The Rings of Power Writer Explains Why They Changed Lord of the Rings Canon to Forge the Three Rings
Amazon Prime Video recently wrapped up the first season of the epic The Lord of the Rings series The Rings of Power, and it was pretty eventful. The Rings of Power showed us a time before Frodo and Bilbo Bagins with us finding out more of what led to what happened in The Lord of the Rings. During the season finale, we saw Halbrand teaching the elves how to forge different materials together. But as it turns out, he was actually Sauron, and it was a farce to get them to create three rings. In The Lord of the Rings books, Tolkien wrote that the elven rings were created last, and the series opts to ignore that to better fit their story. During a new interview with Inverse, writer Gennifer Hutchison revealed why they changed this detail.
"So much of the season was about the elves and their journey, and Galadriel's journey, and the fading [of Eregion]," Hutchison revealed. "So, we wanted to tie those rings into that story. It was about narrowing our focus down on them and having those rings cap off the season. Because we had to make rings. It felt like the climax of that arc, as opposed to trying to manage the timeline in a different way."
The Rings of Power is ahead of its epic fantasy rival House of the Dragon in Nielsen's ratings. The most recent episode of The Rings of Power left fans in shock after revealing the origin of an iconic Middle-earth location. The series co-showrunner reflected on the series' direction ahead of the first season finale.
"A huge theme in Tolkien is the environmentalism and the way machines and industrializations destroys the land," McKay told The Hollywood Reporter. "We wanted that to be central and core all the time. It's a thing that comes up again and again throughout the show. 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. 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."
Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne developed The Rings of Power for Prime Video, inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and set in the Second Age of the world of Middle-earth. The show's cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Daniel Weyman, and Sara Zwangobani.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is exclusively streaming on Prime Video.
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