The Rings of Power Book Club (Part 1): Seduction, Knowledge, and Metallurgy in the Second Age of Middle-earth

The upcoming Amazon-produced streaming series The Rings of Power represents the most expensive adaptation of Tolkien’s Middle-earth to date, and will explore the Second Age, of which Tolkien wrote relatively little. This adaptation has generated massive buzz, both positive and negative, prior to its airing, often centered around issues of race, gender, and diversity. Over the past 5 months, a group of Mythies have gathered periodically on the Mythopoeic Society’s Discord server to pore over Tolkien’s meager writings about the Second Age, and how this material could be adapted into a live action streaming series. We will revisit some of the recurring themes from our book club meetings; Which Second Age elements and characters likely will/will not be portrayed, depictions of race/culture/religion, origins of histories, descriptions of Sauron’s influence in Numenor, and more