Spoiler Alert
The only issue I have with Amazon committing to bring more Lord of the Rings to life concerns what parts of J. R. R. Tolkien’s appendices are key to the shaping of The Rings of Power? I appreciate the fact the X-Ray feature links to additional material to help folks understand the source, and if its supposed to segway to the films, its not teasing at anything yet!
This multimedia company is promising to produce five seasons. As long as they can deliver the episodes on a timely basis, I’ll be watching. I don’t mind a soft ten month break, but any longer can be tough.
As a casual fan, the ring-verse which portends the future can’t be altered; we know the finale–about how the One Ring must be destroyed to save all of Middle Earth in the main series, which takes place in the far off future. As for The Hobbit, there’s no Sméagol–I’m fairly sure he isn’t born.
To see how it all begins is based on the indexes and notes Tolkien scribed. However, not everyone wants to read the unfinished tales and compendiums to understand where everything fits. And I’m glad showrunners John D. Payne and Patrick McKay are attempting to unpack all of this scholar’s works into a serialised format.
The first two episodes are heavy. A lot of introductions are needed to bring fans back up to speed, and what we see has to establish who are the good guys and the bad. Or, in this work’s case, is fated to fall to the might of Sauron when he returns.
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