# Amazon Lord of the Rings series; The Rings of Power **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** middle-earth, amazon-prime, tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [March 3, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497 "2019-03-03T20:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/181 "2022-08-23T20:15:43Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > Which brother was Galadriel mourning at the beginning? > > Finrod, I think I’ve read somewhere. Also the best known among them. Finrod makes sense as he died in Sauron’s captivity, saving Beren from a werewolf. She needs to keep fighting Sauron because of Finrod’s death. I wonder if her need for vengeance would be tempered if she knew Finrod had uniquely been granted resurrection in Valinor and is hanging out with their father Finarfin in Eldamar. I’m curious about warrior-princess Galadriel as that’s a radical reinvention of her character. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/182 "2022-08-23T21:15:02Z")
I don’t think it’s that radical. Before gunpowder, monarchs were expected to lead their armies personally. I notice a scene of her in a snowscape. Perhaps a flashback to her with Fingolfin’s people, crossing the Helcaraxe? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/183 "2022-08-23T21:32:21Z")
That’s my guess. Galadriel lived so long, and we know so little about her (relative) youth, I have no problem at all with her being portrayed as a warrior-princess - and the actress looks like she’s up to the challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/184 "2022-08-23T23:21:29Z")
I don’t have a problem with it either, but as noted earlier, am curious. Other than Luthien and Eowyn, Tolkien didn’t have women taking up arms. One thing the movies and this show have done is give women greater agency, which is an improvement. Looking forward to seeing how it develops. Agreed that the actress playing Galadriel seems up to the part. When Elrond tells her to put down her sword, it’s really out of place for a nephew to say to his aunt who is thousands of years his senior and walked under the light of the Two Trees. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/185 "2022-08-24T05:04:06Z")
> [@Jack\_Burden](#): > > When Elrond tells her to put down her sword, it’s really out of place for a nephew to say to his aunt who is thousands of years his senior and walked under the light of the Two Trees. It’s a rank thing - she may be the eldest, but the House of Fingolfin was the senior branch; her younger first cousin once removed Gil-Galad was High King of the Noldor, and Elrond was his heir apparent. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/186 "2022-08-24T05:11:58Z")
> [@cieskokid](#): > > I get an impression of a social agenda more than a well-crafted set of tales from the 1st and 2nd Ages A social agenda? In an adaptation of an explicitly Catholic mythos wherein the driving action of the entire saga is God proving to Satan that he cannot truly rebel against Him? I for one am shocked and as fey. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/187 "2022-08-24T05:21:18Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Finrod, I think I’ve read somewhere. Also the best known among them. Which would also bring this ad for Amazon’s Alexa around full circle: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Efa1wDAgK08/maxresdefault.jpg "Finrod dies ad") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efa1wDAgK08) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/188 "2022-08-24T07:06:03Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > LOOKs good to me, some of the dialog didn’t seem quite right, but could be better in context. I agree it looks good, but I wish I had any idea what it was about. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/189 "2022-08-24T08:17:43Z")
As I understand it, Amazon have no rights to “The Silmarillion” nor anything outside of the three main LOTR books and The Hobbit. So there is no ready made and perfectly constructed epic tale for them, rather they have snippets and hints on which they can expand. It is more fan-fiction than anything else and it may be good, though the initial trailers suggest something more sprawling and disjointed than coherent and epic. I should be absolutely the market for this but I just cannot summon up any excitement which is a bit of a worry for a billion-dollar production. ETA - just thinking that this fills me with the same feeling of foreboding as the “night watch” adaptation that the BBC did a couple of years ago, or even “His Dark Materials”. Glossy, expensive but ultimately empty. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/190 "2022-08-24T13:25:43Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I agree it looks good, but I wish I had any idea what it was about. I am happy to start something I have no idea about. I’m hoping they haven’t screwed it up, but Amazon is really hoping so since they spent $500 million just to get this thing on air. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/191 "2022-08-24T15:19:57Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > As I understand it, Amazon have no rights to “The Silmarillion” nor anything outside of the three main LOTR books and The Hobbit. > > So there is no ready made and perfectly constructed epic tale for them, rather they have snippets and hints on which they can expand. Akallabeth, from the Unfinished Tales, is a perfectly constructed epic tale of the Downfall of Numenor. So apparently this series touches on that – Numenor is a setting and Ar-Pharazon is a character … so how did they get around the rights issue? (Or…god forbid … they’re just using those names and making up their own story) ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/192 "2022-08-24T15:23:47Z")
I believe because a condensed version of the tale appears in the Appendices to LOTR. ETA: Yes, Appendix A: _Annals of the Kings and Rulers_ ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/193 "2022-08-24T17:28:39Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > (Or…god forbid … they’re just using those names and making up their own story) As Pork\_Rind says I guess, but it certainly seems like they are making up stuff out of whole cloth as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/194 "2022-08-24T17:36:39Z")
Early reviews are quite good, though they tend to be when people get a chance to see things early. No one has seen past the first two episodes, either, so we have no idea how it will work out. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/195 "2022-08-24T19:00:03Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s a rank thing - she may be the eldest, but the House of Fingolfin was the senior branch; her younger first cousin once removed Gil-Galad was High King of the Noldor, and Elrond was his heir apparent. Minor Quibble: Elrond was indeed in the House of Fingolfin, as was Turgon, but when Turgon died in the Fall of Gondolin, Gil-Galad became (the last) High King of the Noldor, and he was in House of Finarfin, like Galadriel. Finarfin was Galadriel’s father and Gil-Galad’s paternal great-grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/196 "2022-08-25T20:30:34Z")
Some info here that was new to me. > **[The surprising ancient roots of The Lord of the Rings](https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220824-the-ancient-roots-of-the-lord-of-the-rings)** > > Amazon Studios' new prequel The Rings of Power highlights the many varied and ancient sources that JRR Tolkien brought together to create his iconic work, writes Hephzibah Anderson. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/197 "2022-08-25T21:33:53Z")
> It features a reforged sword and a golden ring, known as Andvaranaut, the final item in a ransom paid by the gods to a man whose son they inadvertently killed after he took the form of an otter. I was curious on the deatils > **[Völsunga saga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B6lsunga_saga)** > > The Völsunga saga (often referred to in English as the Volsunga Saga or Saga of the Völsungs) is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century prose rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story of Sigurd and Brynhild and the destruction of the Burgundians). It is one of the most famous legendary sagas and an example of a "heroic saga" that deals with Germanic heroic legend. > The saga covers topics including the quarrel between Sigi and Skaði, a huge family t... > Then Regin tells Sigurd a story: His father Hreidmar had three sons: himself, Otr, and Fafnir. Otr was an otter-like fisherman, Fafnir large and fierce, and Regin himself was skilled with ironwork. One day Odin, Loki and Hœnir were fishing and killed Otr in his otter shape, skinned and ate him. Brian ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/198 "2022-08-25T21:48:35Z")
At this point one must ask “_Why_ doesn’t Amazon have the other rights?” Jeff can buy and sell countries - the cost of a few more items would be insignificant. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/199 "2022-08-25T22:02:16Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > At this point one must ask “_Why_ doesn’t Amazon have the other rights?” Most of the rights for film, stage, and merchandising are held by an organization called “Middle-earth Enterprises,” which used to be owned by the Saul Zaentz Company; just last week, it was announced that a Swedish media company, Embracer Group, is buying Middle-earth Enterprises. The ability for other companies to create TV shows based on Tolkien’s works is the result of a recent agreement between Warner Brothers and the Tolkien estate; Amazon then won the rights to actually produce the series. _Could_ Bezos just buy Middle-earth Enterprises and get all of the rights? Of course; the fact that he hasn’t suggests that he doesn’t wish to do so. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2022, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497/200 "2022-08-26T04:10:53Z")
Actually are the film rights for Silmarillion et al still held by the Tolkien estate? The heirs may not want to sell even if Jeff and Elon pooled their money. Brian [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-the-rings-of-power/830497.md?page=11)