"A Shadow of the Past" is the first episode of the first season and series premiere of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The series is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth and is set thousands of years before his novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). The episode introduces the Second Age of Middle-earth and some of its major characters. It was written by showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, and directed by J. A. Bayona.
The episode begins with a recap of the First Age, and then introduces some of the story's key cultures: the Elves, the Men of the Southlands, and the Harfoots. Each culture was defined through designs, dialects, and music, and introduced at a time of change for their people. Filming for the first season began in New Zealand in February 2020, but was placed on hold in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production resumed in September and wrapped for the first two episodes by the end of December.
"A Shadow of the Past" premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on September 1, 2022, with the second episode. They had the most viewers of any Prime Video premiere within 24 hours. Reviews were generally positive, with praise for the visuals and high production value but skepticism regarding the storytelling and slow pacing. The episode received several award nominations, including a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award nomination for its costume design.
Background
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth. It is set thousands of years before his novels The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). While it is contractually not a continuation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) film trilogies, it is intended to be visually consistent with them, and the first season was produced in New Zealand like Jackson's films were. J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were hired to develop the series and serve as its showrunners, with J. A. Bayona set to direct the first two episodes of the first season.
The series covers the major events of Middle-earth's Second Age. Amazon did not acquire the rights to Tolkien's main Second Age writings, so the series' writers identified references to the period in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the latter's appendices, and created a story that bridges those passages. The Second Age begins after the defeat of the "Dark Lord" Morgoth, when his army of Orcs are scattered and his lieutenant Sauron is in hiding. The series' large cast of characters includes Elves, Dwarves, Men, and Harfoots, the last being precursors to the diminutive Hobbits from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Plot When the two trees that lit the world were destroyed by Morgoth, the Elves sailed to Middle-earth from their home in Valinor and waged a centuries-long war against him. Morgoth was defeated, and Sauron took his place. Galadriel's brother Finrod died hunting Sauron, and Galadriel vowed to continue the search. Thousands of years later, Galadriel and a company of Elves discover an abandoned fortress in the northern wastelands of Forodwaith. They are attacked by a Snow-troll and sustain injuries before Galadriel kills it. She wishes to continue, but the others refuse and she reluctantly returns to the Elven capital Lindon.
A community of nomadic Harfoots in the wilderlands of Rhovanion are surprised to see human hunters at an uncommon time of year. Harfoot elder Sadoc Burrows also believes the stars are appearing when they should not be and wonders whether they are watching something unfold. Young Harfoot Nori Brandyfoot dreams of exploring the world but is discouraged by her parents, as it is their way to follow their well-trodden paths.
In Lindon, High King Gil-galad proclaims the war to be over and grants Galadriel's company the honor of returning to Valinor, where they can live in eternal peace. Galadriel's friend Elrond convinces her to accept the offer. Gil-galad tells Elrond that Galadriel's search for Sauron could help the latter endure. He introduces Elrond to Celebrimbor, a great Elven-smith, who is beginning an important project that Gil-galad wants Elrond to help with.
Word that the war is over reaches Elves in the Southlands of Middle-earth who watch over Tirharad, a village of Men descended from allies of Morgoth. The Elf Arondir has grown close with the human healer Bronwyn and is saying goodbye to her when a villager arrives with a sick cow. It wandered to the nearby village of Hordern, which the pair investigate and find in flames. Bronwyn's son Theo finds a broken sword bearing Sauron's mark.
Across the Sundering Seas, Galadriel and her company prepare to enter Valinor through a wall of cloud and light. Remembering a discussion with Finrod, Galadriel changes her mind about abandoning her search and jumps from the ship before it enters. At the same time, different groups across Middle-earth watch a meteor fly through the sky. It crashes near the Harfoots' camp and Nori finds a strange man in the crater.
Production Writing The first season introduces the Second Age and its major heroic characters. The episode's title, "A Shadow of the Past", is an allusion to the second chapter of The Lord of the Rings, "The Shadow of the Past". McKay said the season was influenced by dialogue from that chapter which he paraphrased as "After a defeat and a respite, a shadow grows again in a new form." Each group of characters is introduced at "a time of enormous change in their worlds" which Payne and McKay hoped would make the series more dramatic. They felt it was essential to establish relationships in the first episode that the audience could invest in, such as the Romeo and Juliet inspired love story between Arondir and Bronwyn, the hijinks-filled friendship between the young Harfoots Nori Brandyfoot and Poppy Proudfellow, and the respectful relationship between Galadriel and Elrond. McKay described the last two as "almost peers, but not quite". Elrond's introduction sitting in a tree was inspired by the film Young Mr. Lincoln (1939).
The showrunners chose to begin the series with an "intimate" flashback sequence showing a young Galadriel talking with Finrod under a tree. McKay said this was a conscious decision to subvert expectations for the "vast and incredible epic" that they felt audiences would be expecting. The episode then gives a recap of the First Age. Because they did not have access to Tolkien's The Silmarillion (1977), the showrunners had to write material that "harmonizes" with what that novel says about the First Age, without directly adapting anything that is not also covered by The Lord of the Rings and its appendices. They described this as a very high-level summary using general mythological terms that would be accessible to all audiences: there was a "great foe", Morgoth, whose actions triggered a war. This sequence went through hundreds of drafts throughout pre-production, filming, and post-production, and had the most iteration of any sequence in the season; the final version was settled on only days before the episode was completed. The showrunners believed that their version allowed Tolkien fans to fill in the gaps with their own knowledge, and hoped new fans who were intrigued by the sequence would read The Silmarillion to learn more about the First Age.
After the prologue, the episode jumps forward to an older Galadriel who is still much younger than she is in The Lord of the Rings. Actress Morfydd Clark felt naïveté would show in Elves as arrogance, and was influenced by a quote from the character about "how with gaining wisdom, there's a loss of innocence". Galadriel's characterization in the series differs from the "elder stateswoman" that she is portrayed as in The Lord of the Rings, allowing the series to show her journey to becoming that version of the character. The writers took inspiration from Tolkien's description of a younger Galadriel as being a strong fighter of "Amazon disposition". Clark said the Elves of the Second Age feel the weight of their actions during the First, and Galadriel feels the weight of losing her brothers during the war. She said Galadriel is lonely and wearied as the sole survivor of her family. The episode highlights her relationship with Finrod, who Clark said was a particular favorite among fans of Tolkien. After Finrod's death, this relationship is symbolized by her taking his dagger and vowing to continue his search for Sauron.
The episode ends with a key decision for Galadriel in which she chooses to hunt for Sauron rather than enter Valinor to live in peace. Tolkien did not explain why Galadriel chose to remain in Middle-earth in his writings, but he considered several reasons including her pride, choosing to remain with her husband Celeborn, or being banned from Valinor for an unknown reason. This gave the writers leeway to create their own reason, which is Galadriel's choice to continue Finrod's hunt for Sauron. Clark said Galadriel has a feeling of hiraeth, a Welsh word meaning "a yearning and longing", in wanting to finish "what she was meant to do". At the same time as her decision, "The Stranger" crashes in a meteor. The showrunners said he lands "quite literally in [the Harfoots'] backyard", and executive producer Lindsey Weber added that this moment was one of their foundational ideas for the series. Payne and McKay felt it was a momentous enough event to unite the different storylines, despite the major characters being spread across Middle-earth; they all watch the meteor from their own locations.
Casting
The season's cast includes Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir, Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows, Markella Kavenagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot, Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo, Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow, Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot, Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad, Daniel Weyman as the Stranger, and Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot. Also starring in the episode are Amelie Child-Villiers as young Galadriel, Will Fletcher as Finrod, Fabian McCallum as Thondir, Kip Chapman as Rían, Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva, Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma, Beau Cassidy as Dilly Brandyfoot, Geoff Morrell as Waldreg, Peter Tait as Tredwill, Ian Blackburn as Rowan, Augustus Prew as Médhor, and Simon Merrells as Revion. Sophia Nomvete, who portrays the Dwarf princess Disa in the series, gave birth during the casting process. Her newborn daughter makes an uncredited cameo appearance in this episode as a young Harfoot.
Design