Tolkien Fans Fire Back After Being Called TROLLS for RoP Criticism

Large portions of the Tolkien fandom are being labeled as trolls and worse simply for not liking Amazon's Rings of Power. In this clip, I examine Forbes writer Erik Kain's epic response to the fandom being derided by shills and hack media outlets for their legitimate critiques of the show.
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[@nerdcookiesrants]

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed the video make sure to leave a LIKE!

[@johnwolf2829]

Just call it The Wrongs of Power.... everyone will know exactly what you mean.

[@GreatGreebo]

Christopher Tolkien would have been absolutely apoplectic over RoP. Simon Tolkien is a sell out.

[@GWNorth-db8vn]

Simon signed the contract for the rights two months after Christopher died. A lesser son of greater fathers. Faithless and accursed, he shall return in shame to the yacht from which he came.

[@yousircantknow8987]

Trust Fund gonna trust fund.

[@MrOskiee]

Can you honestly blame him come for selling the rights... Amazon offered truck loads of money, anyone would be stupid to turn it down.

[@alexg3434]

@@MrOskiee If you accept that he sees zero worth or value in JRRT's legacy, except as a vehicle for making money, then that is exactly right. It also follows that the rest of us (who, after all, are the vehicle by which such money can be made) are entitled to despise him and his fellow directors. Hence, ROP is failing. He will find it a lot harder to get significant value for the rights in future.

[@GreatGreebo]

@@alexg3434 Let’s not forget Simon’s past comments about his unhappiness with having to “live in the shadow” of his grandfather. He is a failed writer who appeared desperate for attention? adulation? fame? control? Either way, he finally found a way to get out of his grandfather’s “shadow”. He will forever be infamous as the callow, greedy sellout who allowed a huge corporation to desecrate his grandfather’s beloved stories while also completely disregarding his father’s (Christopher Tolkien) life work and last wishes. The entire Legendarium is now cheapened and “lesser” because of the action of this one, bad actor. It’s just so sad 🥺.

[@irishnotsane9365]

Simon Tolkien hates his grandfather’s work, the estate is the biggest reason this is being destroyed

[@PrometheanRising]

He's a moral and intellectual orc.

[@Banzai51]

There are passionate fans FOR the show??? The stats say otherwise.

[@LordEriolTolkien]

''The Canon Is Closed. It Was Made By One Who Is Dead. And The Fans Keep It.''

[@MaryDunford]

😂 I'd 👍this twice if I could. Brilliant.

[@fantasywind3923]

This oath shall stand in memory of the glory of the Land of the Star, and of the faith of Elendil the Faithful, in the keeping of those who sit upon the thrones of the West and of the One who is above all thrones for ever.

[@MickyChowMein69]

My eyes just rolled to the back of my skull when that pewling whelp suggested his making a tv show is like putting your life on the line to defeat evil. Here we go with their gibbering twaddle about how anyone who takes issue with this fake assed girlboss rubbish as some kind of bigot.

[@vardamir0397]

sad they're stuck with the mentality of a 15 year old gossip in high school and fail to realize labels placed on a thing doesn't make that so...they can call their critics trolls, doesn't mean they are...

[@triciacarr5019]

You, sir, know how to use English.

[@jesseparrish1993]

Unfair. Some of us are goblins.

[@skepticalsmurf]

or Hobbits 😉

[@sigmacademy]

Some might even be ogres. :P

[@lordfreerealestate8302]

I am an Uruk-Hai.

[@wesleystockford2616]

Never mind the Balrogs

[@lordfreerealestate8302]

The problem I have with the word "troll" is that people label anyone who disagrees with them as a "troll" these days. "Troll" generally meant someone being awful online, deliberately provoking a reaction, sending threats, or even some causes attacking family members of people they dislike. But people decide anyone with valid criticisms, disagreements, or simply not liking something gets labelled a "troll" as a way to shut down criticism. No, Amazon. Rings of Power was just not good. Not the writing, not the visuals, nothing.

[@jeffsmith5436]

Don’t forget misogynist, bigot, racist, Nazi, and Trump voter…I’m sure those epithets will be slung around as well against any and all detractors

[@gdubsterz1238]

It's so bad. I couldn't get through the pilot. What a waste of resources and money.

[@Power_Prawnstar]

Why is Payne calling his crew the fellowship? Its not LOTR. Cringe.

[@TaoScribble]

I don't think that people realize that each brand has a different set of expectations. You don't go to McDonald's expecting a 5-star steak. Likewise, fans of Lord of the Rings expect MUCH more than a broken, dollar store, mystery box romantasy. People aren't complaining for "no reason", and the show isn't "just fine" even on its own merits. Defenders of RoP are wild, I swear. XD

[@endorathewitchwriter1712]

I watched up to season one episode 4, that's all I could take.

[@baahcusegamer4530]

Why would you do that to yourself!? You need to take better care of yourself! Elaine is a professional. Let her do that dangerous stuff. You might have DIED!

[@AniMangHwa_]

Re-watch lotr to cleanse your soul like me

[@ericgibbs7692]

The show runners also called fans "patently evil. " So let's go with his logic that they are fighting a war. Well given all is fair in love and war, if I have to resort to being evil so be it as it becomes a necessary one. Wars aren't something to lose ergo all is lost even your cause.

[@barryf7253]

Simon Tolkien is a novelist like J.R.R. but doesn't do nearly as well as far as popularity. What I've heard is that he is bitter as a result, specifically that his grandfather was so much more successful than he. But he is not above profiting off his grandfather's success.

[@MadsThorlund]

Erik Kain from Forbes was shilling HARD for Rings of Power all through Season 1, it was only AFTER the show had ended, he admitted it was bad. Before that, he agreed fans were toxic. Do NOT jump on his bandwagon just because he needs more viewers and popularity on his own youtube channel and as a "journalist".

[@DdHenley307]

That's not true. I only know who he is because he was one of the few being honest about it. He also has a youtube channel where he talks about all the problems

[@langdalepaul]

I think you’re getting him mixed up with someone else.

[@shikiextend]

I've known about Erik Kain since the ME3 ending debacle. He has, to my knowledge, consistently been fair and spoken up for the fans even when it was unpopular to do so. He was one of the few writers in mainstream media to not regurgitate the "gamers are evil harassers" during the gamergate mess. It's gotten to a point where I could tell just by the headline if a Forbes article was written by Kain or Paul Tassi... who consistently has the _worst_ takes in everything.

[@MrCivilwar1861]

I watched the first season and tried to watch the second but never got past the first 3 episodes. After the first season came out I left a review on Amazon stating that I did not like it. Amazon sent me an email telling me they deleted my review and have given me a strike against my account and threatened to cancel my account. Just before the second season started I got another email out of the blue reminding me I had a strike against me. Crazy

[@yousircantknow8987]

Made up FaceBook nonsense. The money it would take to implement something like this isn't worth the time. He cursed and is embellishing instead of admiting a language bot didn't like his use of a word on a blacklist.

[@alexg3434]

@@yousircantknow8987 Nice made-up story, thank you.

[@MrCivilwar1861]

Don’t really know what you are talking about sorry. Real story not made up It actually happened to me. Amazon threatened to cancel my account and they definitely deleted my review.

[@SRMoore1178]

Just heard from another channel that Orlando Bloom, Ian, and Viggo may be interested in doing the planned LOTR Gollum movie and more. I fully support putting a wig on Viggo!

[@henryblunt8503]

Wiggo.

[@thekingofhim]

Producing the most expensive show ever for one of the largest corporation in the world = Frodo and Sam’s journey to save middle earth. 😂

[@Jacobarch1981]

Jokes on Amazon. I pirate ROP to hate watch with my wife. Even tho I have amazon prime. That's how much I hate what Amazon has done to LOtR

[@jjlebrams4421]

@@moon-moth1 I hate watch vicariously through youtube. LOL. It's not worth my time to watch it directly.

[@Power_Prawnstar]

That gave me a laugh, cheers 😂

[@troffle]

I do too, but I still can't bring myself to WATCH it. It's a lot less painful to just watch these reviews. In fact. How bad it is prompted me to go to a non-Amazon bookstore, to buy the books and read them.

[@fiddlechips8555]

Thank god. Thought I was the only one throwing on my VPN and riding the seven seas, just not to give them a view.

[@hanne5678]

I can live with new characters and new stories in the Tolkien universe, but not the bastardization of the work, or the way the known characters have been ruined, or the overall poor writing. For the record, I am female and I'm not angry, simply disengaged from the series.

[@12crows1]

Yeah, I don't watch anything Prime makes anymore. I'm not paying these guys for commercials, bad programing and a Prime site that is terrible. Why would I??? They are not giving equal value for my money.

[@Power_Prawnstar]

Reacher is pretty dang good

[@12crows1]

@@Power_Prawnstar Season 1 most certainly was, season 2 was just ok and both released before Prime Commercialized the platform.

[@Power_Prawnstar]

@@12crows1 yeah S2 was definitely not as good as S1

[@creatrixZBD]

yeah it's getting the chop in our fam too. I am not paying to watch ads, nor paying more to not see them, and the content offerings where I am are not compelling. Streaming in general is a bit not-that-great overall. I'd rather own my content on a hard drive or in hard copy.

[@12crows1]

@@creatrixZBD Yup!

[@MrJara1018]

“Fighting for” ….. they spent a billion dollars on this……

I keep thinking how fitting it is that they the Mary Sue named themselves after one of the worst and most amateur writing mistakes made by writers. It just seems so fitting for the name of their utterly crap site.

[@Bastion83]

It's either because they're too stupid to understand the context of the term, or because they think they can turn it into a term of empowerment. It Is Fitting, because everything they create is... utterly unlikable at best. Well said.

[@faynarawn4164]

It would almost be amusing if they used it ironically, but they probably think the character was unfairly maligned by bigoted nerds, and naming their site after her is some sort of "reclamation".

[@josabby474]

This has been a common corporate strategy for years when studios do remakes, revivals and sequels of brand names. The rage bait edge lords are very vocal. This stokes reactionary defenders begging audiences to give it a chance. The reactionary defenders often start attacking a previous popular adaptation that the newer show or film is existing because the previous adaptation was popular. It happened with CBS’s Elementary being made because of the the popularity of the BBC Sherlock. It happened with the 2016 Ghostbusters being made because of the popularity of the 1984 film. It’s happened with every Terminator sequel after terminator 2, the Jurassic World movies, the Frasier revival, etc. Now it is happening with RoP after the popularity of PJ’s films. (And there’s also all the post Last Jedi Star Wars stuff).They really like to rip on the Peter Jackson movies despite constant call backs and taking criticisms people had of the Hobbit movies and dialing those elements up to 11 without having fantastic performances from actors like Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellan, Luke Evans and Lee Pace. There is often race or gender bending or the inclusion of queer characters and when the bigots inevitably rage and use their dog whistles of “woke bs” and “stunning and brave.”the white male show runners like McKay and Payne use non WASP male actors to shied them from valid criticism. I challenge anyone to find anything remotely toxic in the criticism from channels like Nerd of the Rings, Tolkien Untangled, Just Some Guy, The Gold Man or the maker of this video Nerd Cookie rants. Outside of people liking the friendship of Elrond and Durin, there’s little to nothing people who say they like the show can say that can’t be copied and pasted to any other IP show or movie made because a studio thinks the brand is profitable. If the “positive” comments are mostly “can’t wait” “I like it” or “I don’t understand why this gets so much hate”

[@troffle]

In the 80s, we had "cyberpunk". Corporations were more powerful than governments. You could look at them like creatures: they excreted product, they grew, they multipled, they fed ON PEOPLE. Forty years on, people are just more used to the idea being nothing but a part of life. Tolkien likely would not have liked cyberpunk (certainly not as it is now). But seeing as the Tolkien theme of "the Machine is destroying the countryside and our lives" is... one of the themes of original cyberpunk... It only takes a couple of generations before the original meanings of something are lost, it gets replaced with the surface images and whatever meanings people attach to the surface images, and new media comes out along those lines. Put that through another generation... you get where we are now. Everything's about "representation", not ideas. We have... well, "Star Wars", "Star Trek", "Doctor Who"... "The Rings Of Power". Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" books were all about the sweeping patterns of a human society and how at a great scale, they were predictable and decaying. And AppleTV turned it into a garbage show based on the opposites of everything Asimov wrote about. Tolkien's ideas... well, the three Elven rings were all about resisting the advancing decay. In Letter 195, he wrote "Actually I am a Christian, and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect 'history' to be anything but a 'long defeat'". And so, his works are turned into "The Rings Of Power". I am not religious. I did not expect "history to be a long defeat". I always thought the species would improve. Tolkien thought things would get worse. Asimov was right. This was coming. It was inevitable. Because for all of our strengths and positives, we do also just make things worse. And damage and pervert them to MAKE A QUICK BUCK and raise the next generation on it. Because people are people; and mostly, not the good kind.

[@KingofMoorland]

Journalists like Rachael Leishmann are the very definition of 'tourists'. They might like an IP at a surface level but their main interest always comes back to politics. They will praise to the heavens any show that champions inclusion, diversity and 'modern day', even if those things destroy world building or directly contradict the source material. Being faithful to the author's vision always comes secondary to these aims so they will ignore in entirety any issues with writing, characters or direction and focus only on the superficial political messaging it contains. Of course, anyone highlighting either critical flaws with the basics of the show or the ham-fisted way they often shoehorn in the politics all get clubbed into the same group of the usual ists and isms. Often labelling wholesale these fans as toxic and not real fans. It worked for a long time. It shut most people up who didn't want to be labelled with these accusations. Thankfully that tide has turned. People are fed up and apathy has set in so these shows are now bombing hard and the journalists are lashing out in their irrelevance. No one listens to them any more and studios are finding out that courting the press for glowing reviews is a busted flush when the only attention these articles get is mockery. I hope we slowly get back to some sense of normalcy. Faithful and well written adaptations that are both engaging and entertaining. It's too late for Rings of Power and probably Ride of the Rohirrim but hopefully one day we will get a true representation of Tolkien on screen beyond the films and these activist infested publications will no longer be around to scream about it.

[@erikgoossens1]

👏👏👏Well said!!! That was absolutely spot on.

[@jjlebrams4421]

Aside from the atrocious plot and complete lack of adherence to Tolkien's world or thematic delivery, I think this would have been a better, more believable world if all the actors were all from Somalia or Nigeria. At least you could get past the incongruence of different races populating a monolithic fantasy world.

[@triciacarr5019]

I think I would have been more comfortable with it, because they’d be admitting right up front this has nothing to do with Middle Earth. They can put in black elves and dwarves of color, but that’s not LOTR, which was written as a distinctly English mythology. I quite like the Disa actress but she doesn’t belong there.

[@jjlebrams4421]

@@triciacarr5019 They also couldn't put as much modern audience morality into the show and it would be graded more on the merits of writing and acting, or lack thereof.

[@triciacarr5019]

@@jjlebrams4421 You know, maybe they understand they’re crap writers! They did what they did so their project couldn’t be criticized. Except by Trolls of course. I’m an Ice, how about you?

[@redrum3405]

Reviewers who don’t read and who aren’t fans can’t comprehend that book fans exist.

[@saladinbob]

If we are, we're precisely what Morgoth (Amazon) made us. We were all happy little Elves and Men until Melkor too Tolkien's life long work and twisted it into a corrupted parody of all that is good and decent in the world.

[@liamcore7203]

I tried to give it a view as a stand alone production without any Middle Earth connection. I could not, the movie scene rip offs just don't stop.

[@PrometheanRising]

The fact that these people will not engage with any of the mountain of criticism speaks for itself. They are truly reprehensible. I think that they legitimately believe that because they stand for what they perceive to be the correct things that it must, therefore, be a good show. That isn't even remotely how it works.

[@RB-sz9gv]

There are exactly ZERO passionate or even dispassionate fans of this garbage. ZERO.

[@deankruse2891]

Let’s be honest, a lot of “Tolkien fans” have never read the books.

[@alexg3434]

Let’s be honest, very few who try to defend ROP have ever read the books.

[@jjlebrams4421]

@@moon-moth1 I read LoTR before 95% of the cast and crew were born. I've reread it many times, and probably the Silmarillion even more. This series is in no way even a mediocre representation.

[@MaryDunford]

​@jjlebrams4421 My father had a box collection that included 'The Hobbit' as well as 'The Lord of The Rings' trilogy. I first read them when I was in grade four. I got into a heated debate with an old acquaintance when the films came out because I was thoroughly convinced it was a tetralogy rather than a trilogy. 🤦‍♀️lol But at least I read them. The Silmarillion was really dry though. Had a tough time with it until I was much older.

[@jjlebrams4421]

@@MaryDunford What a coincidence, I was in 4th grade too when I first read LoTR. Some people say that's too young to read and understand LoTR, but I loved it and I went on to read other fantasy and sci-fi books like Donaldson, Brooks, Howard, Leiber, Asimov and Douglas Adams. The first time reading it and not knowing what was going to happen next was great and I'm glad I read it before the movies came out, it would have spoiled the first reading for me.

[@sidnew2739]

Is that so? And YOU know that WHY exactly?

[@jamesc37]

It’s just not a good show

[@curtduval481]

My problem with RoP has nothing to do with casting choices or even ignoring canon. Both The Hobbit and LotR are stories about groups of sometimes very diverse individuals with common goals working together and bonding. RoP is about individuals.

[@henryblunt8503]

To be fair to the writers, they only had the copyright to the outline of the Second Age in the LOTR so they couldn't use most of "the lore" that the fans expected. But that doesn't explain or justify the silliness of their inventions or the dullness of the plot they came up with.

[@skepticalsmurf]

true,but they could have consulted some Tolkien scholars on lore/plot lines,etc 🤔

[@triciacarr5019]

Eh, I give em a pass on “lore”, too: some of the arguments about the correctness of this or that are just too much like work for me. But the writing! They do not know how to tell a story.

[@sigmacademy]

@@skepticalsmurf They HAD one of the best Tolkien Scholars in the world. He left, and then they got themselves "progressive Tolkien Scholars" who was SO RIGHT UP THEIR ALLEY and onboard with what they wanted to do. I have FAR MORE respect for the Scholar that LEFT.

[@skepticalsmurf]

@@sigmacademy guess the aforementioned scholar suggested they tone day the DEI being that Professor Tolkien's works were based on European folklore and myths : (

[@henryblunt8503]

@@skepticalsmurf A scholar might have helped them avoid breaching "the lore" while not using any copyright bits, I suppose, but it would probably mean putting most of what is in the LOTR appendices into the background and writing a story about something Tolkien hadn't written about - which would have annoyed the fans too. And would have been much more difficult.

[@acemanington]

Christopher Tolkien had more issues with Jacksons movies than just battle scenes. He wasn't a fan of any of the changes or things left out. He didn't like some of the casting, changing the actions of characters and giving them to others. Most of the changes were due to time and money. The only way to faithfully adapt The lord of the Rings would be 5 seasons of TV show 10 eps a season. Season 1and 2 the Hobbit, 3,4 and 5 the Lord of the Rings.

[@fiddlechips8555]

You have a billion dollar budget. You have to realize a character that is known as the great deceiver. Rangs of Prime puts the same actor in sh*tty wig. A wig!! A billion dollar wig!!!! Is this a high school theater club. A wig!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@All_Good_Things]

What even is the show, who is it made for? It definitely isn't for Lord of the rings fans. It's not even a good fantasy show of you take away the lotr name

[@philipbutler6608]

Well the bottom line is it’s losing money. The reason Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings is because people loved the Hobbit and wanted to know more about Middle Earth. They made money. They didn’t want to know what hobbits would do if they lived in 1940 or 2024. Nobody wanted to see Galadriel dump her husband and Daughter for Sauron. I just watched a 58 min KZbin about Tolkein’s Second Age that told more about middle Earth than 2 seasons of Rings of Power. And the guy got everything in the right Order he didn’t have people who were not alive in the beginning of the Second Age in a previous era. Amazon didn’t even explain the Edain or Half Elves. no Mention Of Elros. They have Two Durins alive when Dwarves believed that Durin reincarnated. The writers dont understand the difference between someone who is 60000 years old and someone who dies in under 100 years. Numenoreans lived 200-400 years. Middle Men 70’s. Hobbits about 100. Ruhn is in the East and Gandalf didn’t go into the east. It says so in the Two Towers B ook Four. They just got so much out of order. They should have started with the destruction of Morgoth and Beriland and the creation of Numenor. Normal people don’t know the differences between the Races how they were created and what their perspectives on life are. They don’t even explain the different races of men.

[@jemsmay2167]

I qualify as an informed passionate fan (have read the trilogy well over 20 times, watched the movies a similar number of times, have read The Hobbit, Silmarillion, the Children of Hurin, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun and Tolkiens notes multiple times. I even have a mint original LoTR pinball machine and have visited Tolkiens office and classrooms at Oxford. My take on RoP? The sets, costumes and scenes are lavish and well done. The casting missed the target and the writing is atrocious. We as fans set almost unreachable expectations for film adaptations of Tolkiens work and Jackson unexpectedly nailed it in his trilogy while Amazon has not. I really wanted to hate the trilogy (“nobody can adapt Tolkien…”) and loved it, and I really wanted to love RoP and sadly find it barely watchable and only suitable for deep geeks. Why is it so bad? RoP is working from the postscript notes at the end of the trilogy and the Silmarillion; the story telling is lacking in both of these sources so the show had to come up with their own stories and they are not doing a good job. Weak acting by key characters and casting that does not fit fan expectations exacerbates this problem. I will continue to watch but with very low expectations.

[@adalbertred]

Sure. I admit. I'm a troll. And, I am sorry for this. Starting now I decided to stop trolling this series, starting with not watching it anymore. I am also having second thoughts about my Prime subscription - God help, I don't want to troll Amazon with my money.

[@dareedle]

Let’s be honest, no one is watching this show, the numbers speak for themselves. This show was made for a modern audience and not for Chris/JR Tolkien fans and the modern audience is not showing up. Fans to the Jackson trilogy or the books are enjoying the fun fan content on X or YouTibe. In the old days we would be on these weid website and blogs and talk about our disdain of the show. Now we can have a trolly, comedic, parady retelling of the latest episode and not given all our mythrill to pay for an Amazon Prime sub. Basically you don’t have an audience, you gave Tolkien fans the middle finger, you have too many storylines and too many mystery boxes and bad dialogue.

[@klabauterbaer]

I've been a fan of LotR since my childhood. Started with the hobbit, reading the books, seeing the movies in the cinema as a child/teenager and binge-rewatchting them on VHS growing up. I was so hyped when I heard that Amazon was adding to the LotR portfolio and I wanted to love it. But I don't like it, and the criticism that I hear/read online is absolutely objectively fine. It's okay not to like something and it's fine to criticize.

[@waltonsmith7210]

Many of them are trolls. I hate the way people like you claim ownership over fandom. SOME Tolkiwn fans feel that way. Some dont.

[@javelinXH992]

I gave up on RoP after watching the first episode. It just isn’t right and does not respect the lore. I thought the set and costume design and acting was actually fine. It just wasn’t right for Tolkien’s world. If it was not set in Tolkien’s world maybe it would have been ok, even good. I think that is the heart of the problem here. A lot of fantasy works struggle in adaption to film or show if they end up significantly different from the source material. Look at how the changes in Peter Jackson’s movies caused a level of dissatisfaction as it changed things at various points. No barrow downs, elves at Helm’s Deep for example. RoP is far more different than that, it didn’t feel like the same universe. I may have given up after one episode, but those that have seem to say what you see in episode 1 continues (and gets worse).

[@andrewbrennan2891]

if half your audience stops watching, it's not because everyone thinks your show is fantastic.

[@victorcates9330]

The dig about 'trolls' is based on the notion that their claim to release this is legitimate. It's not a "journey though middleearth", it's a journey through an altered middle earth written by people with dubious love of the source material. It's like Leslie Headland's claim to star wars. If the aim is to take something and make it yours, or write your name into a property, then you aren't coming at a project from a starting point of wanting to honor it. And even if your intentions passed muster, the fans could still object to your work being legitimate due to issues of quality drop-off. Accepting legality as dictating legitimacy seems like something only a lawyer would get behind. If you didn't write a masterwork, it's imperious and vain to swat away dissent when writing a follow up. Humility and gratitude seems better judged. Christopher Tolkien's status as an heir wasn't just a technical thing. He seemed to be approaching the property as a loving son with some understanding of his father's work. Respecting Christopher wasn't automatic. So it's possible to respect Chris as the nearest thing to a judge and then to have no respect whatsoever for Simon's intent.

[@konardkonrado7755]

do they meet with random fans? i dont mean setup of payed actors asking ass licking questions or give some explanation in newspaper. Do they leave their bubble at all?

[@michaelcoslo6497]

Seems to have very little to do with anything Tolkien ever wrote. Abysmal storytelling, and completely incorrect versions of the Orcs.

[@user-pm7pw1tl3t]

Yes, insulting the audience for disliking the shitty quality or your product is because they are trolls.. works so well for companies

[@michaelallen434]

Apathy is worse than hate. Love and hate are strong emotions. Apathy is the opposite. I have no desire to watch this show anymore and I usually like fantasy and sci-fi, even poorly done. It takes a lot for me to abandon a franchise.

[@vandett8736]

rings of power is nothing less than one of the most colossal failures of adapting lore to film of all time...if not THE most colossal failure of all time when it comes to adapting book lore to TV. it's absolutely disgraceful and and it fails to retain even casual audiences. a perfect respresentation of hollywood being comletely out of touch with not only what fans of LOTR like, but also what fans of good tv series in general like. they don't know the answer because the cannot see beyond their own ego that they would ever possibly make a stupid show that nobody wants to watch apart from the people that will just mindlessly consume anything that's put in front of them...

[@gnothiseauton626]

I would be shocked if Simon Tolkien had even read any of his grandfather’s work - the work he resents so very much.

[@mindcrome]

If I knew nothing of the lore (And boy do they fuck it up, not that the show runners care) I still would not watch the show. The writing is just soo bad. But it boils down to this. This does not feel like a fantasy story. It just doesn't. It has nothing to do with the race of the actors or the fact it is a woman driven show, it just does not feel like a fantasy story. At all. And they are only using the Lord of the Rings name, because they can't think their own shit up. The writing is just soooo fucking bad. Just it can not be said enough

[@mitjakosuta6084]

I myself note that, if during the first season I assiduously followed every content that rightly made fun of this abomination of a series, this year I am much colder, apathetic in fact.

[@5quepasa]

Erik Kain is a hack. He somehow conned himself into a position at Forbes but his takes are some of the shittiest I’ve ever read. He’s not an authority on Tolkien or any form of media criticism whatsoever.

[@jolinefields3460]

Well done. It’s business and politics which then requires a very small group of people to lie and lie and lie. If they do not see it th y have no concept of what they’ve trying to achieve but if they do and continue to lie about it then they are aware that is just nefarious as all get out and we already know this. Have shows do whatever you want its the gaslighting and lies telling “someone “ just double down to continue this insulting and absurd narrative you didn’t care what fans thought about it continue pissing on fans legs and saying it is raining 😫

[@drewtwon7374]

Fans are the ones that buy all the merch. They have every right to criticize. Rings of power is trash fan fiction.

[@skyesfury8511]

"we're fighting for the people who like the show!" You mean the whole 3 people in that category? 🙄

[@dv4975]

We have every damn right to be angry about that show!

[@brimstonewinpete9306]

I call it rings of prime , bc this has nothing what so ever to do with tolkien

[@NickPoninski]

It's not that deep. Wed watch a good show. We won't watch a shit show.

[@seanmurphy7011]

1:47 - I knew Sam and Frodo. Sam and Frodo were friends of mine. Showrunners, you're no Sam and Frodo.

[@shanenolan5625]

That's Elaine

[@Karras353]

Let's face it, there is about 250 million reasons why Simon Tolkien is not objecting to Amazon's butchering his grandfather's work. Besides the money though, we can only really speculate as to the relationship between the two of them and Simon's attitude to the stories. He's an author himself and may very well have a desire to break out from his grandfather's legacy and do his own thing. The fact that he will probably never write anything with even a shred of the same cultural significance could potentially cause resentment. There are so many reasons to not take if for granted that would have been JRR approved, just because Simon is OK with it.

[@allcohoIic]

Weaponize that laugh!

[@Jamie_E_Pritchard]

Erik is great.

[@quantumphysics7008]

"entirely male" wow i didn't know i was a man. assigned male at deluded showrunner. why do people even pay for surgeries when changing your sex is that easy?

[@Power_Prawnstar]

Welcome brother

[@UnstableAlpaca]

I hate RoP not because i love tolkien and the movies. But because i love writing and strong stories. I genuinely think dei is strangling writers of their freedom. They are being confined by rules like they cant make certain races bad, kill them, make them look dumb, and they must save the day. That alone makes situations so predictable that its mundane and pathetic. Like surrounding a black elf so there is no escape. Then he walks out the forest and poses at a horde of orcs... Everyone knew he wasn't going to die, and he escaped in the most pathetic way possible. After that it was painfully obvious that he will never be in danger, he even got set free from imprisonment because they didn't know how to get him out without making him look bad or be saved by another.

[@AnnoyingCritic-is7rp]

IMDB Reviews for EP 6 is 4.6k, down from 14k at the start of the season. This could be cancelation territory.

[@vrownvegan3187]

New Sub... keep the good work Nerd Cookies! Love your insight!

[@kristijan8518]

Why is baron harkonen on the thumbnail

[@sgtpom]

Im sure Troll would be a slur in the rings of power....like Ork 😂

[@jan7392]

RoP was loretrash from the beginning. but i liked it because finally there was a series with elves, dwarfes and orcs! Season 1 was not that bad. also not good... but it was ok.. But Season 2... it is getting more and more pain the more episodes i watch. i have to force myself to watch it. it is just superboring and unlogical at most points.

[@michaelpipkin9942]

Da Wigs ob Powah

[@Kleshumara]

I love strong woman lead characters, I’m on board for elves of all real world skin colours - the writing is just awful and painful to watch even if we ignore how it tramples on Tolkien lore.

[@henryblunt8503]

Exactly my feeling, but I'd go further. They don't even do strong women characters or diversity well.

[@Kleshumara]

@@henryblunt8503 💯

[@haewymetal]

why the AI voice over

[@wolfeflambe]

Why the AI comment?

[@paulshea3728]

This show has no spirit.Its all fluff and B.S.Tolkien would be ashamed of this so called show...1 billion wasted on Crapola