AsThe Rings of Powernears the final two episodes of its first season, its climax has started to heat up. Now, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have discussed how they have attempted to keep relevant plot beats true to Tolkien’s philosophy.
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerhas been making waves on Amazon with its additions to Tolkien’s lore. Fans have been exposed to a side of Middle Earth they’ve never seen on screen before, and this came to a head withRings of Powerepisode 6’s surprise ending, in which Mt. Doom erupts and turns the Southlands into what will come to be known as Mordor. In an instant, the show transformed one of its settings into one of the most iconic locations from Tolkien’s tales.
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In a recent interview withThe Hollywood Reporter, Payne and McKay expressed a desire to tie any twists in the story into Tolkien’s own themed and philosophies. Tolkien, as many fans know, was a staunch environmentalist and traditionalist, and his writings reflect a world marred by industrialization due to Man’s desire to change the landscape for his own benefit.In Tolkien’s Middle Earth, the world is constantly falling into a lesser state due to this tendency. Originally a nigh-on paradise, Arda (the name of Tolkien’s planet) faces numerous challenges that utterly transform it with each passing Age.
“A huge theme in Tolkien is the environmentalism and the way machines and industrializations destroys the land. We wanted that to be central and core all the time. It’s a thing that comes up again and again throughout the show," McKay said. “So in the writers room, we asked: What if Mordor was beautiful? All bucolic like Switzerland. And then what could happen that could transform it? We talked about the poisoning of the land — which starts in the first episode with the cow. Then you find out about the tunnels being dug and sulfur is going up into the air.” McKay added, “It all builds toward this geologically realistic way of igniting the mountain, which now blacks out the sky for a very practical reason — Adar, our villain, sees the Orcs as his people and they deserve a home where the sun doesn’t torment them. We’re hoping it will take people by surprise.”
McKay and Payne’s insistence on adhering to Tolkien’s themes is hugely important. Adaptations change so many elements of the story for the sake of the medium because what works in book form may not necessarily translate well to television or film, and vice versa. But by keepingthe themes in Tolkien’s bookson hand and respecting them as best they can, the showrunners ofThe Rings of Powercan keep their show as true to Tolkien as possible.
There has been some controversy about thechanges brought byThe Rings of Power. Some of that controversy is, unfortunately, racially motivated (the production chose to cast non-white actors and actresses in key roles). Tolkien fans have notoriously been reluctant to see any changes to the source material; like Tolkien himself, there is very much a vein of traditionalism within the fandom. The series has existed for nearly a hundred years now, so its fanbase is incredibly well-established.
The Rings of Powerairs a new episode every Friday on Amazon Prime.
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