In the fall, two magical spin-off series "House of the Dragon" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) have been eagerly awaited by fans around the world. More than two months later, the two magic giants ushered in the finale of the first season in the near future. However, compared with the undifferentiated attention before the broadcast, after the first season, whether it is IMDB or Douban scores, domestic and foreign audiences have basically the same evaluation of the two dramas - Game of Thrones spin-off drama "Dragon Family" Obviously better ("Dragon Family" IMDB 8.6 points, Douban 8.8 points; "Ring of Power" IMDB 6.9 points, Douban 6.8 points).

"Dragon Family" and "Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power" posters

As the two most representative IPs in the category of magic, The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones series have achieved great success from the original book to the film and television adaptation, and have countless fans across all circles around the world. It is also for this reason that "The Dragon Family" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Ring of Power" have inherently possessed many objective foundations for comparison.

First of all, the two are both derivative dramas of the big magic IP, and both have benchmark predecessors with pearls and jade in the front; secondly, the producers and production teams of the two are not bad money, and many of them have the participation of the production team of the previous works, which can guarantee the magic The visual tone of the game; again, there is no shortage of fans for the two dramas, and even the fans of the two will overlap to a considerable extent; finally, as far as the story itself is concerned, the two dramas are the prequels of the main IP, in the original author. , both stories are presented as historical records.

Such two genetically similar spinoff series make it impossible to compare, but now that the dust of the first season has settled, it is even more interesting to analyze the difference between the two.

So, where does The Lord of the Rings: Ring of Might lose compared to The Dragon Family?

1. The sense of epic comes from the complexity of history, not the simple black and white of good and evil

Many fans complained that "The Lord of the Rings: The Ring of Power" was based on politically correct casting, and also complained that the visual effects of the show were difficult to realize the epic of Middle-earth, but to be honest, the appearance of visual effects and a supporting role, the black elf, is really not enough to reduce The grandeur and complexity of Middle-earth. What really makes "Ring of Power" lose its epic feel is to forcefully reduce the long battle between Middle-earth and Sauron into a value slogan of "justice overcomes evil".

This is especially prominent in a few very dramatic moments, such as the Hobbit Nori saying to Gandalf (suspected) "You are not a danger, you are a good man", such as the dwarf Prince Durin's passionate defense to his father "The Elf Elf" Lund is more kissable than my compatriot's own brother", another example is Galadriel comforting Sauron disguised as Harland to "put down the mistakes of the past and start again"... These deja vu scenes and lines, as always, to the audience Exporting the Hollywood-style values of truth, goodness and beauty may be justified in Disney cartoons or Marvel superhero films, but unfortunately, this is not what the audience expects from the "Lord of the Rings" series.

The cruelty of war is often obvious, but the complexity of war is indescribable, and whether the complexity of war or a war history can be displayed is the key to the success of IP adaptations such as Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, which are recognized as having a grand world view. .

"Ring of Power" stills

Needless to say, "Dragon Family" is better at this. As the most intuitive feeling of the audience, compared with "Ring of Power", "Dragon Family" is obviously more like a "true" history. Throughout the season, "Dragon Family" didn't waste any time arguing between good and evil, and didn't divert the camera to make the protagonist say lines that deliberately exaggerated the characters. Why did the bloody civil war that dragged from its heyday to decline began?

Through extremely accurate analysis of the contradictions between the various forces and the tearing of the characters deep in desire and fear, "Dragon Family" makes even viewers who have not seen the original "Blood and Fire" feel deeply rooted in "Blood and Fire". A Dance with Dragons is a tragic and moving piece of civil war—no one wants war, but in the end everyone has to get involved. This superb grasp of the historical context, this complex interpretation of the irreversible war, fundamentally determines that "Dragon Family" can surpass "Ring of Power", which only wants to use values to build war stories.

"Dragon Family" stills

2. The faked Middle-earth can't resist the real flawed Westeros

Those who go hand in hand with the value of the plot are usually characters who are caught in the face of the face, and "The Lord of the Rings: The Ring of Power" has not been spared.

The female warrior Galadriel, the kind-hearted Nori with big eyes, Erendil, who is more responsible than Tarzan, and Browin, who just wants to have a peaceful life but rushed to the front line to protect his son, these are almost from "Hollywood". The characters copied from the "Blockbuster Character Specification" are more familiar to me than the plot itself. Mask-like characters with serious homogenization can really easily turn the fantastic Middle-earth into the background of another unrelated story.

Character profiling often leads to two consequences:

First, the performance and development of the characters are predictable. Putting on a face mask allows the audience to spontaneously summarize the inner logic of the characters - "because I am so-and-so, so what should I do", which greatly reduces the dramatic conflict that should be there. tension.

Second, characters with "should" and "should not" as the axis often split the rationality of the overall story because of their preconceived and inevitable choices, and the plot is basically on the surface.

It can even be said that, starting from the selection of the facialized characters, "The Lord of the Rings: The Ring of Power" has been difficult to build a rich and in-depth plot on its basis.

"Ring of Power" stills

In terms of character creation, "Dragon Family" is completely the opposite. It continues Martin's consistent deep insight into human nature, and each character in the story is more "human" than "personal". Be it the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms wearing a crown, the old bustard who runs the dark web in a flea nest, or the hand of a king who is scheming but reluctant to admit his ambition, or the prince who always jumps back and forth between his flamboyant nature and his tempered desires. Well, the banality and complexity of human nature revolves around the Iron Throne.

It is true that, compared with the elf princess Galadriel, who is very much like Wonder Woman, in the face of Queen Hightower, who can't get rid of the shackles of her family, Princess Rhaenyra, who indulges her desires and often doubles her standards, is wishful thinking to go to women. The benevolent King Viserys, the brave and loyal but cruel and murderous Prince Daemon, it is difficult for the audience to talk about "like" in the characters of "Dragon Family", but the truth has its own power, and these characters make us unable to ignore human nature , On the other hand, if you don't like yourself, who also has complex human nature, it doesn't mean you can't empathize.

More importantly, these flawed characters, and the civil war that swept across the Seven Kingdoms, confirmed each other's fateful self-consistency.

"Dragon Family" stills

"The Lord of the Rings: The Ring of Power" needs to understand that an irreversible war is rarely initiated by a representative of a benchmark evil, and it is difficult to end because of the inspiration of the great men. "Dance", because people with weaknesses, based on their own insurmountable pain and weakness, make one after another "reasonable" decisions to deal with the fear and hatred they give to each other.

The so-called epic has both the desolation and heavyness of history and the rich emotion of poetry. It is absolutely impossible to shout slogans simply by simplifying human nature. This round, "The Lord of the Rings: The Ring of Power" is not wrong.