"Tolkien expert" weighs in on what is and isn't working in The Rings of Power

We've almost reached the end of the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Amazon has famously spent a lot of money on this show. Has it gotten the returns it's looking for?

In terms of ratings, the news has been split. But ratings aren't everything. Has the series inspired passion in fans? Is this the kind of show people will obsess over? That can be its own kind of currency.

To get to the bottom of these questions, Yahoo Entertainment talked to "Tolkien expert" William Smith, who moderates the r/LOTR_on_Prime subreddit and hosts the Green Lanterns podcast. Does moderating a subreddit and hosting a podcast make you an expert? You can decide that for yourself, but it definitely means you're invested, and I'm willing to trust him as a barometer of how the fanbase is feeling.

"There is just a giant expectation that comes with the Lord of the Rings brand, and if you don’t immediately reach the heights of the books or the original movies, you have people disappointed,” Smith said, mulling over why the first season of the show received a decent amount of backlash. “Season 2, according to what I see on Reddit and across my social feeds, is being viewed in a much better light. I think a lot of this has to do with general pacing more than anything. In Season 1, there was a lot of setup, I would guess, to allow for [faster] pacing in future seasons. But many viewers want the action now. I think Season 2 has been delivering a lot more of [that], which is why, as a whole, it seems much more positive than last season.”

"The thing about the show that I personally struggle with is just the balancing of storylines. Sometimes you see the Dwarves in an episode and then you go an episode or two without seeing them. Sometimes a story will start really moving along and then I think, ‘Oh man, I can’t wait to get back into that in a week,’ and then they aren’t in the next episode, so I am waiting two weeks or three weeks. I know you have to weave all the plots together, but once a plot really hits its stride, I don’t want it to disappear."

This is the old Game of Thrones method: you have several storylines going on at once, and sometimes this or that ones sits an episode out. I don't personally mind that so long as whatever I'm looking at onscreen is compelling. A sprawling show like The Rings of Power, with different stories happening across a continent and beyond. probably can't avoid that kind of thing.

“What is working for me, and I say this from time to time, is that this is the best portrayal of Dwarves in any onscreen adaptation," Smith continued. "They give you action, they give you dialogue. They are stern but they can also be humorous. They can make you laugh but they can make you tear up a bit as well. And they aren’t just there to be a joke the whole time. It seems like in other shows, movies, etc., when you have a Dwarf on the screen you know they are a side character for the most part and they are there to lighten the mood.”

I can fully cosign that. The dwarves are almost always my favorite part of the show, although Sauron and Celebrimbor have given them some decent competition this season. The dwarves are fantasy creatures, but they feel more relatable than a lot of the humans: they laugh, love, bicker and yearn in a way that's very inviting. Let's hear it for the dwarves!

The Rings of Power vs House of the Dragon

In 2022, Amazon ran the first season of The Rings of Power opposite the first season of House of the Dragon, HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series. House of the Dragon came out of that fight looking like the winner, both in terms of ratings and fan approval. But who won round 2?

“I also help moderate r/HouseOfTheDragon, so I try to avoid comparisons between the two, but I know everyone wants to compare them," Smith said. "For me, they are shows on opposite ends of the spectrum. House of the Dragon is very much a show where almost everyone is a character you can justify hating. They all turn on each other. They all do terrible things. The Rings of Power is a show that targets a different audience. They want to show happy moments. They want to show adventure. There are many cute little moments that happen. Part of the appeal of [House of the Dragon] is that in almost any scene you watch, you sort of are waiting for something bad to happen. It can be bleak.”

Personally, I was more invested in House of the Dragon than I am with The Rings of Power, although it kind of backfired because I found myself frustrated with the Game of Thrones prequel this year on account of the story going pretty wide of the source material in a way I don't always think worked. The Rings of Power can't irritate me that much because I don't care as much, although I have more or less enjoyed the new season and am looking forward to tomorrow's finale.

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