Mordor & Back

I first stumbled into Tolkien’s Middle-earth when I heard The Fellowship of the Ring being read aloud on a train from Haymarket to Kinghorn when I was ten. His cryptic and mystical world seemed quite wonderful to me. Gondor, Mordor, Rohan and The Shire, depicted in a three-thousand-year saga referred to as the Third Age of Middle-earth; had been most welcomed by a kid who was into Jason and the Argonauts and tales from The Iliad. Sadly, I was not reacquainted with Tolkien again until I saw the films in my early thirties. I did finally read the trilogy soon afterwards and enjoyed them immensely.
You either love Tolkien or you don’t. His portrayal of Earth’s history is either fascinating or boring to many. I was quite smitten and so I was keen to see how the new TV series The Rings of Power, would pan out. I am a fan of the film trilogy sure, but I promise you that the books are better. This is because there is so much more to Tolkien’s mythology than meets the eye. Primarily the First and Second Ages of Middle-earth and stories such as The Book of Lost Tales, and The History of Middle-earth, which are handy places to begin. The stories and potential stories living in the old maestro’s extensive legendarium, are vast and many of which play a massive part in how things develop in the Third Age when the Ring Trilogy is set. It always seemed to me that someone was missing a trick there and that there would have to be another film or big TV series at some point.
I did feel that developing a serious TV show in Tolkien’s world would require it to complement the earlier big-budget movies. The method of achieving this, it seemed to me, should not be dependent upon no-expense-spared sets or costumes. As we know from say, I Claudius, a good story line complemented by good actors, is what the doctor ordered. If you can figure that much out, it won’t matter if your set is made from cardboard. I had similar apprehensions regarding Game of Thrones follow-up House of Dragon too. Having been quite weary of potential let-downs there, I was pleasantly surprised to find the recent series had a strong second half too. The House of Dragon season finale being precisely what Game of Thrones fans needed.
The Rings of Power series is seen through the eyes of Morfydd Clark, who plays the immortal elven warrior Galadriel (played by Cate Blanchet in the films). It is set at the end of the Second Age of Middle-earth, when the rings are first forged by the great elven smith Celebrimbor. Galadriel has seen it all over thousands of years; there is an account of her story in, The Road Goes Ever On, and The Silmarillion. Galadriel is one of the oldest characters from the many ages of Middle-earth. She witnessed the legendary flight of the elves from the heavenly Valinor in the First Age of Middle-earth. It was also said that she was, “the only female to stand tall in those days.”
The acting here is sound enough, particularly Robert Aramayo as Elrond. We learn a little more about the chronology of events too, whilst receiving an introduction to the angelic Maiar and Valar. There are only a few Valar emissaries who have been sent from the sky to Middle-earth to assist it against Sauron, a tyrannical entity who has been cast down from the sky. Gandolf perhaps, being the better known of them. Even still, I took a while to warm to both Clark as Galadriel and the show itself, which I duly ended up doing by episode five. Though I must admit that I didn’t see the point in the love affair sideliner between the Elve Arondir; played by Ismail Cruz, who would have made a better Sauron, and Persian actress Nazanin Boniadi, who plays Bronwyn. Their lovey-dovey thing clings to the unfurling chaos like acne barnacles to an unfortunate teenager. The show itself feels like a big movie production throughout and I didn’t want it to finish by the time it wound up. I started reading The Silmarillion thereafter, which says it all really.

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