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Michael Foust
Crosswalk Headlines Contributor -
Updated
Aug 30, 2024
Galadriel is a courageous female elf determined to rid Middle-earth of the lingering dark forces that threaten its peace.
Unfortunately, she faces opposition at every turn.
The king brushes off her concerns. So do her fellow citizens, who believe evil has been vanquished for good.
But Galadriel’s fears are realized when she discovers that the mysterious Halbrand, who had been her ally, is actually the evil Sauron in disguise.
But as soon as she finds Sauron, he escapes.
The second season of the Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV-14), now streaming, follows the story of Galadriel and countless other heroes of Middle-earth.
Here are three things you should know.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/John Phillips/Stringer
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1. It’s a Continuation of Tolkien’s Tale
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The Rings of Power serves as a prequel to the original Lord of the Rings tale, drawing from J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and their “appendices” — the detailed background information Tolkien included at the end of his novels to enrich the world of Middle-earth. (His books were published in the 1950s.) The movies were blockbusters at the box office. They were The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
More than 100 million viewers tuned in to the first season of Rings of Power, which centered on Galadriel, a young elf determined to track down the evil Sauron despite the king’s proclamation of peace and her fellow warriors’ belief that “evil is gone” from Middle-earth. Galadriel’s resolve stems from Sauron having killed her older brother. “Evil does not sleep,” she declares in Season 1.
She confronted Sauron at the end of Season 1 but did not kill him. At the beginning of Season 2, he goes undercover as a seemingly innocent villager.
The Rings of Power also sheds light on the origins of the rings, exploring how they were forged and who was responsible for their creation.
It’s scheduled for five seasons and cost an estimated $1 billion.
Photo Credit: ©Prime Video
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2. It’s a Fun, Tween-Centric Fantasy
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The Rings of Power provides families with a rare gem in 2024: a high-quality fantasy television series that avoids the explicit sexual content and strong language commonly seen in similar genres on HBO, Netflix, and other streaming platforms. (I screened the first three episodes.)
That does not mean that Rings of Power is suitable for young children.
