Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power trailer: Breaking down every reveal

Amazon Studios releases the teaser video for the new blockbuster TV series Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power today, and while it was full of lush imagery from the show’s first season, it revealed very little about the show’s plot or characters.

Luckily, there’s plenty of Tolkien lore, casting information, and story hints that connect many of the dots. Continue reading to see everything we have from the initial teaser. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerYou are secretly being shown without telling you.

An urban waterfront

Image: Amazon Studios

We start off with a shot that evokes some of the most iconic imagery of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The city of Minas Tirith is visible here, but most people will be drawn to the giant striding statue holding one hand in the air. This image can also be used as a reference for the Argonath. In the advertising materials for initial signs, two huge statues were prominently displayed. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

Tolkien’s lore says that the Argonath sculptures, two of them, are one the greatest works in the kingdom Gondor. It is this reason why the city of Gondor is so good to bet it’s a human one, and not an elven. But this definitely isn’t Gondor. It’s more likely that we’re looking at the island country of Númenor — the human civilization whose survivors founded Gondor.

Hunting with elkhorns

Image: Amazon Studios

All we know about these guys is that a Vanity Fair article described them as “nomadic hunters wandering the fields of Middle-earth.” But they do look pretty wild, huh?

A young Harfoot girl

Image: Amazon Studios

All this time we’ve been listening to the trailer’s only dialogue, a female voice saying “Have you ever wondered … what else is out there? There’s wonders in this world beyond our wandering. I can feel it.” As she finishes speaking, we cut to a shot of actress Megan Richards, which is editing language for: This is the character who said that thing. Either she actually says that in the series or it is what the editors want us to believe. ThinkThat was what she said.

According to Vanity Fair’s feature, Richards’ character is a “lovable, curious” harfoot — a racial precursor to the modern Hobbit. Tolkien’s statement was unambiguous The Lord of the Rings that hobbits didn’t do anything worthy of record during the Second Age, but showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne have invented a specific harfoot culture that “thrives on secrecy and evading detection.”

This would be in keeping with hobbits remaining out of the spotlight in history. It is also very similar to Tolkien’s explanation in his books of why no one sees hobbits today. “Even in ancient days they were, as a rule, shy of ‘the Big Folk,’ as they call us,” he wrote in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings, “and now they avoid us with dismay and are becoming hard to find […] They possessed from the first the art of disappearing swiftly and silently, when large folk whom they do not wish to meet come blundering by; and this art they have developed until to Men it may seem magical.”

Galadriel ascends to a frozen waterfall

Image: Amazon Studios

Morfydd will be playing the role of a younger Galadriel. The Rings of PowerGaladriel, seen here in full armor climbing up the massive frozen waterfall. In Tolkien’s legendarium, Galadriel did indeed have a long history of badassery before she settled down to be queen of her own realm, and Rings looks like it’s here to take advantage of that.

We got a much closer look at her dagger in Amazon’s character poster, where we can see that it has a motif of gold and silver plant shapes intwined. This could either be intended to evoke the two magical trees that once gave Galadriel’s birthplace its day/night cycle — or as foreshadowing of her eventual rule over Lothlorien, a forest famous for its trees with gold and silver leaves.

Lost at sea: A lost human being

Image: Amazon Studios

This struggling man would seem to be the original character Halbrand, who is “a fugitive from his own past,” based on the Vanity Fair feature. A castaway, he will meet Galadriel while they are both adrift in Middle-earth’s western sea.

Arondir, an elf warrior

Image: Amazon Studios

Here Ismael Cruz Córdova’s Arondir gets a set of hero shots, doing cool bow shit. This elven warrior hails from the forest rather than the great elf cities, and will apparently have a forbidden romance with a human woman — a village healer named Bronwyn. Tolkien was Thank youIt is not possible to say how many human and elf romances occurred in Middle-earth’s history. So if McKay and Payne are hewing to the letter of the Professor’s law, Arondir and Bronwyn may be doomed from the start.

Watching a meteorite fall from the sky is a robed elf

Image: Amazon Studios

Though played by Benjamin Walker, we’re not sure who this elf is, and we’re not sure what that object in the sky is either. His outfit seems to match one shown in released character posters — golden robes, many rings — but as far as his identity, we only have conjecture. His potential to be an original character is possible, and there are many heroes and leaders that he might be. At the moment all we can say for certain is that even though he’s got a ton of rings, he is not the elven ring-smith Celebrimbor. He’sCharles Edwards plays the role.

Galadriel riding a horse

Image: Amazon Studios

Without riders, what Lord of the Rings would be without them galloping over the New Zealand plains? This is Galadriel moving at an impressive pace.

One character escapes from a cave-troll-like monster

Image: Amazon Studios

A torch-wielding man runs from a monstrous creature. He’s dressed in the same greys as Galadriel was in the ice climbing scene, perhaps indicating some connection between the characters.

An elven location

Image: Amazon Studios

Here’s a nice foresty elven location, which you can tell from the foresty-ness.

Prince Durin IV

Amazon Studios

This bushy-bearded man is prince Owain Arthur’s Durin IV, hailing from the dwarven city-state of Khazad-dûm. In Tolkien’s lore, Khazad-dûm was founded by Durin I, the eldest of the first dwarves, and by the Second Age, it had become Middle-earth’s greatest seat of dwarven culture and craft, supported by its rich mines full of mithril.

But Lord of the Rings fans know Khazad-dûm by a more notorious name, given to it after the dwarves within it delved too greedily and too deep: Moria. Tolkien placed the demise of Khazad-dûm during the reign of Durin VI, however, so we’re not by any means guaranteed a Balrog cameo in The Rings of Power.

Elrond

Image: Amazon Studios

Robert Aramayo has some big shoes to fill, portraying a young and untested Elrond to an audience that is used to Hugo Weaving’s charismatic turn as the character. This is him… right next to the rock. Rockin’.

Princess Disa

Image: Amazon Studios

The singing lady is Disa the Dwarven Princess, as played by Sophia Nomvete. Since she’s a princess and Durin IV is a prince, it seems likely they’re related by marriage or blood.

Galadriel at sea

Image: Amazon Studios

A man’s — probably Halbrand’s — hand flips up Galadriel’s wet hair, revealing her pointed elven ears.

A man is the best thing about a Lord of the Rings trailer

Image: Amazon Studios

A smaller, shaggy headed person reaches out their hand to what appears to be an old man with wild hair and beard — and they both appear to be in a pit of flaming wreckage. The smaller character’s silhouette aligns pretty well with Megan Richards’ unnamed Harfoot lass, and thanks to Vanity Fair, we know that her plotline in the series will begin when she and a friend “encounter a mysterious lost man whose origin promises to be one of the show’s most enticing enigmas.”

There’s only one thing that a bearded old man in the middle of danger means in the iconography of The Lord of the Rings. Is this Richards’ character? What is the mysterious man she has lost? What is the deal? The Rings of PowerIs there a hidden wizard among the characters that are not revealed? If so, what one? Amazon isn’t revealing anything in this short teaser, that’s for sure.

Durin takes a piece of rock

Image: Amazon Studios

Hey, it’s Durin IV again!

Arondir’s got an axe

Image: Amazon Studios

Arondir carries a primitive-looking, axe to battle

Wouldn’t be the Lord of the Rings without a battle

Image: Amazon Studios

Elves battle orcs!

Big hand with a small hand

Image: Amazon Studios

The final image of the teaser is of a small hand grasping the fingers of one much larger — a child and an adult? Is it a hobbit or a demigod, There’s no way to tell until The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerAmazon Prime Video premieres Sept. 2