Brace yourselves, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER might just surprise and entertain the doubters

Hold on to your wizard’s hats, Tolkien fans – The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power may just surprise you.  

Before you stamp your large Hobbit feet or pound your Dwarvish axe on the ground, perhaps wait until you’ve seen the series. Have they dissuaded all of this particular Tolkien fan’s fears? No. Have they set up a show that could be wildly successful and well received by even the most critical hardcore Tolkien enthusiast? Definitely

When Amazon first announced they would be doing a Lord of the Rings project, many fans felt trepidation. Christopher Tolkien had barely been laid to rest before companies swooped in to snatch up the rights to his father’s massive body of work.

The Tolkien Estate is notoriously picky, especially after the several mishaps of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films. Christopher Tolkien was also extremely particular and disliked all the adaptations of his father’s work, for which he worked tirelessly on editing and publishing the countless documents Tolkien wrote on Middle-Earth.  He had the right to reserve major criticisms; but now that he has moved on and the rights are held by the estate, many Tolkien fans were extremely concerned with Amazon’s purchase.

From the get-go, Amazon had some massive criticism: their streaming service needed a major franchise, but not one they started from scratch.  They needed one that already had a fanbase that they could bring to their screens for a mere $150 a year. 

However, who was left?

Disney was snatching them left and right: Marvel and Star Wars snagged the mega mouse corporation billions of dollars from consumers. Netflix has Stranger Things and Brigerton, among other successful (and not so) original projects. HBO had Game of Thrones.  Amazon desperately needed an established heavy hitter, and what better franchise to revive than one whose last movie was in 2014 with millions of fans and made almost six billion dollars. 

The obvious cash grab spooked not only the passionate and outspoken section of Tolkien we’ll call ‘purists’, but even fans of Peter Jackson’s film adaptations were jolted by the sudden news.  The Tolkien Estate had been so adamant they wouldn’t let anyone else adapt the work, and yet here was a mysterious Amazon run Instagram account announcing something Lord of the Rings related. 

Unfortunately, when the cast list appeared, the nastier side of fandoms came out to play. The same horrible disease that plagues the Marvel and Star Wars fanbases reared its ugly head in the Tolkien circles: blatant racist and sexist comments on dozens of the @LOTRonPrime and @OneRingNet accounts appeared on social media – and continue to do so. Some didn’t want POC involved in any Tolkien projects period; others blamed Amazon for “going woke” and “following a political agenda” The majority seemed to be thrilled that Amazon was diversifying the fantasy genre, a traditionally white and male dominated space.  And, as ever, the purists were furious that such a project was announced in the first place and continued to diss the Jackson films.  

Despite the backlash, the films garnered international praise from audiences and critics alike and scored not only 17 Academy Awards, but also won 475 out of the whopping 800 award nominations, making it the top winner in cinematic history.  Don Marshall was just one of the many Tolkien “purists” converted to not only appreciating the films for popularizing Tolkien’s work, but even admitting that maybe weren’t such an egregious sin.  Even the Hobbit movies grossed over 3 billion dollars despite straying even farther from Tolkien’s overly protected lore than the Lord of the Rings installments.  

So, what made Jackson’s movies so successful, and why do I think that will make or break the Amazon show? It’s simple: the Jackson movies may not retell Tolkien’s story to the letter, but they convey the spirit of his work.

Ask yourself, what is Lord of the Rings about? What is Tolkien’s message? Clearly, it is not some mindless Marvel installment with the intent to entertain; there are deep life lessons and beautiful stories about hope, friendship, loyalty, love, endurance – and that is just a few. Jackson encapsulates the heart of Tolkien’s work, and that is what resonates with audiences. If Jackson had missed that, then no number of gorgeous costumes, incredible CGI, or impeccable casting would have saved it.  It’s the reason many Star Wars fans were disappointed by the last major trilogy movies: Disney missed the heart of what made the Originals and even the Prequels so successful.  They were well acted and well designed, but they missed the spirit of Star Wars entirely.  

If the rest of season one of Rings of Power continues in the same trend as the first two episodes sent to the press, then Amazon is setting itself up for success.  For the longest time, the thought was that Amazon would create its own versions of the characters and stray from Alan Lee and John Howe, the two artists that worked on the Jackson films. However, Amazon actually hired John Howe, and his influence is obvious.  The architecture and the New Zealand landscape felt new, but familiar, like meeting with an old friend you haven’t seen in a long time.  

Two words came to mind while previewing the series – Lush for the stunning visuals, costumes, and script; home for the four separate times I had to pause and weep, for I was transported back to the giddy 15-year-old who walked with Frodo to Mordor, fought orcs with Thorin Oakenshield, and dreamt of Tolkien’s legendarium returning to the big screens one day.  The depth and breadth of Second Age era Middle-earth is such a fun thing to explore, especially when there’s a billion dollar budget backing the visuals.