🍿 'The Rings of Power' is a new fantasy classic in the making

Wednesday

August 31 2022

In the three-thousand and eighteenth year of the Third Age, Elrond assembled a council in Rivendell to decide the fate of the One Ring. And in the summer of 2022, Inverse assembled a council of our own.

Earlier this month, the five female stars of Amazon’s billion-dollar fantasy epic, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, came together to discuss the highly anticipated prequel series in a roundtable interview with Karen Han. Together, they play the elves, humans, and harfoots (nomadic pre-hobbits) that make up the Middle-earth’s mostly-unknown Second Age. (Sauron may also be lurking in the background of Rings of Power, but apparently he’s not doing interviews.)

We also took photos and a behind-the-scenes video with the cast, which you can check out on Inverse today, along with loads more explainers, interviews, and our official review (spoiler alert: this show is epic!).

And now, Inverse Daily.

What's New

Cover Story

Entertainment

The Ladies of the Rings

In October of 2019, actress Morfydd Clark found herself on a 23-hour-long plane ride. She knew the destination: New Zealand. She knew why she was going there: to be part of Amazon’s expansive new show, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — a prequel of sorts to the events laid out in Peter Jackson’s lauded films. She knew she might be there for at least a year. But Clark was missing one crucial detail:

“I moved to New Zealand not knowing who I was playing.”

Soon enough, Clark learned she would be portraying one of the most recognizable characters in The Rings of Power. She was — is — Galadriel, the powerful royal elf originally embodied by Cate Blanchett in Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy. The Rings of Power explores Middle-earth’s Second Age, a period of more than 3,000 years preceding any of the events of The Lord of the Rings.

Fast forward from that 2019 plane ride to this past August, mere weeks before the show’s debut, and Clark has joined four of her female co-stars around a table in Los Angeles for their Inverse cover shoot.

Review

Television

The Rings of Power is a new fantasy classic in the making

Early reports have claimed that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power may end up being the most expensive TV series ever made. To the show’s credit, it’s easy to see why.

The Rings of Power’s immense production budget is on clear display from the moment it begins. The series’ first two episodes (the only installments Amazon Studios allowed critics to screen early) are brimming with some of the most awe-inspiring images that have ever been brought to life on TV.

From the golden lights and leaves that define the Elven kingdom of Lindon to the Earthy shades of gray, green, and blue that comprise the Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm, the Middle-earth presented in The Rings of Power is strikingly different from the one seen in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

The Amazon series’ scope and visual beauty defy all expectations of what a television series can accomplish. To put that another way: J.R.R. Tolkien fans need not be worried about Middle-earth feeling small in The Rings of Power.

Read our review

Interview

Fantasy

Galadriel isn’t the same elf Lord of the Rings fans remember

Galadriel, also known as the Lady of Lórien and the Lady of Light, has a major role — maybe even de facto central protagonist — in the new streaming series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for Prime Video, where she’s played by Morfydd Clark.

“Galadriel is thousands of years old, but she’s not as old as she will become,” Clark tells Inverse. (Elves are immortal, remember.)

“She’s not quite so wise. And she is living in a time of peace, but she knows that’s fragile. She’s not yet lived in a world where the rings exist.”

Because of her younger age and feverish devotion to staying vigilant against evil in a time of peace, the Galadriel seen in The Rings of Power has a long way to go before she becomes the hero — and person worthy of one of the three elven rings — that she’s known to be.

Learn more

Climate Crisis

Science

Greenland's melting ice sheets may cause "ominous" sea level rise

Climate change has caused the Arctic to melt at alarmingly fast rates, and the world may not be prepared for the sea level rise we’re about to face. According to new research, scientists predict that Greenland will lose approximately 3 percent of its ice sheet volume likely by 2100, resulting in just over 10 inches of sea level rise.

This sea level rise will happen whether or not we curb global warming in the future, the study says. It’s not great, scientists say, even calling the sea level rise under the worst-case scenario “ominous.”

The findings were published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Space

Images

New Webb photos show intricate details of the Phantom Galaxy

The James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-InfraRed Instrument, MIRI, zoomed in a spiral galaxy 32 million light years away to help a team of astronomers study the earliest stages of star formation, and the result is a surreal, gorgeous image of M74, also called the Phantom Galaxy.

M74, the Phantom Galaxy, is the Platonic ideal of a spiral galaxy. It’s what astronomers call a “grand design spiral” because its arms are so clear and well-defined — “unlike the patchy and ragged structure seen in some spiral galaxies,” writes the European Space Agency in a recent statement.

(While not naming names, ESA is clearly throwing some shade at the likes of spiral galaxy NGC 4237, which is 60 million light years away and doing its best.)

But don’t judge the Phantom Galaxy solely on its striking appearance; it’s also an interesting and eventful cosmic spot. Astronomers have witnessed three supernovae in M74 just in the past 20 years, and one of those was probably a hypernova.

Take a closer look

Preview

Gaming

Pentiment is a work of peerless brilliance

Obsidian has done it again.

Like any good RPG, Pentiment prides itself on its ability to provide different experiences for different people. That’s partly why it simply feels like an Obsidian Entertainment game despite the lack of spiders, Super Mutants, or sadly underappreciated systems like those of the criminally underrated Alpha Protocol (I’m not bitter, I swear).

If this game isn’t on your radar, it should be — it's a resounding testament to why major studios should be given free rein to explore passion projects, no matter how impractical.

🍿 'The Rings of Power' is a new fantasy classic in the making

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