Lord of the Rings Series Title Revealed by Prime Video

On Wednesday, Prime Video officially revealed the title of its upcoming to be The Rings of Power. The video announcing the name features a narrator’s voice reciting the first few lines of the Ring Verse, a poem about the One Ring describing its nature and relation to the other Rings of Power and their master, Sauron: “Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”

While they go unspoken in the video, the Ring Verse’s most famous lines — those inscribed into the One Ring and revealed only by flame — come next: “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.” You can see the video below.

We’ve long known that Prime Video’s Middle-earth set series would occur long before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Instead, it seems it will focus on how the Rings were created and distributed throughout Middle-earth, incorporating other stories of the Second Age.

“This is a title that we imagine could live on the spine of a book next to J.R.R. Tolkien’s other classics. The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men,” said showrunners J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay in a press release. “Until now, audiences have only seen on-screen the story of the One Ring – but before there was one, there were many… and we’re excited to share the epic story of them all.”

During the Second Age of Middle-earth, Sauron sought to corrupt the Elves by posing as Annatar, Lord of Gifts, and teaching particular Elven smiths to forge Rings. The Elves forged 19 rings: 16 with Sauron’s aid (known as the Nine and the Seven) and Three without. Sauron, meanwhile, went to Mount Doom and forged the One Ring in secret, hoping to bind the Elves to his power. However, the Elves bearing the Three sensed immediately when Sauron put on his One Ring. They hid their rings and refused to use them or return them to Sauron. Thus, Sauron amassed his forces and waged war on the Elves, eventually retrieving the Seven and the Nine and redistributing them among lords of Dwarves and Men, respectively. The corruption of men would eventually lead to the fall of Númenor. Sauron’s attempted conquest of Middle-earth would continue until Isildur cut the Ring from his finger during the Last Alliance of Elves and Men’s siege on Barad-dûr. This event marked the dawn of Middle-earth’s Third Age and set the stage for The Lord of the Rings.

What do you think of The Rings of Power being the title of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series? Let us know in the comments. The Rings of Power will debut on Prime Video on September 2nd.