Why people hate The Rings Of Power | Watching as a Writer

The writing on this show suffers from the same problem that many modern movies and shows have. For some reason the writers believe that in order to make particular characters look strong, the other characters around them need to look weak and incompetent. They incorrectly believe that if other characters are also strong it will diminish the one they are trying to highlight. It is a trait of unhealthy, insecure thinking. That's why no one believes these characters to be strong. Because the writers themselves don't understand how to exemplify strength in their writing. Only insecurity and weakness and, in the end the character only comes across as insufferable and arrogant.

I think another problem is the very literal lack of love between characters. By the end of Fellowship, you could see real love and camaraderie between characters. And it was earned by shared experience.

It almost feels like the writers/show runners weren’t big fans of the material and treated it like a school paper they were assigned in high school.

An analogy I thought of based on how they treat their creations: Lord of the Rings - a person, clothing, a place Rings of Power - a character, a costume, a setting

The writers have already stated that they saw Tolkien's works as "problematic" according to their ideologies, and that it was their job to "fix" it

All the main characters seem to be promoted by making others around them super incompetent. Propping one person up only by putting others down is the narcissist's way, i.e, the way of no love. Great analysis, I think you are spot on.

Denis Villeneuve stated in interviews how much he loved the Dune books since he was a teenager and that kinda manifests in his magnificent adaptation of Dune. Kinda a similar situation with Peter Jackson and Lotr who had absolute passion for that project. I think this is absolutely necessary for a faithful and succesful adaptation of beloved source material.

Great analysis on Arondir and his superior at that scene. Do you know what's worse? This scene breaks so much things the writers were trying to establish. The orcs can't stand the sun, so Arondir brings down the tent. But when the guy escapes, he is shot because there are orcs out there in the sun anyways. And soon after that, when Theo was hiding in the well, the orc that first finds him just walks into the sun without any cover whatsoever. Then in later episodes Arondir grabs an arrow in the middle of its trajectory with not much difficulty. But his superior, even seeing the orc archers right in front of him, just gets shot, why didn't he show some sign of agility too? Then when Arondir ,Brownyn and Theo escapes the orcs, the orcs don't dare to go into the sun to keep chasing them, despite various previous scenes that I mentioned of orcs being just fine in the sun anyways...

The consequences of checking boxes and hiring incompetent writers, directors and production staff is what is driving cinema into the ground. The whole look and feel of Rings is totally off.

From what little that I could stomach to see this series looks like a billion dollar production, with a soap opera script and soap opera acting. Funny, how Peter Jackson's movies were not record breaking in expense, and still look amazing, and had superior acting and fantastic character development.

"THE ELFS ARE GONNA STEAL YER JOBS!!!" this is Rings of Power, nothing else needs to be said

Viggo Mortensen actually brought his sword everywhere he went during their taping of LOTR in New Zealand. He even brought it with him during lunch break to the dentist after he broke his teeth during a swordfight scene. (Lord of the Rings Commentary)

I distinctly remember the rope-holding scene on the raft. After a few moments of Galadriel doing absolutely nothing with the rope, it became such a strange, glaring issue that I was distracted by it. Your solution of having her tie a boating knot is such a simple fix that it's wild.

We also fall short of love for the most important character introduced in this series so far...Namely Galadriel. Nearly every scene has her angry and demanding with no charm or kindness. She behaves like a spoiled teenager even though she is over 1000 years old at the time of these tales. It is hard to empathize with her or care about her mission?

I think you nailed it. The creators of the original trilogy gave them selves severe anxiety worrying that what they created would be worthy, and you can literally see, feel, and hear the love that went into everything.

Elvish medicine was only considered for Halbrand,the perceived noble. Not the commoners in the hospital tent. I think Tolkien’s Galadriel would’ve shown more love to Mankind since she was a seer and knew that men were the future. That’s why she was aiding them to begin with.

You bring up a great point about not seeing the trees for the forest ROP is a story designed top-down by an enormous company and it really shows. Each plot point is approved by committee and needs to hit whatever goals that the showrunners or Amazon sets. Everything is grand and sweeping (like the social issues the showrunners care about) and so the individual characters get lost. Tolkein's original stories were all written by one guy who had strong feelings about industrialization and its effects on the quiet countryside that he loved Amazon has no such love--it only exists to profit. Its showrunners are motivated primarily by anger and it shows; most important in their work is updating what they consider "problematic" classics to fit their dogma. There's no love in their work, only anger for past grievances, anger at large-scale social issues, and disgust for people who are not on their "side". The result is a cynical, contemptuous, and vindictive story told by one of the largest companies on Earth against the will of the audience.

"Feeling the need to show their intellectual superiority" is exactly the kind of inferiority complex the writers are suffering from. Amazon fired Tom Shippey, one of the very few surviving Tolkien scholars immediately after Christopher Tolkien passed away in 2020. And instead, hired a bunch of C-list writers who were let go from Star Trek Discovery (a bad reboot) . And then they came up with the insane idea of having to redefine Tolkien because he didn't understand the modern world (literally the one thing he never wanted to happen to his work: project modern day politics and social issues on his story).

"No, they eat and drink, Sam. The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don't think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them; and if they are to live at all, they have to live like other living creatures." - Tolkien

The most baffling thing for me ia how only the bad characters have a really noble purpose. Sauron trying to mend his errors amd Adar looking for a home for his children. Galadriel acts moved by petty vengeance and the elves and dwarves by petty polotics and that Mithril plot abomination.