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Like apprentice, like master
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Season 1
- Galadriel narrates the Opening Monologue just like in The Fellowship Of The Ring.
- At the end of the SDCC 2022 trailer, a Balrog largely identical to the one from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy looms out of the darkness and roars.
- The song "This Wandering Day" contains the "That not all who wonder or wander are lost" verse, a reference to the line "Not all those who wander are lost" from "The Riddle of Strider" in The Fellowship of the Ring. Additionally, in the books the "Wandering Days" is the name the Hobbits give to the period in the Third Age wherein their race wandered westward from around the Anduin River in the northeast of Middle-earth before settling into The Shire over a thousand years before LOTR.
- Morgoth's colossal shadow form with its spiky crown resembles Sauron's final form when he was vanquished in The Return of the King, seen both in a sketch by Tolkien and a painting by Ted Nasmith (pictured here).
- In the prologue showing the war between Morgoth's forces and the Elves, a Fell Beast — largely identical to the ones from The Lord of the Rings films — is shown killing a giant eagle. One infamous question readers of The Lord of the Rings frequently bring up is why they don't fly on the eagles into Mordor, to the point that the Eagles are the top topic on the Headscratchers page — with Fell Beasts and Sauron's other flying minions commonly brought up as one of the counterpoints, like by the movie trilogy's co-writer Philippa Boyens in one of their commentary tracks for the movies.
- The shot of Galadriel with a huge pile of Elf helmets calls to mind the Hill of the Slain, which was a burial mound made by Orcs for the fallen Elves and Men after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears in the First Age.
- The names for several original characters are clearly made to evoke characters from the movies and books:
- The hobbit Nori Brandyfoot, real name Elanor, has the name of Sam Gamgee's daughter for her given name, the name of one of Thorin Oakenshield's dwarves for her nickname, and a surname that's from "Brandybuck" and "Proudfoot".
- For the humans there's Bronwyn and her son Theo, who evoke Éowyn and Théoden, and more obliquely Halbrand, who may evoke Haldir and from the books Halbarad and/or Brand and/or Erkenbrand.
- Disa is named after Dis (or, in-universe, likely the opposite), Thorin Oakenshield's sister and the only female dwarf ever named by Tolkien in the Legendarium.
- Durin and Disa's two children are introduced playing with two giant iron helmets that their father has made. One of them is clearly based on the Dragon-Helm of Dor-lómin, the legendary helmet of Túrin Turanbar.
- Elrond promises Celebrimbor that Prince Durin will give them a feast of salted pork and malt beer, echoing Gimli's words in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings.
- Celebrimbor possesses the hammer of Fëanor, his grandfather and creator of the Silmarils.
- In Nori's introduction, her best friend Poppy warns about the dangers of entering an abandoned farm by stating she has heard of one hundred and ten ways to die in the wilds to which Nori responds by threatening to make the list one hundred and eleven. Both of these numbers were significant as the 110-year-old Bilbo Baggins begins The Fellowship of the Ring with the planning of his 111th birthday party.
- The memorial statues in Lindon feature several figures from The Silmarillion, including Lúthien posed with Huan, the hound of Valinor.
- The Royal Palace in Armenelos looks very similar to the Citadel of Minas Tirith in the Jackson films.
- The Númenoreans are predominantly clothed in blue and gold (or brass). This is in direct reference to a passage from Akallabêth, where Ar-Pharazôn's hosts were described as being arrayed in blue, gold and white.
- In Isildur's introductory scene his name is shouted out the same way Elrond did in the flashback at the Council of Elrond in The Fellowship of the Ring.
- Isildur's friend Valandil shares his name with Isildur's ancestor the first Lord of Andúnië and Isildur's youngest son and successor as King of Arnor.
- Revion's death by arrows resembles Boromir's death in The Fellowship of the Ring.
- Sadoc opens his speech at the festival in similar terms to Bilbo's farewell address.
- Miriel's dream of a great wave overtaking Númenor is similar to Faramir's dream in Lord of the Rings. Tolkien himself had recurring dreams of a great wave washing over green lands, which inspired the creation of Númenor. This is also the ultimate fate of the island itself, as told in Akallabêth.
- Tar-Palantír's chambers contain many references:
- A sword similar in design to the Narsil from Peter Jackson's films.
- A painting on the wall of Lúthien and Beren holding a Silmaril in his hand.
- The Swanshield and the great axe Dramborleg, which both belonged to Tuor, Elrond and Elros' grandfather.
- The original dragon-helm of Dor-lómin, complete with its Dwarvish face-mask.
- When Arondir tries and fails to destroy the sword, he notes that it cannot be destroyed by any skill, echoing Elrond's words about the One Ring at the Council.
- Bronwyn's speech to Theo about there being a light and beauty beyond the Shadow's reach, paraphrases Sam's thoughts in The Return of the King when he sees a star beyond the shadow of Mordor.
- Galadriel and Adar's heated argument about whether Orcs are irredeemably evil or not echoes the fact Tolkien himself also never quite settled on that matter, leading to the Orcs having multiple explanations towards their nature and origin.
- When chasing Adar through the woods in the episode “Udûn”, Galadriel says the words “noro lim” (“ride swift” in Sindarin) to her horse as a plea to hurry. These are the same words said by Glorfindel to his horse Asfaloth in FoTR when he’s being chased by the Ringwraiths. In the film version this was changed to Arwen which holds greater significance with Arwen being Galadriel’s granddaughter.
- "Alloyed":
- Gil-galad describes Elrond's quest to find a solution to their tree problem as "a fool's hope", words that Gandalf would use thousands of years later when talking with Pippin.
- The Stranger's magic duel with the Dweller parallels Gandalf's fights with Saruman and Durin's Bane in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
- When the Stranger confronts the Mystics with the Dweller's staff, their forms change to resemble the ghostly forms of the Nazgûl in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
- Sauron's marriage proposal to Galadriel paraphrases her famous Chewing the Scenery moment from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring where she exposits what would happen if she claimed the One Ring.
- The Stranger states Gandalf's line "When in doubt, always follow your nose" from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
- When Halbrand advises Celebrimbor on how to use Mithril, he says "call it... a gift"; the line is given particular emphasis, referencing Sauron's disguise in the books under the name of Annatar, the Lord of Gifts.
- The episode ends with Sauron venturing into Mordor with a conniving look on his face, much like Gollum at the end of The Two Towers.
