LoTR: This One Change Would Have Helped Fix Amazon’s ‘Rings of Power’
One change to a single character could have made Rings of Power make so much more sense. It’s a big one, though, so strap in.
Season One of The Rings of Power was somewhat divisive. It was a very very pretty show, but it had a lot of major issues. While I don’t think it was bad, it certainly did not live up to the hopes of a lot of people. Many people, in particular, felt it wasn’t very true to the characters and lore of Tolkien. Looking back on it there does seem to be one pretty easy change the showrunners could have made that would have helped fix a LOT of issues.
With Season 2 coming soon we are unlikely to see any real changes, but it’s interesting to look at what might have been.
On Galadriel in The Rings of Power
One of the major things a lot of people took issue with is the character Galadriel. She’s a pretty major focus of the show and if you really don’t like how she’s done, then you are going to have issues enjoying the show. I don’t think she is done all that badly. However, she is rather different that the character we get in the rest of The Lord of the Rings.
The Galadriel of the show is more angry and brash than we are used to. Rather than a wise leader type, she’s more hands-on and prone to rush in. She comes off as a much younger character. Now of course she is several thousands of years younger in RoP than in LoTR. However, in RoP she’s still thousands of years old and not a young elf. I think one change to this character would have helped fix Rings of Power.
The Change
Galadriel and her husband Celebron have a daughter, born early in the Second Age named Celebrían. there is relatively little known about her early life or what she was doing in the Second Age. I think if Amazon had simply switched out Galadriel for her daughter, the show would have made a lot more sense with relatively little rewriting. Celebrían after all is a relatively young Elf.
The less polished and brash actions that seem odd for Galadriel, would make perfect sense for her daughter. Especially if her daughter had grown up a little spoiled as the daughter of a very famous Elf. Moreover, since almost nothing is known of her, the actions in Rings of Power wouldn’t contradict any established lore.
A Romantic Change
This change would free up room for more romance in the show as well. For instance, Galadriel’s romantic tensions with Halbrand/Sauron don’t make a ton of sense. It seems odd she’d fall for a guy with a dark past who’s hiding things. It’s even worse that she married at the time, and the show has to make an excuse about her husband being missing (and I guess Celebrían just doesn’t exist).
However, a young, more naïve Celebrían falling a bit for the tall dark, and handsome Halbrand makes a TON more sense and could be a real learning experience for her. Heck, you could even have a scene where Galadriel shows up and sees through Halbrand, this would show how wise she really is. However, Celebrían being a rebellious daughter wouldn’t buy her old mother’s word. That’s believable drama.
On top of that, you have Elrond. The interactions, few though they were, between Elrond and Galadriel were pretty great and show a strong friendship. But they would be even better with Celebrían. Elrond and Celebrían end up married–she’s Arwen’s mother.
Given that going forward the show could have told the story of this romance and how it developed, leading to some great storytelling opportunities and filling in, rather than rewriting, parts of the Second Age. That the show is missing out on this epic romance seems like a real mistake.
This just feels like such a missed opportunity. Having the show follow Celebrían would have allowed it to build on the world and develop unknown characters. Instead, the show ends up at odds with a lot of the established lore and portrayals of characters. Overall this change would have helped fix the show.
Tragedy and Names
via Amazon
Honestly, there are really only two reasons I can think of for not making this change. The first is that Celebrían does have a bit of a tragic end. In the Third Age, while going to visit her mom, she’s captured by Orcs and tortured. While she survives she never mentally recovers and soon after goes to the Grey Havens and sails into the West. It would be a bit of a downer to base your show around a character with such a tragic fate. However, plenty of other characters in the show, such as Isildur also meet tragic ends.
Likely the main reason not to use her was that the showrunners wanted the name recognition of the better-known Galadriel. And it’s likely true that Galadriel is better from a marketing standpoint. Of course, having Celebrían as your lead would not have precluded using Galadriel as well, albeit in a much different role. Celebrían is just such a better option for so many reasons, that I do wonder if the show wasn’t originally written with her as the main and then later changed to Galadriel by the studio for the marketing.
Let us know what you think of this change, down in the comments!
