Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, takes us back to the fantastical realm of Middle-earth. As we dive into the show, we’ll head deeper into this world and explore some corners of it that have never been brought on-screen before. And that means meeting a whole lot of new and exciting creatures from Middle-earth. Alongside the many races that populate the universe live a slew of Tolkien’s coolest creations, some enchanting and some terrifying. Here is every one of Middle-earth’s creatures we’ve met so far in Rings of Power.
The Creatures We’ve Seen in Rings of Power Season Two
The Rings of Power season two has already revealed a ton of new creatures to us on the side of both good and evil. Here’s who we’ve met.
Jump to: Hill-Trolls // Shelob // Great Eagles // The Undead Barrow-Wights // Old Man Ironwood // Mordor Mud Serpent
Hill-Trolls
Nothing says evil quite like a troll. In Tolkien’s world, trolls are often monstrous creatures of low intelligence that inhabit Middle-earth. Of course, trolls are often fighting for evil. In The Lord of the Rings‘ world, we have mountain-trolls, cave-trolls, snow-trolls, and, of course, the hill-trolls, creatures that we’ll be seeing in The Rings of Power season two. Last season, Galadriel encountered a snow-troll (which you can read about below) at Forodwaith, so we’ll be interested to see how the two kinds of trolls differ.
In episode two of The Rings of Power we specifically met Damrod the Hill-troll, who seems hungry for Sauron’s blood. Showrunner Patrick McKay calls this creature, the “eater of dragon bones.” Incredibly though, he’ll be voiced by Benjamin Walker, who also plays High King Gil-galad. Two very different roles.
This hill-troll will join Adar in the growing ranks of darkness that come together as Sauron risees to power. But Damrod’s inspiration may not be what you expect. McKay notes, “[He] was inspired in part by Mike Ehrmantraut in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. If you look at the way he moves and his casual sense of strength.” What an incredible crossover moment.
Shelob
Episode three of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two introduces us to a familiar spider creature, yes, it’s young Shelob. Shelob had Isildur briefly trapped in her web, but he managed to escape and save the life of his horse Berek as well. Phew. Isildur stabs Shelob in the eye as well, which star Maxim Baldry says is a call out to the injury Shelob bears in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King movie. In this way, the separate universe can be tied together. Thanks for that neat Easter (spider) egg, Shelob.
Great Eagles
Middle-earth’s great eagles are back in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two. In this case, the huge winged creature arrives during Númenor’s coronation, ostensibly to bless Queen Míriel’s reign. But, of course, humans never get it right. The appearance of this Middle-earth creature on The Rings of Power was instead taken to mean Ar-Pharazon should be crowned king. Hrm…
In Tolkien’s lore, great eagles are seen as messengers of Manwë, the greatest god of Middle-earth. They serve to deliver messages for the god and also act as his spies. At times, the great eagles also interfere in The Lord of the Rings‘ affairs to assist the worthy in need, such as Gandalf when he was trapped on Saruman’s tower, or the hobbits Frodo and Sam when they needed to escape Mordor after the destruction of the One Ring.
The Undead Barrow-wights
Tolkien’s Barrow-wights arrived on the scene in episode four of The Rings of Power. These Lord of the Rings creatures were not actually in The Lord of the Rings movies by Peter Jackson but will come to live-action thanks to The Rings of Power. The ghoulish Barrow-wights are ancient heroes who have been reanimated and are now forced to act for evil. The Rings Of Power VFX supervisor Jason Smith share, “It was super-exciting to take on something I hadn’t seen before. We’ve seen undead before, but not like this. We’re doing a little horror movie in Middle-earth.” The Barrow-wights were once people of nobility, “Kings, queens, high-ranking officials,” according to Smith, and shreds of this past appears in their now undead form. Creepy!
Old Man Ironwood
The Rings of Power season two introduced as to a curious creature that reminded us of another character from The Lord of the Rings. In Tom Bombadil’s garden, The Stranger was almost consumed by a hungry tree called Old Man Ironwood. Of course, in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, Merry and Pippin almost meet the same fate, but they’re entrapped by Old Man Willow instead. Perhaps these grumpy trees are distant cousins.
Mordor Mud Serpent (AKA Lunch)
In the swamps of the Southlands/Mordor, Isildur and Arondir are almost consumed by a quicksand. But it turns out there’s much more than mud in the swamps. Lurking in the depths of the muck is an angry, serpent-like monster. Arondir says nameless things lurk in the land, but does name this The Rings of Power creature, lunch.
Sea Monster
The Rings of Power season two trailer also introduces us to a brand new sea monster. Is it a creature from Tolkien lore or just another Lovecraftian horror? More context is necessary.
Jump to: Hill-Trolls // Shelob // Great Eagles // The Undead Barrow-Wights // Old Man Ironwood // Mordor Mud Serpent
The Creatures We’ve Seen in Rings of Power Season One
Of course, season one of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power had its fair share of cool creatures too.
Jump to: Snow Troll // Valinor’s Spirit Birds // The Worm // Wolves (Possibly Werewolves) // Wargs // The Balrog
Snow Troll
In episode one of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Galadriel pushes her company of elves to the far reaches of northern Middle-earth. The viewers are along for the ride as the elves enter the chilly arms of Forodwaith, the Northernmost Waste, in search of a stronghold of orcs and Sauron. While the orcs have long vanished, as has their dark lord, the evil in the stronghold remains. The only thing that flourishes there is a Snow Troll.
We don’t get to learn too much about this foul The Rings of Power creature. But we know the troll contains tough stuff because no light reaches this area of Middle-earth… And certainly very little living. The snow troll viciously attacks the elves, although, to be fair, it probably wasn’t expecting visitors. But Galadriel dispatches it before it can do much harm.
Snow-trolls are mentioned once in Tolkien’s work, a reference in The Lord of the Rings‘ Appendix A. But the denizen of Middle-earth has been brought to life in video games a couple of times, and now in The Rings of Power. With ill-omens growing and Sauron’s sigils appearing around every corner, we may not have seen the last of the snow troll.
Valinor’s Spirit Birds
Of course, Middle-earth and the rest of Tolkien’s world is also a place of magic and great beauty. Thus, some of its creatures have to fill us with joy. And we get a taste of this wonder as The Rings of Power reveals to us Valinor, the elven homeland. Earlier in the episode, Elrond describes the journey into Valinor. He notes, “When you cross over, you hear a song, one whose memory we all carry, and you are immersed in a light more intoxicating than any sensation in all of Middle-earth.” And this is exactly what we see before us. But what Elrond doesn’t mention are some of the most beautiful creatures we see in The Rings of Power.
As Galadriel and the rest of the elves prepare to cross over, a flock of glorious sea birds fills the air. These birds appear to come from Manwë, who represents a kind of chief god in Middle-earth’s mythology. In The Silmarillion, we learn that “all birds are dear” to Manwë. So it makes sense he welcomes the elves back home with a flock.
The Worm (Sea Serpent)
Another new location that The Rings of Power introduces us to is the Sundering Seas. These waters lay west of Middle-earth, and elves must cross them in order to reach Valinor (they depart from the Grey Havens). Of course, like any other ocean, Middle-earth’s seas contain creatures lurking in the deep that you’d probably rather not meet.
Although Galadriel is at peace with her decision not to journey to Valinor, she finds herself stranded in monster-filled waters. A sea serpent, known in The Rings of Power as “The Worm,” slithers through the Sundering Seas, wreaking havoc. Galadriel meets a group of people whose ship this Rings of Power creature destroyed, and she nearly ends up in the belly of the beast herself.
Although the Worm seems to attack indiscriminately, we suspect the Middle-earth monster may be under the sway of Sauron.
Wolves (Possibly Werewolves)
Wolves are on the prowl in this Lord of the Rings series. But Middle-earth’s wolves may not be ordinary creatures in The Rings of Power. Nori Brandyfoot and a group of other Harfoots almost meet one of these wild beings in a berry field, but luckily they spy a warning track. The track is massive, though, and when we see the wolf… It feels like something greater is at work.
We get the same feeling when the wolves attack the Harfoots as they migrate through an eerie forest. There are a few different wolf-like creatures in The Lord of the Rings‘ world, including werewolves and wargs. In Middle-earth’s lore, werewolves are wolves Sauron bred for evil. In each wolf, Sauron imprisoned an evil spirit creating a new kind of creature. Now that we’ve met a warg, though, we know this wolf is something else. So we’re back to betting on this The Rings of Power being a werewolf.
Wargs
In episode three of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, we meet the loathsome creatures known as the wargs. These wargs are also wolflike in nature and are being used as attack dogs by the Orcs. The wargs have a powerful snarl and even deadlier teeth. As compared to the sleek menace of the (potential) werewolves, they appear to be a much more savage Lord of the Rings creature. The warg we meet in Rings of Power attacks on a pure evil instinct and a hunger for blood. In season two of The Rings of Power, we see Sauron charm the warg and order it to kill poor old Waldreg.
In Tolkien’s lore, wargs are a specific breed of wolf that lives in the Misty Mountains. In The Lord of the Rings books, wargs were associated with orcs and sometimes goblins. And in The Rings of Power, they definitely follow that tradition… And that is bad news for our favorite Harfoots, elves, or any other creature.
Balrogs
In episode seven of The Rings of Power, a dark creature emerges from the depths. It looks like all that dwarven mining for mithril has awakened a grave danger in the depths of their mines, the Balrog. In The Lord of the Rings‘ lore, the Balrog is a a powerful spirit that becomes demonic at the hands of Morgoth. Famously, a Balrog nearly destroys the wizard Gandalf in an epic battle during The Fellowship of the Ring. The Balrog of Khazad-dûm has awakened a little earlier than we expected it to, but we have not doubt it will soon bring a lot of trouble to the dwarves and many others.
Middle-earth’s Creatures
As The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues to air, we’re sure we’ll see many more of Middle-earth’s creatures. Hopefully, a few less that would eat us and a few more we can admire. Either way, we’re excited to continue this new journey through Tolkien’s world.
Jump to: Snow Troll // Valinor’s Spirit Birds // The Worm // Wolves (Possibly Werewolves) // Wargs // The Balrog
Originally published on September 1, 2022.
