A New Rings of Power Trailer Dropped…But Did It Really Show Us Anything New?

I must say that Amazon’s marketing strategy has been a huge letdown for the Rings of Power. Yet another Rings of Power teaser/trailer has released today, but it frustratingly showed nothing new related to the plots or characters.

I’ve been very lenient (and far more accepting of this project than others) with Amazon and Rings of Power, but even I’m starting to get a little annoyed with Amazon’s marketing team. The “official trailer” for Rings of Power released today, but as I said, it exclusively used already seen clips and voiceover lines from other promotional videos and works.

How is the general audience supposed to get an idea or a feel for the story if Amazon and the studio continues to use barebones teaser material?

I still have no idea what this story is actually about, apart from the fact that the races of Middle Earth will be fighting Sauron at some point.

Now, I know someone is going to say, “That’s all you need to know. They can’t just spoil the whole show in the trailers and teasers.” But I completely disagree with that. Amazon should be doing so much more to characterize these characters and give a little more insight into the actual story, not just the SparkNotes version of it.

Does anyone know what Isildur or Elendil will be doing? Or how about Prince Durin IV or King Durin?

How about Elrond and High King Gil-galad? What will there, respective, roles in the story going to be aside from either looking extremely concerned about the falling meteor (Gil-galad), or telling Galadriel to stop fighting (Elrond)? Everyone we’ve seen so far has either been enjoying their normal lives or looking extremely nervous/scared/paranoid about some impending attack.

In all of Amazon’s promotional material, they’re either advertently or inadvertently (depends on how competent of storytellers they end up being) removing the storytelling link between what connects those two stark contradictions of mood. Yes, I realize that link is Sauron and his orc minions, but that’s only because I know Sauron is the “big bad” of the Lord of the Rings.

If I was completely clueless on the Lord of the Rings mythos, which some potential viewers of this show will be (aka: casual viewers), I would have absolutely no idea what the story of this show is based off the trailers.

All I would know is that the Harfoots are the ancestors of the Hobbits, Galadriel wants to avenge her dead brother (who killed him? I couldn’t tell you based off the trailers), some strange man burst out of a falling meteor, and some mysterious “evil” is “still out there” (I’m guessing that means Middle Earth).

Frustratingly, there’s no mention of how the evil was started, why the evil was started, who killed Galadriel’s brother, who’s the mystery man, and why the mysterious evil is back.

Moreover, aside from one creepy old guy asking some boy if he knows who Sauron is, and the ominous, white-clothed person (who I thought was Sauron but actually isn’t) that’s appeared a few times, there’s no indication of who the main villain is or what his/her plan is.

Again, we all know its Sauron, but for someone who hasn’t watched or read any Tolkien-related works, the plot the trailers are revealing must be very confusing.

It’s confusing enough for me and I already know what’s going to happen.

Nevertheless, just to put my complaints in perspective, Rings of Power’s direct rival, House of the Dragon, more than advertised its story, characters, and plot in its promotional material. They had countless promo images, character profiles on HBO Max, and lore videos about the history of Westeros on the Game of Thrones YouTube channel to complement the three trailers/teasers that HBO released.

Even though I also already knew the story HOTD will tell, anyone who didn’t could have easily of picked up on the succession crisis theme, character motivations, and central character conflicts that will drive the plot of the Game of Thrones prequel from the trailers/promo material.

Anyway, I get the studio and Amazon executives want to keep the alure of mystery about Sauron, the Meteor Man, Harfoots, Galadriel, Elrond, Elves, Dwarves, Numenor, etc., but the marketing and studio is doing a great disservice to audience by not telling them anything impactful/meaningful about the story.

How can a casual fan, or even a well-versed fan, become intrigued by the show if the trailers and promotional material hasn’t even hinted at the most basic plot points?

Amazon is relying way to heavily on the belief that everyone who will watch this show has already read the Tolkien-related works. That kind of misguided belief will doom this show as they won’t be able to spark enough “casual” interest to justify the $1B budget.

Here’s hoping Amazon releases another trailer that addresses these issues before the September 2nd release date.

Images Source: Featured Image: (Amazon) (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube)

In Text Image 1: (Amazon) (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube)

In Text Image 2: (Amazon) (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube)

In Text Image 3: (Amazon) (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube)