While in Europe Russia has started a direct war with neighboring Ukraine forthe first time since WWII, which pays a lot of attention to the heroism ofUkrainian soldiers, and the atrocities and destruction by Russia, worldwideaudiences of millions are turning the attention to fantasy series such as TheRings of Power (Amazon) and House of the Dragon (HBO). The first is aprequel to the successful Lord of the Rings adaptations of the books by JRRTolkien, and in this classic tale of the struggle between good and evil, it isnot difficult to see similarities with the struggle in Ukraine.
There is, also in NRC attention for The Rings of Power but also for thecriticism about skin color and women in combat roles that the series hasfaced.
Martijn Vos is a software engineer with an interest in fantasy and SF.
Galadriel
That criticism is unfortunate, not only because the complaints are superficialand largely unfounded, but also because the racist and sexist sound of thecriticism hinders the more substantive criticism of this most expensivestreaming production ever. Because there is quite a bit wrong with the series,and that is not about skin color or the role of women, on the contrary thesomewhat browner skin of the Bruives ( Harfoots in English) is precisely howTolkien distinguished them from the other hobbit peoples. The same goes forGaladriel: according to Tolkien, she was as big and strong as a male elf, andwas second to none in athletic prowess.
No, where The Rings of Power The flaw is not in the looks or in thosedetails, but in the big picture: the history as written by Tolkien, and theactions of the main protagonist, Galadriel. In Tolkien she is one of the threemost powerful elves with King Gil-Galad and master blacksmith Celebrimbor, butin the series she comes across as a relatively young elf who is sent away fromMiddle-earth by Gil-Galad (Tolkien’s second cousin). . Her inseparable husbandCeleborn is not even mentioned in the books.
Also read: ‘ The Rings of Power’ will have to do even more to justifyitself
But all that is forgivable if the writers of the series had a good reason forit and they told a good story with it. So it was my surprise that Galadriel,arriving on the fantastically rendered island of Numenor (visually the seriesis an absolute delight), comes into contact with Elendil, a character thatTolkien only situates some 2,000 years later. Two stories from completelydifferent eras are mixed up in the series, and after the fourth episode I seecoming that the fall of the underground dwarf kingdom of Moria will also beadded, which should take place with Tolkien again 2,000 years later. find. Aperiod of 4,000 years is squeezed into one season, so if you find the story abit crowded and difficult to follow, then that’s not a bad thing. It’s likehaving Julius Caesar meet Napoleon, while medieval knights fight a crusadeagainst the pyramid builders.
And it could have been so much better, especially with the huge budget thecreators had. The storylines could have been better divided over the differentseasons. That would have made history much more dramatic. Show the passage oftime, how the humans change, and the elves don’t. All working towards thepoint where the Lord of the Rings movie story begins. I don’t know why thecreators didn’t take that big, epic approach and instead try to cram as muchhistory into a season as possible. With fewer storylines at the same time, theseries could have had more focus. It’s a missed opportunity for greatness.