One Show to Rule Them All: The Spectacular Failure of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’

Nuha Hassan
15 min readAug 7, 2024

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Charlie Vickers as Halbrand and Morfydd Clark as Galadriel. Image courtesy of Prime Video.

Two years ago, when I watched the awaited prequel series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (will be referred to as The Rings of Power from this point onwards), an expansion of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings universe, I would have told you it was one of the best series of the year. I took upon the challenge of rewatching the series to refresh my mind for one reason. I wanted to see if I could remember any of the characters and plots of this expansive (and expensive) series. Much to my surprise, I couldn’t remember many subplots and characters’ names.

Don’t get me wrong. The Rings of Power is a great series. It’s certainly big. Extremely big in terms of production. Look at the set designs and the costumes and the armoury and the many, many ships, oh, and the horses! But this rewatching experience left me wondering: What spell was I under when I watched The Rings of Power two years ago? How did I decide this show was the best series ever? Indeed, the set design and props were magnificent in scale and size; I’ll admit I was blown away. I seemingly threw my criticism away for a series that reportedly had a budget of half a billion dollars. I won’t lie; I was thoroughly entertained. But I think the problem is that when years of established stories get a polished expansion, it’s hard to enjoy, especially when you’re a devoted fan of the universe.

The world of J.R.R. Tolkien created numerous characters that bore mythical creatures, wizards, elves, orcs, dragons, and dwarves, and it is endless. Nearly two decades ago, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy proved that Tolkien’s books can be adapted into a trilogy and brought these characters to life with a fantastic ensemble cast. It is one of the most beloved book and movie adaptations series with a devoted fanbase.

So, of course, when J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay were announced as the showrunners of the prequel series set in the Second Age, just thousands of years before the events of Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, it was understandable that this devoted fan base would be worried about it. If there is anything we have learnt from the series finale of Game of Thrones, never make massive changes to the already-established world by introducing new stories that make absolutely no sense; because there will always be a devoted fan obsessed with the lore who disagrees with the series finale. (And yes, that would be me.)

Image courtesy of Prime Video.

My initial reaction to The Rings of Power was that it is a unique story that brought together new and old fans for new adventures. From the minute the series begins, it is a visual feast. Everything about the world was mesmerising and astoundingly grand. It was impossible to look away from the screen. It is rich in drama; there’s action and tension, and the relationships between the characters begin to thread the series’ conflicts and the impending war at the end of the Second Age. It introduced the magical world of elves, the mysterious lands of the men, and the secretive world of the dwarves underneath the mountains. There were so many subplots across Middle-earth and far beyond the seas in Númenor. Still, the central plot of this series is the neverending hunt for Dark Lord Sauron, Morgoth’s former lieutenant, and hunting him is Commander of the Northern Armies, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), the immortal warrior Elf scarred by the centuries of war and death.

The Rings of Power focuses on several key relationships: Elrond (Robert Aramayo) seeks the help of Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur) in Khazad-dûm to find a substance that would save the Elven race from extinction; Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker), the Last King of Noldor, commands Galadriel to return to Valinor after her failed attempt to find her brother’s killer, Sauron, she leaves the ship and meets Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), a Southlander with many secrets; Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) is a Harfoot hobbit part of a migratory caravan and she discovers a mysterious giant stranger (Daniel Weyman) near their camp; a forbidden romance between a Silvan Elf, Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) and a Southlander healer and a mother, Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi), whose son, Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) discovers a sword’s hilt buried in the farms that certainly belongs to a different, evil power; and across the sea in Númenor, after Galadriel and Halbrand are rescued by Elendil (Lloyd Owen), she tries to persuade Queen-regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to journey to Middle-earth and defeat Sauron.

So, why did I like this series on the first watch? There’s no denying that The Rings of Power is grand, and I believe that Payne and McKay wrote these characters with the utmost care and consideration of Tolkien’s work. But many fans familiar with the universe disagree. Some changes were made in the series such as the order of the creation of the Rings of Power, the Mithril plotline that somehow connects to the Elves’ survival, the Harfoots hobbits’ existence in the Second Age, and the creation of Mordor using a sword. These drastic changes were created for the show by Payne and McKay, and many of these creative decisions went against Tolkien’s Middle-earth lore. The Rings of Power is an unrecognisable work of Tolkien that fails to explain many storylines. Payne and McKay compressed events in the Second Age into five seasons to create a show for entertainment including the legacy characters without any compelling story and character development.

Morfydd Clark as Galadriel. Image courtesy of Prime Video.

Speaking of character development, amidst a foray of colourful beings, the primary protagonist of The Rings of Power is the mighty Galadriel. She is one of the most iconic characters in The Lord of the Rings, originally played by Cate Blanchett in Jackson’s trilogy, known for wielding magical powers, her endless knowledge and wisdom, and delivering monologues in a soft voice dressed in white, flowy gowns.

In the series, Galadriel is written quite differently. She is a prolific fighter with military skills and wears an ironclad Elven armour to battle. Another massive difference Galadriel has in the series is that she is younger, angry, and makes reckless decisions. For an Elder elf who has lived through the events of the First Age and Second Age, it’s nonsensical that Galadriel, of all the characters, makes bold, abrasive demands for no reason. Where did her people’s skills go? Did it disappear during the creation of this series to introduce her bloodthirsty vengeance storyline? What drives Galadriel’s story is the death of her beloved brother, Finrod (Will Fletcher), by Sauron, who killed and branded him with a sigil.

So, this gives her reason to hate Sauron and seek revenge. But in her anger and abrasiveness, Galadriel’s noble qualities are stripped away. She’s like a petulant teenager who is headstrong and lacks diplomatic skills and patience, far removed from the graceful, strong and admirable qualities she possesses in Jackson’s trilogy and Tolkien’s works. Her strength doesn’t only come from her swords, it comes from the knowledge and wisdom she has gained over centuries of experience. It’s uncharacteristic of her to make demands from royals and learn diplomatic skills from Halbrand. (Yes, this is an actual scene in The Rings of Power, where Halbrand has to step in to put some sense into a hotheaded Galadriel being abrasive towards Míriel after they arrive in Númenor). I’m not entirely sure where Galadriel’s storyline is heading. But one thing is clear, Payne and McKay’s version of this iconic character certainly changes how fans perceive her, providing a nuanced reimagining of Galadriel that will make or break the next season.

Galadriel’s storyline is just one of the many storylines, and that is just part of it. What happens at the end of The Rings of Power is pivotal towards the end of the Second Age and the defeat of Sauron. Now, bear with me because this will take some time to explain.

Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor and Robert Aramayo as Elrond. Image courtesy of Prime Video.

Darkness spread throughout Middle-earth, unbeknownst to any of these Elves. Gil-galad and Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), the legendary Elven Smith, share a secret with Elrond. After living on Middle-earth, far away from Valinor’s light, the Elves are fading away. The Tree of Valinor is slowly decaying because of Morgoth. If the Elves cannot find a solution, their health will decline and Noldor will cease to exist. Gil-galad sends Elrond to Eregion to help Celebrimbor build a tower capable of withstanding extreme temperatures allowing him to craft an object that would transform Middle-earth. Elrond seeks the help of Prince Durin IV in Khazad-dûm to build this powerful forge. Eventually, Elrond finds Mithril, a metal material with healing abilities that would keep the Light of the Eldar alive in Middle-earth.

Unlike the Tolkien lore, Mithril is an ore found in Khazad-dûm; but in The Rings of Power, the writers reveal a bigger secret that changes the origins of Mithril. Gil-galad explains in ‘Song of the Roots of Hithaeglir’ that an elf-warrior battled one of Morgoth’s Balrogs on the Misty Mountains. This elf-warrior discovered Silmarils and poured the light into the tree but the Balrog wanted to destroy it with its darkness. But when a lightning bolt struck the tree, it combined Silmarils light and Balrong’s darkness — good and evil. It formed a new material that the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm would later discover as Mithril. It seems far-fetched to change the lore of Mithril and Silmarils by insinuating that they were created by light and darkness with healing properties to stop the Elves from fading away in Middle-earth. But this material is central to the story because this is where Celebrimbor learns how to mould Mithril with the help of Halbrand in Eregion.

Fans of The Lord of the Rings are familiar with the story of the creation of the Rings of Power — twenty magical rings forged in the Second Age. Disguised as Annatar, Sauron teaches Celebrimbor’s Elven smiths to craft these rings. The song goes, Three Rings for Elven-kings under the sky, Seven Rings for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine Rings for Mortal Men doomed to die, and One Ring to rule them all. Sauron forged the One Ring on Mount Doom and possesses the power to control the wearers of the nineteen lesser Rings. Celebrimbor creates The Three Rings using the knowledge he gained from Annatar.

Charlie Vickers as Halbrand. Image courtesy of Prime Video.

The Rings of Power, like its title, should centre around the creation of these twenty Rings in the Second Age. It would be fitting to learn about Celebrimbor and his ambition to build the tower, forge the Rings, and explore his relationship with Halbrand, who (surprise, surprise!) is actually Annatar, Lord of Gifts aka Dark Lord Sauron. (In the series, Sauron is called Halbrand because if he had been named Annatar, the twist wouldn’t have been shocking). But shockingly enough, the series diverts from Celebrimbor and Halbrand/Sauron’s relationship. Instead of focusing on this key relationship, it focuses on Galadriel’s relationship with Halbrand, who helps her with the diplomatic problems in Númenor. He goes with her to Middle-earth to the Southlands to be reunited with his people. After getting injured in a battle, Galadriel takes him to Eregion to heal his wounds with Elven medicine. They stay in Eregion for two days to help Celebrimbor with the Rings. Days later, Galadriel and Elrond discover Halbrand’s true identity and he flees to Mordor.

In the last 15 minutes of the episode, “Alloyed,” with the help of Mithril and Finrod’s dagger, Galadriel, Elrond and Celebrimbor forge the Three Rings. It’s quite a shock that the last episode introduces the Three Rings for a short time. According to Tolkien lore, Sauron disguised as Annatar meets with Celebrimbor and guides him to create the Seven Rings for the Dwarves and Nine Rings for Men. When Annatar leaves, Celebrimbor creates the Three Rings, and then Sauron arrives at Mordor to create One Ring. That is how the order is supposed to go. Annatar/Sauron’s relationship with Celebrimbor is pivotal to the Rings’ creation. But The Rings of Power doesn’t explore that connection and insinuates that Celebrimbor is oblivious to Sauron’s true identity or he knows it but refuses to acknowledge it. Galadriel and Elrond keep his identity a secret from Celebrimbor. There is no indication that the other sixteen Rings were made in secret or before Galadriel was gallivanting around Eregion trying to find the lineage of the Southland Kings Halbrand had claimed to come from.

The Rings of Power makes egregious changes to Tolkien’s work for no reason. It focuses on shock value and cliffhangers that lead nowhere, and the only explanation the writers give to the viewers is: ‘Trust us, bro. We got this! Everything is part of a greater plan.’ The reason why Payne and McKay couldn’t directly adapt Tolkien’s The Silmarillion is because Amazon Studios couldn’t acquire the rights to it. Instead, Payne and McKay had to extract plots from already written pieces by Tolkien and create an original story that resembles The Lord of the Rings lore. The Mithril plot, the Elves’ light fading away and the creation of Mordor were part of an extended story created by Payne and McKay.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel. Image courtesy of Prime Video.

One of the most pivotal moments in The Rings of Power is the creation of Mount Doom and Mordor. Along with the Mithril lore and Galadriel’s characteristics, the series works to expand the current mythos of the universe. The creation of Mount Doom is an established story in Tolkien’s world, but the series introduces its origin story.

Long before Sauron ruled over Mordor in The Lord of the Rings, a kingdom called Angband was created by Morgoth, deep in the mountain ranges. When it was destroyed in the First Age, a new kingdom was formed by Morgoth. By using his God-like powers, he was able to summon and form Mount Doom into existence and used it as his home base until his defeat and Sauron’s succession as the new Dark Lord of the Second Age. For thousands of years, Mount Doom remains dormant. It is only in the Second Age that Mordor becomes a significant pivotal event.

However, there is no definitive answer to Mordor’s origins. The Rings of Power suggests that the mountains and lush fields in the besieged village of Ostirith, located in the Southlands, would eventually become Mordor. Adar (Joseph Mawle) is a Moriondor, the first Elves to be corrupted by Morgoth and the first generation of Orcs. When Morgoth is defeated, he serves Sauron but after years of seeing the vile treatment his Orcs have received, he decides to become a free agent.

For decades, Adar’s Orcs built tunnels underneath the Southlands towards the mountain ​​Orodruin. When Galadriel and Númenor’s army arrive to save the Southlanders from the Orcs, Adar commands one of the villagers to insert Theo’s mysterious sword hilt to unlock a dam in Ostirith. This sword is the Key to Mount Doom, which releases a flood that destroys the entire area and triggers a volcano. The eruption destroyed the fields forever and it is covered in molten lava. What is previously known as the Southlands is now called Mordor. Adar calls himself the “Lord of the Southlands.” He has found a home for his Orcs to roam around freely.

Because Tolkien’s world doesn’t have a definitive answer to Mordor’s creations, The Rings of Power suggests that Mordor was previously known as the Southlands, where Frodo, Sam and Gollum will eventually arrive with the One Ring. It also indicates that neither Morgoth nor Sauron created Mordor but Adar, who commanded his children — the Orcs — to destroy the fields. He was the one who called the land Mordor. This is a drastically different origin story than what was suggested in Tolkien’s universe. The intentional flood and earthquake seem to be convincing enough. But the lore states that Morgoth created Mount Doom. What is clear is that at the end of season one, Sauron/Halbrand returns to Mordor, perhaps to build Barad-dûr as his headquarters and build his army to fight the Elves until the end of his death in the Third Age. But for now, it is unclear if he will take up residence because there’s more to cover in the story.

If this is just the beginning of a five-season plan to rewrite the events of the Second Age, this series is slowly turning into a fan-fiction of sorts. The penultimate episode leads the characters nowhere. After the volcano erupts, Galadriel wakes up covered in ash. Everything is red. People are running and finding their loved ones. Buildings are burning. There are people dead on the ground. Galadriel is defeated. She spent centuries looking for Sauron. Her efforts to convince Míriel to sail to the Southlands to defeat the Dark Lord was in vain. She failed her task. Galadriel’s emotional journey in this episode should’ve been pivotal for her development. But it leads her nowhere. She is back at the same place she started in the first series. Not only that but the last episode’s final revelation of Sauron’s identity was staring right at everybody’s faces!

Megan Richards as Poppy and Markella Kavenagh as Nora. Image courtesy of Prime Video.

The problem with The Rings of Power is how it squeezes the Second Age timeline by combining events that happened centuries apart. It also introduces many legacy characters to fit into one season. It fails spectacularly because most of the series focuses on subplots rather than the main plot: the forging of the Rings of Power. (It’s the titular role!) It is a show that has so much substance (and source material) but the stakes aren’t high enough. It constantly speculates The Stranger and Sauron’s real identities. This is the only aspect that drives the tension in the latter half of the series. Because of the constant speculation, it suffers through the unbearable, slow pacing that plagues the first half but rushes through the final episode to reveal the big revelation. The main plot (and the titular Rings of Power) is pushed aside to make room for the gargantuan number of characters, lackless drama, underdeveloped characters and jaw-dropping cinematography. It tries to pay homage to Tolkien’s work and Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings original trilogy by using visual callbacks and mapping the world in great, painstaking detail that fails to stay true to the essence of the author’s work.

Regardless, I did quite enjoy some of the new characters like Nori. She takes a familiar path. Her arc relies on breaking generational traditions. She dreams of bigger things in life, including breaking away from the Harfoots’ migration. Nori has a sense of adventure, like her distant descendants, the Hobbits. Nori’s character development has a pretty good conclusion as she finally finds her purpose in life. Hopefully, in the next season, Nori’s arc finds more adventures as she helps The Stranger learn more about his powers and purpose.

The Rings of Power is certainly an ambitious show that nitpicks many details of Tolkien’s work. It’s a series whose main function is to show its creative ideas with spectacular visuals and set design but fails to adapt worthy character development, shallow worldbuilding and slow pacing. It’s a shame that the fantastical world of Tolkien fails to bring certain elements to the front and centre while abandoning the characteristics of legacy characters beloved in the series. Galadriel’s journey is the focus but her journey is murky and far removed from her brilliant characterisation in the original trilogy.

Perhaps this is part of the heroine’s journey but Payne and McKay are taking risks — not good risks — to create a story that feels deserving to its loyal fanbase. But it doesn’t deserve the praise. The Rings of Power has some redeeming qualities, such as its entertainment factor, but it’s hard to enjoy a series that claims to be a continuation of Tolkien’s work. Hopefully, the writer’s room will improve the notable flaws for the upcoming second season by making notes on Tolkien’s depiction of The Lord of the Rings lore. Also, the second season, hopefully, answers a lot of the questions and fills in the gap, regarding Celebrimbor’s relationship with Annatar/Sauron and the other various subplots, especially Adar, whose backstory is intriguing. I know I’ve spent the majority of this article complaining about every part of The Rings of Power, but I will most certainly be watching the upcoming season. Despite its flaws, The Rings of Power is quite an entertaining adaptation.

Here are some reading materials to learn about the genocide, ethnic cleansing and illegal occupation in Palestine:

Decolonise Palestine

Books about Palestine on Verso Books

Books about Palestine on Haymarket Books

The Free Palestine Library

More reading materials on Palestine

Operation Olive Branch is another useful resource to help families evacuate to Egypt and buy medicine and food by donating directly to their GoFundMe links.

You can also join the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement, a Palestinian-led movement as a form of resistance to Israeli occupation:

Read about Readers for Accountability on their website.

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