Lord of the Rings series!?

For discussion of Amazon's new television show "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power"
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kzer_za
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by kzer_za »

Well it worked out with Stuart Townsend leaving, and recasting after a pilot is not uncommon.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

At least we knew who Stuart Townsend was portraying!

Ditto for Rob Kazinsky in The Hobbit films.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

This doesn't really have any really significance to me, but it might mean something to someone.

Wayne Che Yip Boards ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Series As Director & Co-EP, Will Helm Four Episodes Of Amazon Original
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Alatar »

Three interesting facts in one sentence:
The Lord of the Rings‘ first eight-episode season is expected to launch on Prime Video this year, and a second has already been ordered.
1. 8 Eps per season (Same as GoT)
2. Launching this year (Was expected, but this is the first confirmation I've seen)
3. Second season already ordered. (Before audience reaction. Optimistic approach, they must be confident)
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Smaug's voice »

Had no idea it was releasing this early! I'm cautiously optimistic. Any sign of when we'll be getting a trailer?


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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Snowdog »

I'm not surprised that a second season was 'ordered' as I read that it was costing something like a half a billion dollars for the 1st season. I believe that counts the 250 million for just the rights. Nonetheless, that is a staggering amount of money for a TV show.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

Amazon has announced four new cast members, including two young girls.



I have no idea what that means.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

I take all of this with a huge grain of salt, although Cliff Broadway ("Quickbeam") was a pretty reliable sources back in the day.

Spy Report: 20 new details emerge from Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: Characters, Sexless Nudity and Halflings!

For one thing, I had not heard previously that anything from the Silmarillion was allowed to be used. If that is true, that is a major piece of news. And the only Tolkien scholar that I had ever heard associated with the project was Tom Shippey, who supposedly left, so I really wonder who the three reference here are, if that is true.

As for the suggestion that their are early halflings involved (and that Lenny Henry plays one), that I think would be a large deviation from what Tolkien wrote, but it has the ring of truth to me. I am sure that Amazon would like to get some Hobbit love. The explanation Cliff gives for how it would be possible to have this in the Second Age strikes me as strained, but maybe it would be okay.

The sexless nudity and no Annatar in the first season are interesting details, for sure.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by elengil »

Voronwë the Faithful wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:53 pm

For one thing, I had not heard previously that anything from the Silmarillion was allowed to be used. If that is true, that is a major piece of news.
The only thing I'd heard on the topic was that only events referenced in the appendices were allowed to be used, so if any of the appendices referred to events that were also covered in the Silmarillion then that is all the further it's allowed to go - at least that's what I read about 2 years ago or so... that scope may well have changed in that time.

As for Hobbits, was there any definitive date of their "appearance" ever given?
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

No, not really. There is no mention of them at all in the Tale of the Years for the Second Age. The first mention of them in the Third Age is:

c. 1150 The Fallohides enter Eriador. The Stoors come over the Redhorn Pass and move to the Angle, or to Dunland.

Next is:

c. 1300 Evil things begin to multiply again. Orcs increase in the Misty Mountains and attack the Dwarves. The Nazgûl reappear. The chief of these comes north to Angmar. The Periannath migrate westward; many settle at Bree.

Then:
1601 Many Periannath migrate from Bree, and are granted land beyond Baranduin by Argeleb II.
c. 1630 They are joined by Stoors coming up from Dunland.

In Concerning Hobbits in the Prologue it says:

"Their own records began only after the settlement of the Shire, and their most ancient legends hardly looked further back than their Wandering Days. It is clear, nonetheless, from these legends, and from the evidence of their peculiar words and customs, that like many other folk Hobbits had in the distant past moved westward. Their earliest tales seem to glimpse a time when they dwelt in the upper vales of Anduin, between the eaves of Greenwood the Great and the Misty Mountains. Why they later undertook the hard and perilous crossing of the mountains into Eriador is no longer certain. Their own accounts speak of the multiplying of Men in the land, and of a shadow that fell on the forest, so that it became darkened and its new name was Mirkwood.
Before the crossing of the mountains the Hobbits had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides. The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller, and shorter, and they were beardless and bootless; their hands and feet were neat and nimble; and they preferred highlands and hillsides. The Stoors were broader, heavier in build; their feet and hands were larger, and they preferred flat lands and riversides. The Fallohides were fairer of skin and also of hair, and they were taller and slimmer than the others; they were lovers of trees and of woodlands."

So while it is possible that they could have been around during the Second Age, there is no mention of it anywhere, and if they were they would certainly not have any dealings with Men, Elves or Dwarves during that time. So if the show portrays them as being involved in what is going on during that time, I think that would be contrary to what Tolkien wrote.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by kzer_za »

The prologue is vague enough about their early days to give some wiggle room. I'm ok with Harfoot proto-Hobbits as artistic license if Sauron doesn't know they exist (which means they'd probably need to get written out at some point).
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Túrin Turambar »

I don't have time to check now, but in either the Prologue or the Appendices, Tolkien actually says something about the earlier histories of Middle Earth having an Elvish-centric bias because the Elves recorded them. Men only appear when they come into contact with Elves, for example. Presumably there were other Men, as well as Hobbits, running around somewhere while all this was going on.

It's probably necessary to include Hobbits, as they're what makes Middle Earth accessible and appealing to a broad audience. In the writers' position I would have done the same thing. But I'm still really wary of the project.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Inanna »

I’m pretty sure JRRT didn’t mean the Hobbits just popped into existence in the Third Age. Rather, as Gandalf says, they stayed out of view of the greater rumblings in ME.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

Yes, but that is exactly the point. If they stayed out of the way, they wouldn't play any role in the events being chronicled.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Inanna »

Agreed.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by kzer_za »

There are ways it could work. If we believe the rumors it sounds like they'll be starting with things relatively quiet buidling up to the big events slowly (no Sauron reveal in first season). So maybe they are around early on and then exit the stage and disappear from history (like migrating away because they sense the coming darkness) when things heat up, not involved in the really big Second Age stuff. Ideally they wouldn't meet any elves, easier for mortals to forget them. Could be a way to gradually ease people into a darker side of Tolkien.

On the other hand I gave Legolas being put in The Hobbit the benefit of the doubt and we know how that turned out, so who knows.
Last edited by kzer_za on Wed Jul 21, 2021 4:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by RoseMorninStar »

I think there are ways it could work too. Showing various peoples reaction to some large event, completely separate from one another/without interaction. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by elengil »

I think we also have to remember if this is the sprawling epic they are implying it will be, with a second season already purchased, you can have multiple seemingly disconnected stories happening at the same time that don't have to have any kind of direct interaction but will ultimately culminate at some final centralized plot... so hobbits could be in the series and maybe living along the Anduin already without having to have any kind of interaction with, say, Numenoreans or elves or the like. They could have their own goings on that somehow end up entangled by the end (such as by, say, finding a ring...)
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Alatar »

Yeah, I'm willing to wait and see on this one. Once they don't contradict major storylines I'm willing to accept a bit of latitude.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Impenitent »

Alatar wrote: Wed Jul 21, 2021 9:50 am ...Once they don't contradict major storylines I'm willing to accept a bit of latitude.
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