#rings of power

sleepyowlet:

middle-earth-mythopoeia:

For those who missed it: when Amazon released the trailer for The Rings of Power, the comment section was soon filled with comments in dozens of different languages that were all variations of a quote misattributed to Tolkien: “Evil cannot create anything new; it can only distort and destroy what has been invented or created by the forces of good.” 

While this isn’t actually a Tolkien quote, it does paraphrase a major theme in his books. For me, it was very heartening to see Tolkien fans from all over the world emphatically reject Amazon like this. Sure, they’re a little confused (it’s not a real Tolkien quote), but they’ve got the spirit. 

And so I’m glad to see that the backlash against The Rings of Power has been getting more news coverage in recent days. But this part of the article jumped out at me:

But just what are the commenters angry about? Amazon’s much-criticised labour practices, perhaps, or Jeff Bezos’ foray into billionaire space tourism? No, the complaints largely seem to be about the trailer itself: its gleaming CGI-ishness, changes to Tolkien’s original story, minor details to sigils, dwarves and the like and – most pointedly – the fact that it seems a pale imitation of Peter Jackson’s much loved (and still fairly recent in the memory) adaptation.

I’m sorry, I can’t get over heraldrybeing called sigils.

The thing is, everyone posting the misattributed Tolkien quote probably has their own personal reasons for posting it. But I think it’s pretty clear that we’re angry about all of the above. Anyone commenting about evil under Amazon’s trailer is probably talking about, well, Amazon. Because bad CGI is bad—but it’s not evil. Amazon, though? Definitely evil. And while many of us are upset about the changes to canon and the boring, generic aesthetic of the trailer, many of us are also upset about Amazon’s lack of ethics. In fact, many of us are upset precisely because of bothof these things. How could a company this greedy and evil even be expected to do Tolkien’s stories justice? It’s not possible. 

And so, I find it frustrating that the handful of news articles that have covered this issue have dismissed the fan backlash as people upset about “minor details” (many of which aren’t so minor) rather than people upset about the monetization of these beloved books by an evil corporation. But it doesn’t really matter what the news reports. I just hope that Tolkien fans will continue to stand up to Amazon.

Others have pointed this out, I have pointed it out - the overused CGI is in itself a result of Amazon being evil.

Costume makers and set builders are unionized and union protected. CGI artists aren’t. So Amazon chose to utilize a shit-ton of CGI that could have been a set because they didn’t feel like paying fair wages.

And no, those things fans familiar with the source material are pointing out? Like that Galadriel would never wear a Feanorian star? Those things aren’t minor. Tolkien’s world is full of symbols that have a lot of meaning for characters and the narrative. Those things aren’t just “an aesthetic”; Tolkien pored and toiled over those things for decades of his life to get them as he wanted them. To see them disregarded like this is to see Tolkien’s entire opus disregarded.

To take those justified criticisms and reduce them to nerdrage and racism (not this article specifically, but I’ve seen all criticism of the show lumped in with that) is disingenuous and completely missing the point.

Yes, the new promotional photos are awful (Dwarves without beards? Elves with short hair? 52-year-old Celebrimbor?), but let’s not forget the real reason to hate this show: it’s made by Amazon, which is literally the antithesis of everything LOTR is about. Let’s get this trending on Twitter:

#RejectRingsOfPower

You can read more here. 

Further exploring realms of extreme possibility concerning the fate of Nenya (as well as the other two Rings of Power) should Sauron regain the One Ring.

The purpose of these posts are to allow me to brainstorm ideas for The Circles, an alternate universe fanfiction series. Writing ideas out like this helps me solidify more nebulous concepts and choose a course of action.

Today I just finished re-reading “The Council of Elrond.”

ELROND: “The Three were not made by Sauron, nor did he touch them. […] But they were not made as weapons of war or conquest: that is not their power. Those who made them did not desire strength or domination or hoarded wealth, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained. These things the Elves of Middle-earth have in some measure gained, though with sorrow. But all that has been wrought by those who wield the Three will turn to their undoing, and their minds and hearts will become revealed to Sauron, if he regains the One.” (p. 301)

The way I read this is that Elrond is theorizing that all that has been made by the Three Rings (such as the defenses around Lothlorien and Rivendell) will effectively be cursed should Sauron regain the One Ring. Elrond may or may not be correct in his assumptions, but we never got to find out in the canon version.

THE THEORY I AM PLAYING AROUND WITH IS AS FOLLOWS: As long as Galadriel does not wear Nenya, the magical girdle that she has established around Lorien will continue to protect her realm for an indefinite period of time, even though Sauron has the One Ring. I further theorize that Sauron cannot control a Ring of Power from afar unless someone is wearing it. Sauron KNOWS now that Galadriel is a Ringbearer, and he has an understanding of the defenses around the forest, but he has to rely upon less powerful underlings to do his bidding. Here is where the Galadhrim may have the upper hand - at least for a while. Of course, if Sauron came in person to Lorien, he could easily shatter Galadriel’s defenses. They would stand up to the might of the Dark Lord like a house of cards in a wind storm.

In my post Galadriel vs Sauron and the Fate of Lorien, I had entertained the possibility that over time, the enchantments around Lorien would start to show signs of corruption, such as strange and twisted vegetation. However, I hesitated on this, because the Three Rings were not evil in themselves, and I wasn’t certain if their works could turn to evil. 

However, Elrond theorizes, “But all that has been wrought by those who wield the Three will turn to their undoing[…]”

So maybe the vegetation in the forest SHOULD eventually start showing the effects of the Shadow. The trees could sicken, but instead of dying, they cling unnaturally to life, becoming gnarled, twisted abominations that are terrifying to behold… a corruption of the preservative, time altering, entropy defying effects of the Three Rings…

OR maybe instead of a physical effect, the elves start to turn against each other, like how in the various times in the Silmarillion that the ramifications of the Oath and the Curse of Mandos became activated, igniting suspicion, paranoia, and bloodlust.

Some intriguing ideas to contemplate.

OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES……..

The Ring is on Sauron’s Finger; What Happens Next?

Galadriel vs Sauron and the Fate of Lorien

Further Thoughts on Galadriel, Sauron and Nenya

Master of Rings Mastered by Ring… Or At Least Inconvenienced)

Continuing my exploration of possibilities of the fate of Lorien should Sauron regain the One Ring, this time in story form. From Book 8 of The Circles.

In days of old, the elvensmiths of Eregion, lamenting the progression of Time and the inevitability of decay, began to dabble in magics that were designed to preserve and protect the beauty of the lands which they held dear. It is the nature of all things to wear down over time: just as a tiny seedling grows into a mighty tree and then falls down to rot upon the forest floor, so too do mighty kingdoms rise and then fall, and works wrought by even the most skilled hands eventually crumble and turn to dust. The elves who had survived the fall of Beleriand began to feel, for the first time, the weight of their immortality, the doom of watching everything around them change, whilst they themselves remained the same. Facing a crisis of existence, they turned their immense skills and talents to find ways to stave off the unpredictability of change and halt the creeping blight of decay. They sought to create a state which did not exist in the natural world: a place where the Laws of Time and Entropy no longer applied, where beauty never faded, and change did not occur unless it was a desired thing. They wanted an idyllic world that was reminiscent of the bliss and splendor of the Uttermost West, immutable and constant, part of Middle-earth but yet removed from the stream of Time and immune to the slow, gradual erosion of that constant, never-ceasing flow.

The elves sought to control Time itself; Sauron sought to control the elves. And so began the unholy collaboration between Annatar the Fair and the Elven-smiths of Eregion. Being a necromancer of great skill, Sauron knew how to preserve life, albeit in a different state from what nature had intended. He gladly imparted His great wealth of knowledge upon His eager students, but carefully hid from them the true nature of the arts in which they so innocently dabbled. Many were the Rings that they created, some greater and some lesser. And then there were the Three that Celerimbor crafted with his own hands. Even though these Three were created using the same arts as the others, they were untainted by the forbidden alchemy that magnified the powers of the wearer, preserved the spirit but caused transmutation of the body, and bound one forever to the Lord of the Rings.

And now Sauron found Himself striving against the defenses of a Ring that had been designed to preserve and protect in continuity. As long as Nenya remained unworn and in the possession of the Galadhrim, it would be nigh impossible to break the protective spells that were woven about the heart of Lórien. The Dark Lord feared that He would be forced to journey to the Golden Wood Himself and use the power of the One Ring to unmake all that Galadriel had wrought using the potent combination of her own native strength and the defensive powers of Nenya. Otherwise, it was theoretically possible that Lórien could continue existing in perpetuity, even after all other lands had fallen under His rule. An eternal machine, set into perpetual motion, defying the laws of the universe… He wondered if Celebrimbor were laughing at Him from the Halls of Mandos. “Even beyond the grave, My former student continues to defy Me,” Sauron fumed to Himself.

Musings Which Led To This Story:

Further Thoughts on Galadriel, Sauron, and Nenya

Galadriel vs. Sauron and the Fate of Lorien

The Ring is On Sauron’s Finger; What Happens Next?

My Galadriel fanart because i really love her armor in Rings of Power

It’s so frustraiting to  after spendinng all my teenage years seeing those increadible Silmarillion fanarts, ilustrations, edits and meta takes on EVERY ASPECT OF THE BOOK, made by students and people in their free time for FREE just so now the biggest and the most opressive company in the world with the biggest budget in tv history could produce the most luke worm visuals. It’s heart wrenching.