#anti rop

[middle-earth-mythopoeia]

(source, 11/30/22)

KING

#anti rings of power #rings of power #Bernard Hill #LOTR cast #anti rop #and before anyone says something about how Peter Jackson's movies made money too - yes they did #but at least they were based on books Tolkien actually wrote #the Amazon show is not based on any story Tolkien actually wrote #it's just the haphazard and low quality imitation of a greedy and corrupt company #Bernard Hill is right and he should say it #IT'S NOT THE REAL THING #and also #I think he's saying that the Amazon show is PURELY a money-making venture - which is true #the LOTR films were not purely a money-making venture - in fact they didn't even know if they'd be successful at all #and then they were - but no one predicted it

[wanderingwolfwitcher]

#galadriel #sauron #saurondriel #rings of power #sauron x galadriel #galadriel x sauron #arwen undomiel #halbrand #aragorn #galadriel x halbrand #halbrand x galadriel #haladriel #halatariel #anti rop #anti rings of power #lol

[lady-byleth]

Like, listen. Listen, okay. The moment I learned they were making Galadriel's character revolve around needless revenge over a man (her brother who is currently happily traipsing across Valinor because that's how death works for elves) I was already mad enough to never touch RoP with a ten foot pole

But this? Taking one of her most iconic lines and attributing it to Sauron? I am livid.

The real Galadriel, the book Galadriel, was always an ambitious woman. She left Valinor to rule a realm of her own, to shape a land the way she thought right. She watched her male relatives do shit and was like "I can do better" and that's what she did

She was driven, intelligent and gifted, she was one of the greatest things that ever happened to the elves, and it all came from herself.

But now they changed her story. This Galadriel isn't traveling Middle-earth to find a place for herself, she's traveling it to avenge a man who doesn't need avenging. And then Sauron pops up and tells her she could be a queen "stronger than the foundations of the earth"? The line she originally said about herself?

The way this is all set up makes it look like a man planted the idea in her that she could be a queen, a man tempted her into becoming a queen, and then continued to tempt her until she refused the ring.

Her whole thing in the books was overcoming the temptation of power and choosing what was right and good. But it wasn't the ring that she needed to beat, she needed to overcome the desires and ambitions inside herself that the ring was using against her

She was her own greatest enemy and she won.

But now they made it all revolve around a man. A man gave her the idea, a man tried to tempt her, a man is who she quotes when she's overcoming temptation...

Do I really need to spell out why the story of a woman whose biggest enemy is herself being changed to so heavily focus on a man's effect is bad? Do I really??

#anti rop #rings of power is a fucking insult #rings of power

[overthinkinglotr]

People keep insulting the Amazon Lord of the Rings show by comparing it to fanfiction when really it's the EXACT opposite of fanfiction! It's so interesting/awful because it's like the ultimate ANTI-fanfiction! I was talking to someone the other day and wasn't aware that lots of people don't know about the insane complicated rights issues happening behind the scenes of the Amazon Show but it's wild. To give a quick summary of the Battle of the Five Rights Issues, as I currently understand it: 1. Amazon only has the rights to make a show about the pre-LOTR era as described in the Lord of the Rings books-- primarily in the appendices of Return the King, where a handful of pages give a brief timeline of some events that happened before the stories. In practice this means they are unable to use nearly all of the characters, places, and events people are familiar with when they think about Middle Earth. They have to make up everything out of whole cloth-- from characters to events to settings. This is either because of timeline reasons or for legal reasons or for both. Whenever they do manage to scrounge up the rights to something you might even vaguely remember (like Mithril) they announce it with enormous fanfare like they're a marvel movie introducing an avenger.

(Parenthetical: Another weird thing I noticed is that the series features practically zero quotes from Tolkien. I only counted about like 4 lines that were edited versions of lines from the books? While this is just a wild tinfoil hat theory, It does feel to me like there might've been some kind of limitation on the amount of Tolkien's words they were allowed to use, as well as the obvious limitations on characters and plot points and etc. The show has the rights to so few things and always REALLY wants you to know when it has the rights to something. It's desperate to remind you of the original books. You would think that, when it's unable to rely on familiar characters or places or events or plot points or music or etc, they would rely instead on Tolkien's really recognizable prose/poetry/language to form an emotional connection to the original stories. After all, language is the heart of Middle Earth, the author's love of language is the reason the world was created, and the unique prose of the story is kinda the soul of why it's memorable. And again, they theoretically have the rights to everything mentioned in the original trilogy right? Theoretically? So it's really odd that they don't use almost any of the language, unlike basically every other adaptation. It might just be a weird writing decision, but it's so strange that it really makes me feel like they were limited or at least dissuaded from including lines from the books.)

2. Amazon is legally Not Allowed to feature things that were mentioned in the Unfinished Tales or the Silmarillion, despite the fact that those are the books that contain most of the stuff about the era they're theoretically adapting. This leads to a bunch of really weird stuff where they introduce things you'd only care about if you read the Silmarillion, but can't include any of the things that would actually make you care about it. Like people who Aren't deep into the lore have literally zero emotional investment in Celebrimbor, but people who ARE deep into the lore know that you can't reference any of the reasons they care about it. 3. Amazon's series is NOT part of the same canon as the Peter Jackson/New Line Cinema films. They're not. However they obviously want to trick people into thinking they are because those movies are popular and a prequel to them would make money even if it sucked (see the Hobbit films.) But again, New Line Cinema still wants to make its own LOTR content based on the slivers of rights they've managed to grab onto, and don't want Amazon to step on their toes. So IIRC Amazon actually made a deal with New Line Cinema that they were allowed to imitate their movie franchise's aesthetic (to keep the brand popular and in the public eye)........ BUT if New Line Cinema ever felt like Amazon was infringing too much on their territory, they could step in and stop it. So the show just sorta looks and sounds like a bland knockoff of the New Line films, because that's all they're legally allowed to be XD. Like they're supposed to look/sound just enough like them to trick you, but they're not legally allowed to include the specific things from the PJ films that would actually make you feel nostalgic for them (like the famous musical leitmotifs.) 4. Part of the deal was that the Tolkien Estate could step in and change anything in the show if they felt it wasn't true to the lore-- which is ridiculous because again, Amazon basically doesn't own the rights to any of the lore so they're just making stuff up anyway. From what I can tell it seems like this basically means the Tolkien Estate can arbitrarily veto any creative decisions based on whatever they've decided “Tolkien would've wanted,” which obviously limits what Amazon is able to do (and likely prevents them from actually criticizing the awful problematic elements of Tolkien's worldbuilding)

5. Ok I don't have a fifth one. SO BASICALLY: Yes, the Amazon series is about a bunch of original characters in almost completely original settings featuring original events and original plot points that (for the most part) doesn't even include any of Tolkien's actual words, and also isn't affiliated with and doesn't include the recognizable things like musical motifs from the New Line Cinema films. But that doesn't make it fanfic. Because fanfiction is when you take another's person's characters and stories and write your own weird personal take on them, even if you don't legally own it. Who legally owns the copyright is irrelevant in fanfiction. Fanfic it's about writing a story with the characters and world you love, about transforming a story you're passionate about even if you don't legally own the rights. Amazon Rings of Power is what happens when an entire show is completely written around what you legally own the rights to. Every aspect of it only exists as an elaborate tap dance around copyright infringement. Again, I think the Amazon series is more interesting as "a study of how corporations/megafranchises can do massive harm and also weaken our ability to create good art" than it is as a tv show, alskdjfsdlf.

If fanfiction is "writing something you love regardless of whether you own the rights" then Rings of Power is "writing whatever fits within the extremely narrow box of the rights you happen to own." And that makes it....a very strange thing to exist! It’s kinda a shining example of how giant media monopolies and copyright laws designed to benefit them end up hamstringing everyone’s ability to create meaningful art, even the corporations themselves.

#anti rop #amazon #lotr #the was written under incoherent cold brain don’t @ me

[beginnerblueglass]

Here’s the thing that separates Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy from Amazon’s Rings of Power and why I wish people would stop calling out so called ‘hypocrisy’ when fans defend lotr and criticize rop.

The lotr film trilogy was made by independent filmmakers who weren’t in it for the money, profit, recognition, or accolades. They were invested purely out of love for their craft and love of Middle Earth. They poured their SOULS into every ounce of the films, devoted YEARS of their lives to create a twelve hour epic masterpiece, brimming with HEART, and SOUL, and PASSION, and LOVE!! Lord of the Rings is overflowing with GENUINE EMOTION — none of it contrived to manipulate a sense of nostalgia or “feels” — and utter respect for the Professor’s creation. And for all those people who keep pointing out that ‘they didn’t follow the books to the letter either’, in every instance where they deviated from the source material, THEY ADMITTED IT AND GAVE REASONS FOR WHY THEY FELT THEY HAD TO GO IN THAT DIRECTION!! They apologized!! They did what they felt they had to do to make the best movies they could. You know what that is? Respect. They held true to Tolkien’s themes, and they refused to politicize them. They aimed to make the best films they could, for the best fans in the world. The fact that they revolutionized both the filmmaking and the fantasy industry while they were at it was just a happy accident. Are they 100% perfect? No. But are they Perfect? Yes.

My number one takeaway from every trailer, promotion, and clip I’ve seen from Rings of Power is that there is no soul. All of it seems so contrived to engineer a certain *feeling*, but it falls flat. Why? Because Amazon, by its nature, is not capable of doing Tolkien any semblance of justice.

It was the artists working out of their backyards and basements, travelling around their country to find the best locations, pouring hours and hours of passion into every costume, prop, and set, devoting themselves completely to making the best they were capable of, only they could do it.

#just a rambling rant #the lord of the rings #peter jackson #anti rings of power #anti rop #jrr tolkien #middle earth

[nateofgreat]

So I think I finally realized why Sauron disguising himself as a human in ROP bothers me so much, beyond the obvious shipbait and the fact that it was motivated by wanting to make him the poor, sexy, misunderstood bad guy :(

The thing about Sauron in the books is that he doesn't understood the people of Middle Earth. He's ancient, knowledgable, powerful... But he really doesn't get them. Sure, he knows how to tempt and corrupt them with promises of power and preservation of what they care about most.

But things like goodness, small acts of kindness, humility, etc, are things he's shown he doesn't understand. By that I mean it's literally the reason he loses, because even in his darkest dreams he never thought that someone would reject power (in the form of the Ring) and even try to destroy it at great risk to himself. He lost because he failed to understand the hearts of people, even though Frodo couldn't go through with it, he and Bilbo's act of pity toward Gollum enabled the Ring (and Sauron) to be destroyed.

In ROP, meanwhile, Sauron wants to give up being a Dark Lord to become a blacksmith in Numenor instead. Not a royal blacksmith either, just a simple man working a simple job... In other words, he seems to have suddenly developed a love of humility and living a simple life. The very things he didn't understand that led to his defeat are now what he wants to do in ROP.

In comparison, ROP Galadriel's shown to belittle the idea of a simple life in favor of grand ambitions. She presents the idea of rejecting royalty to be ordinary as a cowardly waste of potential and bullies Sauron back into the game. So, jokes completely aside, Galadriel really is more Sauron-like than Sauron in ROP.

The only actual motivation for Sauron's evil now is that he's heartbroken. Which is... Underwhelming, let's just say.

#anti ROP #anti Rings of Power #anti Amazon lotr #ROP critical #Rings of Power critical #Sauron #anti Saurondriel #anti Haladriel #anti ROP Galadriel #I thought of this show again and now I'm annoyed

[residentmiddlechild]

Any time I see something new about Amazon’s Rings of Power:

#please #i don't want it #put that thing back where it came from or so help me #cast it into the fire #get rid of it #ew #don't watch it #please don't support it in any way #anti rop #anti rings of power #rings of power #rop #lotr #jrr tolkien #lord of the rings

[lyrainbeleriand]

Okay, okay, midnight fuckin furious time, the RoP finale, the "made you my queen" saurondriel bullshit, let us talk about how fuckin misogynistic and totally disrespectful to how tolkien portray his female characters.

So. On first look, it actually sounds like Tolkien right? They even use the exact same line from FoTR, right? (instead of the dark lord you would have a queen, stronger than the foundation of the earth bit)

but it is so not. Why? Because RoP galadriel didn't say that line. Sauron fuckin did. In the book, that whole scene of her resist the temptation of the ring is a show of her own ambition, how she fight her own demon, and how she reject that demon and chose true wisdom. But in RoP, it is all the man' wish, it has nothing to do with her, "I alone can see you greatness!" I puke at that line, Amazon i sincerely ask you do you know who galadriel is???? The fairest of the house of finwe, the one with the greatest achievement among the noldor except feanor, the lady of light, and you think she needs sauron to tell her her greatness, her value, her potential??????? Also, in the book, her ambition is to be her own queen, not sauron's queen, i don't need to tell you the big difference between a queen regnant and a queen consort right?????

with this plus the show's beginning with her character's initiative changed from "to rule a land of her own" to literally pointless vengeance for Finrod (hey dude is literally walking peacefully with their father in valinor why would he even need that), the two writers(some context: they are devout mormons.) took away all that made galadriel unique and great, and the approach itself is extremely misogynistic, also the change of the role of being seduced by sauron from Celebrimbor to galadriel, shows that they can't bare the tiniest hint of homosexuality (context again: they are mormons), and the impact of this change kinda make you feel like: omg it's all the woman's fault! If she hasn't stir things up everything will be fine! No? Just me? Really? (ps i don't even want to talk about the female elves maidens whose heads are entirely covered serving in silence)

#anti rop #rop #the rings of power #anti rings of power #amazon!galadriel #anti sautondriel #to see the greatest heroine being trampled like this #i have no words

[lllostgirlll]

rings of power sucks lmao ✌🏻

#anti rings of power #anti rop #anti amazon

[anipologist]

Ok, I'm watching Rings of Power (in small doses)...first impressions below.

(Part 1)

Valinor is not Heaven anymore than Galadriel or Luthien are the Virgin Mary...does no one understand what subcreation is?

Bullying in Valinor...unlikely as portrayed. The elves are mostly unfallen at this point and most of the issues are between the adults and after Morgoth starts roaming freely spreading lies. Galadriel is also from a high position in society (a princess) she is hardly an outsider.

Noldor elves absolutely delighted in color and jewelry why is everyone wearing sheets? In fact the Noldor in general just loved making stuff...

To everyone that thinks that the mean elf children are her cousins, Artanis is the youngest child of the youngest son of Finwe...even Amrod and Amras are probably a fair bit older than her.

FINROD"S HAIR! I know it's been said before but wow...ugh. Suspension of disbelief shatters every time it shows up...

Also elves died in Middle Earth before they all moved to the undying lands...so yeah they definitely knew what death was. In fact Artanis and Finderato's uncle was among those presumed lost or dead. (He wasn't, but that's a whole story itself)

And yes, I am using Artanis/Nerwen and Findarato/Artafinde/Ingoldo because nobody is speaking Sindarin in Valinor...and Galadriel hasn't met Celeborn yet (and seems unlikely to at this point) so he hasn't given her the name Galadriel.

moving on....

Wow....that is the most heavily redacted account of the Flight of the Noldor ever...

Where do I start?

Artanis spoke out against Feanor and he personally led his people in an attack on her mother's people...on her grandparents! This is something deeply important to her...in some accounts Tolkien actually has her fighting her cousins and uncle in Alqualondë in defense of the Teleri.

This also makes it look like Finrod is swearing Feanor's oath!...there is one image that Tolkien gives of an oath sworn at this time alongside drawn swords and Finrod is another specifically mentioned by name as having opposed it!

(On a side note given that Finrod is later betrayed because of that oath this is rather sick...almost like releasing a bad Tolkien adaption on the anniversary of his death...)

Once again...Finrod and Galadriel along with Fingolfin and many others spent years crossing the Helcaraxë to get to Middle Earth, THEY DID NOT SAIL THERE.

So far the dialogue is consistently atrocious. The landscapes are pretty but feel cgi and the costumes are uninspired...this was the perfect opportunity to go full panoply of ancient kings...and they didn't. I am not seeing "most expensive tv show in history" anywhere.

NB: I fully intend to criticize blatant betrayals of what Tolkien actually wrote. Tolkien has been a huge part of my life and his writing and the world he created has been a light in many dark places. The characters he wrote have made me want to be a better person and seeing them diminished and twisted is just awful.

So yes, I take it somewhat personally when they are maligned and given that the Silm is my favorite of all Tolkien's writing so this hits very close to home.

That being said, I don't blame people for wanting to see Middle Earth again. I desperately wanted this to be good. And I don't blame the actors who were handed once in a lifetime roles and were clearly very let down by the production itself.

SO why do I feel the need to complain? Well, why do people complain about any bad adaption? Nobody thinks people are wrong to criticize the Percy Jackson movies or that Avatar: The Last Airbender movie that no one talks about about....

So no I am not going to attack people who watch it but I am going to plant my flag here and make my stand. Because this is something that means a great deal to me and I hate seeing to ruined.

#rings of power #amazon lord of the rings #rings of power critical #jrr tolkien #tolkien #tolkien elves #the silmarillion #silmarillion #galadriel #finrod felagund #lotr #lord of the rings #noldor #silm #the second age #sauron #anti rings of power #critique of rings of power #anti rop #rop critical #my critiques #artanis #nerwen #ingoldo #rop spoilers #rings of power spoilers #one ring to commercialize them all

[middle-earth-mythopoeia]

There is everything wrong with Galadriel’s portrayal in Rings of Power and I’m not going to go over it all again, but what also gets me is the way they made her hair look. Galadriel was said to have hair of unusual beauty even among the Eldar. Her hair may have even ensnared the light of the Two Trees. THE TWO TREES.

The Rings of Power people were like, “You know what? We’ve got this! First, we’ll make her hair a really dull color. Then we’ll make it have brown roots so it looks like it was badly dyed. Then, for good measure, we will also make it tangled and ratty. AND we will make it frizzy. And other times we will make it look greasy and lank. Perfect! Nailed it!”

#anti rop #anti rings of power #my writing

[wanderingwolfwitcher]

High King Gil-galad: “Galadriel must leave these shores at once for Valinor, lest she court the very evil she was obsessively pursuing more than her own missing husband and bring it down upon us all.”

Elrond: "Agreed."

Galadriel: “Hey guys! I decided to skip Heaven, go for a swim, enjoy an island vacation with this random hot guy I met adrift at sea, encouraged him not to pursue a life of quiet and peaceful isolation, then invaded the Southlands with him and an army and put a crown on his head. Meet my new boyfriend, Satan. What’s for supper?”

#galadriel #sauron #halbrand #gil galad #rings of power #saurondriel #halbrand x galadriel #galadriel x halbrand #haladriel #halatariel #elrond #sauron x galadriel #galadriel x sauron #anti rop #anti rings of power #womp womp #lol

[ode-to-fury]

Funniest thing I’ve heard so far from Rings of Power was that Feanor wasn’t mentioned cause they don’t have the rights.

“We left Valinor.” Really? You just left? Nothing… interesting happened? Nothing at all?

#lol #imagine trying to explain any decision an elf makes in the first and second ages without feanor #or beren and luthien #anti rings of power #anti rop

[overthinkinglotr]

Some quotes from an article on the environmental impacts of the “most expensive tv series of all time” (and the lotr franchise in general, or what it’s become)— it seems like a ton of Amazon’s unnecessarily bloated budget went to building expensive plastic sets sndndndnd

#I would never have guessed because the sets in the series are so utterly bland? #ya didn’t need to build a plastic rock wall. there are real rocks in new zeal and #and yeah also: the depressing effects of the hobbit law :(( #anti rings of power #anti rop #lotr

[beginnerblueglass]

Someone: *mentions Rings of Power*

My mom: *gives me a look warning me to be quiet*

Me, two minutes later: “AND ANOTHER THING!! The timeline compression completely invalidates the key themes of the Second Age: Mens’ insatiable desire for immortality, having been given a small taste of lengthened life and constantly being in direct contact with immortals; and Elves’ growing sadness concerning the Gift of Illuvatar given to mortals in the face of atrocities, war, and loss.

AND ANOTHER THING—!”

#anti rings of power #anti rop #boycott rings of power #lotr rings of power

[silvergifting]

you can all say what you want about shadow of mordor and shadow of war, but at least they had the courage to make annatar and celebrimbor's character designs appealing, unlike the cowards at am*zon. like, yeah, give celebrimbor a fancy little circlet and lovely hair jewelry!! give annatar the sculpted cheekbones and long, flowing locks that are befitting of a shampoo commercial...

don't make them old white men who wouldn't look out of place in every generic 'historical' film of the last decade; give them some style! make them recognizable and interesting to look at! and also make celebrimbor a twink, please and thank you!

#we'll ignore shelob for now #the games are not great for lore but they're kind of. fun. #and it's funny to watch talion get the Inside Info on tyelpe and annatar's relationship drama. like. my man is suffering #life.txt #lotr #tolkien #shadow of mordor #shadow of war #anti rop #celebrimbor #annatar #sauron #anyways #only real mutuals remember the shitposting from like 6 years ago about celebrimbor's voice lololololol