The Rings of Power is back with a second season on Prime Video Aug. 29. It’s been two years since Season 1 ended, and given the sheer number of characters and plot lines on this sprawling show, you would be forgiven for forgetting the difference between a harfoot and a hobbit. (For anyone wondering: Harfoots come earlier in the Middle-earth timeline, which is why they appear in this The Lord of the Rings prequel.)
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]In the first season, the elf Galadriel attempted to root out the dark lord Sauron, only to discover that the mysterious traveling companion she picked up during a shipwreck turned out not to be a long-lost king of the Southlands but Sauron himself. Meanwhile, another elf named Celebrimbor forged three of the titular rings of power in an attempt to keep the elves from losing their immortality.
Elsewhere, a mysterious man—who, let’s face it, is probably a beloved wizard from The Lord of the Rings—fell out of the sky; the men of the sea kingdom of Númenor argued over who should be their ruler; and a bad guy named Adar made Mount Doom erupt.
And there’s more. Before Season 2 starts, here’s everything you need to remember.
For much of Season 1, a man named Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) was basically performing Aragorn cosplay. He had the long, flowing hair and the strategically dirty clothes. He flirted with an elf (in this case, Galadriel, not Arwen). He even claimed to be the descendant of the King of the Southlands but resisted taking on his rightful title—just like Aragorn balked at his inheritance.
Unfortunately for Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and all of Middle-earth, Halbrand was not the rightful King of the Southlands but Sauron in disguise. After Galadriel confirms the line of Southland kings has ended, Sauron reveals his true identity to Galadriel and offers to make her queen of his evil kingdom. She passes on that job opportunity, and Sauron flees to Mordor.
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Sauron’s plans for Mordor are still unclear. A bad guy named Adar (Joseph Mawle in Season 1, with Sam Hazeldine taking over the role in Season 2) led the orcs in battle against the men of the Southlands in Season 1. After being captured, Adar told Galadriel during an interrogation that he killed Sauron. Obviously he didn’t succeed if Sauron is back (in a form that Adar did not recognize). Likely, Sauron is headed to Mordor to either kill Adar or convince him to join his side.
We do know from the Season 2 trailer that Sauron eventually returns to Celebrimbor’s forge in the elven land of Eregion and works with him on additional rings of power for dwarves and men. He reenters Eregion under the guise of Annatar (which translates to “giver of gifts”). In this show’s interpretation, that means Sauron dons a blonde wig but otherwise looks like Halbrand. How or why Galadriel doesn’t give Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) a head’s up about Halbrand/Sauron/Annatar’s true identity is not yet clear.
Galadriel began Season 1 as a canary in the coal mine. She tried to tell her fellow elves that Sauron was still alive, but nobody believed her. Sauron killed Galadriel’s brother during the war between the elves and Morgoth, an evil lord and Sauron’s old boss. Galadriel hoped to avenge her brother’s death by murdering Sauron.
By the end of the first season, Galadriel realized that Sauron tricked her. She may have even developed romantic feelings for the evildoer. Going forward, will Galadriel’s connection to Sauron hinder her or give her valuable insight?
Many Tolkien fans have pointed out that Galadriel was already married to her husband, Celeborn, at this time and thus objected to the romantic undertones of her relationship with Halbrand. In Season 1, Episode 6, Galadriel said that Celebron is dead. Since we know him to be alive during the events of The Lord of the Rings, it’s likely that he’s just presumed dead. A reunion with her long-lost love could be in the cards for Galadriel in Season 2.
The elves were losing their immortality, but Celebrimbor, the master elven-smith, discovers that he can use the ultra-rare metal mithril to help extend their lives. Another elf, Elrond (Robert Armayo), convinces his friend, the dwarf Prince Durin (Owain Arthur), to mine some mithril from the mines of Moria for the elves. (This turns out to be a very bad idea since it begins to wake up a scary hell-beast called a Balrog, which, you may remember, Gandalf fights in Lord of the Rings.)
Anyway, Celebrimbor initially planned to make a crown of the mithril that High King of the Elves Gil-galad can wear. But when Galadriel discovered that her good buddy Halbrand was actually the dark lord, she realized that he could use such a crown to enhance his own powers and rule Middle-earth. She decided not to tell the other elves about Halbrand’s true identity because then they might not use the mithril. Instead, she proposed that they make three rings instead of one crown, thus spreading the power around.
It’s worth noting that the One Ring from Lord of the Rings contains Sauron’s power inside of it. (J.K. Rowling sort of borrowed this idea for Harry Potter: Voldemort hides parts of his soul in objects called horcruxes to stay alive. Sauron’s soul isn’t in the One Ring, but it is connected to him.) These elf rings do not contain a part of Sauron inside of them and therefore are not as dangerous as the One Ring that Sauron will later create.
The dwarf Prince Durin helps the elves and his old buddy Elrond dig for mithril in the mines of Khazad-dûm even though Prince Durin’s father, King Durin (Peter Mullan), forbids it. King Durin disowns Prince Durin as a result.
The elves use that mithril to create the first three rings. We know that Celebrimbor will forge more rings of power for dwarves and men (with Sauron’s help, though Celebrimbor won’t know it’s the dark lord who aids him). So Celebrimbor—or Sauron—will have to convince the dwarves to risk their lives digging for the precious metal in order to make more rings.
Much of Season 1 takes place in the Southlands, where men who once aligned with the evil lord Morgoth dwell. But because they picked the wrong side in the war, the elves still watch over these men lest they try to make mischief again. In one of these towns lives a woman named Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi) and her son Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin). Bronwyn has a romance going with an elf named Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova). Arondir is taken prisoner by some orcs who are invading the Southlands, but luckily has Legolas-level fighting powers and is able to escape and try to help the Southlanders fight back against the encroaching orcs.
Read More: 11 Rings of Power Secrets We Learned From the Cast and Creators
The orcs follow a bad guy named Adar—an elf who was corrupted by Morgoth and calls the Orcs his children. At first it seems he simply wants to create a homeland for his “children” in the Southlands and plans to kill or enslave the men there. But it turns out he had grander ambitions. Using a magical key accidentally unearthed by Theo, Adar succeeds in triggering a volcanic eruption that engulfs the Southlands and turns it into the hellish land of Mordor.
Nazanin Boniadi has since left the show, and the role of Bronwyn is not being recast. So it looks like Arondir will have to watch after Theo on his own. That’s bad news for Arondir since Theo gives off some seriously scary vibes.
The Queen Regent of Númenor Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) decides to help Galadriel by sending soldiers to the Southlands to fight a rising dark power. And though the Númenóreans win the battle against the orcs, many of them are killed in the terrifying explosion of what turns out to be Mount Doom. Míriel loses her eyesight running into a burning building to try to save Isildur (Maxim Baldry), the son of Sea Captain Elendil. (More on Isildur later.)
The people of Númenor are not loving the elves these days, and Míriel’s decision to side with Galadriel probably won’t help her popularity in the Númenórean polls. Meanwhile, a would-be usurper named Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) has been riling up the people of Númenor and promoting himself as a leader while also pretending to help Míriel.
When Míriel returns to Númenor, she learns that her father the king has died, which means either she is ascending the throne—or someone may try to take it from her. Another important part of this plot: The king of Númenor owned and consulted a palantír, an elvish tool that lets people see the future and also communicate with others who possess palantíri. Depending on who gets their hands on the palantír now that the king is dead, it may be a tool used for good or ill. (Remember, Saruman uses one in Lord of the Rings to FaceTime with Sauron.)
Isildur is a relatively minor character in Season 1. He begs his father Elendil to let him fight for glory. He gets his wish during the battle in the Southlands. But a burning building collapses on Isildur, and Elendil assumes his son is dead.
We, as Lord of the Rings fans know, of course, that Isildur must have survived that fire. He is, after all, Aragorn’s ancestor and the man who eventually cuts the ring from Sauron’s finger during the War of the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age (and thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings). The Rings of Power is barreling toward this battle, which will probably occur in the final season of the series. That means Isildur will have to make his way out of Mordor.
A man called The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) falls from the sky and spends all of Season 1 wandering around with nomadic beings called harfoots (predecessors of the hobbits). He has no memories, but he does have magic powers. Some very pale and evil-looking cultists hunt him down thinking that he is Sauron. They fight, and The Stranger reveals the extent of his powers, banishing the baddies.
In all likelihood, The Stranger is Gandalf. Several wizards, known as Istari, fell from the sky and were tasked by the Valar (divine immortal spirits) with aiding in the fight against Sauron. Given this wizard has a fondness for halflings, we can guess who he might be.
Those pale cultists hail from a land called Rhûn, also known as the Eastlands. Many men in this region swore loyalty to the dark lord Morgoth and are clearly eager to follow Sauron. The Stranger and his harfoot pal Nori (Markella Kavenagh) are off to explore Rhûn in Season 2 because it seems to hold some clues to the Stranger’s identity.
Rhûn remains largely mysterious in Tolkien’s lore, but he did write that the wizard Saruman traveled to Rhûn and returned before the events of The Lord of the Rings. The so-called blue wizards also traveled east but never came back, though little is known about them. So it is possible that the Stranger is not Gandalf but one of these wizards instead.
