Possible unpopular opinion here: the “Tolkienverse”… Is not the kind of world to do these “complex, allegorical explorations of character” in.
It’s simply… Not the kind of way Tolkien wrote. Especially in regards to his (essentially) immortal villains (specifically Sauron, Morgoth, Shelob and Ungoliant)…
That’s fine, but these really aren’t those kind of books.
You can do this kind of “antihero” stuff with Harry Potter. You can do it with Star Wars.
But when you start doing it with Tolkien, the Norse Sagas, or hell, The Old Testament for example, it really… Just starts to fall apart. And I really wish we wouldn’t.
I really do not think this will be looked back on favorably in the future, let’s say…
There is a lot of depth in LOTR but it follows themes that are very different from the stories that modernity wants to see. Modernity wants to see evil characters who are sympathetic and “good” characters who do bad things for good reasons (with the moral being that nobody is truly good or truly evil). On the other hand, Tolkien’s stories are about the contradictory natures of good and evil, and the seductiveness of evil that everyone struggles against.
Personally, I think Tolkien’s version is closer to reality than modernity’s. Evil deeds are just a manifestation of people’s desires; desires that are placed on the wrong things and/or pursued without consideration or restraint. Evil is actually very simple. Any perceived “complexity” is just a result of the machinations people employ to satisfy their desires. Any “good” people who are struggling with a morally grey decision are almost always struggling because the obviously right decision requires self-sacrifice (something they don’t want to do), or they simply don’t have the moral clarity to understand right from wrong.
There are some interesting, complex characters in the lore like Feanor and his children. But from what I hear this show isn't about them and they don't have those rights. Anyway this was always destined to be total garbage and I don't see why anyone is surprised.
Possible unpopular opinion here: the “Tolkienverse”… Is not the kind of world to do these “complex, allegorical explorations of character” in.
It’s simply… Not the kind of way Tolkien wrote. Especially in regards to his (essentially) immortal villains (specifically Sauron, Morgoth, Shelob and Ungoliant)…
That’s fine, but these really aren’t those kind of books.
You can do this kind of “antihero” stuff with Harry Potter. You can do it with Star Wars.
But when you start doing it with Tolkien, the Norse Sagas, or hell, The Old Testament for example, it really… Just starts to fall apart. And I really wish we wouldn’t.
I really do not think this will be looked back on favorably in the future, let’s say…
Nothing wrong with your opinion but Amazon clearly doesn’t care about Tolkien’s work
There is a lot of depth in LOTR but it follows themes that are very different from the stories that modernity wants to see. Modernity wants to see evil characters who are sympathetic and “good” characters who do bad things for good reasons (with the moral being that nobody is truly good or truly evil). On the other hand, Tolkien’s stories are about the contradictory natures of good and evil, and the seductiveness of evil that everyone struggles against.
Personally, I think Tolkien’s version is closer to reality than modernity’s. Evil deeds are just a manifestation of people’s desires; desires that are placed on the wrong things and/or pursued without consideration or restraint. Evil is actually very simple. Any perceived “complexity” is just a result of the machinations people employ to satisfy their desires. Any “good” people who are struggling with a morally grey decision are almost always struggling because the obviously right decision requires self-sacrifice (something they don’t want to do), or they simply don’t have the moral clarity to understand right from wrong.
There are some interesting, complex characters in the lore like Feanor and his children. But from what I hear this show isn't about them and they don't have those rights. Anyway this was always destined to be total garbage and I don't see why anyone is surprised.
Shadow of War is more thematically consistent with Tolkien's works than this shit show