The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunner Patrick McKay addresses concerns about the show's timeline compression. Based on The Lord of the Rings appendices written by J.R.R. Tolkien, Rings of Power was developed by McKay and J.D. Payne (Star Trek Beyond) for Amazon Prime Video, with the duo now serving as showrunners. The series explores the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history, set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Rings of Power has been lavished with praise by critics calling it a worthy Lord of the Rings prequel. However, many fans have taken issue with the series for contradicting Tolkien lore and have even resorted to review-bombing Rings of Power, currently sitting at a 38% average audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. One major issue fans have with Rings of Power is its timeline compression, as the show is taking about 3000 years' worth of major events and condensing them into a single period of time.
During a recent interview with NYT, McKay addressed fans' concerns about the timeline compression. The Rings of Power showrunner explained how the show's condensed approach to Tolkien's timeline is to ensure "narrative flow." Read what he said below:
One of the places where we’re taking a real liberty is the time compression. What was important to the Tolkien estate was the principle of the narrative flow and the sequence of events, not the dates. The rings are made here, there’s a war between Sauron and the elves after that, a later Sauron is taken to Númenor, Númenor falls, Gondor is established, and you end up with the Battle of the Last Alliance. Does it matter if a hundred or 500 years ed between those events? No.
The Rings of Power Timeline Compression Is No Big Deal
As McKay mentions, the show will cover major events such as the forging of the Rings of Power, the rise of Sauron, the last alliance between Elves and Men, and the fall of Númenor. While these events take place over thousands of years in Tolkien's legendarium, they are being condensed for the series. What was important to the Tolkien estate, as McKay reveals, was the show's fluidity, not the arbitrary amount of time that es between each event. For instance, Isildur is alive in Rings of Power about 1,500 years before he's supposed to be. This hasn't hurt his storyline and in fact, the show explores Isildur's tragic backstory and inner struggle way more than the source material does.
The Rings of Power isn't even the first instance of live-action adaptations compressing Tolkien's timeline. Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy did the exact same thing and is widely beloved. For instance, Frodo inherits the One Ring and begins his quest almost immediately, but in the books, it takes him 17 years to depart the Shire. This faster pacing benefited Jackson's movies tremendously, as it likely will for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in the end.
Source: The New York Times