Review: Rings of Power Season 3 – What Did We do to Deserve This?

For those of you who have been around since 2023, you know that I have an overwhelming hatred of The Rings of Power. Season 1 was especially bad, given how much it flew in the face of Tolkien’s work. Season 2 was similarly bad, but was made slightly better since if you lowered your expectations enough and forgot what they were adapting, it became a very mid fantasy show that had glaring and annoying plot holes.

But now, even after the terrible reviews on both seasons, Amazon for some reason has decided to push forward with The Rings of Power, dropping the trailer for Season 3 last week. And boy, does it look terrible.

To start off with, Celeborn is finally going to be in this season. The reason why this is a big deal is because, in case you forgot, Celeborn is Galadriel’s husband who frankly should have been in the show from the beginning. The only reason why I can imagine he wasn’t is simply because the showrunners wanted to ship Galadriel with Sauron in Season 1, and then with Elrond in Season 2. (Bear in mind that Elrond will later become her son-in-law.)

Then there’s the inclusion of the Nazgul in this season. According to Tolkien Gateway:

Sometime during the Second Age (after the year 1697^{[note 1]}) Sauron gave nine Rings of Power to nine mortal Men. It is said that three of the Nine were great lords of Númenorean race.^[2][3]

The bearers of the rings gained great wealth and prestige and became “mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old”. The rings enabled them to turn invisible and see the Unseen. Their lives were prolonged so they seemed unending, but life became unendurable to them. Over time, depending on their native strength and their initial good or evil will, they succumbed to the powers of the rings and the domination of the One Ring. Their bodily forms faded until they became permanently invisible and turned into wraiths.^[4]

Known as the Nazgûl, they first appeared around S.A. 2251^[5] and were soon established as Sauron’s principal servants. However, the circumstances of this appearance are unknown, as are their actions during the Dark Years, during Sauron’s capture to Númenor, and in the War of the Last Alliance. When Sauron was overthrown in S.A. 3441 at the hands of the Last Alliance, the wraiths faded into the shadows.^[5]

Because of this timeline, the inclusion of the Nazgul could have been a good move on the part of the showrunners, but the problem is that Sauron has yet to give the rings to men so far in the show. Thus, while the Nazgul would fit (sort-of) with the timeline, because of how slow this show moves with giving away rings, they’re way too early. The only way the show could possibly ramify this is if they portray the Nazgul as actual flesh and blood men, not as wraiths, and even then, they only came under the complete control of Sauron after they had died.

Third, we have the issue of the continued wizard plotline. In Season 2, a new wizard that terrorizes the hobbits was introduced and apparently, they haven’t gotten rid of him in Season 3. This wizard – that has been dubbed Totally-Not-Saruman – makes no sense for a variety of reasons. First, none of the wizards in general, are supposed to be in the show. They popped up in the Third Age of Middle Earth, not the Second. Second, if the new wizard is one of the Blue Wizards or is Saruman himself, Gandalf should be able to recognize him. Third, if the wizard is one of the istari, then this flies in the face of Gandalf not knowing Saruman was with Sauron in the story and not knowing where the Blue Wizards were or what happened to them. And if this is just a random wizard the show runners made up, then it also doesn’t work since only four wizards were sent to Middle Earth.

Overall, Rings of Power is intent on nuking the legacy of Tolkien’s work while simultaneously becoming a meme. And I will be here to criticize it because why not?

Until next time,

M.J.