'Rings of Power' video sets up the return of Tolkien's most underrated creatures

One of the most intriguing elements of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is that it’s set thousands of years before the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies.

However, just because The Rings of Power is set to explore a period of Middle-earth that no other project has before, that doesn’t mean there won’t be recognizable iconography or characters. In fact, there are probably going to be more familiar characters in The Rings of Power than casual fans expect.

Thanks to a recent promo, Amazon Studios even has fans speculating that The Rings of Power will feature appearances from some of the most imaginative and iconic creatures that J. R. R. Tolkien ever created.

The Theory — Earlier this month, Amazon released a new Lord of the Rings-themed promo video called “The Earth Needs More Elf Fans.” The video follows a young boy who begins reading Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and quickly finds himself not only immersed in the world of Middle-earth, but also a like-minded fan community.

In addition to promoting the spirit of fandom, the promo video is littered with notable Tolkien references, some of which are more obvious than others. However, there’s no moment in the promo more notable than when the boy looks out his classroom window and sees the tree outside turn into an Ent.

The Ents, of course, are sentient tree-like creatures that serve as shepherds to Middle-earth’s trees. The inclusion of an Ent in Amazon’s recent promo has therefore led fans to speculate that the tree-like beings may appear in The Rings of Power.

The Trees Are Alive — While the video doesn’t actually feature any new footage from The Rings of Power — nor is it branded as a promo for the live-action series — it’s not outlandish to assume that the Ents might appear in the upcoming prequel show. The Ents are, after all, some of the oldest beings in Middle-earth, and are said to have come into existence long before the events of the Second Age, the era in which The Rings of Power is primarily set.

So it wouldn’t break Tolkien canon for the Ents to be around during the events of The Rings of Power. In fact, it would make a lot of sense for them to be involved in the show’s story at certain points, given some of the events that take place throughout the Second Age. Specifically, the forests of Middle-earth are greatly depleted by both Sauron and the Númenóreans at this time.

If that fact is touched on by The Rings of Power, then it should be expected that the Ents will appear in some capacity. Whether that also means the series will explore the divide between the Ents and the Entwives, however, is another mystery altogether.

The Inverse Analysis — Given how Amazon has handled its publicity campaign for The Rings of Power over the past year, it seems safe to say that Tolkien fans won’t know if the Ents are in the new prequel series until one actually shows up. However, Amazon’s decision to focus on the Ents in its recent promo certainly makes it seem like there’s a good chance the beings will be included in The Rings of Power.

The fact that including the Ents would actually make sense within the context of The Rings of Power’s timeline only makes their inclusion that much more likely.

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