Even if Amazon 2022 is The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Although the series’ debut was a success—the company touts more than 100 million viewers worldwide and record-breaking Prime Video sign-ups since the series’ launch—many Tolkien fans found the premiere season to be a mixed bag, if not an outright disappointment.
I share that feeling. Season 1 was lovely to watch and overall strong in big-budget world-building, but comparatively weak in character development and largely devoid of the lightheartedness that makes Tolkien’s Middle Earth stories so popular. Still, I knew this was only the first season of a planned five-season series. Surely it would get better?
After watching all eight episodes of Rings of Power Season 2, I’m happy to report on it has has improved marginally for some specific reasons that I’ll highlight below, although some of the problems from the previous season are still evident.
Overcrowded and overstimulated
Let’s get the problems out of the way first. There are too many characters and the episodes jump back and forth between storylines, which often feels rushed. The admittedly complex physical and cultural geography of Middle Earth is already difficult to place, and Rings of PowerThe heaven and hell narrative doesn’t make it any easier.
Season 2 is also chock full of action spectacles. There are plenty of fight scenes involving swords, shields, arrows, axes, and acrobatic elf fights. Dangerous monsters abound (giant mudworms, huge sea monsters, trolls, Shelob-like spiders, creepy armies of the dead) so their menace is muted. With the CGI phantasmagoria constantly cranked up to 10, none of it has any real impact and it all just sort of blends together.
With the CGI phantasmagoria constantly running at full speed, none of it has any real impact and everything just sort of blends together.
The recalls to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the rings Films seem exaggerated in Rings of Power (which, as a reminder, takes place in the Second Age of Middle Earth, before the Third Age, depicted in Lord of the rings And The Hobbit). While allusions to and stylistic continuity with Jackson’s extraordinary trilogy are understandable, they seem over the top. Cameos from giant eagles, spiders, Ents, and even a Balrog all pay homage to memorable moments in Jackson’s films (and largely copy his cinematic portrayal of them), but rarely in a way that enhances or expands on his portrayal. The joy of these fan-service cameos would be greater if they were more subtle and less frequent.
The series feels smothered by over-the-top dialogue. Sometimes the dialogue is great, but often it’s embarrassing. The script tends to put unnecessary explanations into the characters’ mouths: “They’re damming the river!” screams one character during a crucial fight scene (though the images alone clearly convey the point). The scripts don’t always follow the time-honored wisdom of cinema: show, don’t tell.
Better theme and character development
Despite these shortcomings Rings of Power improves in season two by diving deeper into big themes and giving some characters more room to become somewhat compelling. Here are two examples of what I think season 2 did well.
The seduction of power, the disguise of deception
Although Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) is arguably still the show’s main protagonist, Season 2 belongs to its main villain, Sauron (Charlie Vickers). After the twisted reveal of Halbrand as Sauron in Season 1, Season 2 focuses on Sauron’s origins, ambitions, and attempts to consolidate his power by forging magical rings. The shapeshifting Dark Lord disguises himself in “fair form” for much of Season 2 as Annatar, “Lord of Gifts,” who poses as an emissary of the Valar to gain the trust of the elves of Eregion, most notably the head craftsman Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards). Sauron (as Annatar) wants to work with Celebrimbor to create “rings of power,” and much of this season’s best drama revolves around that relationship and its impact on Middle Earth.
Vickers sinks his teeth into the role of Sauron/Annatar, whose parallels with Satan are constantly underlined—from his cunning deceptions to his frequent refrain, “I have many names.” His dynamic with Celebrimbor captures well how the devil deceives through promises of glory, power, and a “greater good”—and how easily we fall for that deception.
Elsewhere in the season’s eight episodes, we see a familiar storyline repeat itself for the ring bearers: what they saw as a tool they could control becomes a master who enslaves them. As in The Lord of the Ringsthe rings in Rings of Power represent the corruption of power, the temptations of pragmatism and the dangers of bypassing the “right way” in favor of the “fast way.” The magical rings give their wearers godlike powers, but – like Eden’s forbidden fruit – they also bring death.
Refreshingly, the contrast between good and evil, light and darkness is clearer in Season 2 than in Season 1, where we heard grim, theologically questionable lines like “Sometimes we must first touch the darkness to find the light.” In contrast, the central quote of Season 2 comes from Celebrimbor, who wants to remind the elves, as they consider how to defeat Sauron,
It is not strength that overcomes darkness, but light. Armies may rise, hearts may fail, but the light endures. And it is more powerful than strength. For in its presence all darkness must flee.
Light – transcendent virtue, goodness, truth, beauty – is clearly celebrated in Season 2 as the only thing strong enough to defeat the armies of darkness.
The beauty of light, the drama of virtue
Even though Sauron is the “star” of the second season and the number of people he seduces increases, other characters are role models of virtue and show that goodness and light can also be fascinating to behold.
I liked the development of Elendil (Lloyd Owen) into a man of modest bravery and unwavering integrity. “I would rather die with a whole heart than live with one broken by cowardice,” says Elendil, an ancestor to Aragorn and a key figure of the Second Age in Tolkien’s Middle Earth saga. No doubt Elendil will be featured in future seasons of Rings of Powerand I hope the show continues to portray him as a strong, unassailable man of honor.
The magical rings give their wearer godlike powers, but – like the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden – they also bring death.
Among the noble elves, Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) are convincingly virtuous and strong, even if the portrayal of Galadriel still seems quite far from Tolkien’s version.
The series’ central dwarven protagonists – Prince Durin (Owain Arthur) and Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete) – are perhaps the most adorable and complex in a series that is often too serious and too shallow. Not only does this couple showcase a loving marriage, but Durin’s relationship with his father (Peter Mullan) also provides some of the season’s most moving scenes. Although Rings of Power It generally lacks the emotional low-blow moments that are common in Jackson’s trilogy, but several scenes involving the Durins brought tears to my eyes.
Another fascinating, if underdeveloped, character in the series is The Stranger (Daniel Weyman). This compassionate, miracle-performing desert wizard – his true identity is revealed at the end of the second season – becomes the companion and protector of the Harfoots. He also provides some of the funniest moments of the season when he meets Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) by chance.
Less bombast, more bombadil
Tolkien fans will be pleased to see Bombadil’s appearance, especially after his conspicuous absence from Jackson’s trilogy. Although Bombadil is often considered “inessential to the plot” (and thus easily omitted from cinematic depictions), he is an enigmatic figure whose superfluity may make him Tolkien’s most spiritually significant character.
While most of the other characters in the drama spend their time constantly fighting, scheming, running, hunting or surviving, the cheerful Tom Bombadil sings, sits by the fire for tea and picks lilies. His little house is a refuge in a dangerous world. He talks a lot about the “secret fire” (for Tolkien a kind of image of the Holy Spirit) and seems to be filled with it himself. He calls himself an “elder” because he was there “at the first drop of rain and the first acorn”. His wisdom seems to be rooted in a pre-sin, peasant contentment, mixed with an unshakable confidence in the regained hope of paradise: “A distant green land under a swift sunrise.”
He is a lighthearted presence in an otherwise tense series. I am glad the show made room for him (even if they are using him more to further The Stranger’s character arc). And I am glad we even got Bombadil a nice adaptation of one of his songs from The Companions (Listen to the song on the soundtrack, recorded by Rufus Wainwright and composer Bear McCreary).
Bombadil’s inclusion fulfills part of what I had hoped for when I read the first episodes of Rings of Power Season 1:
For me, the interludes of goodness, truth and beauty – whether in landscapes and worlds, love relationships or poetry and song – are at the heart of Middle-earth’s enduring appeal. These are the moments that offer those “piercing glimpses of joy” that Tolkien described, and I hope The Rings of Power appreciates her as much as he does.
Future seasons of Rings of Power the story will undoubtedly move into darker realms and larger battles, likely culminating in the War of the Last Alliance. But in between all the bombast and the bombastic scenes, I hope showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne don’t leave out bombastic moments of joy, too. Because these interludes remind us what life shaped by “secret fire” looks like, why good is good, and why the darkness seems dull in comparison.
