Amazon is gearing up for the grand debut of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The show will be an extension of the epic fantasy that has gripped fans for generations. In anticipation, Prime Video has released a promotional video celebrating all things fandom with a focus on Lord of the Rings. But did they incidentally reveal or confirm something about the upcoming show? See if you can spot it below!
The video follows a young boy, who seems to be stumbling through life. He’s having a hard time in school and appears to be getting side-eyes from his peers in doing so. But then he finds The Lord of the Rings (specifically the new Amazon edition with the Rings of Power cover) and becomes fascinated! But did you see what he saw through the window? That, my friends, is an Ent!
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For those of you who might need a brush-up, Ents are a very old race in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series. They were created by Yavanna, one of the holy beings that created Middle Earth. According to legend, when Yavanna learned of the creation of the Dwarves, she anticipated they would be eager to cut down trees at will. So she created the Ents, who would serve as the “shepherds” and protectors of trees. In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Merry and Pippin befriend a particularly old Ent by the name of Treebeard, who has been staying in the forest with the other Ents tending to the trees while Sauron’s influence spread over Middle Earth. After the hobbits show Treebeard that Sauron’s ally, Saruman, was felling trees to build his armies, the Ents ready themselves for battle. With their large bodies, the Ents attack Isengard, which kickstarts the battle known as The Last March of the Ents.
Will We See an Old Friend?
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
While that gentle face in the window could be anyone, this appearance could hint at the possibility of a previously untapped page in Middle-Earth history. Not much is known about the Ents earlier on in Middle-Earth history, so this leaves the writers of Rings of Power lots of wiggle-room if they wanted to expand on it. What we mostly know (at least from The Lord of the Rings), are hints from Treebeard himself due to him being particularly old, even for an Ent. But this could lead to an all-new possibility in and of itself — Treebeard making an appearance in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power!
According to Treebeard, the Elves actually taught the Ents how to speak. In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Book III, Chapter 4: ‘Treebeard,’ Treebeard testifies the following.
It was the Elves that cured us of dumbness long ago, and that was a great gift that cannot be forgotten.
There could also be a chance of a certain event happening that involves the Ents. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power takes place during the Second Age of Middle-Earth. In The Lord of the Rings, Treebeard speaks of a time when all of the northwestern region of Middle-Earth was covered by trees. But during the Second Age, those great forests were cut down by both the Númenóreans, or they were culled during the War of the Elves and Sauron. Due to these events, the territory of the Ents was shrunken significantly. Considering the Elves of Middle-Earth are going to play a large part in Rings of Power, perhaps there will be room to show their relationship with the Ents during a tense time period?
The Ents, being shrouded in mystery, are a great stepping point for writers to have creative fun in Tolkien’s world. And with the timeline of the show matching up with these particular events, this could have been Amazon’s clever wink to fans that we might see a younger, more spry Treebeard. Or it could be Amazon sending us a red herring in the form of a friendly Ent. Regardless of if these speculations are true or false, Prime Video’s promo is a beautiful tribute to fandom of all kinds, particularly with Lord of the Rings fans.
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