With The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Amazon has made a major bid to be one of the best purveyors of fantasy television. Already, the series has been a success, demonstrating the extent to which there is still a very strong appetite for seeing alternative worlds brought to life on screen.
Though it has some notable differences from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, it has to be said that, in terms of its story, its character, and its look, the two have a lot in common. In their own way, they each manage to capture the essence of Tolkien.
The Scope Of The Story
From the very first episode, The Rings of Power makes clear it’s going to be a story sprawling in scope. Spanning continents and numerous peoples, it aims to detail some of the most important events of the Second Age.
This is something it clearly shares in common with The Lord of the Rings, which also details a very important time in the history of Middle-earth. The events that take place in both periods of time will have importance for many years to come, and both make clear just how significant they are.
Some Of The Major Characters
Many great characters leap from Tolkien’s fiction, and some of them have found on-screen life in both The Lord of the Rings and The Rings of Power. Elrond and Galadriel are two of the most notable examples. In both cases, however, they are very different than they will appear in later ages, for they have yet to endure the final tragedies that will mar the entirety of the Second Age.
Still, seeing them appear in both gives the series and the movies a sense of visual and thematic continuity that allows the viewer to truly savor the experience and connect the stories of the rings. Seeing Elrond and Galadriel as younger elves also gives us an insight into how they became who they are when we finally see them again thousands of years later.
The Personality Of The Elves
The Elves are one of the most notable races of Middle-earth. In both The Lord of the Rings and The Rings of Power they play a key role in the events to come. In both cases, moreover, they are a people who have endured a great deal of sadness and heartache throughout the years, as they have fought a long battle against first Morgoth and now, it seems, his lieutenant Sauron.
Though they are still somewhat optimistic in The Rings of Power, it’s clear that they are very aware of the perpetual tragedy that is life in Middle-earth. This will reach its fruition in The Lord of the Rings.
The Beauty Of The World
There are, of course, many magnificent locations in The Lord of the Rings. This is equally true of The Rings of Power, and each episode is filled with eye-popping vistas and evocative images of the world of Middle-earth.
In both cases, the fiction aims to sweep the viewer up in the simple majesty of this fictional location. It is impossible not to feel a sense of awe at what both Peter Jackson and the new Prime Video series have managed to achieve. As was the case with Tolkien himself, they have brought the fantastic to living, breathing life.
The Sense Of History
Already, The Rings of Power has become one of the best series on Prime Video. In part, this is because it manages to capture the sense of history that has always been one of the most enduringly appealing aspects of Tolkien’s work. Both The Lord of the Rings and The Rings of Power manage to convey this quite well.
Sometimes, it’s in the form of characters reading old-looking scrolls and books, while in others it is there in the vastness of the exteriors and the ornate nature of the architecture. This is a world with its own laws, which is why it is so easy to get lost in it.
The Conflicted Role Of Men
While Elves are obviously a key part of both The Rings of Power and The Lord of the Rings, Men have their own role to play. In both iterations of the story, their part is complicated. While some are clearly aligned with the forces of good, others are more morally ambiguous, and some are downright bad.
This is already clear in The Rings of Power, for while some, such as Elendil, maintain their ties to the Elves, others, such as those in Numenor, have already turned away, falling into their own form of darkness.
The Simplicity Of The Harfoots
While the epic story is a key part of why people flock to The Lord of the Rings and The Rings of Power, both series also have a simpler part of the story. For the former, it’s the simple Hobbits, while for the latter it is the Harfoots.
In both cases, they represent something more homely, reminding the viewer that there are those, even in this vast world, who aren’t quite as caught up in the doings of the great. As both Frodo and Nori demonstrate, however, there is also something inherently strong about these diminutive folk, and their actions might come to trouble even the mighty.
The Impending Darkness
Tolkien’s work, like the best fantasy, is very concerned with good. The Rings of Power and The Lord of the Rings are both very preoccupied with this issue, particularly in the form of Sauron. As characters like Galadriel and Gandalf make very clear, it is up to those who see the contours of the threat to do everything that they can to fight back against it.
What is most extraordinary about both of them is that they know that the defeat of evil is never fully over. It will always be necessary to keep up the fight against the darkness, no matter whether it might rise again.
The Nobility Of Spirit
Anyone who has read Tolkien knows that there is a fundamental nobility to his work and its ethos. Both of the high-profile adaptations keep this aspect of the work. As characters like Galadriel, Sam, and Gandalf know, there is good in the world, and it’s worth fighting for.
At the same time, both The Lord of the Rings and The Rings of Power make it clear that it is not always easy to choose the side of right. There are always sacrifices that have to be made, but they’re made knowing that doing so will make the world better for others.
The Centrality Of Rings
Given that the word appears in the title of both works, it makes sense that the Rings of Power–in particular, the One Ring–would be so central to the stories of both the movies and the new TV series. It’s clear already that this will be one of the major focal points for what is to happen, and the destinies of many will be wrapped up in the tiniest of objects.
Each one, though, focuses on a different aspect of these objects. While The Lord of the Rings focuses on the need to destroy the One Ring, The Rings of Power focuses on why they were created to begin with, and how their genesis shaped the latter parts of the Second Age.
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