Rings of Power

[Arnenna]

Nobody is. But there's the question of how much genuine continuity there will be between this series and Tolkien's work, in much the same way that other recent adaptations of popular IPs have played fast and loose with the originals.

e.g. if this series was to Tolkien as, say, Star Trek Discovery is to Star Trek in general then that would be unfortunate. Like how STD started out, supposedly in the TOS continuity but some ten years earlier, and proceeded to completely retcon a ton of stuff about the Klingons, invent a 'magic' go-anywhere 'Spore Drive' based on transdimensional fungus of all things, break with all previous ST storytelling by having a specific lead character (who's also a Mary Sue) rather than an ensemble cast, retconning said Mary Sue into Spock's family (very much the sort of thing you see in fanfic!), and other such stuff including some wildly inconsistent technologies and ship design details (some of which reached Galaxy Quest levels of sheer pointless silliness). The list of continuity problems is lengthy; I'm not even a Trekkie but it made me facepalm, like I knew it was bad but it was way worse than I'd imagined.

So that's an example of what can happen when people try to 'modernise' an IP and have no respect for the original. A mess.

Yes, that is a risk, and for most part, I think all Tolkien fans will be watching out of it. Straying too far away from what it should be will be the factor which determines how popular the series is within that audience. Perhaps the producers don't particularly care what that audience thinks about it and are willing to take the risk that a new audience that do not lean so far toward the writing of Tolkien will be enough to make it successful. And perhaps they will be right and it will be enough to make the series a success. At the end of the day, all it has to do is gain enough audience to make the money and it will be successful. The question, would be it be better, or more successful if it follows strict canon probably isn't a factor, as long as it's a success in it's own right. They don't really care who is watching and who is enjoying, as long as the numbers are there and it makes money.

Those those think they've taken a step too far will see it exactly as you say - a mess, and they will forever be lost as part of that TV audience.

We have no control over the making of these things, we only control whether we watch them or not. As I said earlier, I'll know by the end of the first episode if it's for me or not. If anything makes me facepalm, that will be the end of that. I'll still love the books though, and still enjoy the movies, and still play this game.