The following contains minor spoilers forThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Amazon’sLord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseems to have everything going for it. There is already an established fanbase behind the source material for the show, and they had a massive budget to use while creating it. They have talented actors giving excellent performances in every episode, and a mix of well-done practical and visual effects. The one (very important) thing that the show is lacking in is some of its writing choices.
More specifically, the show fails toendear most of the characters to the audiencein any meaningful way. There are a lot of storylines, and not all of them are properly fleshed out, meaning that some characters still feel like blank slates even six episodes in. This is a problem because it doesn’t matter how good the plot is, most people won’t be able to really get into a story unless they find the character compelling and/or relatable. It’s something thatThe Lord of the Ringsmovies managed to do well, but their sister series is definitely struggling with.
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Even though they are separate stories being made by different people, it’s hard not to compareRings of PowertoPeter Jackson’sLord of the Ringsmovies. WhileRings of Powerhas had a fairly positive reception, for a lot of fans, it still doesn’t quite measure up to the standards set by the movies in a lot of ways. One of those is the way in which each approach their characters. While the movies still deal with a lot of plot, they manage to devote enough time to the characters to endear them to the audience, and they feel like real, fleshed-out people.Rings of Power, however, is a little too plot-heavy and seems to be more focused on building the lore than exploring its characters and their individual motivations.
Expanding the worldbuilding isn’t inherently bad, in fact, it can actually be fascinating and valuable when done well. For example,the ending sequence of Episode 6was one of the best scenes in the show so far. It showed the landscape of Middle-earth quite literally changing in a way that has consequences for the rest of its history. However, when it feels like the show is prioritizing set pieces over characters, it’s a little less fun. For most viewers, characters are what keep them interested in a story. When their development isn’t front and center, the story doesn’t have an emotional heart to latch onto.
There are so many individual storylines happening inThe Rings of Powerthat it makes it difficult to give great focus to any one of them, which means that they all end up falling a little flat. The audience is only told that they should care about these characters, which goes against the cardinal screenwriting rule of “show, don’t tell.” For example, the audience is introduced to Arondir and Bronwyn in the middle of the story and told that they’re in love. Their love story barely gets any screen time, and yet it’s still treated like it’s supposed to be an emotional anchor in the show. It’s hard to connect to that story when fans don’t get to see them falling in love in the first place, or any sort of progression of their relationship. The show has hardly established any stakes for them either.
Lord of the Ringshad a similar romantic plot line between a human and an Elf with Arwen and Aragorn. The difference there was thatthe stakes were clearly established. Their love was star-crossed because Arwen was an immortal being while Aragorn was a mortal man, and by the laws of the universe, that means they are not supposed to be together, especially when she is supposed to travel to the Undying Lands. While this is still technically true of Arondir and Bronwyn, it’s never explicitly explored. More importantly, the show barely touches on the implications that are more important to this story, such as how it might be seen as problematic for Bronwyn to be in a relationship with an Elf when the Elves have been occupying the Southlands for years. That specifically is an interesting concept that never gets explored, because the show is more focused on the plot than on character relationships.
That’s the other really important thing aboutLord of the Rings.The character interactions and friendships are what make the story. The Fellowship and their connections to each other are at the center of the story, and they’re what makes it compelling. This is something thatThe Rings of Powerlacks. Again, though there are groups of characters who are paired off together (Galadriel and Halbrand, Bronwyn and Arondir, etc.), none of the relationships are as compelling as they could be. There are few moments that are purely for character development, and the show doesn’t seem concerned with giving these characters small but important moments to connect.
The storyline involving Elrond and Durin is actually one of the more compelling in this regard, as most of the storyline is actually focused on their friendship. Their history and feelings about each other are actually explored, which makes it much easier to get invested in their connection. The other storyline that does this well is the one that involvesNori and the mysterious manfrom the meteor. Again, this storyline is all about her forming a very human connection with this being, despite their differences and how little she knows about who he is. It’s very compelling, and it serves to flesh out Nori as a character.
ThoughThe Rings of Poweris well-done in a lot of ways, the writing has been a bit lacking at times. The show doesn’t seem as concerned as it should be with endearing its characters to the audience. The show could be really strong if it pivoted more to focusing on interpersonal relationships, but perhaps the creators wanted to do more table setting in the first season to get the exposition out of the way. Hopefullythe second season ofThe Rings of Powercan be more character-driven, now that the characters have been — at least somewhat — introduced to the viewers.
