Wayne Yip, one of the directors of Amazon’s newest fantasy series, The Rings of Power, has revealed the backstory to one of the show’s many impressive spectacles- Númenor’s statues. Telling the story of the Second Age in Middle-earth, 3000 years before the events of Lord of the Rings, Rings of Power has plenty of easter eggs and references to JRR Tolkien’s original work. But thanks to this new scoop, fans can appreciate just how much detail really went into the new TV series.
For those of you who may need a refresher in Tolkien lore, Númenor is a kingdom of men. We get our first look at the civilisation during The Rings of Power episode 3, when Galadriel and Halbrand find themselves on the island and later thrown into its dungeons. During our introduction to Númenor, we see many architectural wonders, including giant statues.
In an interview with the YouTube channel Nerd of the Rings, Yip explained how those works of art actually tie into Middle-earth mythology, as two of the most prominent statues we see are actually depictions of the Lord of the Rings characters Ulmo and Eärendil.
Eärendil is the father of the first king of Númenor, Elros, while Ulmo is basically the Tolkien version of Poseidon, an Aratra who controls the oceans of Arda (the world that includes Middle-earth and the Undying Lands).
“[Ulmo] was the god that gifted them the islands, so we knew that he was going to be upfront and centre welcoming visitors to the island… I don’t know if you ever see it specifically,” Yip explained.
“But we had it so at night from the wharf looking up [Eärendil] looks like he’s pointing up to his star, so it all lines up. It’s one of those things where we felt because there are all these different bridges, they built the statue in a way you could enjoy different aspects of it depending on which bridge you were on at what time of day.”
While Yip shared details about these two big statues, he didn’t disclose any information about another prominent sculpture – the mysterious woman in Númenor’s dungeons. Hopefully, we will get confirmation on her identity soon!
Fans can now watch the first four episodes of The Rings of Power on Amazon’s streaming service, Prime Video. To sign up for a Prime membership, be sure to click our link here. For more from Middle-earth, check out our guide to watching the Lord of the Rings movies in order.