10 Things We NEED To See In The Rings Of Power

With The Rings of Power now finally given a 2 September 2022 premiere date, the internet is rife with eager Tolkien fans excitedly discussing what might be in store for the new show.

Although many have cast desperation over the news that the writers will be condensing Tolkien's original timeline, the move only makes sense. The show will cover all the major events of the Second Age of Middle-earth; a time period that lasts thousands of years.

Undoubtably this compression of the timeline will result in huge changes to the source material. Events are likely to be changed, swapped about, or even cut out; this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, literal book to film adaptations rarely work. But there are several key events and characters that we NEED to see in order for this tale to be done justice.

If the writers get this wrong, they're likely to piss off a whole wealth of malnourished keyboard warriors. Thankfully, with the limited information we've already been given, it's likely we'll see many of things in this list.

Okay, so in the interest of being realistic, it's highly doubtful we will see these two characters. It's a shame, because they would have been incredible to explore. Sadly the Amazon writers only have the rights to Tolkien's Appendices, and therefore can't include any material that doesn't appear in it.

Tolkien touched on them lightly in his original writings, implying that they came with Saruman and Gandalf in the Third Age of Middle-earth to help in the fight against Sauron. In this version, they wouldn't appear in the timescale being explored in the show.

But in a later essay about Wizards, Tolkien explained that they had actually arrived in Middle-earth much sooner. They journeyed to the Far East, and had a significant impact on Sauron's downfall, both during the Battle of the Last Alliance and the War of the Ring.

In Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy, the Haradrim and Easterlings only appeared as evil men corrupted by Sauron. But Tolkien alluded to the possibility that many opposed the Dark Lord, with the help of the Blue Wizards, both in the Second and Third Ages.

Hopefully the Amazon series will be able to at least hint at this, even if they cant include the Blue Wizards directly.