The Rings of Power
House of the Dragon Season 1 Wasn’t Perfect — But It Was a Worthy Heir to Game of Thrones
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of House of the Dragon, “The Black Queen.”] Probably the most unintentionally hilarious part of House of the Dragon’s first season finale came at the very end, if you were watching with subtitles on: When Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), having just learned of her son’s death, turned away from the fire to reveal her grief-stricken face, the captions acknowledged a shift in composer Ramin Djawadi’s score like so: [Vengeful music plays]. It was funny because the captions really didn’t need to say anything — D’Arcy’s face said it all. It was all a jaw-dropping capper to a largely gripping season of television, because as we come to the finale, it can be said: If the goal was to create a new series that would please even ...
Song of the Week: Fiona Apple Reads Tolkien Poetry on “Where the Shadows Lie”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Fiona Apple makes a fantastical return with “Where the Shadows Lie.” The music of Fiona Apple has a way of making itself feel suspended in time. From the straightforward, piano-heavy compositions of her 1996 debut Tidal to the raucous, ramshackle qualities of 2020’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters, the iconic musician might’ve been a spokesperson of turn-of-the-century doom — but her sound is void of a specific era. Really, it’s a trait that Apple shares with the Lord of the Rings franchise...
2022’s Biggest Fantasy Shows Are Struggling With Sex and Romance
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon, Season 1 Episode 7, “Driftmark,” and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Season 1 Episode 6, “Udûn.”] This week, the newest episode of House of the Dragon picked up some backlash this week, after viewers of the Game of Thrones prequel series complained that a few key scenes were so darkly lit, with so little contrast, that they were nearly impossible to watch on many screens. Speaking for myself, I initially did struggle to watch that scene, but the low lighting was perhaps a blessing. Because otherwise, my throat might have gone hoarse yelling “That’s your uncle!” at the television. Advertisement Right now, we technically have an embarrassment of riches to enjoy when it comes to fantasy television, with Dragon...
The Rings of Power Star Cynthia Addai-Robinson on Episode 4 and What It’s Like to Be Queen
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Season 1 Episode 2, “The Great Wave.”] Because of the huge amounts of secrecy surrounding The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power throughout its production, star Cynthia Addai-Robinson tells Consequence she didn’t know what role, specifically, she was auditioning for during a “very long and up-and-down process, to eventually get to be a part of this amazing series.” But once she knew a little more about Queen Regent Míriel, and the character’s place in the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy universe, “I was very, very excited to get the opportunity to play a character that has a really interesting backstory,” she says. “It was also a chance to do something I felt like I never really done bef...
Evil Looms for Elves and Dwarves Alike in New The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Trailer: Watch
Why have regular rings when you can have rings of power? That’s not exactly what the highly anticipated Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is about… except maybe it is? What matters is that as the calendar brings us closer and closer to the show’s September premiere date, we’ve gotten another taste of the show with the release of a new trailer. In this new trailer, the denizens of Middle Earth talk some big talk about how they thought war was behind them… which, as we quickly discover, isn’t the case, because “Evil does not sleep — it waits.” Magical swords, a balrog, and some big talk about a guy named Sauron all tease the epic fantasy adventure to come. The Rings of Power was first revealed as a possibility in 2017 when Amazon acquired the television rights to J...
Galadriel Has a Vision of Doom in New Trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Watch
The sky turns red and flames lick the top of massive pinnacle in the second teaser trailer for Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. It’s a vision of doom, experienced by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), though whether it’s also an early glimpse of Mount Doom remains to be seen. Not everyone seems to believe her. “You have fought long enough, Galadriel. Put up your sword,” Elrond (Robert Amayo) says in the trailer. “It is over.” “You have not seen what I have seen,” she replies. And when he counters, “I have seen my share,” she repeats herself slowly, as if biting off every word: “You have not seen what I have seen.” Advertisement Related Video Elsewhere in the trailer we get our first glimpse of Isildur (Maxim Baldry), as well as other denizens of the...
The Adventure Begins in Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Teaser Trailer: Watch
Polish your sword and pack your own second breakfast, because the adventure finally begins in the teaser trailer for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Prime Video’s highly-anticipated prequel series has been a long time coming. Amazon first announced it in 2017, and they’ve reportedly spent $465 million on the first season alone. Throw in the cost of the rights and the fact that they’ve already committed to a second season, and Rings of Power may be the first billion-dollar series. The Rings of Power is drawn from J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Silmarillion and set in Middle-earth’s Second Age, thousands of years before Bilbo or Frodo ever met that meddlesome wizard Gandalf. As anyone who’s read Tolkein or seen Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit t...
First Look at Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Reveals Characters Familiar and New
Welcome to the Second Age. We’re finally in the same calendar year as the premiere of Amazon’s long-awaited Lord of the Rings series, The Rings of Power, and Vanity Fair has provided the first look at the characters rounding out the show, including Robert Aramayo’s Elrond, Joseph Mawle‘s Oren, Markella Kavenagh’s Tyra, Robert Aramayo’s Beldor, and Morfydd Clark‘s Galadriel. Check out some pictures below. Led by showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, The Rings of Power takes place thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings films and “unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.” All of this is bas...
