Well, here it is, two and a half minutes of Middle-earth… and even some Valinor! Amazon Prime is calling this the “Main Teaser,” for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which means maybe a regular trailer is still to come? It’s a more thorough stage setting this time and a better introduction to our protagonists. And maybe—just maybe—a glimpse of some of our villains. But mostly the former.
It seems the welfare of Elves, Men, Dwarves, and Harfoots are on the line. We also get a few new glimpses of places: Lindon (where the Noldorin Elves who remain in Middle-earth have settled); the kingdom of Khazad-dûm (Moria), the most famous and wealthy of Dwarven realms; the island kingdom of Númenor, where the Men who have been blessed with many gifts have been established; possibly even Ost-in-Edhil, the capital of Eregion. Not to mention Belegaer itself, the Great Sea, which isn’t a realm but Elves and Númenóreans do sail across it often enough.
The trailer starts off with Númenor, but we move quickly over to one of the more established characters, Galadriel. When we see her, we also hear the beginnings of the Rivendell theme as composed by Howard Shore in The Fellowship of the Ring. Nice. Will they continue with this musical call-back or is this just for the trailer? Curiously, it’s not the Lothlórien theme.
Galadriel says :
There was a time when the world was so young, there had not yet been a sunrise… but even then, there was light.
The Two Trees of Valinor are revealed, there in their heyday before falling victim to Sauron’s old boss and his gal pal Ungoliant (Shelob’s mom). I don’t expect we’ll have more than this look in the actual show, just elements of a prologue. I don’t think Amazon has the rights to explore that much further. But wow, they look amazing. In this version of the cosmology, from the published Silmarillion, there was no Sun or Moon in such ancient times. They came later. Galadriel’s been around since before the sunrise.
Then we get glimpses of woodlands, mountains, and pastoral lands, and a Harfoot (Hobbit) voice:
Elves have forests to protect, Dwarves their mines, Men their fields of grain. But we Harfoots have each other. We’re safe.
Except for the risk of falling sky rocks, it seems. So, Meteor Man remains unidentified, though we do get a quick look at him without all that fire around him. One assumption many have made is that this is somehow Sauron, signaling his entrance to the world. Never mind that he’s supposed to have been on Middle-earth for thousands of years already. I hope this isn’t the case. They’ve been teasing the hell out of this meteor guy, so I hope it pays off.
Now back to the Elves. We see Galadriel and some other Elf standing in a frozen wasteland, probably Forodwaith in the far north of Middle-earth. That’s not Elrond, though we’re hearing him talk. This guy looks different, and anyway Galadriel is royalty; she’s sure to have the help of any number of Elves. Hopefully not a red shirt Elf.
The voiceover is Elrond, from some later conversation, saying to her:
You have fought long enough, Galadriel. Put up your sword.
I do wonder if Elrond will always keep Galadriel on a first-name basis like this always, even after she becomes his mother-in-law, or if he changes it up out of respect. Let’s be clear: She’s his elder by, like, a lot. Hmm. Anyway, we’ll probably not hear his mode of address change during the course of this show (but I’d love to be wrong). I do hope we get to meet Celebrían, Elrond’s future wife. But still, we can’t meet her until we have Celeborn, Galadriel’s husband. In the published Silmarillion, Galadriel meets Celeborn in the First Age. She will have been married long before this point in time in the Second Age. In fact, by the time the Rings of Power are made, she and Celeborn will have crossed the Misty Mountains and settled in the forest that will later be called Lothlórien. But I don’t think Patrick McKay and John D. Payne, the Rings of Power showrunners, are doing it that way. Timelines are shifting to make way for the story they want to tell in this show.
Anyway, back to the trailer. Galadriel answers Young Elrond:
The Enemy is still out there. The question now is where?
Presumably Galadriel knows that Morgoth, the big bad through all of the world’s history, has already been defeated and removed. In this version of events, she was obviously part of those past wars. Now, Sauron is a name known to Elves, but maybe not to everyone else. And they don’t necessarily know he’s going to be a problem at the start of the Second Age. But is this the start of the Second Age, or further in?
Elrond again:
It is over.
Films and TV shows love having people make bold statements that even the viewer knows is going to be very, very wrong. Boy will there be egg on Elrond’s face when Sauron is revealed.
Galadriel persists:
You have not seen what I have seen.
Elrond counters:
I have seen my share.
Nevertheless, she persists (as Galadriel does):
You have not seen… what I have seen.
By which she means some First Age shit. Morgoth-fueled war, death, and destruction, stuff that little-kid Elrond will barely have glimpsed at the tail-end of said age. Though, to be fair, while Elrond may not have seen half of what Galadriel has, he’s inherited it. His father was Eärendil, “of mariners most renowned,” whose voyage to Valinor helped bring about the end of the First Age and the final ultimate of Morgoth (at great cost). Elrond and his brother, Elros (first king of Númenor!), did not have their mom and dad around for most of their lives.
In any case, the trailer gives us a little morsel of what Galadriel has seen.
Gosh. McKay and Payne sure did make that red light and its glowing source very Barad-dûr-ish, didn’t they? A call-back for Jackson film moviegoers, but not book readers. Still, it’s fine if the implication is that Barad-dûr, Sauron’s Dark Tower, took its inspiration from Angband, his old boss’s digs. Also, is it a trick of the light that makes Galadriel eyes here no longer blue? Maybe it’s just the darkness.
Time for more Elves. This time we’re in Lindon, where the High King of the Noldor, Gil-galad, presides. He is also talking to young Elrond. It seems he and his kinswoman Galadriel are of like mind here (which is a bit more canon). Which I love. They’re both doom and gloom, worried about a hidden Enemy. They should be, especially Gil-galad. That’s very canon. He’s the most antsy of them all. Now, as we see orcs, torchlights, and some ominous eyes-to-the-sky shots, Gil-galad says:
Darkness will march over the fate of the Earth. It will be the end of not just our people, but all peoples.
Now over to the Dwarves in Khazad-dûm (Moria)! We see a new chap we’ve not seen before, some sort of lord or king. Not Prince Durin IV yet. Durin III, maybe? Setting aside we’re not generally supposed to be seeing more than one Durin (reincarnated) at a time…
I am sorry. But their time has come.
Oooh. Whose time? And this shot of Elrond-as-ambassador visiting the Dwarves is worth drooling over. I wonder if it’s a deliberate call-back to Jackson’s hobbits wandering across the bridge into Rivendell (Elrond’s later abode) and looking around with wonder for the first time.
You know what’s extra cool in that view? The green on the left! Plants, moss, whatever it is. Hey, Dwarves need to cultivate food, too. Sunlight must be let into the mountain.
All right, now over to Arondir, our new Elf character. A Sylvan Elf, we’ve been told. I like his serious tone. As we’re witness to some action footage among all the races, he’s telling us:
The past is with us all.
Then someone else, a Man of Númenor, possibly even Elendil—father of Isildur—says:
The past is dead. We either move forward or we die with it.
Some context: Elendil of Númenor, together with Gil-galad, will lead the Last Alliance of Men and Elves against the power of Mordor at the very end of the Second Age. It’s supposed to be Elendil and Gil-galad who, in hand-to-hand combat, kill the physical body of Sauron, but they die in the process. Isildur, eldest son of Elendil, then cuts the One Ring off the hand of the already-defeated Sauron (not quite how Jackson portrayed that moment).
Anyway, we have more action shots of ships, beaches, horses! And that is definitely Ar-Pharazôn in politician mode.
Very unclear what they’re doing with Pharazôn here. He’s going to be the last king of Númenor; not by rights, but by force. Presumably he’s not king yet here, and I guess we’ll get to see that transfer of power. In Tolkien’s lore, he forces the rightful heir, Míriel, daughter of Tar-Palantir, to marry him. We do see her now. According to the recent EW article, they’re calling her the “queen regent.” Hmm. While most monarchs of Númenor are dudes, at a certain point the laws did change to allow the eldest child to inherit the scepter of rulership, son or daughter, thus allowing legitimate queens. Míriel has no siblings, so she should be more than a regent. So what are McKay and Payne doing here?
Anyway, they’re not giving villains a speaking part in this trailer, so we don’t get any words from the man who steers Númenor completely off its metaphoric cliff.
Now the trailer zips over to the Dwarf prince Durin IV as he holds up some sort of stone or crystal:
This could be the beginning of a new era.
You can’t tell me that’s not mithril!
Mithril (“truesilver”) becomes a big part of the identity and wealth of Khazad-dûm and yeah, it could be considered a game-changer for the Dwarves. In the lore, it’s also partly why the Elves of Eregion (Celebrimbor, etc.) settle so close to the Dwarf kingdom. Now, it’s the Dwarves’ greed for that mithril that also eventually uncovers their not-so-friendly neighborhood Balrog.
Back to the trailer! We see a chained-by-the-ankle Arondir doing some Legolas-style Elf-o-batics among some wolves/wargs. I’m not loving that, especially, but I’m also not surprised by it. If Legolas skating down stairs on a shield at Helms Deep was meant to be popular with teens, then I suppose Amazon wants to bring in some crazy Matrix moves, too. I will say, I hope we see similar moves from Celebrimbor or Gil-galad, too. If all Elves have superhero moves, then I can accept that as part of this adaptation. It looks like Arondir is a captive here and we’re possibly witnessing his escape.
Then we get a split second or two of Galadriel squaring off against a troll. That snow-troll from the original teaser? Then over to that mysterious fiery meteor from the previous teaser. Followed by the soot-footed Harfoots doing what they seem to do in the Second Age: Travel. Migrate. Be nomads.
I am optimistic about the Harfoots. I don’t love the names they’ve given them, which sound very much like Shire names thousands of years later. Like Elanor, which is what Samwise Gamgee names his daughter because he was fond of Elanor the flower that grew in Lórien. But as long as this show keeps these proto-hobbits under the radar of remembered history, it’ll probably be fine. Remember that Treebeard himself had never met hobbits before. And in “The Shadow of the Past,” chapter 2 of The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf tells Frodo that Sauron finally has learned about them—that is, there at the end of the Third Age.
He knows that it is not one of the Seven, or the Nine, for they are accounted for. He knows that it is the One. And he has at last heard, I think, of hobbits and the Shire.
So it’s got to be mum’s the word about Harfoots until then.
But dang, this trailer’s music is working overtime to make us excited. I’ll give it that.
Jeff LaSala is responsible for The Silmarillion Primer, the Deep Delvings series, and a few other assorted articles. Tolkien nerdom aside, Jeff wrote a Scribe Award–nominated D&D novel, produced some cyberpunk stories, and works in production for Macmillan and Tor Books. He is sometimes on Twitter.
Not sure if I need music with so much vocal in it for a LOTR/Middle Earth preview, but I’m happy about how this looks overall! Nothing that goes against “canon” so far is super concerning to me, but it’ll be interesting to see how this all plays into both the existing books and the films.
I’m still very optimistic about this show!
Right, Mike!
I find that as the show draws nearer, I get (1) less concerned about the casting (and more just curious) but (2) more concerned about the time compression. Isildur existing at a time before the Rings of Power have even been made makes me grimace a bit. But…
BUT no matter what, this show will increase the number of Tolkien book readers out there, and that means rich new discussions will come of that. And that is a good thing.
Ah, I appreciate the breakdown because I honestly wasn’t sure what locations/characters any of these were. That’s honestly pretty interesting (and compressed) if we’re getting both the forging of the Rings AND the fall of Numenor all at once but I guess it makes sense story wise.
*now* I can watch this tonight! I was waiting for your review, Jeff, because I knew I would appreciate what I would see more, knowing *what* I’m seeing!
The production values always were going to be what pulled me in, along with simple curiosity ;)
@JLaSala
You’ll appreciate this:
https://twitter.com/tolkienwonder/status/1547806398938877952?s=21&t=Oz5l7M-bUWspCOzIUe9qiA
Possibly “queen regent” is a mistake for “queen regnant”, which would make more sense.
The snow-and-ice scene looks suspiciously like a flashback to the crossing of the Helcaraxe, though there should be more elves there in the background if that’s really what’s going on.
I so wish they hadn’t used the term “harfoots”. They’re not Harfoots. They’re Stoors. Tolkien said so himself – he described Gollum’s people, who were rudimentary hobbits, as “akin to the fathers of the fathers of the Stoors.” If they didn’t want to be criticized by Tolkien fans, they should at least have taken care with the words. As a philologist, there was nothing more important to Tolkien than his words.
@@.-@, Lisa: Yeah, that’s what I’m concerned about the most, actually. The time compression. Nothing will make this feel (to me) like merely an alternate take on the Second Age than something as big as that being altered. Not even the invented characters (which makes sense to have) make things feel changed as much as changing the chronology. Still, we’ll see how it goes. I don’t love Isildur existing during a time when the Rings of Power haven’t even been invented yet. That’s a bit cringey to me.
@5 and @6: Thanks! And yeah, Wiredog, that invitation is a hoot. Have they really verified that as real? Still, it’s believable. There’s a lot of character to Tolkien. I recently came across this fun mental picture of the Tolkien family on holiday:
@7: How curious. Well, then, I hope that’s the case!
@8: I’m very doubtful it’s the Helcaraxë, but anything’s possible. It seems more likely from some sequence where Galadriel and a team of other Noldor are in Forodwaith on some expedition. The explain what the Helcaraxë requires a lot more other explanations that I don’t think the show has the rights to go into. But that imagery may intend to invoke the crossing of the Grinding Ice, perhaps be a little nod to it.
@9: I’m not crazy about them calling them Harfoots either. But it’s better than Hobbits at this stage. And I think if they had invented a new word for this wandering tribe of halfling-kin, we’d be even more critical of it since it wouldn’t be Tolkien’s.
@@@@@#7: I believe you’ve got it! Although it’s always possible the producers just don’t know the difference between Míriel and Cersei Lannister…
@10 that is adorable. My younger son has a whole menagerie of stuffies (with names and stories) and he finally has been convinced to only take a few on each vacation as it was getting harder to keep them all straight and we almost lost one!
So now Galadriel is not only wiser than her husband, she is also the martial one as well. Sigh, I guess Celeborn isn’t going to be left much. Personally, I would guess from what little we know from LOTR Celeborn was the best elven general left at the end of the Third Age.
@13: We don’t know anything about Celeborn yet. I’d like to think he’ll show up in a later season. But nothing about what we’ve seen means he’s not martial at all nor unwise. If LotR is still Amazon’s primary source, it was Galadriel herself who called him wise. We shall see and judge later, maybe?
I know a human’s gait is more awkward trying to walk downhill, nevertheless, watching those harfoots from the back makes me wonder whether they’re trying to imply they’re related to PJ’s Orcs <j>.
I’d expect that Meteor Dude is Sauron’s return from the foundering of Númenor. Might as well make the comeback tour start with a Middle-earth-shattering Kaboom!
Definitely the screen snips give a good impression. Thanks for your translation of the fast-cutting scenes.
@9 I’m also guessing that ‘harfoot’ is handy so it can mutate to ‘harrbit’ and ultimately, ‘hobbit’..
@16: While that’s the closest theory that makes sense to existing lore*, I can’t see the sinking of Númenor coming that early in the show. I know they’re messing with timelines anyway, but I still imagine that’ll happen much later in the story, after the forging of the One Ring, even as in the books. I think we’re meant to witness the final days/years of Númenor. Otherwise, that would only work if we’re jumping back and forth between different time periods.
*Anyway, not crazy about that idea of the meteor being Sauron out of that destruction since him being “a spirit of hatred borne on a dark wind” (per The Silmarillion) is way cooler an image.
@16/@18 — It’s a surprise early appearance by everybody’s favorite wizard, Radagast the Brown.
Not a regular commenter on this site, so bear with me if I’m saying the obvious or something already known! It’s also been a while since my last reread of Tolkien’s earlier-Age works.
It appears clear to me that the fiery images of bodies around the “you have not seen what I’ve seen” depict the drowning of Numenor under the sea at the end of the Second Age. It would not at all surprise me if this is a fairly early event in the series with (at most) the first few episodes establishing the Numenorean history and characters, Sauron as the villain, then reasonably quickly leaving Numenor and shifting the story to Middle Earth. I believe that the works the series is authorized to reference cover the period where the men of Numenor return to Middle Earth and begin to join the battles against Sauron (starting before the destruction of Numenor and continuing on after it). In the chronology of this type of series, the events around the fall of Numenor would serve as an exciting backstory as the realms and characters of Middle Earth are gradually introduced through the eyes of the Numenoreans and through other means.
From there, I’m thinking that there’s likely to be a lot of creative license taken to “fill in the blanks” around the major events listed in the books and tell new stories of Middle Earth around these tentpoles. The series could last as long as there is interest, either with new storylines combined with major events in the books (such as the Fall of Moria, Lindor, etc.) or leading in totally new directions.
I could definitely enjoy this type of series, which would mix both the canonical and new elements together. The question that will largely determine the success of this type of series for fans would be whether the writers are able to blend these new elements into the world of Middle Earth in such a way as to feel true to the worldbuilding of the books.
@9 I’m not a Tolkien expert by any means, but I will say that in our own history, for example, ethnonyms get reused by descendants even after one or several gaps. A good example is Latin, which can refer to American Hispanics today (among others) or, originally, to the pre-Roman expansion Italic people who inhabited Latium, southeast of Rome. Our ethnonyms can be autonyms (the people name themselves — for example the Romani peoples) or exonyms (others name them — for example the G-word and others that many Romani people consider a slur), and both can and do coexist. And people can also have many coexisting identities (US Hispanics are Hispanic, Latino, Americans, whatever demonym/gentilic of their state and their city, etc.). All of those instances get multiplied among groups who are constantly moving and even subdividing and getting new names in the process. So using Harfoots might be one of any of those perfectly valid cases or something else.
“You have not seen… what I have seen.”
I didn’t recognize the imagery when she says this second line, so I assumed that she’s referring to the fact that she can see glimpses of possible futures. The other elf—who presumably doesn’t have these powers—hasn’t seen the possible futures she has. Could go either way, but since my interpretation gave me literal chills of excitement… I’m sticking with my own headcanon! :)
@13 Galadriel was the one who said that Celeborn was considered chief of the Wise. That does not mean that he was wiser than she; the information from LOTR (where she did all the talking except when he made the comment about there being wisdom in old wives tales—while standing next to the oldest wife in Middle-earth!) and Silmarillion suggests that she is the oldest and wisest elf remaining with the possible exception of Cirdan.
And how wise can a guy be who had to change his name from Teleporno?
Dr. Thanatos will not stop making that joke. He must be stopped!
In any case, I see Galadriel as both wise and honest. When she says that Celeborn is “accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth,” on a continent that includes both Elrond and Círdan, I take her words at face value. Do we see Celeborn demonstrate that profound wisdom? Not exactly. But then we’re told Thingol was a great king. We don’t see most of his great moments, but he still was.
@24,
She says that Celeborn is the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth. Depending on the version, Celeborn was born in Middle-earth while Galadriel is Valinoran and might correctly be called not of Middle-earth. We know that Galadriel was careful with her words and could very well have been Aes Sedai or Arisian…
and Ha! Try to stop me!
Careful with her words? Yes, I buy that. I suppose I just have a hard time imagining Galadriel’s words as being coy or cute in such an important moment in time. Which is to say, a hard time imagining Tolkien wanting her to be. And at this point, Galadriel is at her most mature and her most humble. I don’t see pride at being of Valinor as a big part of her self-identity. She’s not been there in so many thousands of years now.
Someday, someone will stop you, sir. Or not. Woof.
There is only one elf that is a main character that has seen all but the very beginning. Galadriel is second generation, of all non-deity existence. Celeborn’s antecedents were always unclear and Elrond is practically a child to her.