The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — Amazon’s millennia-prior prequel that draws from the appendices of J.R.R. Tolkien’s three-volume novel — was, in some ways, doomed from the very beginning. Years before cameras began rolling, it gained the notorious tag of being the world’s most expensive TV series. Amazon had made a billion-dollar five-season commitment, forking over $250 million (about Rs. 2,057 crore) for the rights alone. By the time cameras were done rolling on The Rings of Power season 1, it had spent another $465 million (about Rs. 3,826 crore) on the “infrastructure that will sustain the whole series.” Its inexperienced creators, showrunners and head writers, J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, have mapped out all five seasons. They even know their final shot.
But it seems they overlooked what comes before the destination: the journey. While (human or android?), and Severance (what is this office?). The creators of The Rings of Power encouraged theories around who Sauron might be, and Amazon even promoted the finale as the big “reveal of Sauron.”
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Charlie Vickers as Halbrand, who turns out to be Sauron, in The Rings of Power season 1
Photo Credit: Matt Grace/Prime Video
That’s not to say this kind of thing cannot work — Lost and Westworld had their highs, and Severance has been brilliant in its only season so far — but it feels like such an unnecessary and backwards approach to get people to talk about a mega-budget fantasy series with several characters and parallel storylines. As I said before, what we should’ve gotten were journeys. Game of Thrones understood this, with some of its best storylines happening during travels. But on The Rings of Power season 1, nothing worthwhile happens in the middle. The Harfoots migrate; Galadriel, Halbrand, and Isildur go from Númenor to Southlands; and Elrond and the Dwarven prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur) make multiple trips between Lindon and Khazad-dûm. It’s all point A to point B — origin to destination.
The season-long backstory for Sauron colours in the lines, but no one asked for this. Sauron is inherently interesting for he is pure evil. It doesn’t really matter who he used to be. But The Rings of Power was set on “building a relationship between Sauron and Galadriel”, as Payne put it. And given the season 1 finale shot of “Halbrand” looking over Mordor and Mount Doom, The Rings of Power seems set to give us even more backstory in season 2, with executive producer Lindsey Weber more or less noting that Sauron will be “openly on the move and working his plans.”
Maybe we ought to have expected this. After all, The Lord of the Rings prequel spin-off is called The Rings of Power. The Elves may be the first to create their three rings — as happened at the very end of the season 1 finale — but it’s Halbrand/ Sauron who gives Celebrimbor the idea to subdue mithril by alloying it. And in their hubris to retain their near-immortality, the Elves played a part in the start of something ominous. As we know from the prologue in The Fellowship of the Ring, and as hinted in the song that plays over The Rings of Power the season 1 finale credits, more rings will be made for Dwarves and Men. And ultimately, Sauron will secretly forge the One Ring to rule them all.
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Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, Robert Aramayo as Elrond in The Rings of Power season 1
Photo Credit: Ben Rothstein/Prime Video
Heck, this isn’t even the first time that Sauron’s backstory has been explored, or that other characters have been brought back. Jackson did it himself with the utter bore that was The Hobbit film trilogy, a prequel extension that no one had asked for. Thanks to its association with The Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit movies made nearly as much at the box office — nearly $3 billion (about Rs. 24,713 crore). But they aren’t remembered anywhere as fondly.
The Rings of Power has to be wary of falling into the same trap. Spending a billion dollars, having “The Lord of the Rings” in the title, and 25 million people tuning in for the premiere don’t make the show better. Amazon might be happy that it can add and retain several million Prime members over the course of The Rings of Power’s multiyear run. But if this show doesn’t course correct, The Rings of Power will be relegated to the appendices it came from.
All eight episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1 are streaming on Prime Video worldwide. In India, The Rings of Power is available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.
