The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s second season will visit a Middle-earth location we’ve never seen in live-action before: Rhûn. So, where exactly is The Rings of Power Season 2’s Rhûn region, and why does it matter?
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The Rings of Power Season 2’s Rhûn Region, Explained
Rhûn is the name of the Eastern lands of Middle-earth. That’s literally what “Rhûn” translates to in Sindarin Elvish: “East.” For context, both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit take place in the West; that’s also where most of The Rings of Power Season 1 is set, as well. As such, Rhûn is a largely unexplored region. We know that Sauron’s human Easterling troops come from there, and we know a bit about its geography, but not much else. It matters because of its ties to Sauron’s plans for world domination, however, it’s ultimately a cipher. Indeed, this gap in J.R.R. Tolkien’s largely fleshed-out lore is what drew The Rings of Power showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay to the region.
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“We’re really excited about [Rhûn], ” Mackay told Nerdist. “We’ve never seen deserts on-screen in Middle-earth. And we’re really excited to go there. We think deserts are beautiful and awesome, and we’re doing our own Tolkienian Lawrence of Arabia. And one of the things that’s been fun about that is, Rhûn is really a blank canvas. There’s little hints [in the books]. There’s talk about magic cults and talk about the stars being strange, and there’s rumors of Wizards having adventures in Rhûn that may or may not have gone well. And we’re drawing on all of that, all those seeds, to hopefully continue to tell a story that feels worthy of the other canonical stories in here.”
How Do Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Books Describe Rhûn?
As noted above, Tolkien doesn’t really cover Rhûn in much detail in The Lord of the Rings and associated works. Notably, he mentions the first Elves and Men coming from the East before most of them migrated West. The Men who stuck around became the Easterlings, who fell in with Sauron’s boss, Morgoth (and later, Sauron himself). Tolkien also mentions Wizards visiting Rhûn, including the Blue Wizards and (potentially) Saruman. This broadly fits with The Rings of Power Season 2, which will portray at least two members of the order kicking around in the East. That said, unlike The Rings of Power Season 2, Tolkien never had Tom Bombadil venture to Rhûn.
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What about Rhûn’s landscape? Tolkien wasn’t much more forthcoming on that subject, either. We still know a little bit, though. For example, a large body of water, the Sea of Rhûn, appears on various Middle-earth maps. These maps, together with Tolkien’s writings, also confirm the presence of forests in the region, as well as mountain ranges. There’s also a throwaway reference to the Last Desert in The Hobbit, although fans continue to debate whether this arid area actually exists!
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 premieres on Prime Video on Aug. 29, 2024.
Published: Aug 20, 2024 07:24 am