Synopsis:
Each season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” reimagined as a feature film.
Intentions:
To present each season of “The Rings of Power” in a film structure that can sit alongside Jackson’s third age films.
Why: The Rings of Power has many issues as a show. To name a few - pacing, unfocused narrative, over-use of foreshadowing, and heavy use of direct quotes from Jackson’s films. But under all that is excellent material. Season 2 I think, particularly, shines as bright as any Tolkien adaptation to date.
Change List:
What’s cut/changed:
Season 1:
-The Harfoots storyline is trimmed to its bare minimum to establish the Stranger and Nori’s relationship, his estrangement and pursuit by the agents of the Dark Wizard. The migration storyline is gone, only implied as a part of their culture. Poppy and Sadoc are featured.
-Numenor is heavily trimmed for pacing. The decision to help the Southlands happens all at once, and not in stages. Elendil and Miriel are fleshed out as characters, and Galadriel very briefly visits the Hall of Lore to make the connection between Sauron’s mark and the Southlands. The Faithful versus The King’s Men setup for later seasons is included through Galadriel and Miriel’s accounts of their history and present context, but the strange “Elves are taking our jobs” scene and much of Ar-Pharazôn is cut. Valandil and Ontomo are background support, and their friendship with Isildur and Earien is not featured merely due to time constraints. Halbrand’s time alone in Numenor is not seen, which better preserves the central mystery of “who is Sauron”.
-Bronwyn dies. Given they gave her a death fake out twice in the original, and then had to kill her off-screen before season 2, I think it works so much better that Theo reaches the Numenorian encampment to find she did not survive.
-Sadoc does not die in this version. He is seen in the Stranger’s farewell.
-Durin 3rd does not lose his title as prince, or continue to mine mithril after Elrond leaves – instead his father’s disapproval and decision not to help the elves is the implied reason for their being on the outs in film 2.
-Many scenes are moved around for better narrative flow. For instance – Adar learns the weapon he seeks is in the tower – cut directly to Theo learns what its significance is and the connection to Sauron. Waldreg mentions the meteor – Cut directly to the Dweller investigates the Stranger’s landing site – Cut directly to the three ladies attack the Harfoot settlement. The name of the game is momentum. None of this, teasing us with something small and then waiting 3 to 4 episodes for it to pay off… a little.
-Forodwaith appears in snippets but Galadriel and company are not seen exploring it. After the prologue and title card we go straight to Elrond.
-No Balrog tease. It was fanservice for fan service sake – a wink, wink promise for the future, which we now have in full. So unnecessary.
Season 2:
-The Harfoots and Stranger storyline is gone entirely. I got it down to 25 mins footage, but it simply didn’t fit. Given this storyline advances so little and is easily the weakest of the season, I’m happy to include what’s needed in a future edit.
-Sadly, Numenor is also gone. While not the strongest, this plot line in season 2 was enjoyable. Given the disconnect from the main storyline however, it did not fit in for time. Instead we learn of the events in Numenor through Isildur when he runs into Kemen. Miriel and Elendil appear briefly in the montage from episode 8 teasing viewers for what will doubtless be a more prominent role in the plot next season.
-Galadriel and Elrond DO NOT KISS. They have an emotional - but platonic - exchange where Elrond can still be seen slipping her the pin. She become his mother in-law, most of you will know this. Nuff said.
-Bronwyn is already dead, so no funeral. Theo and Arondir are on good terms in a quasi-father-son relationship, with any tension there removed.
-Estrid’s role is trimmed as much as possible for time. Her and Isildur have romantic tension but do not become as involved as in the original.
-Many trims are made to dialogue and action scenes for better flow and pacing. The Barrow Downs for instance come off as very heavy handed in the original for me, and is here tightened up considerably. Repeated exposition and any foreshadowing for foreshadowing’s sake is removed.
-The Balrog scene is moved forward for pacing, focus and flow.
-Durin 3rd, is not demoted, as aforementioned, he and his father are at odds over their position on mining mithril and helping the elves. This streamlines the beginning of the dwarves storyline so we can focus on the crisis they face, and how that fits into Sauron’s plan. Durin is still motivated by earning his father’s approval and conflicted when the ring enters that equation.
Additional Notes:
Technical Details: MP4 container. HVEC codec. AAC 5.1, 384kbps audio. 4K Source, compressed to 1080p but still HDR, 10-15GB each.
Runtime: Both films are approx. 4 hours 20 mins, which is in line with the Return of the King Extended Edition. I feel the longer runtime allows the narrative to breathe where it needs to.
Background: Long time fan-editing hobbyist , first time sharer. Passionate Middle Earth fan.
Other Sources:
For access: See Fanedit Central.
Special Thanks:
Credit: Huge shout-out to faneditor – Anjohan – whose season 1 edit inspired many of the narrative and editing choices for the first of these edits. Also to Jason Benullo Design, whose work I’ve used for the backdrop in the second film’s poster.