[+] The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - SPOILERS ALLOWED

[TheSword]

Apparently, not very. I watched a few youtube videos purporting to be examples of West Midlands and/or Black Country accents, and it's not quite like I imagined. It actually reminded me a bit of recordings of Tolkien I've heard though.

As someone from the West Midlands and currently living there I can say that there aren’t any characters with a Black Country accent in TRoP. (Though Lenny Henry is from Dudley).

These are two good examples of that accent which is really distinctive. Gran and the Bloody Baron. Both from the Witcher 3 game. You definitely know it when you hear it. You can also hear it in the Peaky Blinders series, which is set in and around Birmingham.

I had a copy of the Nicol Williamson reading of The Hobbit when I was growing up, and I've always imagined Bilbo and other hobbits using the same accent he uses for the character. It's similar to the one used by Sean Astin for Sam in the Peter Jackson movie (although I'm sure it was butchered pretty badly by him). It's not quite what I heard in those videos, though, as a West Midlands or Black Country accent. I read that Williamson spent a lot of time in Birmingham growing up, though, so it might not be that far off.

So Sean Austin in LOTR had a West Country accent common to SW england - particularly Cornwall. The quintessential farmers accent. Which I guess is easy to confuse with Black Country because of the name. In the first video with Gran, Little Jonny has a classic West Country accent.

Nicol Williamson actually speaks pretty good RP Queens English without any accent at all when reading The Hobbit. Though he tends to use Yorkshire accents for dwarves… which I’m sure started a trend.

The Harfoots definitely have an Irish base with there own twang. That’s been corroborated by producers. To be honest I think they’re trying to evoke the British traveler community accent which also has a strong Irish twang and would make a lot of sense in the context. But maybe they’re downplaying that in interviews.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Agreed. The novel is an absolute classic, the movies are trash, Peter Jackson or not.

There is a great 90 minute movie to be assembled from the nine hours of those films.

 

[Ryujin]

Tolkien doesn't actually say that was the first visit for any of them. All five are basically angels. Do they really spend all their time sitting on their butts in heaven?

There are, of course, many other spirit beings in Middle Earth. Tom Bombadil has been mentioned, but there is also Goldberry, and the balrogs. Even the balrog of Moria is a shapechanger (and is glimpsed briefly in a trailer) and could hypothetically appear in human guise. And might even have fallen during the Second Age.

Sauron already fell, during the 1st age. In order for him to fall at this point, he would have to be in heaven (Valinor).

The Dwarves "delved too deep" and awakened the Balrog, so he was already in the heart of the mountain by this time. Their greed for Mithril presumably results in the downfall of their kingdom. And pretty sure that's what is in the "Pulp Fiction" chest.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The Dwarves "delved too deep" and awakened the Balrog, so he was already in the heart of the mountain by this time. Their greed for Mithril presumably results in the downfall of their kingdom. And pretty sure that's what is in the "Pulp Fiction" chest.

The video previewing the rest of the season shows the prince holding up shiny gray ore and saying "this will change everything," so yeah, mithril.

 

[Ryujin]

As someone from the West Midlands and currently living there I can say that there isn’t anyone with a Black Country accent in TRoP.

These are two good examples of that accent which is really distinctive. Gran and the Bloody Baron. Both from the Witcher 3 game. You definitely know it when you hear it. You can also hear it in the Peaky Blinders series, which is set in and around Birmingham.



So Sean Austin in LOTR had a West Country accent common to SW england - particularly Cornwall. The quintessential farmers accent. Which I guess is easy to confuse with Black Country because of the name. In the first video with Gran, Little Jonny has a classic West Country accent.

Nicol Williamson actually speaks pretty good RP Queens English without any accent at all when reading The Hobbit. Though he tends to use Yorkshire accents for dwarves… which I’m sure started a trend.

The Harfoots definitely have an Irish base with there own twang. That’s been corroborated by producers. To be honest I think they’re trying to evoke the British traveler community accent which also has a strong Irish twang and would make a lot of sense in the context. But maybe they’re downplaying that in interviews.

It has to be said: All this "Bruther" stuff puts me in mind of Alexi Sales, who is from Anfield/Liverpool. (I suck at figuring regional British accents.)

 

[TheSword]

It has to be said: All this "Bruther" stuff puts me in mind of Alexi Sales, who is from Anfield/Liverpool. (I suck at figuring regional British accents.)

It’s alright. It’s amazing how in England a few miles can be the difference between totally different accents. I remember an Australian comedian being mocked by the audience because he couldn’t tell the difference between a Manchester accent and a Liverpool one. He then riposted by saying they were only 30 miles apart and asking the audience if they could tell the difference between a Sidney accent and a Perth accent which was 2400 miles apart. I thought fair play.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It’s alright. It’s amazing how in England a few miles can be the difference between totally different accents. I remember an Australian comedian being mocked by the audience because he couldn’t tell the difference between a Manchester accent and a Liverpool one. He then riposted by saying they were only 30 miles apart and asking the audience if they could tell the difference between a Sidney accent and a Perth accent which was 2400 miles apart. I thought fair play.

The rest of the world assumes the English are doing this with their accents as a long-running joke on the rest of us.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Weirdly, accents shift further on smaller scales than they do on larger ones, and more the more the population stays put and less the more the population moves about. It's peculiar but fascinating.

 

[reelo]

There is a great 90 minute movie to be assembled from the nine hours of those films.

That is true. The "Maple Films" edit.

 

[Stalker0]

I feel like people are getting way too caught up in the "accuracy" of the show.... considering even the Silmarillion is basically a hodge podge of notes and thoughts, not a real story. the simple truth is, the story we are seeing on the screen doesn't exist in any literature, its a blank canvas, so let them fill it.

Frankly this show blows away House of the Dragon and Wheel of Time, all of the characters so far I have found interesting and intense. The settings are beautiful and grand (way grander than WoT looked). The build up is solid, it is slow but I would rather have that than rush through it. Just awesome, its the best start to a fantasy show I have seen in a while.