Rings of Power, the Lord of the Rings prequel has released its first episode and therefore it’s time for spoilers. There will be spoilers for the first episode of Rings of Power. Galadriel is front and center in the newest installment of Middle Earth.

Establishing the World

The beginning of Rings of Power gives audiences a little more insight into this universe. We now get to see that Middle Earth is just a small part of this world, as the Elves started calling a very different place home. And though we saw this home very briefly it helps lend to the vastness of this world. The narration at the beginning was very reminiscent of Lord of the Rings, especially considering that it was done by Galadriel. The battle scenes that tell the history of the elves were so perfectly in the established style of this world and the CGI/VFX look exactly how they should.

The Story – Mostly Galadriel

The main story follows Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and hers tells a story of connecting to her brother, grieving his loss, carrying on his legacy, and avenging him. Her strength and leadership are established very quickly. Her friendship with Elrond (Robert Aramayo) is so beautifully written and sets up plenty of room for growth. 

There is a main character and story for each race which is really captivating and is going to make the distribution of the rings really interesting. “Nobody goes off trail and nobody walks alone,” Elanor’s (Markella Kavenagh) mother tells her as she is the hobbit of this generation that craves adventure. Nori and her friend are very reminiscent of Merry and Pippin from Lord of the Rings, which fans are either going to love or hate but really their relationship is delightful.  The main major conflict of Rings of Power is Galadriel trying to find and take down Sauron and the King and the other Elves denying that any evil still exists. They insist on peace and its very Order of the Phoenix, the ministry of magic denying the resurrection of Voldemort. 

The ceremony of taking off the armor and weapons of the warriors before they sail home is both beautiful and idealistic. The cinematography and camera work during that scene is so gorgeous and really help depict the intensity of the moment. Galadriel is very clearly conflicted, she wants nothing more to go home but she very obviously still feels duty and loyalty to her brother and his mission. Morfydd acted this incredibly well, you can see on her face the moment she decides to abandon ship and close the door on her ever going home, it’s both heartbreaking and beautiful.

Now naturally the internet is going to be overly critical of the Rings of Power, but it’s truly wonderfully written and paced and true fans are genuinely going to love the new addition to the world of Middle Earth.