Some thoughts on the newly released images of Amazon's "The Rings of Power"
After the recently released covers for Empire Magazine, we know also have images from the article in HD – and I have want to briefly write a few thoughts about them. There is good and bad in these images, but for me the overall tendency is still negative.
But let's go into details, and start with the Harfoots:
Compared to the Hobbits in the Shire, these images indeed give the impression of a society from an earlier time in their development, and a more simplly structured society. The Harfoots aren't supposed to be the Hobbits from the Shire, and the images show that. In that regard they look fine. From a design point of view my main issue is are the leaves in people's hair, and Sadoc's hair looks ridiculous.
Content-wise it's more difficult. I love Tolkien's Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but I have no interest in the Harfoots, especially not in the Second Age. Maybe the show will make me care about one of these characters eventually, but so far these images don't spark the tiniest interest.
In addition to the other four images with Harfoots, a fifth was included and it's just too much. I'll happily that the design of these lamps is beautiful, and the lightning could be nice with the sun shining through the trees – but it's already a bit too yellow, and the character designer here just looks weird. It already feels like a scene that you'd skip in a hypothetical rewatch.
Then there is the human Halbrand:
Just like the first time we saw him, it's remarkable how I just feel nothing about him when I see this image. The only thing I noticed once again that his clothes seem weird; this time it's because there seem several suns printed on his shirt, and they don't seem to be drawn (too similar and symmetrical). That feels off, but maybe that's just me.
This image has good lightning as well, and it looks kinda cool because Ismael Cruz Córdova looks cool. However, the character design itself still baffles me – the short hair on Elves won't ever agree with me and I would have loved to see how cool this shot would have been if Arondir would've had long hair.
In addition, the more I look at the clothes the more I get a kind of Roman style from them that I'll discuss further below, and that's not a style choice for the Elves I appreciate.
In the image with Arondir, Bronwyn and Theo (I assume), and while Nazanin Boniadi is a beautiful woman the character design doesn't do anything for me either. As for Theo – it's an unlucky still for him, the facial expression just makes him look kind of goofy. I wonder what made them pic this still.
Now we get to some characters that are actually know from Tolkien's writings. Let's start with the two characters that disappointed me the most in terms of character design – Elrond and Gelebrimbor:
Elrond's character design had already been released before, so it's not much of a surprise. However, the image strengthened my belief that I just can't get used to the character design. For Celebrimbor I feared the worst, and unfortunately these fears were confirmed.
Neither Elrond nor Celebrimbor look anything like I imagined these characters to look, and based on the reactions I have seen many fans share the sentiment.
Both with unusual short hair, and Elrond seems too young while Celebrimbor is too old. Elves are supposed to look ageless, and after a little while you won't see much difference between them anymore. Peter Jackson's movies did that right: Legolas and his father Thranduil basically look the same, age-wise. The same goes for Arwen and her grandmother Galadriel.
Not so this show: for someone being at least about a thousand years old (as confirmed by the Empire Magazine article), Elrond looks way too young – something caused by the weirdly modern character design because the actor would otherwise have the right age. Celebrimbor on the other hand looks older than any ageless Elf should look, and nothing about him resembles even closely the image of a famous smith and craftsman.
Both character designs lack the inherent beauty that the Elves should have in general. There may be a statement in this somewhere about beauty, but if the show's creators don't want to depict Elves as beautiful, maybe they should have picked a different series altogether. This beauty is simply a prominent feature of the Elves when compared to Mankind.
To summarize my rant: Elrond and Celebrimbor are two very important characters in the history of Middle-earth, and in my eyes the show butchered their casting and character designs completely.
So, what about Gil-galad?
Oh, where to begin? Many fans seem happy about this character design. Unfortunately, I'm not.
It starts with all the gold: Gil-galad is famously associated with silver as his heraldic device shows silver stars on blue. Then there is the golden wreath: the wreath itself looks crude and lacks any Elvish elegance or finesse, and reminds me way too much of Caesar. It also looks uninspired and makes me miss Thranduil's leaf crown from Peter Jackson's The Hobbit.
Truth to be told: I'm not happy about the casting either. In this image, I don't see the last High King of the Noldor, I rather see a friendly but naive neighbor questioning his Caesar cosplay in the mirror.
"Also different is Gil-Galad, the last High King Of The Ñoldor in later years, slightly less sure on his feet as this less-seasoned Second Age ruler."
What later years? Gil-galad has had the time to be High King of the Ñoldor for at least thousand years, and he has lived through the First Age. With Elendil already in the picture at this time, there aren't many more seasons he'll get!
Another still with beautiful lightning – however, the details are once again frustrating. The weird golden wreaths are repeated here, and especially with the short haired Elves this looks even more like a meeting of Caesar cosplayers now. Then there is the dumb idea to dress these characters in long wide robes with even longer capes, only to add plate armour on top of it. What are they supposed to do like this? At best this is purely ceremonial, because this is neither pleasent to wear nor is it practical to fight in. I can't stop scratching my head because it doesn't make any sense to me.
In this image now, I like the atmosphere. The forst with the golden lamps, it looks beautiful. I just wish we could edit out the characters in it, because it reminds me once again how disappointing the character designs of Elrond and Celebrimbor turned out to be, and how Benjamin Walker doesn't seem kingly to me at all in what we have seen so far. In addition: why are some of the female Elves in the corners veiled?
To end on a positive note: you can hardly go wrong with landscape stills.
In summary: most of the character designs are disappointing for me, and the majority of the actors seem miscast so far. This is not to slight the actors – I'm sure they are good actors and will do their best, but I based on what I've seen so far I don't think they fit Tolkien's characters as I imagine them. Of course everyone will have their own version in their heads, but I think from what we see they don't seem to fit what little we have of the characters' descriptions from Tolkien, either.
Overall, the style and the atmosphere just don't feel like Middle-earth so far. They made the point often enough: they don't want to copy the movies in order to avoid being compared to them. Well, they are still being compared with them – simply because the movies, in a way, managed to capture a feeling that felt like the world Tolkien was describing in his work, while the Amazon series tries to update the show with modern looks, fantasy-atypical elements and and overall to strong emphasis on look-we-are-doing-our-own-thing.
Bringing new ideas to the table is fine. However, subverting so many expecations in such a huge way may not be a good strategy. Game of Thrones had to learn that about their series final season plot. Maybe Amazon's The Rings of Power has to learn this about the series' design – but based on their interviews it's doubtful they ever listened.
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