3 ms·

The problem is it is not an adaptation in any way whatsoever. It is an original work by Amazon, which is where the frustration comes from. My main frustration

The problem is it is not an adaptation in any way whatsoever. It is an original work by Amazon, which is where the frustration comes from. My main frustration is how they did not have Durin as a reincarnated figure, but as part of just a lineage who happened to name themselves the same, like an English king. Thats pretty central to the dwarven situation in The Hobbit and LotR, and it feels incredibly dumb they left that out. I would love for an adaptation of the Children of Hurin, or the struggles of Fingolfin leading to his final battle with Morgoth, or something...but no, they decided to write their own lore in. I have not watched it for the same reason that I avoided Shadow of Mordor. What I know is from the articles and reviews of the show surrounding its release. But the fact that they did not have the rights to the Silmarillion bewilders me why they would try to appeal to fans who have already read it. Tolkien and his son spent near a century working on the lore, and it feels wrong to have a corporation decide to throw it all out for a quick buck. If they wanted a fantasy show to fight Game of Thrones, they should have had an original work. I mean, look at Invincible! Outside of the hardcore comic book scene, nobody has heard of that. Because it was such a good story, people spread the word like wildfire. They can create something original, and that original work can succeed. They are Amazon. They have the marketing to put it in the public's eye, and the money to make it good. Instead they rode the coattails of an author, and even claimed "it was the story he never wrote" as though any of that was based on his works.

mcv 4y ago
> they decided to write their own lore in. They had to. They didn't have the rights to Children of Hurin, or the Silmarillion. And they're never going to get them, because the Tolkien estate is never going to sell those. (And I'm frankly surprised that they let the LotR rights get so far out of their control as to make The Hobbit and this possible. Plenty of authors these days want more control over what happens with their story.) They only had the rights of the Appendix to LotR. There's tons of material in there, but not a complete story. So they took the events from the Second Age to write a story about (though they already seem to be mixing some events from the Third Age into the mix). They could have made this a grand multi-millennia epic, but instead they decided to mix the events of 2000 (or even 4000?) years together into one big soup.
- danjoredd 4y ago
  Again, why write a story set in Middle Earth and market it towards fans if they don't even have the rights? Its just begging to hated on by anyone familiar with the ACTUAL story. If they didn't have the rights, they should have made an original work set in their own world, and not tarnish the works of someone else. Like, imagine if I wrote a story where everyone who died in Hunger Games duked it out as zombies, then claimed it was Suzanne Collins because I have the rights to the characters but not the books. I would rightfully be mocked, even though the story was loosely based off of the original story. Rings of Power should have been its original world. Not a ripoff of an author that people love dearly, because they wanted the name recognition without the rights.
  - cygx 4y ago
    Haven't seen Rings of Power yet, but I'm probably going to be fine with it - Tolkien fan-fiction still scratches the itch. I found what they did to the Hobbit far more upsetting, and had a friend who absolutely hated the original movie trilogy back in the day: In contrast to Rings of Power, where the writers just make shit up, there was detailed source material available, making any deviation far more jarring. Sauron the flaming eyeball? Denethor smacking his lips and dribbling food down his chin so that even the last person in the audience understands that he's a "bad guy". Faramir getting tempted by the ring? It's quite interesting how some people treat it as some sort of gold standard of faithful adaption...
    - danjoredd 4y ago
      Because compared to most attempts at adapting books, LotR did a good job. The changes were made to make the trilogy easier to watch since the books can be a little difficult at times, or to make the characters more dynamic. They weren't perfect, but no adaptation is. As for the Hobbit, I agree with you. That entire trilogy was a mistake. Personally, while I loved the LotR movies, I also feel like they were the worst thing to happen to the books. Ever since the movies came out every studio has wanted a piece of it for nostalgias sake. I remember when the first two Narnia movies came out I was sad that not as many people liked it since I love Lewis every bit as much as Tolkien, and I wanted my enjoyment of the books to spread. Prince Caspian had inaccuracy problems, but the core story was there. After the abomination that was 2010s Dawn Treader, and seeing how corporatized Middle Earth has become, that seems like a mercy in hindsight.

mcv 4y ago

> they decided to write their own lore in. They had to. They didn't have the rights to Children of Hurin, or the Silmarillion. And they're never going to get them, because the Tolkien estate is never going to sell those. (And I'm frankly surprised that they let the LotR rights get so far out of their control as to make The Hobbit and this possible. Plenty of authors these days want more control over what happens with their story.) They only had the rights of the Appendix to LotR. There's tons of material in there, but not a complete story. So they took the events from the Second Age to write a story about (though they already seem to be mixing some events from the Third Age into the mix). They could have made this a grand multi-millennia epic, but instead they decided to mix the events of 2000 (or even 4000?) years together into one big soup.

danjoredd 4y ago
Again, why write a story set in Middle Earth and market it towards fans if they don't even have the rights? Its just begging to hated on by anyone familiar with the ACTUAL story. If they didn't have the rights, they should have made an original work set in their own world, and not tarnish the works of someone else. Like, imagine if I wrote a story where everyone who died in Hunger Games duked it out as zombies, then claimed it was Suzanne Collins because I have the rights to the characters but not the books. I would rightfully be mocked, even though the story was loosely based off of the original story. Rings of Power should have been its original world. Not a ripoff of an author that people love dearly, because they wanted the name recognition without the rights.
- cygx 4y ago
  Haven't seen Rings of Power yet, but I'm probably going to be fine with it - Tolkien fan-fiction still scratches the itch. I found what they did to the Hobbit far more upsetting, and had a friend who absolutely hated the original movie trilogy back in the day: In contrast to Rings of Power, where the writers just make shit up, there was detailed source material available, making any deviation far more jarring. Sauron the flaming eyeball? Denethor smacking his lips and dribbling food down his chin so that even the last person in the audience understands that he's a "bad guy". Faramir getting tempted by the ring? It's quite interesting how some people treat it as some sort of gold standard of faithful adaption...
  - danjoredd 4y ago
    Because compared to most attempts at adapting books, LotR did a good job. The changes were made to make the trilogy easier to watch since the books can be a little difficult at times, or to make the characters more dynamic. They weren't perfect, but no adaptation is. As for the Hobbit, I agree with you. That entire trilogy was a mistake. Personally, while I loved the LotR movies, I also feel like they were the worst thing to happen to the books. Ever since the movies came out every studio has wanted a piece of it for nostalgias sake. I remember when the first two Narnia movies came out I was sad that not as many people liked it since I love Lewis every bit as much as Tolkien, and I wanted my enjoyment of the books to spread. Prince Caspian had inaccuracy problems, but the core story was there. After the abomination that was 2010s Dawn Treader, and seeing how corporatized Middle Earth has become, that seems like a mercy in hindsight.