History YMMV / TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower

*** The main Harfoot character is named Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot, an obvious mash-up of Sam Gamgee's daughter Elanor, the dwarf Nori of Thorin & Company, and the hobbit surnames Brandybuck + Proudfoot, but in ways that don't make sense together. Sam named his blonde daughter "Elanor" in Sindarin Elvish after a unique golden flower he saw in Lothlorien in basically a hobbit version of WhoNamesTheirKidDude, "Nori" is an actual Old Norse ''masculine'' name which Tolkien used specifically for his Dwarves as an in-universe TranslationConvention to represent an unrevealed Northern Westron dialect, and "Brandybuck" derives specifically from the Brandywine River where Bucca ("Buck") and his clan settled upon reaching the Shire thousands of years after events of this series. [[note]]And that's without even touching on Tolkien's [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis own conceit]] that the "real" Hobbitish name "Brandagamba" was better translated as "Marchbuck" or "Borderbuck" but required in-universe {{Woolseyism}} to [[LostInTranslation preserve its relation]] to the Hobbitish names for the river: "Branda-nîn", meaning "border water", and later "Bralda-hîm", meaning "heady ale" due to the water's color, hence glossed as "Brandywine" - both ultimately being rooted in the Elvish name "Baranduin", meaning "golden-brown river".[[/note]] So what we end up with is a female Harfoot with an out-of-place Elvish name, an anachronistic Hobbit surname, and a [[GenderBlenderName masculine]] Dwarvish nickname.
*** The dwarf queen Disa is named after Dís, the sister of Thorin and mother of Kili & Fili, the only female dwarf mentioned by name in Tolkien's writings, just with an added A. As with Nori, the name Dís is actual Old Norse (representing Northern Westron), so applying outside grammatical conventions like the apparent assumption that Dís requires the Latin-based feminine "-a" or that "Nori" is diminutive or feminine because it ends in a long-E sound can come off as odd or uninformed.
*** The human woman Bronwyn has a superficially similar name to Éowyn but the language backgrounds are completely different. "Éowyn" is a constructed name derived from Old English words for "horse" and "joy" and representing an unknown Rohirric name of the same meaning, while "Bronwyn" is a real name derived from Welsh "Bronwen" if not the more well-known "Branwen", meaning "white breast" or "white raven" respectively (though "Bronwyn" is not actually used in Wales itself because the ending "-wyn" is considered masculine).
*** Bronwyn has a son named Theo. His name is superficially similar to Théoden (and his son Théodred and sister Théodwyn), but as with Bronwyn, the language backgrounds don't match up. The common Old English element in those book names is actually ''theod'' or ''þeod'', meaning "people/nation", and "Théoden" is a straight lift from the word ''þeoden'', "people-ruler" i.e. "king" etc. In contrast, "Theo" feels rather like a modern nickname, most often short for Theodore, and in that context it ultimately derives from the Greek word ''theos'' or ''θεός'', meaning "god".

** How much of [[spoiler:"Halbrand's" claim that IJustWantToBeNormal was sincere. It's possible that he did just want to spend a while pretending to be human and making things on Númenor until Galadriel's determination gave him a reason to think he could return to power after all. On the other hand, he was carrying the emblem of the "lost king" from the start and wore it openly, indicating that he ''wanted'' it to be recognized.]] WordOfSaintPaul, Creator/CharlieVickers, states that [[spoiler: Halbrand was Sauron at his lowest, straight after begging Eönwë to let him rejoin the Maiar and fleeing after being told Eönwë, being a fellow Maia, cannot decide that, repenting "because of fear" and trying to rebuild himself from scratch after his fiasco in Angband and no one could tell if Sauron's repentance was genuine. Sauron was in a bad mental place and Galadriel unwillingly got him back on track, explaning both his sudden surge of activity and his obsession for her. Additionally he has stated that any relationship he would have had with Galadriel would have ultimately been for his own benefit and not out of any genuine affection.]]
* AngelDevilShipping: The Lady of Light and the Dark Lord are shipped together by a good chunk of the fandom, being by far the most popular pairing. People went as far as comparing the scene between Sauron and Galadriel to [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Anakin asking Padme to join the dark side]] and [[Film/TheLastJedi Kylo Ren asking Rey]], and rooting for Galadriel to accept Sauron's offer, many expressing that this was the only break from the lore they would be absolutely on board for, despite all the critics for the rest.

** Criticism of Galadriel's role as an ActionGirl clad in armor and fighting with a sword tends to assert her as being a powerful magic-user who didn't need them, as shown by Cate Blanchett's portrayal, especially due to the AdaptationExpansion in the ''[[Film/TheHobbit Hobbit]]'' movies where she fights with magic as part of the White Council. Within the book ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' itself, she takes down the dark fortress of Dol Guldur with magic. In contrast, [[MultipleChoicePast some versions of]] her past in other writings describe her as Amazonian in some way and do involve her fighting in a conventional manner. Further lore suggests that Elf women in general were trained in self-defense. But at the same time, Tolkien only wrote about her explicitly fighting in one battle like this and considered having Galadriel stay out of the subsequent war, and the Amazon comparison is limited to athletics and such in the context of it being akin to a phase in her "youth". And much later in LOTR, Dol Guldur is first captured by an army led by her husband Celeborn before she destroys it, though it's not said if she was present for the battle or not. It's not helped by the fact that according to many materials Galadriel already was married to Celeborn, had a daughter (Elrond's future wife Celebrian), and ruled Lórien as a queen during the Second Age, when the show takes place, while the show mentions only [[spoiler: Celeborn being missing in action]].

** Galadriel's brash nature, bluntness, and impatience have caused some viewers and reviewers to deem her as being bratty and unlikeable. An often cited example is her instant dismissal of Elrond's opinions and experience with the line "You have not seen what I have seen"; when he responds that he has seen his share, she simply repeats this line in an aggravated tone rather than explaining further. Other commonly cited examples include her lack of concern for her own soldiers and her swiftness to threaten violence on people with minimal provocation. Some viewers have stated they would've found Galadriel's attitude easier to accept as a side effect of youth... except by this stage Galadriel is [[ImmortalImmaturity already thousands of years old, yet characters with a fraction of her life experience show more maturity and wisdom.]]
** Similarly, Elrond's relationship with Durin. He disappears for two decades, missing Durin's wedding and the births of both his children, then turns up because Gil-Galad gave him a task. Durin is completely right to interpret this as a betrayal and trying to play on a long dead friendship to get something out if him, and indeed after he trusts Elrond with the secret of Mithril, Elrond gives sufficient hints to his king that he knows what's going on, and gives the mithril to Celebrimbor. Then he goes sneaking around Durin's mine to find the Mithril vein, which infuriates Durin to no end and gives the overall impression of Elrond as a ConsummateLiar who will claim friendship to get however much he can out of his 'friends', and use treachery to get the rest.

* ItsTheSameSoItSucks: While it was advertised as a completely unique product with its own continuity, the series' [[MythologyGag/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower tendency of repurposing quotes and scenes]] verbatim from Peter Jackson's Third age trilogy has being perceived as an excessively derivative resource detrimental to the series' own style, aiming to evoke the nostalgia and quality of the films and making some [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy7OCWLp2ko scenes]] feel like a rehash. Galadriel hiding from the orcs under a tree root - just like the Hobbits do in ''The Fellowship'' when hiding from a Nazgul - is an often-cited example.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: If one looks carefully at the group of villagers listening to Bronwyn's speech in episode 5, you can see that [[https://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com/public/869118/1664141029469.png quite a few of them appear to have been copy-pasted several times]] on the background during post-production.

* MisaimedMarketing: The now infamous [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18368278/ Superfans]] review of the teaser trailer. This featured a group of alleged Tolkien "Superfans" (consisting of various social media influencers) discussing the teaser trailer and framing it in a very positive light. Many Tolkien fans immediately noticed that most of the comments were superficial and the participants seemed to lack the basic knowledge of Middle-earth lore that even casual Tolkien fans were familiar with, at one point even asking ''why'' the One Ring was forged. A large number of viewers proceeded to vent their frustration about this and generally mocked the video on various social media outlets. Amazon subsequently unlisted the video.

* {{Narm}}: The resolution of the MeaningfulRename of "The Southlands" to "{{Mordor}}", well set up with a dialogue with Adar at the end of Episode 7, is resolved non-diegetically by superimposing in the screen the actual letters of the former words becoming the latter. This has been met with derision, being regarded as a kitsch resource that ruins the seriouness of the moment while [[ViewersAreMorons spoon-feeding the viewers]], considered more suited for post-modern works such as videogames, and out of place in an adaptation of a solemn literary work.

* CompleteMonster: [[PsychoSupporter Waldreg]] is introduced as a lowly barkeep, but is in truth a treacherous fanatic of [[Characters/RingsOfPowerSauron Sauron]]. Believing Adar to be the coming of Sauron, Waldreg convinces half of the population that came for shalter at Ostirith to betray their fellow [[Characters/RingsOfPowerMen men]] and ally with the Orcs. Waldreg later proves his loyalty to Adar by murdering the young Rowan. Having hidden the sword of Morgoth for years so as to one day use it in Sauron's service, Waldreg swears allegiance to Adar purely for his own [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitions]] and uses the sword to activate Mount Doom on Adar's command, decimating the Southlands' population and {{terraform}}ing the land into Mordor.

* CompleteMonster: [[PsychoSupporter Waldreg]] is introduced as a lowly barkeep, but is in truth a treacherous fanatic of [[Characters/RingsOfPowerSauron Sauron]]. Believing Adar to be the coming of Sauron, Waldreg convinces half of the population of Ostirith to betray their fellow [[Characters/RingsOfPowerMen men]] and ally with the Orcs. Waldreg later proves his loyalty to Adar by murdering the young Rowan. Having hidden the sword of Morgoth for years so as to one day use it in Sauron's service, Waldreg swears allegiance to Adar purely for his own [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitions]] and uses the sword to activate Mount Doom on Adar's command, decimating the Southlands' population and {{terraform}}ing the land into Mordor.

* CompleteMonster: [[PsychoSupporter Waldreg]] is introduced as a lowly barkeep, but is in truth a treacherous fanatic of [[EvilOverlord Sauron]]. Believing Adar to be the coming of Sauron, Waldreg convinces half of the population of Ostirith to betray their fellow [[Characters/RingsOfPowerMen men]] and ally with the Orcs. Waldreg later proves his loyalty to Adar by murdering the young Rowan. Having hidden the sword of Morgoth for years so as to one day use it in Sauron's service, Waldreg swears allegiance to Adar purely for his own [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitions]] and uses the sword to activate Mount Doom on Adar's command, decimating the Southlands' population and {{terraform}}ing the land into Mordor.

* EvilIsSexy: [[spoiler: As should have been expected, Sauron's real identity turns out to be this with him keeping the handsome visage he had as Halbrand while tempting Galadriel to rule Middle-Earth with him.]]