Soon, the forces of darkness will rise on Middle-earth, and the Dark Lord Sauron will forge a ring that will bind all others to his desires. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres its third season next month on Prime Video, and the hype train is officially picking up steam. The latest: a new trio of posters which highlight Sauron himself, along with some of the new creatures of darkness who will aid in his reign of terror.
The Rings of Power has had some ups and downs across its first two seasons, but one place it's never lacked is its visuals. The show is never anything short of breathtaking to watch, and those striking visual sensibilities are on full display in these new graphics. The first shows Sauron (Charlie Vickers) at the head of a group of four Nazgnagôl:
Who are the Nazgnagôl? Are they the same as Nazgûl?
Of all the things teased for The Rings of Power season 3 thus far, the Nazgnagôl are one of the most notable. If you've seen Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, these black-armored beings will immediately call to mind the Nazgûl — that would be the nine Ringwraiths who pursued Frodo Baggins and his allies across Middle-earth during their quest to destroy the One Ring.
The Nazgnagôl are indeed similar to the Nazgûl; from the sounds of things, they may actually even be the exact same beings. The Nazgûl were created by Sauron twisting the minds of nine human kings through rings he'd given them, which we saw forged during season 2. The Nazgnagôl are an earlier "incarnation" of those ring-servants. It hasn't been 100% confirmed if the Nazgnagôl will simply become Nazgûl by the end of the show, and their name is not one J.R.R. Tolkien ever uses in his books. So there's still a bit of mystery surrounding them.
Here's what an official Prime Video press release that dropped about the show's panel at San Diego Comic Con had to say of them: "Introduced this season, [the Nazgnagôl] are ring-servants of Sauron and are the earlier Second Age incarnation of the Nazgûl, also known as Ringwraiths, of the Third Age."
So think of the Nazgnagôl as proto-Nazgûl. I imagine that by the end of season 3, it will become very clear whether these are the exact same Ringwraiths as we see in the Third Age, or simply their predecessors, similar to how the first two seasons of the show unwound the mystery of the Stranger's identity as Gandalf.
Here's another poster featuring a Nazgnagôl, which is definitely giving me the impression we're going to see plenty of them this season:
Seeing one on a horse like this, it's hard not to think back to Frodo's desperate flight from the Shire, where they pursued him and Arwen to the river Bruinen. If the Nazgnagôl can inspire anywhere close to a similar amount of terror, we're going to be in for a treat this season.
The Nazgnagôl aren't the only new force of darkness working for Sauron this season. Our final poster features the Balrog, who was woken from its slumber beneath the dwarven city of Khazad-dûm by all that delving too greedily and too deep King Durin III (Peter Mullan) ordered in season 2.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 picks up five years after the events of season 2. Considering that we saw the Balrog revealed at the end of season 2, I'm very curious whether it's caused any trouble during the intervening five years, or if it will just now start wreaking havoc on Khazad-dûm as season 3 gets underway.
Either way, we know from the trailer that Sauron will go to meet with it, likely urging it to obliterate the dwarven metropolis. The Balrog will actually speak in The Rings of Power, and is voiced by Simon Pegg (Sean of the Dead, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance). What Sauron and this mythic being will discuss, we can safely assume death and destruction are involved.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres its first four episodes November 11 on Prime Video. You can find a full breakdown of its somewhat unusual release schedule here.
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