In the flood of promotional marketing leading up to the premiere of Amazon Prime’s The
Rings of Power Series fans got to hear a lot from the showrunners JD Payne and Patrick
McKay regarding their approach to this show.
There have been several questionable remarks from Payne and McKay as they have revealed
the limited rights they hold to JRR Tolkien’s second age stories and the creative liberties
they have taken to supplement their show.
I’ve noticed in various interviews the frequent use of the term Tolkenian in attempting to
describe their approach to creating original content within this supposed middle earth
series.
Their usage of the term has continued to puzzle me and so in this video I thought I’d examine
what it truly means to be Tolkenian, the different interpretations that have been associated
with it and why I believe that this new Amazon Rings of Power show does not fit that description.
First lets begin with the Rings of Power showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay and one of their
first uses of the word Tolkienian.
In a couple of exclusive interviews with Vanity Fair the showrunners finally began to address
fans' burning questions regarding this series.
After revealing they have rights solely to the Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
and its Appendices they revealed their approach to creating a second age series within the
limited scope of these rights saying quote: “There’s a version of everything we need
for the Second Age in the books we have the rights to.
We took all these little clues and thought of them as stars in the sky that we then connected
to write the novel that Tolkien never wrote about the Second Age.
We worked in conjunction with world-renowned Tolkien scholars and the Tolkien estate to
make sure that the ways we connected the dots were Tolkienian and gelled with the experts’
and the estate’s understanding of the material.”
~ J.D.
Payne and Patrick McKay
In a previous interview with Vanity Fair the showrunners did confirm that there would be
a significant time compression of the second age with their intention being to tell the
story of all the major events of this era within a single point in time.
From what was then revealed about the characters featured in this series it’s also evident
that these events will not only be compressed but rearranged from their original sequential
order as well.
As they attempt to connect these events the showrunners explained that they worked in
conjunction with Tolkien scholars and the Tolkien estate to make sure that how they
connected these story dots are Tolkienian.
So here, their use of the word is connected with the various Tolkien scholars and the
Estate and their approval based upon their own understanding of the source material.
If they thought what the showrunners were doing quote: “gelled” with their own understanding
of Tolkien’s work then their feedback and approval is what makes this series Tolkienian
according to Payne and McKay.
I admit that while this sounds good that the people with supposedly the most knowledge
of Middle Earth were consulting with the showrunners to make sure it stayed true to the spirit
of Tolkien’s written works, it depends too much on someone else’s interpretation of
the author’s mythos, their opinion on the themes and lore of Tolkien, rather than having
the source material itself speak as the ultimate authority.
Other occasions where the production staff marched out the word Tolkienian would be at
the San Diego Comic Con panel with the showrunners and cast.
“There are characters played by actors who will be out here in just a moment who are
not canonical to Tolkien, that must be one of the greatest challenges, how do you fill
out that world with characters that are implied — they are implied cultures that you are
drawing from, but they are not necessarily described to the depth that you are going
to represent them.
What guidance did you take for those characters’ creations?”
Payne replied to this question saying quote, “So, one, always back to Tolkien.
And two, when Tolkien was silent, we tried to invent as Tolkienian a way as possible.”
J.D.
Payne This time when speaking on their approach
to their non-canonical additions the showrunners cited Tolkien as their guide, and when his
works were silent on a matter, they then said their aim was to invent as Tolkienian a way
as possible.
McKay also chimed in here with the phrase, Go back to the book, Go back to the book,
Go back to the book”
Their usage of the word in this context is dependent very much on their own interpretation,
their own understanding of what makes a storyline fundamentally Tolkien.
While their remarks here sound like their aim is to stay true to the author’s story
especially with Mckay’s emphasis on going back to the book.
Their other statements regarding the many creative liberties they have taken with the
source material say otherwise.
It would be entirely too long of a video for me to bring out the numerous changes that
have already been made with second age characters' from the decision to turn Galadriel into a
brash and angry warrior who visits the island kingdom of Numenor, to the invention of Isildur’s
previously non-existent sister.
And the list of these changes are also sure to grow as the story unfolds and winds through
subsequent seasons.
But what was especially revealing was the showrunner’s decision to include Hobbits
in their series and to give them a significant contribution to second age events.
Payne and Mckay’s attempt at an explanation for this choice demonstrated a willful disregard
of Tolkien’s writings concerning Hobbits merely to satisfy their own interpretation
of what makes a story Tolkienian.
The primary issue with the inclusion of a Hobbit storyline in the second age is that
Tolkien very specifically in numerous places noted that these beings did not have a significant
part to play in the history of Middle Earth until the third age as detailed in the Hobbit
and the Lord of the Rings books.
To justify the invention of a Hobbit story in their show, Payne pushed back and said
it’s not technically a Hobbit story, that it’s a Harfoot story.
This statement falls apart almost as fast as Payne could say it as Tolkien was not silent
on this matter.
In fact you don’t even have to dig that deep into the lore to completely demolish
the idea that these could be separated as the showrunners are attempting to do.
In the prologue of Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring it is clearly stated with no other
room for interpretation that Harfoots along with Fallowhides and Stoors are three BREEDS
OF HOBBIT.
However it is what Mckay adds to this answer that really gives us some insight into what
makes their show Tolkienian in their eyes.
He said quote: “It was really important to us from minute one that what makes Tolkien’s
tone unique and special is the blend of all of these cultures and what each of them bring
to Middle-earth.
And what each of them represent.
The underdogs and the smallest people being able to do great deeds.
We could not imagine a version of this show that didn’t have a version of that in some
form.”
So here we see that even when Tolkien spoke through his writings in the end it didn’t
matter to Payne and Mckay.
To me this proves that Amazon’s Rings of Power isn’t about Tolkien, it's about the
showrunners and what they want.
They wanted Hobbits in their show regardless of what Tolkien wrote.
They also said they didn’t want to do a side thing or a spinoff or the origin story
of something else, they instead wanted to find a quote: huge Tolkienian Mega Epic.
They use the term “Tolkienian” here to condone their employment of one of the most
egregious deviations from the text of Tolkien namely, the compressing Sauron’s rise to
power, the forging of the rings, the fall of numenor, and the war of the last alliance
into a single point in time.
Not content to flesh out and tell one of these stories well, no instead they must have it
all, and to add Hobbits on top of that to create their own mega epic series.
Their ultimate goal is to use Tolkien’s world to invent their own Middle Earth story
based upon their own wants and desires and their own warped understanding of what makes
something quote :Tolkienian.
It’s clear to the showrunners the term Tolkienian means whatever they want it to mean, using
it as a shield to ward off criticism of their many changes and to justify their many unnecessary
creative liberties.
That isn’t to say that they couldn’t invent stories within Tolkien’s mythos however.
There are many opportunities to flesh out the lore of Middle Earth.
In this matter I agree wholeheartedly with the words of Tolkien Scholar Tom Shippey who
was initially attached to the Rings of Power series as consultant but is not involved anymore.
Back in a 2019 interview Shippey was asked various questions about the Amazon Prime series
and its setting in the second age.
Shippey said quote:
“The Tolkien Estate will insist that the main shape of the Second Age is not altered.
Sauron invades Eriador, is forced back by a Númenorean expedition, and returns to Númenor.
There he corrupts the Númenoreans and seduces them to break the ban of the Valar.
All this, the course of history, must remain the same.
But you can add new characters and ask a lot of questions, like: What has Sauron done in
the meantime?
Where was he after Morgoth was defeated?
Theoretically, Amazon can answer these questions by inventing the answers, since Tolkien did
not describe it.
But it must not contradict anything which Tolkien did say.
That's what Amazon has to watch out for.
It must be canonical, it is impossible to change the boundaries which Tolkien has created,
it is necessary to remain ‘tolkienian.’”
And there it is, to be truly Tolkienian a Middle Earth story must stay within the boundaries
of what Tolkien wrote, it must fit within his lore.
These are seen as limitations and restrictions for some apparently but in reality the only
limit is your imagination, these are not limitations these are opportunities to expand, to deepen
Tolkien’s rich mythos.
Things definitely changed as the production continued as we can see when we compare Shippey’s
statement with what we now know about Amazon's approach.
Making it abundantly clear that Amazon’s Rings of Power series is not Tolkienian….
But I’m curious to know what you think about what Amazon is doing with this supposed Middle
Earth series.
Do you think it’s accurate to describe the Rings of Power as Tolkienian?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Lord of the Rings and other sci fi and fantasy news and lore.
Thank you all so much for your support and as always, have a very nerdy day.