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

[MarkB]

It's like taking character from the Airforce and calling him Maverick, then making a movie about a weightlifting between America and the Russians. Goose, one of Maverick's airforce buddies gets killed in a weightlifting accident before Maverick takes the competition down. We can call it Top Gun because the central conflict is the same, it is set in the same world, and it has the same characters.

Change the title to Top Guns and I think you're onto a winner there.

 

[Maxperson]

You altered facts that determine what kind of story Top Gun is, and that make it wholly incompatible with the original.

Just as this does with the original. The LotR establishes the original names and dates and the current 2nd Age show is wholly incompatible with that original story. It also alters the original story of Sauron and Numenor as established by the LotR books.

Changing how close together the forging of the rings and the fall of Numenor are doesn’t change the nature of the story, nor does it necessarily become an AU from the original story.

If you alter it by a few years, sure. When you have someone who is explicitly born 1500+ years AFTER the current date, explicitly AFTER the forging of the rings, you are drastically altering the facts and the nature of the story. Now Isildur will be long dead before he can take his family and exit doomed Numenor.

They made Galadriel a warrior. That doesn’t contradict anything in LOTR, it doesn’t change who she is in the 3rd Age, it changes nothing of any importance, and isn’t even directly contradictory to the Silmarillion. No one becomes a different person entirely because Isildur was around when the rings were forged.

Making her a warcrazed elf changes who she is fundamentally. She was explicitly NOT a warrior. She took part in no battles. She was against the warring nature of her family.

 

[Maxperson]

Change the title to Top Guns and I think you're onto a winner there.

Nah. Maverick is cocky! He's going to beat Russia with one hand tied behind his back.

 

[Maxperson]

LOL

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Just as this does with the original. The LotR establishes the original names and dates and the current 2nd Age show is wholly incompatible with that original story.

No, it’s not. Containing a timeline contradiction is not incompatible.

It also alters the original story of Sauron and Numenor as established by the LotR books.

If you alter it by a few years, sure. When you have someone who is explicitly born 1500+ years AFTER the current date, explicitly AFTER the forging of the rings, you are drastically altering the facts and the nature of the story. Now Isildur will be long dead before he can take his family and exit doomed Numenor.

Except he won’t be, because they’re compressing the timeline.

It also doesn’t change anything about LOTR.

Making her a warcrazed elf changes who she is fundamentally. She was explicitly NOT a warrior. She took part in no battles. She was against the warring nature of her family.

That’s your read, not explicit in the text.

By my read, it’s a pretty reasonable take on the character at this point in her life.

 

[Maxperson]

No, it’s not. Containing a timeline contradiction is not incompatible.

Isildur being alive in S.A. 1600 is incompatible with Isildur being born in S.A. 3219. He can't be both. The established story is that he was born in 3219. Any story of him being alive in S.A. is incompatible with the established story. They cannot both be true at the same time, so there is zero compatibility.

You can't compress the timeline that much. There has to be time to construct the forge, forge all the rings, have Sauron go make the One Ring, have the elves forge the three in secret, have them realize what Sauron is capable of, have the Numenoreans capture him, have him take the time to corrupt Ar-Pharazon and get him to attack Aman, have Isildur escape, then destroy Numenor, have time for Isildur to establish the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, then construct multiple cities and towers, and THEN get caught up and attack Sauron to cut off the ring. That's not going to all happen in a few years. Or even a few dozen years.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Isildur being alive in S.A. 1600 is incompatible with Isildur being born in S.A. 3219. He can't be both.

It does not matter. It’s a made up date in a fairy story, and it has no impact on the nature of who Isildur is, not the importance of his deeds, nor the nature of those deeds.

 

[Maxperson]

It does not matter. It’s a made up date in a fairy story, and it has no impact on the nature of who Isildur is, not the importance of his deeds, nor the nature of those deeds.

The date of birth matters as much as anything else in the story. Might as well not have him cut off the hand and instead cut Sauron's head off, then take the ring and rule. All of those things are changed facts of the story. All of them change the story.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The date of birth matters as much as anything else in the story. Might as well not have him cut off the hand and instead cut Sauron's head off, then take the ring and rule. All of those things are changed facts of the story. All of them change the story.

They are not equivalent. You are taking the idea of canon to a remarkable extreme that is entirely unreasonable to ask of any creator, ever.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You are correct, but he was born 1600 years after the rings were forged and Numenor sank right after he left. He still has no business being in this series.

He has no business being in this season. They've explicitly said the series ends when Sauron loses the ring. They will be doing time jumps.