About five days ago
a new trailer dropped. It feels like it goes a lot deeper into the plot than the previous ones, so let's take a look!
I'm not going to do a scene/shot count this time, because now they're this long I don't see much value in it. I'd rather do an overall impression and specific responses.
GALADRIEL: We thought the war, at last, was ended.
Galadriel, in a dress (not armour), places a Noldorin helmet on a ginormous pile of such helmets. The battlefield is an utter wreck - dead trees and swamplike mists. Very clearly part of the end of the First Age.
ELROND: Today, our days of peace begin.
A flash of Elrond looking somewhat smug, implied to be watching as Gil-Galad crowns Galadriel with a wreath of leaves. She, and a handful of other elves around her, looks to be in armour with a white cloak. The setting is that stone slab under a very pretty tree that seems to be the main set for Lindon.
GALADRIEL: We thought our joys would be unending.
A quick flash of a banquet in a forest. It's hard to see, but the guests are elves - Elrond, I think Celebrimbor, some dude with long black hair - except for one: Durin IV, raising a glass to the table. There are some very lovely lanterns hanging over the table.
GALADRIEL: We thought our light would never dim.
Pastoral flashes: children in white run along a river, something happens with boats on a beach, and Galadriel on the Swanship apparently sailing west.
SADOC BURROWS: The skies are strange.
Shot of him saying that. Shot of Arondir and Bronwyn watching the meteor; we've seen these before.
Here's something new: a tall tower next to a vast domed building. Apparently this is Numenor, because now we see inside: it's Miriel, and Galadriel,
and a Palantir.
Yes, the Palantiri were supposedly given to the Faithful. Given that they're literally named after her dad, I'm going to give Miriel a pass on having one.
MIRIEL: It is here, Galadriel - the moment we feared.
Galadriel puts her hand on the Palantir, and in a series of quick flashes we see: a huge dark battlefield, with Orcs and that one blond elf from the first trailer that I still hope isn't Finrod; the red underwater vision from the last trailer; and Galadriel crying over a body that might be Blond Elf lying in state. It's certainly cut like we're seeing the end of the First Age - "things that were", I suppose.
Now we're back outside, and discover that the shot of Miriel under falling white stuff actually shows either petals or leaves from the White Tree, blowing in the wind.
MIRIEL: Evil does not sleep.
New character alert! A pale, creepy chappie who has been compared to rapper Eminem, hanging out on a rock with two other characters, all dressed in flowing white. I feel like he has a bit of a "priest of Evil" vibe about him; also some very big eyebrows.
MIRIEL: It waits.
Now we see Elrond being led into Moria by a nondescript dwarf, leading to Durin III talking to Durin IV:
DURIN III: Beyond the darkness - tempting shadow - to bury us all beneath the mountain.
I'm... not sure that makes sense. Is Daddy Durin going a bit gaga in his old age? Durin IV is not impressed.
Back to Galadriel, coated in ash, standing up against a red sky. There are burning houses around her; they look mortal, thatched.
MIRIEL: He has not one name, but many.
A dark fortress - or maybe a Dark Tower - lit by lightning gives way to a eye-like rune, growing like frost on rock. We've seen this rune before: it's on the Broken Sword poster, which is now known to be:
THEO: [Gasps]
A creepy old man grabs Theo's arm and looms at him.
CREEPY OLD MAN: Have you heard of him, lad? Have you heard of Sauron?
Cut to Bronwyn hiding in a closet, as someone wearing long, spiky fingered gloves creepily enters the house.
Now we see Theo
with the sword, which grows back to full length in a shower of fire and shadow. I'm sure that'll end well!
GALADRIEL: If the evil rising is left unchecked, it will take us all.
Some characters in a frozen, underground location; not sure who. A flash of an anvil-shaped rock with the rune on it, and then, surprise! A giant rock hits several of those present.
Cut to burning ships, and then Bronwyn hugs Theo.
BRONWYN: Find the light, and the shadow will not find you.
Creepy fingers guy walks through a pack of... uh... people in animal-skull hats, maybe? Could be orcs. And then it's another series of rapid images as Bronwyn declares:
BRONWYN: Together we can survive this!
Viggo... um, Elendil (or is that Halbrand?) strides through a Numenorean doorway. Bronwyn says that line to a crowd, one of whom holds up a sword. The possible Oath of Feanor again. Galadriel climbs onto a Numenorean warship.
MIRIEL?: Fight with me.
Galadriel clasps hands with someone; maybe Miriel. Arondir drops onto a bridge for some Legolas-style action. Miriel steps forward holding what certainly seems to be a baby. Disa and a choir of dwarves sing.
Miriel?: Each of us must decide who we shall be.
Durin IV with his special crystal. Bronwyn and Arondir look angsty. Galadriel, Miriel, and the Numenorean cavalry charge. The skull-heads run through a forest. Galadriel swims away from a wrecked ship / the raft as a giant sea-monster leaps over it (looks like a mosasaur to me).
DURIN IV: There can be no trust between hammer and rock.
The Numenorean army marches out. Quite why they need to be running about in full armour on their island is beyond me; maybe it's the easiest way to make sure it all gets to the ships. Durin IV does a kind of fist-salute, and then we're back with the Stranger in the meteor crater, meeting Nori.
DURIN IV: Eventually, one or the other... must surely break.
Arondir fights the skull-heads, who are definitely orcs. There's a quick flash of what looks like the Stranger collapsing in the woods in here, too. Then we cut to the mortal village, probably Tirharad, for our biggest cast roundup yet: Bronwyn, Arondir, Miriel, and Galadriel('s shoulder) are all visible as a shockwave shakes the village. A quick flash of Galadriel in armour with sparks around her.
Fade through black to Priest Guy blowing shadow and sparks from his hand, looking about as evil as anyone can look.
CREEPY VOICE: You have been told many lies of Middle-earth.
An autumn leaf blows through a cave system and comes to rest on the ground - then burns up. I think this is one of the longest continuous shots in the trailer.
Arondor gasps for breath in front of a wall of roots, before something grabs him and pulls him into it. I've seen speculation that the grabbing hands could be branch-like, ie Ents, but the shot is so blurred it's hard to tell.
TITLE: The Lord of the Rings - The Rings of Power
Black, black... rumble...
Balrog.
BALROG: [Roars like a
T. rex in Jurassic Park]
~
I know, of course, the number one question in all your minds, and the answer is: I can't tell if it has physical wings, but the smoke billowing about it takes on a winglike shape. Hope that helps.
hS