Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The risk involves the credibility of any future IP which Amazon wants to adapt; it's not just about LoTR or RoP.

Rings of Power is basically high art compared to The Wheel of Time.

Jeff Bezos has more money rattling around in his sofa cushions than this show costs. The dude is worth $202 billion.

If he cared about what people thought, the Amazon website wouldn't look like 2007 threw up all over it.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Rings of Power is basically high art compared to The Wheel of Time.

Jeff Bezos has more money rattling around in his sofa cushions than this show costs. The dude is worth $202 billion.

If he cared about what people thought, the Amazon website wouldn't look like 2007 threw up all over it.

Bezos hasn't been CEO of Amazon since 2021, and may not have the final word. He's more interested in his rocket rivalry with Mad Elon these days.

 

[Paulyhedral]

And Frodo is ultimately broken by saving Middle Earth, which is probably as close as JRRT could come to talking about PTSD and the effects of war on veterans.

Frodo didn't save Middle-Earth. Tolkien himself pointed it out: Frodo failed. The One Ring was destroyed by accident.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Frodo didn't save Middle-Earth. Tolkien himself pointed it out: Frodo failed. The One Ring was destroyed by accident.

Or divine intervention. Or Gollum’s good side briefly reasserting itself.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

In Tolkien's original conceptions of Numenor - before its stories were anchored to the larger legendarium - Numenor was envisaged as an industrial, steampunk-esque society, with battleships, tanks and flying machines.

Some literary vestiges of this "tech gap" remain - e.g. we don't know what Orthanc and the outer wall of Minas Tirith were made of; the Numenoreans "devised engines" with the help of Sauron; their archers used hollow steel compound bows etc.

Indeed. We are never really told just how much more advanced Numenor is, so it could have looked like Wakanda without contradicting the text. But clearly the show has it's own aesthetic, and they had to remain consistent with that.

Still, it would be nice if after Sauron starts to gain control, we see smoke-belching factories churning out ironclads for the assault on Valinor.

 

[Deset Gled]

Frodo didn't save Middle-Earth. Tolkien himself pointed it out: Frodo failed. The One Ring was destroyed by accident.

Frodo succeeded in carrying the ring all the way to Mt. Doom, when it's mere presence corrupted everyone else who got near it. I understand the point in saying Frodo wasn't the guy who made the last step. But to call him a failure? That's channeling way too much "bad manager" energy.

 

[Zardnaar]

You have stated your opinion on this before; restating it does not make me agree with it any more than I did previously.

RoP is currently undergoing a catastrophic collapse in its viewership numbers. The question remains as to whether Amazon allows this Bezos vanity project to succumb to market forces, or if they throw another billion dollars at it because they don't care.

The risk involves the credibility of any future IP which Amazon wants to adapt; it's not just about LoTR or RoP.

I think it will quietly expire at the end of a short S3, with a reduced budget. I guess we'll wait and see.

The ratings have roughly halved.

Luminate Streaming Ratings: ‘Rings of Power’ Falls to No. 4 as ‘Perfect Couple’ Leads With 3.4 Billion Minutes Watched

As 'Rings of Power' viewership dropped by more than 50%, 'The Perfect Couple' led Luminate's weekly streaming rankings.

variety.com

But....

‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘Rings of Power’ Facing Epic Headaches

As ‘Game of Thrones’ author George R.R. Martin rips HBO over changes to ‘Dragon’ and fans ding the second season of Prime Video’s pricey ‘LoTR’ adaptation, executives cautiously navigate a minefield.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

It has something like x10 the viewership of the Acolyte iirc. Wouldn't surprise me either way if it's canceled/renewed.

 

[Parmandur]

Frodo succeeded in carrying the ring all the way to Mt. Doom, when it's mere presence corrupted everyone else who got near it. I understand the point in saying Frodo wasn't the guy who made the last step. But to call him a failure? That's channeling way too much "bad manager" energy.

That is what Tolkien himself said, though, and his point was the inevitability of failure, to a greater or lesser extent.

 

[Maxperson]

Or divine intervention. Or Gollum’s good side briefly reasserting itself.

Frodo said the ring would hold Gollum to his oath. I think that's what did it.

 

[Maxperson]

Frodo succeeded in carrying the ring all the way to Mt. Doom, when it's mere presence corrupted everyone else who got near it. I understand the point in saying Frodo wasn't the guy who made the last step. But to call him a failure? That's channeling way too much "bad manager" energy.

Frodo's journey was 1235 miles and took 3 months. He contended with the rings influence the entire time up until the last few miles when Sam picked it up. The people who are like, "Frodo wasn't the hero, Sam was." ignore that fact. Sam was fresh when he picked it up, so even though the last few miles were the worst, he still didn't go through anywhere near the amount of corrupting influence that Frodo had to deal with. It would be like Frodo jogging 25.8 miles of a marathon, and then tagging Sam to jog the last .2 miles that are up a hill.

Not only was Frodo not a failure, but he was still far more of a hero than Sam was. Not that Sam wasn't also a hero.