Since the first teaser with a real lava forge was announced last January, it was already made clear that the series was going to be something rarely seen. This Friday has finally arrived the most anticipated day for fans of the Lord of the Rings universe. Those who have followed the legacy of JRR Tolkien, from books to movies, finally have the format that could not be missing in the middle of the streaming era: the series The Rings of Power. The production, of eight one-hour episodes, is a milestone in the audiovisual industry. It has nothing less than the direction of Juan Antonio Bayona in its first two chapters and a budget that is breathtaking: according to Variety, it amounts to 470 million euros. That without taking into account that Amazon Prime already paid for the rights to the saga in 2017, 500 million euros. The Wall Street Journal estimates that the total cost of producing these first eight episodes of the first season would be around 714 million euros, counting marketing and advertising. However, this amount is not that much for Amazon considering that the total sum of the expenses would represent 0.15% of the giant’s total earnings in 2021. The series has come to revolutionize the audiovisual landscape and compete directly with The House of the Dragon, which arrived on HBO on August 21. In fact, there are many comparisons that have been made between both productions and in most of them they point out that the series set in Poniente is amateurish compared to the one in Bayonne. “It is so amazing that it makes The House of the Dragon look like an amateur series, designed in Minecraft,” they highlight in The Guardian. In Variety they pointed out that “it ends up being a series made more for family viewing than the violent House of the Dragon. As it progresses, the series breaks away from literal translation from page to screen, transforming into something new.” Fans of the series, who have had mixed feelings about how the Tolkien universe has been translated into a more inclusive production and with more racial representation, they will find themselves with a history prior to the universe of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Specifically in the Second Age of the Sun, of the four ages that make up this imaginary, in which Sauron resurfaces until he is defeated and loses the unique ring. According to the official synopsis, this series “will take viewers to a time when Great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were put to the test, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain ever to come from Tolkien’s pen threatened. with covering the whole world in darkness.” The protagonists of the series, both new and old, initially live in a time of relative peace after which they will face the “reappearance of evil in Middle-earth”. In what era does it take place and what characters appearDespite the fact that JRR Tolkien established that this Second Age lasted thousands of years and there were key events such as the forging of the Rings of Power or the fall of Númenor, in the series the time lapses are shortened .In this time, as related in the Fellowship of the Ring, the rings of power were forged and distributed: three to the elves, seven to the dwarves and nine to the men. Hence, the plot deals with how they were created and what each of the races did with the rings, as well as Sauron’s manipulations of men. The series, however, is not based on any specific book by Tolkien, but on the Second Age notes created by the writer and in the Silmarillion, the collection of stories published by his son Christopher. Although other media such as Hobby Consoles point out that the key work to understand the plot of the series will be The Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, also known as The Lost Tales. Robert Aramayo as Elrond in ‘The Rings of Power’. Between the characters, in the first chapter the elves take on a special role, with Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) at the head, although with a very different profile from that of the film saga. Elrond is not yet the lord of Rivendell nor is Galadriel the lady of the woods from the Peter Jackson movies. In addition to them, Gil-Galad (Benjamin Walker), Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) and a new character, Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), a Silvan elf exiled to the Southlands to control that its inhabitants are not attracted by the dwarfs will also be seen such as Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete) – already famous due to criticism prior to the premiere for being black and the first dwarf woman -, a totally new character in the Tolkien universe or Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur ), mentioned briefly in the author’s writings. Of course, neither Sam nor Frodo will be present in this series, since hobbits did not even exist, but the furry ones did. Among the characters of this race, with darker skin and hairier feet than hobbits, the curious Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards) stand out. Nori is one of the strongest protagonists in the production and will channel more plots due to her search for curiosity. A Middle-earth free of racism The series has been marred by criticism from a certain sector of fans before the introduction of racialized characters such as princess Disa or the elf Arondir, among many others. According to Tolkien’s writings, this universe was based on European mythology and the elves were Caucasian, but there are theories for all tastes and the series has been adapted to the current audiovisual landscape, in which racial representation is much more balanced. executive producer has already settled the racial controversy indicating in an interview with Vanity Fair that it was a natural solution bringing the universe closer to all fans. “It seemed natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien’s work would reflect what the world is really like. Tolkien is for EVERYONE. Their stories are about fictional races that come out at their best when they leave behind the isolation of their own cultures and come together,” he stated.Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir in ‘The Rings of Power’.Professor Corey Olsen, Tolkien expert, responded in a thread on Twitter to some of the racist criticism that the first trailer for the series received. “Because you base your argument on Tolkien’s explicit desire to make a mythology for England. Not for whites; for England. The issue of skin color is simply not central to that vision. If you’re interested in that, you should care more about the nation than skin color,” he noted. But more importantly, your application is a significant misunderstanding of his “mythology for England” idea. He was not trying to build some kind of exclusivist, Aryan mythology. His stories of him sprouted from the North, but they “grew in the telling.” — Tolkien Professor (@tolkienprof) March 12, 2022 “But more importantly, your application is a major misunderstanding of his idea of ’mythology for England’ . He wasn’t trying to construct some kind of exclusive Aryan mythology. His stories sprung from the North, but ‘went wider in the narrative,’ he explained, making it clear that his main influences may have been Caucasian and European, but there were others. which he flatly rejected. His mythology had its roots in the land of northwestern Europe, as he says, but it did not explain or promote a racial group, in the style of Hitler,” added the specialist. Precisely this point has been the subject of study on several occasions, since Tolkien’s iconography has been appropriated by Nazi groups. In a report published by Esquire, the letters sent to the author by the Nazi government trying to obtain his Aryan origin are reviewed and it is seen that in all of them he refuses to give an answer. It also adds that the author denied a hierarchical racial structure, but that the distribution of classes – elves as the superior race and orcs as the inferior, responded to a medieval and class structure. Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete) in ‘The rings of power ‘.In a 1966 interview with The Telegraph, Tolkien replied that Middle-earth was not closely related to the Norse world, much as it had been inspired by it: ”No Norse, please! It is a word that I personally do not like; It is associated… with racist theories.” Empowered women and protagonists Another point that has struck the most chauvinistic followers of Tolkien is that in this series the female characters are much more powerful than in the movies, where they serve as support for the brave fighters or as mere muses. In the first two chapters of the series you can see two clear protagonists who leave these stereotypes: Galadriel and Nori. The first is one of the people who is able to see that Sauron’s evil lurks and who is willing to look for it and fight against it, facing the paternalism and disappointment of the rest of the elves. For her part, Nori is a curious teenager similar to the Arya Stark from Game of Thrones who, thanks to her innocence and curiosity, will unravel unknowns, especially those related to The Stranger, whose identity is unknown, but for whom there are already numerous theories ranging from Sauron to Gandalf. Princess Disa She also takes on a special role, beyond being the wife of Prince Durin IV. She is a mother and has certain powers of nature that are still unknown. “She is the keeper of many secrets, many superpowers and I am deeply excited to bring her to life,” said actress Sophia Nomvete in an interview published on IGN. Nori (Markella Kavenagh) in ‘The Rings of Power’. The female presence also comes to the orcs. She will be orcas, something that Tolkien already dropped in his letters. “There must have been female orcs, but orcs are rarely seen in stories, other than as soldiers in armies serving evil lords. Naturally we would not know much about their lives, “he detailed in one of them. The producers of the series anticipate that it will be precisely one of them that will have a special role. “There are some female orcas that I really loved. But there is one orca in particular, who is very, very tall and strong, who has a particularly nice fight with one of our elven characters that I suspect will be, or hope will be, a fan favorite,” said Jamie Wilson. , head of the production’s prosthetic makeup department, and Lindsey Weber, executive producer at IGN. If the bases of the Tolkien universe are more or less taken into account, the series aims to be a success among fans (and not so much) of the Lord of the Rings saga or, at least, it will set a precedent in terms of production and audiovisual budget rarely seen until now. ‘The Lord of the Rings’, in LEGO partsSee the galleryYOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN