https://www.youtube.com/@DoffenGG
Gaming and WoW stuff
They obviously exist but they're not what LOTR is about. Also just because sexuality isn't on display doesn't mean a relationship is platonic. You can perfectly display relationships without sex scenes. If anything, sex scenes generally don't really add anything to characterization and are just there to attract the coomers.
Iirc the series will take place in the Second Age. There'll be plenty events to cover that will keep viewers entertained without requiring shoe-horned Game of Thrones style relationships, casual sex and the depiction thereof.
Since I like fantasy, even if they F it up it might be ok to watch. I dont expect it to be great, I will watch until I start to get annoyed.
Tolkien was a strict christian who viewed sex as sinful. It would be kind of disrespectful to the author to include nude scenes just to please horny teens and sell the show with sex the way GoT did.
Edit: At least with GoT the sex made sense. Anybody who's read the books knows what I mean.
Exactly this. There's plenty of relationship drama in the second age for the show to expand on, from the note that Celebrimbor (maker of the 3 elven rings) was in unrequited love with Galadriel, to the story of the Mariner's Wife (being on of the more complete stories of the age), where Aldarion who is the king's heir has quite a back and forth relationship with Erendis who not being of the royal line had a shorter lifespan which further complicated things (since his passion for exploring and seafaring led him to be away more often than not). As they become estranged she imparts her bitterness on their daughter Ancalimë who ends up swearing off men entirely, despite and partly because of the numerous suitors pursuing her (one even pretending to be a shepherd to get close to her).
Despite her ending up marrying anyway just to procure an heir (either to spite or stop a cousin who was vying for the throne), her hatred for men stayed, even so far as preventing her maidservants from marrying (but being tricked to a mass wedding for them by her husband to be), and later preventing her granddaughters from marrying. And Erendis ended up drowning as she in old age had a change of heart, and hearing that Aldarion was returning to shore travelled to the port but was lost before reuniting (sadly there's only the footnote by Tolkien so no details on how).
Then of course there's the final rulers, where the rightful queen Tar-Míriel is forcibly taken as wife and usurped by her cousin, who (being decieved by Sauron) leads the land to its downfall. Biggest issue is that the earlier more detailed stories are a few hundred years before things really kick off with Sauron and the rings, but hopefully Amazon manages to weave stuff together in a way that isn't too jarring.
Modern gaming apologist: I once tasted diarrhea so shit is fine.
"People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an excercise of power, are barbarians" - George Lucas 1988
i would say this is the red flag for me, you don't try to dumb down stories, you try to make then epic, if they start focusing too much on characters they can neglect the world and the stories around, this is something i can see as a problem like it is in wow now.
Lotr show the characters but they focused on the story per se, in their objectives.
Maybe you don't need to do that, i doubt material will not be enoughSay it gets a second season. 16 hours. You will have to show more of the characters and their lives. Otherwise you have meaningless action hero husks.
its not pretend they don't exist or platonic, its just is totally pointless and not necessary at all to be show as a focus, mention romance and have then is different than heavy focusing on then that you even have to show sex scenes to get the GoT hype.And pretending that romantic relationships don't exist in this universe and everyone is only platonicly linked is weird. It was potrait like this in the movie. But Tolkien did have quite a few romances mentioned in his books. Particularily the Silmarillion from which the TV show borrows heavily as far as i know.
Like Lotr romance was fine even when they add screen time with Arween, but it was ok, it was not the focus and was bearable.
the nonsensical romance in the hobbit though, that was cringe and not even canon.
Last edited by Syegfryed; 2020-10-12 at 12:58 PM.
I wouldn't say there's "plenty" written about the Second Age. There's the Annuls of Kings Appendix in LotR, the Akallabeth in The Silmarillion, and the Maps of Numenor section in Unfinished Tales. That's about it, and it adds up to about 70 pages worth of material.
Granted, that may be a good thing for the show, as the writings of the Second Age basically just form an outline of what happened, leaving the show to fill out all of the details.
Professor of History at Dalaran University
But there is plenty of more written material produced than just in those three books. Those are the most common ones that you may stumble upon but then there's the whole plethora of his letters and the extra material provided in books like History of the Middle-Earth
Modern gaming apologist: I once tasted diarrhea so shit is fine.
"People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an excercise of power, are barbarians" - George Lucas 1988
When I refer to peter Jackson, I am referring to the style of the movie and not the story.
The History of Middle-Earth is not really source material; it's an academic study. It's full of changes and contradictions since it's a study of the entire body of Tolkien's work, including all of his early drafts. I'd argue the material in the Appendices of LotR, the Akallabeth, and the Maps of Numenor are the only canonical works touching on the Second Age.
Professor of History at Dalaran University
If what they did for LotR is barley "bearable" for you... i am sorry but there was nothing at all. 5 minutes in 12 hours. There was that short exchange in rivedale in the extended version.
Also i never said it has to be the focus. This is not a CW show. Look at the boys. It has relationships and stuff but it is... barely a subplot. They make people more relatable.
And agreed the hobbit romance was stupid in not fitting for the universe or the movie.
And i don't say they should put the focus on it. Just that the existence of it in the tvshow, even if there is a respectfull sex scene, doesn't inherently make the show bad.
On a side note but in the same line: I am also for making it more bloody. Not spartacus bloody. And not blood for the sake of blood. Because for all its wars, LotR never had real impact, in regards to its soldiers, in its wars. There are two points were i felt sad in fights. Boromirs and Haldirs deaths. The rest were ragdoll deaths i did not care about. But i can live without it as the whole premise was more about heroism than the horrors of war and maybe be the wrong universe to adress it.