Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Rings of Power Season 2!
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power A different story may be told, but there are still many clear influences from Tolkien The Lord of the Rings. The Prime Video series is set during Middle-earth’s Second Age, thousands of years before Frodo emerged from the Shire with the One Ring. Still, this is the same land where The Hobbit had his adventures, and the overlap in characters allowed for many familiar sights and events. In some ways, Rings of power Season 2 is just repeating some of the best parts of Lord of the Rings.
Rings of power Season 1 spent eight episodes getting audiences familiar with the Second Age. A common complaint of the debut installment is that it didn’t feel like it Lord of the RingsWhich is completely valid. But, with all that slow exposition out of the way, Rings of power Season 2 is free to stream. There are big ones Lots of beloved features and dynamics added to the mix that let the Prime Video series finally feel like it’s set in Tolkien’s world.
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The Stranger and Dark Wizard repeat the Gandalf and Saruman dynamic from Lord of the Rings
This wizard dynamic is familiar
Go in The rings of power Season 2 The Stranger is heading through Rhûn in search of answers about his role in Middle-earth. In episode 4, he meets Tom Bombadil, who says that he will teach the Istar magic to confront Sauron and the Dark Wizard, who cannot be allowed to join forces. There’s still a lot to learn here, including the true identity of the Stranger and the Dark Wizard. However, the way it is installed Feels a lot like another Istari relationship in The Lord of the Rings.
The idea that the stranger must stop the evil wizard from joining Sauron is a repeat of Gandalf and Saruman’s dynamic in The Lord of the Rings – regardless of their true identity.
It has been heavily implied that the stranger is Gandalf, and there is some indication that the Dark Wizard, who leads a cult in Rhûn, is one of the Blue Wizards sent to Middle-earth in the Second Age. However, the idea that the stranger must stop the evil wizard from joining Sauron is a repeat of Gandalf and Saruman’s dynamic in The Lord of the Rings— regardless of their true identity.
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Poppy after Nori makes her even more like Sam Gamge
Nori & Poppy are the New Frodo & Sam
Prime Video’s decision to show halflings in the Second Age was controversial since Tolkien did not talk much about the Hobbit ancestors during this period in Middle-earth history. However, this has really started to pay off Rings of power Season 2. Nori’s relationship with the stranger is one of the emotional high points of the series, and The general nature of hobbits makes the second age feel more cohesive with The Lord of the Rings.
An important way that Rings of power Season 2 has pulled this is through Mon, who follows Nori and the Stranger to Rhûn despite initially hanging back. This loyalty brings to mind The Lord of the RingsSam, who is stuck by Frodo through thick and thin despite his initial fears and reservations. Since This kind of love is a staple of Tolkien’s workPoppy and Norrie’s relationship has made a massive difference Rings of power.
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The Rings of Power Season 2 adapts the Fellowship of the Ring’s Old Man Willow scene
Tom Bombadil saves another soul from a mischievous tree
When the stranger finds Tom Bombadil’s home in Rings of power Season 2, Episode 4, he quickly notices a tree whose branch looks perfect for a wizard’s staff. But when the stranger tries to break it off, the tree’s trunk begins to bend around him until he is completely surrounded. Just as escape seemed lost, Tom Bombadil stepped in and cheerfully encouraged the tree to let the Istar go. Although this has little to do with the plot of season 2, there is a significant connection to it The Lord of the Rings Here.
The situation that the stranger finds himself in is Nearly identical to the one faced by Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Sam in the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring book. Shortly after leaving the Shire, the Kabbits made their way through the Old Forest and were sucked into the massive roots of a tree named Oldman Willow. Just like the stranger, they were saved by Tom Bombadil.
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The Rings of Power Season 2 includes Fellowship of the Ring’s Burrow-Wits
The Fellowship of the Ring barrow jokes are back
Rings of power Season 2 saw Galadriel, Elrond, and their team of elite elves unable to lead on the beaten path to Eregion. They were forced to go into the forest instead, where they came upon a clearing of old graves. One of the Elvish company identified this as the barrow-downs, a place where people once buried their kings and nobles. This is a place familiar to fans of The Lord of the Rings Books. Of course, the same is true for the monsters that came out of the tombs.
The Barrow jokes were left over from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy, however They were memorably terrifying monsters in Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring book. As with Old Man Willow, the Hobbits were saved from the wheat by Tom Bombadil, whose singing sent the beasts away. The fact that Rings of power If the elves faced the barrow joke while Rory Kinnear’s Bombadil debuted in Rhûn it was highly appropriate.
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Elrond not trusting the Elven Rings recreates LOTR’s One Ring dilemma
The Ring Dilemma is a tale as old as time
Very little attention is paid to the three elven rings in The Lord of the RingsWhat Elrond, Galadriel and Gandalf wore. however, Rings of power Has begun to dive into the morally complicated process that could have been for the elves to initially use the rings. Elrond, in particular, is afraid of their effects and is always in Rings of power Season 2 that Galadriel’s Ring of Power is under Sauron’s influence. The big question seems to be, “Can something influenced by evil be used for good?“
As it is, this is the same question that dominated the Council of Elrond in The Lord of the Rings. Boromir wanted to use Sauron’s One Ring to turn things around for Mordor, thus using the villain’s own weapon against him. However, it was rightly determined that this would not be possible since any action performed with the ring would be as evil as the object itself. Of course, this will not ultimately be the conclusion for the three elven rings since even Elrond is destined to wear one of them. yet, Rings of power repeated the Lord of the Rings’ overarching theme.
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Bronwyn’s death repeats the old LOTR elf & human romance dilemma
Mortality has always been a problem in romance
Although The rings of power Season 1 is mostly devoted to establishing Prime Video’s version of​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​second​​second​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​second​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​an​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ an€€Â€€€Â€€€2€€2 version of the details from season 1, season 1 is season 1. Lord of the Rings. An example is the romance between Bronwyn and Arondir—a human and an elf. Such relationships are common throughout Tolkien’s work, with The Lord of the RingsAragorn and Arwen are the best known. However, while the two have very happy endings, the trilogy presents the painful dilemma associated with this dynamic.
This was the price that Aragorn and Arwen were so afraid to pay in Lord of the Rings and one that was paid several times in Tolkien’s legendary.
in Rings of power Season 2, it is revealed that Bronwyn did not survive her season 1 injury. Arondir explains that the poison of orc arrows is difficult for humans to overcome, and Bronwyn finally succumbs. If she had the audacity of an elf, things might have been different. This was the price that Aragorn and Arwen were so afraid to pay. Lord of the Rings And one that has been paid several times in Tolkien’s Legendarium.
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Tom Bombadil’s debut reprises his interactions with LOTR’s hobbits
Tom Bombadil is the same even thousands of years earlier
Bombadil saving the stranger from Rhûn’s version of Old Man Willow isn’t the only way the character’s debut was a rehash of The Lord of the Rings. After bringing the stranger into his home and helping him to refresh himself a lot Bombadil’s words and actions are direct repeats of his first interactions with the hobbits. In fact, almost everything that happens through this sequence is an easter egg to Bombadil’s time with the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings.
When the stranger asked what Tom Bombadil was, the mysterious being said, “You still don’t know my name? This is the only answer.“That’s exactly what he said when Frodo asked the same question. Besides, all the songs Bombadil is heard singing in Rings of power Are these written by Tolkien for the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring book. Even the voice of the woman that the stranger heard from his bath comes straight from Tolkien’s books, because it is Goldberry, a river spirit and wife of Tom Bombadil.
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Theo is captured by the Ents and recreates Merry and Pippin’s Fanghorn Forest experience
The Ents Are Back (And Taking More Prisoners)
After helping Isildur out The rings of power Season 2, Theo mysteriously disappeared, seemingly captured by some terrible monster. Arondir and Isildur went after the boy and finally discovered that it wasn’t a monster that had caught him – it was a pair of ents. These tree shepherds grabbed anyone they found in the forest, hoping to stop them from further damaging the trees. Naturally, this brought about a similar moment of The Lord of the Rings.
like you Merry and Pippin caught Ents inside The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Similarly, Treebeard thought the Hobs were members of the Orc clans that were destroying the forests. Once he realized that wasn’t the case (and ran into Gandalf the White), he called the Entmoot to help lay siege to Orthank in Isengard. While the ents in Rings of power I didn’t join the fight against Adar and his orcs, maybe this is how the prime video can be more model itself Lord of the Rings In the future.