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Episode 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is here, giving LOTR fans a chance to travel back to a Middle-earth that’s all at once familiar, and totally new. The premiere serves up everything from the sweeping, cinematic shots perfected in the movies to bold new elven hairstyles.
If you want to read a spoiler-free review: Fly, you fools! If not, let’s dig in to a full recap of episode 1.
What, you thought this show wasn’t going to have a prologue? We open in a field in Valinor. Galadriel says in voice-over, «Nothing is evil in the beginning.» A gaggle of child elves plays in a field. One of them is Galadriel herself, who’s already clearly too good for the riffraff she’s hanging out with. She makes a little boat and sets it sailing in a creek. It unfolds into an origami swan situation. The other elf kids taunt her and throw rocks at it until it sinks. Because you know who’s evil in the beginning? Children.
Post-boat attack, her older brother consoles her. They have a conversation about rocks and boats and how to know which light to follow. He tells her he’s not going to be around forever — FORESHADOWING — and she’s like, excuse me? That’s kind of the whole deal with elves. As he walks off, we see a gorgeous wide shot of Valinor.
It doesn’t last long, though. Galadriel explains that the first dark lord, Morgoth, pulled some real shit and destroyed their two trees, Telperion and Laurelin, which were light sources in Valinor. He also stole three stones containing their light, called the Silmarils. If you’ve read The Silmarillion, this is a major party foul. For the purposes of this show, it doesn’t seem like we’re going to need to know a ton about Morgoth, but I’ll quickly explain him like this: He’s one of the Valar (a set of angelic-ish beings — think of him like Lucifer/ the fallen angel in the Bible). But really, Morgoth is that kid in preschool who knocks over everyone else’s block tower. A real pip, if you ask me.
The elves can’t abide this nonsense, so an army, including Galadriel’s brother, leaves Valinor. We see a legion of boats traveling across the Sundering Sea to Middle-earth. Dragons! Hand-to-hand combat! Elves fighting orcs in the rain! Galadriel tells us the war left Middle-earth in ruins and lasted centuries. On the battlefield, she picks up a helmet and puts it on a pile so large, I question its structural integrity.
Despite the losses, they defeat Morgoth. It’s never that easy, though, is it? Sauron is standing by to fill the power vacuum.
Unfortunately, Galadriel’s brother dies. Sauron rudely carves a sigil into his skin, and Galadriel takes up not only his dagger but his mission to wipe out evil from Middle-earth.
Sweeping shot over snowy mountains. Is that a pack of penguins? No! It’s elves with a vendetta! The hunt for Sauron is unsuccessful. Centuries pass. The elves are kind of over the whole thing. Except Galadriel.
We catch up with her and a small command of elves climbing their way up the icy face of a mountain up north in Forodwaith, The Northernmost Waste. (Are those elf crampons?) At the top, an elf who I’ll refer to as Insubordinate Elf, tells Galadriel, You know what would be supercool? If we just forgot about this whole thing.
