One Show To Rule Them All
The Lord of the Rings films are my favorite films of all time. On the eve (well a few months away actually) of the 20th anniversary of the release of the Fellowship of the Ring, I am more excited about the potential Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series than ever before. If done correctly, it could be one of the greatest tv shows to have ever been created.
Though I doubt the series keeps the title “Lord of the Rings” once it is released, the story takes place in the same Middle Earth we know from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies. If you have read J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Simarillion, then you probably know how the series will go down, at least the big picture of the show.
Warning: Heavy Nerd Stuff Ahead
A key indicator of what will happen in the series is a map posted by the official Lord of the Rings on Prime Twitter account. To the bottom left you’ll see a little island named Elenna, home to the kingdom of Numenor. In Tolkien’s mythology, the kingdom Numenor was one of the most powerful kingdoms of the Second Age. Sauron (the big baddy from the Lord of the Rings) was captured by the king of Numenor but eventually worked his way into the favor of said king.
How did Sauron do this you might ask? Well, the men of Numenor were mortal. They could live hundreds of years, but eventually would die, unlike the Elves who could age but would not die of age. The people of Numenor became resentful of the Valar (basically the gods of Middle Earth) because they thought the Valar were withholding the gift of immortality. Sauron convinced Numenor to rebel against the Valar and sail West to attack them. To make a long story short, Iluvatar (the “big g” God of this world) helped destroy the Numenor army, sunk the island of Elenna below the sea, and cause such a cataclysmic event that the world itself changed from a flat world to a round one.
However, some men remained faithful to the Valar and set sail eastward to Middle Earth, founding the kingdoms of Anor and Gondor. One of these survivors was Elendil, who we see killed at the hands of Sauron in the opening to the Fellowship of the Ring. It is Elendil’s son Isildur who cuts the Ring from Sauron’s hand, and Aragorn eventually wields Elendil’s sword to reclaim the throne of Gondor and establish himself as king.
Set Up For Greatness
Alright, now that the heavy nerd stuff is out of the way, let’s talk business. If you cannot tell, I am extremely excited about this show. I briefly (and probably poorly, but you get the picture) explained hundreds of years of history that the show can cover. Tolkien created such a beautiful world and took such care with every little detail. No wonder this was his life project and the life project of his sons.
For the show to be great, all it needs to do is follow the source material. Easier said than done right? Yes, but have faith. Amazon is spending a billion dollars on this thing and many of the people that worked on the LOTR trilogy are returning. They’re taking their time making the show and I am totally cool with that.
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series can become legendary. Game of Thrones could have held that mantle, and did until the extremely disappointing ending. There will have to be a lot of filling in, but again I have faith in the people working on the series. This show can become the GOAT and set a new standard for television and I absolutely cannot wait.
