The Legend of Zelda is a popular adventure game first published by Nintendo in 1989 and has since grown. It eventually earned its own animated TV series and different manga adaptations. It became one of the most successful franchises from Nintendo, and many considered several of the franchise’s entries some of the greatest games of all time. This left many fans asking why Amazon made Lord of The Rings: Rings of Power instead of a Legend of Zelda TV Series.
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Peoples’s Problems with Rings of Power
The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power came out in September last year, and many fans had mixed feelings upon seeing it for the first time. There were several changes that many fans did not agree with, besides the lady dwarves with no facial hair and the male elves with short hair.
The different races introduced in the TV series act differently from what fans are used to seeing. When Tolkien created the elves, they were creatures known for their calm, tranquil seriousness and flowing grace. Even in battle, elves were light on their feet and fought with poise (Legolas is one of the best characters to watch in Lord of the Rings). The Rings of Power has dismissed some of that grace and lethal swiftness. Despite Galadriel and Elrond being names fans would recognise, Arondir is the most faithful representation of an elf.
Elves are supposed to be powerful and proud creatures, with endurance far greater than many middle-earth creatures, allowing them to conquer even the harshest conditions. Just look at this scene of Legolas in the snow:
“With that, he sprang forth nimbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore only light shoes, as he always did. And his feet made little imprint in the show.”
Yet one of the first scenes shows them giving up in a troll cave after travelling through a snowstorm.
The dwarves are not any better. Tolkien’s dwarves are proud, dignified creatures who are masters of their craft. They might be stubborn and have secrets, but there are “fast in friendship and enmity.” Unfortunately, Rings of Power portrays the dwarves as the hard-headed creatures expected from any other fantasy world.
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Why a Legend of Zelda TV Series Would Have Been Better
1. The Lord of the Rings Already Has a Great Adaptation
Peter Jackson has already blessed fans with two masterful trilogies based on Tolkien’s work (though one was better received than the other). The Lord of the Rings did an excellent job portraying Frodo’s journey to Mordor, the strength in Sam Wise Gamgee’s presence and the power in Aragon’s leadership while almost killing a couple of its actors several times. The films have their dark and funny moments, and the competitive dynamic between Legolas and Gimli is one of the movie’s best parts.
The Hobbit does just as fantastic of a job showing Bilbo’s journey to finding the ring. Though it’s slightly less accurate than the books, its visuals are stunning, and Gandalf’s dynamic with the dwarfs is highly entertaining.
2. Several Other Video Game to TV Show Adaptations Have Already Proved Successful
While there have been many bad movie adaptations of different games (we won’t name names), TV shows are where game adaptations have started to shine. A few adaptations that stand out among the rest are Arcane, Halo and even The Witcher.
Arcane’s incredible art style immediately captured many League of Legends fans’ attention, and its storyline kept them hooked. Fans fell in love with familiar characters and began to care for characters like Jinx even more.
Fans of The Witcher have been even more pleased with the TV series that their beloved games got, though it is more based on the novel series. Of course, it helped that the previous lead actor cared about the story as much as fans did. (We’ll see if The Witcher continues to meet fans’ expectations moving forward).
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3. Zelda Fans Have Been Asking for a TV Series for much Longer
After the success of so many different video game adaptations and the release of the Uncharted film, fans started discussing the potential of finally getting a new Legend of Zelda TV Series. This discussion has happened on and off for years, and just when it seemed a studio was finally going to film the series Amazon went for The Rings of Power.
The Legend of Zelda fans were a little disgruntled by this.
4. Plenty of Source Material
With all The Legend of Zelda games released over the years, the story and lore have developed exponentially. Even the map has evolved a couple of times. Certain games take the time to flesh out the history of the fantasy world Hyrule, while others flesh out the characters, their backstories and the enemies they fight regularly.
A few games even establish the lore and backstories of other lands that Link (the main character) travels through on different missions.
The lore in The Legend of Zelda sometimes changes from game to game, meaning that if creators were to come in and change some minor details, fans wouldn’t really have a problem with it. However, Tolkien fans are a different story.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was based on the author’s work, some of which wasn’t finished. While Tolkien has always taken the time to go into great detail about both minor and major things in his books – he put a lot of focus on the Hobbit’s meal times and created an entire language just because he could – there is still some information missing from his work before he died.
If you take the time to create a TV series based on Tolkien’s work, you’ve got to ensure you do justice to the beloved author’s creations.
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