The Rings of Power, So Far

Sixteen episodes, three Elven rings and one very patient villain: a spoiler-filled refresher before season three opens with four episodes on Wednesday.

By Casie Stewart November 9, 2026 4 min read

Photo: Prime Video Published 9 Nov 2026 Edited by Andrew Lovesey

Spoiler warning: this recap covers both seasons of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power so far.

The genius of a prequel is that everyone knows how it ends. The question The Rings of Power keeps asking is how a world this wary could still be talked into its own ruin. Two seasons and 16 episodes on Prime Video have answered a good deal of that. Season three arrives Wednesday, 11 November, with four episodes at once, so here is where Middle-earth stands.

Season one: a stranger at Galadriel’s side

The first season follows elves, dwarves, men and Harfoots across Middle-earth, long before the Fellowship. The elf Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) spends much of it in the company of Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), a mysterious man she grows to suspect. Her intervention brings the island kingdom of Númenor into the fight to defend the Southlanders against a rising tide of orcs.

Charlie Vickers as Halbrand and Morfydd Clark as Galadriel in The Rings of Power season 1 — In pictures 4

Morfydd Clark and Tyroe Muhafidin cross a burning landscape after the eruption in The Rings of Power season 1 — In pictures 4

It goes badly. Orcs dig trenches that channel water into a simmering volcano, and the eruption buries the once-green Southlands in ash and flame. The land has a new name: Mordor. In the chaos, Queen-regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is blinded, and the sea captain Elendil (Lloyd Owen) believes his son Isildur (Maxim Baldry) has been killed. Back on Númenor, senators who never liked an alliance with an elf grow restless.

Mithril, and three rings

Elsewhere, Elrond (Robert Aramayo) leans on his old friend Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur) for mithril, the ore the dwarves of Khazad-dûm had stopped mining because it was dangerous. Elrond hopes it might preserve the elves’ immortality. When Durin’s father, the king, finds out, Durin loses his title and Elrond is banished from the kingdom.

Halbrand, meanwhile, travels to the elven city of Lindon and suggests that the smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) forge rings of power. Using the little mithril he has, Celebrimbor makes three, for the elves. Only then does Galadriel confront Halbrand and learn the truth: he is Sauron.

The season’s other thread follows the wandering Harfoots, who take in a stranger (Daniel Weyman) who fell from the sky. He is revealed to be one of the Istari, the wizards, and the season ends with him and the young Harfoot Nori (Markella Kavenagh) setting off together in search of who he is.

Season two: the Lord of Gifts

Cast out by Galadriel, Sauron begins the second season without an army or allies, and has to rebuild by cunning. He bargains with Adar, then takes a new face: Annatar, the emissary known as the Lord of Gifts. He wins over Celebrimbor with help and knowledge and oversees the making of more rings, including rings for the dwarves, which Sauron hopes will bind the peoples of Middle-earth to his will.

The cracks spread. Darkness falls over Khazad-dûm, and Durin grows suspicious of the Dwarven Rings. The three Elven rings face judgment among the elves. On Númenor, Míriel faces rising opposition, and Elendil faces judgment. Isildur, alive after all, reunites with an old friend and joins Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) in a search for the young Southlander Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin). Galadriel and Elrond walk into a trap and Galadriel weighs a proposition. The Stranger finds what he has been searching for, Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) makes his live-action debut, and Ciarán Hinds joins as a figure billed only as the Dark Wizard.

The seventh episode decides Eregion’s fate, and the finale pits the free peoples against the forces of darkness. Eregion falls.

Where season three begins

Amazon MGM Studios and About Amazon have set the scene: five years have passed since the fall of Eregion, and Middle-earth is at war. Sauron’s armies have taken most of the world, the dwarves of Khazad-dûm are sealed inside their mountain, and the elven realms of Lindon and Rivendell survive under the protection of their three rings. In Barad-dûr, Sauron works on a power meant to subdue his remaining enemies. The studio titled its trailer announcement after the forging of the One Ring.

Amazon now bills Weyman’s Stranger as Gandalf and Durin as King Durin IV, and Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle), Míriel, Elendil, Isildur, Disa (Sophia Nomvete), Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker), Arondir, the Dark Wizard and Tom Bombadil all return. New arrivals include Jamie Campbell Bower as Celeborn, Galadriel’s long-lost husband; Eddie Marsan as Thrain, Durin’s older brother; Zubin Varla as Khamûl, the Easterling of Rhûn; Andrew Richardson as Anárion, Isildur’s younger brother; Adam Young as the orc Marnûkh; and Simon Pegg as the voice of the Balrog. Our earlier story has the full season three trailer, cast and schedule, and for those planning a trip, there is our guide to where The Lord of the Rings was filmed.

Also coming to Prime Video this month: Blade Runner 2099.

Where to watch

The Rings of Power seasons one and two (16 episodes): Prime Video, all markets (CA, US, UK, AU, NZ), streaming now
Season three, episodes one to four: Prime Video, all markets, Wednesday, 11 November
Episodes five and six: Prime Video, Wednesday, 18 November
Episodes seven and eight: Prime Video, Wednesday, 25 November

Sources

Amazon MGM Studios
fantasy TV
Galadriel
Lord of the Rings
Prime Video
recap
Sauron
The Rings of Power

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