What is the Lord of the Rings fire pit in The Rings of Power?

Amazon released a trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power last week, and it got people talking. Young Galadriel and Elrond! Sweeping shots of Middle-earth! A comet streaking through the sky and then a man gets out of the comet and holds a hobbit’s hand!

That last one is weird, but that is indeed what happens, which we can tell when we cross-reference the trailer with a report from Vanity Fair, whose lucky reporters have seen the first three episodes. First, we see the Elven king Gil-galad look up and see a comet streak across the sky:

Then, later, we see that the comet has landed. There is a man inside played by actor Daniel Weyman. He encounters a harfoot (that’s what hobbits were called during the Second Age) named Nori:

The final shot of the trailer is the two of them holding hands. And that’s all very interesting, but who is this comet man, and where did he come from?

Lord of the Rings fire pit

I’ll be upfront: we don’t know who this guy is. There’s definitely nothing in The Lord of the Rings appendices, which is what the show is based on, about a guy falling out of the sky and crashing in a hobbit settlement.

However, we can make our guesses. My best guess is that the guy is an Ainur, a god-like being who lives beyond the skies of Middle-earth. In the mythology of The Lord of the Rings, the Ainur created Middle-earth. Some of them, called the Valar, decided to descend into Middle-earth and live there. Many lesser Ainur called Maiar came with them.

The Lord of the Rings doesn’t talk about the Ainur explicitly, but they are important to the story. Sauron, for instance, is a Maiar spirit who has been causing trouble since the early days of Middle-earth. Wizards like Gandalf and Saruman are also Maiar. So these guys are around even if we don’t know their pasts.

So I think the comet guy is a Maiar who has chosen to come to Middle-earth for some reason…or he’s just a hardy dude who got loaded into a catapult and flung over a castle wall. It’s too early to tell.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres on Amazon Prime Video on September 2.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels