The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | Amazon Prime Video - September 2, 2022

[Alatar]

But the real answer is that it's a TV show and the timeline has been condensed in order to make events play out well for TV. The events that this show is covering take place over decades and centuries which just doesn't work for a show.

Yeah for sure! For example, Sauron disguised as Annatar spent 300 years in Eregion working with Celebrimbor to craft the Rings of Power. They have to condense things like that.

But I think the main reason they're writing it this way is that fans want familiar and beloved characters like Gandalf to hold the attention of non-hardcore Tolkien nerds, i.e., casual fans, normy viewers.

 

[chrisstbh]

Yeah for sure! For example, Sauron disguised as Annatar spent 300 years in Eregion working with Celebrimbor to craft the Rings of Power. They have to condense things like that.

But I think the main reason they're writing it this way is that fans want familiar and beloved characters like Gandalf to hold the attention of non-hardcore Tolkien nerds, i.e., casual fans, normy viewers.

Indeed. I think anyone expecting a 1:1 adaptation is going to be disappointed no matter what.

 

[Landry]

Spoiler regarding the Stranger:

Spoiler: Spoiler

I’m definitely bummed that the Stranger is Gandalf versus a blue wizard. I get that it’s an adaptation for a TV series and that creative liberties can and should be taken where appropriate. But I distinctly recall that the deal that Amazon struck with the Tolkien estate is that the story of the series would faithfully follow Tolkien’s canon and not break it or deviate from it. And that where the series could be creative to fill out details and create more granular plot lines and arcs and so forth, it would be allowed to do so.

Tolkien never wrote that Gandalf, aka the Maiar named Olorin, incarnated in Middle Earth during the Second Age. He *did* however write in a letter in 1958 a revision to his earlier writing about the two blue wizards. He stated that he believed that they arrived during the Second Age rather than the Third. And he said that rather than falling into creating dark magic cults in the East and forgetting their mission, Alatar and Pallando likely played a decisive role in sufficiently thwarting Sauron’s efforts to seduce the free peoples of the East (Rhun) and South (Harad). Which essentially saved Middle Earth at that critical time!

That’s the story I wanted to see! That is per Tolkien’s writings.

I kinda don’t think we’re getting that. It’s looking like Gandalf (who per Tolkien’s canon wasn’t there in the Second Age) will play the role that Tolkien said the blues had. And the blues will be stereotypical evil wizards. Ugh. I’m very disappointed. I’ll probably be able to roll with it as I keep watching. But this is such a departure from canon that it’s actually breaking immersion for me.

In regards to that...

Spoiler: Spoiler

I'd say he still he's not Gandalf. I mean, they call him that, sure. But his story is that of a Blue Wizard - as you outlined pretty well. So I'd say we are getting that story. It's like they took the tales of a blue Wizard and called him Gandalf. But Gandalf's story is different. As example, if write a story about Luke Skywalker as a young boy and he's the son of Shmi and a slave to Watto and he builds 3p0... he's Anakin and leaves with Qui Gon after winning a pod race... I can call him Luke, but that's not Luke's story. He won't be Luke no matter how many times I call him Luke. That's an extreme example, but at this point I assume they had the rights to the name Gandalf and not those of the Blue Wizards. So they're telling a Blue Wizard story with a recognizable name has a rights dodge and a recognizability grab.