The Most Expensive Film Project Ever
In 2022 Amazon unveiled a series specifically designed to be a thermonuclear blast aimed directly at streaming services like Netflix and Max. “The Rings of Power”, based (loosely) off the appendices of JRR Tolkien’s legendary “Lord of The Rings”, Amazon studios was determined to show the world they were capable of producing high quality content. Such an experiment cost them dearly; merely acquiring the exclusive rights to “Lord of the Rings” cost a staggering 500 million dollars. That’s before the first line of script was ever written. Actually producing the series cost an eye watering one billion dollars. That was not a typo, one billion dollars. More than any other series produced in history. Clearly Amazon wanted to make waves.
I had heard about the project way back in 2019, and followed the occasional bits of news that would ‘leak’ out. I couldn’t help but be excited for the upcoming series. “Lord of the Rings” is my all time favorite book series ever. So when Amazon promised to tell us some new stories set in the world of Middle Earth, it was hard to contain my sheer delight. I watched every trailer, multiple times. Counted the days. And the night it premiered, I impatiently refreshed the Prime Video app every 10 seconds wanting to see the episode the moment it premiered.
Nothing could prepare me for what followed next. I was determined to give Amazon the benefit of the doubt, thinking surely they weren’t stupid enough to pay all that money and produce some half baked series. Unfortunately, Amazon did far worse.
Not All Who Wander Are Lost … Except for Amazon
I watched in both shock and horror, as Amazon systematically, episode by episode, dismantled the complex lore Tolkien had built in masterful epics like ‘The Silmarillion’ and “The Children of Hurin” (one of my absolute favorite books). Mind you, I fully expected some mild alterations, and resolved not to be upset when I saw them. Instead I watched the equivalent of Amazon loading up a pile of the aforementioned works and making a bonfire of them. I truly am not exaggerating.
A Brief Explanation of The Complex Lore of Middle Earth
In the prequels that Tolkien wrote, we have the mythic tale of the Valar, powerful angelic beings brought into existence by the Creator. Charged with guarding and governing over all of life, they watch from above, never leaving their posts, keeping their divine charge, living in fealty to the Creator.
Except for Melkor. The greatest and most powerful of them all. While all the Valar sing the songs of the Creator, Melkor has ideas and thoughts of his own. Eventually bringing a song of discord to the heavenly harmony. What follows is a tale so multi-faceted and complex I can’t do it justice in one post. The quick way to explain what follows is that Melkor spirals into murder, deceit and betrayal, becoming the dark lord, Morgoth. Morgoth lives to sow chaos and discord, creating monstrous entities to terrorize and subjugate all free peoples.
This is deep lore, the kind of thing that makes these stories timeless. The main thing to remember is that Tolkien already established a highly complex history for his tales. Fans such as myself know these stories well. You would think that Amazon would have respected this simple fact.
When Creativity is a Bad Thing
Instead, Amazon decided to get ‘creative’. Sauron is not the powerful and cunning entity of ‘The Silmarillion’. A master craftsman and cunning deceiver. Wearing a mask to hide his true identity and calling himself, Annatar, the Lord of Gifts. Disguising himself as a this benevolent being he teaches the Elves many forbidden things, eventually deceiving them to forge the Rings of Power. Powerful objects that ultimately bind the user to his will.
Amazon decided that was a little too cerebral for viewers. Instead Sauron becomes Halbrand. A mild mannered, unassuming drifter, with a knack for forging things. Living in the shadow of regret over losing his wife, Halbrand attempts to live a decent life before finally deciding that the good guy life is for the birds and decides to become evil at the very last episode. Why? Well, because it was convenient. This banal and shallow storytelling is just one of the many reasons Tolkien fans learned to hate the “Rings of Power”. Of course, given how Amazon managed to spectacularly screw up “The Wheel of Time”, maybe this shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise.
Not All Orcs Are From Mordor
However. There is another twist to all of this. While Amazon certainly did not do these stories the justice it deserved, the backlash it received quickly spiraled into nuclear-waste level toxicity. You couldn’t hardly watch a video or read a post with anyone saying anything intelligible. Instead I was aghast as the real trolls and orcs showed themselves, and they didn’t all come form the Fortress of Angband. Some people took a twisted delight in making perverse gifs and memes, while others took a much darker approach and actually threatened cast members with physical violence. Openly, mind you. I was appalled at such reactions, and noted that the majority of these orcs and trolls, had never so much as even read the books. They just smelled smoke and decided to throw some oil on the bonfire. It was really sick.
Today, Season 2 has premiered. I’m on the fence as to whether or not I’ll bother watching it. There was some talk that Season 2 would fix the most blatant contradictions of the previous season. I hope so. I did perk up when I heard Tom Bombadil would show up as a main character. He was one of my favorite characters from the books, and always wished that he would show in the Peter Jackson films. If nothing else, I wanted there to be a voice of reason out there. You know, before all the sewage starts to flood the internet. Again. No one loves the “Lord of the Rings” books more than me. Upset as Season 1 made me, I have no desire to add to the keyboard diarrhea affecting so much of the internet.
Keeping the Story Alive
There was a lot of reasons to trash Season 1. There was the wooden performance of Galadriel. The unnecessary and boring characters like Bronwyn, Arondir, and Theo. The way that Amazon reassembled the lore of Middle Earth, episode by episode, and not for the better. Usually reverting to outright contradictions. The list just goes on. Even with all that, I’ve still retained my decency and urge the same. Of course I wish Amazon would have done this series with the same care Denis Villenueve did with his epic two part “Dune” films. But it’s all OK. We know the real story. Like a good medieval storyteller, it’s our task to tell what really happened. And as for the orcs and trolls, do us all a favor. Stay in Mordor.
More than anyone else I want this to be a good series. I really do. To this very day “Lord of the Rings” made me want to tell real stories. I still view it as the highest standard in storytelling. Even though it has been a while since I’ve read the books. Imagine that. But that’s what makes a truly great story. A truly great story will stick with you, long after you turn the last page. Over the years the concept of good people doing what is right no matter the odds has stuck with me. Whether it was Aragorn forced to stop running and embrace his destiny as rightful King of Gondor, or Frodo Baggins, the most insignificant of all people, resolved to destroy the One Ring even as he faces his own darkness, these great characters have stuck with me for years. I may never siege the fortress of Angband or face a horde of orcs from Mordor, but there is plenty of evil out in the world. And maybe I learned how to deal with it all from great stories like these.
