ScreenRant’s podcast tries to explain why Tolkien never did

The main objects in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are famous among fans of The Lord of the RingsWith Sauron’s famous poem and his even more infamous ‘One Ring’ now pop culture icons. Despite this fact, the details of the jewelry, the methods by which they are made, and the actual ‘power’ they possess are complete mysteries to most. But Screenrant’s The Rings of Power Podcast Looks to solve this problem for all Tolkien fans, expert from newcomers.

The first season of The rings of power Covered the story leading to the actual forging of the rings faster than most assumed, rewriting the Lord of the Rings Timeline to make the three elven rings first, without Sauron. But why does it matter that he was not present? Did Sauron need to join them to take control? Does he have to touch the others? How does the magic work in the Rings of Power? These questions were all discussed (along with Mithril as the show’s possible answer) in the latest episode of The Rings of Power Podcast: “How Do the Rings of Power (and the One Ring) Really Work?” Included below:

Hosts Andrew Dice and Stephen Colbert dive deep into the existing knowledge, ideas and potential stories scribbled or discussed by JRR Tolkien throughout his life, and where the Rings of power Writers have room to fill in their own fiction. But when you try to define or explain the actual magic or power at work in Sauron’s famous rings, from their creation to the way they actually prevent the decay of the elves, Tolkien has no clear answer. But its larger mythology gives fans a chance to understand it, if they’re willing to do their homework.

The rings of power are connections to the ‘unseen world’ of Tolkien’s lore

Tolkien’s use of “magic” was limited, but the Unseen World is everywhere at once

The full podcast episode goes in depth on the subject of Tolkien’s Unseen World, from the first draft of The Fellowship of the Ring. In the first pages, the author described Ringwraiths as people who had ‘passed’ their rings, ceasing to possess a physical form in the normal world, to be completely dominated by the ‘Lord of the Rings’ (then the Necromancer, later Sauron ). To keep things simple for modern TV audiences, The reverse presented in Netflix Stranger things May be the most accessible analogue.

Where people, hobbits, and most living things exist in the normal world, the divine begins as the Valar who helped make it or the Maiar who serve them, like Sauron, Gandalf or the Balrogs, exist in both the seen and unseen world at once. Where the being can wield ‘magic’ as a result, actually imbuing objects with a path to that power is something else. Viewers can expect The rings of power‘s future seasons to provide more answers, but suffice it to say that Sauron finally figured out a way to manipulate his connection to the Unseen World almost broke Middle-earth into pieces.

The show’s new mythic origin makes a lot of sense

Tolkien’s magic metal is used in the actual rings, so they are a simple solution

The rings of powers new Silmaril origin for Mithril stirred feathers, or enraged some Tolkien diehards, and revealed how the showrunners hoped to explain some hard-to-explain concepts to a wider audience. When High King Gil-Gauld introduced “The Song of the Roots of Hiteglir,” the magical metal mithril was given an origin where it had none before. for this, Only two things are known about mithril: it was used in the creation of a ring of power (no surprise, given its impossible qualities), and Sauron coveted it for similarly unknown reasons. It seems that the writers of the TV show saw this not as a mystery, but an opportunity.

The full episode of the Rings of Power podcast embedded above explores the new mithril origin in detail, but it’s hard to argue with the solution it provides. Mythil is important, but Tolkien never explains where it came from, or why it was magical. The rings of power are magical, but Tolkien never explains how they are actually imbued with power, or wielded by a wearer. Can one mystery answer the other? Suggest the inherent ‘magic’ of Mithril is used by Sauron to channel the Unseen World, and fans can followInstead of asking questions, Tolkien himself never answered.

For the full conversation and debate on this and all other topics related to the TV show, be sure to follow along The Rings of Power Podcast in your favorite podcast app, and stay tuned to ScreenRant for all the coverage from season two and beyond.