Elon Musk attacks The Rings of Power on social media. However his argument is sketchy at best and it worse, I’d argue objectively false. Now, I’ll stress here that Musk like everyone else, including me, is entitled to their own opinions. This is not me calling out Musk for not liking the show. That is a subjective decision he has made and that’s fine. However I have to call out one of the arguments Musk makes in his post. First off check it out for yourself.

Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2022

So according to Musk every male character is a coward, a jerk, or both. I’m going to assume the scene Musk is mostly referring to here is the Ice Troll scene? I have a few criticisms there myself in actual fact. In the scene Galadriel’s company is attacked and they all kind of get into a mess until Galadriel herself slays the beast.

Ice Troll Scene

On our Review of the Rings podcast, Kyle and I spoke about this scene and we had criticisms also. This is an elite group of Elven warriors. It would have been far more dramatic, and profound to have Galadriel issue commands and see the whole team work together to take down the Troll. Some arguments I have seen are that if that was a male character who showed the skill required, then no one would have said anything. Actually, I would have, let me explain.

If this was one warrior with a group of poorly trained farmers, then it would not have bothered me whether it was Galadriel, or some Conan the Barbarian looking dude. However the fact this is an elite Elven unit, all with superhuman abilities like Galadriel, I felt like they didn’t react well to the sudden danger. In my humble opinion, it works better the way I described and still shows how bad ass Galadriel is.

Bad Arguments

However, let’s look at what Musk actually says here. So, which male characters were shown to be cowards? The only one I can think may partially qualify would be Halbrand who effectively leaves those he was with to die as he seems to finds his prospects with Galadriel superior to his survival.

Does Elrond show any cowardice, or Gil Galad, or Arondir when he goes along into that Orc tunnel? I’d even argue there is no cowardice shown in Galadriel’s companions. The show literally states they’ve been on mission for centuries and we are surprised they’ve finally got fed up? The whole point was to show how obsessed Galadriel is, not to show the other Elves as being cowards.

What about Finrod pictured above, Galadriel’s older brother, was he a coward? I won’t tell you how he went down, but let’s say it was not in a cowardly manner.

You could perhaps make an argument some of the men were jerks. Well, that’s called drama. However again I’d have to wonder how any of the characters I mentioned above were shown to be jerks.

RELATED: Galadriels Fateful Decision Explained By Star Morfydd Clark

Is Gil Galad a jerk for thinking Galadriel has become obsessed with finding something that won’t be found? Do we really think Gil Galad will be seen as a coward when he goes toe to toe with Sauron himself in The Last Alliance of Men and Elves (from LOTR prologue- no spoilers). Was Elrond a jerk for thinking like an Elf in his friendship with Durin?

Again, I’m not having a go at Elon Musk’s opinion, whether I agree with it or not, that’s his right. What I am saying? The argument Musk is using to explain that position simply doesn’t hold up to scrutiny or debate.

Mr. Musk, if you read this (unlikely) and wish to debate your arguments as being logical, feel free to hit me up @LRM_Cam. I’d be happy to have a sensible and adult conversation about it.

Tolkien

As for Tolkien turning in his grave. I’m not trying to be crass, but he probably already did when The Lord of the Rings movies came out. Those movies were very far from word to word adaptations of Tolkien’s books. I think it’s become a sort of Mandela effect where people imagine they were all loved by the fan base when they came out and hailed as classics. If you are the kind of Tolkien fan who hates the movies because of the changes they made, honestly you’ll likely not enjoy The Rings of Power either. So be it. Other than that I could only guess wildly at Tolkien’s opinion, and would not really want to comment further with so little substance.

What do you think as Elon Musk attacks The Rings of Power on social media? Do you agree with me his argument is sketchy at best and at worse objectively false? Can you defend Musk’s claim here?  As always, leave any thoughts you below, on Twitter, or on our Discord server.

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