Rings of Power

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What happened in Middle Earth?

Before the adventures of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, familiar to fantasy viewers and readers from "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", mysterious things happened. They are portrayed in the opulent series Rings of Power, albeit initially in only eight episodes, each of which is nevertheless of considerable length.

 

It is an ensemble series in which there is no clear main character on whom the plot focuses. The action always jumps around between about four regions of Middle-earth, the fantastic realm that author and linguist J.R.R. Tolkien once imagined.

 

What is the plot based on?

Anyone with knowledge of films, and even more so readers of the numerous books, already have an idea of what it is about. The appendices of The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and notes by the author such as from the news of Middle-earth provide a decent basis for this saga.

 

Anyone who suspects that it could be about the rings of power that enslave everyone is not wrong, and the situation for the characters presented is correspondingly grim.

 

Elvish warrior Galadriel

Perhaps three characters can be recognised from the four films. The much younger Elvish warrior Galadriel (photo above), for example, has been pursuing evil in the form of orcs and the dark ruler Sauron, who was once Morgoth's right-hand man, since the first age.

 

Another is the equally long-lived Elrond, half-Elven architect and politician. His goal is to negotiate with the dwarves, who are well-disposed towards him, especially Prince Durin (photo below), less his father King Durin III. For the Elvish people a threatening situation is looming, which could be improved by a mysterious metal of the dwarves from Khazad-dûm: Mithril.

 

Bad Things Loom in Tirharad

The Silvan elf Arondir and his human friend Bronwyn (photo below) notice that things are getting dangerous in the southern lands of the humans first. There are increasing signs that the light-shy orcs have made themselves at home in tunnels under the land and that a certain leader named Adar is up to something bad.

 

These locations are probably the most interesting and the events there are also depicted in an extremely drastic way. In terms of severity, this exceeds scenes from the four films by far.

 

Legendary Isildur

Unexpectedly, Isildur (photo below), who will appear heroic in the future, turns out to be a sympathetic daydreamer. He therefore does not have an easy time in the strict island kingdom of Númenor. This is not made any better by his father Elendil, who sets high standards.

 

By the way, the scenes in the island city are extremely impressive and were created in a mixture of expensive props and film effects.

 

The little people and the stranger

The primitive people of Harfoot roam the lands nomadically and must beware of danger. One day, the girl Nori Brandyfoot meets a tall stranger who at first does not know her language and seems confused.

 

Nori's clan is suspicious at first, but the long man seems well-disposed and helps the group on their trek. However, he attracts three creepy female hikers with his presence. Somehow the stranger seems familiar in the end...

 

Filming location New Zealand

Most of the first series was once again filmed in Aukland and other locations in New Zealand, although this wasn't planned at the beginning. The pandemic also forced the film team to take a break of several months after the first two episodes, which viewers will hardly notice.

 

Great Britain is planned as another filming location, especially for the second season. In Bray Studios near Maidenhead in England, this will start in autumn 2022, i.e. now during the writing of this text.

 

unknown cast

On the positive side, the choice of actors is excellent, mainly British. There are no well-known stars, especially not Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) or Hugo Weaving (Elrond). However, it is striking how much Morfydd Clark resembles her predecessor as Galadriel.

 

Perhaps Lloyd Owen as Elendil (photo above) is still the most familiar. You may know him from Apollo 18 or the series Death in Paradise or Midsomer Murders. Also appearing are former Spartacus actors Simon Merrells (Vevion), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Queen regent Miriel), Jason Hood (Tamar) and Antonio Te Maioha (Ship's Mate).

 

 

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Most expensive series so far

Right from the beginning it was clear that the series would be expensive with only a few episodes. The well-known crises have caused the production time and thus the costs to skyrocket further. After all, it is also a prestige project for the streaming service and will attract new subscribers.

 

The battle for the rights with competitor Netflix alone has swallowed up millions, and the entire series may easily top a billion dollars in production costs. It is vaguely rumoured that there will be five seasons...

 

 

Shortcomings

Here one is exposed to the justified criticism of squeezing the second age into a short story. This condensation of the plot offends purists. On the other hand, it is slow to get going for newcomers or casual Lord of the Rings watchers.

 

The narrative by the visibly inexperienced writing team McKay and Payne (Star Trek Beyond) has lengths, logic flaws and misses some deep scenes with more patience for acting.

What succeeded?

Dreamlike "holiday resorts"

Cast appropriately selected

Poppy Proudfellows song is wonderful

 

 

Summary

A mediocre start to a fantasy series that then picks up momentum and leaves us hoping for more

 

The more you know the books, the more you may be annoyed by glaring weaknesses in the story. But the series offers more than that. There is rock-solid acting, locations to marvel at and crisp surprises. Even things that you anticipate because they have already been portrayed in the films have a captivating effect as they develop.

 

What I have never experienced like this before, however: Sometimes Rings of Power seems so cheesy or just plain wrongly staged that you feel downright ashamed of the scriptwriters. So for season 2, just do without these few messed-up moments.

 

 

 

List of episodes

 

There are eight episodes in season 1.

 

Actors

Markella Kavanagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot may be the unsung heroine. Still, the Rings of Power is an ensemble series in which you will not find a clear main character.

 

Infos to the Lord of the Rings - The Rings of Power