckily for him it turned out for the better that he did). Eomer and Imrahil first learned of the importance of the Ring after the Siege of Minas Tirith was ended and Arago

https://www.reddit.com/r/LOTR_on_Prime/comments/b1h3ng/fan_fiction_season_1_episode_1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Shortly after Amazon announced to do a LOTR show set in the Second Age, I wrote this. Nice to see they're using the same title as me. If Amazon needs more fan input, please send me a PM :)

Gandalf mentioned at the council of Elrond that Saruman had made a ring of his own.

But I rode to the foot of Orthanc, and came to the stair of Saruman; and there he met me and led me up to his high chamber. He wore a ring on his finger.

Does anybody know more about Saruman´s Ring? Did the Ring possess any particular powers? We know that Saruman´s voice was one of his strengths, so maybe this was enhanced by his Ring? Maybe his Ring enabled Saruman to breed an army of Uruk-Hai and half-orcs?

During my yearly re-read of the LOTR it struck me that the somewhat generally accepted idea of Middle-earth Elves being "far more open and tolerant than Men and Dwarves" does not hold well.

By the end of the Third Age, the remaining Middle-earth Elves conducted a policy of extreme isolationism. The Galadhrim of Lothlorien and the Silvan Elves of Mirkwood in particular were very isolationist. So much that they even lost contact with their relatives. Legolas, the Elvenking´s son, had never been to Lothlorien prior to the events in LOTR. His knowledge of the Golden Wood is based on some ancient songs. Gimli the Dwarf is at first not allowed to enter Lothlorien based only on his ethnicity. When

Is there an explanation for the (seemingly) interchangeable use of both "Noldor" and " Ñoldor" by Tolkien? Is the latter pronounced "Nyoldor" (as the Spanish "Ñ") would suggest?

Saddened by the news of Christopher Tolkien´s death, which feels like the passing of an Age in the Tolkien universe, I started wondering about the Fate of Men. We know that Eru (God) gave Men a new "Gift" - death - which allows them (or us) to go beyond the confines of Arda (our Earth). Even the Valar don´t know where Men go to after they have died. Unlike the Elves and the Valar, Men are not bound to the world and burdened by its sorrows for ever. Men are completely free in this sense. Something the Valar, in the end, shall envy Men for.

J.R.R. Tolkien, and his son Christopher probably as well, was a devout Catholic, who strongly believed in the afterlife as taught by the Church. This tea