The German composer began work on the libretto and music for his cycle almost a century before Tolkien first introduced his rings to readers with the publication of The Hobbit in 1937. It's sometimes assumed that Tolkien was inspired by the most famous ring in opera, Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungs. One thing is certain: even as it harnesses all the cinematic razzle-dazzle that its mega-budget can buy ( it's reportedly the most expensive television series ever made), in channelling the imagination of an Oxford don writing in the middle of the last century, the series will also be tapping into lore and legend from literature too ancient to be accurately dated, whose narratives are full of heroism and tragedy, dwarves and elves – and of course magical rings. By necessity – legal as well as creative (Amazon doesn't own the rights to posthumously published materials in which Tolkien goes into greater depth on the Second Age) – the show's writers have had to alter and embellish, compressing time frames, inventing new characters and tinkering with the storylines of some canonical creations.Īs the series gets underway, there's sure to be plenty of debate over how faithful it is to Tolkien's vision, but just how original that vision was in the first place is a subject that's long enthralled scholars.
This was a time when the legendary rings were forged and the dark Lord Sauron rose to power, a time when the island kingdom of Númenor flourished (and then fell), and elves and men were compelled to band together in order to do battle for the soul of Middle-earth. The series takes its cue from an appendix Tolkien wrote for the final instalment of his epic, slenderly outlining the history of Middle-earth's Second Age. Hobbits and hippies: Tolkien and the counterculture Why the world's most difficult novel is so rewarding Its characters include Galadriel and Elrond (both elves, who are conveniently immortal in Middle-earth) and small folk known as Harfoots that turn out to be the Hobbits' evolutionary predecessors – and then there are the iconic symbols that provide the series with its title: The Rings of Power.
Despite being set thousands of years before the novel itself, Amazon Studios' new prequel to The Lord of the Rings promises to contain many of the ingredients beloved by Tolkien fans.
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