The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 continues its push to lure in more Lord of the Rings fans, with the latest teaser revealing a first look at the stoors. Lord of the Rings fans know the stoors all too well – the Hobbit-like race whose members include Smeagol, the stoor who would be transformed into the decrepit Gollum by the evil of the One Ring.
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Season 2 of The Rings of Power will see the other Hobbit-like race of Middle-earth, the Harfoots, migrating into the desert region of Rhûn, where they will run into some “distant cousins” in the stoors. The stoors’ community is led by Gundabel (Tanya Moodie), and their settlement will be a lot different than the Harfoots’ in that the stoors have given up the nomadic way of life.
“The stoors’ ancestry at some point was nomadic,” Moodie told EW. “But over the years, we as a group have settled and that has become our culture, to look after one another.”
The series will play with the known lore of the stoors from Lord of the Rings – namely that they were riverfolk and Smeagol was one of them. As always, however, don’t expect Rings of Power to make the connective threads to Lord of the Rings very strong or direct:
“While I was doing it, I was wondering whether or not I’m related to Sméagol,” Moodie explained. “But I couldn’t justify any sort of narrative like, ‘Oh, I’m his great-great-grandmother.’ That felt like a bit of a reach.”
Being stationary means the stoors have a more intricate and developed culture than the Harfoots – complete with advancements like recorded history, cultural practices, and (behind-the-scenes) a very detailed style of production design and costuming. The desert setting will also allow Rings of Power to do what it loves to: find spaces to expand J.R.R. Tolkien’s lore in novel ways. The stoors starting in desert (compared to where we find them in LOTR) is certainly that
As one stoor actress (Gavi Sing Chera, who plays “Merimac”) describes:
“In the books, the stoors are known for loving water. I think it’s so interesting that their origins are a really arid and dry environment, a place where water is sacred. So if you then travel and you come across a river, and this is your history, it must seem like the ultimate oasis.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 will begin streaming on Amazon Prime Video on August 29th.
