Amazon Studios The Rings of Power is a couple months away. We want all Spoilerites to have the best viewing experience possible and have the widest knowledge base about the Second Age of Middle-Earth. This is a weekly Let’s Get Nerdy article series highlighting a different piece of Tolkien I think you need to know about!
In past articles I have answered the question:
- What Are the Rings of Power?
- What is Númenor?
- What is the Second Age?
- Who are the Harfoots?
- Who is Prince Durin IV?
- What is Khazad-dûm?
- Who is Celebrimbor?
- What is the Last Alliance of Men and Elves?
- Who is Elendil?
- New Pics! Who are Bronwyn and Theo?
- What is Rivendell?
- The Rings of Power First Reactions Are In!
- What is Lindon?
- What are the Nine Human Rings?
- Empire Magazine’s The Rings of Power Covers
- New Character Pictures
- Will Wizards Appear in The Rings of Power?
- New Promo for The Rings of Power
- What is Eregion?
- Leaked! Rings of Power Trailer Breakdown
Today Amazon Studios dropped the full official teaser for The Rings of Power in multiple languages after the Brazilian trailer leaked last week. I reported on it as best I could in yesterday’s feature as a non-Portuguese-speaker and wanted to come back today now that I have access to the English language teaser, clearer image quality, and more context in general to report on what there is to be seen!
“What about the EW pictures that were also released, Ashley?”
I’m so glad you asked and I’m able to write about this early: since next week is San Diego Comic-Con I won’t be around to do my usual writing. The Major Spoilers team is going to do our best to cover all the amazing, geeky news which breaks and I’m going to be doing my best to catch all The Rings of Power news, but in case I’m not able to schedule a regular feature Let’s Get Nerdy! will break down the Entertainment Weekly stills with the official synopsis as well as some other thoughts from yours truly.
NOW BACK TO THE TEASER …
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Main Teaser | Prime Video
This September the legend begins. #TheRingsOfPowerPrime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroi…
The biggest highlight for me, personally, was opening the trailer with the trees of Valinor. J.R.R. Tolkien himself was famous for his love of trees. Gondor is represented by the White Tree of Gondor, Ents and Entwives wander Middle-Earth – this is all to write – trees are a big deal in the Lord of the Rings mythology. This imagery coupled with the narration about youth implies we might see the coming of the Valar from Valinor to Middle-Earth.
We see more of the Meteor Man in this teaser than we’ve seen up to this point. All of the imagery surrounding this character gives me real Azor Ahai vibes from the Game of Thrones mythos. We’ll likely never know, but if The Rings of Power is taking a direct lift from Game of Thrones whose book series was inspired by The Lord of the Rings books we’re definitely entering into an ouroboros of inspiration.
The conflict between Elrond and Galadriel and the remark about whether or not Galadriel should still be taking up her sword make a little more sense than the translation Reddit offered from the Portuguese. It’s a bit of a canon divergence to have Galadriel be so martial and have Elrond operating in a role which feels closer to a lieutenant than son-in-law, but I’m ready to be convinced by The Rings of Power when the series debut in September.
Galadriel’s visions appear to extend to a brutal slaughter of elves, which I’m sad to have reported at various times throughout this feature series is definitely waiting in their future. With both The War of the Elves and Sauron and The Last Alliance of Men and Elves in these characters’ future there’s a lot of slaughter yet in store. Some of the series leads – many of whom are prominently featured in this teaser – don’t make it to see the fall of Sauron nor the dawning of The Third Age of Middle-Earth.
There are some fan theories about this slaughter being a flashback to certain events during The First Age of Middle-Earth, but I don’t totally buy that yet. Further footage or the pilot episode could change my thinking, but for now I’m choosing to believe most of this footage plays out during The Second Age when the main drama of The Rings of Power is set.
This teaser also gives us the clearest look at the Númenorean characters (including Maxim Baldry’s Isildur and Cynthia Addai-Robinson’s Queen Regent Miriel), we’ve seen thus far in all the promotional material. We know the Fall of Númenor is coming and the more of Númenor we see the more sad I am to know what happens.
Galadriel appears to visit Númenor – or at least a Númenorean character – riding along a beach. With Númenor being an island it’s not a super login leap to assume this is where she is. She is also seen taking on a Warg (which we’ve seen in The Lord of the Rings trilogy of film previously),
The last bit I think really worth mentioning is the dwarves. Prince Durin IV has a great showing in this teaser for The Rings of Power. We get to see and hear him for what feels like the first time. Debate is currently hot online as to whether what he is mining is in service of the creation of the eponymous Rings of Power or the Mithril the Lord of the Rings dwarves are so famed for. Either way we know Durin’s Folk “delved too greedily and too deep” to their detriment. This enthusiasm we see on screen could be the beginning of just that.
Did I miss anything in The Rings of Power teaser? Let me know in the comments section of this post!
