Teaser trailer breakdown for The Rings of Power Season 3

The teaser trailer has been released for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3, here is a full breakdown and analysis of the trailer!

Trailer Breakdown

We start off with a shot of Sauron with a crown on his head, potentially walking within his fortress in Barad-dûr to his throne. Then we see a full shot of Mordor with Barad-dûr to the far right, showcasing that Sauron is consolidating power and has now built his fortress where he will begin his journey of forging the One Ring. This is followed by a voice-over “now the mighty hour has come”.

We then move onto a shot potentially from the First Age where we see Elves dancing in unison with Celeborn and Galadriel, who share an intimate dance where their foreheads touch. It could potentially be speculated that this is a flashback scene to one of the final times Galadriel and Celeborn are together before they separate, as recounted by Galadriel to Theo in Season 1.

We then hear an orc say “The Dark Lord is on the brink of creating a new power” and then there’s a wide shot of Mordor with a bunch of crows in the air flying around, followed up by a shot of Sauron who could be on the top of Barad-dûr with bats flying around him. It may be that the crows are giving him information on our heroes’ travels, similar to how Saruman received similar information at Isengard in the first Lord of the Rings film. This same orc says “One Ring to rule them all” with a shot of one of the Nazgnagôl riding in a forest with Arondir, Galadriel and this same orc hiding under cover. The fact that Galadriel and Arondir haven’t killed this orc yet is interesting, maybe they are keeping him alive to serve their journey or quest.

We then get an amazing shot of a fell beast scouring the air, whilst the Orc says “he’s got armies scouring Middle-earth”. This is potentially a hint towards Sauron’s might and control in Season 3 where he is now in the open, but the question is, what is he trying to discover and find? We then get the Dark Wizard stating “Middle-earth will burn” alongside Arondir seeing a fortress on a mountain with fireballs shot towards it. What could this place be? Is it Pelargir or another human/ Elven settlement?

We are then followed by a quick shot of one of the Nazgnagôl capturing an Elven soldier mid ride on horseback, probably the same location that Galadriel is in where we see her hair braided in the next scene. This is followed by one of the best shots of the trailer which involves one of the fell beasts on the top of what might be Barad-dûr. Are they giving Sauron intelligence?

We then got a shot of Gandalf speaking to someone stating “has it not occurred to you, death might be the price of saving it” hinting that Gandalf this season might be more involved with dealing of Sauron whose plans and schemes might extend towards all corners of Middle-earth, including the East.

We then get a shot of Gil-Galad, Ar-Pharazôn and Lord Belzegar in Númenor walking up a pair of steps, what reason is Gil-galad In Númenor, is he trying to win favour of the Númenóreans before facing Sauron? There is then a rider chasing Galadriel, from close inspection this could potentially be Theo who has grown his hair long thanks to the time jump of five years since Season 2. What reason would he have for chasing Galadriel? We do know both Galadriel and Theo had a discussion in episode 7 of Season 1 about staying towards the light despite the oncoming darkness. This may hint to a potential conflicted character and psyche we see with Theo this season who has just lost his mother and is trying to find his way in life.

“Celeborn where were you?” Galadriel utters with Celeborn replying “trying to get back to you”. We see futher shots with Celeborn in being what seems to be a dungeon where Galadriel finds him. She seems to be in shock which may hint towards the fact that this reunion was unexpected for her. Later in the trailer we see shots of her fighting against Orcs in this dungeon alongside Celeborn stating “we have to stop him”. This may relate to the possibility that Celeborn knows who Sauron is and may have even dealt with him in the past, which may increase the tension for Galadriel as Sauron has held back another one of her loved ones for some time, after already taken Finrod, her brother, which we saw in the prologue of Season 1 episode 1.

There is a Númenórean army with Elendil leading it alongside someone who seems to potentially be his son Anárion who we may get introduced to this season after the end of Season 2, where it seems like Elendil will travel to the western shores of Númenor to meet up with more of the Faithful and possibly raise an army.

Now to the Dwarves: we see a shot of Durin and Disa alongside what could be their children Gerda and Gamli walking over a hill, could they have been cast out of their home? This is because of a later shot in Khazad-dum where we see two of the Nazgnagôl enter Khazad-dûm in an intense exchange with Durin IV, wearing his father’s crown, who states “there are no friends of Mordor here”. Durin’s friend Elrond is also seen in a shot with a mysterious character kneeling behind him. Who could this be and why is he kneeling? This could be in Rivendell and maybe this is a character known to Elrond who hasn’t revealed themselves to him yet.

One of the coolest shots is a mûmak in front of Gandalf, which was teased in Empire’s exclusive magazine cover featuring concept art of such a scene. We then see a plethora of shots with Celeborn and Galadriel kissing, which may indicate that Galadriel freed Celeborn from where he was imprisoned alongside a shot of Círdan in full armour and a full beard.

The trailer ends with Sauron holding up Fëanor’s hammer in the midst of Mount Doom followed by a final shot of him holding a ring with tweezers. This may not be the One Ring, but this may indicate that Sauron this season will be experimenting in trying to forge the One Ring.

Watch the full trailer here: