All the Cool Details in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s First Teaser

After years of ready and questioning, this weekend Amazon lastly gave us a have a look at what it’s been engaged on in Middle-earth. The first teaser for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is right here, and it’s crammed with acquainted faces, dire portents, and some hints at what we will anticipate from the present—right here’s all the small print we noticed.

The teaser opens with a glimpse of a port metropolis, densely filled with individuals. Although we don’t get shut sufficient to see whether or not or not these persons are people or Elves, the structure right here doesn’t look significantly Elven, so that is possible not the Grey Havens, the well-known port the place elves took the passage to Valinor from when their time in Middle-earth was at an finish. Instead, odds are that that is our first glimpse on the island kingdom of Númenor, the human society that we all know will play a significant function in The Rings of Power—and whose downfall results in the founding of the dual kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor.

“Haven’t you ever wondered what else is out there? There’s wonders in this world… beyond our wandering,” a voice tells us, as we glimpse a suitably lush New Zealand vista—actually an indicator of Lord of the Rings’ cinematic visible id at this level—being traversed by two peculiar humanoids with huge antlers strapped to their backs. In a pre-trailer preview piece for Vanity Fair launched final week, this thriller duo was merely described as “nomadic wanderers,” however little else is understood about them.

As the narration ends, we come throughout the face of, presumably, that voice: Megan Richards, taking part in an undisclosed function however, judging by the wanderlust and her basic look, seems to be taking part in a member of the Hobbit breed we all know goes to look in Rings of Power, the Harfoots. Judging by the acorns in her hair, this Harfoot is likely one of the many characters we acquired glimpses of within the mysterious character posters just lately.

Tolkien largely left Hobbit historical past previous to the occasions of the Third Age untouched; we solely actually know that the Hobbits we recognize as the denizens of the Shire solely migrated to that space of Middle-earth a while through the Third Age, and Hobbits as much as that time had been by and enormous secretive beings who stayed out of sight from the watchful eye of the larger peoples of Middle-earth. Aside from Harfoots, there’s the swamp-loving Stoors and the Fallohides (the breed we’re largely conversant in), however we’ll possible be sticking to the Harfoots so far as Rings of Power’s halflings go.

On an ice-covered precipitous cliffside, by a raging waterfall, a younger Elf maiden in armor makes use of a really elaborate dagger to realize a grip. Another character from the posters, we now know that that is Morfydd Clark’s younger Galadriel, the longer term guardian of the woods of Lorien, and naturally pertinent to Rings of Power, the longer term bearer of one of many three magical rings gifted by Annatar (Sauron in disguise, after all): Nenya, the ring of water.

As beforehand famous, Galadriel’s dagger is an attention-grabbing reference to a different main piece of Tolkien lore we all know Rings of Power goes to dive into. The twin gold-and-silver timber that make up its hilt are a reference to Laurelin and Telperion, the twin timber of Valinor—the legendary area to the West of Middle-earth that was the ancestral house of the Valar, their Maiar brokers, and the Elves—which supplied mild throughout the land in a time earlier than even the solar and moon existed.

This temporary shot of a person ravaged by waves on a moderately rickety raft may be a personality we all know from Vanity Fair’s preview: Halbrand, performed by Charlie Vickers. He was described there as a human castaway who crosses paths with Galadriel.

Just as shortly, we reduce to a slo-mo shot of an Elf grabbing an arrow mid-air, and returning it to sender through his personal bow. Very cool! Even cooler: that is one other character we discovered about within the preview, a Silvan Elf (that’s a Wood Elf, ancestors of these elves that might populate the realms of Mirkwood and Lothlorien finally) named Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova).

At this level in Middle-earth historical past, Silvan Elves have barely simply encountered the opposite Sindar and Ñoldor Elves once more, and are very completely different culturally. Arondir particularly goes in opposition to what we’d know is widespread of Elves in Tolkien’s lore, in that we all know a part of his story in The Rings of Power is getting into a taboo romance with a human healer named Bronwyn, performed by Nazanin Boniadi.

An Elf clad in elaborate golden robes watches an ominous meteor within the sky. It’s exhausting to say simply what the meteor is, maybe an omen of dire issues to return—if we all know one factor about Rings of Power, it’s in the end going to be about a whole lot of dire issues coming to cross, given the occasions of the Second Age at massive—however we would know who that is: the actor right here is Benjamin Walker, who’s been rumored to be taking part in Gil-Galad. Cut from a very temporary look in The Fellowship of the Ring’s opening depiction of the Battle of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Gil-Galad was the High King of the Ñoldor Elves—and perished in that aforementioned battle, combating alongside Elendil, the King of Gondor, to gravely wound Sauron in a duel through the battle on the foot of Mount Doom.

Another fast shot of Galadriel sees her using throughout a plain on horseback. We don’t know who she’s using with, however the Vanity Fair preview teases that a lot of Galadriel’s arc in Rings of Power will see her traveling Middle-earth on a quest to destroy the lingering forces of the primary Dark Lord, Morgoth, who battled the Elves, Dwarves, and the Valar in a horrible battle on the climax of the First Age, the War of Wrath.

This particular person—exhausting to inform in the event that they’re an Elf or Human with their face largely wrapped up—seems to be one other member of Galadriel’s group scaling the icy cliffs earlier, as they’re dressed very equally. How lengthy they’ll stay a member of that group relies on simply how hungry this huge, troll-esque monster is.

We get a very temporary shot of a golden forest, as an Elf clad in equally hued robes addresses a council of their form. If these golden robes are Benjamin Walker’s character once more, and he’s certainly Gil-Galad, this could possibly be someplace in his Kingdom in Lindon, primarily based within the northwest of Middle-earth.

We simply as shortly reduce to a shot of a teary-eyed Dwarf. This is Owain Arthur’s Prince Durin IV, the prince of Khazad-dûm. By the second age, Khazad-dûm is likely one of the most well-known and populous Dwarven realms, house to grasp craftspeople who harbor among the biggest provides of Mithril in Middle-earth—and finally tragically misplaced to the Goblins after its denizens mined too deeply into the Earth, turning into the ruined kingdom of Moria Frodo and his allies dangerously trek by way of in The Fellowship of the Ring. In Tolkien’s lore, the leaders of Durin’s folks weren’t descendants by blood—Durin III, one of many Dwarven leaders who accepted one of many seven Dwarf-Lord-gifted rings of energy from Sauron, was not Durin IV’s father, and we all know that each these rulers will seem in The Ring of Power. The Second Age lasts over three thousand years, so there’s loads time for a number of Dwarf-Lords!

Although the context is left unknown, we all know who this Elf is: it’s none aside from the younger Elrond, future lord of Rivendell. Played by Robert Aramayo within the present, the Vanity Fair preview teased that a part of Elrond’s arc within the sequence will see him in an ambassadorial function, participating in diplomatic talks with Durin’s Folk. Could this be Elrond in Khazad-dûm as a part of that function?

In a blink-and-you’ll miss it shot we briefly get to see one other character teased in that preview: Disa, a Dwarven princess of Khazad-dûm, performed by Sophia Nomvete—maybe associated to, or married to, Durin IV.

Another fast shot sees a hand elevate the hair on a sodden Galadriel’s head to disclose her Elven ears. Given the the ocean backdrop, this could possibly be the person we noticed being marooned earlier—and certain then Halbrand.

That cuts into this peculiar shot of somebody rescuing a largely bare man out of a swirling inferno of flame and ash. The particular person doing the grabbing seems to be fairly small, so may both be a Dwarf or a Harfoot, however the context right here is so temporary it’s exhausting to say what’s occurring.

Two additional rapid-fire photographs: the primary sees Durin IV strike a rock as his fellow Dwarves look on…

And the opposite sees Arondir, now within the day, leaping to strike at an unseen foe with an axe. Note that one in every of his legs has been shackled—who’s captured him?

Slightly longer is yet one more shot of an Elven warrior, surrounded by each his fellow Elven troopers and a swarm of orcs, screaming in rain-soaked despair. The armor right here isn’t similar to, however very evocative, of the gold-and-navy clad Elves of the Last Alliance we noticed within the Fellowship of the Ring film—and we all know that Rings of Power is allowed to make use of a nebulous concept of “material” connections to these movies, so there’s a definite chance that is some sort of flash-forward to that battle, which ended the Second Age with Sauron’s defeat and the One Ring being led away from Mount Doom by Isildur. Likelier nonetheless is that this can be a flashback to the tip of the First Age, and an outline of the War of Wrath in opposition to Morgoth, through which Sauron was merely a lieutenant of the Dark Lord moderately than his successor.

The teaser ends with one other cryptic shot, as a small, childlike hand grasps the fingers of a a lot bigger, older particular person. That older unidentified determine was depicted in one of many latest character posters, holding an apple, however we don’t know their id—given the scale/age disparity right here, are these the individuals we noticed in that inferno earlier within the teaser?

Our first glimpse of The Rings of Power didn’t actually really inform us a lot of what to anticipate from the present, simply gave sight to some particulars we had had teased. Tright here’s nonetheless a lot left to find out about simply what sort of construction a sequence condensing hundreds of years of fantasy historical past could have because it takes form throughout not simply this primary season, however at the very least a second and even perhaps extra to return, given the amount of money Amazon has thrown at it. Time will inform, and we at the very least have loads of that left to chew on this teaser—The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power doesn’t hit Amazon Prime Video till September 2, 2022.

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