Rings of Power uses orcs in a new way than Lord of the Rings

[Ed. note: This post contains light spoilers for the end of episode 2 of Rings of Power.]

Two episodes in the series’ first season. The Lord of the Rings – The Rings of PowerOur views of the orcs on screen are very restricted. But even so, they’re like nothing like what we’ve seen of them on screen before. Though they’re still a threat, they’re no longer a swarm. Amazon shows how frightening one of these creatures can be.

Lord of the Rings took a dangerous turn before. Rings of PowerThis town finds its place in the world. Bronwyn (Nazanin Booniadi) is sent to alert the residents that a neighbouring town has fallen to some unknown cause. It feels more like a horror film than a real-life movie. Her neighbors ignore her fears as just a flight of fancy. But it also marks the differing relationship with the orcs: These people are a few generations removed from the last time anyone would’ve seen an orc around. And the mere idea of it seems unbelievable to them; they’re more afraid of a returning occupying force than the whispers of a myth.

So, Rings of PowerThese early episodes treat its orcs with respect. They’re no longer the horde introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring, tumbling off a cliff in their haste to attack their enemy, but a singular, terrifying monster quietly climbing into Bronwyn’s home. The orc’s introduction has all the hallmarks of a slasher villain, received in bits and pieces: an eye through the floorboards, a hand clacking as it hits the ground, a close-up of a mouth and its grotesque tongue. We can make out its skull mask in fuzzy profile, but we only see its full monstrosity once it’s found Bronwyn hiding in the cupboard.

Photo: Matt Grace/Prime Video

The orc here still holds to the general canon — it’s a malicious creature, looking like a flayed person, and a foe whose fighting skill is still bested by a mother and her son. It is real, and it makes a lot more sense than a lot else. Rings of Power can’t quite materialize. A swarm of them might feel dangerous in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, but a single one feels deadly. To put it one way, it’s the difference between Alien AliensThis reveals the vulnerability associated with every version of the monster.

It’s certainly enough to get Bronwyn and her fellow townspeople to set out at first light to seek help from the elves. And while there’s a lot we still don’t know about how Rings of Power will (or won’t) change Tolkien’s canon, this feels like a step in the right direction. It is possible to find new ways of understanding the stories and deconstruct their core elements. This allows us to see things in new ways and helps us better understand them. With the menace posed by just one orc — the way it moves and what it is — it illuminates the bone-chilling terror of facing down an army of them, and the stakes of every orc showdown to come.