Amazon Prime’s controversial fantasy series is one of the most epic shows on TV. Following Game of Thrones’ ending in 2019, practically every streaming service sought some sort of fantasy media to adapt into an epic TV series.
The Rings Of Power Is Divisive – But It’s Undoubtedly Epic
Listen, I understand that audiences have a wide range of feelings about The Rings of Power, and I resonate with a lot of them. It’s not the best show on TV, but it’s also far from the worst. What’s undoubtedly true, no matter what way one looks at it, is that there’s no show on TV dealing with this scope of material and premise.
Much like The Lord of the Rings, the Amazon prequel series is centered around a time when the rising power of Sauron forces the entirety of Middle-earth to respond to an existential threat. This show covers thousands of years of Tolkien’s history, managing to condense them as best as possible.
As expected from the most expensive TV series of all time, The Rings of Power’s production value is immense. Season 2 had one of the only fantasy battles I’ve seen on TV to rival what we’ve seen in Game of Thrones or the Lord of the Rings films, and there are plenty more to come.
Battles aside, the visuals in The Rings of Power are immense. The show boasts vibrant, expansive shots that live up to one’s imagination from reading The Silmarillion or Tolkien’s other Middle-earth texts.
Another aspect that adds to the show’s scope is the phenomenal soundtrack by Bear McCreary. If you’re a fan of movie soundtracks like I am, you probably love the Lord of the Rings music by Howard Shore. McCreary’s music is a worthy successor that perfectly captures the grand, magical scale of Tolkien’s Second Age of Middle-earth.
Middle-earth’s Second Age Is Even More Epic Than The Lord Of The Rings
The Lord of the Rings is not only Tolkien’s magnum opus, it’s one of the greatest stories ever told. That said, in terms of scale, the Second Age strikes the perfect balance of the magical, fantastical world of the First Age and the massive, wide-scale historical fiction-like mortal conflicts of the Third Age.
The conflict of Númenor is perhaps the greatest example of what this era has to offer: humankind reckoning with its mortality in a world inhabited by Elves, and a beautiful demonstration of how pride and corruption lead to horrifying crises. The Rings of Power has some jaw-dropping events on its horizon.
