Tolkien Tuesday: The Curious Case of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power"

Welcome to Tolkien Tuesday, a sometimes-weekly exploration of the works of Tolkien here at Omnivorous. Every week (hopefully), I’ll discuss something of the Professor’s work that I love, whether it’s a re-read (and chapter-by-chapter analysis) of The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion or an essay on a theme or issue. I hope you’ll join me!

Few series seem to have caused as much of an uproar as Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Whether it’s racist bashing of the diversity of the cast (leading to the production having to have on-set therapists to help said members deal with the backlash) or the constant kvetching that “this isn’t Tolkien” (a claim repeated by Twitter warriors almost nonstop since the series dropped last year), everyone seems to have an opinion on the series.  

To some degree, all of this can be expected. Amazon poured a lot of money into both procuring the rights and to creating the universe for the series, and the social media updates from the production frequently make it clear just how much has gone into creating what the studio clearly hopes will be one of the jewels in its programming crown. Given the sheer scope of the production–and given how much Tolkien remains a part of the fantasy literature landscape and the popular culture sphere more broadly–it’s no surprise that many would have an opinion about this very expensive and very lavish series. 

Furthermore, we live in an age of outrage, where anyone and everyone can find something that infuriates them then broadcast that outrage to the world. Even by those standards, however, The Rings of Power seems to have excited some extraordinary levels of anger on the part of the fandom. If we set aside those who are clearly just trolling to get attention and clicks, that still leaves a significant number of people who just can’t wrap their heads around the fact that a.) the series continues to exist, despite their profound hatred and b.) that anyone, particularly anyone who claims to be a fan of Tolkien and his work, would find anything to enjoy about it. 

I don’t doubt that there are some of those who are complaining who just don’t want to see their beloved author’s work translated into a visual medium in a way that they don’t approve. This was certainly the case with the late Christopher Tolkien, who made no secret of the fact that he was no fan of Jackson’s movies (I remain somewhat mixed on them myself, for while I liked them when they came out, I’ve come to believe they are the victim of the success of The Lord of the Rings and a sign of things to come in Hollywood). For such people, there is likely to be no adaptation of Tolkien or any of his works that would ever meet their exacting standards of what such an adaptation should include or how its cast should look (more on that in a moment). 

More pernicious, I think, is the line of argument that claims that if you enjoy or, heaven forbid, even love The Rings of Power that your own loyalty and fan appreciation of Tolkien should be called into question. This kind of turf war has become ever more prominent on Twitter in particular, and it flares up anytime that someone dares to speak out positively on behalf of the Amazon series. It’s very clear by this point that those who view The Rings of Power negatively won’t be happy until they’ve shamed everyone who likes it into a state of silence, despite the fact that such bullying would certainly not have been approved by the very man whose genius and legacy they seem to be defending.

Now, I do want to point out that this kind of outrage is not just limited to The Rings of Power. There are many in the fandom of The Wheel of Time who found the Amazon adaptation unwatchable and a betrayal of the series that they’d come to love and hold so dearly. And, of course, there’s Star Wars, which has arguably the most toxic and irritating fandom. For that matter, it’s not as if there weren’t plenty of Tolkien purists who bashed Peter Jackson’s film trilogy when it was first released 20 years ago. There were many, believe it or not, who actually had the foolishness to believe that Cate Blanchett wasn’t pretty enough to play Galadriel.  

There seems to be, then, something about Tolkien that arouses such strong (and, far too frequently, poisonous) feelings. Part of it stems from the fact that his works, like many of the great works of fantasy, are strangely appealing to racists and fascists of all types. For such people, the fact that The Rings of Power is tremendously diverse–with BIPOC cast in several of the central roles–is just too much for them to handle. Another part no doubt stems from the fact that, for many, Tolkien’s work (The Lord of the Rings in particular) is indelibly associated with their youth, and thus they feel even more protective of it than they might other works of literature. And some, I don’t doubt, just don’t like the show and the changes it made to the established mythology and just want to make sure that everyone knows this (and converts to their way of thinking).

For my part, I quite enjoyed The Rings of Power, which I thought had a very strong first season. Yes, there were some plot decisions that left me feeling a bit befuddled. I still can’t quite wrap my head around how the whole creating-Mordor-with-a-river-and-volcano thing is supposed to work, and I found the series’ use of the mystery box narrative crutch exasperating to no end. However, I do think that, contrary to what some in the social media sphere would like to claim, the series does a good job of capturing the spirit of Tolkien’s work, whether in the form of the diminutive but tremendously brave Harfoots or the wounded nobility of such characters as Arondir. 

It remains to be seen whether the second season of The Rings of Power will manage to build on the success of the first. Regardless, I’m already girding my loins for a great deal of complaining from the Tolkienites.

Sometimes, it seems, we just can’t have nice things.