With the release of season two promised sometime later this year, new fans may be interested in becoming acquainted (or reacquainted) with the series beforehand. To help you find your whereabouts in this new story set within the framework of Tolkien’s Second Age, I’ve compiled this guide.

Please be aware that the guide will contain spoilers for season one, especially as we are recapping the important events of the season before looking forward to season two.

The Rings of Power: Official Series Synopsis

“Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history.

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.”

via Prime Video

Timeline: When does The Rings of Power take place?

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set in the mid-to-late Second Age of Middle-earth. For comparison, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place at the end of the Third Age. There is approximately 3,000 years between The Rings of Power and the beginning of The Hobbit.

The timeline for the series is a little more complicated than this because the writers have moved certain events around for the sake of their narrative, but that’s the general breakdown.

For an in-depth discussion of the timeline as it has been shifted for the series, I recommend this youtube video I’ve put together: Canon Events & Timelines in The Rings of Power: Season One & Looking Towards Season Two.

In the novels, the aforementioned things take place over thousands of years, but Payne and McKay have compressed events into a single point in time. It is their biggest deviation from the text, and they know it’s a big swing. “We talked with the Tolkien estate,” says Payne. “If you are true to the exact letter of the law, you are going to be telling a story in which your human characters are dying off every season because you’re jumping 200 years in time, and then you’re not meeting really big, important canon characters until season four. Look, there might be some fans who want us to do a documentary of Middle-earth, but we’re going to tell one story that unites all these things.” - Vanity Fair

Which book is The Rings of Power based on?

Strictly speaking, Amazon officially has the rights to use material from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (including its Appendices) for this series. They do not have the rights to The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, any volume of This History of Middle-earth, or Tolkien’s letters.

However, the show’s producers work closely with the Tolkien Estate and may be granted permissions to use certain elements of other works on a case-by-case basis.

“We have the rights solely to The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, the appendices, and The Hobbit,” Payne says. “And that is it. We do not have the rights to The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, or any of those other books.” - Vanity Fair

It’s also very important to be clear that this series draws from the general framework Tolkien laid down for the Second Age while telling a story the showrunners aspire to call “the novel Tolkien never wrote.”

While Amazon does not have the rights to this text, I highly recommend The Fall of Númenor to anyone who is interested in learning about the Second Age according to what Tolkien himself wrote.

Begin with a Map

Viewers may notice that the world of The Rings of Power may look a bit different geographically than it does in both the First and Third Age, so let’s spend a moment becoming familiar with the landscape of the Second Age.

Locations You’ll See On-Screen in Season One

Elvish Realms: Lindon (1) & Eregion (2) | Lindon is home to Gil-galad, the high king of the Noldor; Eregion is the realm of Lord Celebrimbor and home of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain (the elven-smiths), who forged the Rings of Power.

Khazad-dûm (3) | The Dwarvish realm located within the Misty Mountains in which the mysterious ore Mithril has been discovered.

Rhovanion (4) | The wilderlands across which the Harfoots spend the majority of season one migrating.

The Southlands (Mordor) (5)| At the beginning of the series, the Southlands are populated by the “low-men” of Middle-earth, those who chose not to fight alongside the Elves in the war against Morgoth and were left behind when those who had were given dominion of Numenor. As the season progresses, the Southlands is renamed Mordor.

(6) Númenor | The island kingdom of men, given as a gift from the Valar (the “gods”) in return for their aid in the war against Morgoth.

Valinor (Off-map) | Valinor appears primarily in the prologue and sets the scene for the rest of the season. Fans of The Silmarillion will be excited to see this location.

The Sundering Seas | The Sundering Seas are given a bit of time to shine in the prologue when we see a group of Elvish ships departing from Valinor and heading towards Middle-earth. We also spend quite a bit of time there after Galadriel declines to finish her return journey to Valinor.

Main Character Groups in The Rings of Power

Harfoots (proto-Hobbits) | Nori, Poppy, Largo, Marigold, Sadoc
Wizard | “The Stranger”
Númenóreans | Elendil, Isildur, Eärien, Pharazôn, Míriel, Kemen, Valandil
Elves | Galadriel, Gil-galad, Elrond, Arondir, Celebrimbor
Men | Halbrand, Bronwyn, Theo, Waldreg
Orcs & Adar
Dwarves | Durin III, Durin IV, Disa

Very Brief Recap of Season One: Contains Spoilers

Elves

From Amazon: “The Firstborn of all peoples, all elves are immortal and do not age as humans do, though in times of war they may still be killed. Many of the High Elves, the elves who lived in Valinor in the First Age, long to return to the home they left behind, but feel it is their duty to remain in Middle-earth to protect its realms and peoples.”
Galadriel: After a thousand years’ pursuit of Sauron, Galadriel forms a cosmic bond with a “man” named Halbrand who is later revealed to be Sauron. In the season finale, Sauron proposes a partnership between himself and Galadriel but is ultimately rejected and flees to Mordor.
Elven Fading: As the season begins, the Elves of Middle-earth have somehow become convinced that they need to bathe all remaining Elves in the light of Valinor or else their spirits will fade and they will be forced to depart from Middle-earth. And they need this to happen by Spring. Who managed to convince them of this remains to be seen but I’m holding out hope that it was somehow Sauron at work. As the season progresses, it is revealed that Gil-galad and Celebrimbor believe that Mithril is necessary for their well-being and so Elrond is sent to collaborate with the Dwarves in its pursuit. As season one wraps, the Three Elven Rings of Power are forged by Celebrimbor.

Númenóreans

From Amazon: “For their suffering in the wars of the First Age, these human allies of the elves were rewarded with an island, set apart from Middle-earth, where they built the great kingdom of Númenor. The men and women of Númenor were granted a longer lifespan than other humans, and were enriched with knowledge and many gifts by the elves – but it has been centuries since the elves were last welcomed on their shores.”
Galadriel’s arrival in Númenor marks the beginning of upheaval within Numenor, worsening tensions between those faithful to the old ways (signified primary by friendship with the Elves) and those who would separate themselves from their alliance with the Elves.

Southlanders

From Amazon: “In the First Age, the ancestors of these humans fought alongside the Great Foe, Morgoth. Now, a regiment of Silvan elf soldiers, ever vigilant for evil’s resurgence, keep close watch over the men and women who have made The Southlands their home — though their very presence may stoke the same bitterness that led many Southlanders to side with the enemy in the first place…”
The low-men of the Southlands live under the surveillance of the Elves, and soon find themselves under a new form of oppression from the Orcs as their home is transformed into a wasteland by the eruption of Mount Doom and renamed Mordor.

Harfoots

From Amazon: “The Harfoots are a nomadic group of halflings, small people with tough, leathery feet and hair on their toes. They lead a migratory existence in The Wilderlands, where they live off the land, sticking together as a tight-knit community – and keeping themselves hidden from “Big Folk” outsiders.”
The distant ancestors of the Hobbits you know from The Lord of the Rings, the Harfoots are a migratory people determined to remain hidden from the big world outside of their small community. But when a mysterious Stranger arrives in their midst, everything will change. At the end of the season, the Harfoot child Nori departs alongside the Stranger on an adventure towards the land of Rhun where he will attempt to learn more about his identity and power.

Dwarves

From Amazon: “A tough and ancient people, dwarves stand taller than halflings but much shorter than Men or Elves. They are secretive in their ways and guard even their language from outsiders, but are well-known as lovers of stone, gems, and things shaped under the hands of craftsmen. After the First Age, many dwarves moved to Khazad-dûm – a grand subterranean kingdom built into the rocky depths of the Misty Mountains.”
The Dwarves of Khazad-dûm pride themselves on their craftsmanship and innovation. At the start of the series, it is revealed that the Dwarven miners have discovered a new ore called Mithril which could mark the beginning of a new era for their people. However, this ore proves perilous to mine and any attempt to mine for Mithril is forbidden by the Dwarven king at the end of the season.

Questions Left after Season One:

The season one finale left me with quite a few questions…

Is this Mithril story true or false? There has been much debate and speculation over whether or not the Mithril origin story told in season one is meant to be taken as fact in the series. On the one hand, much of the story seems to hinge on it; but at the same time, it is referred to as apocryphal by Elrond. For more on his topic, I recommend checking out this video: A Tale of Three Alloys: Is The Rings of Power's Mithril Origin Story a Lie of Sauron?
Who is the Stranger? While many signs point to Gandalf, it’s possible that the Stranger could be any of the wizards present in Tolkien’s works. Radagast, Saruman, and possibly even one of the Blue Wizards are on the table.
What role will the Balrog play in the future of Khazad-dûm? According to Tolkien’s works, Khazad-dum is destroyed by a Balrog - but not until the Third Age. It’s unclear whether or not the series will adjust the timeline to move the destruction into the Second Age for some reason, or if perhaps the Balrog is going to remain dormant for the rest of the series. For the Dwarves’ sake I hope he goes back to sleep!
Where is Isildur’s brother, Anárion? Anárion is briefly referred to as having 'gone West’ and does not appear in season one. Due to his importance in the establishment of the realms in exile after the fall of Númenor, it can be implied that his character will appear at some point within the series’ five seasons bur we will have to wait to see how he is introduced.
What happened to Isildur? If you’ve seen The Lord of the Rings films or read the books, you’ll know that Isildur still has a few very important parts to play in the story of the Second Age before his eventual death. So it follows that Isildur is almost definitely not dead, and we will be reunited with him in season two.
Where is Celeborn? The question of Galadriel’s missing husband has been a hot topic of conversation since the early days of season one. He is referenced in episode seven when Galadriel confides to Theo that she never saw him again after he left for war. It can be assumed that she presumes he is dead, but book (or movie) fans will know that Celeborn is very much alive and well in the Third Age so there will have to be a reunion of sorts at some point. Whether it’s in this coming season or further down the line remains to be seen.
Why was Sauron on a raft in the middle of the ocean? It has been hinted that we will get an answer to this question in season two, and I’m very interested in hearing the show’s explanation for this. Some have theorized that he was seeking out Galadriel intentionally, seeking refuge from orcs in Numenor, or that he was meant to be an early Second Age repentant Sauron fleeing from Eonwe.
When will the other Rings of Power be made? It is traditionally understood that the “lesser” rings of power were forged before the Three Elven Rings, but the series has chosen to change that by showing the crafting of the Elven rings first. It can be assumed that the remaining rings will be forged in the coming season(s), but the timeline isn’t clear yet.

Rumors about Season Two

With such a long gap between seasons one and two, fan and rumor sites have filled the void with rumors and “leaks” ranging from the predictable to the insane. I’ve assessed these rumors here: The Rings of Power Season Two: Top 20 Rumors & Speculation