I previously wondered for whom Amazon was making The Rings of Power. Some of Amazon’s decisions ranging from storytelling to the release schedule feel under cooked. But now that the first season is finished and I’ve had time to reflect, I think I figured it out. I am the target audience. More exactly, I am the target audience for the Tolkien estate; long-term fans looking for a reason to revisit Middle-earth.
During the complete run of season one I was listening to podcasts and reading articles about Tolkien and his works. I am excited to dive back into all the books and stories of the Legendarium. I’ve pulled my copy of The Return of the King and reread the various appendices related to the show. I am about to start reading Beren and Luthien which has been sitting on my shelf for almost a year. My son and I watched the 1977 animated version of The Hobbit last night. I am back and hooked.
Me getting re-hooked is better for the Tolkien estate than for Amazon. I was a teenager when Peter Jackson released his masterpiece trilogy. Now I am a new father wanting to share Tolkien with my son. The Rings of Power being released twenty years after Jackson’s work gets a whole generation of parents excited to pass on their love for Tolkien. Maybe the Tolkien estate will be earning money from my son thirty years from now.
Even though I’ve been a fan for a long time, I am not one of those fans who hates this new adaptation. For one, life is too short to be annoyed, so I make it a point to look on the bright side of things. But if my word means nothing to the haters (and it shouldn’t, I’m a nobody) Dr. Corey Olsen, the Tolkien Professor, has been upbeat on much of The Rings of Power. He does criticize the show on his podcast when appropriate, but I appreciate his stance on adaptations. He believes that even subpar adaptations are valuable to fans. A bad adaptation gives us the opportunity to revisit the source material and work to define the differences between the source and adaptation. That’s a powerfully positive outlook I am trying to emulate. Even if I don’t like every aspect of the show, I’m ready to get back with Tolkien’s original work and do some more reflection.
The Keasy Depot 