The Rings Of Power. Wait, come back! It has the Tolkien seal of approval!

[Scott Taylor]

As for a pointless love interest. These kind of shows love a tragic romance because a large portion of the audience will eat it up.

True. And I'm right there with them, I personally enjoyed the little character touches like where Arondir and Bronwyn had a forbidden romance going. But with the writing so far and all the connections being made between everyone, Halbrand seems bound to have more of a role than that in the grand scheme of things. Still its fine for me if he doesn't.

[HollowSage]

True. And I'm right there with them, I personally enjoyed the little character touches like where Arondir and Bronwyn had a forbidden romance going. But with the writing so far and all the connections being made between everyone, Halbrand seems bound to have more of a role than that in the grand scheme of things. Still its fine for me if he doesn't.

I’m sure there is something going on with him and that thing hanging from his neck. I just don’t think he is Sauron or working for/with Sauron.

[thwhtGuardian]

I’m sure there is something going on with him and that thing hanging from his neck. I just don’t think he is Sauron or working for/with Sauron.

Yeah, he seems too conspicuous to be Sauron and the way the wizard guy was treated so comically I can't see him doing a heel turn either.

[Brian B]

I think based on the flood of reviews and comments on a little more unmoderated social media than this board, it is undeniable that racism is playing a huge part. It’s also obviously a fairly automated campaign against Rings of Power as so many of the comments and reviews show all the signs of being bots.

I get that it is an adaptation of footnotes and also a prequel—meaning that Bezos and co. essentially made this series up. It’s not really Tolkien. For fans mad at that, I get it. I would point out, though, that all other previous adaptations weren’t really Tolkien, either.

All the other b.s. about black elves, black dwarves, people lying about being mad at beardless women dwarves but really being mad there’s a black dwarf, those folks can go pound sand.

Given the obviously spammy nature of those reviews in other forums, I wonder how many LotR fans really dislike Rings, and how much of it is really just bots or bot-like, in the service of a small but vocal minority of fans?

[AnakinFlair]

I doubt Halbrand has any connection to Sauron. Galadriel spent centuries hunting for any trace of Sauron and then she just happens to run into a random guy out in the ocean who is the key? I just don’t think the writers would make it that easy.

As for a pointless love interest. These kind of shows love a tragic romance because a large portion of the audience will eat it up.

I could see it as Sauron wanting to get close to Galadriel to find out exactly what she knows, or maybe trying to get in close to her to corrupt her. That said, I don't think Halbrand is Sauron. And I REALLY hope he isn't a love interest like many people are saying he is. Especially if romance between Elves and Humans is so forbiden, it strains credulity for their to be TWO such romances going on in the same story.

[HollowSage]

I could see it as Sauron wanting to get close to Galadriel to find out exactly what she knows, or maybe trying to get in close to her to corrupt her. That said, I don't think Halbrand is Sauron. And I REALLY hope he isn't a love interest like many people are saying he is. Especially if romance between Elves and Humans is so forbiden, it strains credulity for their to be TWO such romances going on in the same story.

That goes back to my earlier question. Halbrand is on a drifting piece of wreakage in the middle of an ocean. How would he know that Galadriel is going to swim by? The way they meet is too random to be any kind of set up unless he has knowledge of the future.

[AnakinFlair]

That goes back to my earlier question. Halbrand is on a drifting piece of wreakage in the middle of an ocean. How would he know that Galadriel is going to swim by? The way they meet is too random to be any kind of set up unless he has knowledge of the future.

Does he have the power of forsight? Maybe he saw where she would be, and put himself in front of her.

I don't really think that's likely, but it's a thought.

Something I heard today that I'm not familiar with- I started to get the feeling that the stranger that fell to Middle Earth was probably a Wizard, most likely Gandalf. However, I heard that Wizards didn't come to Middle Earth until the THIRD Age, and this story is set in the second.

I know they are limited to what they can do by the rights they possess, and that they are going to make changes in their adaptation. And people who don't really know the source material probably won't care. But what do you think the die-hard Tolkien fans (the REAL fans, not the racist POS who are offended by black Elves and Hobbits) would think of such a change?

[80sbaby]

The fact they obviously want us to think it's Gandalf is how I know it definitely isn't.

[thwhtGuardian]

Does he have the power of forsight? Maybe he saw where she would be, and put himself in front of her.

I don't really think that's likely, but it's a thought.

Something I heard today that I'm not familiar with- I started to get the feeling that the stranger that fell to Middle Earth was probably a Wizard, most likely Gandalf. However, I heard that Wizards didn't come to Middle Earth until the THIRD Age, and this story is set in the second.

I know they are limited to what they can do by the rights they possess, and that they are going to make changes in their adaptation. And people who don't really know the source material probably won't care. But what do you think the die-hard Tolkien fans (the REAL fans, not the racist POS who are offended by black Elves and Hobbits) would think of such a change?

In Unfinished Tales, Tolkien stated that the Blue Wizards traveled to Middle Earth long before the others in the Second age so it could be one of them.

[HollowSage]

The fact they obviously want us to think it's Gandalf is how I know it definitely isn't.

^This. Gandalf is what they want people guessing at this point.

[CTTT]

You are aware that the racists are actually posting their comments, right? Like it's not some imaginary thing without any evidence. My question to you is why, instead of simply saying "Screw those racists," people like yourself want to bury your head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist?

The creator's discussing race/diversity isn't the same thing as being racist. Conflating the two is disingenuous, at best.

Also, where are you getting the idea this is doing poorly?

The issue is that the creatives are willfully choosing to ignore the ACTUAL criticism of the show having poor writing and characterization and instead focusing on the race baiting chatter on twitter and saying that is the reason for the poor reception of the show.

EDIT: Apologies. I made this post before reading about the responses re: racism on the thread. No need to start the ball rolling again. Anyway, IMO I enjoyed the Peter Jackson movies more.

[HollowSage]

Disregarding review bombing and online trolls hasn’t this show been well received so far. It’s Amazon’s most watched premiere and it drew more viewers than the House of the Dragon premiere. It’s also gotten some good reviews from critics.

I know there are some people who genuinely don’t like the show but that’s true of every show. Seems like it’s doing well so far.

[ZuLuLu]

Disregarding review bombing and online trolls hasn’t this show been well received so far. It’s Amazon’s most watched premiere and it drew more viewers than the House of the Dragon premiere. It’s also gotten some good reviews from critics.

I know there are some people who genuinely don’t like the show but that’s true of every show. Seems like it’s doing well so far.

Yep, the thing is it a little hard to guage how the majority of people actually feel about this show but I was surprised that on most of the popular review and reaction youtube channels the comment section have been generally positive, however a lot of people seem to have problems with the pacing.

If it maintain the number of viewers in the weeks going forward I think it will be clear that the majority of viewers liked it.

[Wandering_Wand]

I figure Halbrand is Sauron. The name being a composite of "hal" and "brand" is pretty strong foreshadowing, and the first obviously helpful person the hero meets turning out to be the villain is an old trope.

Hm, you may be onto something. If this ends up being the case, I'm hoping to see some better development throughout the series because as of right now, that'd be lame.

I doubt Halbrand has any connection to Sauron. Galadriel spent centuries hunting for any trace of Sauron and then she just happens to run into a random guy out in the ocean who is the key? I just don’t think the writers would make it that easy.

As for a pointless love interest. These kind of shows love a tragic romance because a large portion of the audience will eat it up.

I don't know, the writers had to fill in a lot of material... I"m sure we'll see some drops and head scratching moments from time to time.

I can kind of agree with the Galadriel thing. I still sympathize with her because she's one of the main protagonists and her motivation is pretty basic. However, I do think it would have worked a bit better to actually see more of Sauron and the war.

But I get why they didn't do that from a storytelling standpoint. They want Sauron to be a big reveal and the Valinor bits are just prologue/backstory. They wanted to get to the real story quicker.

I'm guessing the Stranger the hobbits found is either Sauron or Saruman.

I'm personally hoping it's a Blue Wizard since we know so little of them and never made their appearances in the Hobbit or LotR.

[Jackalope89]

We've got The Witcher, House of The Dragon, Rings of Power, and The Wheel of Time. If you're a fantasy fan like me, this is our era! I feel bad for Sci-Fi fans (including myself) cause all they got is Star Wars and Star Trek, and maybe The Orville. There's Halo and The Foundation but people seem to hate those shows lol.

Hm, you may be onto something. If this ends up being the case, I'm hoping to see some better development throughout the series because as of right now, that'd be lame.



I don't know, the writers had to fill in a lot of material... I"m sure we'll see some drops and head scratching moments from time to time.



I'm personally hoping it's a Blue Wizard since we know so little of them and never made their appearances in the Hobbit or LotR.

And JRR himself didn't know what to do with them, let alone his son.