The Rings of Power first hit our screens in 2022, and split Tolkien fans down the middle. Some absolutely loved it, others said it deserved to be cast into the firey chasms of Mount Doom.

However, ratings were good enough to warrant a second season of the mind-bogglingly expensive (it cost around $1 billion to make season one) Middle-earth set fantasy series, and it’s arriving on Amazon Prime soon.

Season one charted the forging of the very first Rings of Power, hence the name of the show. Fans of the Lord of the Rings will probably be able to easily recite the backstory of these evil-infused magical artefacts.

In the Peter Jackson-directed movies, the elf-queen Galadriel solemnly intones: “It began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings.

“Seven to the dwarf lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls.

“And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of men — who above all else, desire power.”

When does The Rings of Power take place?

Galadriel witnessing the creation of Mordor (Amazon Prime)

The Rings of Power could probably just as easily have been titled The Rise of Sauron, as the series charts the arch-villain’s origin story and takes place during the Second Age of Middle-earth, or the Age of Númenor. Essentially, it’s set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

The Rings of Power season one starts immediately after Sauron’s former boss, the Dark Lord Morgoth, has been defeated. However, Sauron has disappeared, and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) is determined to find him and avenge her brother, Finrod, who was killed by Sauron.

However, no one else believes Sauron is still alive, and the High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) declares the war against Morgoth to be over. Everyone should relax, essentially, and head back to the Undying Lands (Valinor) to chill.

Galadriel declines to chill, and leaps from the boat that’s carrying her to Valinor, swimming back to Middle-earth to continue to hunt for Sauron.

Are the any LGBTQ+ characters in The Rings of Power?

Lenny Henry in The Rings Of Power (Amazon Prime)

Season one of The Rings of Power was criticised for a lack of LGBTQ+ characters, which isn’t that surprising given that its source material – J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium – isn’t exactly the most diverse (and that’s coming from a fan). For example, the Lord of the Rings barely has any women in it, let alone LGBTQ+ characters.

Also, all of the “good guys” are caucasian, while Sauron’s allies are races like the Haradrim, described as “bold, fierce, and grim… tall and dark-skinned with black hair and dark eyes.”

However, that’s not to say that LGBTQ+ fans haven’t found a lot of themes and interpersonal relationships in Tolkien’s work that strongly resonate with them.

Sam and Frodo from Lord of the Rings resting against each other.Sam and Frodo are one of the most popular ships in modern pop culture. (Embracer Group/Lord of the Rings)

For example, fans have been shipping ringbearer Frodo Baggins and his servant, originally his gardener, Sam pretty much ever since The Fellowship of the Ring was first published in 1954.

However, The Rings of Power season one was praised for casting Black actors, for example veteran British actor Lenny Henry, who played Harfoot Sadoc Burrows – the Harfoots are the ancestors of hobbits. There was also a Black elf, Arondir, played by Ismael Cruz Córdova, and a Black dwarf, Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete).

Bigots were, inevitably, raging about the very idea of Black dwarves, Black elves and Black hobbits, with online discourse about The Rings of Power’s casting decisions becoming so toxic at one point that the original cast of Jackon’s trilogy took to Twitter wearing T-shirts that, in elvish, said “You Are All Welcome Here”:

While there haven’t been any explicitly queer characters in The Rings of Power to date, we’re certainly hoping that the showrunners will continue to push boundaries in season two and introduce a couple of gay elves, a pansexual dwarf or two, maybe some lesbian Harfoots, or a transgender ent.

Season two will also introduce the iconic and mysterious figure Tom Bombadil, described as “a merry fellow / Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.” The elves call him Iarwain Ben-adar (“Oldest and Fatherless”), and it’s believed he could be a Maiar like Sauron. Many people read him as a queer character.

There’s even a rumour that Sauron himself might turn out to be LGBTQ+, which would be quite a twist. Fans are speculating that he could end up in a relationship with elven smith Celebrimbor, as Sauron takes the form of an elf called Annatar to get close to Celebrimbor in season two. Hey, we’re here for it.

When does the new Rings of Power come out?

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 premieres on Amazon Prime on August 29, 2024.