"there aren't any LGBT characters because Tolkien was Catholic."
Right, because all the other 1950s fantasy books were just brimming with gay and transgender characters! 🤦‍♂

The LOTR does not need to reflect the world of today.  It needs to reflect itself.

I'm so happy I live in Eastern Europe and I don't contribute any penny to Amazon's wallet, especially for this awful show.

"Do you know why a stone sinks?"
Must be the dumbest thing I ever come across in a TV show.

Holy crap… she actually DID demand to speak to the manager! These writers are oblivious.

Ahh Bernard Hill, what a fine actor. Played his part of King Theoden of Rohan, memorable performance looked like a man who had seen battles and hardship. The good times.

"Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made" J.R.R Tolkien.

Rings of Power costs $60 million per hour, Peter Jackson's LOTR cost $43 million per hour (inflation adjusted). Yet somehow, even though he spent less, Peter managed to hire name actors, good writers, shot the whole thing on 35mm film and had much better cgi, costuming and props. Where did all of Amazon's money go?

Imagine creating a story beginning with the words, "In a hole in a ground, there lived a Hobbit..."
Only for your work to be snapped up by a greedy, money-hungry company immediately after your son's death, and they cannot even legally use the term of the creature that YOU created. All for them to release the show on the anniversary of your death.
I am beyond disgusted with Amazon, and refuse to believe that any good can come from this series.

“Why does a dumpster fire burn and a toilet flush?”  Nailed it, man.

Is Galadriel supposed to be the hero of this show? I think back to Gladiator, the first scenes show Maximus showing sympathy for his men and explaining how they are weak and hungry and deserve home. Galadriel ignores her men and pushes them to almost death as they are collapsing of exhaustion. She is not a leader, she is not a good character. Two episodes in and I want Sauron to win.

The 25 minutes of this video were more interesting than whatever we have seen so far on rings of power

No mention about how Amazon-owned Imdb has hidden all user reviews below 6 stars? They're playing really dirty with this one

I thought a ship floats because it displaces water, unlike a rock. I just learned that ships look up to the sky and rocks don't. That's the difference. Thanks Amazon!

She suffered a lot and saw things noone ever has , but she became a good swimmer after the horrible  kid destroyed her papership

Talked with people here in Denmark who watched it and don’t know anything about all this drama around the show and they all said they thought it was “meh” and boring.

The dialogue in this show reminds me of Mike Stoklasa's description of how the writers of Star Trek Picard believe they have written thought-provoking and inspirational dialogue, but it's nothing more than a jumbled word salad. It's as painful as listening to teen dialogue written by someone over the age of 50.

"Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath, now for ruin and the red dawn!"

That sole phrase and scene beats a billion dollar production.

I find the part where Elrond and Celebrimbor go to Khazad Dum just so odd. From the shots you can see there is clearly nothing and no one around. It's also clear that they don't have any packs with supplies so basically Elrond is leaving Celebrimbor in the middle of nowhere with no supplies, no shelter and just the grandma dress he's wearing. It's just a really odd scene.

Another thing I find strange is they give you absolutely no sense of time or scale. I'll be the first to admit that Peter Jackson played fast and loose with some things but one amazing thing he did was establishing a sense of time and scale. From the Fellowship leaving Rivendell to Gandalf and Pippin going to Minas Tirith you had a sense that it was a long journey. In RoP everyone is just magically at the next destination no muss or fuss. It's kinda disappointing.

I've struggled to define this. So here goes:

The problem with diversity casting is that it's  so blatant. The actors' qualities become more important than the actual character. So you become hyper aware of the person instead of the character. It's like a break in the 4th wall, or a mistake missed in post production. It has the same effect on the viewer. It makes the viewer self aware and takes them out of the story. The purpose of casting a black elf is a mechanism for others to see their likeness in characters better. It has nothing to do with the story and everything to do with the viewer. So the viewer becomes hyper aware of the actor, in a good or bad way.