Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 finale has finally aired and, as always with each new episode shown, continues to shine as a beacon of what bad writing can accomplish. While the Season 2 finale had some cool visuals, the problem is that just because something looks cool, doesn’t mean it is cool. The real issue here is, as it has been from the start, the show’s writing and how it all comes crumbling down. This is not a review of The Rings of Power Season 2, but a critique of the glaring issues of this show’s writing that are compounded and have converged into this cringeworthy finale.
(WARNING: Complete Spoilers for Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Finale)
The Balrog vs King Durin looked cool.
However, just because it looked cool, doesn’t mean it was cool. Especially when you know the canon.
Because now there is a continuity and logical issue with the Balrog waking early.#TheRingsofPower #RespectforTolkien pic.twitter.com/dI9ZcLOwJz
— Sean D Knight (@SeanDKnight) October 3, 2024
When it comes to The Rings of Power, there are some things to praise when it’s good. The visuals, for one, though they can be inconsistent in their quality. But the visuals regarding the Balrog was a great bit of visual cinema and the people behind that scene deserves recognition. Unfortunately, while it looked cool, the writing soured the impact of that scene for the majority of Tolkien fans.
Why?
Because Tolkien’s canon was retconned so that the Balrog was awakened thousands of years before, when the dwarves had been digging deeper and deeper to find mithril which awakens Morgoth’s servant. The Balrog’s awakening leads to the dwarves being driven from Khazad-dûm and the death of Durin VI (not During III). But in Rings of Power, the Balrog is awakened by a falling leaf and then attacks the dwarves, only to kill King Durin III and is “locked back up” during the fight.
With ROP’s retcon of this event, it creates a timeline and continuity issue that cannot be logically or properly solved. First and foremost, is that the dwarves are now aware that there is a Balrog in the depths of Khazad-dûm. So, logically, the dwarves would prepare themselves to defend and devise means to kill the Balrog. Especially since they would want to continue mining for mithril the most precious resource on Middle-earth. In fact, one would assume that the dwarves would seek help from the elves, for information or even military assistance, to take down the Balrog.
Will that happen? Most likely not, since The Rings of Power keeps trying to remind viewers that the show takes place before The Lord of the Rings and that they are connected. Which brings other issues of its own. As for the Balrog, will Durin and Disa decide not to tell anyone about it? A solution which would be similar to how the writers of Star Trek Discovery retconned their own retcon regarding Michael Burnham and the Spore Drive by writing that the Federation made it illegal to discuss Spock’s “sister” and a technology that never existed in the franchise?
Durin and Disa memory holing the entire affair would seem the most likely scenario since the fall of Khazad-dûm doesn’t happen for another four thousand years. Which doesn’t make any sense since the awakening of a Balrog, a Maiar like Sauron, would be of great concern to the rest of Middle-earth and is fairly impossible to keep secret.
Of course, we also have to ignore the fact that we are supposed to believe that a little scuffle and cave-in will result in the Balrog just shrugging its shoulders and going back to sleep or that tons of rocks would be enough to keep it in place without being killed. Another ludicrous thing to ponder.
As stated earlier, the Balrog was a cool scene, but came at the price of stupidity. One that is pretty egregious to both Tolkien fans and the general audience who watched The Lord of the Rings movies and might be confused by the new chain of events established by the show.
Celebrimbor’s death scene shows a number of issues that continue to showcase the poor writing behind this show and disregard for Tolkien’s work.
Such as this version of Sauron as a villain that feels some remorse.
WDYT?#TheRingsofPower #RespectforTolkien pic.twitter.com/tq1jmspy4e
— Sean D Knight (@SeanDKnight) October 3, 2024
Now, when it comes to Celebrimbor and Sauron, it is one of the better story arcs in the show so far. Though that is like picking out an apple with the least bit of rot in a barrel full of rotten apples. For in the books, Sauron and Celebrimbor spent at least 150 years working together in Eregion. And Eregion wasn’t attacked until Sauron had crafted the one ring. Not to mention that, in the show, the rings of power were crafted in the wrong order, ignoring the canon that Sauron had no part in the crafting of the three elven rings.
That said, Celebrimbor’s torture and death was interesting and followed some of the canon. Sauron tortures him to find out about the rings, though in the books Celebrmibor was tortured for the location of the three elven rings, and even shoots arrows into Celebrimbor. However, during the torture, the writers gave Celebrimbor one of their best lines of the show when he said,
“But the rings are beyond your reach. As I shall be ere long. For soon I shall go to the shores of the morning. Borne hence by a wind that you can never follow.”
Give credit when credit is due. That line is one of the more poignant lines, which could be seen to have an effect on Sauron, in the entire show and even adheres to Tolkien in a clever way when it comes to The Lord of the Rings books. In the books, when the one ring is destroyed, Gandalf, Aragorn, and the army witnessed, “…a huge shape of shadow (Sauron), impenetrable, lightning-crowned, filling all the sky…a great wind took it, and it was all blown away, and passed…”
A similar experience occurs when Saruman is killed in “The Scouring of the Shire” which states, “…about the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered, and rising slowly to great height like smoke from a fire, as a pale shrouded figure it loomed over the Hill. For a moment it wavered, looking to the West; but out of the West came a cold wind, and it bent away, and with a sigh dissolved into nothing.”
It’s one of the few examples of the writers showing their knowledge of Tolkien’s work and even adhering to it. Which is extremely sad to think about considering how epic this show could have been if it had adhered to the canon and not the whims and pride of the writers.
Yet, in that same scene. Celebrimbor continues as he speaks in defiance,
“Hear me! Shadow of Morgoth! Hear the dying words Celebrimbor. The rings of power shall destroy you and in the end, I foresee, one alone shall prove your utter ruin!”
Foresight is a thing in the books with many notable characters seeing a vision shortly before they die and one can certainly enjoy the dig at Sauron by calling him Morgoth’s shadow. But what Celebrimbor says right after is confusing as to who he is talking about when referring to “one.” Is this alluding to Frodo who needed Sam to get the ring to Mount Doom, or Gollum who was needed as an unintentional way of destroying the ring, or the Fellowship that was needed to help the ringbearer on his journey? Or is this an allusion to The One himself – Eru Ilúvatar?
It’s a bit nitpicky, but more so for the general audience who really hasn’t been given a proper idea of who Ilúvatar is, or the Valar and Maiar. Even the show’s writers didn’t seem to know the difference as seen when Adar incorrectly states that Melian was a Valar when, in fact, she was a Maiar.
Finally, Celebrimbor says,
“You are their prisoner, Sauron. Lord…of the rings.”
The Rings of Power has done quite a lot in stealing and repurposing from The Lord of the Rings, both the books and the movies. But this sentence doesn’t fit the scenario that the Rings of Power have created. In the books, Sauron doesn’t attack Eregion until after he has forged the One Ring, which leads to the elves discovering who he really is and Celebrimbor hiding the Three.
Without that revelation, Celebrimbor wouldn’t know the power and influence Sauron has over the rings for which he helped craft (Sauron didn’t help forge the Three). If the show had stayed true to canon, then the appellation would have made more sense. Here, it just rings hollow for Tolkien fans who know the history of the rings of power.
As for Sauron being their prisoner, that doesn’t ring true for the most part. The One Ring doesn’t control or imprison Sauron in any real sense like it does for the other bearers. Nor do any of the other rings matter except to help Sauron gain control which was the purpose of him helping the smiths of Eregion learn the craft. Sure, the argument can be made that because Sauron imparted so much of his power into the One Ring, then he is a prisoner in the sense that he needs it to maintain his full power.
But guess what? The One Ring doesn’t exist in the Rings of Power’s timeline yet.
Finally, Sauron shedding a tear for Celebrimbor. Which feels hollow considering this is a villain that is unrepentantly evil in the books (unless he is overwhelmed by the Valar). Sauron crying for anyone is not something Tolkien’s character would do. But it falls in line with the Rings of Power’s Sauron, who the writers decided should mimic the “modern” perceptions of evil and villains. The theme that they are not really evil, which has been pervasive in Hollywood, especially Disney (Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, etc). The only time Sauron should be crying is when they are crocodile tears to fool his victims.
So while Celebrimbor and Sauron were one of the better pairings in the show, we go to the worst one. Yes, despite what the Faulkien’s say, the “romance” between Galadriel, the magically impotent brute and Sauron, the emotional one, has been one of the worst, and cringiest, elements in this show. And their duel in the Season 2 finale really brings all of the issues pointed out so far, together.
The clip opens with Galadriel saying that this was Sauron’s plan all along to which he replies, “Please, you think too much of me.” Cringe. Whenever these two get together, this Sauron is so out-of-character with his obsequious tone it’s pathetic.
But after Sauron says that, we hear him say, “The road goes ever winding.” Another cringe example of the writers stealing from the books, in this case Bilbo’s song “The Road Goes Ever On” and rephrasing it. It didn’t fit the scene, felt cheap and was cringey as another “tie-in” with The Lord of the Rings.
Which is the best way to describe this entire clip that completely ignores canon and the source material. We see Sauron looking at the Ring Pop version of Nenya which means that this alternate Sauron knows who has the ring, has come into contact with the ring, and was there for its forging which never happened in the books. If Tolkien’s Sauron had known who possessed the three elven rings, he would have immediately attacked any location where the ring bearers were. In this case, if we adhere to what Tolkien says about the One Ring, it means that when Sauron forges the One Ring, then he has the ability to read other ringbearer’s minds among other things.
But the entire, laughable fight between Galadriel and Sauron, in which Galadriel’s weakness is nowhere to be found, is horrible. From Galadriel doing a roundhouse super elven kick, to both characters slamming their swords into stone in, what some might assume, is sexual frustration and the constantly beseeching Sauron, the jilted boyfriend, talking about how they could have been a thing saying, “If I could hold onto that feeling” and “I would have placed a crown upon your head. I would never had rested until all of Middle-earth had been brought to its knees. To worship the light of its queen.”
CRINGE!
The dark lord who desires to rule Middle-earth needs his “queen” in this show. The dark lord who committed so many acts of atrocity, enslaved so many, and wished to control all needs a girlfriend. But not just any girlfriend, he needs one that is already married. Or, in this case, “widowed.” In other words, this powerful and evil being needs someone else’s sloppy seconds like the good little simp he. Kind of like a Hallmark movie that always likes to pair the handsome, rich guy with the single mom.
It’s sad that we didn’t get Tolkien’s Sauron, who was a being of pure evil, cunning, and hellbent on domination. Who could shapeshift into a werewolf, vampire, bat, serpent, and other things. Instead, The Rings of Power provided audiences with the Disney Sauron who is misunderstood, is a victim, wants to find love, wants friends, and cries when they reject him for who he is because his two-bit tactics at manipulation only works because of shoddy writing.
Suffice to say, this romance was written for the lowest common denominator of fans who thrive on shipping characters no matter what and no matter how much it breaks canon. Narcissistic psychopaths who write fanfiction shipping Hermione with Draco Malfoy or the truly insane ones shipping Obi-Wan with child Leia and shippers even threatening writers over these made-up romances.
That’s who this Twilight-level of romance, and The Rings of Power series, was written for. Rather than an epic series based on Tolkien-levels of greatness we get the Twiehard version of modernity.
And Tolkien’s canon keeps coming back to the heart of this show. With paid shills like the “Tolkien Professor” saying that “there’s no such thing really as canon” to justify the show’s almost-completely ignoring what Tolkien wrote. There is a reason why there is canon and why it needs to be adhered to and not totally deviated from. Because then it creates glaringly obvious continuity issues or offers inferior substitutes to what could have been shown.
For example, the fight between Sauron and Galadriel should have never happened and would never happen. But to make it happen, required that The Rings of Power writers retcon and completely change Tolkien’s story and his characters. Galadriel was never at Eregion when Sauron attacked it. In fact, her husband Celeborn was. Celeborn, who the writers decided to say was “dead.” Celebron, who fought at Eregion, with Elrond, and then both of them led the survivors and discovered Imladris.
Imagine the cool fight scene there might have been between Celeborn and Sauron but, as Celeborn is about to be killed by Sauron he is saved by Elrond and then the fight continues and has been escalated. Of course, Celeborn and Elrond would have to lose to Sauron and escape somehow. Maybe by Galadriel attacking Sauron through telepathic means, allowing her husband and future son-in-law, who Galadriel locks lips with in The Rings of Power, to escape.
Granted, this never happened in Tolkien’s books. But here is the difference between what was just suggested and ROP. It is plausible and doesn’t completely ignore canon. It works within the framework and bends it while still providing an epic showdown.
Unlike Gandalf suddenly appearing in the Second Age which undermines a number of elements in the timeline and story. The five wizards appeared 1,000 years into the Third Age and were sent to help the people of Middle-earth to counter Sauron. And since the Stranger, unshockingly, is Gandal, then the Dark Wizard will most likely be Saruman. If so, then continuity issues arise. Such as, why would the White Council include Saruman in their group and why would Gandalf trust him up until the point of their confrontation at Isengard?
Sadly, rather than play in Tolkien’s sandbox that he lovingly crafted out of sturdy oak and filled with pristine, white sand, The Rings of Power’s writers decided to make their own sandbox out of particle boards filled with humanity’s litter: a used needle here, human waste over in a corner, crushed cans, used condoms, and globs of oil scattered amongst the dirty beige sand. We see the vast void of darkness between a master of his craft and the novices struggling to imitate while simultaneously trying to hit all of the “selling points” for their product.
Yes, Amazon’s The Rings of Power is a product designed to sell and not a story to watch. The most prominent word that comes to mind to describe this show is “cringe.” Because modern values and cinema are cringe and weird.
The Rings of Power is just another failed show filled with writers and creators desperate to create something that will last. But they don’t have the talent and skill to make it happen, so they hijack the works of their betters only to stumble and bumble their way into absurdity. Then they have the audacity to mock and vilify the creators of the very franchises they have usurped and desecrated.
Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is just another failure in a line of failures that deserves to be forgotten; blown away by the Western winds into the east and never seen again.
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