According to co-showrunner J.D. Payne, The Rings of Power time compression was approved by the Tolkien Estate. There were many fans lamenting this time compression aspect. For many, hearing the Tolkien Estate was on board and in fact felt this was necessary will come as a bit of a blow. There will of course be many other things for the haters to hate about this show, before even seeing it.
To cut a long story short, Tolkien’s Second Age lasted for 3441 years. Sauron made the One Ring around 1600 years into that Second Age. Numenor’s Fall happened in 3319, and the end of the Second Age was marked by Sauron’s defeat in the Last Alliance. The Rings of Power is instead going to condense these key moments from the Age across it’s five Seasons. As far as Payne is concerned, this was a necessary move to make the show watchable. Check out the interview with The Tribune below, or read on for the transcript.
“We took some events that happened over here, and some events that happened over here, and some events that happened over here, and sort of compressed them all in the timeline [gestures moving hands together]. And we worked very closely with the Tolkien Estate from the beginning, and said “Are you guys comfortable with us, you know, compressing this that much?” and they said “No we think it’s essential that you guys do that”.
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“So that was a license we took that we, you know, we felt that some fans—superfans—might say, like “why did you do that?” And I’ll say, you know, whenever goin’ to do an adaptation, some things will be lost, but some things will also be gained. People’ll always have the books, and you can always go back to the books and read the books, and enjoy and experience Tolkien in that way. And this is just another medium, one of many in which people have experienced Tolkien. And we see ourselves in a continuum of artists who’ve been adapting Tolkien for decades now.”
The argument from some fans is that the compressed timeline doesn’t tell Numenor’s role fully. The point being thus. Numenoreans lived and died between the time of Sauron creating the One and their Nation going to war with him. That theme of mortality, despite lengthened lives is important to how Numenor’s story plays out.
I suppose the show could have started at a later point? Sauron’s deception could have happened already and been told in backstory. Whether this will all work out to equal a good show or not, I cannot say?
What did you think of the comments from co-showrunner J. D. Payne. What do you think of the news The Rings of Power time compression was approved by the Tolkien Estate
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