The Second Age of Middle-earth is nigh and information and footage have been scarce up until this point. However, Amazon’s Prime Video dropped the first trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power during Sunday night’s Super Bowl game.
And if the win by the L.A. Rams wasn’t enough to excite you, the first trailer for this highly anticipated series should have. While the trailer didn’t show much, it did provide us with some stellar shots and perhaps just enough to get a sense of where the show is headed. So please follow me Mr. Frodo, as we begin this journey together into what The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has gifted us Hobbits already.
Before the One Ring
Using text spliced in between some beautiful shots, the trailer sets the scene for when this adventure takes place. This show is set before the Fellowship, the King, and the Rings. These words help drive home that this show is vastly removed from the movies that have come before. This isn’t the Fellowship of the Rings, there is no Bilbo or Frodo in sight, and the mission to destroy the One Ring is thousand of years off.
However, with the words “Before the Rings”, it seems that this show begins well before the time of Sauron creating the Rings of Power, starting in the early years of the Second Age. Which is a smart move, especially for a period of time that is so complicated and vast that even I had trouble mapping it out in a previous article. This also allows for many more seasons of the show to be produced, creating a vast epic that will carry Prime Video into a new era.
The Dawning of a New Galadriel
The trailer begins with a voice-over from a voice that I assume belongs to Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), speaking about wanting adventure in the outside world. Throughout the trailer, we see Galadriel seeking those adventures in expansive environments.
Watching her leap across a frozen waterfall and grip a small dagger as the shot pans up took my breath away. As she looks towards the camera she smirks, the ground beneath fades away into nothingness. Later on, we see her deep in a dark cave with just a small torch guiding the way. Stumbling onto a large gray face of a monster, she turns and runs.
This version of Galadriel is vastly different than the one we’ve seen in both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, played by Cate Blanchet. This younger one is more adventurous and seeking adventure whereas the one from LOTR trilogies is composed, regal, and terrifying. Having some characters return from the original series will help bridge a divide, while also allowing new actors a chance to expand on these stories. More on that in a second…
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power cast
The cast of this show is already insane, with a long list of names attached to the production. However, the three main characters of the series are characters that we have seen already. One was spoken about in the previous section, Galadriel. The other two are Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and Isildur (Maxim Baldry), taking over the roles of Hugo Weaving and Harry Sinclair respectively. These two characters have an incredibly important role to play in the war against Sauron, something fans of the original trilogy have already seen.
Isildur, an ancestor of Aragorn and the “Old King of Gondor” is the human warrior that slices off the One Ring from Sauron’s hand, ending Sauron’s first war and bringing about an end to the second age. This occurs during the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. An event that also involves Elrond, the Elf who escorts Isildur into the fires of Mordor in an initial attempt to destroy the One Ring. However, Isildur becomes corrupted by the ring, as most men of Middle-earth do, rejecting Elrond’s pleas.
It shall be interesting to see these three characters evolve into the beings we know they eventually become. I believe that the relationship between Isildur and Elrond will develop in a similar way as Obi-Wan and Anakin’s relationship did; mentor, allies, and then enemies. Making the betrayal in the end even more bitter-sweet.
With all the returning characters came a few we know little about. In the trailer, we catch looks at Ismael Cruz Cordova as Arondir and Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn. However not much is known about either of these characters and their journeys in the show.
The Beauty and Scope of The Rings of Power
From just the small amount we’ve seen in this first trailer, clocking in at just over a minute, fans of the series are in for a treat. The settings for most of the shots were exquisite, some of which I couldn’t tell if they were real landscapes or CGI’d. The use of color was exceptional as well, with purple, blues, and gold shining brightly throughout the extensive shots. There wasn’t much to gather about the plot of the show, but I can already feel that we are in for a treat when this show finally drops. But what do you think? Was this teaser enough to draw your attention, or did it leave you wanting more? If you haven’t seen the teaser yet, check it out now!
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres on September 2, 2022 only on Amazon’s Prime Video.
