Breaking Down 'Rings Of Power' Comic-Con Trailer
The Rings of Power panel at San Diego Comic-Con dropped quite a few exciting new details about the series including a new trailer that had audiences in awe. The showrunners also announced that much of this show will focus on the Numenor, the Atlantis-like kingdom where many of the humans of Middle Earth lived. In Tolkien’s lore, Numenor fell, disappearing into the sea when Sauron first rose to power. From what we saw and heard at the Comic-Con panel, we may see much of this story played out in a big way. After all, Numenor has quite a bit of screen time in the trailer.
Out of all of the trailers we have seen so far, the trailer revealed today is by far one of the most detailed. It is not fast-paced in terms of images flashing on the screen and focuses a little longer on the character’s faces, and their actions. It gives the viewer a little bit more of a feel for what this series will focus on while highlighting the main characters. We see new characters and places that we have not seen before as well along with quite a few surprises.
As a prologue to the trailer, Hall H’s full panoramic screen opened up. Elvish scripts circled the hall as Galadriel recites the Ring Verse.
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The trailer began with Galadriel’s haunting voice-over as she placed an Elven helmet on a massive pile of empty helmets on a battlefield. She seems to be on a battlefield after a major battle. Perhaps it is a call back to the previous war? The series cannot show the war in the First Age with Morgoth (the first Dark Lord) as it is mostly chronicled in The Silmarillion and Tolkien’s other writings that Amazon does not have the rights to. However, they could still allude to it.
We are taken to the elven city of Lindon. Elrond smiles as the Elven High King Gil-galad places a crown of golden leaves on Galadriel’s head. There is a table scene with several of the characters including the dwarf Durin and the elf Celebrimbor. Galadriel continues to talk about peace as children happily run along a river on a sunny day, following a little paper boat. Some Numenorean men unfold what looks to be a sail as the people on the beach watch. There is a similar scene from a previous trailer with Galadriel and other elves on a boat.
Of course, peace does not last. One of the Harfoots, Sadoc Burrows points out that “the skies are strange.” A meteor streaks across the sky as two figures (perhaps Arondir and Bronwyn) watch.
We cut to a night clip of a citadel and a domed building with a tall tower next to it. This could either be Numenor or another Elven city. Then, we are introduced to someone we have not seen before, Queen Miriel, the queen regent of Numenor. This trailer implies that she will be playing an important role in the series. She shows Galadriel one of the Palantir and tells her “It is here, Galadriel, the moment we feared.” When she places her hand on the orb, we suddenly see flashes of a terrible battle and then Galadriel crying next to a body.
After this, we are transported to Numenor where we see petals falling from a white tree like in the previous trailer. The scene becomes more ominous as a voice says “Evil does not sleep.”
Three figures dressed in white robes appear. The one in front holds a staff with a top that looks suspiciously like the Eye of Sauron on Barad-dur in The Lord of the Rings. The camera closes in on this same person. Could he be Annatar, Sauron’s alter-ego when he visited the elves and Numenor? There is much speculation among fans as this person’s identity has not been officially confirmed.
Elrond is led into Moria as King Durin III tells Prince Durin, “Beyond the darkness, tempting shadow – to bury us all beneath the mountain.” The camera cuts back to Galadriel covered in red ash in a burning village as she says “He has not one name, but many.” We move to a dark fortress that we have not seen before. It could perhaps be Sauron’s Thangorodrim. Ice in a cave forms the three-pronged symbol that was in one of the promo posters. The same symbol will appear again later on. Could this be a symbol of Sauron? After all, it seems to be accompanied by the voice-over talking about evil.
Bronwyn’s son, Theo finally gets some screentime as a creepy old man asks him if he has heard of Sauron. A mysterious creature with long non-human fingers starts to creep out of the floorboards and we cut to Theo holding the broken heirloom that we have seen before. However, the blade reforms in a rather “Morgul blade dissolving” kind of way like in The Lord of the Rings. This does not bode well.
The next scene shows what are presumably Numenorean boats engulfed in flames as people watch from the docks. This may be a taste of the destruction of Numenor. Bronwyn hugs Theo before we cut to a dark hooded figure walking among some hooded orcs, who bowed in reverence.
As evil approaches, the people of Middle-Earth rise up in response. Halbrand is seen in Numenor. Bronwyn is rallying people to fight. Someone holds up a sword. The elves draw their swords. Galadriel boards a Numenorean ship as her voice-over says “Fight with me.”
Everyone is coming together for a battle. Miriel holds what could be a baby in her arms. The dwarf Disa sings, and Durin holds up a gem of some sort. Galadriel leads a Numenorean cavalry charge at the front. In the next scene, she is swimming away from what looks like a massive sea monster. Durin leads an army of dwarves. Arondir is tied up by the ankle again and fighting the orcs as we have seen in the previous trailer. There’s a quick glimpse of a human village (possibly Bronwyn’s?) where they look like they are getting ready for an attack or are already under attack. The scene ends with Galadriel closing her eyes as she cries.
We then return to the mysterious pale hooded figure who says “You have been told many lies of Middle-Earth.” It is unclear what he means as a leaf falls to the ground and bursts into flame. Arondir is pulled into tangles of branches or vines.
When you think the trailer has ended on the series title and the Amazon Prime logo, the screen goes black and a Balrog steps out from the darkness. Of note, this Balrog looks exactly like the Balrog from Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring.
If anything, the trailer shown at Comic-Con confirmed that this series will be unlike anything fans have ever seen before. The epic visuals and music just from this small sample of the series have fans ecstatic for the release.
The Rings of Power is scheduled for release on Amazon Prime on September 2.
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