The series for The Lord of the Rings from Amazon finally has an official release date. The start date for the first episode of the series has just been revealed on Twitter. Together with a first real picture. We’ll talk about the picture in a moment. Before that you can quickly find the date here:
It starts on September 2, 2022.
Link to Twitter content
This takes the guesswork out of it, at least when it comes to the release date. There are still a lot of questions about what we will ultimately see. So far there is a rough synopsis, but many details are still pending. In our overview article on the Lord of the Rings series, we have collected all the official information and unofficial rumors. There you can get a quick overview:
more on the subject
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series: All information about costs, release, story & cast
What the first picture reveals about the series
Now let’s get to the actual picture. There is more to see here for trained eyes. And that is surprising. Sure, on the one hand the scene offered here looks really breathtakingly beautiful. Until a few years ago, something like this would hardly have been conceivable in a series. But at least we also know that Amazon has released a budget of over $ 100 million.
But that is far more surprising than the quality of the picture, is what can be seen. Because here we do not recognize any scene from the second age of Middle-earth. Actually, it was announced in advance that the series should revolve around the fall of the island of Numenor. So one could also assume that the city that can be seen in the picture is possibly poor. The largest city on said island.
But the two glowing trees on the horizon speak against it. These can really only be the glowing trees of Valinor. In the Silmarillion (the creation story of Middle-earth) written by Tolkien, these two trees were the most important sources of light in the whole world. Later the trees were destroyed and their light only existed in the sun, moon and the Silmarill gemstones.
In front of the two trees stood the bell-rich city of Valmar. Most likely this is the city in question. Who the person in the white coat is remains to be seen. Most likely it will be someone from the lineage of the first Elves.
Is there a Silmarillion prologue?
Valinor, Valmar, the trees. These are all elements from the first age of Middle-earth. It was only recently announced that Amazon is indeed allowed to use parts of this story. The focus is supposed to be on the second age and most likely will not have changed.
But there may be a longer prologue. In it the prehistory and the events of the first age could be retold. There may even be several episodes dedicated to it. There is a lot of material there. This is supported by the information that the picture comes from the first episode. Occasional flashbacks or even dreams of days gone by are also conceivable.
In any case, it is certain that we were allowed to take a first look at the blessed land of the Elves.