Amazon’s The Rings of Energy collection is a enjoyable fantasy present that provides an escape from most issues about Twenty first-century America—besides its regulatory burdens.
Set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Center Earth, the present serves as a prequel to the occasions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Its major plot factors lean closely on the fantastical parts of Tolkien’s universe. We see the creation of highly effective magic rings and the origin tales of the heroes and villains who will pop up within the creator’s extra well-known works. Total, it is a refreshing break from extra dour and cynical status fantasy exhibits similar to HBO’s Home of the Dragon.
Even this historical action-adventure romp cannot escape incorporating some fashionable political themes. In a single early episode, we see the protagonist, elf warrior Galadriel, deal with the racist immigration restrictions of the island kingdom of Númenor (elves needn’t apply). Her fellow refugee Halbrand fares no higher underneath the dominion’s strict occupational licensing guidelines, which exclude him from working as a blacksmith with out the requisite guild membership. The present even has a lesson concerning the perils of navy adventurism: Númenor’s tried liberation of the Southlands from orc domination ends in a catastrophe that counterproductively spreads evil on the continent.
Absent from Rings of Energy are Tolkien’s deeper warnings concerning the harmful lust for energy that lurks inside each human coronary heart. It is not that severe of a present. However its occasional libertarian themes give pleasing additional depth to the conflicts between orcs and elves.
