The Rings Of Power's Mysterious Adar Is Really Going To Upset Tolkien Purists

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" has already attracted its fair share of controversy. For a start, there is a subsection of J.R.R. Tolkien fans out there who feel angered by the show's decision to feature actors of color. As such, some cast members have been subjected to online abuse and trolling, while the show itself has been accused of having a political agenda (per The Conversation). However, some "Lord of the Rings" stars are standing up for diversity in "Middle-earth" and welcoming the fresh ideas.

Elsewhere, "The Rings of Power" has annoyed some Tolkien diehards simply because of the creative liberties taken by the creators in order to bring the show to life. Tolkien didn't write about the Second Age of Middle-earth in great detail, so "The Rings of Power" has been tasked with filling in the blanks. Given that this period of Middle-earth history is open to interpretation in a lot of ways, the series has allowed the showrunners and their writing team to come up with ideas that perhaps don't align with the author's vision. 

With that in mind, the Adar (Joseph Mawle) character, who makes his debut in Episode 3, will undoubtedly upset Tolkien purists who don't want to see Elves painted in an evil light.

Adar is a character who was created for "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power." While he isn't the only character to be invented from scratch for the Amazon series, he wields the potential to cause the most division among fans of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Basically, Adar is an elf who was tortured and corrupted by Sauron to command an army of orcs. However, this is a bold move on the creators' part as Elves have never served the forces of evil in the "Lord of the Rings" canon. Granted, some Elves, such as Maeglin, did questionable things that aided the armies of darkness in Tolkien's lore. But none of them ever outright served Morgoth or Sauron in the texts, so Adar a rare breed of Elf.

It will be interesting to see how Adar evolves moving forward, but an evil Elf who's in cahoots with Sauron suggests that "The Rings of Power" will expand on Tolkien's mythology in unexpected ways.