4 New Things Rings Of Power Comic-Con Trailer Has Shown Us

With the release of the newest trailer for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, we now know a lot more about the stories, characters, events, and so much more of the world of the Rings of Power. Here’s 4 new things the Comic-Con Rings of Power trailer has shown us:

1. Rings of Power Will Be (Visually) Beautiful:

When Amazon released its first trailer during the Super Bowl, many people (me included) thought that they had learned nothing from the criticisms of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy and flooded the Rings of Power with cheesy, generic CGI sets and characters.

Thankfully, the subsequent trailers have soothed my fears. As I have said many times, the latest shots of the scenery, cities, open plains, forests, etc. have all been breathtaking. But, in particular, the battle sequences shown thus far have been awe-inspiring.

The red-wasteland battlefield terrain shots have been my favorite parts of the four trailers. Seeing how alien and frightening such destruction and malice that (I’m guessing) either Morgoth or Sauron unleashed upon Galadriel and her Elven kin has gotten me much more excited and hungrier for more battle and action sequences in new trailers.

Plus, I appreciate the directors/trailer producers portraying the Orcs as actually intimidating threats in the “nighttime battle scene” (I’ve got now idea what to call it?). I know Elves are the “advanced” race in Middle Earth and are more developed than the others, but it is nice to actually see some of them (aside from Legolas) display some emotion from time to time.

Anyway, considering how overused CGI was for places and battle sequences in the Hobbit movies, such as Dale, The Lonely Mountain, and Mirkwood, it’ll be refreshing to know that I’m watching man-made set interpretations for the various Elven, Man, Numenoreans, and Dwarf settlements and armies.

2. The Peoples of Middle Earth Never Learn:

The everyday common people of Middle Earth must be sick to death of having to fight back against Sauron or Morgoth at the head of some massive invading Orc army all the time. I know I would be. Yet, after 10 or so invasions (I think I’m counting them all correctly) by either Sauron or Morgoth, you’d think the people of Middle Earth would have just put these two annoying, would-be-world-dominators out of their misery.

Okay, I know Sauron and Morgoth are a very serious threat in the world of Middle Earth. Still, you wouldn’t think so judging by the reactions/actions of some of the characters from Rings of Powers’ newest trailer. Aside from Galadriel, Queen Tar Miriel, High King Gil-galad, and some random, old homeless guy, everyone else seems to believe that the powers of evil are either dead or no longer a threat.

With Morgoth permanently defeated by this point in Tolkien’s lore, I would have thought the Elves, Dwarfs, Numenoreans, or regular Men would have set up hunting/tracking parties to find and destroy the remnants of Morgoth’s army. That would include Sauron too.

But I guess not. Maybe they are just fine with Sauron and his battered allies to sulk and regroup in the wastelands of Mordor. This would not be completely against human precedent either (ex: Allies appeasing Nazi Germany at the start of World War II). So, maybe it does make sense after all.

3. Rings Of Power Season 1 Is A Thriller?:

This new theme/genre for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has really come out of nowhere. The first three trailers were the classical “happy, adventurous, nostalgic Lord of the Rings-esque” vibe, with a hint of a darker undertone. This new trailer just flat out gives us a monster/Sauron-focused action and political thriller. And I really like it.

For the Rings of Power to work (in my opinion), the show needed to harken back to Tolkien’s novels and the Peter Jackson movies for character inspiration, motivations, settings, plots, etc. Yet, where it needed to show some individualism is in its cinematography and genre. A five-season television show that is just another retelling of the Lord of the Ring’s central themes and the movies early 2000’s visuals would have been supremely boring.

A political and action drama, mixed in with the “end-of-the-world” theme that is associated with Tolkien’s works is a much better idea. Especially if it will have political/horror thriller elements.

Tolkien himself flirted with the idea of creating a Middle Earth sequel that would have been a political/horror thriller before the end of his life. It was going to be about the rise of a Sauron cult (or something like that) during the reign of Aragorn’s son, King Eldarion. Though he only managed to get a few pages into the new book before he thought better of the idea.

I think the Rings of Power’s showrunners taking Tolkien’s own ideas of a political/horror thriller sequel to the Lord of the Rings and using them for their prequel of the same novels is genius. I know this may be scoffed at by diehard Tolkien fans, but the Rings of Power needs something to be unique, while also being Tolkien-esque.

If the showrunners can pull it off, then this will be their much-needed individuality. I really hope they can do it.

4. Sauron Is The Devil…Literally:

Okay, this is definitely not how I imaged Sauron’s elf form. But it really isn’t that bad…I guess.

Having Sauron look exactly like the Devil from the Passion of The Christ movie is a little bit on the nose, but it could have been worse. I would have liked to have seen Sauron as more of an elf-like character, which would have allowed him to “blend in” more during the later parts of the show.

From some of the fanart/interpretations of Sauron’s elf form (such as the version in the Shadows of Mordor game), I can see how the peoples of Middle Earth didn’t realize that Elf Sauron was Sauron all along.

If the peoples of Middle Earth are fooled by this version of Sauron, then they are idiots. I don’t see why anyone would take a ring from this pale skinned, shaved head, bleached eyebrow creep. Hopefully, Sauron is a little more convincing when he interacts with Celebrimbor to make the rings of power and the One Ring.

Anyway, that was 4 new things we learned from the new Rings of Power Trailer. Hopefully, we can get one last trailer in before September 2nd.

Images Sources: Featured Image: (Amazon/Amazon Prime) (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – SDCC Trailer – YouTube)

In Text Image 1: (Amazon/Amazon Prime) (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – SDCC Trailer – YouTube)

In Text Image 2: (Amazon/Amazon Prime) (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – SDCC Trailer – YouTube)

In Text Image 3: (Amazon/Amazon Prime) (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – SDCC Trailer – YouTube)