The Rings of Power, created by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, delves into the key events of Middle-earth's Second Age, a largely uncharted period in Tolkien’s lore primarily detailed in the appendices of *The Lord of the Rings* trilogy. (Appendix B provides a concise timeline of the era’s significant happenings, leaving space for creative interpretation; the series also condenses events to suit the format of television.) After Amazon secured the rights to *The Fellowship of the Ring*, *The Two Towers*, *The Return of the King*, *The Hobbit*, and their appendices, McKay, Payne, and producer Lindsey Weber set out to explore less familiar aspects of the narrative. Their approach resembled ana...