I just finished watching Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show – Rings of Power.

It was flipping fantastic. So why all the hate?

Well, The first issue is that the Lord of the Rings fandom is highly academic. It comes with a certain quality of elitism because it is the greatest story ever written. Thusly, the fandom wants to essentially gatekeep the legacy.

Before you chew my head off, You should know that I am a die hard JRR Tolkien fan. Now, I understand that this may seem paradoxical that I can enjoy the Rings of Power while claiming to be a devotee of Tolkien. But I assure you it all will make sense, at least to me!

I wasn’t excited about the show when it came out. It took me roughly a year to come to it. But I finally did because I analyzed that no matter how passionate I was about the legacy and the reputation of Tolkien All things Lord of the Rings is officially an intellectual property.

I could do two things: Bear my teeth and Rattle my sword OR accept what is and enjoy more Lord of the Rings content even if it strayed from the source. In the end, I love the world of Tolkien and I want more of it. That was my decision.

This was not as difficult as it should have been because I am a survivor of the destruction of Star Wars. When you want to look at intellectual properties that completely changed the essence of what it originally was. All you have to do is watch The Last Jedi.

With that in mind, You should see that in the end the Rings of Power still contain the essence of all things JRR Tolkien. Yes, as I said before, the Lord of the Rings is elite stuff. Star Wars is a intellectual property that is a bit more fast food. Both are great. However, the destruction of Star Wars should remain in your mind when you decide to blindly lambast and ridicule the Rings of Power. That is toxic fandom.

You’re probably saying, “You just completely attacked Star Wars. Isn’t that toxic?”.

The answer is no.

The phenomenon of “destroying the IP rather than adding to it” is not exclusive to any particular franchise; a case in point is my Star Wars jab – an IP I love. While it is understandable that fans ( like me ) may scold changes that seemingly change what is under the surface, blind rejection can harm the creative growth of said IP’s. The emergence of characters like Mando and Baby Yoda in the Star Wars saga exemplifies how innovation can build upon the original source material.

On the flip-side of this innovation is the act of deconstructing of a source material for the sake of personal choices which almost always leads to destruction. This is what happened with The Last Jedi.

At the core of the issue lies the challenge of separating personal attachment from objective analysis. Fans who cannot walk this fine-line risk losing the ability to appreciate the expansive storytelling within their favorite IPs. Not all “steak” is good steak. However, it remains steak and we must accept the truth that it holds the same nutrients no matter what the cut is.

But the problem is people who cannot separate themselves from the IP in order to continue to consume it correctly – plant steak is not steak.

Rings of Power did not set to completely rewrite or takeaway what was created. It set out to add value to what is. And that is the difference between critical fandom and toxic fandom. But if you cannot take a step back to differentiate bastardization from additionalization you have failed as a fan.

Yes, you are free to dislike and like what you want. My only hope is for toxic fandom to apply a little bit of gray matter to exactly why they dislike what they like. Because, in the end, you might be surprised at what you find in the deep wells of your intellectual capabilities.

You might find the story has the heart of the source material. You might find that the acting and the writing is very much on par to the source material. You might find that the visuals strike a familiar feeling that you received when first consuming the source material. These are the little tell-tale signs that you should consider when judging a certain IP.

My plea to all of fandom from Lord of the Rings to Mr. Bean is to fight against the toxicity and to shed a light to those who walk in the dark. It’s sad quite frankly, that fans of a certain something cannot enjoy new things when the new thing is very much like the old thing. Could it be that there is something disruptive in their lives that prevent them from enjoying what they used to? Or could it be that the culture of fandom has become so dangerously vile that they would simply not like to engage anymore? There are many questions and many formulas to this issue.

Let us not leave fans behind. But let us also remain true to this paradoxical state of mind. Let us cultivate a culture of critical fandom that contains a few original thoughts, comments, and ideas without sacrificing the freedom of fandom.

Go enjoy Rings of Power.