The Rings of Power season 1 recap

In 2017, Amazon acquired the television rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books and agreed to create a series from them. In 2022, the first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was finally released to much fanfare but also divisive reactions, as many thought the series took too long to set up the action. The hook for the series is that it takes place generations before any of the previous The Lord of the Rings stories, such as The Hobbit or the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The series is based on the histories of Middle-earth, created by Tolkien and written mostly as backstory for the original books.

The titular Rings of Power which became so important and vital to the original books and the films based off of them have a backstory in the series, as Prime Video shows how they were forged. The main enemy of the books and films that people love, Sauron, had always just been in power and has been a villain until The Rings of Power, which sheds light on how he came to power. There is so much more that provides backstory to the famous trilogy of books in The Rings of Power. Season 1 showed so much and set up the upcoming seasons with eight epic episodes. Here’s what happened in Season 1 and what the ending means for Season 2, which premieres August 29, 2024.

Spoiler warning – Plot details for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1 are discussed in depth beyond this point

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 overview

Many plot threads are introduced in early episodes

Amazon

Season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power begins in the Second Age of Middle-earth. It is a time of peace and highlights the goings-on in numerous kingdoms across Middle Earth. There are numerous characters that the season follows, many new and some familiar, as even though this is set thousands of years before Frodo or Bilbo Baggins come around. The main characters of The Rings of Power are Galadriel and Elrond, two of the more famous elves in the Tolkien lexicon.

The characters are all dealing with the looming threat of the Dark Lord Sauron, even though the world is currently in a restful state. There are four main storylines that stretch across the map, all converging or coming near one another at one point or another.

• Galadriel is spearheading an effort to seek out Sauron and shut down his claim to the Southlands, as pieces of equipment with his mark on it are found all over the map. She leads a group from Númenor to the Southlands to fight and believes a traveler she had come across, Halbrand, is the rightful heir to the throne of the Southlands.
• Elrond is tasked with helping build a new forge and seeks the help of dwarves to do so. In doing so, he finds that there is a new metal being mined by the elves that could potentially help the elves fading power being restored.
• Arondir, another elf, is in the Southlands and is dealing with the rising Orc population. He and the human healer Bronwyn, are working together to save the people of this land from this threat. Meanwhile, Bronwyn’s son, Theo, finds a broken sword with powers that has Sauron’s mark on it,
• In another area, a group of Harfoots meet a “Stranger” who doesn’t speak their language but seems to have mystical powers after being discovered in a meteor crater.

The first season is set among the backdrop of gorgeous scenery and expansive views that the audience has come to know and love from Peter Jackson’s six Lord of the Rings films. It features battle scenes, tremendous music, sprawling set designs, and many characters with particular names, so watching the show with closed captioning on is highly recommended.

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What does the Season 1 finale mean for Season 2?

More rings will need to be created

Prime Video

As you might have guessed, many of the characters and storylines intersect in the final few episodes and the finale reveals who the big bad villain of it all has been. As Galadriel has been searching for Sauron the entire season, it turns out that Halbrand was him all along in disguise. She only discovers this after she has brought him to be healed by Elven magic and he convinces Celebrimbor to use the new metal that was mined to create a small tokens, aka rings, to help the Elves. This of course is all part of a master plan of Sauron to build up something to help him rule all of Middle-earth.

Once Galadriel figures this out, she confronts him and he tries to convince her to become the queen of the darkness. As we know Galadriel is known as “The Lady of the Light” later on in lore, she declines angrily. Halbrand, AKA Sauron, then flees to the Southlands, which has now become overrun with Orcs….and is called Mordor. It is revealed that the “Stranger” who is with the Proudfoots is actually an Istari, or Wizard, rather than a villain (FYI: Gandalf and Saruman from the original books are also Istari). He sets off with the Proudfoot Nori to Rhûn to find the constellation that he has been searching for all season.

The season ends with Elrond finding records that the new forge was used and that Galadriel had convinced Celebrimbor to create the first three Rings of Power. That means there are still many more rings to be forged in upcoming seasons. The finale sets up Sauron’s quest to overtake the Southlands from Adar, who is currently overseeing all of the Orcs, Galadriel’s neverending quest to stop him, the anger of the people of Númenor, and the “Stranger’s” quest to find his constellation.

There are numerous locations that have been discussed for Season 2, as Tolkien’s map of Middle-earth has only partly been covered. The newest season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set to arrive at the end of August on Prime Video.

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