The Years of the Trees and the First Age are among the most eventful periods in Middle-earth, comprising most of The Silmarillion and including some of the greatest world-changing events in the history of Arda. Unfortunately, though, the deal between Amazon Studios and the Tolkien Estate allows the media company to only adapt The Lord of the Rings appendices, which is also the reason why the creative team has chosen the Second Age to spin their live-action adaptation into existence.
All isn’t lost, however, as today’s first official trailer has also alluded to some events that took place in the Years of the Trees, implying that we might get to briefly glimpse some of those in the form of flashbacks and other narrative tools of the same nature.
The fact that The Rings of Power will incorporate elements from The Silmarillion has fueled the hype for the upcoming series in the Tolkien community, the same fandom who, until yesterday, had a lot of reservations about Amazon’s adaptation.
It looks as though we’re getting a lot of First Age stuff from the narrative viewpoint of Elven characters like Galadriel and Elrond.
The Two Trees look stunning in live-action, even though their godly splendor might have been a challenge to get right.
It’d be no overstatement to say that some Lord of the Rings fans have been waiting years for this occasion, so even if The Rings of Power ends up a middling adaptation, they’re still glad that they get to see the Two Trees in live-action.
With little under two months to go until The Rings of Power premieres on Prime Video, the excitement for this new Middle-earth tale is becoming increasingly palpable. Let’s hope that it lives up to expectations.