Tolkien Books After Lord of the Rings That Continue the Story
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 came to a dramatic conclusion last Friday, revealing the identity of Sauron and answering other burning questions that fans had.
With so many key moments in the finale, and many that might have come as a surprise to fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's work, Newsweek spoke to show writer Gennifer Hutchison and Tolkien expert Dr. KellyAnn Fitzpatrick to analyze the reveals deeper.
How Does 'The Rings of Power' Finale Compare to Tolkien's Work? An Analysis
1. Halbrand Is Revealed as Sauron
The biggest moment in The Rings of Power finale was the one that fans have been curious about since the show first premiered on Prime Video: who is Sauron in disguise?
In Tolkien's work, Sauron hides in plain sight during the Second Age of Middle-earth, adopting the name Annatar and disguising himself in order to create the titular Rings of Power, and secretly the One Ring.
Hutchison, who wrote the finale alongside showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, spoke about the moment Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) reveals his true identity to Galadriel (Morfydd Clark).
Reflecting on the scene, Hutchison said the show had "been building out for the whole season." Of writing it, she said: "It was really about diving into her feelings of betrayal, her feelings of how did she not see this? And his really making this big pitch to her, like, 'Hey, we've been such a great team, we can continue to do this.'
"Sort of honoring that relationship that they had built over the course of the season, but really playing those perspectives, of 'How could you lie to me?' and his perspective of 'But look what we can do together,' and just trying to find that balance within that dynamic."
Fitzpatrick, who wrote the book Neomedievalism, Popular Culture, and the Academy: From Tolkien to Game of Thrones, said Halbrand's true identity "works very nicely" for the show's story.
"For viewers who have read The Lord of the Rings or seen Peter Jackson's film adaptations, there were characters who dropped into The Rings of Power–sometimes literally–that the show was clearly offering as candidates for Sauron in disguise because they were unknown entities: Halbrand, Adar, the Dweller, and the Stranger," she said.
"So in that sense, Halbrand was always a possibility for Sauron; however, Charlie Vickers's portrayal of Halbrand visually invoked Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn in 2001's The Fellowship of the Ring–or as a friend put it, 'Of course he's the king of the Southlands, unshaven kings roam around in the wilds of Middle-earth all the time'– which also made it very easy for the audience to follow Galadriel's initial assessment of him as a king in exile.
"But from a Season 1 narrative perspective, Halbrand as Sauron works very nicely. This season has always been about Galadriel's search for Sauron, but we (and Galadriel) just did not know that she had found him in Episode 2.
"This is a version of Sauron that demonstrates his capacity for deception and manipulation, which is something that we only hear about by the time we get to the events of The Lord of the Rings because by then he has lost his corporeal form.
"And while I do not love everything about the way Galadriel's character is portrayed in the series–perhaps it would have been wise to check if a king of the Southlands even exists before buying Halbrand's story–it was almost nostalgic to recognize the dialogue around Galadriel's refusal of Halbrand/Sauron's offer to rule beside him as an echo of the words she uses when she refuses Frodo's offer of the One Ring in The Fellowship of the Ring.
"And this is just one of many ways that the finale especially echoes Tolkien's writing and/or visuals from the Jackson trilogy [...] even the opening of the series with Galadriel recalls the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring, with Galadriel narrating the events around the history of the rings–a decision that is not based in the narrative structure of the books."
2. The Three Elven Rings of Power Are Made But Not the Others
In the finale, Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) creates the three Elven rings, which, in Tolkien's writing, were made after the creation of the other rings of power not before them, with Sauron aiding the elf and his smiths to create 16 rings before he is unmasked.
Reflecting on Tolkien's work, Fitzpatrick said: "There are 20 Rings of Power that we hear about in Lord of the Rings. Of the 19 forged by the elves, both The Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings suggest that 16 rings of power (seven of which eventually go to the dwarves and nine to men) were made prior to the forging of the Three (elven) Rings, which were made using knowledge the elves learned from Sauron but were never actually touched by him. The One Ring is forged last by Sauron.
"And so the fact that in the show Halbrand/Sauron does not directly help forge the Three Rings–but nudges Celebrimbor to mix mithril with other ores and to consider a circular design to 'focus' the mithril's properties–potentially aligns well with Tolkien's writing (and Halbrand's 'Call it a gift' statement is an allusion to an alias The Silmarillion attributes to him during the period that he shares his ring-making knowledge with the elves)."
However, the author, and senior industry analyst at RedMonk, added: "One big departure is that in Tolkien's timeline (see, for instance, the chronology in Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings), the Rings of Power are forged over a period of almost 100 years, and their creation takes place centuries before the reign of Tar Palantir in Númenor, yet we see those events happen concurrently in the show.
"Another seemingly big departure is that the Three Rings are the only Rings of Power we have seen so far, and the show's storyline of their creation suggests that the concept of focusing power into rings is a concept new to Celebrimbor and his assistants–which would be odd if the elves had already forged 16 other rings.
"But who can say what Sauron was up to before he turned up as Halbrand on a raft in Episode 2; it is quite possible that he has been counseling elves elsewhere in ringcraft."
Hutchison explained that the reason why viewers only see the Three Rings being made and not the others is because Season 1 was so focused on Galadriel, and her fellow elves, that it felt necessary to only include them.
"We knew we needed to have some rings created in this specific season, it's called The Rings of Power," Hutchison said. "And really this season focused so much on Galadriel and the elves, and these Elven conflicts of what's going on with them, so we really wanted to dive into that and their journey of why they would be creating these rings in the first place."
Of the other Rings of Power, she added the writers would "be able to give the other groups that get rings their fair sort of space as well as the show continues."
3. The Stranger Is An Istari
The finale also saw the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) be revealed as an Istari, one of five Maia, or wizards, that were sent to Middle-earth to defeat Sauron during the Third Age.
For a moment in the finale, it was suggested that the character would be Sauron, which Hutchison admitted was "a red herring" they wanted to use.
She said: "It really plays into the Stranger's journey for the season, which is, 'Am I the peril, am I the danger?' and then being told by these mystics 'Yes, you are, you're the bad guy.'
"And so having to play that journey in the finale with Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and that moment where she's like, 'No, you choose who you are,' was really important. So it kind of was to serve his storyline."
Fitzpatrick agreed with the writer's sentiment, though she pointed out how the inclusion of the Istari, who is likely Gandalf, changed the timeline and narrative created by Tolkien.
"At times the show's approach to his character is so driven by the larger 'who is Sauron?' plot that it almost detracts from the development of the Stranger's character," Fitzpatrick reflected. "But then we get these visual or verbal hints that evoke Gandalf –his interaction with the fireflies, the fact that he wears gray and is rather disheveled, his affinity for and fondness of the Harfoots– that make him feel very familiar, but which the show then questions by also suggesting that he may be Sauron.
"Introducing an Istari at this point seems to contradict Tolkien's timeline, in which the Istari do not appear in Middle-earth until well into the Third Age, whereas the events surrounding the forging of the ring all take place in the Second Age.
"And of course, the Stranger may be one of the other four Istari as Gandalf is supposedly the last of them to arrive in Middle-earth. But given the show's proclivity to play with Tolkien's timeline in order to bring in named characters that readers/viewers of The Lord of the Rings can recognize, I would not be surprised if he turns out to be Gandalf –and we get big Gandalf references in the finale after we learn that the Stranger is an Istari when he tells Nori, 'When in doubt...always follow your nose'—a reference to a scene in The Fellowship of the Ring.
"Although it is notable that the Stranger's plans to travel to Rhûn also invoke Tolkien's backstory for Saruman—one of the other Istari who plays a prominent role in The Lord of the Rings."
4. A Look at Númenor in 'The Rings of Power'
Númenor also played a key part in The Rings of Power, with Galadriel and Halbrand being taken there after being trapped in the Sundering Seas, and the island nation's story is important in Tolkien's work.
The finale finds the nation on a precipice, with Isildur (Maxim Baldry) left behind in Middle-earth, and Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) blinded and returning with Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and their remaining army, only to learn of Míriel's father's death.
"I think really this season has been setting up a conflict between those who are faithful who want to stick to the old ways, and then the Númenorians who are like, 'We're mad, we're creating our own path,'" Hutchison shared.
"This episode really was about looking at that so that going into the next season these things have been building and now we have Míriel coming back from a defeat, and making sure that we're setting it up so that the tension is coming into what's going to happen here after this huge shift in Númenorian culture, they took a big swing so what's gonna happen?"
Fitzpatrick reflected on the way in which the show has altered the story Tolkien wrote, sharing: "There is a lot of shifting of Tolkien's timelines, but especially in the show's temporal alignment of the forging of The Rings of Power with the end of the reign of Tar Palantir–events that take place centuries apart in Tolkien.
"But to me, it makes sense for the show to bring in characters that we already know from The Lord of the Rings –Elendil and Isildur especially– to help even casual Tolkien fans immediately connect with the Númenorians–especially when we are introduced to so many characters–such as Elendil's daughter, Eärien–that appear to be original creations for the show.
"The show also builds on existing figures like Miriel who has a significant role in the show and whose nightmare visions of a great wave overtaking Númenor suggest that the show is going to in some way follow Númenor's fate in Tolkien's writing. Pharazôn's rabble-rousing in earlier episodes also suggests that Miriel's cousin may take the death of Míriel's father as an opportunity to seize power–which is exactly what he does according to Tolkien."
Fitzpatrick added: "I am interested to see how all of these events affect Elendil. While he is currently mourning the (seeming) death of his son Isildur, he has a major role to play in the migration of many Númenorians to Middle-earth, one that I hope involves Míriel because she is such a great character. I am also curious to see how Eärien's interaction with the palantír (a seeing stone) plays out, and we have yet to see Elendil's other son, Anárion, who according to Tolkien will also play a big role in later events in Middle-earth.
"And we will 100 percent see Isildur again because he eventually cuts the One Ring from Sauron's hand, hopefully found and rescued by his valiant horse Berek in the same way that we see Shadowfax retrieve Aragorn after he falls over a cliff in the 2002 film The Two Towers."
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is available to watch in full on Prime Video now.
Correction 10/18/2022 03:24 a.m. ET: This article was updated to correct how many wizards there were in Middle-earth, and also a typo in Dr. Fitzpatrick's name.
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/lord-rings-rings-power-finale-j-r-r-tolkien-expert-analysis-writer-interview-1752359
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