With House of the Dragon set to end its second season soon, Amazon Prime Video is slowly pumping up the steam for the premiere of the second season of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
San Diego Comic-Con provided some great character reveals and previews for the second season, but Amazon has also been dropping featurettes focusing on specific elements of the series, like the orcs and the elves.
This new special look spotlights the forging of the rings.
Featurette on the Forging of the Rings of Power
Amazon has released a new look at the series, focusing on the rings Sauron forges with Celebrimbor. The first season had the three rings for the elves forged first, but now fans get to see the seven forged for the dwarf lords.
Though Halbrand revealed himself as Sauron to Galadriel by the end of the first season, it looks like he’ll take on a new form for Season 2 so that he can work with Celebrimbor again and forge the rest of the rings.
In the books, Sauron took the form of “Annatar,” the Lord of the Gifts, to blend in with the elves. One particular critique of the first season was that it looked like the series was going to skip the events of Sauron’s ruse because he had already revealed his identity, and Celebrimbor had already met Halbrand.
For the second season though, Charlie Vickers has shed his ‘filthy man’ disguise in lieu of a blonde wig and pointy ears. Though his face is still technically the same, it looks to have been enough to fool someone like Celebrimbor.
What Did the Rings Do?
Besides making all those who wear them vulnerable to Sauron. The rings actually had a practical use in that they preserved whatever the wearer deemed was most important to them. To the elves, the rings were able to preserve the nature and environment that the elves treasured, and for the dwarves, it allowed for them to amass huge amounts of gold—which resulted in them getting hunted down by dragons.
For men, the rings had prolonged their lives, which resulted in them getting stretched out so thinly that they became the ringwraiths that do the Dark Lord’s bidding.
Changes from the Source Material
For all the big moments and details in the lore that the Rings of Power has managed to include, there are definitely some changes from the original source material made to be able to adapt the story better in the television format.
For one, the timeline is sped up in this series. Usually the big events that happen in the show were supposed to span a couple hundred years, but the series had been sped up so that the story can move organically.
When it comes to the rings, it’s possible that there could be some changes when it comes to their lore, but it’s no mystery that the showrunners have been doing their research, and they’ve been taking a leaf out of Peter Jackson’s book when it comes to enhancing characters and plot points to better serve the story that’s being told.
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Aug. 29.