The Rings of Power or the Seventh Ring of a Witch is a low-budget miniseries of Russian/Ukrainian joint production, made in 1998. It is a rather loose adaptation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Even though J. R. R. Tolkien's name is not mentioned in the credits and most of the plot and characters got profoundly re-imagined, the general premise and plotline are fairly recognizable.
The major antagonists of the story are evil king Karbis and his witch of a wife Kora. Together they rule with an iron fist over the peaceful villagers of Emerald Valley, and, at the same time, dream of conquering six neighboring kingdoms. Kora goes after advise to Shelob- a giant spider, who lives in caves under Karbis’ castle and feeds on prisoners. Shelob gives Kora a piece of magic metal, and tells her to make six rings out it, using magma pool in the mouth of a Pagan statue, which Karbis’ army worships, as the stove. If a person puts on a ring and makes a wish it will immediately be fulfilled, but the wisher will become the eternal slave of Karbis and Kora. The six rings, therefore, should be given to the kings of six neighboring kingdoms. Shelob warns Kora that if at least one ring returns to the place of its creation- the statue’s lava-filled mouth- both evil rulers and their kingdom shall perish.
In order to create the rings Karbis’ soldiers forcefully bring blacksmith Ostap to the castle along with his sleazy assistant Bosargun. Kora orders him to make seven rings instead of six in order to test their effect. When work is done Bosargun is given the seventh ring, which he uses to brainwash Ostap into agreeing to marry off his daughter Olesya to him. Bosargun, as expected, becomes a complete slave of the ring and Karbis.
Karbis announces a ball, where six kings are summoned. He and Kora trick the kings into putting on rings and making wishes, except for wise and noble Aguil- the ruler of the Tribe of Eagles, whose members are able to transform into these birds. Ostap, meanwhile, manages to break from the spell and steal Bosargun’s ring. Karbis’ army begins a large-scale hunt after the ring and whoever carries it. Ostap, his young son Vasilko, Olesya and her boyfriend Orest now have to figure out how to destroy the ring and rid the world of Karbis and Kora. Not helping the case is Bosargun, who is now murderously obsessed with getting the ring back.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Name Change: what else could be expected from the whole cast of expies?
- Adaptation Species Change: Ostap with his family and fellow villagers play the role of the hobbits, yet they are normal humans. Same goes for the eagles, who now are a whole nation of human shapeshifters. Galadriel, an elf, becomes “Fairy of the Woods”.
- Applied Phlebotinum: The piece of magic metal, which Shelob gives to Kora and from which seven rings were forged.
- Bilingual Bonus: King Aguil’s name comes from Spanish word for an eagle- “águila”. Same goes for Eaglet’s name- an English eagle-related word.
- Clingy MacGuffin: Ostap and his family try to get rid of the ring by re-forging it, throwing it into the sea and burying in the forest. Not only the ring proves itself to be virtually indestructible it returns to the carrier from both under the water and the underground.
- Deus ex Machina: Twice the protagonists are rescued by a kind dwarf, who opens them an entrance into his underground domain. Later Orest and Vasilko are helped by a fairy when the former gets wounded into shoulder by one of the black horseman.
- Disney Villain Death: After mortally stubbing Aguil Galat tries to escape by turning into an eagle and flying away. Unfortunately for him the traitors of Eagle Tribe are “not carried by their wings”, which results in Galat falling into the canyon.
- The Dragon: Atil, leader of the black horsemen.
- Eats Babies: It is suggested Kora feeds Shelob newborn children.
- Evil Chancellor: Galat to King Aguil, filling the role of Grima Wormtongue. Shelob may also fit the trope, but in her case the ruler is no less evil than her.
- Expy: All the characters in the series have counterparts in Tolkien’s novels. Some serve as composite characters. The only one who retained her old name is Shelob, but now she can speak and serves as an advisor/pet monster to Kora.
- Karbis is an obvious one of Sauron.
- Kora is female Saruman.
- Orest is Frodo Baggins.
- Ostap is Bilbo Baggins, as it is he who steals the ring from Bosargun/Gollum. Also, Orest calls him “uncle”.
- Bosargun is Gollum.
- Vasilko is Sam with some elements of Pippin.
- Olesya is female Merry to Vasilko’s Pippin.
- King Aguil combines the elements of Gandalf, Elrond and Theoden.
- Eaglet is Aragorn.
- Galat is Grima Wormtongue and, partly, Saruman.
- Imeda is Arwen and Eowyn.
- Atil is the Witch King.
- The Fairy is Galadriel with elements of Tom Bombadil.
- The Dwarf may be Gimli’s expy, but plot-wise he is much closer to Gandalf.
- Nameless innkeeper is Barliman Butterbur.
- The Nazgûl have two groups of expies. One is the five kings who fall under the influence of the rings. Another one is the squadron of “black horsemen”, led by Atil, who hunt after the seventh ring.
- The Realm of Karbis is Mordor.
- The villagers of Emerald Valley are expies of the hobbits.
- The Tribe of Eagles is Gondor with some events of the Elves, as well as, obviously, the eagles.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: People of Emerald Valley are Ukrainians in literally everything expect for how they call themselves. Karbis and his court look like the combination of the cultures of Medieval Romania and the Huns. The kings enslaved by the rings appear to be Turkish, Georgian, Polish, Austrian-Hungarian and, probably, Italian.
- Forgot About His Powers: Inverted trope. Before jumping from the castle's wall Galat really should had known that the traitor of the Eagle Tribe loses his ability to transform.
- Fountain of Youth: One of the enslaved kings uses Kora’s ring to become young again.
- General Ripper: Karbis really likes bloody fights and carnage, no matter how strategically justified they are, much to Kora’s annoyance.
- The Good King: Aguil, through and through.
- In the Back: During the final battle Galat attacks Aguil from behind and stabs him.
- Kissing Cousins: If Orest really is Ostap’s nephew it means he marries his cousin Olesya at the end.
- Living Statue: The Pagan Idol, in which the rings were forged, is suggested to be alive. Bosargun is given the task to feed it swamp slurry (weird...), and, when it gets hungry, the statue begins to roar.
- Load-Bearing Boss: Karbis’ castle literally explodes when the ring is destroyed (leaving the good guys intact, for some reason).
- Pet Monstrosity: Shelob is basically this to Karbis, albeit quite intelligent.
- Puppet King: The fate of five kings, who fall under the influence of the rings.
- Raised by the Supernatural: Imeda, a human girl, was adopted and raised by the Eagles- the tribe of avian shapeshifters.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Aguil. He blesses his son’s marriage with his (human) sweetheart Imeda due to them loving each other, despite it being against the Eagle Tribe’s tradition.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!!: Galat tries to escape when things go south for Karbis. It doesn’t end well for him.
- Storming the Castle: Ostap and the eagles storm Karbis’ castle in the final act.
- Unholy Matrimony: Kora and Karbis.
- Villainous Crush: Bosargun is really desperate to marry Olesya. Galat tries to seduce Imeda after Eaglet is captured by Karbis (thanks to Galat).
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: The members of the Tribe of Eagles can turn into large eagles at will. The ability is lost if the member betrays his kin, which Galat was unfortunate enough to learn.
