There’s a lot of hype currently surrounding the release of Amazon Prime Video‘s new epic series, The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power.
This hype is not necessarily due to the presence of returning characters, such as Galadriel and Elrond, nor is it due to the specific story the series will be telling, which the streamer has kept largely under wraps.
Instead, fans are simply excited to return to Middle-earth and the world that J R R Tolkien created, with much discussion surrounding the show focussing on the incredible visuals the franchise has become known for ever since Peter Jackson first put his mark on it in 2001.
However, just what story is the new series telling, and what work of Tolkien’s is it based on? Read on for everything you need to know about the book inspiration for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Is The Rings of Power based on The Lord of the Rings book trilogy?
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The Rings of Power isn’t based directly on J R R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy of books, and instead tells an entirely new story, one not based specifically on any one piece of the author’s work.
The book is also not based on The Hobbit – both that and The Lord of the Rings trilogy take place in the Third Age of Middle-earth, while this series takes place during the Second Age, during which time Sauron rose to power.
The showrunners of the series reportedly combed through the books and their appendices to find references to the Second Age, and then used what they knew to lay out a narrative.
Showrunner JD Payne told Vulture: “Tolkien talked about not creating Middle-earth but excavating it. We felt like we were discovering things that were already there. People have heard about it in montages and flashes, but these are massive untold stories.”
The official synopsis for the series says that it “brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history”.
It continues: “This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J R R Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.
“Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.”
What does Amazon have the rights to use?
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Amazon bought the rights to adapt four books: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King and The Hobbit. While these have all already been made into feature films, their appendices, which were also included in the deal, have not, largely because they are essentially notes and don’t tell a succinct, complete story.
These appendices are where readers have mostly learned about the Second Age, the period in time that Amazon’s series will be depicting. Therefore, it appears that these have been the main inspiration for the series’s plotline and characters, while references have also been drawn from elements of the main bulk of the novels themselves.
The series will not, as some had speculated, be adapting Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, a collection of stories set in Middle-earth which detail its history. That is because, as Payne previously revealed, the rights to that book are still owned by the Tolkien estate, meaning Amazon doesn’t have specific access to those tales.
Which characters are from Tolkein’s work and who is new?
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The full character list for the series hasn’t yet been unveiled, with many appearances kept under wraps until viewers have a chance to discover them for themselves.
However, ahead of release we do know that characters including Elrond, Galadriel, Prince Durin IV, Celebrimbor, Isildur, Queen Regent Míriel, Elendil, Ar-Pharazôn and High King Gil-galad, all of whom either appeared in or were referenced in Tolkien’s stories, are set to be included in the narrative.
Meanwhile Bronwyn, Arondir, Princess Disa, Halbrand, Sadoc Burrows, Poppy Proudfellow, Largo Brandyfoot, Elanor ‘Nori’ Brandyfoot, Theo, Eärien, Marigold Brandyfoot and Kemen all appear to be original creations made for the series, having no clear source in the original works.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episodes 1 and 2 arrive on Amazon Prime Video in the UK on Friday 2nd September 2022 – you can sign up now for a free 30-day Prime Video trial.
If you’re looking for something else to watch in the meantime, check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Fantasy hub.
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