**NOTE ON THE GOLD LEAF: Gold leaf or gold foil has in fact been around since the antiquity, but it was mostly used to decorate statues, jewellery, books, and other decor. While it could be used on textiles too and is therefore not completely ''modern'' in that sense, it is the particular appearance of the gold leaf used on the ROP costumes that bothers me, since the overall look it gives to the garments is far too modern (aka random patches of gold on cloaks or cloaks fully covered in gold and plastic looking).
Indeed! Using goldleaf on a piece of cloths would be very unpractical, since it can and will wash off if you try to clean the garment. These costumes look like a hastily put together community theater (don't get me started of the High King's "crown"). You know what's really jarring to me? That the Noldor (the people of the High King) were the best of the best artisans with anything from woodworking, to metalworking, to needlework. Dressing Gil-Galad would have entailed an ENORMOUS amount to design and work because he could very well surpass the garments Galadriel and Celeborn wore at Lothlorien. Instead they just covered him in goldleaf because, you know... gold=wealthy, right?
From all that I have seen, the Rongs of Power was deliberately made to Troll everyone and get us all angry. IMHO, the best response is to ignore the whole damned thing. I don't believe that anyone involved in this production is capable of learning from their mistakes, but at least we can break their bank.
Amazon heard “cloth of gold” and thought it was achieved by sticking goldleaf on fabric not knowing that cloth of gold was made by weaving literal strands of gold into fabric, haha
It is interesting to see so many elves in this show adorned in gold as, if I recall correctly, elves weren't terribly partial to gold, preferring silver, diamonds, mirrors. Things that captured the light of the stars. Gold was a thing of men and dwarves.
In Tolkien´s legendarium , Gold is often coded for evil, greed or pride. Like Ar-Pharazon the Golden, or Glaurung the Golden. Or the curesed dragon-gold in the Hobbit. This is not always the case, like in the Golden Hall in Rohan, but there is a pattern. Suprisongly often, silver is correlated with the "good" characters, often elves.
I mean, I do see what people are saying. But if that were true, what of all the gems and beautiful things constructed by the Elves in Aman or in the First Age? The Nauglamir was made of gold and gems after all and was considered the most beautiful thing constructed in all Arda.
I remember an interview from the guy who play Theoden where he talked about putting on his breastplate and it had runes in the INSIDE of the armor which would never even be seen on film, but it helped him get into the part because of the craftmanship. That level of detail is what made the 3 LOTR films so great, everyone from the director down to the boom mic operator wanted to make something their kids can watch, they weren't just hired to make a cash-in
At this point, after watching the extended LotR basically every single year since it came out (more in the early years) I actually prefer the extra materials about the design and filming process because I love listening/watching the love and care that went into those movies on every level (like the guys who literally rubbed off their fingerprints because they handmade all the chainmails haha). And I've learned so much about moviemaking from them! The costume and weapon/armour sections are my favourite :-)
It seems that everyone involved in the production maybe didn't love Tolkien's work but they respected it and wanted to make something that was special. And in that they honored the man and his memory.
The people making the costumes for the dwarves seem to have absolutely no understanding of them whatsoever. The dwarves are supposed to be the finest craftsmen of Middle Earth. Everything they made with their hands was done with great skill. It is literally who and what they are. They are literally the children of Aulë, the Vala of craft and skill of hand. Their creations would all be of meticulous quality and profound intricacy. Nothing simple or cheap.
yes this!!! elves are known for their obsession with beauty, but dwarves, and much of their culture, are centered around craftsmanship. even if the draped, gold-fabric-padded costumes didn't already miss the mark, it feels incredibly weird that high status dwarves wouldn't be depicted with finely crafted jewelery or armor. (i just looked up the costumes again to make sure i wasn't saying anything incorrect, and i realized the one dwarf /is/ wearing jewelry. it just looks so bad that i thought it was padded fabric sewn onto the draped fabric underneath it 😭)
She made a dress out of bedsheets and claimed it was authentic. Why are you paying attention to a word she says about costumes? She's a cosplayer and a mediocre one, nothing more.
You made that up. Yes, they preferred silver because they were born under the light of the stars but they still liked the sun and gold. Also, the sun was their best ally against Morgoth and his servants, so they certainly didn't associated it with him.
it's not just associated with morgoth. all arda was his "ring" and especially gold, so it's "marred", it was his material. i believe it's from X book of " history of the middle earth". that's why sauron was using gold too.
Elves didn't hate gold really. Especially the Noldor they like all kinds of bling. BUT IT IS TRUE that gold is heavily associated with Morgoth. Remember Morgoth poured his essence into the very fabric of Arda. It's weakest in water but strongest in gold. Makes sense why Sauron chose the One Ring to be made purely of gold and he forged it on Mt. Doom. BOTH are left over traces of his old Master.
True but even Peter Jackson put gold tiaras onto Galadriel, Arwen, and Elrond ... not silver... unless mithril and silvers are yellow in his version of the middle earth...
With the massive amount of money thrown into this show the costumes are an even greater slap in the face. Where the heck is all that money going? It certainly didn't go into the costume department. Which throughout cinema history has proven to be an extremely important element of making a believable world especially in fantasy settings where there's not a lot to go off of. It all looks so cheap, it's a crying shame.
@JésterExcept they went and spent a giant chunk of the cash building a city stone by stone, and then deciding to move that entire city to another country because they wanted to change locations for reasons we can't begin to fathom.
They must have put it into making an absolutely perfect flawless apple. In the newest trailer, the harfoot girl hands the ragged wizard man an apple, and pause on the frame and study the apple. It looks more airbrushed than Kim Kardashian! There's no texture or marks, the stem is perfect, and the color is consistent throughout the whole thing. Why is it so perfect? They could have run down to walmart and grabbed a real apple, but either they painted a wooden apple, spent hundreds of dollars searching for the perfect apple, or edited it in. I know it's a very tiny detail, but it's so odd.
@@Hepsvljn This comment is so random in the context of my comment xD I feel like you're taking your anger at the entire response to Rings of Power out on me haha. So here's the truth of it: I read the books before I saw the movies and I still enjoyed the PJ adaptations despite their flaws. The point of my comment was about the costumes, which are visible to our eyes and therefore ready for our judgement. The fact that we choose to judge them is not surprising, as this is an enormous enterprise, and it is the right of people with a passion for costuming done correctly to criticize something which is entirely apparent and available to be criticized. Please take your random anger somewhere more appropriate.
Wasn't mithril the ultimate treasure for Dwarves? Gold, they had plenty. But the books gave me the impression that mithril was for royalty. Shouldn't the much touted dwarf princess be wearing at-least some form of mithril? Instead, they have stuck gold leaf to linen looking garments, which is so impractical. Linen needs regular washing and there goes your gold down the drain. Dwarves were watchful and greedy of their treasures. They would never do something impractical like this.
Let's be honest, no one needed a black fat woman to be the princess of the dwarves. It would have been more acceptable if she had a beard and dressed almost like a man.
The bottom line is that there was a lot of thought, care and love put into the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for the Rings of Power.
Stop carrying water for anticultural, anti European corporations and “creatives”. We all know how this is going to end. If you refuse to learn from history then just shut up.
@8 bit synth hold on let me look into my crystal ball. “Gazes into the past 7 years of woke Hollywood” Hmm I see entire plots of virtue signaling, millions wasted on “strong female characters” by way of making them wannabe men. Entire series Disregarding reality in order to push “inclusivity” Yea I guess I am psychic
@@bernicia-sc2iw but we can see trailers and footage as it stands now. Imagine a critic at a restaurant orders some food, and has a viewpoint to see the food making process. He watches as the food is made sloppily, haphazardly, or lazily. Now, the question is, should he have to wait until he actually eats the food itself to make ANY complaint? The answer is no, he actually does not have to. And the same is true for trailers of nay product. There are things you can see in the trailer, such as costume design, that Will. Not. Be. Different. At. Release. We are definitely allowed to complain and criticize what we have seen so far.
To be fair, the care and attention paid to the costumes in Jackson's LOTR are rarely matched anywhere in film/tv let alone the Rings of Power. That said the costumes there do look cheap even for casual onlookers like myself. The Númenóreans look particularly disappointing for me, they look like a cheap Shakespeare company not the pinnacle of human culture in Tolkien's legendarium and the greatest military force outside of Valinor.
And if you now consider, that PJs movies "only" were about a third of the budget as for RoP, you really have to ask: Where did the "showrunners" spend the money ?
If they wanna add to the LOTR on-screen franchise though they have to keep up quality and that means matching the trilogy's quality (which looking at some of the grand shots of the places etc they seem to have done in places but we'll know for sure when we see it)
Good point with " a costume shouldn't be noticed as a costume" This is one of my main issues with a lot of series... the whole costuming, the designs, often with modern patterns and cuts... the seem to be artificial, forged or somehow pressed into a surrounding where they don't seem to be natural. It is not believable at all. It appears artificially costumy. It looks like Disney world or a bad larp convention. Not clothing but one day costumes with out any context. A small point on nose guards on helmets. Yes, there are tons of helmets with longer nose guards, but there are also alot of different types of helmets without. Those usually have some sort of brim or other geometrical forms to deflect a blade or preventing it from getting into the face. But this is also a matter of context, age and culture. But again, armor and helmets seen in the series just appear wrong. Just for the sake of design, not of function or believability. This is probably due to the thing that the designers probably didn't do any sort of research for these martial things. They are hired as designers, make me something that looks like armor and get paid. I really miss the love for details and reality in this series..... and other ones. And you didn't even need to be historical correct in a fantasy movie XD... but it should be natural/ believable Something that belongs to the world and the way people lived in the setting.
Yup. Historic movies often look alright, but when it comes to fantasy lately everything looks incredibly fake. Can't tell if that's on purpose, like a badly judged stylistic choice, or they're just super lazy, thinking if it's fantasy nothing really matters apart from cgi. Or if they're trying to pass laziness as a stylistic choice :D In the Witcher series there were even scenes where I thought something is a dream or a distorted flashback, just to realize several minutes later that it's actually supposed to be a part of the world and the current events (ahem, the ball scene in s1).
I think shows like Rings of Power are concerned more with the ✨aesthetic✨ of the costumes rather than practicality. Which is how you end up with flashy costumes that stand out as cheap looking and out of place. It just does not work one bit. I cannot believe they put the Elves in gold.
There will probably never be something like the OG trilogy again. The amount of time and care that went into the design of that was insane, but it goes to show what can be pulled off if just given time and good art direction to create something truly fantastic.
I recently listened to a podcast where the host was ranting about the critics towards tRoP and was saying something like: „oh my god it’s just fAnTasY. It can be aNyThInG“ And that’s where these people are fundamentally wrong: fantasy needs consistent and strong world building to allow any form of fantasy. If that’s not the case these story’s become unwatchable bullshit.
4:10 I heard somewhere Viggo asked for a whetstone and a tobacco pouch to be added to his ranger costume. There's also that story with the inner imprint on Theoden's armor that no one but him and the staff could've seen. Now that's dedication to details. Meanwhile, in RoP: cloth-printed scale armor.... ffs. Imagine spending what's almost the GOP of a small country on memes.... Good job, Bezos.
I read that Viggo also wore the sword EVERYWHERE and basically kept it on the entirety of his waking hours so that he would move more naturally with it (and that people in the nearby town had to be alerted to the fact that he wasn't a madman, just a dedicated actor lol). For me (and many others), that's what the difference boils down to: dedication, care, and attention to detail. Those three things' fingerprints are ALL OVER the LoTR trilogy and it shows.
In the making of LOTR, there’s a man who’s been sitting for like a year (or more) just connecting chainmail, because there’s no other way but to actually make it for it to look real. The clip is great if you can find it- shows such love and dedication.
During filming Viggo found an actual sharpened dagger on set and instead of alerting the weapons master he took it and hid in one of the women's toilets where he would tell any women who entered that if they shit in his mouth he would eat the shit like Ungoliant ate the light of the Two Trees. Talk about dedication!
I think the problem is, that some of the costumes look to "shiny" if that makes sense, to new, to much like a costume that was never worn by the character before, either the colours to bright and vibrant or the material to flat and smooth, with no texture... Also can we stop printing on colour (or at least avoid it), because it often looks like a halloween costume and not like something that is actually part of the clothes, not to mention, that printed fabrics don´t age as "natrually" as embroidered fabric...
Yeah I do reenacting and insist my clothes are either linen or wool. You can spot the difference of modern materials instantly. They just don't look right.
It's interesting how a production with a much smaller budget than a multi billion dollar company was capable of creating something much more authentic and better.
I am infuriated because Ngila Dickson when designing for LOTR actively avoided glitter and metallic gold for elven clothes, making sure everything had earthy undertones and if they shimmered, never glittered So while people are fawning over Galadriel's gold dress, the glitter and metallic gold ruins it all for me
Being the cynical person that I am, I wonder if the costumes, and short-haired elves, are all about being able to market the selling of these costumes on line as merchandise. It is much easier to dress up as an elf if long hair is not needed, and I imagine elaborate costumes are harder to produce a cheaper costume version. What makes me think this way is that in one of the ROP trailers the young boy buys a costume off Amazon.
@@zoebaggins90 yeah but without wigs it is just clothes that need to be worn. I'm not one for costumes so I am happy to be corrected, but I imagine many people would not like wearing wigs for various reasons.
1:21 actually also non-royalty Elves would dress fancy, (expecially the ones at Tirion) since as you said they don't need to do much during their day so they can go around and dress all fancy and look, well, *like ACTUAL Tolkien elves*
Honestly this is so true for all generic fantasy films/series. The cloths, armor, tools and weapons dont look believable, realistic or worn enough. It just throws me off at once..
The Wheel of Time was horrendously bad at this. All the costumes looked like they were just borrowed so they couldn’t dirty them so they can be used in another set like wtff
In short, TLOTR outfits were done with passion,love and dedication while the wrongs of power outfits lack in care of the details and were clearly rushed. Very interesting analysis, thank you for bringing the discussion to the matter
Excellent analysis! I just love Ngila Dickson and her team's work. The Hobbit costume designer was excellent, too. I just love all the comparison points and details you point out. Very ironic, isn't it the famous Tolkien quote, "all that glitters..."
I hadn't thought of the embroidery! The fact that the new costumes lack embroidery is surely a sign of the quality. There's so much detail in the LOTR movies that goes unnoticed but that we absorbe automatically... the costume should blend in with the character, and so far with Amazon's show, none of the elements meld into one, imo. But let's see when the show comes out.
I never put much thought into the wardrobe. However I did notice that it looked odd. After watching this video, I see that it doesn't even seem to fit in Middle Earth. some of the costumes had a bit of Greek, and Roman influence. And the metal gauntlets in the frozen lands, very impractical. Quite the opposite, in fact. Makes about as much sense as wearing stilettos in swampland. Of course it's all for flash, and fair. They aren't concerned with authenticity anyway, with this affirmation parade of woke. The rabbit hole goes deeper, and deeper.
I could see gloves with metal spikes for stabbing ice, although it would make more sense to have a removable metal spike or cleat on the boots, where a woman might have enough strength to stab into solid ice while clinging to the side of a mountain. But full metal gauntlets seem like a great way to lose fingers. What happened to fur? Or at least leather and wool?? Because while leather, being skin, takes on temperatures it's touching, metal does so a thousand times worse.
Are people forgetting that the series takes place roughly 3,000 years before the events of LOTR? The cultural priorities and visuals diverge significantly, which I would expect when characters are inhabiting an entirely different era.
@@SamanthaRoberts42 that's true. But we're not dealing with races that change in the same way that humans do. Elves live for thousands of years. A culture like that is going to change slower than ours, because people live longer. They also have less impetuous to innovate. They live pretty well in nature and they create more out of love of beauty than necessity. In lord of the rings we see that when the land changes too much, instead of taying and adapting, the elves sort of just choose to leave and go back to their pervious way of life, in their old home. They stick with what they know rather than explore life in a world where men rule. They do this even though sauron is ultimately defeated, and they don't come back. So while I could see things like armor, especially evolving as a response to the enemy, who I should note, does sort of evolve, I can't imagine them being wildly unrecognizable compared to the version we see in lord of the rings. Humans change so much because we have such short lives and so many generations. Things begin to look old fast. The clothes our parents wore, the tools they used, the inventions they wet o proud of... We come along and have access to them our whole lives and therefore find them to be old news. We have our own set of things we're excite about, and their stuff just looks archaic. The same goes for our children. Elves could fit several human dynasties in the length of time it would take one elf to reach the species equivalent of a human teenager.and elves have few children to begin with. It makes sense they would not progress too much.
To be honest, the random golds just reminds me of tacky current fashions, Dior and Gucci are notorious for doing it in their clothes and celebs too Also, my goodness, I'm not an expert or knowledgeable on armour designs but that armour in 6:11 is just ugly, it's even ugly by modern fashion standards
It does look ugly. I'm not an expert on armour by any means, but I've watched several of Jill Bearup's analysis vids to know a thing or two, and can safely say that htis armour sucks from a practical point of view, too. 1) You don't want to let the enemy know that you're a woman - that alone will put a massive target on your back. Letting them know you're the enemy queen is even more stupid. 2) Metal doesn't expand. If that armour is as tight as it looks, she won't be able to do anything physically taxing, as she won't be able to breathe. 3) This, naturally, applies to both men and women. Designing "female" armour is pointless, as men need space to breathe, too. Of course, the armour needs to fit well, but again, this is a unisex problem. 4) Boob armour is stupid. Apart from the "painting a target on your back" and the "can't breathe" problems, armour cut like that increases the risk that you'll take a direct, massive hit to your sternum. Armour is supposed to make enemy blows glance off, and its widest point should be above your sternum. They at least had the sense to cover her complete torso in armour, so props for that. But, yeah. Jill had a look at Galadriel's armour and found it to be pretty decent, though she had something to say about the length of the breastplate.
Fabric printed to look like armor was also used. It does not flow at all like a real armor and it ruin the immersion. Gold on armor is not a problem because if you are made prisoner they would keep you alive for ransom but the sun decoration are not made for a battle armor . Weapons like arrows are also poorly chosen using modern arrows and foam weapon that actor wield like they don't have the weight of a real one. The worst is the dwarves ' describe by Tolkien like '"no Man nor Elf has ever seen a beardless Dwarf-unless he were shaven in mockery, and would then be more like to die of shame than of many other hurts that to us would seem more deadly. For the Naugrim have beards from the beginning of their lives, male and female alike"" , female dwarves should look like male and sound like male which is not the case with those costumes.
they got a believe system = an inconsistent political ideology, we got cultural roots of myths and much respect for this gift. they got postmodernism = "we dont care about sticking to the truth" we got respect for an author's wishes of how to adapt his books. they got pseudointelectual word salad of newspeak, we got beauty of old languages and poems, they got tiktok's weirdos as profesors of brain's conditioning, we got a real scholar, artist and romantic for bringing us all together for some hard, hard learning - about evil, truth, beauty, and honor. Fandoms! To the king!
WOW ! Great analysis, thank you. Something i spotted as well, the picture where Miriel sits on the horse, you can clearly see, when zooming in towards her armpit, that the scales of the armor are printed on the shirt shes wearing. So even the armor is incosistent.
I think this was the first time I ever really looked at the LotR character's costumes, before I watched this video I could not tell you what exactly the Hobbits wore during their adventures (apart from the cloaks and later the elven cloaks and their general clothing style)... and this is actually a good thing I realized because it means I never really saw their clothing as a costume, in my subconciousness it was just the normal stuff they would wear, so I didn't pay too much attention to it. The Rings of Power costumes I always found weird in the trailers, like immediately I looked at them and thought "hm that costume looks not that good". From the first moment I saw the costumes I identified them as movie costumes, something artifical from the real world that is shown on screen. Together with the weird lighting, cinematography and movie sets it just pulls me right out of the immersion.
I just found this channel and will have to go back through it. I immediately thought of about the "Making of" videos Warner Brothers have been re-posting this year about the original films. Really seems like they are mocking RoP and rightly so. For a comparatively small budget too! It was a huge budget of course but all films didn't come anywhere near what Amazon is spending and for what? Only creative positives I can expect at this point is in conceptual visuals and the soundtrack. Bear McReary is pretty solid and their are many talented people in the VFX studios. However, so far, costumes, armor and practical fx, even set dressing... hmm, we'll see, but looking so good.
2 or 3 days agao, i received an advertisement from Weta workshop, they were advertising a new Elendil figurine, made after tthe Elendil shown in LotR. I think as well, Weta KNOWS that their costumes are class not mass.
PJ's LOTR characters feel like they're wearing clothes that people at that place and time will wear. The costumes have different textures based on the mission and race of the characters. I especially like how they made it so that the Fellowship become more rugged as they go through their mission. The LOTR costumes are not the ones that make the characters who they are. They are an integral part of telling the story but are not constantly noticed by the audience. When I was watching the movie, I was very much invested in the story and didn't notice the costume all the time. I know the costumes are important at the back of my mind but they're not what I entirely focus on. But the costumes of the Rings of Power look too contrived. If that makes sense. I've noticed that some characters are too shiny and clean. While some are made too dirty but still look fabricated. I don't know... It feels like the costume are what are primarily building the characters when supposed to be, it's the story and the actors who create the characters. The actors are being overshadowed by the costumes.
Costumes IMO help to establish a charachter, thats why every culture got their own style and every person also was a bit different in personal differences of costume - its shape and colors. Like the colors of Theoden and Eomer were a bit different due to their age and status and story even though both were from one place. And I like how they made difference between Frodo and his cousins using costumes. Frodo's costume is more elegant, more "strict", one colored and this way modest and a bit sobre but also rich in fabric, not as disheveled as Pippin's and not as expensive and showy as Merry's. IMO its a costume of contemplative, introvertic personage. And in one of his letters Tolkien wrote this description of Frodo - as "a poet, scholar and introvert" not a warrior. Of course I dont know if these things were connected, planned as such by the costume designer or if it was just a coincidence :) But that is how I like to think about the topic :)
You nailed it when you mentioned the materials looking cheap, out of place and unnatural. Unlike weird design choices that require some thought to spot (unpractical, culturally inadequate...), it only takes a glance to notice that a piece of fabric came straight out of a printing machine. Too light, untextured, too uniformly died... It's a gripe I usually have with amateur cosplays, but seeing that in an overly expensive TV show from a company that has infinite money is laughable. Any decent medieval or Tolkien reconstitution enthusiast would do much better. Gotta hand it to Amazon (more like Disappointon) though: I never noticed how incredible the original LotR outfits were until I saw their school fair costumes. Which makes sense: a successful costume goes unnoticed (Well... Unless it's designed to be noticed IN UNIVERSE).
Actually Hobbits were hiding from others during the second age. As said in the prologue of LOTR, they were so good at it that it felt like magic. This however means that the hair-camouflage kinda contradicts the lore.
The fact is, this is it the new way of making cinema. They're all covered in gold glitter and hoping to make money. They hope the CGI will be enough. No. They need to try harder. Not only in the way of making films but also in WRITING a decent plot. In my opinion it is much more racist to force black actors into a series and you can clearly see that they are forced to please the woke culture. THIS LOOKS LIKE B-C-D... CATEGORY SERIES ... A B movie costing billions. I will never stop watching Peter Jackson's trilogy because it is still amazing. And I ask who will watch still this serie in next 2 years. It will be forgotten and no one will want to see it again, I hope so.
I feel so horribly disappointed every time I see new images or clips from this show, the lack of attention to detail doesn't bode well for the show in general. You have the expertise to articulate in detail the reasons why these costumes have such an underwhelming effect on the viewer. Great video!
I watched the LotR appendices so many times. The costumes, the sets, everything those people made is so spectacular. Meanwhile the harfoots look like those invisible hippie aliens from that one episode of Stargate. EDIT: the Nox
When watching the first episode I got a strong sense that I was watching a play, rather than actual characters in their own world. I thought it was the dialogue giving me that vibe, but now I realise that subconciously it's definitely also the costumes that don't fit in with their surroundings.
Have you seen the entertainment weekly moving promotions. GIL-GALAD outfit looks stiff in movement. It reminds me of cheap plastic curtain fabric. I use to cosplay and make my costumes.
The big difference between this show and the peter Jackson movies is peter Jackson fought tooth and nail to get them done he had passion to bring middle earth to life . Amazon just wants to make a quick buck and get it's diversity message across. It's kind of sad that the most expensive show in history seems so cheaply done .
Amazon doesn't have a "diversity message", they'd turn every person of colour into dog food if they thought it'd increase their revenue by 0.5% that year. They've just concluded that diversity is marketable because most people approve of it in principle, and because miority members are more likely to watch a show if they feel represented in it. They cast "diverse" actors for the same reason they cast conventionally attractive actors: it sells.
You can hear the pen checking off the boxes in the background while seeing any press release for the show. - diverse cast ✔️ - more cgi than before ✔️ - updating lore for modern people ✔️ - physically strong female character ✔️ - call everyone a racist and sexist for whoever criticizes what I've made ✔️
Wonderfully said. They are using far too much obviously synthetic cloth ... cloth of gold meant not our synthetics, but gold wire woven into fabric, which made the cloth impossibly expensive and also heavy. I remember reading that the people who wore gold embrodiered clothes would slowly pull the wire out of the garment when it was worn out, to save money, so precious was the gold 'thread' ! Did you notice another Greek style red Chiton on one of the royal family of Numenor... (she'd look at home in movie of one of the Greek legends) The stories of Middle Earth are supposed to be happening in NORTHERN Europe, not sunny warm ancient Greece and Italia.
This is the second time I hear about how the costumes of this new show don’t make sense because they don’t seem well thought of. There is no sense of the character wearing it, nor function . The Original LOTR is a masterpiece in every sense of the way. And the reason why I love costumes. There was so much LOvE and respect for the source material that everything was so well thought and made.
I remember watching the appendices disc for the LotR films, and I was amazed at how they had a team just for linking chainmail together. Rings of Power has a plate-effect print on a lycra shirt for the Queen of Númenor. No passion- just in it for the money.
Those 2 dudes that did all the chainmail for LotR said it was the greatest experience of their lives, and very therapeutic once they got into the flow of it, they literally spent half a year interlinking metal rings every single day for 8 hours a day
So glad RU-vid recommended this video for me! I am super impressed with your analytical skills! Subscribed! I love watching the behind-the-scenes features on the LOTR trilogy extended edition DVDs. It is jaw-dropping how much effort they went to in order to create realistic looks not only for elves, hobbits, men (Rohan, Gondor) but also for orcs and Uruk-hai (same goes for architecture, weapons design and fighting styles). Everybody who worked on the LOTR trilogy from the actors to Peter Jackson to the guys who made chain mail armour by hand poured unlimited amounts of love into their work. When they are interviewed, you can hear the note of pride in their voices as they explain what their particular job was. It must’ve been a very hectic but also a very positive work environment!
I love your comment! Related: WETA did such a solid job on the gates of Helms' Deep that the orc actors couldn't break it down with the battering ram lol. WETA had to make it less fortified and I love that so much!
I just love these videos about the outfits. I remember the first time watching rhe extra material from the extended blu-ray of LOtR, and the presentation of all the work done for the clothes, armour and wepons. Totally stunning work. Even the inside of some robes never seen on screen was full of details. I was amazed! So I am so happy to see this breakdowns and analysis of the new wardrobe of Rings of power. And now I wonder where all the money has been spent on, that has been on disposal for the show? Not so much to the costumes I would think. Im happy that I stumbled across this channel and I have to say thanks again for a tremendusly good take of this with these episodes. 🙏🥰
If you want an example of some seriously rich fabric that could be made by craftsmen in middle earth, look up the Japanese hikihaku obi. There's a video showing the delicate and painstaking process of transforming literal stone, shell, and metal into stunning fabrics, by hand. It's incredible. Apart from that, if they wanted metallic, why not go for metalwork embroidery, beading, shining silks and velvets? Those work so well because they are timeless, made from natural materials, centuries or even millenia-old crafts that have history. That holds Weight, on screen.
Awesome video! Two details that always stood out to me for some reason were Isildur’s glove when he picks up the ring: the real leather, dirty, worn, and just looked like gloves that had been around for 30 years. And the hobbits’ vests: the time put into the stitching and embroidery elevated them from costume to quality clothing. For some reason those stand out to me. LoTR “costumes” look like they could be from a museum and were actually worn. They’re real materials. Like you and everyone here says, TRoP costumes look like that: costumes. Plastic and vinyl. Blech.
Thank you for opening my eyes as to the reason why I feel like a lot of modern TV shows and movies don't look "right". I felt this way with Netflix The Witcher, House of The Dragon and now The Rings of power. Whereas shows like Vikings, The last Kingdom and even Game of Thrones looked like they were filmed then and there in that environment. I wasn't sure if it was the casting, the acting or even the set pieces and dialogue, but nope; just the costumes. It really makes such a difference and when pointed out it's even more obvious. Damn it's such a shame so many shows as of late opt for cheaper quality on tangible props and invest into CGI and VFX to make things look... "better"
Wow. Very well put together video! Helped someone like me understand how important costume design is to the overall “feel” and “look” to a piece of cinema.
It's hearbreaking to see that all the channels that give us actual analysis and facts and true knowledge about Tolkien, such as this one, have barely any subscribers, but shallow, dishonest channels that bring nothing but empty, artificial hype, have well over half a million.
For a series that cost so much more then the movies....their costumes and armor looks like they bought it from Amazon itself instead of researching or putting any effort to making them
The patterned cloth at 9:05 could be produced with the technology available in middle earth, but it looks anachronistic even if it isn't due to the fabric. The moire pattern is produced by a process called calendering, involving pressing the fabric between rollers at high pressure; this was done in ancient China to silk using large rocks and a lot of manpower, and in Europe in the middle ages with copper rollers and slightly less manpower. The real issue with it is the fabric looks like rayon or some other synthetic silk substitute that sticks out like a sore thumb. If they applied the technique to cotton, wool, or velvet as was done in medieval Europe it would look much better and like actual clothing these people may wear, and not like an obvious costume. Crushed moire velvet would be a fantastic choice of fabric for Disa as an example; especially if done in an off white color it could be made to mimic marble fitting with the stone aesthetic of the dwarves.
wow I feel like I learned something thank you! great to read an input from someone who is clearly an expert and would do a lot better than RoP's designers :)
I think we see several dwarves in LOTR. The council of Elrond had Gimli, two dwarves on his right and another on his left. I think one of them was supposed to be Gloin, his father.
Absolutely agree with everything you've mentioned! The LOTR trilogy was superior in all senses. This series already has me disappointed because you can see how it's too fantasy-esque and it doesn't feel real. Also, seeing major deviations from what Tolkien actually wrote and his message behind it all. It feels like with this series they just wanted to get money and create a simple, poorly thought-through fantasy thingie which has the name of a famous "franchise", so that it gets attention. They do it so much nowadays, it's so sad. Also, seeing Galadriel as this warrior woman... I have nothing against female characters in this archetype (like, if it's well written it can be LIT, like Brienne of Tarth, for example), but why change a wise, calm, ethereal and spiritually powerful female into this "I'm strong and I can wield a sword because I'm not less than a man" trope? It IS, after all, a form of misogyny, when people demonise classic feminine traits so much that they neglect them and think that a strong female can only be strong if she's in her masculine and goes to battle and wears armour and stuff. Like, I really feel a much more powerful energy and message coming from Cate Blanchett's Galadriel. It's giving more of "You CAN be and ARE strong even if you're hyper steady, feminine, centred and ethereal-essence".
Thank you - I have never thought about the work that went into the LotR costumes - and now I know why the first look at the Rings of Power costumes made me think how cheap they are looking.
great video, one of the problems with customs nowadays is that they are not worn enough and that's why they look like plastic, the cast of lotr used to go in picnics and hiking while wearing the costumes
I think the LOTR trilogy got one major thing right - wear. Even rich people, with massive (comparatively) wardrobes and lots of servants and expensive textiles.... Only had a few things to wear for most occasions. Because fabric was that expensive, was that valuable. It takes many people and hundreds of hours of work to make enough fabric for a dress with long sleeves and a full skirt. You could use 4-6 yards of fabric, and that's not counting all your underskirt and support garments to give you the right shape. Underthings were utilitarian even when they were fancy, and often washed so they had to be sturdy. Outerwear, especially good fabrics, were often kept and used for years. As long as the fabric lasted, basically. Many women took apart, repaired, re-dyed, re-cut to the newest fashionable style, and when all else failed, either demoted the dress in formality or took it apart to use as patches, pieces for a new dress, or rags. Theodenvs embroidery was a massive cost. I don't recall Eowyn wearing lace, which makes sense because she was his niece not his daughter and keeping her in lace probably would have bankrupted Rohan. Arwen wears expensive, saturated colors, because she s the daughter of an elf-lord and her wardrobe is better than anyone else her age. Notice her jewelry and her skin and hair and her long, thic skirts and sleeves. The postures is see show people in ill-fitting, not tailored, thin fabrics with prints. Prints were not a common thin as far as I know in medieval times. Unless someone ws painting the print onto the fabric by hand, your options were weave the print, embroider the prints, and a few dying techniques but ivm not sure they were invented in medieval times. Like the wax resist technique. Not sure when that was invented. That's why modernization made such a difference in everyday dress for people. Suddenly, comkon people could afford to have bright prints or all kinds which previously were out of reach for them. I've been going on too long but these costumes are just a little disappointing. They look like something I could make. And that's no good.
Costumes in lotr films also have a sense of history and most of them look grounded, as if they could really exist in real life. Nothing out of place and also very aesthetically pleasing
You know, you get used to how beautiful Lord of the Rings is growing up with it, but god... seeing it next to the crap we put out now I realise how in love I am with the work these people did. Just spectacular.
6:13 As others have pointed out elsewhere and as shown in better photographs, you can see that her arms of supposed scale mail are in fact nothing more than cloth, complete with wrinkles and folds at the elbow, with the armor pattern merely painted on. edit 8:11 This is the "better photograph" I mentioned in the above paragraph. Look at under her shoulder. It's literally a t-shirt with scales painted onto it. It looks terrible.
7:25 "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort." How did they miss this?? I'm kinda flabbergasted.
I remember once working with stars of a panto - Cinderella I think - and I watched the dress rehearsals one afternoon. I was kinda disappointed that the beautiful golden hair wig was a real greyish white when the actress wore it. But when the lights came up - man, that wig shone like gold. Lighting is amazing.
Lana, you’ve read my mind. One of the reasons the costumes of Game of Thrones looked so good (even though they didn’t fit my personal aesthetic as I wished they’d drawn more on historical styles) is because of the amazing craftsmanship. Look up some of the embroidery done on costumes that you hardly see on screen for more than a minute - it’s those kind of details that make the clothes and the world feel lived in and not like costumes/a set. Excellent video and analysis as always.
Not once did i think GOT costumes looked good, with the exception of some Daenerys dresses. But they looked good as modern dresses and i never thought they belonged to that universe. Now, the thing that completely took me out of GOT every single time was the wigs. The most horrific wigs I've seen on TV and cinema.
I have a lot of respect for the people who made these costumes for the show, I can imagine it's not easy to gather and create so many costumes that are not of this era, but there seems to be a lack of cohesion between all the costumes, no story behind them. They seem like pretty clothes worn on a red carpet for a modern day event, but one moment the elves appear Greek and Roman inspired and the next moment they have 20th or even 21st century hairstyles and dress (Galadriel's gold dress gives me roaring 20's vibes). Why does Gil-Galad have long hair and other elves a short cut even though they're equally as regal? I suppose it's a reflection of our own society, but it confuses me a lot.
I remember back when LotR had a traveling showcase of props and costumes. Nothing looked like it was for a movie. It just looked like regular clothing, armour and weapons.
I’m convinced between the inexperienced cast, show runners, and what really almost looks like cheap costumes: that the show might be a money laundering operation. 😂 but this video is more about the design, I actually was thinking about the execution. The example I saw was there is a plate armor on impractical sun helmet girl but under her arms it’s a print it’s printed fabric like 🧐 what? Oh yeah there’s the pic @11:17 look at the area just above the armpit. That’s printed right? Not the same as the textured pieces?
After watching the show, I will comment this, the Harfoots were definitely hiding from the surrounding creatures. So, the camouflage with twigs etc makes sense.
It is not the materials alone that make clothing fit the status of high nobility. It is the fact that they can pay premium for talented tailor to use hours upon hours to make a garment that is worn just for show. The fact that you vanity costs you a fortune but you still have plenty to spare is the ultimate flex.
The appearance of the dwarves in 'The Hobbit' film was completely undermined by their totally ludicrous hairstyles, which I found a constant distraction. I challenge anyone to change my mind and come up with a defence for the decision to go for such a look.
There was a reason. The dwarves came from different regions, so they wanted them to have distinctive traits. Some of them looked a bit odd yeah but it added depth to the lore.. a true lotr lover can feel that
They were throwing 13 new characters at us. They wanted audience to instantly recognize them. And of course, they wanted to capture the fairy tale sort of feel from Hobbit Books. Many creative decisions were made by del Toro before he left the project, and Jackson had to use what he got. He famously had very little if any time for pre-production.
Eomer's (Karl Urban) Helm. On the neck guard there are words embossed into the leather. This is on the back of the helm, covered by a horse hair plume, and never shot in close up in the movie. But it is there because an armorsmith was commissioned by the Third Marshal of the Riddermark and it would have been his finest work. That's the level of detail that brings these movies to life.
Thank you so much for this video. You’ve made me instantly appreciate all the work and love that goes in these little details of a movie’s wardrobe and costume design. So easy to overlook. I was happily surprised to see that you have so many more videos on this topic. Looking forward watching them.
I thought it was terrible. I just started watching 4K lord of the rings on blueray and I keep tearing up because the cinematography and costumes and music all go together so well it feels like something from a lost age of film
it's crazy that this was the most expensive TV show ever made, and yet looks so cheap. It makes you wonder if they're doing a money laundering scheme ala Mel Brook's "The Producers".
Wow! I knew the costumes looked off. Generic. But I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why. You articulated the issues perfectly. Things we know almost intuitively but need to be pointed out. As Amazon’s do look like costumes. They don’t look lived in, practical, or even anything that would actually have come from middle earth. And I’m realizing how important the wardrobe is to creating that sense of total immersion we want to feel when watching fantasy. This looks like it was made half heartedly to look like fantasy. With no attention to detail and no particular attention to the world of middle earth. What I don’t get, is with all the resources Amazon had, why they couldn’t hire better people with such an enormous budget many times that of what Jackson had. Jackson, or Weta, did far away better with far less. When a RU-vidr, and I mean no offense, can do better than people whose profession it is, thats a problem. You could’ve and should’ve been at a minimum a consultant for the series. And with all Amazon’s resources they could only do worse. When I saw Gil Galad’s costume it struck me as too gaudy and ostentatious. But even that might’ve worked as he is the high king, but only if it didn’t look cheap. It comes off as ridiculous. Trying hard and failing. Except that they didn’t try that hard- at least I hope not. Thranduil would be a great comparison. He came of as regal and ethereal and simultaneously elven all at once. Granted Lee Pace was ideal for the part. But his dress couldn’t have been more appropriate. Both stunning and appropriate for an Elven Woodland king. Amazon- I just do not understand where the budget went. I prefer practical effects to CGI, and wardrobe is very much a practical effect. Perhaps one of the most important practical effects in fantasy. Because you’re trying to sell us on this fantasy world. And in order to immerse myself, I don’t want to have to keep looking past the costumes which keep jarring me out of the world- a constant reminder that this isn’t actually Tolkien. And I don’t mean that to crap on Amazon. Nothing is actually in Middle Earth, but with Jackson’s trilogy I wasn’t constantly reminded of the fact that these are just real people trying badly to look like something from Middle Earth. Besides the casting I have to say that the costumes are the worst part about this show. Celebrimbor just looks an old man. Not an elf. Gil Galad looks like a fleshy faced middle aged man. And I don’t mean to crap on the actors. I don’t look like an elf either, wish I did. But Amazon literally had almost the entire world to choose from and this is what they came up with? It’s just so disappointing. I badly wanted this to be good. Where the hell did all the budget go anyway? Seriously. Jackson’s Middle earth looks far better in every way, from the costumes, set pieces and I prefer his CGI from what I’ve seen. Amazon’s CGI looks too clean, too pristine and perfect that it looks unreal. And I understand there may be times when that is necessary, in portraying Valinor perhaps. But they need contrast between rough and realistic CGI in order for a perfect CGI Valinor to work.
Wow, years ago i've read something about clothes in the middle ages and i was amazed by how much subjective and cultural reflection there is in something so little as the stripes. This video shows the same and i love that!
i just checked on google and allegedly the fellow ship of the ring did cost 93 mill while the other two did cost 94mill each, so for the whole triology we are looking at 281 million dollar. now compare that to the 465 million amazon put down for only the first season of this show... my first take away is CGI is expensive, thats why LOTR was so "cheap" they did most with practical effects and miniatures and only added CGI as the icing on the cake, thats why so much money was left for great actors and impressive costumes! meanwhile judging from the look of this shows trailers, probably 50% of ring of powers budget will go into CGI alone... xD
One thing that bugged me so much was the armour design. Looking at the different elvish armours, Rohan, and especially Gondor, the design has enough decoration to define the characteristics of each race and country while still making it practical and grounded. I feel the new show just sacrificed practicality for aesthetics
Agreed, the RoP costumes look like poundland (cheap discount store) Halloween costumes. The thing with the original LOTR films, everyone involved was passionate about the films. It wasn’t just another job, it was their life. You see this in the behind the scenes videos on the extended editions, plus I’ve known several people who worked on the original films and to this day they still speak of it with high reverence, as one of the best times of their lives and to just a 9-5. Amazon’s series I feel doesn’t have that. They have the same approach as Amazon has with most of their products….but it cheap, make it cheaper and sell as much of it as possible.
Durin's silver and gold cloak is hard to look at. It clashes with everything else he's wearing. It looks like he was cold and his wife gave him her cloak to wear. He might as well be carrying a purse.
The Lord of the Rings set a ridiculous standard. As someone who became a blacksmith out of passion I was incredibly impressed when I saw that Jackson literally didn't allow the smiths in their costume department to use modern blowtorches, because he thought they would come up with designs that weren't believable. I was not sure weither that level of dedication was truly necessary back then, but now I understand.
