The Lord of the Rings experts Jonathan Watson and his co-host Michael of TheOneRing.com roasted the season 2 trailer for Prime Video’s The Rings of Power.
Watson begins the roast by bringing up the show’s new poster of Sauron. He comments, “This is Charlie Vickers as the elf now. They’re Clark Kenting him into somebody the Elves will never recognize. He has Halbrand’s face, probably his voice, but nobody’s going to know who he really is.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 poster
Michael then adds fuel to the fire, “There’s no doubt that he’s going to have his voice, right? Because they’re not going to change his voice. … We’re meant to believe that the Elves are going to be fooled by a guy who looks exactly like Charlie Vickers with a wig and pointed ears and sounds like Charlie Vickers. But apparently, none of the Elves including the High King, or Galadriel, or Celebrimbor can figure out that this is the same guy. It’s so insulting and stupid and obviously Hollywood.”
He continued, “This is my major take over all this is. As you mentioned, they backed themselves into a narrative corner and the corner they back themselves into is one of inherent unbelievability. So there’s so many elements about Middle-earth that The Rings of Power has reimagined that it’s an inherently unbelievable world. It would fail every test that Tolkien gave in his “On Fairy Stories” for what would make a Secondary World real.”
Later in the video, Watson would discuss how The Rings of Power’s Sauron is completely different from the one written by J.R.R. Tolkien, “What Tolkien wrote was Annatar was an emissary of the Valar. There was no Halbrand. There was no relationship with Galadriel that they had to establish.”
He then quotes Unfinished Tales, “In Eregion Sauron posed as an emissary of the Valar sent by them to Middle-earth (thus anticipating the Istari) or ordered by them to remain there to give aid to the Elves. He perceived at once that Galadriel would be his chief adversary and obstacle and he endeavored therefore to placate her, bearing her scorn with outward patience and courtesy. [No explanation is offered in this rapid outline of why Galadriel scorned Sauron, unless she saw through his disguise, or of why, if she did perceive his true nature, she permitted him to remain in Eregion.] Sauron used all his arts upon Celebrimbor and his fellow-smiths who had formed a society or brotherhood, very powerful in Eregion, the Gwaith-i-Mírdain; but he worked in secret, unknown to Galadriel and Celeborn.”
Watson continued the quote, “Before long Sauron had the Gwaith-i-Mírdain under his influence, for at first they had great profit from his instruction in secret matters of their craft. So great became his hold on the Mírdain that at length he persuaded them to revolt against Galadriel and Celeborn and to seize power in Eregion; and that was at some time between 1350 and 1400 of the Second Age. Galadriel thereupon left Eregion and passed through Khazad-dûm to Lórinand, taking with her Amroth and Celebrían; but Celeborn would not enter the mansions of the Dwarves, and he remained behind in Eregion, disregarded by Celebrimbor. In Lórinand Galadriel took up rule, and defence against Sauron.”
An orc in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
Watson then notes, “So Galadriel isn’t an adversary in the sense like she’s going to take a sword to him. She was never his lover. She was never anything, but the most perceptive Elf in Middle-earth at the time to know that he is not an emissary of the Valar. In fact, I don’t believe Tolkien ever writes that he looks like an Elf. He’s just an emissary of the Valar. Because she came from Valinor she doesn’t trust him. Because this is now what she would expect the Valar to do: just send this other guy. And there’s nothing about him that says to her, ‘Oh, he’s an emissary of the Valar.”
“So, now they’re kind of changing it to make him an Elf, a magic Elf, who knows how to craft mithril,” Watson added.
Still later in their video, Watson reiterated Michael’s previous points about The Rings of Power backing themselves into a narrative corner of unbelievability, “This is the corner they’ve backed themselves into by having Halbrand first. They put us in this place where we have to disbelieve, where has to put on the rimmed glasses that Clark Kent puts on. We’re allowed to have that disbelief in Superman because that’s the way it’s been. But he’s not Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne at the same time. He’s not Halbrand and he’s Annatar now. So now we get this double disbelief.”
A scene from The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 trailer (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
After this discussion on Sauron and Annatar, they briefly discussed the giant sea creature that is shown in the trailer and speculated it is the Watcher in the Water that lives in the lake created by the damming of Siarnnon river outside the walls of Moria. The creature attacked the Fellowship in The Fellowship of the Ring after Boromir threw a stone into the lake.
Next, they looked at the scene where a bridge is attacked and explodes, Michael comments, “This is Hollywood architecture. Apparently, the Dwarves make everything out of Styrofoam because as soon as a boulder comes down then everything explodes into tiny little pieces like it’s made of [Styrofoam].
A scene from The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 trailer (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
From there, they moved to a number of shots of the Rings of Power. They specifically mocked Gil-galad’s Rings of Power, “The three Rings don’t look quite as stupid because you can’t tell that they’re just uncut gems sitton on top of a band, but I love how Gil-galad has got his bling protection on where he’s like just in case I get robbed, I’m gonna put a larger ring right next to the real ring.”
Watson interjected, “He’s taking the Halbrand approach and confusing them by not letting them know which ring it really it is. It’s hiding in plain sight.” Michael added, “Which one is it? Which one is the Ring of Power? I’ve got four to choose from.”
A scene from The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 trailer (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
As they moved to a shot of Durin III holding one of the rings, Watson said, “There it is. There’s the uncut gem on top of the Dwarven ring because nothing is more beautiful than candy rock on top of your golden Dwarven ring.”
Michael added, “They’re Ring Pops. That’s what I’m gonna start calling them. They’re Ring Pops.”
Peter Mullan as Durin III in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
Next, they moved on to a scene that shows Ar-Pharazôn standing in front of a giant eagle in Númenor. Watson began, “First, let me say, I don’t believe there’s anything Tolkien ever wrote that the Eagles ever went to Númenor.”
Michael added, “Eagles went to Númenor? Do not remember a thing.” Watson continued, “Nothing, for instance even, in the longest tale of Númenor, which is the Mariner’s wife of Aldarion and Erendis, which we spent six weeks on. There’s nothing there.”
“And so number one, that’s false. I sincerely hope it’s not him taking the side of the Eagles or the Eagles coming there…”
A scene from The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 trailer (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
The duo then move on to what looks like the creation of Barad-dûr. Watson begins, “This tower that’s insta-created just like Mordor. Mordor in a minute. Barad-dûr? Is this right? Barad-dûr in a second? I don’t know exactly what this is supposed to be. Somebody mentioned that they thought it could be the ice towers at the beginning of Season 1. I’m like, ‘Eh…it doesn’t really look like that location at all because that was barren. So maybe it’s the building of Thangorodrim? I don’t know.”
“Here’s the problem. It’s an instant. For some reason everything has to be done without any buildup and so we get Mordor with a steamy volcano. And then we Barad-dûr with a blast of cold or something else. I don’t know.”
Michael added, “It’s lazy storytelling it’s based upon. Obviously, they’re trying to connect like this throwing of Sauron hands into this. That’s just trailer connection. Everybody knows this. That’s not going to be the real connection in the show, but the fact that they’re doing insta-creation of ‘just add water’ in each of these cases… ”
A scene from The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 trailer (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
What do you make of their roast of the first trailer for Season 2?
