The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunner Patrick McKay recently admitted that he and Prime Video chose the Second Age as a setting so they could “improve within a loose framework.”

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 25: (L-R) Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay attend The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power SDCC Press Preview Event at Venue 808 on July 25, 2024 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios)

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly about the upcoming second season and specifically how the Rings of Power affected the Dwarves, McKay said, “There are tantalizing hints in the source text that the dwarven rings didn’t really control the Dwarves the way Sauron might’ve liked, but it did stoke their greed. That sent us down this rabbit hole of ‘What about Peter Mullan going mad as a villain in Khazad-dum in season 2?’”

Next, he declared, “The whole idea of doing a show in the Second Age was that it’s not a fixed target, there’s an enormous amount of room for creation and improv within a loose framework.”

Returning to the Dwarves, he added, “The Dwarven rings are a great example where it’s like, ‘What exactly did they do? How might that play on a father-son relationship?’”

Peter Mullan as Durin III in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

Actress Sophia Nomvete also shared how her character Disa will react to the Ring, “It’s ambition meets fear meets love meets pain and worry. She’s trying to figure out which of those emotions are useful or need to be listened to. So she’s quite up and down in her views.”

“One minute she’s like, ‘Yes, we need the rings!’ Then she’s like, ‘Oh no, but the ring!’ She’s really working it out in real time. But her mission is: ‘By any means necessary, your bottom needs to be on that chair,’” she elaborated.

Sophia Nomvete as Princess Disa in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

Tolkien made it very clear how the rings affected the Dwarves in The Silmarillion, “And all those rings that he governed he perverted, the more easily since he had a part in their making, and they were accursed, and they betrayed in the end all those that used them. The Dwarves indeed proved tough and hard to tame; they ill endure the domination of others, and the thoughts of their hearts are hard to fathom, nor can they be turned to shadows. They used their rings only for the getting of wealth; but wrath and an overmastering greed of gold were kindled in their hearts, of which evil enough after came to the profit of Sauron.”

“It is said that the foundation of each of the Seven Hoards of the Dwarf-kings of old was a golden ring; but all those hoards long ago were plundered and the Dragons devoured them, and of the Seven Rings some were consumed in fire and some Sauron recovered,” Tolkien added.

Peter Mullan as King Durin III; Owain Arthur as Prince Durin IV in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

This is reiterated in Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Tolkien wrote, “The only power over them that the Rings wielded was to inflame their hearts with a greed of gold and precious things, so that if they lacked them all other good things seemed profitless, and they were filled with wrath and desire for vengeance on all who deprived them.”

He added, “But they were made from their beginning of a kind to resist most steadfastly any domination. Though they could be slain or broken, they could not be reduced to shadows enslaved to another will; and for the same reason their lives were not affected by any Ring, to live either longer or shorter because of it. All the more did Sauron hate the possessors and desire to dispossess them.

Kevin Eldon as Narvi in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

Not only did Tolkien make it clear how the rings affected the Dwarves, he also made it clear that the Dwarves did not receive the rings until after Sauron laid waste to Eregion and claimed the rings from Celebrimbor and the Elves.

Tolkien wrote in The Silmarillion, “From that time war never ceased between Sauron and the Elves; and Eregion was laid waste, and Celebrimbor slain, and the doors of Moria were shut. In that time the stronghold and refuge of Imladris, that Men called Rivendell, was founded by Elrond Half-elven; and long it endured. But Sauron gathered into his hands all the remaining Rings of Power; and he dealt them out to the other peoples of Middle-earth, hoping thus to bring under his sway all those that desired secret power beyond the measure of their kind. Seven rings he gave to the Dwarves; but to Men he gave nine, for Men proved in this matter as in others the readiest to his will.”

Charlie Vickers as Annatar; Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

Furthermore, Tolkien also made it clear that the Dwarves of Moria fought against Sauron in the War of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

Tolkien wrote, “Of the Dwarves few fought upon either side; but the kindred of Durin of Moria fought against Sauron.”

Owain Arthur as Prince Durin IV in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

In Unfinished Tales: The Lost Lore of Middle-earth, Tolkien also detailed how Durin attacked Sauron with an army of Dwarves from Khazad-dúm after he attacked Eregion.

“Elrond had gathered such a few of the Elves of Eregion as had escaped, but he had no force to withstand the onset. He would indeed have been overwhelmed had not Sauron host been attacked in the rear; for Durin sent out a force of Dwarves from Khazad-dûm, and with them came Elves of Lórinand led by Amroth. Elrond was able to extricate himself, but he was forced away northwards, and it was at that time that he established a refuge and stronghold at Imladris (Rivendell),” Tolkien wrote.

In fact, Tolkien noted that the Dwarves closed the gates of Moria and ensured that Sauron could not enter, “Sauron withdrew the pursuit of Elrond and turned upon the Dwarves and the Elves of Lórinand, whom he drove back; but the Gates of Moria were shut, and he could not enter. Ever afterwards Moria had Sauron’s hate, and all Orcs were commanded to harry Dwarves whenever they might.”

A scene from The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 trailer (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

However, in Appendix A, he does write, “It was believed by the Dwarves of Durin’s Folk to be the first of the Seven that was forged and they say it was given to the King of Khazad-dúm, Durin III, by the Elven-smiths themselves and not by Sauron, though doubtless his evil power was on it, since he aided in the forging of all the Seven.”

“But the possessors of the Ring did not display it or speak of it, and they seldom surrendered it until near death, so that others did not know for certain where it was bestowed.” Tolkien added.

Owain Arthur as Durin in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

Given Tolkien’s writings in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, it’s unlikely that the Ring was possessed by Durin III before Sauron’s attack especially given the fact that Celebrimbor gave up all seven of the rings to Sauron after he was tortured.

In Unfinished Tales, Tolkien wrote, “Then Celebrimbor was put to torment, and Sauron learned from him where the Seven were bestowed. This Celebrimbor revealed, because neither the Seven nor the Nine did he value as he valued the Three; the Seven and the Nine were made with Sauron’s aid, whereas the Three were made by Celebrimbor alone, with a different power and purpose.”

Tolkien’s son Christopher also addressed the text in Appendix A, “It is not actually said here that Sauron at this time took possession of the Seven Rings, though the implication seems clear that he did so. In Appendix A (III) to The Lord of the Rings it is said that there was a belief among the Dwarves of Durin’s Folk that the Ring of Durin III, King of Khazad-dûm, was given to him by the Elven-smiths themselves, and nothing is said in the present text about the way in which the Seven Rings came into possession of the Dwarves.”

Charlie Vickers as Annatar in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

What do you make of McKay and Nomvete’s comments confirming they are playing fast and loose with Tolkien’s legendarium?