Based on the book series of the same name by J. While audiences may well be exhausted with prequels to the Lord of the Rings after the Hobbit film trilogy, this exploration of Tolkien’s Second Age of Middle Earth has the potential to add texture and richness to the stories we already know and love.'The Lord of the Rings' is one of the most popular fantasy franchises of all time. How much of this story can we expect to see?Īmazon seems likely to condense some of the key incidents from the Second Age (the rings of power, the fall of Númenor, the emergence of the Nazgûl), which are separated by centuries in the appendices, to provide a compelling narrative.īut whatever happens, it is all leading to the events we know from the beginning of the Lord of the Rings: the forging of the One Ring, Sauron’s attempt to assert his dominion through it, and the war between the orcs and the elven and human alliance. If the series is a success then we might eventually see how it makes its way into Gandalf’s hands. The appendices state Gandalf took possession of Narya, the elven ring of fire, and Tolkien fans have speculated his threat to the Balrog about being “the wielder of the flame of Anor” might refer to this ring. The Istari don’t appear until the Third Age, but Amazon might try to work him in anyway, given the focus on the rings of power. As a wizard (Istari), he is a spirit sent by the Valar to Middle Earth in the form of an old man. This offers the potential to portray him as a more compelling and multifaceted villain. In the Second Age Sauron is not just the purely antagonistic force depicted in the novel and the films, but also a subtle trickster and manipulator. They are both important figures of the Second Age and recipients of rings of power, so they will certainly play an active role. The elven queen Galadriel will be a central character, and also Elrond, the lord of Rivendell. Is anyone from the Lord of the Rings around in the Second Age? This probably won’t make into the Amazon series, though, unless it runs for quite a few seasons.

It is later destroyed by the Witch-King of Angmar, the most powerful of Sauron’s Nazgûl, which is why we don’t hear much about it in the Lord of the Rings. Amazon Studios What’s Arnor? Tell me about Arnor!Īrnor is established towards the end of the Second Age as a sister-kingdom to the more familiar Gondor and is located far to the north.

A first look from Amazon Studios upcoming The Rings of Power.

The hobbit prequel book