The Rings of Power Done Right (Tolkien's Tragedy Appendix B)
How to Create a Second Age TV Show That Respects The Lore
This is the tenth part of my Fellowship-only rollout of Tolkien’s Tragedy: Concerning Númenor, The Rings of Power, and the Second Age. I welcome any and all feedback, questions, corrections, etc. In other words, be a part of this books’ journey to publication! Annon allen - THANK YOU!!!
I began writing this book well before The Rings Of Power Season 1 had hit the airwaves. As I write this Appendix, Season 2 has come and gone. What began for me as a sincere hope that a golden age of Tolkien TV was upon us has been completely shattered. I, along with many others, regard the show as an utter disappointment, a total disaster that fails to approach Tolkien’s artistic vision. A long defeat, indeed.
Even among those who defend the show, the defense is tepid. I have yet to find someone who raves about it like so many rave about the greatness of Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Instead, those who defend it will usually say something along the lines of “Yeah, it’s not great, but there are worse ways to spend my time.” While I can understand and accept such a sentiment - and even acknowledge that Tolkien’s staggering genius is such that even a bad adaptation of his legendarium can be enjoyable - such an attitude also makes the show’s failure an open and shut case for me. If that’s the nicest thing people can say about it, it’s obviously not up to the task.
Nevertheless, my intent in this chapter is not to dwell upon the failings of The Rings Of Power, but instead to imagine what a great adaptation might look like, even to dare a hope (though probably a fool’s hope, as Gandalf would say) that one day someone will do it right. While that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll do it exactly this way, I believe Tolkien left us with enough of the Second Age to make one of the greatest long-form TV shows ever.
The Basics
Simply put, The Second Age is the incredibly vast saga of the rise and fall of Númenor, the earthly paradise granted to some Men at the end of the First Age. The chief villain is Sauron, and the chief existential conflict is Man’s mortality and the shadow of death, especially in a world where other beings are granted immortality.
As for characters, the question of mortals and immortals presents a significant problem. How will we portray nearly 3,000 years of history when some characters will inevitably die off after 300 to 500 years? While the showrunners for The Rings Of Power apparently viewed this as an insurmountable problem, and thus took extreme creative license with the Second Age timeline established by Tolkien, I view this problem as a grand opportunity to do something truly special and original.
For this reason (and many others to be certain), I believe that Elrond would be the ideal chief protagonist for the show. With no disrespect intended for Galadriel, putting her at the show’s forefront diminishes the story of Númenor, making it a background matter.
By instead putting Elrond at the show’s forefront, by making the hero’s journey about him, we would see the central existential conflict of mortality and immortality play out from the first moment to the last. Elrond begins the Second Age as a mere youth, yet a youth faced with a staggering choice: mortality or immortality? Furthermore, Elrond, along with Elros, bears the heroic legacy of his mother and father upon his shoulders.
While Elros does not exist historically at the end of Númenor’s story, Elrond does, and bears witness to the rise and eventual fall of his brother’s progeny. Furthermore, he plays an important role at the end, and at many points in between.
One idea for Elros that I find particularly fascinating is
