Une "amazon" chez Le Seigneur des Anneaux

[UmbarParrot]

Les showrunners de la série, manifestement aussi courageux que talentueux, ont décidé de répondre à certaines critiques choisies pour leur pertinence, à la limite elles aussi du génie. Je retranscris grosso modo les réponses du duo, avec un peu de fourberie quand même:

1. Les femmes naines à barbe

"On a mis quelques poils, et puis il y a des favoris. Tolkien lui-même s'est un peu contredit par moments."


2. Les elfes et leurs cheveux.

"Si Tolkien avait écrit un guide exhaustif des styles capillaires de la Terre du Milieu, on le saurait"


3. Les costumes ont l'air trop neufs

"Nous ne sommes pas d'accord avec vous. Au fait, votre chemise est neuve ? Oui ? Parfois, les vêtements sont neufs."


4. La série est trop lente

"Certains blockbusters vont trop vite au début et puis s'écroulent sous leur propre poids. Nous n'allons pas trop vite."


5. Galadriel est trop masculine et n'a rien à faire à Numenor (ou en Numenor ? On peut dire les 2 !)

"Montrez-moi où Tolkien a écrit que Galadriel n'y est jamais allée. Sinon, Galadriel est surnomée Nerwen, ce qui veut dire damoiselle masculine. Enfin, elle n'est pas masculine."


Ce n'est pas non plus l'honnêteté qui les arrête. Et ils sont un peu du genre à remuer la tête pour faire fonctionner leur éventail.

"Dwarf wives in The Rings of Power don’t have beards"

J.D. Payne: They actually do, it’s not accurate. We looked at various versions of what facial hair on dwarf women might look like. There are beard hairs applied lovingly one at a time [onto Disa actress Sophia Nomvete] and there are these sort of mutton chops on the side.

Patrick McKay: I would go further to say that Tolkien himself — if you study his entire body of work — has answered this particular question both ways. There’s a very strong argument to be made that dwarf women should have beards, and a very strong argument to be made that they don’t. We’re happy with where we landed.

Elves don’t have shaved heads or short hair”

Payne: If Tolkien ever wrote a comprehensive style guide to hairstyles in Middle-earth over its thousands of years of history, I would love to see it.

McKay: Part of this show is to go deeper and broader into each of these races and cultures. To say that any culture as rich and with as long of a history as the elves would all have the same hair for 9,000 years … that doesn’t seem to correspond and harmonize with the breadth of the imagination that Tolkien left us.

Galadriel acts too masculine and she never went to Númenor”

Payne: I would love to see in Tolkien where it says Galadriel never went to Númenor — that doesn’t exist. Second, one of her nicknames is “Nerwen,” which means “man-maiden.” And third, she does not act masculine!

McKay: Also, the name “Galadriel” is loosely translated in Elvish as a maiden with a crown of golden hair. The reason she had a crown of golden hair is because when she would fight and do all sorts of sparring with other elves … she would braid her hair and put it up on top of her head [to stay out of the way]. So in the etymology is the idea that Galadriel is a warrior.

The costumes look too new”

McKay: I certainly don’t agree with that note. I think we are always talking about a lived-in world, and we’re always talking about adding breakdown [to give costumes a more worn-in look]. But also: That’s not a bad shirt you got on. Is it new?

[I confirm my shirt is new.]

McKay: Guess what? Sometimes clothes are new.

“The show’s pacing has been too slow”

Payne: I hope that people can key in for the journey. A lot of blockbusters have a breakneck pace where you’re wheeled from one set piece to the next until it all collapses under its own weight. Tolkien will take his time and let you sink into characters, to a journey, and journeys can be hard in Tolkien. I hope people will have the patience to settle in for a Tolkien epic.

That said, in THR’s The Rings of Power cover story, the duo conceded that some scenes in season one weren’t as urgent as they could have been. “There are things that didn’t work as well in season one that might have worked in a smaller show,” McKay said. “It has to be about good and evil and the fate of the world, or it doesn’t have that epic feeling you want when you’re in Tolkien.”