Top 5 Major Book-to-Screen Changes in Rings of Power

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is poised to reach a crucial turning point with the release of its third season on November 11th, marking the midpoint of its planned five-season epic. The series has generated mixed reviews from viewers, largely influenced by the numerous creative decisions taken by showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay (both of whom remain committed to the project). These creative choices have driven the storyline forward while occasionally sparking audience debate.

A significant portion of these artistic decisions involves filling the narrative gaps in J.R.R. Tolkien’s original works. While Tolkien crafted rich tales, he left parts of the Second Age underdeveloped, unlike the detailed epic that “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy delivers. In “The Rings of Power,” some characters emerge with little to no dialogue in Tolkien’s texts, and events or places are often outlined with minimal detail, leaving much to the creative team’s imagination.

That said, Amazon Studios’ take is not just about fleshing out those gaps. There are instances where the narrative consciously diverges from Tolkien’s writings. These deviations range from subtle, like the intriguing “will they, won’t they” dynamic between Galadriel (played by Morfydd Clark) and Halbrand/Sauron (played by Charlie Vickers), to the more sensational, such as the polarizing moment when Elrond and Galadriel share a kiss. This scene sparked immediate debate but proved inconsequential in the broader storyline, as Elrond eventually marries Galadriel’s daughter. Then there are transformative changes that significantly alter the trajectory of the story.

We’ve identified five of the most notable changes that highlight just how far Payne, McKay, and their team have strayed from the original script in crafting the first two seasons of this ambitious saga set in the Second Age.

Set amid the entire expanse of the Second Age of Middle-earth, “The Rings of Power” encounters its unique set of challenges. One major issue is the inclusion of numerous mortal characters whose lifespans are fleeting compared to the 3,441-year history they inhabit. To address this, the showrunners have ingeniously condensed this extensive period into a single, yet undefined timeline that fits within an average human lifetime, creating a cohesive narrative that maintains viewer engagement.

This dramatic change to the Tolkien timeline helps the writers rein in the narrative and avoid having to turn over the human cast every season (or sometimes every episode). It also means we can bond with characters like Isildur (Maxim Baldry), Elendil (Lloyd Owen), and even long-lived but still mortal Dwarves like Durin IV (Owain Arthur).

But it has also created a headache of non-canon changes that are already amplified in just the two seasons we have so far. Forcing so many different major events across centuries into a single narrative has thrown off countless elements of Tolkien’s original story. Galadriel’s history is muddled. The Rings of Power are not being forged in the correct sequence. (More on both of those in a bit.) Events on the island nation of Númenor are playing out in a few years that take an entire line of kings to tell in the books. Everywhere you look, things are sped up and out of order. They’re making it work in the show, but make no mistake: This isn’t the order, nor is it the pacing, in which Tolkien told the story.

Anyone who’s watched Peter Jackson’s two Middle-earth trilogies knows about mithril. Thorin (Richard Armitage) gives a suit of the magical metal to Bilbo (Martin Freeman) in “The Hobbit” films, and then Bilbo (Ian Holm) gives the suit to Frodo (Elijah Wood) in “The Lord of the Rings” movies. The metal protects both Bilbo and Frodo from harm on their adventures. It’s light to wear, nearly impervious, and extremely valuable. But that’s about it. It’s still just fancy armor.

Not in “The Rings of Power.” The show takes mithril and puts it on the same level as the Rings of Power themselves. It gives the metal a special ability to amplify unseen magical properties and is a central part of the forging of the Three Elven Rings. It connects mithril with the power of the Silmarils (three ancient, hallowed Elven jewels), turning it into a life-giving, world-saving Macguffin that drives the Elven storylines for the entire first season of the show.

There’s no doubt that Tolkien loved his mithril a lot. He has mithril popping up all over Middle-earth lore. It’s even used in some of the Rings of Power themselves, including Galadriel’s ring, Nenya. But even its presence in that ring in the books isn’t overblown. It gives the Elven Lady’s ring a sense of grandeur, but it doesn’t enhance its powers. No matter how you slice it, mithril just isn’t as important in Tolkien’s books as what JD Payne and Patrick McKay have turned it into in their adaptation.

In the show, Halbrand (aka Sauron in disguise) helps Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) forge the Three Elven Rings in Season 1. Then Halbrand returns as Annatar, Lord of Gifts, in Season 2 and forges the Seven Dwarven Rings with Celebrimbor before capturing and forcing the Elven smith to also create the Nine Rings for Mortal Men. All that’s left (which we can definitely expect to see in Season 3) is the forging of the One Ring to rule them all.

Great, right? We’ve got all 20 rings from the Ring-verse. The only issue? The order in which the overpowered trinkets are forged. In the books, we get the Seven and the Nine first, then the Three, and then the One. Writer Gennifer Hutchison told Looper the reason for the reorganized forging when the Season 1 finale aired, saying, “This season was about tracking the Elves and their story.” Okay, so they moved the Three Rings to the front of the line. Why does that matter? Context.

In Tolkien’s original story, there is no Halbrand. Instead, Sauron shows up as Annatar and helps teach Celebrimbor and his smiths to make the Seven and the Nine. Eventually, Sauron leaves, and Celebrimbor critically makes the Three Elven Rings without the Dark Lord present. Then Sauron makes the One Ring, which he uses to control the 16 Rings for Men and Dwarves. But the Elven rings? They are made last, at the peak of the craft, and Sauron doesn’t touch them, nor can he claim them with the same legitimacy as the 16 he helped forge. It’s a big shift on a fundamental level, but don’t expect the show to spend much time dwelling on it.

One of the more fun random subplots of the show so far has been the arrival of a mysterious man via fireball in Episode 1 of Season 1. This “Meteor Man” turned out to be, drum roll please, The Stranger (Daniel Weyman). Yep, that was his frustratingly cryptic name — for two whole seasons. It wasn’t until the finale of Season 2 that we got confirmation of The Stranger’s real identity. He’s Gandalf, folks (as if we didn’t see that one coming). The Grey Wizard is here to fight off Sauron. All will be well.

The only issue? Gandalf is nowhere near Middle-earth during the Second Age in Tolkien’s writings. He’s presumably at home, on the other side of the ocean in the Undying Lands in the West. The appendices of “The Return of the King” mention that “when maybe a thousand years had passed [into the Third Age] … the Istari or Wizards appeared in Middle-earth.” So the one thing we know for sure is that Gandalf arrives thousands of years later than he does in “The Rings of Power.” 

In the book “Unfinished Tales,” Tolkien reworks some of the lore, but even then, it’s mainly the Blue Wizards who may have arrived during the Second Age, not Gandalf. The point? Having a Wizard in a Second Age story is okay. Tolkien wasn’t clear on that. But Gandalf? There’s nothing to clarify that he was around at this time. There’s a vague, undeveloped note about the Five Wizards being around in the First Age, and we know for sure they were back by the Third Age, but there’s nothing about the Grey Wizard in between.

Galadriel overshadows her husband, Celeborn, every time she shows up in Tolkien’s writings, but he’s there, nonetheless — and not just occasionally. Once Galadriel and Celeborn meet in the First Age, they are nearly inseparable. (There are a couple of points where they split up, but it’s really rare.) Tolkien even wrote a chapter of “Unfinished Tales” called “The History of Galadriel and Celeborn.” Despite being in his partner’s shadow, Celeborn is also a fearsome warrior and wise leader in his own right.

That isn’t what we get in “The Rings of Power.” It took until Season 3 for Celeborn to finally show up (officially confirmed to be played by Jamie Campbell Bower). Before that, all we got was a brief reference in Season 1 about Galadriel calling him a “silver clam” before he went off to war and never came back. There’s that timeline warping again. Celeborn is finally entering the story halfway in, but there is still an issue, and it’s even bigger than the Rings of Power forging conundrum.

By the time of the events of “The Rings of Power,” Galadriel and Celeborn are supposed to have had their daughter Celebrían. In fact, she’s supposed to be centuries old — old enough that when she meets Elrond (Robert Aramayo) at some point in the near future, they’ll fall in love. Instead, Celeborn is just entering the picture (it’ll be interesting to see how they explain his absence so far), Celebrían doesn’t seem to exist yet, and Elrond kisses Galadriel (his future mother-in-law) in Season 2. This is a massive plothole JD Payne and Patrick McKay are going to need to explain post-haste in Season 3, so fans can connect the adapted dots and hopefully breathe easier again.