Patrick McKay, one of the showrunners on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, compared the destruction of Khazad-dûm to climate change.

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)

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter following the conclusion of the show’s second season, McKay was asked by James Hibberd, “Over in Khazad-dûm, I always had the impression that once the Balrog was released, he wreaked havoc and drove everyone out of the mines immediately. But in your story, this is more of a gradual corruption process. That city is still occupied and they’re still going to be fighting for it going into season three.”

McKay responded, “This is a thing where, how do societies fall? Usually it’s gradually, and then all at once. If you want to use climate change as a metaphor, climate change is not an event. Climate change is a process that ebbs and flows, that’s always headed in a dark direction.”

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

“I think a kingdom as great and powerful as Khazad-dûm does not fall in a moment,” he continued.

McKay concluded, “The fall is the product of many disasters over time. And I think it would sell Khazad-dûm short for the Balrog to get out and then it’s all over. It’s more complicated. We think there’s a bigger story to be told here.”

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

In The Silmarillion, Tolkien described the downfall of the Dwarves, “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.”

He added, “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.”

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

However, as for Khazad-dûm the kingdom was not destroyed until the Third Age. In Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Tolkien wrote, “It came to pass that in the middle of the Third Age Durin was again its king, being the sixth of that name. The power of Sauron, servant of Morgoth, was then again growing in the world, though the Shadow in the Forest that looked towards Moria was not yet known for what it was. All evil things were stirring. The Dwarves delved deep at that time, seeking beneath Barazinbar for mithril, the metal beyond price that was becoming yearly ever harder to win.”

“Thus they roused from sleep a thing of terror that, flying from Thangorodrim, had laid hidden at the foundations of the earth since the coming of the Host of the West: a Balrog of Morgoth. During was slain by it, and by the year after Náin I, his sonl and then the glory of Moria passed, and its people were destroyed or fled far away.”

In Appendix B, Tolkien revealed that Durin’s death occured in TA 1980 while Náin I died a year later in TA 1981. It also notes the Dwarves fled in TA 1981.

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

It’s clear that comparing the fall of Khazad-dûm to climate change is utterly ridiculous and Hibberd was accurate in his impression that the kingdom was ravaged in short order by the Balrog as it was awakened in one year and then had slain both Durin and his son a year later leading to the surviving Dwarves to flee the kingdom.

McKay’s commentary is just more proof that he cares not for Tolkien’s legendarium, but is more focused on pushing his own political agenda. He is part of the Hollywood apparatus that does not adapt or create stories to tell a story, but only to further his political agenda.”

Not only is it to further his own political agenda, but the intention is clearly to desecrate Tolkien’s work as well.

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

Novelist Isaac Young explained this idea, “Hollywood exists to reward its friends and punishes its enemies. And its products are emblematic of that fact. Hollywood does not exist to entertain you. It is an organ of a greater international apparatus that has declared war on native populations of the West.”

He explained this concept using The Last Jedi’s depiction of Luke Skywalker as an example, “Making Luke Skywalker feed at its breast was not a poor decision of a worse screenplay. It was a deliberate choice backed by corporate executives, directed, written, and shot by industry leaders, funded with the backing of millions of dollars, packaged into a movie called Star Wars, and subsequently broadcast to the entire Western sphere.”

“Make no mistake, this was done with the same spite of a child ripping a toy out of a younger infant’s hands and declaring it to be their own. And to make sure it would be their own by s***ting all over it.”

 

What do you make of McKay comparing the destruction of Khazad-dûm to climate change?