Amazon’s making their ownLord of the Ringsseries.It seems unlikely that it will be good, but it could have potential. If only the writers take one lesson from the reaction toGame of Thrones.Game of Throneswas a show that seemed too big to fail.Yet after the show ended, manyfans were left confused and unsatisfied. This all has to do with how the show ended and the effort –or lack thereof– that the writers put into it. Of course, no show can please every fan. However, it seems to some fans that theGame of Throneswriters didn’t try very hard to please anyone. The AmazonLord of the Ringsseries could suffer from a similar problem where the writers think the show is untouchable. Unfortunately, that isn’t true of any show.
Thoughshow writers should be able to be creativeand write the stories they want to write, if they make the wrong choices, they could end up withloads of disappointed fans. That’s never a good thing. As hard as it might be to deal with,fans will always have opinions.Usually, these opinions are the result of having a lot of passion for whatever they’re a fan of. That passion needs to be respected and nurtured if possible. Therefore, the writers of Amazon’sLord of the Ringsseries should learn fromthe reaction toGame of Thrones, especially its ending. All show writers really could learn from it, but especially those writing in the same genre. ThoughGame of Thronesproved that not allfantasy fans are looking for pure escapism, it also proved that there are specific ways that writers can go too far with making things realistic.
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Many people don’t want toescape into a fantasy worldonly to find the same problems as the real one. Fans also do not want to beshocked over and overin the name of supposed realism. A plot twist or two is fine, but there’s no need to go overboard. There needs to be a balance between surprising the audience and giving them what they came for. In the end, allmostGame of Thronesfanswanted was an ending that made sense; and one that respected the characters they spent years following. Anyone watching the AmazonLord of the Rings series will likely want something similar.Not much is known about the seriesso far, yet it is safe to say that it will have a lot to live up to.
Not only will it have to dealwithGame of Thronescomparisonsbut also the comparisons totheLord of the Ringsmovies. That’s a lot of hype to deal with. It might be a bit daunting for the show’s writers, but hopefully, they’re up to the task. No writer can please every fan; there will always be things that aren’t to some people’s tastes. Yet, there is a way to satisfy the majority of fans.TheLord of the Ringsmoviescertainly managed it. And hopefully, the AmazonLord of the Ringsseries will as well. There will undoubtedly be some fans rooting for it to work out, and it could if theylearn from the reaction toGame of Thrones. So what lesson can the writers of Amazon’sLord of the Ringsseries learn fromGame of Thrones? It’s two-fold: respect your characters and respect your fans.
WhatGame of Thronesdid right in the beginning and middle of the story should not be overlooked. The show did an excellent job of developing all of its characters so that every fan had someone to root for. Unfortunately, that very thing is why so manyfans disliked the ending. It seemed, to some, to disrespect the characters that fans had spent years rooting for.The ending ofGame of Throneswas awful for everyone, except the remaining members of the Stark family. Yet, it was particularlydifficult for Daenerys Targaryenand her fans. Daenerys was so close to achieving her goal of reclaiming the Iron Throne, but at the last minute, she went mad and decided to slaughter the city of King’s Landing instead. Then her lover (and nephew) Jon Snow seemingly has no choice but to kill her.
What the writers of the AmazonLord of the Ringsseries can learn is this: give characters development, yes, but only development that actually makes sense. They can also learn that if a character’s ending surprises fans too much, it will probably backfire. Yes, writers should be able to take risks. Yet, those risks should not comeat the cost of a good story. If fans have no idea how a character developed into who they evolved into, it probably means the writers made a mistake somewhere. The AmazonLord of the Ringsseries writers will hopefully respect their fans enough to give all of their characters good development, with fitting ends for all. Note that a fitting end does not have to be a happy end. It just has to be an end that fits the character’s arc up to that point.
If the AmazonLord of the Ringsseriestakes this two-fold lessonfrom the reaction toGame of Thrones, it could succeed. The question is: will the writers listen? Or will the AmazonLord of the Ringsseries one day be a cautionary tale, similar to the ending ofGame of Thrones? All fans can do is wait and see.
Of course, not everyone will agree that the writers should take a lessonfrom theGame of Thronesfans. After all, they should be able to create the show they want to. Yet it would be a shame if they didn’t as it’s really quite a good lesson. And it wouldn’t have to come at the cost of the writers' creativity as long as they don’t want to write a nonsensical ending for any of their characters.
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