kensei

Right. I think that's me totally done here. I have basically only chatted on 2 TV related threads in about 6 months but it's just not worth it. Apologies for messing up the thread and the show you enjoyed.

So once again, not trying to police anyone's joy. Happy people like it. But the actual question was whether it was a faithful adaptation and, no, it just isn't. Or you could read the Lord of The Rings above, which gives its properties. The above also fails to mention that mithril has the magic light of the Silmarils in it. Odd he didn't mention it, given the fact they are really, really important to his lore. It's not that vague. @Thor I stand corrected. Is the Tolkien estate holding back for a bigger budget go around with the Silmarillion material? Utterly crazy.

As the main descriptions of the Second Age appear in "Akallabeth" and "Of the Rings of Power" in the Silmarillion, it would be glorious insanity if they aren't allowed to use any of it. As I understood they licensed the Appendices and sole bits of the Silmarillion. There seems to be a lot of confusion about it. I read it said they couldn't even name Galadriel's brother because of rights issues, but Finrod's name is right there in the Appendices. Regardless they have changed stuff even within the bounds of LoTR. Also if you wanted the definition of crap fan fiction Would be right up there.

What where those properties? It's just, like, a metal. A really good metal. If he has lots more mad stuff, I dunno, why not go with those. The story as written is Sauron turns up, disguised as "Annatar" and tries to convince the Elves that they can make Middle Earth as beautiful as Valinor. Some don't take the bait, but some do. There's no great mystery for the reader who he is. The Rings are forged under his direction and knowledge. You could expand that into an interesting story. Or you can change a load of things around to get a "Who is Sauron?" mystery box. You might like it. Lots of people here seem to. Grand, it's not for me to police your joy. But the original question was around whether this is faithful and I just do not see that at all.

He said

This. @Chindie trying to force an eye catching mystery where Tolkien really had no interest in eye catching mysteries and chopping and changing a lot of things to try and get there is in itself unfaithful to Tolkien. Its just not very faithful beyond a superficial level. Even what they did with mithril - it just feels like they didn't get the themes at all.

I can see how it's easily beat out by Riveting. Something along the lines of the above could be done well or badly. But it offers the chance of something character focused. What we got instead was a fairly weak mystery.

A show about Elven Michelangelo or Van Gogh. Tortured artist is a really easy riff. His grandfather is the greatest Smith the world ever produced. The depiction of him as middle aged as opposed to the young and beautiful Galadriel is nonsensical. Elves are immortal and Galadriel is older. It would make sense to move Elrond's relationship with Durin to him, since he was noted as a friend to the Dwarves and helped make the gates of Moria. Ultimately he's the one tempted. Elrond, Gil Galad and Galadriel are suspicious of "Annatar" and turn him away, but it's Celebrimbor that gets on board with him. He has a grizzly fate with a slight defiance that looks perfect for the first arc of a Second Age show, from the forging of the rings to the start of the war. Even if you really like what they did, you can still think it was a swerve from the obvious direction.

Erik Kain hates it for approximately the reasons I didn't like it, but much much more so https://www.polygon.com/23414847/rings-power-season-1-review I think the point that the obvious protagonist for a show based around the Rings of Power is Celebrimbor rather than Galadriel is spot on, though.

Not sure that's true https://www.polygon.com/23414847/rings-power-season-1-review That's pretty negative, but not really comparing to House of The Dragon.

I tend to agree, but

They accept the rings of their own free will but one of the few powers of the One Ring we actually get is that it allows the welder to dominate and control the users of the other rings. They are under the dominion of the One. They don't have free will. I think it's better to think of the orcs like that because the moral implications of not doing that are fairly horrifying, particularly in a world that tends to be reasonably black and white. Yeah I don't know how I missed the orcs were corrupted elves, my copy of the Silmarillion must have had those pages ripped out!!!! Weird as lollol!! How many genocides can you claim to want and how many sympathetic creatures can you murder and still be cool? I understand what they are going for and how they are also trying to build up the things that happen in the finale. It makes sense in those terms. I just don't think it's a good fit for this story and world. I felt in the scene with Adar and Galadriel, she came across as particularly nasty and I don't think it did her character any favours. Not claiming this is anything other than just my opinion.

That's cool I didn't know how they were created. Tolkien never solved the problem of orcs being effectively irredeemable. I am not sure these writers are going to. They are bad for the same reason the Nazgul are: they effectively don't have free will and are an extension of the Dark Lord's power. It's not that in other places the idea hasn't been explored or could work. Just here I think the nature of it means you'll undercut the heroic characters.

Anyway, ignore any consideration of source material. It is still weirdly paced, with characters that do inconsistent things and with episodes that are a bit on the long side and probably have too many threads. There are strange horse riding scenes. It's not awful, some of the character interactions are good, some of the visuals and actions sequences are genuinely impressive. It threatens to catch fire and never does. I hated the mystery box stuff. Maybe you won't, but surely you've seen more compelling TV in the last ten years? Orcs