There was legitimate hype going into The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Since it was the first Lord of the Rings content to come out since Peter Jackson's trilogies, most fans were excited to see what the Prime Video series would offer. However, a portion of the fan base approached The Rings of Power with a more negative attitude.
Most of the skeptical viewers were upset that the series was reportedly playing fast and loose with J.R.R. Tolkien's lore. While those fans' complaints were justified on some fronts, their cynicism hindered their ability to enjoy The Rings of Power at all. That led to negative reviews for The Rings of Power after its debut. But later numbers showed that a lot of the negative reaction was put out by a small, vocal group of narrow-minded audience members.
Why Some LOTR Fans Thought the Rings of Power Was Bad
The Rings of Power's 25 million global viewers on the day of its debut made it Prime Video's largest premiere. However, many of those seemed unhappy because the Rotten Tomatoes audience score was only 37 percent. Amazon put a three-day pause on Rings of Power reviews because executives feared review-bombing. Yet after that, the audience score only rose to 38 percent -- which signals that the low a number of people really didn't (and still don't) like the series.
The primary reason for the dislike was due to lore-based decisions. LOTR fans take Tolkien's material very seriously, so when The Rings of Power started making changes to canon, it didn't sit well. Rotten Tomatoes audience member Paul in the 6 wrote, "Maybe if the show was not an adaptation of LOTR and was something else. Maybe the ROP would have stood a chance in my eyes. But to be connected to JRR Tolkien's work was a joke." That and similar responses established a negative reaction to Rings of Power, but it wasn't as negative as it appeared.
Viewership Numbers Prove That Audiences Did Like The Rings of Power
Many Tolkien fans really did like The Rings of Power. Another Rotten Tomatoes audience review by derflA said, "I don't get why this show gets so much hate. I can agree the first episode isn't the best, but you can't judge a show based on one of the episodes. The action is on point, the visuals are absolutely stunning. The way they reveal who Sauron was and who The Stranger was is great. The characters are good, the acting is good, I don't see why people say the acting is bad. Amazing show."
The series' reviews ultimately matched the pre-release sentiments. Those who wanted to like The Rings of Power liked it, but those who were skeptical never gave it a chance. But there were a lot more people who liked the series than disliked it. After the Season 1 finale on Oct. 14, The Rings of Power's 55.7 times increase in viewership brought it to an all-time high. The above chart from IMDb reflects user ratings for the series. Most were either 1 or 10 stars -- with very little ratings in the middle.
These statistics, and the negative comments, suggests that the viewers who thought The Rings of Power was bad based that opinion on its non-adherence to Tolkien's source material. They didn't judge the series on its own merit. Hopefully, viewers will be a little more open-minded in Season 2.
The Rings of Power Season 1 is streaming now on Prime Video.