Rings of Power Kills the Original Girl-Boss & Makes No Sense
The primary struggles of the show are random and unexplained.
Is it possible to reconcile Amazon’s new Rings of Power television show with the vision of J.R.R. Tolkien himself, the J.R.R. Tolkien who actually saw World War One? No it is not.
Somehow, the people in charge of the new Rings of Power show on Amazon are not able to even make a coherent show.
In Season 1, Sauron stabs his former servant Adar in the hand, but in Season 2, Adar does not recognize Sauron when Sauron comes before him as a prisoner requesting permission to go spy on the elves and Sauron’s involvement with them! (The Critical Drinker points out this inconsistency.)
This inconsistency leads way into the two primary problems with the entire series (1) the reason why the elves need to leave Middle Earth, as represented by their trees’ leaves going yellow with infected black oozing veins, and (2) providing a compelling reason for the high-human island kingdom Númenoreans’ quest in Middle Earth.
The show really does almost nothing to explain why events are happening.
Primary Struggles Completely Unexplained
The show does nothing to explain why the elves’ trees are dying, nor why the elves feel that this event requires them all to leave Middle Earth for the Undying Lands immediately. True, in Tolkien’s legendarium the elves are all supposed to leave Middle Earth; however, in his legendarium, many choose not to and face no punishment or unusual hardships (like their trees dying) as a result of their choices to stay. Tolkien’s legendarium has no trees dying en masse and driving the elves out.