Thread by @LostHistory9

A thread: I would like to address the people who are still enjoying #RingsOfPower, in a good faith effort to open their eyes to how bad the show really is. To do this, I will showcase the shows biggest flaws. Structure and establishment.

You see, in any good linear story that results in a definitive conclusion, you need to in the first episode, maybe 2, establish and solidify the premise of the story and the characters motivations.

In Rings of Power, through the 1st 3 episodes, the show does a terrible job of establishing a premise and character motivations. We have 6-7 different plotlines, with only 2 somewhat connected, and the only real setup for the show is "evil exists".

None of the characters have any particular motivations on screen. Case in point, Galadriel. She is supposedly on the hunt for Sauron; however, her antics show that her motivations are confused, and that the plot has no idea what her motivations are.

For example, she is supposed to be on the hunt for Sauron, however she decides to forego her hunt to return back to Lindon, then agrees to get on a boat to Valinor, which she decides to jump off of last second, in essence trying to kill herself (her dialogue in Ep. 3 confirms it)

She then decides to, rather than being diplomatic, be brash and insufferable resulting in her captivity, even though her goal supposedly is to track down Sauron. To make matters worse, her supposed motivations are based on Sauron killing her brother.

That is literally all the backstory we get. There is no family dynamic, no real closeness shown between her and her brother. Literally just 2 scenes. One brief scene when she was a little girl, and one where she is crying over a grave.

Let's contrast this with Peter Jacksons Fellowship of the Ring movie: In 5 minutes we get the history of the Rings, the motivations of Sauron, The Last Alliance, Isildur, and Gollum. It's also established what the Ring does to an individual.

At the end of the 5 minute prologue, we get a conclusion with Bilbo finding the Ring which leads us to its current location in the present timeline. I would like to emphasize that all of this was done in 5 minutes.

The next 5-10 minutes of the movie is establishing who the hobbits are, their general day to day, how they behave, their worldview, and we see all of this through the pov of Bilbo, the one who found the Ring in Gollums cave.

That's 20 minutes that has been used to establish much much much more than the 3 hours of RoP. Let's go even further shall we?

In the Silmarillion, the first chapter is 8 pages. In it, Tolkien establishes the world of Arda and how it was created, as well as the motivations of the beings that created it. 8 pages. About a 5-10 minute read.

The lack of establishment in this show is what is going to cause it to self-destruct. Forget all the complaints about the poor writing, lack of canon, etc. All those are valid; however, they pale in comparison to how poorly setup the story was from the beginning.