The cover story of the new issue of Empire Magazine is dedicated to the second season of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerand so last night three covers were revealed dedicated to the series coming in August on Prime Video, one focused on Galadriel, one focused on Annatar / Sauron and one (for subscribers) that reveals the Barrowwraiths.
The Ghosts of the Barrows
Let’s start with the Barrow Wraiths, who are also shown in an unreleased image (and who were already glimpsed in the trailer). These are undead who appear in the novel The Fellowship of the Ring, but who were absent from Peter Jackson’s film.
In the image we see the Spectres threatening none other than Galadriel. In the second season, they will apparently have a significant role and the visual effects supervisor Jason Smith explains how they came to be:
They are ancient heroes reanimated, working for evil against their will. It was super-exciting to tackle something I had never seen before. We’ve seen the undead before, but not like this. We’re making a little horror movie in Middle Earth!
Ghosts were noble people (“Kings, queens, high-ranking officials,” Smith explains):
The sensation that Tolkien’s description conveys is that of a destiny that is approaching, not because of speed but because it is indefatigable. It’s a threat that gets closer inch by inch until you have nowhere to go and you die. The eyes are a key thing we took from the writing. “I used to walk around my grandmother’s farm in Idaho at night, and there’s something about a forest at night that can be really scary. And if you come across a tree and think you see a flash of eyes glowing blue, that’s just awful.
But how is it possible that these are actually the same Barrow Wraiths as the Lord of the Rings? The Barrowwraiths populate the Barrowlands (also called Barrowmounds in the new translation), a hilly area east of the Shire and near the Old Forest. After settling in Angmar, the Witch King sent wraiths that awakened the skeletons of the mounds, giving life to the Mound Wraiths. This all takes place long after the fall of Numenor, of course.
The idea we came up with is the following: in the second season of The Rings of Power we will also see Tom Bombadil, who however will live in the Rhun area. It cannot therefore be ruled out that in this case the Mound Ghosts are simply ghosts… of other mounds. In practice, the production decided to apply some elements of the Lord of the Rings to the Second Age, out of familiarity (and because it is not excluded that they could also be applied to the Second Age).
Galadriel and Annatar
In another excerpt from the cover story, Patrick McKay talks about how Sauron has the potential to become one of the great villains in the history of television, also thanks to his new elven appearance as Annatar:
The opportunity now with Season 2 is: the audience is aware of the deception. We know who he is. We have a good idea of what he wants. The fun is seeing other people get caught in his web. As the season develops, the plan begins to take shape. One blow after another falls until, in the final episodes, you realize the level and extent of his evil and how deeply he has planned all this. All our stories start to become one story. Sauron’s return affects everyone and threatens the entire world.
The actor then explains Charlie Vickers:
I was so excited to get to this point in the story, because this is the canon of this time period. Sauron and Celebrimbor work together, making rings. Everything Sauron does is serve other people, to please someone else… In the same way that the whole Halbrand thing was for Galadriel, this new look is for Celebrimbor. This is the best way to make him do what he wants: make a set of rings that will dominate all the others.
Here is a new image of Annatar and the two double covers:
The second season of The Rings of Power will start on August 29th on Prime Video.
Find all the news about the series in our profile.
