It’s been two years since the first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiered on Amazon Prime Video, and with the second season upcoming, fans are looking to refresh their memories of the story so far.
While not everyone has the time to just rewatch the season, Prime Video has dropped a quick 3-minute recap that should catch everyone up on the main events of the first season.
Watch Amazon’s Official Rings of Power Recap
This is Amazon Prime Video’s official Season One recap of The Rings of Power:
While the recap doesn’t really give an extensive background as to which character is which, it does go over a lot of the main arcs of the first season, from Galadriel’s hunt for Sauron, her clash with Adar, and the eventual discovery that her companion Halbrand, had been the dark lord she’d been searching for this whole time.
There is also the case of Elrond and Durin, who spend the whole season just mending the relationship between elves and dwarves, plus the Numenorians who had been rallied by Galadriel to come to Middle-earth and help fight the rising armies of the orcs.
And if that isn’t enough to complicate things, there’s also the arc of the Stranger, who finds himself on a journey to Rhun accompanied by a harfoot Elanor Brandyfoot. A lot of viewers are almost sure that the Stranger is Gandalf, but they are expecting some kind of twist down the line—either he’s a Blue Wizard, or he could be Saruman, the lead of the wizards by the time of the LOTR trilogy.
Finally, there’s the story of Celebrimbor, who forges the titular Rings of Power—at least the three made for the elves— by the end of the series.
What to Expect with the Second Season
The trailers have foreshadowed multiple things, but everyone is expecting a buildup to the end of the Second Age, which culminates in the defeat of Sauron and the passing of the Ring to Isildur.
For Season 2, it’s been teased that fans will see the forging of the remaining Rings of Power and the downfall that it brought to the races of dwarves and men. Speaking of dwarves, the city of Dwarrowdelf is expected to fall under the Balrog, dubbed Durin’s Bane.
Besides that, there is the case of Sauron mustering the orc army run by Adar, and Adar aligns himself with Galadriel to defeat a bigger foe. Fans don’t expect the best outcome for Adar, but he does add a certain motivation for the mostly ‘evil’ orcs.
The official description for Season 2 of TROP reads:
“Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will. Building on Season 1’s epic scope and ambition, Season 2 of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres on Aug. 29.