The princess is locked away by a monstrous villain, and it’s up to a valiant knight to take up his sword and save her. It’s a tale as old as time, and one we’ve seen in countless video games — including every main entry of The Legend of Zelda. But now, the princess finally gets her chance to shine, and with her sword (and a legion of loyal monsters) at her side, proves she’s more than worthy of saving the realm this time around.

The giant, glowing marquee over The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is that it’s the first game to make Princess Zelda its protagonist. (We’re ignoring the CD-i games for this distinction.) That twist has been a long time coming, and it makes Echoes of Wisdom a fresh take on the classic series. Rather than making the game a standard Legend of Zelda adventure with a different star, Echoes of Wisdom takes a new approach with its combat and puzzle-solving to fit its change in perspective. That alone makes it one of the most exciting Legend of Zelda games in ages. While there’s plenty that could be improved if Nintendo continues making Zelda-starring games (which I hope it does), Echoes of Wisdom’s clever, incredibly versatile echo mechanic makes it the star debut Zelda deserves.

The realm of Middle-earth can be a vast, sprawling place, particularly for a Hobbit. But the halflings of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power still manage to find their way, even as their world gets even bigger with the introduction of another race of Hobbits, the Stoors.

The lands of Rhûn host untold surprises, upping the stakes within The Rings of Power’s second season. Not only is this desert home to the cheeky Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) and so-called Dark Wizard (Ciaran Hinds), but it’s also (possibly) the homeland for Hobbits themselves. That certainly comes as a surprise to Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards), nomadic Harfoots who have been wandering through Middle-earth for generations in search of a place to call home.

“They are having a sort of cultural education of their history,” Richards tells Inverse of Nori and Poppy’s journey. “A lot of stuff that they know from their immediate ancestors are told in tales or song or stories. It’s never been an actual factual thing.”

The “Walking Song” that once seemed more like a nursery rhyme is actually a map to the Stoor community in Rhûn, and that’s not the only revelation that the pair discover this season. Ahead of The Rings of Power’s final episodes, Inverse sat down with Kavenagh, Richards, and Tanya Moodie — who plays the leader of the Stoors, Gundabale Earthauler — to break down past, present, and future for the halflings of Middle-earth.