The Lord of the Rings scenes to rewatch before Rings of Power

This weekend sees the release of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings – The Rings of Power. Amazon’s mega-sized series is one of The Big TV Events of the Year, and it’s also a great reason to revisit earlier entries in J.R.R. Tolkien’s universe.

Believe it or not, it’s been nearly a decade since Peter Jackson’s third and final Hobbit movie, Battle of the Five ArmiesIn theaters, the movie “The Help” was released. It’s been a long wait for more entertainment set in that world, and it’s exciting just to be able to return (and Rings of Power This isn’t all, an anime is in the works.

There’s also a lot to catch up on! Although Rings of Power may take place thousands of years before the movies, it’s natural to want to revisit the earlier editions of the franchise and brush up on some of your Middle-earth knowledge. So here’s a guide to watching the movies, or a cheat sheet of key clips to watch before the new show.

Order Lord of the Rings Watch

If you’re looking to watch just the Peter Jackson saga, you have two options. They can be viewed chronologically or narratively.

The Hobbit: Unexpected Adventures You can watch Prime Video and HBO Max.
The Hobbit: Smaug’s Desolation You can watch Prime Video and HBO Max.
The Battle of the Five Armies: The Hobbit You can watch Prime Video and HBO Max.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring You can watch Prime Video and HBO Max.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers You can watch Prime Video and HBO Max.
The Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings You can watch Prime Video or HBO Max (or both).

You could also watch them in order of release:

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Return of the King and The Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit: Unexpected Adventures
The Hobbit: Smaug’s Desolation
The Battle of the Five Armies: The Hobbit

If you’re a completionist, you can also throw in the animated movies from the late 1970s and early 1980s. It doesn’t make much sense to put these in the chronological order, but they would go first in release order (obviously), starting with 1977’s The Hobbit (available for digital rental or purchase on VOD platforms), moving on to 1978’s The Lord of the Rings, and then going to 1980’s The Return of the King (not available online; you’ll have to buy a physical copy).

But hey, that’s more than 17 hours Before watching the show (or 22, if you’re including the animated movies). It’s not possible for everyone to have that much time. Here are some alternatives if you don’t want to go that route.

For a quick recap without having to watch anything

The Rings of Power is not based on any specific book, instead building out Tolkien’s post-script Appendices.

The show is set in the Second Age (here’s a map of what Middle-earth looks like), following the war against Morgoth. That’s long, long before the events of the movies, but there are still plenty of memorable characters and places that pop up in both.

Galadriel (played by Cate Blanchett) is an important part of the series. Polygon’s Susana Polo spoke to actor Morfydd Clark about the elven queen and went deep on the lore of the character.

Elrond, Isildur (Maxim Baldry), Sauron and Sauron are other characters we know from the movies. This is also true for fans of the films (or the videogames). Shadow of Mordor Shadow of WarCelebrimbor will be recognized by ).

A type of hobbit called Harfoots will appear in the show. Elves, dwarves, and orcs are all important parts of the show.