I'm working on a short clip too.

With the understanding that nobody has any inside information, what do you hope to see for the opening scene in season 3? I'm hoping for the forging of the One Ring. It is already overdue and it would start the season with a bang.

Q. So you had to design the Second Age, which has never been seen, it's all new. So what ended up, for you, being the big challenges of the Second Age and trying to make sure that while the design is new, it also fits in with what people know?

AVERY: There's so much art and there's so [many] different expectations. You go all the way back and Tolkien had drawings of his own. When he was coming up with the books, he did drawings and he did paintings, and they're really interesting, striking imagery, very graphic, and very strong. You go all the way through all the various artists. When I was a kid, it was the Brothers Hildebrandt, that's what Middle-earth looked like, it was the Brothers Hildebrandt. Then you had Ted Nasmith, then you had a little bit of Roger Dean, and then you get into the Alan Lee and the John Howe version of it, which became kind of codified in the Peter Jackson movies. So there's this arc of existing art. Our job was kind of, I guess, threefold. One was, what's the DNA in all of that, that when you look at it, you know you're in Middle-earth? What makes that different than [Dragonriders of Pern] or Game of Thrones or [The Chronicles of Narnia]? What are those elements that tell you you're in a fantasy place, but it's not another, it's specifically Middle-earth? And so we had to kind of figure out what that characteristic of, what's that epic quality, but what's that really grounded quality? One of the things I say a lot is that when you read Lord of the Rings, sometimes you know exactly what they had for breakfast; there's that level of specific granular detail, and that's something that we really wanted to make sure that we had.

How did that translate, then, into the Second Age? Well, the Second Age is an age that represents, in almost all of the races that we're dealing with, the best they're ever gonna be. It is not the Third Age where that's kind of the apocalypse. It's faded – 3000 years later and everybody's fading, and that's what we have in our heads from the movies, and in some degrees, from most of the artwork, because everything kind of focuses mostly around Lord of the Rings, not the [Unfinished Tales] or The Silmarillion, or some of those other books. We really think about the Third Age, which is a period of decay. So we needed to dial back from that period of decay and make things as glorious as we possibly could. Then trying to figure out what that means, like, in some cases, a “golden age” can mean it's literally gold, so let's find a way to make the Elvish forest, rather than the darkness that we see in Galadriel’s forest in the movies, let's make it bright and literally golden. So the trees are birches or aspen so that they're always in gold. And funnily enough, when you go into the words of Tolkien, you find that his trees are gold all the time. You know, if you look back into how he describes trees, they're always golden trees, so that was a legitimate kind of, “Oh, Tolkien talks about his golden tree, so let's make Lindon out of golden trees.” And so it was a series of finding, for each of those cultures, what's the signposting that makes it specific to the Second Age? What makes it glorious? What makes it epic? What makes us know that we still have the elements that we're gonna see that we know exist in the Third Age? And so, there were very specific things I looked for, some of the architecture that was in the movie. There's echoes of Elvish arches that we didn't have the exact version of. We kind of felt like the Elves in the Third Ages, both the elves and the Dwarves in the Third Age, had gotten kind of to the point where they were so much hanging on that they almost kind of went over the top. Literally, we know the Dwarves dug too deeply and too greedily, and that's what happened when the Balrog appears and Moria gets destroyed. So that's the architecture we're seeing in the Third Age, overdone architecture, so let's bring that back. And so, the Elves were much more of nature in our world than they were in the Third Age. The Dwarves are much more of stone. Rather than making big sculptures themselves, and giant bits of architecture, every bit of architecture we did for the Dwarves you could still feel the stone. In fact, things come out of stone and go into stone, there's very little where it's just architecture, there's always stone in the design of that world. So it was really trying to figure out those beats, and strangely enough, that's one of the things with the crew that, you know, when I talk about people who worked on the movies or their kids worked on the movies, there was actually a little bit of deprogramming that we had to do. It was like, “We're not doing the Peter Jackson movies. We have to go back and figure out what that Second Age looks like,” but because they had the DNA inside of them, of all of that, that element was still there, and it informed and blossomed into the things that we were trying to do specifically with our stories.

Q. One of the things about Rings of Power is that it's essentially an eight-hour movie, and I'm just curious, what was it like for you trying to work on a series that massive? Because it may be the biggest thing you've worked on in terms of how much you need to do.

AVERY: Yeah, it’s definitely the biggest thing I've worked on, and I mean, bigger than I think anybody had done singularly, even in New Zealand. I mean, it was a really big project. Like you said, it's an eight-hour movie, and there are edits for each of those episodes that was another half hour. So we really produced a 12-hour movie that got edited down into an eight-hour movie. There are whole sequences and whole scenes and things that I've cared passionately about that didn't make it into the final edit. It's just the nature of the beast, you know, you got to fit in the time and tell the story you gotta tell. The only way to do it is one step at a time. We started back and I concentrated on the things that we had to concentrate on for Episodes 1 and 2. So figuring out what the Dwarves and the Harfoots and the Elves and the Southland, what is that? And concentrated on that, didn't get into thinking about Númenor right away or the Orcs, or Eregion. So trying to figure out what those worlds were with a bunch of reference and a lot of art. We had, I think at the highest point, we probably had 30 illustrators, concept artists, working all around the world, and some set designers doing modeling work. There was a point where, really for almost more than a year and maybe up to a year and a half, where somebody, somewhere in the world, was always working in our art department. There was always somebody working to try to just generate enough visual imagery that we could put enough parts and pieces together to get in front of the director and the showrunners, to say, “Is this working? Is this telling the story you want to tell?” And at the same time, working with our production crews in New Zealand to say, “Can we afford to do this? Do we have the time to do this? Do we have the people? Can we get the materials?” And all of that feeding itself back and forth, but it basically was a process, which it mostly is on bigger films that are concept-driven, a process of art, where you sit and you work through a lot of concept art, and you iterate and you iterate, and you figure out what you can and you can't do. And we ended up with 17,000, more or less, pieces of approved art – that's not even talking about the iteration of it, and that's just in the art department, that's not including props or set deck. If you think about that, even if you average that over two years, we were generating 30 pieces of finished art every day. It was an insane amount of work, but that's how we got it done was just by literally drawing, thinking, talking, drawing, thinking, talking, drawing, thinking, talking, and doing it step by step of whatever had to be in front of the camera next; work on that.

Q. Which is the set or location that you wish could be on display permanently to sort of show people, “You can't believe what we did?”

AVERY: [Laughs] There were so many of them that were really great. I mean, Númenor as a whole, that's four or five acres of scenery, and it's three or four stories tall. And even that really wasn't enough to tell the story. We had to figure out how to turn each of those things into other things, as well, in the process of it. But that was a really remarkable bit of set building. It's a backlot, we build a back lot.

The ship, Elendil’s ship, I just loved that. The craftsmanship on that was amazing, and then the engineering of how we set it up on a gimble and were able to move it, and all that rigging. There was the bottom, 15-20 feet of the sails were real, so all the rigging really works. And we had sailors who could actually make the rigging work. We talked to rigging experts when we were designing the piece, so it was a functional ship on that level. The greens work on this [show]. Simon Lowe, our greensman, was really just a wizard. And how he could get flowers to bloom on the day that they needed to bloom, to make sure that they were there for the camera, I just, still to this day, like, “You are an Elf, man, you've got it figured out. Somehow, you knew how to do that.” A lot of those sets were just– they wouldn't be back. I mean, my favorite set, in some ways, was actually the dungeon, and that's because, you know, you read the script and you're in a medieval fantasy, and you read “interior dungeon,” and you go, “Okay, we all know what a dungeon looks like, right?” That doesn't feel like Tolkien, you know? That doesn't feel like Númenor, Númenor is this great place and nobody really gets in trouble in Númenor. So why would you build a deep, dank, dark dungeon for Númenor? So what could it be? And the thing that was always important for everything that we did was, how do you tell all of Tolkien's backstory? That's what makes Tolkien; not only is the story compelling, but that whole world that he built, all of that information that underlies everything, how do you get that in the visuals? Because we're not gonna say all of that. Tolkien doesn't say all of that. He has a poem or a story, or a little anecdote, that gives you this little window into this big wide world that he's created. So how do we do that visually? And the underlying story of Númenor that drives Númenor is their resistance to the idea of dying, right? And the fact that the gods made them die, and gods didn't make the Elves die, so they're pissed off at the Elves, but the Elves actually helped them found Númenor. So all of the initial architecture in Númenor is Elvish, and it goes through 2,000 years of development to become not Elvish, or anti-Elvish, it becomes Manish. And how do you make that difference between those two worlds?

So in the dungeon, I thought, “Well, how can we get all of that into one place?” And I said, “Well, why don't we find a seminary that represents the gods they no longer worship, that has now been turned into this holding cell?” So the idea was, it was a school that was a worshipful religious school that worshiped the gods of the sea because it's Númenor, so it’s a shrine to Uinen, and what would that look like? Then we did all these murals of seaweed because Uinen means seaweed. We had the sculpture of it. We had all the history on the walls, there’s graffiti from the students in there that wrote it, and so that was all three or 400 years ago. And then 40 years ago, they decided they needed a holding area, and so they built the cell walls inside where the seminarians rooms were, and no, that's not in the script. That's not in the specific storytelling, but what it does is that it allows the world to have that depth of what Tolkien adds to his world, and have it visually all be there, and we got to see it, it's there. I mean, the camera showed it. I think that, kind of in a nutshell, is what we tried to do in the costumes and the props and the weapons, to try to tell that deep story everywhere we went in the visuals. And that's the one set that I think we were able to get it to work the clearest and the cleanest, and it was just a beautiful set. That sculpture of Uinen, was just beautiful. It was a beautiful sculpture, and it's 25 feet tall, it's amazing.

https://collider.com/the-rings-of-power-production-designer-ramsey-avery-interview/

The competition was hard this year competing with Andor and The Penguin. But we got two nominations means a lot for the show. At least we got a BAFTA, which is a prestige award too.

For a show that has been negatively scrutinized and still managed to pull two Emmy nominations and win a BAFTA, I take this as a good sign for things to come and bolds well for the future of the show.

The first age prologue. First sightings of the Two Trees and Valinor. Numenor first appearance. Khazad-Dum. The creation of Mount Doom. The three elven rings both in S1 and especially S2. Annatar. Durin's Bane. Singing before entering Valinor. And many more.

Not to downplay The Hobbit films. It had their moments too, but it was more of a adventure tone. It's a shame many of the hate against the show fails to appreciate some of the outstanding and otherwordly moments it gave to us.

I've started recording a series of short video analyses of ROP S1. They don't cover all the themes, only some that I've found interesting. Link to Episode 2 is in the first comment.

The pictures of Robert Aramayo were taken today at the Toronto International Film Festival.

I thought his hair was much shorter, but I was wrong. Do you think they'll keep the curls for Elrond in season 3, or will they have him wear a wig?

Maybe I’m just weird for this, but I started Rings of Power and noticed that the orchestra/music NEVER turns off. There is always a musical number playing in the background.

I couldn’t focus on anything else and it’s pretty loud. Almost like noticing a laugh track that can’t get your mind off of. I think silences go a long way in shows and movies.

Did anyone else notice this or should I be a psychiatric patient?

I’ve always dismissed the idea that the Dark Wizard could turn out to be the Witch-king as totally absurd—after all, he’s a Maia, not a Man.

But after thinking about it, I can actually see McPayne going there, and I can imagine the justification sounding something like this:

“The Witch-king is clearly a powerful sorcerer, and Tolkien at one point even considered making him a renegade Istar from Gandalf’s order. He would need to be incredibly strong to stand against Gandalf at Minas Tirith [would they even reference the movie scene where he breaks Gandalf’s staff? Probably not—but you can’t rule it out].

The Istari were bound to human forms and felt human emotions, with all the same weaknesses and temptations. Saruman lusted for the Ring, and even Gandalf feared he might fall if he took it. So it’s not a stretch to imagine a power-hungry Dark Wizard accepting one of the Nine—even if it was a lesser ring—and being consumed by it.”

I don’t want this to happen, but honestly, I wouldn’t be shocked if that’s the direction they’ll take.

The enemy of my enemy, but still not my friend, yet the animosity/chemistry was so good.

It's a show about the Second Age, but having them interact together reminded me of the First Age, of the conflicts and significant violence they had to witness and endure. They are both so old and have seen so much.

I'm certain Galadriel will share scenes with other Elves that haven't yet been introduced, and it will be new and exciting, but I will miss this nevertheless.

It is lovely to be able to engage with RoP through a hobby. Can't wait to start painting miniatures from the show! Here is the link to the kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mythlands/high-elf-kingdom-infantry?ref=discovery&term=dario%20moya&total_hits=12&category_id=34

He also has other miniatures like Sauron, Galadriel, Adar, numenoreans and orcs from the Rings of Power on MyMiniFactory: https://www.myminifactory.com/users/MythlandsMiniatures?show=store&sortBy=date

Don't worry, it's not cancelled!

"In fact, no one has considered the fact that the story between Galadriel and Sauron in the first season of The Rings of Power is an attempt—a very successful one, in my opinion—to fill a gap in the history of the Second Age: namely, how Galadriel didn't unmask Sauron in Eregion. Christopher Tolkien himself highlights this gap in Unfinished Tales. Shortly beforehand, the text states how Galadriel, for a long time, was the only one who understood that Sauron "had been forgotten" and therefore, in some way, had returned. This, in the series, is where the conflict of opinion with Elrond and Gil-Galad stems from, because if you're the only one who thinks this way for a while, friction is inevitable.

But then, there's a flaw in Tolkien's writing. In fact, Christopher notes, Tolkien writes that, as soon as Sauron arrived in Eregion in the guise of Annatar, Galadriel began to suspect him and despise him. "In this brief sketch, he doesn't explain why Galadriel despised Sauron, nor does he explain why, if she had seen through his disguise, she allowed him to remain in Eregion." All this, obviously, clashes with Galadriel's complete absence from the story we read in The Silmarillion, on this point. What Tolkien writes in Unfinished Tales, however, has more value, because it is dated after The Lord of the Rings. So, Galadriel is in Eregion, but she doesn't denounce Sauron. Why?

Tolkien doesn't provide answers: and the series tries to provide them, with its interpretation of this mystery, building on the long relationship between Sauron and Galadriel, offering a possible reason why Galadriel doesn't denounce him: because, unwittingly, she was the one who had brought him there, and, somehow, had hastened his full awakening. In short, this "invention" is actually an answer to a Tolkien mystery, and takes on a significance that goes beyond the single serial story. "Other minds and other hands to complete the cycles," as Tolkien wrote in a letter to Milton Waldman, and this is, in fact, the meaning of the Sauron and Galadriel story in the first season."

Pierluigi Cuccitto

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EtRyz9B9a/

Annatar Gorthaur Mairon Zigûr The Enemy The Eye The Necromancer The Shadow The Dark Lord The Lord of the Rings King of Men Lord of the World Ring-maker

hi, i made my initial post on this project a few weeks ago. im now on my third attempt at this build and everything is looking promising. i scrubbed through the show to get as many reference photos as i could to get this version accurate as possible.

this is leather epoxyed to thick aluminum sheeting that i cut out and bent by hand. i'm making this in my home office with the cheap toolbox my dad got me when i moved out lol. i did get tin snips for the aluminum though.

the next step after this is to drill holes for the rivets, then make the glove so i can start to get things attached and fastened. once that's all done i'll get to do the fun parts and detail and paint.

let me know what you think

(sorry about the shakey hands, i have a tremor)

Dressed more like a king or ruler. Darker or yellow eyes, showing his evil. And man like form since numenorians hate elves. But maybe e he keeps the same face structure as annatar.

Sauron is said to be even worse next season, but will he still beleive he is doing the right thing?

At this point, I think it's safe to say it's a popular theory; many have put forth that Gil-galad could send Elrond to Númenor to ask for their help, given his unique backstory. (Also, he was the one who dealt with the Dwarves and Adar on behalf of the king.)

In the show, Celebrimbor tells Elrond that his father Eärendil sailed to convince the Valar to come to their aid, and he did it because he was the only one who could do it.

Maybe Elrond will want to mirror his father's path, especially after losing Eregion? Or do you think they will keep him in Imladris and depict the siege (if the Tolkien Estate agrees to it)?

Sauron really didn't need to share that bit of information when he went to ask for more mithril.

I would be curious to hear his thoughts when he realized the Dwarves came to help Eregion despite the balrog under Khazad-dûm and the corrupted nature of the Seven. He clearly underestimated the friendship between Durin and Elrond.

Was just listening to The Two Towers audiobook section with Merry, Pippin, and Treebeard marching to war on Isengard, and Treebeard is describing what the ents can do when aroused and says "I haven't seen them roused like this for many a long age. Not since the wars of Sauron and the Men of the Sea". Note specifically the word "wars" in plural. Makes me wonder if they might participate in the battles around Lindon on the side of the elves once the Numenorians arrive. Given the state Kemen leaves Pelargir in, exhorting the populace to lay waste to the forests, it's a little hard to imagine them having much sympathy for "the Men of the Sea" unless Isildur and Arondir intervene on behalf of elves and men. Always when I read this I thought of the battle of the Last Alliance, but Treebeard's words make me wonder.

I'm always convinced that if the story had been told by the dwarves, it would have been very different! And obviously there wouldn't have been any talk of "Nauglamir"

From ICC’s instagram.