The grand return of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth to screen with Prime Video’s The Rings of Power wasn’t quite what fans had hoped it would be. While the overall visual presentation of the world and the various peoples that inhabit it was a pleasure to watch every week, the weak writing and lack of faith in the source material left a lot of fans disappointed in the first season of the new show. Set in the Second Age of Middle-Earth, thousands of years before Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship of the Ring would set out to destroy the One Ring, The Rings of Power doesn’t have the same immensely detailed source material to pull from that Peter Jackson did for his The Lord of the Rings films. Tolkien never wrote an immensely detailed point-of-view or character-driven story for the Second Age.
Instead, The Rings of Power is telling a story that has mostly been explored through the Appendices at the end of the Return of the King book. It’s not adapting an adventure that has already been explained with every minute detail and conversation established. Rather, it’s adapting material that was written more as a historical text and recounting than as a narrative story. Other stories of the Second Age have been told in various other texts, like The Silmarillion and the 12-volume History of Middle-Earth series. Conveniently, many of these stories have been compiled into one book titled The Fall of Númenor, edited by Brian Sibley, which was just published recently.
Though the Second Age never received its own narrative tale like The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, the amount of lore and backstories that Tolkien baked into that time period is almost endless. As such, there are many different characters that have their own established roles to play within the Second Age and the wars that defined it. While a lot of these core characters, such as Isildur, Elrond, Galadriel, Gil-Galad, Tar-Míriel and Sauron, were already introduced within the first season of the new Middle-Earth show, there are plenty more characters from the Second Age that could show up in future seasons. Some of these characters were already referenced by name in the first season, making it a likelihood that they will appear at some point, while others just exist in the minds and hopes of Tolkien fans around the world.
The Blue Wizards
United Artists
The Five Wizards are some of the most powerful and exciting characters in Tolkien’s Legendarium. Three of them were seen in Jackson’s adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Those were Gandalf the Grey, Saruman the White and Radagast the Brown. They each had their own interests and motivations in Middle-Earth, but all five wizards were sent with the same mission of stopping the rise of Sauron. The two Blue Wizards are a bit of an enigma, though. Tolkien told very little about these characters other than their names, Alatar and Pallando. Outside of that, it is known that they adventured into the East to pursue their goals, and they possibly arrived in Middle-Earth before the other three of their group.
There is already one wizard in The Rings of Power, and while the season finale very heavily implied The Stranger is the most famous of the Istari, Gandalf the Grey, his identity is never confirmed outright. Because of that, some fans are still understandably speculating that The Stranger could be one of the Blue Wizards. A bit of evidence for this could be that The Stanger’s next task looks to be an adventure into the eastern land of Rhûn, just as the Blue Wizards did. As for the other Blue Wizard, they could already be in the East or potentially arrive later on. Regardless of how introducing them would work, if The Rings of Power were to explore the adventures of the Blue Wizards, the creative team would have a lot more room to create their own story. Essentially, nothing is known of the specific journeys of the Blue Wizards, so bringing those characters into the series could allow The Rings of Power to establish its own wizard characters separate from those that audiences have seen already.
Anárion
Prime Video
Anárion is a character that is bound to show up sooner than later in The Rings of Power. He is the younger son of Elendil and the brother to Isildur and Eärien. Anárion is a key character in the Second Age, as he was a co-founder of the realms of Gondor and Arnor alongside his father and brother. In the books, he is one of the two figures depicted in the giant statues of the Argonath that the Fellowship pass between along the river Anduin. In Jackson’s films however, Anárion is replaced with a statue of Elendil. He was already referenced on a couple of occasions in the first season of The Rings of Power. In conversations between Elendil, Isildur and Eärien, it is confirmed that Anárion lives on the other side of the island kingdom of Númenor and that he is further pursuing and studying his faith in the Valar and the Elves.
It’s very likely that Anárion will show up in the second season of The Rings of Power at some point. The first season of the series laid the groundwork for the division among the Númenoreans regarding their relationship with the elves and worship of the Valar. In Tolkien’s writing, Elendil, Isildur and Anárion are central figures in the minority believers, called the Faithful. As the show has already established Anárion as one of the Faithful, expect him to play an important role in strengthening the passion of those resisting the majority’s change of heart. Considering how much of a role Anárion plays in the future of Númenor and the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor in the Second Age, he is a character that will surely play appear in this new series in some form.
Treebeard
New Line Cinema
The Ents are some of the oldest living beings in Middle-Earth, and Treebeard is considered to be the oldest of all of them. As such, it is no stretch of the imagination to think that Treebeard, otherwise known as Fangorn, would be walking the woods of Middle-Earth at the same time as the events of The Rings of Power. The Ents are some of the most magical and wondrous creatures that Tolkien created for his world, and their inclusion in The Lord of the Rings is one of the most standout plots of that entire story. The Ents have already been seen briefly in The Rings of Power in a short moment early in the season, but they have yet to make any sort of meaningful appearance on the show. By bringing the Ents into The Rings of Power more fully, there would be more opportunities to explore the tree-ish people and the lives that they live; perhaps even the Entwives could be incorporated in some fashion.
There are many ways through which the Ents could be incorporated into The Rings of Power. In the Lord of the Rings books, Treebeard specifically references the Second Age on a couple of occasions. He states that the Ents had fought against Sauron in the previous ages of the world, which implies that they had some role to play during the climactic events of the Second Age. It is also established that Sauron is responsible for the destruction of the gardens of the Entwives, an event that would likely have happened during the Second Age as well. The Ents could serve a similar purpose in The Rings of Power to that they play in The Lord of the Rings, meaning that the underestimation of nature by the Dark Powers leaves a weakness that the Ents are able to exploit.
They are some of the most powerful beings in this fantasy world, and if they could make quite an impact if they were to set their might against Sauron. However, Treebeard also mentions in the books that the Númenoreans of the Second Age were responsible for much of the forest of Middle-Earth being cut down, reducing the size of Fangorn Forest exponentially. Perhaps this conflict could also be seen in future seasons of The Rings of Power, and it could serve as the reason the Ents choose not to stand with the Men of the West.
Khamûl
Khamûl the Easterling is one of the nine Ringwraiths, the kings of men who were gifted rings of power by Sauron and then corrupted into becoming the dreaded Nazgûl. While the Witch King was the leader of the nine Ringwraiths, Khamûl was considered to be the second-greatest of the bunch and would often serve as a key figure in the plans of Sauron. What sets Khamûl apart from the rest of the Nazgûl is that he is the only one to be specifically given a name. The identities of the other eight Ringwraiths are unknown, with the only information known about them being that three of them were Númenorean. Beyond those three men of Númenor, Khamûl is the only other wraith to be given a specific civilization that he hails from as well, as he is one of the Easterling kings of the land of Rhûn. While few fans are looking for him to play a key role in this series, all the context of Khamûl’s past and the direction The Rings of Power is heading point very directly to his inclusion in future seasons.
The Nazgûl will certainly appear in the show at some point, though they will likely be introduced as men first. Sauron’s gifting of the titular Rings of Power will surely be a key moment in the series, and the nine men to whom he gives his kingly gifts will become the feared Nine Black Riders that eventually terrorize all of Middle-Earth. Khamûl, specifically, could be incorporated into the show through the journeys of The Stranger and Nori into the East. The first season ends with the two setting off on their adventure into the lands of Rhûn, and so it would make sense for them to cross paths with the Eastern King, Khamûl, while on their journey. This introduction would also establish the future-wraith as a character before he is ultimately corrupted and binded to darkness by Sauron.
Celeborn and Celebrían
The elves Celeborn and Celebrían are two key characters that it’s genuinely surprising haven’t been seen in The Rings of Power yet. Celeborn is best known as the husband of Galadriel, who is obviously one of the lead characters of the series. For the first chunk of the first season, the lack of Celeborn’s presence on the show was perplexing to many die-hard fans. What made the situation even more confusing was Galadriel lamenting the loss of her husband, specifically naming Celeborn, in episode seven. She believes him to be dead following the war with Morgoth in the First Age, as he has not been seen since then. However, this change in lore is likely a temporary one, as Celeborn still has an important part to play in the tales of Middle-Earth after the Second Age. His survival will likely be played as a major reveal at some point in the series.
As for Celebrían, her lack of inclusion in The Rings of Power is a mystery still. Celebrían is a character that is likely less familiar to fans, as she has not appeared in any adaptations of Tolkien’s material yet. She is an important character that plays into the story of The Rings of Power in numerous ways, the most plain of which being that she is the daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn. As the daughter of two great Elves, Celebrían was revered and would often play a role in key events in Middle-Earth. While her story takes a tragic turn in the Third Age, little is known about her role in the events of the Second Age. One of the few major facts known about Celebrían’s life in the Second Age is that it was in that time when she met her husband, another character you might recognize, Elrond. With Elrond, Celebrían would ultimately have three children, their twin sons Elrohir and Elladan, and their daughter Arwen, who would go on to marry Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings. Celebrían is a character that would clearly make sense to include in The Rings of Power, and she would bring a new light to the series that could balance out the growing darkness of Sauron.
Tom Bombadil
Fantasy Flight Games
Alright, so this is one that would just be the cherry on top of everything. The bombastic and jubilant Tom Bombadil is one of the most well-known and perplexing of Tolkien’s characters, despite having never actually made it into any adaptations of the legendary author’s work. In the various adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, good ole Bombadil was understandably excluded because of his irrelevance to the overall plot of that adventure. His appearance in the book, as delightful as it is, does little to develop the overall plot of the story. It’s more of a lore-building moment. However, a television series like The Rings of Power, where there’s a lot more time to commit to other stories and tales like this, could finally be the place where the mysterious merry fellow finally makes his appearance.
We know for certain that Bombadil was around during the events of the Second Age, as Bombadil might just be the oldest living being in all of Middle-Earth. In their encounter with him in the books, he tells Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry that he has lived in those lands since before the coming of the sun, the moon, and all the creatures of the world. While the mystery of who Tom Bombadil actually is has been debated for well over half-a-century now, there’s no denying that the character is an absolute joy to experience. Including Bombadil, however briefly, in The Rings of Power would certainly earn the show some respect from die-hard fans who have been lamenting his absence in previous materials. There’s no way that he would play an important role in the story, but it would just be a nice bit of fan service as a sign of good faith to the die-hard fans of Tolkien that are enjoying the series.
