We hope you’re ready to take a trip back to Middle-earth, because Amazon has spent a lot of money bringing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power to life. Now we’ve finally gotten our first look at the prequel series thanks to the Rings of Power Big Game teaser trailer. And you’re probably asking yourself, who are all these people, and why are there no Hobbits? (Watch the trailer below!)
Let’s take a closer look at this brief but tantalizing footage to see what it reveals about Amazon Prime Video’s ambitious Lord of the Rings prequel series.
You can watch our video breakdown in the player above, flip through it as a slideshow here, or keep scrolling to read it as an article.
First things first--Rings of Power is set thousands of years before the events of the movies, in the Second Age of Middle-earth. This is a time when the kingdoms of elves, dwarves and men are all thriving, completely unaware that the Dark Lord Sauron is forging rings and preparing to conquer an entire continent. The opening flashback in Fellowship of the Ring is basically the end of this story, and The Rings of Power will show us exactly what led to all-out war against Sauron and the many heroes and villains who defined that conflict. Some of them we know, but many of them have never been seen in live-action before.
The teaser opens with a sweeping shot of what appears to be Numenor, the greatest kingdom of man in this era. The tragic downfall of Numenor is one of the key events of the Second Age, so don’t expect the city to look this bright and shiny by the end of the series.
Next, we see a landscape shot with two bizarre characters that seem to have moose antlers strapped to their backs. A behind-the-scenes Rings of Power piece from Vanity Fair describes them as “two nomadic hunters wandering the fields of Middle-earth.”
We then see a close-up shot of Markella Kavenagh’s Harfoot character. Harfoots are ancient ancestors of Hobbits who will play an important role in Rings of Power. Hobbits themselves don’t start appearing until Middle-earth’s Third Age, so this is as close as we’re going to get to Frodo and Bilbo Baggins.
This is our first look of Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel as she scales a tall mountain. Galadriel looks to be one of the main protagonists of the series. She’s much younger than the version played by Cate Blanchett in the movies, though she’s still several thousand years old at this point. Galadriel is one of the few beings in Middle-earth who has an inkling of the darkness to come, and she’s clearly taking a proactive role in fighting it.
Here we see Charlie Vickers’ character, Halbrand. We don’t know much about Halbrand yet, as he was created specifically for the show, but based on the Vanity Fair story we know he has a dark past he’s trying to escape. Halbrand and Galadriel will be stranded at sea during a nasty storm, so he may be joining in her quest to stop Sauron.
This elven hunter is Ismael Cruz Córdova’s character Arondir. In the grand tradition of Aragorn and Arwen or the legendary Beren and Luthien, Arondir is locked in a forbidden romance with a human woman named Bronwyn, played by Nazanin Boniadi.
This elf is none other than Gil-Galad, played by Benjamin Walker. As the poem goes, “Gil-galad was an elven-king. Of him the harpers sadly sing; the last whose realm was fair and free between the Mountains and the Sea.” We don’t know if Gil-Galad is an ally to Galadriel at this point, but (caution: big spoiler ahead!) we do know he’s eventually fated to meet his end fighting Sauron.
The teaser shows us more of Galadriel in action at this point. We see her racing on horseback and then battling some sort of icy cave monster.
This dwarven character is Prince Durin IV, played by Owain Arthur. Durin’s father rules over Khazad-dum, which at this point is still a thriving and very wealthy kingdom. You know, before the dwarves dug too greedily and too deep and woke up a Balrog. Never wake up the Balrog.
Later we see another key dwarf character from the series, Sophia Nomvete’s Princess Disa…
…along with several other dwarven smiths. Could we be seeing a glimpse of the forging of one of the seven Dwarven rings of power here?
Here we see another much younger version of a familiar elf. This is Robert Aramayo’s Elrond, another monarch with a pivotal role to play in defeating Sauron.
Who is this strange man in the center? And is the character he’s reaching out to a Harfoot? Their small stature and bushy hair has us wondering. Vanity Fair said the show’s two main harfoots – played by Megan Richards and Markella Kavenagh – “encounter a mysterious lost man whose origin promises to be one of the show’s most enticing enigmas.” This odd scene sure would seem to be part of that storyline.
And just in case you were afraid the series wouldn’t feature any of the epic battles against the orcs the movies did so well, this shot should ease your worries.
That’s all we found in this first teaser for Rings of Power. Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.
For more from the Big Game, check out our roundup of the best Super Bowl trailers and commercials.
Continue reading...
Let’s take a closer look at this brief but tantalizing footage to see what it reveals about Amazon Prime Video’s ambitious Lord of the Rings prequel series.
You can watch our video breakdown in the player above, flip through it as a slideshow here, or keep scrolling to read it as an article.
First things first--Rings of Power is set thousands of years before the events of the movies, in the Second Age of Middle-earth. This is a time when the kingdoms of elves, dwarves and men are all thriving, completely unaware that the Dark Lord Sauron is forging rings and preparing to conquer an entire continent. The opening flashback in Fellowship of the Ring is basically the end of this story, and The Rings of Power will show us exactly what led to all-out war against Sauron and the many heroes and villains who defined that conflict. Some of them we know, but many of them have never been seen in live-action before.
The teaser opens with a sweeping shot of what appears to be Numenor, the greatest kingdom of man in this era. The tragic downfall of Numenor is one of the key events of the Second Age, so don’t expect the city to look this bright and shiny by the end of the series.
Next, we see a landscape shot with two bizarre characters that seem to have moose antlers strapped to their backs. A behind-the-scenes Rings of Power piece from Vanity Fair describes them as “two nomadic hunters wandering the fields of Middle-earth.”
We then see a close-up shot of Markella Kavenagh’s Harfoot character. Harfoots are ancient ancestors of Hobbits who will play an important role in Rings of Power. Hobbits themselves don’t start appearing until Middle-earth’s Third Age, so this is as close as we’re going to get to Frodo and Bilbo Baggins.
This is our first look of Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel as she scales a tall mountain. Galadriel looks to be one of the main protagonists of the series. She’s much younger than the version played by Cate Blanchett in the movies, though she’s still several thousand years old at this point. Galadriel is one of the few beings in Middle-earth who has an inkling of the darkness to come, and she’s clearly taking a proactive role in fighting it.
Here we see Charlie Vickers’ character, Halbrand. We don’t know much about Halbrand yet, as he was created specifically for the show, but based on the Vanity Fair story we know he has a dark past he’s trying to escape. Halbrand and Galadriel will be stranded at sea during a nasty storm, so he may be joining in her quest to stop Sauron.
This elven hunter is Ismael Cruz Córdova’s character Arondir. In the grand tradition of Aragorn and Arwen or the legendary Beren and Luthien, Arondir is locked in a forbidden romance with a human woman named Bronwyn, played by Nazanin Boniadi.
This elf is none other than Gil-Galad, played by Benjamin Walker. As the poem goes, “Gil-galad was an elven-king. Of him the harpers sadly sing; the last whose realm was fair and free between the Mountains and the Sea.” We don’t know if Gil-Galad is an ally to Galadriel at this point, but (caution: big spoiler ahead!) we do know he’s eventually fated to meet his end fighting Sauron.
The teaser shows us more of Galadriel in action at this point. We see her racing on horseback and then battling some sort of icy cave monster.
This dwarven character is Prince Durin IV, played by Owain Arthur. Durin’s father rules over Khazad-dum, which at this point is still a thriving and very wealthy kingdom. You know, before the dwarves dug too greedily and too deep and woke up a Balrog. Never wake up the Balrog.
Later we see another key dwarf character from the series, Sophia Nomvete’s Princess Disa…
…along with several other dwarven smiths. Could we be seeing a glimpse of the forging of one of the seven Dwarven rings of power here?
Here we see another much younger version of a familiar elf. This is Robert Aramayo’s Elrond, another monarch with a pivotal role to play in defeating Sauron.
Who is this strange man in the center? And is the character he’s reaching out to a Harfoot? Their small stature and bushy hair has us wondering. Vanity Fair said the show’s two main harfoots – played by Megan Richards and Markella Kavenagh – “encounter a mysterious lost man whose origin promises to be one of the show’s most enticing enigmas.” This odd scene sure would seem to be part of that storyline.
And just in case you were afraid the series wouldn’t feature any of the epic battles against the orcs the movies did so well, this shot should ease your worries.
That’s all we found in this first teaser for Rings of Power. Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.
For more from the Big Game, check out our roundup of the best Super Bowl trailers and commercials.
Continue reading...