Monday, 14 February 2022

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER unveils its first trailer

The first trailer for Amazon Prime TV's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has dropped during the American Super Bowl.

The new series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth. It tells a multi-stranded story, including the adventures of familiar faces like Galadriel and Elrond in (relatively) younger days, completely new characters and characters from Tolkien's books like Celebrimbor, the forger of (most of) the Rings of Power, the proud elven king Gil-galad and, of course, Sauron.

The trailer suggests a strong visual connection with the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, with similar designs for the island empire of Númenor (from which the kingdom of Gondor was founded) and the elves.

The trailer opens with someone asking, "Haven't you ever wondered what else is out there? There's wonders in this world beyond our wandering." The speaker is Markella Kavenagh's character, a Harfoot named Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot. The Harfoots are a tribe of primitive, nomadic Hobbits who have wandered into the west of Middle-earth, thousands of years before their descendants eventually settle the Shire.

The first image we see is of a grand harbour, almost certainly that of a port city on the island of Númenor (the statue in the harbour appears to be that of Númenor's founder, King Elros Tar-Minyatur, the brother of Elrond). Númenor is the ancient island superpower from which is descended the line of the kings of Gondor. The camera then passes over hilly plains similar to those of Rohan (and, indeed, may be the same plains for all we know). We briefly see two hunters on the plains as the terrain gives way to wooded ravines. The camera then cuts to an immense waterfall plummeting over a frozen landscape in the Forodwaith, in the far north of Middle-earth. Several figures are trying to climb an icy cliff face, one of whom appears to be a younger Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). We then see a raft being battered in the stormy seas, with a single man on board, Halbrand (Charlie Vickers).

We see an exchange of arrows in a forest at night, with the elven warrior Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) plucking enemy arrows out of the air and firing them back at their source (the sort of move we can imagine Legolas approving of). We see a flaming meteor in the skies whilst the elven high king Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) watches on. We then see Galadriel galloping on horseback across green fields next to spectacular mountains. We see a cloaked figure fighting off a horrendous monster of unknown origin. We see numerous elves gathered around a tree next to a waterfall above a lake, probably in Lindon. The trailer then cuts to brief images of Prince Durin of Khazad-dûm (Owain Arthur), Lord Elrond (Robert Aramayo), the dwarven Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete) singing a dwarven song designed to sense riches below the ground, Galadriel on the same raft from earlier having her elvish ears exposed, what appears to be Elanor helping a man known only as "The Stranger" (Daniel Weyman) in a burning environment, a dwarf smashing a rock to pieces, a fierce battle between elven warriors led by Finrod Felagund (Will Fletcher) and orcs, a chained Arondir attempting to escape, and a human hand clasping that of a Harfoot, almost certainly "The Stranger" and Elanor.

Title cards read "Before the king, before the Fellowship, before the Ring, a new legend begins this fall."

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuts on 2 September this year.

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