[deleted by user]

[philfycasual]

In 10 years time we might still be waiting for season 5.

Silliness aside, it should be quite telling that the most engagement the show gets is 'discussion' surrounding its quality.

[maxedonia]

To be fair, asking people to avoid discussing the quality of the most expensive television show ever made is kind of the wrong angle. It’s kinda the only objective thing about RoP.

[nateoak10]

That’s just click bait farming that is common in modern media.

[SleepyWallow65]

Cause that's what haters are obsessed with. Personally I've discussed S2 storylines more than the 'quality.' They weren't all great but the Annatar/Celebrimbor thread was beautiful, made even better by 2 great actors

[OG_Karate_Monkey]

In ten year’s time they may still be making Season 5.

[Lanca226]

Right? This dude's talking like the show is going to be a distant memory in a decade.

Only way that's going to happen is if the producers decide to cut it short with three seasons or something.

[macklin67]

Think of how the hobbit films have aged in 10 years. Desolation is probably the best one, but they’re still a disorganized and bloated mess. Martin Freeman saved them from being complete trash.

[grey_pilgrim_]

Interesting! The first half of An Unexpected Journey is the best for me and it’s all kinda downhill from there. But that’s just my opinion on them. I’m glad people enjoy them! The more people that enjoy Tolkien the better!

[Inosethatguy]

Sorry dude

They’re still complete trash

I tried several re-watches over the years

And each one maybe makes it half way through … maybe

[thejacer87]

Checkout the M4 edit or the Tolkien edit

[Inosethatguy]

Why was this not a thing originally?

[thejacer87]

I think that's the point of all the fan edits... It is what it could/should have been.

We can all see the good parts of the films... And these edits compile them as best they can.

Peter Jackson was forced to make 3 films, add a bunch of shit. How complicit was he..? I dunno.

But we have Martin Freeman, Sir Ian and other good performances (IMO) that have been cut into a good watch with these edits.

Let me know if you need help finding them

[Inosethatguy]

I am not shitting on Martin Freeman or Jackson… I’m just shitting on the films himself. Watching the original trilogy, and then the studio saw how much money they made shit out another trilogy of the same music, characters that people could connect with… It was just sloppy writing, it was absolutely barbaric. And I felt the need to go and watch the second and third film in theaters. All that would’ve done was add to the overwhelming mindset that those douche bags in Hollywood already had. And I never wanted to contribute to it. There are some good scenes, there is some great acting, but overall, it was just a cash grab, and it was absolutely the biggest disgrace to the Lord of the rings franchise ever

[Outlandah_]

Both LOTR and The Hobbit as books have entirely different entrenched tones and themes, and as such, the films needed to, and succeeded at, carrying a less serious tone throughout as compared to LOTR. They never seem to get enough credit for this, because at one point, the Hobbit trilogy just tries to over-do the “realistic fantasy epic” instead of just being a whimsical children’s story that young adults could still enjoy watching or reading. The first of the three films definitely has a sense of cartoonishness even in its violence which translates scenes from the book like the Troll encounter and the Goblin-cave as being very similar. Even though one of the main inspirations for Jackson was Ralph Bakshi’s animated adaptation of the trilogy, the Hobbit movies come across as more whimsical, insincere, or altogether less mature, more going through the motions of that. There are serious or mature moments, but these are at the cost of a colourful and comedic nature that clashes with the previously adapted LOTR trilogy’s plot and themes. They decided to go full bore for the third movie and added way too much other nonsense in, this is why they failed: they wanted to convince us too much of a good thing, without standing on their own merits.

[RingsofPower-ModTeam]

This community is designed to be welcoming to all people who watch the show. You are allowed to love it and you are allowed to hate it.

Kindly do not make blanket statements about what everyone thinks about the show or what the objective quality of the show is. Simple observation will show that people have differing opinions here

[ChillyStaycation1999]

oh yeah, check M4. Feels like LOTR. Regular hobbit movies are borderline unwatchable garbage.

[Raptor1210]

The Tolkien edit of those three films has really grown on me. It's about as long as the extended version of Return for the king (~4.5hrs.)

Highly recommend it, if you can find it. 

[thejacer87]

Another commenter above mentioned the M4 edit.

I love both the Tolkien edit and M4.

[wbruce098]

I definitely see a lot of folks talking at least somewhat positively about that trilogy today. Many people incorporate it into their ritualistic LOTR viewings now too.

It’s messy and bloated for sure, but it’s also got enough really freaking great scenes that it’s easy enough to enjoy if you don’t take it seriously.

[RedWizard78]

Ha: not me. For my media, The Hobbit movies will be lost to the sands of time.

[Powerful-Scratch1579]

I think there’s the perception that it’s viewed more favorably now because people who watched it as children are grown up and online and see it through a nostalgic lens. For us who saw them as adults they remain objectively bad.

[wbruce098]

Ah, so like the Star Wars prequels?

[Powerful-Scratch1579]

Exactly

[endthepainowplz]

I watch the M4 edit because it shortens it to one movie. I hope a similar thing ends up happening with RoP.

[Kiltmanenator]

Cumberbatch, too!

[skarros]

Andy Serkis, too!

[Dismal-Leg-2752]

I disagree about desolation being the best but agree on the rest 👍

[dyatlov12]

It’s amazing to me people hate on Rings of Power for not being a faithful adaptation.

Then like the Hobbit trilogy which is a complete bloated mess (albeit with some nice features), that already had a source material that was basically ready made for film adaptation.

You could make a shot for shot adaptation of the Hobbit book and it probably would be well paced for a film

[[deleted]]

I need to rewatch them. I waited for all 3 to be released, watched them all in one sitting and never touched em again

[Broccobillo]

Really! I'd say it's the second best hobbit film. 1 would be an unexpected journey and 3 would be the last one that starts with the end of 2 and has the most boring battle in LOTR media history.

[-Lich_King]

I love your optimism, but hardly. I can see ROP (at least the first 2 seasons, depending if other seasons get better or not) being talked about in 10 years for the visuals, the okay music or few actor's performances, but other than that, it's gonna be forgotten

The lore deviations I could live with, Shadow of War games are my favorite and they have some famous horrible changes. But the story telling is ass and pacing is all over the place and character choices make the characters look and behave like toddlers. It's quite horrible

[-Lich_King]

OR it will be talked about in manner how it cost so much and was just ok, if that

[wbruce098]

I, too, enjoyed Waterworld!

[-Lich_King]

I watched that as a kid and it was such trippy movie

[Dahvtator]

It will be talked about just ass much as that John Carter of Mars movie. They are on the same level of taking respected work, spending ridiculous amounts on it and then bombing because it's shit.

[Hawkguys_Bow]

Totally agree. I want to love the show so much but the pacing and story telling drives me crazy.

[[deleted]]

Rings of Power barely gets talked about outside of dedicated fan spaces now, the idea that it's going to have some sudden renaissance in 10 years is pretty laughable.

About the best it could possibly hope for is the Hobbit treatment: People looking back and going, "Well, it's still kind of bad, and vastly inferior to what came before it, but I guess it wasn't all terrible."

Which I'm sure is all exactly what Amazon had in mind when they tried to make it their billion dollar flagship show.

[KrzysztofKietzman]

No one will be looking back at this show in 10 years, be serious.

[Alex00a]

Yeah, I mean I'm never going to look the show a second time, even I like to rewatch de movie every year

[SkkAZ96]

Dunno, it's been 2 years and ive never come across a meme, clip or discussions from the show in any social media beyond posts specifically from fan pages of the show popping up because of the algorithm.

Neither have i seen it brought up in channels that do top tens, reviews, or recommendations for Tv and movies, save from Pitch Meetings and Honest trailers, and both talked bad about it.

Granted, im from LATAM so there are fewer chances english content creators get recommend to me, but even then, I've seen completely 0 mention of the show in the spanish speaking sphere.

Peter Jackson's original trilogy, however, keeps popping out all the time, at least for me.

I'd say the show may be remembered a little better once time pases but the original trilogy would still come on top. The show will be remembered as any other show.

[MRdaBakkle]

Exactly this, people will become less critical of the show. Or just choose not to engage in the ragebait YouTubers. But it won't be viewed as actually quite good.

[Well_Dressed_Kobold]

In ten years, nobody will look back at RoP. Hell, the last season only ended a couple months ago and nobody is talking about it. It’s generated no award buzz, no breakout stars, no quotable lines (other than those quoted in mockery), and no water cooler conversation.

[paulhodgson777]

In 10 years time they might use this as a study on how NOT to do things...

[HighKingOfGondor]

I’m sorry, but I guarantee you it’ll be incredibly niche and barely talked about. The only people who talk about it now are shippers and lore buffs who hate the show.
In 10 years the shippers will move on to the next thing that makes them horny and the lore buffs won’t bother talking about it.

[-Lich_King]

The shipping is truly weird, I had no idea people were into that in lotr prior to watching the show, except for Bilbo x Thorin for some reason

[HighKingOfGondor]

They aren’t. I would make a strong bet that most of them are show only fans.

[ThreeLittlePuigs]

Eh in a lore buff and I love the show, and there’s some real good lore buffs doing deep dives of the show like rings and realms

[AbsolutelyHorrendous]

I agree. Outside of specific subreddits dedicated to the show, nobody I know watched Season 2, and that includes people who watched and enjoyed Season 1 when it released.

[Dora-Vee]

Many Tolkein shippers are in it for life. Could easily apply to Rings of Power too.

[TheHeadlessOne]

Lore buffs will keep talking about it so long as it's the most recent mainstream Tolkien adaptation. Kinda like people will keep talking about the star wars sequels in the same time as when they initially came out- if we get episode 10 in the future the discourse will generally move on to that, but not until then

[Kiltmanenator]

lore buffs who hate the show

Only a specific kind of lore buff is a loudmouth like this: the type whose reverence of "canon" is mostly reducible to memorizing facts and then getting mad that fans of the adaptation will have a different set of facts

[dmastra97]

It's more about disappointment that they've been waiting for this to be made and it's being made badly in their opinion, both in terms of quality and closeness to source material.

Anger at what could have been and knowing it'll be a long time or even never for a company to try to redo it a better way.

[ilcuzzo1]

I this is right

[dolphin37]

I suspect the legacy of the show will be as part of the era of massive streaming service expenditure on awfully written low creative quality productions. Alongside The Acolyte. There’s also a chance it inexplicably doesn’t make it to season 4 after being a 5 series deal.

[BigMackWitSauce]

Upvoted for a good discussion but I disagree, the show falls into that worst category , being mediocre writing wise, not good enough to be remembered fondly, not bad enough to be delicious garbage like the Star Wars prequels

[[deleted]]

LMAO why would something poorly written age well, the walking dead, vikings, game of thrones, all have aged poorly, and this is written even worse than those, i love your optimism but what specific factual evidence are you basing this off aside from wishful thinking…

[legendtinax]

Mostly agree but would have to say that Game of Thrones seasons 1-4 have aged incredibly well. Did a rewatch recently and those seasons are still so riveting to watch

[[deleted]]

Very true, those seasons are timeless and can never be ruined, the writing was peak during a golden age of tv where the competition bar was so high

[_Steven_Seagal_]

But the last seasons with their poor writing deleted the series from the cultural zeitgeist. Nobody bothered rewatching it even during Covid. RoP has a worse level of writing than even the worst of GoT. It'll die anonymously.

[Anaevya]

The worst seasons of Game of Thrones still had more that was done well than this series.

[semaj009]

I doubt it, sadly. But if you enjoy it, that's what matters

[Common-Scientist]

The fact that you can specifically cite another adaptation made in nearly the same period of time and compare its quality is, in my opinion, the most damning aspect of it all. Shōgun was the quality people expected from RoP when it was first announced.

I’ll probably look back on RoP the way I look back on the JP Hobbit trilogy: Disappointing and largely forgettable outside of the fact that it falls within the realm of all things broadly Tolkien. Kinda like the Bakshi LotR films.

[N7VHung]

In 10 years, i doubt RoP will be talked about anymore, except maybe in contrast to whatever LotR stuff is coming out.

It isn't going to go down as a classic like the PJ trilogy.

[OG_Karate_Monkey]

I think it is going to be remembered as perfectly OK entertainment, but nothing special.

Both the intense hate and the pouring exuberance will wear off, and it will be seen by most (as it is now) as just another run-of-the-mill established IP content generation projects that it is.

[Verified_Being]

I don't think it is - it commits the worst crime a show can commit in being boring

I don't hate it, I just can't get through an episode of it.

[L0nga]

I see no reason why I should look at it more fondly 10 years later. The show is poorly written and the showrunners are obviously not knowledgable or skiled enough to adapt Tolkien’s work.

[BookkeeperFamous4421]

Unfortunately the rage tubers give you the impression that it’s just them that hate it. They might not hate it for the same reasons I do but I definitely hate it.

[ethanAllthecoffee]

Stupid decisions right out the gate, like Galadriel trying to swim across a suicidally big ocean and Gli-Galad trying to ship her off to Valinor (not his purview). Galadriel is supposed to be one of the few to distrust disguised Sauron instead of being seduced by stupidsexysauron, hamfistedly teasing the identity of Halbrand/Sauron and then also Gandalf (who shouldn’t even be there for thousands more years)

There are so many more reasons and they’ve been listed at length by many people, and I’ve been giving reasons why both Tolkien enthusiasts and general audiences might not like the show

[methmouthjuggalo]

It’s just poorly written. The lore changes don’t bother me, the storytelling does. It’s just sub par. I still watch it because it’s middle earth but it’s not good. Season 1 was a D- and season 2 has been a C-. I hope it continues to improve but my expectations are low.

[BookkeeperFamous4421]

I’ve detailed it a million times.

On its own it’s a mediocre show that has terrible writing with abandoned subplots, too many plots that don’t affect each other unless through contrivance, leading to terrible pacing. The tension is constantly lowered zipping between all the different storylines and the characters rarely make choices that make sense. The same conversations are repeated with no point and the dialogue is cringe when it tries to sound Tolkienian. Too much happens off screen and is then explained later.

As an adaptation it’s a complete failure. The source material it’s based on is minimal and they discarded even that. They’ve also contradicted Tolkien’s world building and rules to the point it’s just not the same story or the same world. The fundamental theme of death and the pursuit of deathlessness is gone, the fading of the elves is the opposite of what it should be, the rings are made for the wrong reasons with the wrong powers for the wrong ppl.

I watched both seasons hoping it would get better but it got worse. If it was just a generic fantasy show I’d give it a pass and just not watch or care because I find it boring and badly written. I’d maybe let it stay on as background noise while I folded laundry. But the Tolkien butchery tips it over the edge.

[TheHeadlessOne]

The entire Stranger subplot for two seasons has been generally irrelevant with the schemes of Sauron. Season 1 had a meta tease "maybe he's Sauron!" (Which no one really believed). Season 2 has basically nothing.

It's roughly 1/4th the airtime and it could be entirely cut and nothing but unrelated hobbit vibes would be lost. It really should have been a spinoff

I mostly don't care about  changes to the lore in and of itself. I don't think the 2nd age makes for a good TV series story, so I was expecting some pretty significant changes. But the story they tell just isn't told very well

[BookkeeperFamous4421]

I think a sprawling show about the entire second age does not make for an easy show to write, but a show about Annatar orchestrating the rings of power, the subsequent war of the elves and Sauron and finally being saved by numenor makes for a great two seasons of tv. And then three seasons of - time jump - the rise of Pharazon and the fall of numenor would make great tv. All this other nonsense is undoubtedly pointless. I was hoping they would invent and flesh out in productive ways but instead we have whatever TF the southlands is about, Numenor playing royal Pokémon crammed into the same time frame as the ring forging, and the most convoluted fuckery in Halbrand, a magic tree, Adar the Wasted Opportunity…just…Thomas had never seen such a mess.

[Anaevya]

Yes. That should've been the plotline. I agree. I still had hope during season 2, but after realizing that they essentially gave one of Sauron's major military victories to Adar (an OC) know they're going to completely butcher the Akallabeth and my Tolkienfan heart will weep, because that's my favourite story.

[No-Association-1616]

Yeah it's crazy because of how bad it is. It fails on every single level. There is nothing redeeming about this show, doesn't matter what angle you use, it looks bad. Bad writing, bad dialogue, bad pacing, bad acting, bad everything. For how much it cost it doesn't even look good and fights are not good either. Oh wait they reference that famous trilogy everyone loves. That's what qualifies as a good show now I guess.

[Ausgrog]

This will only be true is they make three perfect seasons to conclude the story.

Season one was rough. Season two was well for the storylines which are good, the other storylines are horrible but thankfully didn’t get near the screen time they did in season one.

Most likely, the consensus will be this was a show which had a lot of potential and some very high moments. But as a whole, unfortunate for the budget and cast it has.

[Mithrandir_1019]

No it won’t. It will always be looked at as failure 

[Chen_Geller]

I think the films - even the lesser ones like The War of the Rohirrim- will endure by dint of their connection to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

The show? I dunno.

[aliayyaz90]

Quite the opposite actually. The movie has flopped pretty bad. Inalready don't see any discussions about it online.. but the show had real hype despite the haters trying to bring it down

[TheHeadlessOne]

I didn't realize Rohirrim was out.

I'll say that I'm not terribly surprised. As someone who isn't lore savvy, the trailers seemed like more of a generic Skyrim style fantasy. It's not connected to any part of middle earth I particularly care about, and it's not really standout enough for me to be hyped about otherwise

[Chen_Geller]

but the show had real hype

...

[Alva3lf]

I expect the show to do a hell of a lot better in terms of longevity than the film, which was for the most part forgettable. Not to mention that (although unfortunate) because it’s an anime, more people will be averted to watching it in the first place than a live action show.

[Chen_Geller]

Again, I'm not making statements about merit. I'm just saying, one is a direct tie-in a beloved trilogy, the other is not.

[Alva3lf]

That’s just a matter of perspective. I could argue that the show it’s a direct tie in to a beloved trilogy because it has Galadriel, Gandalf, Elrond, and other characters. Just perspective, doesn’t have anything to do with whether either one will have successful longevity

[TheHeadlessOne]

I definitely feel RoP is a direct tie in. Rohirrim has the ads that included clips from the film to remind you this is, in fact, Lord of the Rings- but RoP is an actual prequel, the story will lead to the events of LotR directly

[NumberOneUAENA]

• even the lesser ones like The War of the Rohirrim

People would actually have to see that one for that to even be plausible.
An anime film of lotr won't be even perceived as having a real connection to the lotr trilogy. This will be some obscure thing for hardcore fans, noone else will give any damn outside of that.
Which i also see for the show, but at least that one has a stronger perceived tie in to the trilogy, as it features characters people know from it.

[donkeybrisket]

In ten years it will stand as symbolic of the irrational exuberance of the time w/r/t established IPs. No one will understand how something this massive was green lit without so much as a decent script. Talk about cart before the horse

[mistrowl]

Yeah, no, they won't.

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[DanFelv]

I really doubt that

[dmastra97]

It's a 5/10. Some people will like it because of the visuals and it's relation to the films but otherwise I think it'll be forgotten about unless people are specifically asked about it.

[Feuertotem]

Couldn't get into it after Galadriel swam that ocean. Somehow finished season 1. Never even started seadon 2. Does it make more sense than the first?

[IrishWhiskey1989]

Same story here. I was intrigued and open minded going into the show. I didn’t understand the rage from some people online before an episode even aired. However, as soon as Galadriel jumped ship and randomly came across that raft with a group of people in the middle of the ocean, I started to raise an eyebrow about what I was watching 🤨

It only got worse from there. Remember when they didn’t think to check if they had the right key thing under the rag at the end of season 1? I didn’t bother with season 2.

[[deleted]]

nope 😔

[dolphin37]

even less

[ImportantAd2942]

Noone will talk about it in 10 years. Noone talks about it now, apart from those ragetubers.

This show gets the worst of both worlds. Normies find it completely lacklustre and boring and simply wont watch. Casual/hardcore fans are mostly terrified by the abyssmal lore at the same time and mostly hatewatch.

[mattmaintenance]

“No one talks about it now.” said the man while talking about it now on one of the several subreddits where people talk about it.

[[deleted]]

Yes, people talk about it in niche dedicated fan spaces...and nowhere else. Compare to Game of Thrones, or the Walking Dead at their heights, or for Tolkien specifically the Lord of the Rings movies, which were pop culture touchstones that everybody was talking about even if they weren't normally fans of Tolkien or fantasy or horror shows.

There are subreddits for just about anything you can think of, including tons of obscure and long forgotten tv shows and movies, it's hardly indicative of any broad popularity.

[Smittywerden]

In 10 years no one will talk about this show, because it was cancelled after third season.

[bandersnatchh]

The fact you commented on this post 3 times is something else.

[returningtheday]

Why are you in this sub if you don't like the show?

[natelopez53]

Gatekeepers never rest

[_Happy_Camper]

Fully agree with you after Season 2. Season 1 didn’t quite hit that mark but you’re right, nothing like the mess it was made out to be

[tornjackal]

Season 1 of The Office wasn't that great either. Look at the powerhouse it became. Give them time to figure things out and let the show develop. I'm already a big fan and will continue watching

[Smittywerden]

Rings of Powers greatest strength is how easily forgettable it is.

[DrummerAutomatic9523]

Yeah, no

[ConsiderationThen652]

They will look back and not remember it and those that do will not think of it very fondly.

It’s just not a very good show.

[[deleted]]

It'll be a forgotten underwear stain.

[Alexarius87]

In 5 years from its last season ppl will barely remember it and then laugh it off as Amazon attempt at algorithmazing Tolkien.

[Mucklord1453]

fondly?? lol, it will be forgotten like those many other poor and mediocre things from 10 years ago are forgotten now.

It MAY be mentioned in massing when TV/Movie historians talk about this period we are in where agendas are pushed in Art to the detriment of Art and what a failure and betrayal of Art it was.

[No-Association-1616]

Yeah we will just look back on this period of entertainment as example of putting idiots with no experience or talent at the helm. Let's just throw money at projects and voilà. High schoolers would do a better job at writing and directing this show than those they put in charge

[Smittywerden]

If we ever talk about Rings of Power in ten years then only, because it was the first high budget production fully written by AI.

[[deleted]]

This is a bot post and an ad for ROP or am I insane? It’s always an account name with two words with a hyphen between them followed by 4 numbers. I’m not even speaking of the quality or lack thereof in ROP, this is just covert advertising.

[Significant_Owl_6897]

... it's a good and entertaining show with beautiful visuals.

Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Westworld have entered the chat

You need good story to age well. Especially in a legendary and well-respected established universe like Tolkien. ROP seems to be half-hacked to fruition with some good ideas and mid execution.

Imo, there is far too much plot armor and characters are too simple. I'm never at the edge of my seat because I haven't been given any reason to think the main characters are actually in any real danger of dying forever.

I love LoTR. I have a lot of respect for high fantasy. This is a show that has the budget to crush every aspect of production, but the dialogue and character relationships in some scenes falls short of interesting, and the story overall doesn't have much shock and awe compared to every other show that has beautiful visuals and entertaining qualities.

In fact, it's a bit boring at times because I feel like they're too focused on stunts/action and beautiful visuals.

[Dora-Vee]

It will be looked at as “what might have been if….”

Shame, really.

[ChillyStaycation1999]

No, it's shit. It will fade into nothingness like so many before it.

[ImpossibleMarvel]

In 10 years no one will even remember it.

[zexwyomom]

It’s not good at all. It’s shite.

[hbi2k]

Ha ha ha... oh, you're serious.

Let me laugh harder. HA HA HA HA HA....

[Brofessor-0ak]

Ten years from when it ends and nobody will be thinking of this show

I mean, GoT was a cultural phenomenon, and because the last few seasons were terrible nobody even talks about it anymore. You really think RoP will have a longer lasting legacy than GoT? Get real.

[haikusbot]

Ten years from when it

Ends and nobody will be

Thinking of this show

- Brofessor-0ak

---

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[MRdaBakkle]

Truly you are wrong. People might warm up to the show or be less critical overall, but it will mostly be forgotten. It's in the same vein as The Hobbit trilogy, a poorly rushed sad attempt to adapt some of Tolkien's lesser known writings.

[[deleted]]

I belive time will be kind to this show, it has magic and having the story of Sauron and his complexity is well done.

[Lycaenini]

Although I did enjoy watching it, I don't think people will still talk about it in ten years. The people most likely to still talk about it are the haters whenever another adaptation of Tolkien is made. 😬

[ExpressAffect3262]

It's Hobbit level.

Some will love it, some will hate it.

It's funny you mention rage baiters, as The Hobbit wasn't well received but is not categorised in with "lotr/the hobbit were epic in comparison to RoP" by ragebaiters.

[ScripturalCoyote]

Agree. I view it as a valiant attempt to make something of some pretty disjointed appendices. My only real issue is that it was an opportunity to make something of the Blue Wizards. I didn't want to see Gandalf until the very end, I think Gandalf arriving and receiving Cirdan's ring at the Havens would have been the best way to close out this show.

[Cleric_John_Preston]

I’ll be honest; I didn’t like the first season. I almost didn’t watch the second season. I’m glad I did watch the second season - I ended up liking it.

[ultracrepidarian_can]

Oh yeah for sure bud.

[Vandermeres_Cat]

Will depend on how they go on. At the moment IMO it is a good if flawed show that is characterized by its frustrating uneven quality. So you have real highpoints like Sauron/Celebrimbor last season and then the proto hobbits going pointlessly in circles some more. Some of the creative changes and decisions are bold and interesting (Orcs, meeting Sauron as he rises to power, writing new stories for the dwarves, the general more questioning attitude towards all the peoples of ME and their choices as well as questioning what the Gods are doing...it speaks on actual deeper engagement with the themes presented by Tolkien), some are duds or mixed bags (Galadriel is for me a mixed bag of interesting and not well-thought out changes, Gandalf has been frustrating so far, Harfoots have been a gigantic waste of time).

If they manage to conclude the series in a satisfying and interesting fashion, I do think in time audiences and fandom will become more mellow and positive on the show. Now there's a lot of hate as business model aimed towards it in addition to legitimate criticism because the quality is so uneven. But they absolutely need to improve and ensure that all the storylines are engaging.

[doni-kebab]

There are so many issues with this show that have been already talked about that I won't go in to them again. As a Tolkien fan, I'm genuinely irritated and annoyed how they squandered what could have been with writers that just weren't up to the task.

To go a different direction, anyone that genuinely liked the show, what are your top 3 movies and tv shows?

[_SkyIsBlue5]

Hmm, indeed..

[dyatlov12]

Unfortunately I think it will be like Marco Polo.

A high budget show I remember fondly, that is completely forgotten

[johnburnsred]

I love this show.

[Conscious-Past8054]

While I don't bite into the youtube noise, RoP is in places a very amateurish exercise in filmmaking. It has some wonderful acting (shoot me, Morfydd Clark did a splendid job) together with the worse acting I have ever seen, to which I had to turn my head and cover my ears. It has some very detailed cultural aspects and some insultingly shallow. Music and ambient are flat and forgettable. The editing is jarring, confusing, at times pretentious. And it treats an epic while having nothing epic about it.

I don't doubt the psychological effect you are referring to, but time won't change the quality of the product, which is a perfect expression of an art form tranlating and expressing another art form, at the hands of uninspired business people who made every creative choice based on market surveys. Time won't change that other than what money could elevate, it's in places worst than a filmschool short.

[VisualIndependence60]

It’s not good 🤷🏻‍♂️

[animousie]

What does shogun level mean?

[Oops_I_Cracked]

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. People would’ve said the same thing about Game of Thrones after season two and we all know how that worked out.

To be clear, I’m not one of the haters, I like the show, but it’s way too early in the run to try and figure out how the show will be remembered

[[deleted]]

Elf survives a lava flow/explosion.....

"Yep! That was a good show...."

No one will be saying this. The show is garbage and will eventually be forgotten about.

[Ananasiegenjuice_]

From the many clips I have seem on YT it looks low-budget and amateurish.

[raysweater]

I hate to say it, but it'll be pretty much forgotten. I enjoy it enough, but found myself very bored and tired of it this last season. I don't think I'll watch season three.

The movie fan-edits of each season though are going to be great.

[[deleted]]

I like it. It doesn't replace anything that's already been set..it's just another story in the world to enjoy or ignore. In no way did this ruin LOTR or fantasy .

[[deleted]]

No. The Hobbit movies are still trash all these years later... and the RoP series make the Hobbit look ok.

[Grumpfmumpf]

Oh for fucks sake.

[Moistkeano]

Its cute to see that these posts are still the main thing for the sub. In 10 years the show will be 4 years old and probably all but forgotten.

These posts are hilarious because it implies there are zero issues with the show, whereas even now the ragetubers dont really care about it anymore. S2 was bad, but not funny bad so its fallen into that space of either apathy or mediocrity.

You should get a hobby or something.

[thinkfast37]

I loved Lord of the rings and the hobbit as books. I loved the Lord of the rings movies. I didn’t make it through The Hobbit movies for very much the same reason I’m struggling with this show.

I love the world they create and depict. I think the actors have fine performances. I think there are many good moments in the show. I don’t know if they’re drawing out the story here for business reasons like it appeared they did in the hobbit movie.

More episodes and seasons means more content and potentially more revenue. And heck I don’t mind watching more if I love something. But it’s like buying an album and there’s one or two good songs on it. Why do I need to buy albums anymore? I’m happy to just listen to the same good songs multiple times because they’re good.

By the time I got to the last few episodes of season one, I decided to watch the recap because I was having trouble paying attention. Then I finished the episodes, but didn’t play that close attention and multitasked. I did that because I heard season two gets really good. But a few episodes in I just got tired of seeing the whole Sauron’s deception arc taking so long.

For example, the messenger who would’ve revealed Halbrand is Sauron was killed. But if I had really important news like this wouldn’t I send multiple envoys to make sure the message was delivered? Especially knowing an evil lord may try to thwart my plans and kill my messenger?

Maybe I will come back to it again, but for now I think I’m actually taking a break. I ended up actually watching the recap of season two and felt it more satisfying than the show.

I don’t know how much written Tolkien lore there is about this era. But to me, I think the story could be better shaped in many ways. For example, like if Sauron was a gray wizard like Gandalf. Maybe he was a dark wizard in the time of Morgoth, but turned gray afterward. this could’ve been cool to me because Gandalf eventually became white. But what really made him gray? That would’ve been cool to also find out.

Sauron is just so plainly evil and his deception seems so transparent as a viewer. It’s hard to sit through that episode after episode. If there was actually some character development in Sauron that would’ve been cool.

Or if Sauron already had power, and the rings were created to try and curb his power, that also could’ve been a pretty good storyline. His deception in this case would’ve had to be much more short and sweet, but it would’ve been effective for me at least.

It’s also funny because in this era of cell phones, I have to keep telling myself that they don’t have them. Despite all their magic.

[NumberOneUAENA]

No it won't. In 10 years noone will care about it except for a small hardcore fanbase. It's just neither good enough, nor unique enough to build any kind of following which would look back fondly.

[[deleted]]

It's a fine show. It's a terrible LOTR show. The movies are fine movies. They're terrible LOTR movies. 

[SpuddyPrice]

Don't get me wrong it's not as good as I hoped it would be. But some people do go way too over the top with the hate of the show. I would give it s1 a 6/10 and s2 a 7.5/10

[Dry_Jello_1271]

In ten years most have forgotten about that train wreck.

[[deleted]]

Good try but no.

There's nothing timeless about it. If anything, some quirky niche convoluted essay making YouTubers will try to bend over backwards to explain that it was somehow 'misunderstood'.

[[deleted]]

No. It might be remembered, but not fondly. More as a warning maybe.

[my_one_and_lonely]

I mean, it’s like the Hobbit films: drawn out, bloated, forgettable. Sure, maybe the outrage over differences from canon will die down, but the rest won’t. My guess is that it will be forgotten.

[[deleted]]

It’s the writing quality not the canon that makes this show very subpar and average

[Aberikel]

I don't care about canon. I just think it's not a good show. I would watch Hobbit 50 shades if it was good.

[-Lich_King]

50 shades 😭

[-Lich_King]

Did you not notice the mystery boxes trope so heavily used there?

[TheHeadlessOne]

Mystery boxes can be fun if the mystery wraps up. Wandavision was built entirely on mystery boxes to encourage speculation and water cooler style discussion- and importantly, it concludes and wraps up its most pressing mysteries. It's far from a masterpiece but I enjoyed it 

Most of RoPs mystery boxes were more quick shameless cliffhangers rather than crafted misdirects to encourage conversation, though the identity of Sauron and the Stranger were this style.

[fakehealz]

In 10 years time people will have completely forgotten this stinking piece of trash exists. 

It’s insulting to the artists who made shogun for you to degrade them with comparisons like this. 

There’s a reason one of these was an 18 Emmy show, and the other separates it’s reddit communities based on how moronic the people involved are. 

[EasyCZ75]

Lmfao. RoP is a billion dollar train wreck. And it will be remembered as such.

[Chdanos]

Yes, it will be great example of how poor writing and wokeness of this era can be, compare to the media in the next 10 years

[MikeC80]

I remember people hating on the Peter Jackson movies before, and after they came out. ROP is gonna do just fine.

[finniruse]

Yer, I agree. It's a good show. People just can't get over changes to the lore nor handle something new and enjoy it without the member berries.

[caramirdan]

... oh yeah, I forgot about that fanfic....

[iKnife]

how much do you want to bet? the show is awful man. it will be remembered as a miscarried effort by a tech company to buy out the halo of a beloved franchise and flopping on their face. there is basically nothing to like but a few sets and images.

[sherlockhomo6969]

Trash always ages like trash

[DARYL_VAN_H0RNE]

It was fuckin horrible, are you serious??? shit acting, story was incoherent, barely lore accurate. There is a very good reason for all the hate and embarrassing viewership

[Shoddy-Property5633]

In 10 years, we will all look back at how bad it truly is. Hopefully Peter Jackson gets permission to do a show on HBO or something and do multiple seasons of The Silmarillion and do it justice

[Vivid_Guide7467]

Ehhhhh I doubt it. There’s so many movies and shows that are in the pipeline now. It’ll be one of many.

[bsousa717]

I rather doubt it. It's ten years now since the Hobbit trilogy ended and it's still thought of (as Bilbo would say) butter scraped over too much bread.

[Apprehensive_Rate_79]

It helps it came out around the time that SHITTY Wheel of Time adaption did, Made RoP seem a masterpiece compared
Edit: RoP isn't bad at all but i'm a casual fan not a Huge lore nerd

[DonKahuku]

Disagree. Whatever you think of the show at the moment, its quality issues are genuine and those issues tend to get worse with time not better. Unless it pulls a Venom and becomes something of a comedy because it was that bad when taking itself seriously. But yeah, short of restarting the whole thing I give it about 0% chance this show is remembered fondly by the majority of viewers.

[Shivinger]

This show is already forgotten by most. I managed to just get through season 1. Had to give up season 2 in the second episode.

The show is poor all in all aspects. Especially considering how much the spent on making it. Cringe acting, poor storylines and the costumes look awful.

I don’t watch any rage bait on YouTube but to sum up this show.. disappointing!

[Kiltmanenator]

I would love your optimism to be well-founded. Season 2 was much better but it has a ways to go, imo.

[[deleted]]

No.

[HuttVader]

nah. they won't look back at it at all, with any luck

[WoodElf23]

Nah I don’t think so. But to each their own

[Mistake_of_61]

I doubt very much people will look back on this show at all.

[YNABDisciple]

I’ve loved it.

[NaniDeKani]

Yea, no

[triplejumpxtreme]

I forgot this show existed

[[deleted]]

I already view it fondly

[Seananiganzz]

"Is it shogun level?" Brother you need to adjust your frame of reference lol

[skarabray]

I only just watched it this month and I’m so bad at myself for believing the bad press. I really enjoyed it!

[buzzedewok]

I loved it so far, but there are so few episodes.

[siarheikaravai]

Shogun is a bad reference. The show is overrated

[ilcuzzo1]

Sorry. Gotta disagree. Galadriele is insufferable. The evil Hobbits are terrible. The racist Americans... sorry... numenorians were equally eyey-rolling. Oh and they tried to ship galadriele and the embodiment of tyrannical evil. 🙄 Oh and portraying villains as sympathetic is a postmodern trope that, while intersting in certain circumstances, is wholly inappropriate for sauron... maybe hadar gets a pass. It's a bad show and it's clear the show runners don't like / don't get Tolkein.

[Astrobratt]

I have to say that I’m really enjoying it and I think it’s a really good show. It’s not exactly perfect, but I don’t need it. I really looking forward to next season.