The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is one of the most hotly anticipated, and at the same time, divisive adaptations on the horizon.
While most audiences are approaching the series with a sense of cautious optimism developed through years of dealing with middling adaptations, sequels, and what have you to their favorite stories, a lot of Tolkien’s most ferocious gatekeepers are already certain that Amazon is going to ruin their beloved fantasy world.
Recently, one of those fans has compared Amazon’s marketing machine to how Disney promoted the sequel trilogy, constantly talking about how The Rings of Power will be a successor to J.R.R. Tolkien’s work and bring new elements to the fore. In essence, they fear that Amazon is basically “Star Warsing” the world of Arda.
After some of the adaptations in recent years, Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time among them, fans can’t help but share these sentiments or at least be troubled by the idea of The Lord of the Rings joining that long list of failed adaptations.
Then again, perhaps the path of wisdom is to approach The Rings of Power with practicality: If it’s good, then voila. If it’s bad, you still have the books and the lore, not to mention Peter Jackson’s movies.
Others feel like this won’t be Tolkien, to begin with, since the writers have to come up with more than 90% of the narrative.
It seems like the matter has turned into a hot topic of debate over at the official Lord of the Rings subreddit. Ultimately, though, I think we should all give the show a chance, even if the odds are stacked heavily against its success at the moment.