The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Returning for a second season, The Rings of Power is a prequel series focused on how exactly Sauron came to antagonize and attempt to conquer Middle Earth well before the original trilogy of books by J. R. Tolkien (and of course, the Peter Jackson-directed trilogy of the early 2000s).

The first moments of the trailer focus on sound design, highlighting the otherworldly nature of Sauron’s magic at 0:10 with a menacing bass tone and a creative assemblage of foley (one can hear, perhaps, snakes manipulated through audio processing, for example). Sparse and creepy sounds amplify the suspense, giving it the guise of a horror trailer. The snake-like sounds continue—all the more appropriate as the voice-over notes how he “worms inside your mind, and the rest of him slithers in”.

At 0:37 we hear new sonic elements, including reversed voices and a steadily rising cacophony of strings, in addition to a new ticking element to build a steady beat, where before there was no rhythm to speak of. At 0:42 we get an audiovisual blackout to accompany a key plot point (“I think he has been here among us all along”).

This brings us to the second half of the teaser trailer at 0:46, where we’re treated to a persistently repeated phrase of epic music, with chords in a minor key but ending on its parallel major to help emphasize the grand scale and stakes of the series. Rapid, muscular arpeggios in the strings lend a sense of texture and urgency and fill out the broad, sweeping brass chords. This soundtrack is punctuated by more monstrous sound designs, rendered diegetically by the creatures on screen, or other accents—the destruction of a bridge or the scream of a woman, for example. Of course, the epic percussion enters full swing here as well, replete with those tried and true triplets, along with epic choir. The music ends for a moment for the big reveal of Sauron, before returning and ending on the choir.

While serviceable, what’s maybe more notable about this trailer as an addition to the broader Lord of the Rings franchise is the lack of any key musical theme—the Howard Shore soundtrack of the original films looms large here without direct citation. One would think a new story from Middle Earth worth telling on screen would come with the promise of something more aurally distinctive and memorable. Instead, a glance at the comments section of the YouTube video above is focused on the (admittedly questionable) plot point of Sauron effectively using a wig to disguise himself. Still, the sound design is imaginative and interesting, and using the first half of the trailer to focus on the unnerving nature of Sauron’s magic this way is effective.

Season two of The Rings of Power hits Amazon Prime on August 29th.

— Curtis Perry