Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power may be missing a golden opportunity to build a great character arc for Middle-earth’s future fallen king.
Fans of The Lord of the Rings watching Amazon’s Rings of Power know the huge part Isildur will play in the fate of Middle-earth. Audience members not as familiar with the books know him from the prologue in director Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring. The misguided son of the king who defeats the Dark Lord Sauron and who, when given the chance to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, claims it for himself. He’s not exactly known for his stellar moral decisions, even in events prior to the War of the Ring. Author J.R.R. Tolkien outlined much of Isildur’s history in supplemental materials he wrote for his epic saga.
Even though much of Isildur’s history is known by avid readers, this is the first time Tolkienites have been given the chance to see it play out on screen. However, unlike the writers of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings series — who chose to give some characters arcs not necessarily on the page to create more dynamic heroes — Amazon’s Isildur lacks development. It’s almost reminiscent of another origin story that fell flat: Darth Vader in Star Wars. When given the chance to showcase the rise of his infamous villain, director George Lucas left many Star Wars enthusiasts scratching their heads — and Isildur may be suffering the same fate.
Isildur Lacks Clear Motivation in Rings of Power
The correlation between Anakin Skywalker and Isildur isn’t too far-fetched. Both are headstrong in their youth and rise to become villains in their own stories. And both characters, for a long period of time, had backstories shrouded in some degree of mystery on-screen. Unfortunately, they seem to suffer from a surprising lack of depth in their character development. It’s no secret that since the release of the prequels, Lucas has received criticism for rushing Anakin’s turn to the dark side. The tragic death of his mother, Shmi Skywalker, in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones seemed like a quick way to hurry his descent along.
Even though Rings of Power seems to be setting up Isildur as a hero in Middle-earth’s Second Age, he lacks likability and clear motivation. His rebellion against his father, Elendil, is devoid of reason. He’s influenced by outside circumstances — such as a voice he hears when at sea — but audiences aren’t given a sense of what drives him internally. There’s no moment where his inner monologue is depicted and overarching desires are expressed. And while it’s common in real life for people of Isildur’s age to be aimless, fictional characters require purpose and logic to their actions. He seems as though he’d fall flat without the plot driving him to his next move.
Tolkien’s Characters Have Received Updated Arcs Before to Great Effect
The argument could be made that in Tolkien’s outlining of Isildur’s personal history, he’s not an ideal leader or of noble character like his father. Still, screenwriter Phillipa Boyens, and even Jackson himself, admit to changing the path of certain characters in the Lord of the Rings films for specific storytelling purposes. Faramir struggles with the possibility of taking the One Ring from Frodo to gain favor with his father Denethor, Steward of Gondor. And Aragon experiences a greater struggle against accepting his place as King of Gondor for fear of falling prey to his bloodline’s weaknesses for power (as Isildur’s direct descendent). Their reasoning was that these characters needed to have conflict, struggles, and an arc to be grounded more in humanity.
While fans may have accepted that Rings of Power’s timeline isn’t precise when it comes to Isildur’s appearance in Tolkien’s timeline, Amazon seems to be missing a golden opportunity to build a great arc for the future king. Starting him out as a reckless young adult doesn’t exactly give him anywhere to fall from. This might be an opportunity to take a page from Jackson’s crew, learn from Lucas’ mistakes, and find this future villain’s humanity so his eventual turn is that much more impactful.
