(SPOT.ph) By way of the plethora of interconnected Marvel, Star Wars, and Game of Thrones franchises we’ve seen over the past years, a trend modern-day pop culture enthusiasts are more than accustomed to by now is when some character shows up towards the end of a film or series, says something along the lines of “I’m Glup Shitto!” causing die-hard fans to lose their minds while casual audiences just sit there, thinking about how they’re going to be Googling that character’s name once they get home.
Sometimes that comes in the form of recognizable appearances, such as Harry Styles at the end of Eternals or Hercules in the Thor post-credits scene, but this September’s release of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on streaming will most likely see the rise of the One Nerd to Rule Them All (i.e. that one cousin who knows all Middle Earth lore and will promptly talk over the show to explain to you the detailed science behind Hobbit biologies).
Don’t worry, you won’t have to travel to Middle Earth and dig up old scrolls to understand the upcoming prequel series; as showrunner J. D. Payne even said in our interview with him, anyone can enjoy the series "with no prior knowledge of anything that’s come before." But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to drop a guide on everything you should know before checking out The Rings of Power on Prime Video.
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Here’s everything you should know about Middle Earth ahead of the The Rings of Power premiere:
It’s set during the Second Age of Middle Earth, thousands of years before the OG film trilogy.
The Second Age of Middle Earth began after the War of Wrath, where the armies of Elves, Men, and the immortals known as the Valar united against the Dark Lord Morgoth. We see glimpses of this catastrophic battle in the trailers, which leads us to believe we’ll see the War of Wrath depicted in an opening narration delivered by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) in the series premiere—just as the Lord of the Rings film trilogy opened with Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel narrating the events of the Last Alliance Between Elves and Men, which ended the Second Age.
The most notable events to expect from the Second Age in this series are the forging of the Rings of Power (obviously, it’s in the title…) and the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, who is still physically on Middle Earth at this point, and not, you know, a big eyeball made of fire.
As you should be aware, the Rings of Power were given to the Elves, Dwarves, and Men, as all of them were doing pretty well and prospering during this time, all rings considered. The Mines of Moria (a.k.a. The Dwarven Kingdom of Khazad-dûm) still stood in all its glory, before the dwarves’ greed led to its downfall. The Second Age is also when the island kingdom of Man, Númenor, rose to power.
Númenor is expected to be a centerpiece for the series, as the Dark Lord Sauron set his eyes on it after he forged the One Ring and created the Ringwraiths. Let’s just say that Númenor looks like it’s in for some rough weather throughout the course of the series, and perhaps even in the first season alone, given that we see it attacked in the trailers.
However, a silver lining to look forward to in terms of the Númenor storyline is that its former inhabitants who fled its shores include Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and his son Isildur (Maxim Baldry), who Lord of the Rings fans will know as the future kings of Arnor and Gondor and ancestors to Aragorn.
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The series features returning characters such as Galadriel, Elrond, and Isildur.
Speaking of well-known characters, we’ll be seeing some familiar Lord of the Rings faces appear in this series, despite the thousands-of-year gap in time between the two stories.
As previously mentioned, the Elven Lady Galadriel will be at the forefront of this story. During the War of Wrath, Galadriel’s brother Finrod was imprisoned by Sauron and then killed by a werewolf, because it’s supposedly “high fantasy,” we guess. Galadriel doesn’t process his death like your typical Millennial or Gen-Z, however, as she looks to be continuing his mission of hunting down Sauron.
Based off the trailer, Galadriel will also seek the assistance of Elendil and his family, who fled Númenor, to combat Sauron’s rising threat. Elendil’s son Isildur is infamously the Man who didn’t cast the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom, after Sauron was defeated during the Last Alliance Between Elves and Men. We’re sure you remember Blanchett’s narration.
At Isildur’s side during that moment was Elrond (Robert Aramayo), who also appears in this series. Elrond and Celebrimbor, the creator of the Rings of Power, will be our main eyes and ears going into the world of the Elves, which is ruled by High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) at the time of the series up until the Last Alliance Between Elves and Men.
The series introduces original characters who are not in either the movies or the books.
Finally, another essential element of The Rings of Power is that it’s also creating original stories, as it has a bountiful cast of wholly new characters who were neither in the books or appendices written by J.R.R. Tolkien nor in the films directed by Peter Jackson. The Tolkien Estate was heavily involved in the production of the series, however, as they’re listed as producers for the streaming series.
The inclusion of original storylines in this series, such as that of the Harfoots (the precursor race to the Hobbits we see in Lord of the Rings) and the Southlands, reinforce the idea that The Rings of Power is a standalone adaptation of Tolkien’s work that can stand on its own, right beside the original books and acclaimed film adaptations.
In any case, you won’t need to go and read or re-watch either of those, with this little explainer already catching you up to speed.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is streaming weekly on Prime Video starting on September 2.
UPDATE (August 31, 2022): The article has been updated to reflect the PH release date of the series on September 2nd.
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