The Lord Of The Rings Officially Makes Its Biggest Dwarf Lore Change Since The Hobbit

The Dwarves of Middle-earth have gone through a lot in the process of bringing Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings to the screen, and that's not stopping now. Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the first on-screen adaptation to show viewers the doomed city of Khazad-dûm, later known as Moria, in all its glory. Centuries before Gandalf fell into the depths with the great Balrog, this place was the thriving home of the Dwarves known as Durin's Folk—ancestors of The Hobbit's Dwarven company and The Lord of the Rings' Gimli.

The first couple of seasons of The Rings of Power introduced us to Khazad-dûm and its royal family, including the on-screen Lord of the Rings franchise's first female dwarf, Disa. The show even gave us an early look at the Balrog known as Durin's Bane, who the Dwarves inevitably uncover while digging too greedily for mithril. In season 2, King Durin III sacrificed his life to again bury the Balrog, leaving his son, Prince Durin IV, as the new ruler of Khazad-dûm. Now, Prime Video is preparing for Rings of Power season 3.

An exclusive image from Prime Video teases new introductions coming in the upcoming episodes of Rings of Power season 3. The installment will pick up after a five-year time jump, placing viewers into the heat of the War of the Elves and Sauron. By this point, Durin and Disa's children, Gerda and Gamli—both of whom were obscured from view in prior installments—have grown into teenagers. Played by Amber Mendez-Martin​​​​​​​ and Lee Braithwaite, respectively, these will be the first adolescent dwarves featured in Lord of the Rings. Naturally, this has caused some controversy.

Are Rings Of Power's New Teenage Dwarves Really That Big Of A Problem?

Any time Prime Video's The Rings of Power tries to pull off a franchise first, there's bound to be some backlash. In season 2, we caught a glimpse of an Orc baby for the first time in the entire Lord of the Rings franchise, and this inspired a wave of criticism. Arguments began over the reproductive process of Orcs, with some claiming the monsters grew from the ground, as the Uruk-hai did in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In contrast, others turned to Tolkien's notes, which explained that Orcs reproduced in the same way as Elves and Men.

That debate is still ongoing, and Rings of Power's new young dwarves have added further fuel to the fire of an even larger version of this discussion. Gerda and Gamli are brand new, original characters, so they were never mentioned by Tolkien himself (unlike the Durins). Additionally, there hasn't been much attention placed on young Dwarves in general, leading to the misconception that these beings are born from the rocks as full-grown men. While this is completely false, even those who know that Dwarves are born and grow up may take issue with Gerda and Gamli.

The trouble comes from the fact that Dwarves age much more slowly than men do. For example, during the events of The Hobbit, Gimli would have been about 65 years old, and he was considered too young to join Thorin and company on their adventures. This makes the idea of a "teenage" dwarf rather complicated, since one at this stage of development would still be several decades old. A dwarf that is, say, 15, would still be a toddler.

While Prime explicitly describes Gerda and Gamli as "teenagers," this might not literally mean that these characters are in their thirteenth to eighteenth year of life. It would make some sense if they had been developmental "teenagers" for about a decade, but that doesn't quite work with the show's timeline either. In Rings of Power season 1, these two characters were seen as young children running around their parents' feet. Season 3 is just five years later. Since Dwarves age so slowly, Gerda and Gamli should not have grown into teenagers in the same old way humans would.

Rings Of Power's Condensed Timeline Continues To Be The Show's Greatest Obstacle

In the grand scheme of things, the issue with Rings of Power's teenage dwarves seems like small peanuts. It should be easy enough to enjoy the Lord of the Rings franchise's first young dwarves without worrying too much about the inconsistencies regarding how they age. However, after the bizarre additions we saw in Jackson's The Hobbit movies, including a strange dwarf/elf love triangle, and the already frustrating consequences of Rings of Power's condensed timeline, it's understandable that viewers would get caught up in this detail.

The events that Rings of Power has covered in its first two seasons should have spanned more than a thousand years, but the show has shrunk them to a matter of weeks. This was done to avoid killing off mortal Dwarves and Men around every corner, but the choice has come with a variety of issues. Key events involving characters like Elendil and Isildur aren't meant to happen for another thousand years, but Rings of Power has to speed it up considerably. Somehow, within these characters' lifetimes, the entirety of Sauron's dark reign must play out.

Season 3's five-year time jump does very little to even things out, since, in Middle-earth's timeline, this is barely a blip. It's as if Rings of Power is simultaneously trying to speed things up and slow them down, which is leading to a confusing, inconsistent new version of the timeline. Child dwarves growing into teenagers at the same rate as humans is among the many frustrating consequences of this, and more are sure to come.

Khazad-Dûm's Lore Was Always Going To Be Tricky To Adapt

In truth, Khazad-dûm was always going to be a challenge for Rings of Power. By its very nature, this is a mysterious kingdom. It's long extinct by the events of The Lord of the Rings, and even those old enough to remember it were unlikely to have ever gained access. Of course, given the setting and subject matter of Rings of Power, Khazad-dûm had to be included, and it couldn't have done so without creative liberties on Prime Video's part. Tolkien didn't provide enough intimate detail for this TV adaptation to avoid going off-book.

It's clear in Tolkien's lore that King Durin IV had children. It's also clear that they would have been born as babies and would have grown very slowly to adulthood. It's, therefore, reasonable that Rings of Power would put Gerda and Gamli on screen as awkward young-adult dwarves. Still, calling them teenagers and giving them any key role in the unrest at Khazad-dûm was a significant risk, and the backlash that has already arrived should have been expected. All we can hope is that these two young dwarves will win people over.