“Haven’t you ever wondered what else is out there? There’s wonders in this world beyond our wandering. I can feel it”
As a fellow nerd and lover of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, I am extremely happy to say that it’s here. Before the King, Before the Fellowship, Before the Ring, was still a world full of wonders and mystery. In an era that rose my Kingdoms to glory and left many in the ruins, this tale travels back thousands of years and takes us through the legendary events that led to the forging of the rings, and Sauron’s tyrannical rise to power.
On February 13th, during the 2022 super bowl, the first teaser trailer of Amazon’s big-budget series, “The Lord of the Rings: The Ring of Power”, was released, which lead to an immediate hype and uproar among fans who were excited to see a few of their beloved characters again. I must say, the trailer looked dope. With the breathtaking views to the most accurate CGI, this trailer made the love I have for this franchise even stronger. What’s even crazier than the series, is the budget Amazon is expected to spend on this series. According to Vanity Fair, an estimate of 1 Billion Dollars are to be spent on its 5 seasons. Yes, you heard me right, a whopping 1 Billion. This will make it The Most expensive TV show in history. Any other production company would have started sweating after even thinking of a budget this big, but since Amazon is backed by Jeff Bezos, they don’t seem much worried.
What’s interesting for me is that unlike The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, this series isn’t based on J.R.R Tolkien’s books, but inspired and based on that universe. Meaning at this point, the only source of information we have about this series is the Super Bowl teaser. So before the first episode airs on September 2, 2022, I thought to myself why not break the teaser down for you. Now, this won’t be a highly detailed breakdown, if you want that go watch a YouTube video. Here I’ll tell you about some facts, timelines, cast, and characters that you might have missed upon the first view of the teaser.
CAST
The series will showcase a number of characters from different races, stretching to multiple lands across the world, so naturally, it has a big cast roster. Let me tell you about some of the more important characters that we got to see in the teaser. First and the most important is Galadriel, the Elven Queen of extraordinary beauty, who is portrayed by the most beautiful and talented Morfydd Clark. Then we have the silvan elf Arondir, played by Ismael Cruz Cordova. Arondir is an original elf character seen catching an arrow with his bare hands and then shooting it back to the enemy. Robert Aramayo plays the familiar half-elf Elrond, Owain Arthur as Prince of Durin IV, Sophia Nomvete as dwarven princess Disa, Charlie Vickers as Halbrand, Markella Kavenagh as a Harfoot (ancestors of Hobbits), and Nazanin Boniadi as Bronmyn, the human apothecary.
TIMELINE
The Ring of Power is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the Hobbit timeline. In the very beginning of the teaser, we see a very prosperous city which is almost confirmed to be the once almighty kingdom of Man, this indicates the timeline of the series to be somewhere between 3 to 4 thousand years prior to the Lord of the Rings timeline.
Do you remember the 20 rings of power? Three for the elven Kings, seven for the dwarf lords, nine for mortal men, and one for the Dark Lord. Well, according to the showrunner Patrick McKay, “The forging of the rings, Rings for the elves, rings for dwarves, rings for men, and then the one ring Sauron used to deceive them all. It’s the story of the creation of all those powers, where they came from, and what they did to each of those races”.
RACES
As the teaser begins, we hear the voice of a young girl and a few seconds in, the girl is revealed. With her short stature and curly hair, you might assume she’s a Hobbit, and you’re not entirely wrong; the young lady is a Harfoot. Hobbits came into being during the third Era of Middle-Earth, according to Tolkien, and Harfoots are their ancestors.
We also see a few elves, such as Galadriel, Arondir, Gil galad, and Elrond the half-elf. The dwarven Prince Durin IV is seen smacking his pickaxe at a Boulder, smashing it into pieces and soon after, the dwarven princess Disa is glimpsed as she sings.
Now besides Men, and I don’t know if it counts but as Galadriel is passing through a cave with a wooden torch in hand, she encounters a humongous Ice Troll and immediately starts hightailing out of there.
FAMILIAR FACES
Like I said just now, this story takes place thousands of years back, so any hope you have of seeing a familiar face of your favorite man, hobbit or dwarf from the original Lord of the Rings, you should bury it right now. But what I can promise you is that there will be some elves you might remember and of course, Sauron (they have a much larger lifespan than any other race).
I don’t know about you, but after seeing all of that, I’m completely pumped. I am confident in Amazon’s ability to pull this off, and if it does, I can promise you some exciting years ahead.
