• Source: Adar (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power)

      • "Adar" is the third episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The series is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Set thousands of years before the novel in Middle-earth's Second Age, the episode introduces the island kingdom of Númenor. It was written by Jason Cahill and Justin Doble, and directed by Wayne Che Yip.
      The series was ordered in November 2017. J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were set to develop it in July 2018. Filming for the first season took place in New Zealand, and work on episodes beyond the first two began in January 2021. Yip was revealed to be directing four episodes of the season that March, including the third. Production wrapped for the season in August 2021. A lot of effort was put into the design of Númenor and its culture, which had not been seen in previous Tolkien adaptations. The episode also introduces Orc culture in the series, with the Orcs being primarily created with practical prosthetics. The design of the Orcs' Warg in the episode was based on chihuahuas.
      "Adar" premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on September 9, 2022. It was estimated to have high viewership and received generally positive reviews. The episode received two awards as well as a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award nomination for its prosthetic makeup.


      Plot


      The captured Arondir is taken to an Orc construction camp where other captives are digging trenches somewhere in the Southlands. These allow the Orcs, who are sensitive to sunlight, to move during the day. Arondir finds his fellow Elves Médhor and Revion have also been brought there, and they begin planning their escape. When Revion refuses to cut down a tree in their path, the Orcs kill Médhor. Arondir agrees to cut down the tree. He sees that the surrounding area has become poisoned and desolate.
      Galadriel and Halbrand are picked up by a ship captained by Elendil who takes them to Númenor, an island kingdom ruled by Men. Relations between the island and the Elves have grown strained, and Queen Regent Míriel denies Galadriel's request for a ship back to Middle-earth. Elendil is assigned to watch over Galadriel and he takes her to the kingdom's Hall of Lore. They discover that the mark of Sauron is actually a map of the Southlands, where a new realm for evil forces is planned.
      Halbrand gets into a fight with some Númenóreans and is imprisoned. Galadriel finds him and reveals that she knows he is the true king of the Southlands, descended from the Man who united the tribes of the Southlands and was loyal to Morgoth. She asks him to return to Middle-earth with her to redeem both of their bloodlines. Meanwhile, Elendil's son Isildur nears the end of his training as a naval cadet, but has been encouraged by his brother Anárion to postpone his graduation against Elendil's wishes.
      The evening before the Harfoots' next migration, the Stranger accidentally reveals himself to the rest of the Harfoots while trying to read some star maps. The shocked Harfoots consider exiling Nori Brandyfoot for helping the Stranger, but she is forgiven because of her young age. The next day, the Harfoots start migrating and the Brandyfoots struggle to keep up due to Largo, Nori's father, who has an injured ankle. The Stranger follows them and helps them with their cart.
      Arondir, Revion, and some other captives attempt to escape from the Orcs when the Sun is highest. The Orcs send a Warg to attack them, which Arondir kills. Revion makes it out of the trench but is killed by archers. Arondir is unable to get free and is brought before the mysterious leader of the Orcs, Adar.


      Production




      = Development

      =
      Amazon acquired the television rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55) in November 2017. The company's streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, ordered a series based on the novel and its appendices to be produced by Amazon Studios in association with New Line Cinema. It was later titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Amazon hired J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay to develop the series and serve as showrunners in July 2018. Jason Cahill and Justin Doble joined the series as writers by July 2019, and Wayne Che Yip was set to direct four episodes of the first season by March 2021. The series was originally expected to be a continuation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) film trilogies, but Amazon later clarified that their deal with the Tolkien Estate required them to keep the series distinct from Jackson's films. Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films. Amazon said in September 2019 that the first season would be filmed in New Zealand, where Jackson's films were made.
      The series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings. Because Amazon did not acquire the rights to Tolkien's other works where the First and Second Ages are primarily explored, the writers had to identify references to the Second Age in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and its appendices, and create a story that bridged those passages. The first season focuses on introducing the setting and major heroic characters to the audience. Written by Cahill and Doble, and directed by Yip, the third episode is titled "Adar".


      = Writing

      =

      The showrunners said the first two episodes of the series had a lot of worldbuilding to do and introduced a lot of different "worlds", but the third episode introduced the "biggest world yet" in the island kingdom of Númenor. They said visiting Númenor was one of the key reasons for making a series set in the Second Age, noting that it is a major location in the history of Tolkien's works with its own important lore, characters, and ideas.: 24:34–29:04  The episode was referred to as a second pilot by the writers because so much of the Númenórean world is established in it. Doble felt there was a lot of exposition required before they could focus on the Númenórean characters in future episodes.: 2:33–2:49  Each group of characters in the series is introduced at "a time of enormous change in their worlds" which the showrunners hoped would help make the series more dramatic. This includes the Númenóreans, who they said are "at a tipping point in [their] politics and culture. And [we] introduce them at the moment that Galadriel, an Elf, returns to the island and is going to set all those conflicts simmering." Executive producer Lindsey Weber elaborated that the Númenóreans "were given the island by the Elves. And half of the population or so feels very indebted and connected to Elven ways, and half or so feel that they are their own people who do things in the Númenórean way". Because of this, the arrival of an Elf on the island in this episode has a big impact on their society.
      The tunnels that are being dug by the Orcs through the beautiful landscape of the Southlands were inspired by the trenches of World War I.: 24:09–28:15  The scene where Arondir reluctantly cuts down a tree was originally improvised by actor Ismael Cruz Córdova during his audition for the series. He explained that cutting down a tree is one of the most difficult things an Elf can do due to their spiritual connection to nature, and he felt this only added to the character's struggles after losing his friend and father figure in the episode.: 1:11–2:57 


      = Casting

      =

      The season's cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel, Maxim Baldry as Isildur, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir, Trystan Gravelle as Pharazôn, Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows, Ema Horvath as Eärien, Markella Kavenagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot, Lloyd Owen as Elendil, Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow, Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot, Charlie Vickers as Halbrand, Daniel Weyman as the Stranger, and Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot. Also starring in the episode are Augustus Prew as Médhor, Simon Merrells as Revion, Anthony Crum as Ontamo, Alex Tarrant as Valandil, Beau Cassidy as Dilly Brandyfoot, Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva, Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma, Joseph Mawle as Adar, Jed Brophy as Vrath, Antonio Te Maioha as the sail master, Edward Clendon as Lurka, Luke Hawker as Magrot, Phil Grieve as Bazur, Phil Vaughan as the smithy, and Jason Hood as Tamar. Robert Strange plays an unnamed Orc in the episode.


      = Design

      =
      One of the initial "guideposts" that the showrunners gave production designer Ramsey Avery was to ensure that the audience could easily identify the different cultures of Middle-earth in the series. Costume designer Kate Hawley had created mood boards that established a design language for each Middle-earth culture and Avery was thankful that he could use these as the starting point for his own work.: 20:33–33:08  A "war room" was assembled where the design language for each culture was defined. Dialect coach Leith McPherson, who also worked on the Hobbit films, established different dialects for each culture.: 46  The production had use of seven stages and multiple backlot spaces across Auckland Film Studios, Kumeu Film Studios, and Kelly Park Film Studios; Kelly Park is a former equestrian center where they could dig into the dirt floor. Wētā Workshop created props, weapons, prosthetics, and more. Daniel Reeve, who was responsible for calligraphy and maps on the films, returned to do the same for the series and to invent new writing systems for some of the cultures.


      High Men


      Payne, McKay, and Avery put a lot of focus on designing Númenor, especially because it had not been seen in previous Tolkien adaptations. The showrunners said they were obsessed with getting the design right and depicting Númenor as the "greatest kingdom of Men that ever existed".: 24:34–29:04  Avery worked closely with Yip on the designs before confirming them with the showrunners. They planned out the entire city, with three layers of architecture based on Tolkien's history of Númenor: the original Elvish layer, which is vertical and ethereal; a more "Mannish" layer as the Númenóreans developed their own culture; and an anti-Elvish layer as they cut ties with the Elves. Because the realm of Gondor in the films is founded by Númenóreans, Avery wanted Númenor to look like the inspiration for the Gondor city Minas Tirith but with more "grandeur, beauty, and richness".

      Tolkien compared Númenor to Venice, so Avery studied that city and mirrored its connection to water. He used the color blue in a lot of the city's locations to emphasize the culture's relationship with water and sailing. He also used Venetian glass for many of its light sources.: 4:06–11:08  Tolkien said Men were the most creative race due to their short lifespans, which is shown in Númenórean designs with bold shapes and ornamentation. The city's "looming marble structures" and "bold shapes, rich colors, and geometrical ornament[s]" were inspired by Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, and the rest of North Africa and the Middle East. Designs from Ancient Rome, Babylon, and the Minoan civilization were also referenced to make Númenor feel more ancient. A digital model of the city was created in Unreal Engine which the practical sets and final visual effects were both based on. Avery worked with Julien Gauthier at visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to work out the topography of Númenor, combining footage of the Aldermen Islands, Mokohinau Islands, cliffs near Kahurangi National Park, and the gorges of the Rangitīkei River. Númenor's harbor includes a giant statue of Eärendil that welcomes ships to the city. The statue includes a carving of a Silmaril on its brow and a bird on one shoulder that represents Eärendil's wife Elwing. Eärendil is the father of Elrond, a key character in the series, and Elros who is the first king of Númenor.: 24:34–29:04 
      The main set for Númenor was almost 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) and was described as "an entire seaside city" with buildings, a market, a smithy, alleyways, shrines, graffiti, and a ship docked at the harbor inside a large water tank. The set was built on the backlot at Kumeu Film Studios, and took four or five months to build. Avery's team used a form of Roman concrete, created with seashells, to show some of the city's history. They also included real plants, fruits, and incense on set so it smelled like a real city to the actors. There are visible graves around the city because Avery wanted there to always be a sense of death hanging over the Númenóreans, due to a fear of death and a resentment of the immortal Elves being key drivers for the Númenórean story.: 11:58–19:33  Another recurring motif is the Sun, because Men appear in Tolkien's history when the Sun first rises,: 20:33–33:08  and as a reference to Icarus flying too close to the Sun in Greek mythology which was considered to be an apt metaphor for the Númenóreans. Reeve developed a history for Númenórean language and writing, tracking how they went from writing in the Elvish tengwar script to using a new script for their language Adûnaic. This was used for notes on message boards throughout the city which have lore-relevant messages written in Adûnaic.: 24:34–29:04  Yip said the Númenor sets were "breathtaking... we were there for weeks, but every day I'd notice a new detail".
      Additional sets were made for specific locations within the city. The showrunners were inspired by the painting The School of Athens (1509–1511) by Raphael for their depiction of Númenor's court room, which is circular and does not have the throne elevated. Avery said this showed that the Númenóreans live with a sense of control and have no fear of dictators or enemies. The layers of Númenórean history were also reflected in these additional sets. For example, the Númenórean dungeon was designed to be a centuries-old Elvish-style shrine to Uinen, a Maia related to the sea, that had been converted into a holding cell by the anti-Elf Númenóreans in recent decades. It includes a 25-foot (7.6 m) tall sculpture of Uinen. Avery gave this as an example of the level of detail in the designs that were inspired by Tolkien's writings rather than the series' scripts. The Hall of Lore that is visited in this episode used the same set as the dungeon, due to budget and space constraints. The details of the dungeon walls were hidden by cabinets full of scrolls. A decision that Avery made early in the design process for the series was that the Númenóreans had invented bookbinding while the Elves used scrolls, so filling the Hall of Lore with scrolls indicates that it is full of older knowledge related to Númenor's Elvish history. Avery studied how scrolls are stored in Tibet when approaching the storage cabinets for the set. A tapestry in the Hall of Lore shows Elrond and Elros together.: 24:34–29:04 
      For Elendil's ship, Avery studied Greek triremes, Venetian barges, and a Māori ship model at the Auckland Maritime Museum. He had an epiphany when he saw a similarity between the sails of a double-masted Chinese junk ship and the crown of Gondor from the Lord of the Rings films. He felt a design like that for a Númenórean ship could indicate that the crown is based on the ships that the ancestors of Gondor take to Middle-earth. The body of the ship was inspired by scorpion-tailed Venetian boats,: 19  and Viking boats were another influence on the design. Avery worked with experts to ensure the ship was functional with its unique sails, and real sailors were hired as extras to work on the ship during filming. The ship was 46 tons (41,730 kg), 105 feet (32 m) long, and was built on a six-axis gimble. It took 10 months to build and Avery credited its quality to the skill of local New Zealand boat builders.: 19 
      Different guilds were created to help define Númenórean society, including the builders, merchants, horsemasters, and the sea guard. A crest was designed for each guild. The Númenórean scale armor was inspired by seahorses and replicated in the barding for their horses. Elendil's breastplate and bracers was inspired by whale bone carvings and include the Sun motif. Elements of coral and shell were also included in the armor for decoration.: 51  Númenórean weapons went through the most concept art of any culture due to the lack of precedent in previous adaptations. Elendil's sword features the Sun motif, while an infinity symbol was repeated throughout Númenórean weaponry, including on their scabbards, to reflect their struggle with mortality.: 17 


      Orcs


      It was important to the showrunners that practical effects and prosthetics be used to create the Orcs where possible, though these were augmented by the visual effects team in some instances. They also wanted to expand on Orc culture, creating rules for their society and introducing female and child Orcs. The design team defined five different types of Orcs, including leaders and "Reavers". Prosthetics head Jamie Wilson, who returned from Jackson's films, described the latter as "crazy serial killer orcs". Wilson explained that the Orcs in the series are intended to be "younger"-looking than those in the films, since these groups are just emerging from hiding. Because of this, they feature less battle-scars than those in the films and are also lighter-skinned with some skin conditions caused by new exposure to the Sun. Lighter skin colors were achieved using translucent silicone as a base, which would not have been possible when the films were made and latex was the primary material used. The Orc prosthetics took between two and seven hours to apply each day. This included multiple interlocking prosthetic pieces as well as wigs, dentures, and contact lenses.: 29  Because of interference from the prosthetics in the actors' mouths, all of the Orc dialogue had to be re-recorded after filming.


      = Filming

      =
      Production on episodes beyond the first two began in January 2021, under the working title Untitled Amazon Project or simply UAP, following an extended filming break that began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yip confirmed that he had begun filming his episodes by March. Aaron Morton was the director of photography for Yip's episodes. Filming for the season wrapped on August 2.
      Location filming for the entrance to Númenor's harbor took place at an unnamed beach in the South Island of New Zealand that was only accessible by boat or helicopter. This was chosen because the surrounding rock formations matched with concept art of "King Stones" at the harbor's entrance. Yip shot a lot of the Númenor scenes with the camera pointing up from Galadriel and Halbrand's perspective, to show the large scale of the city. When Galadriel rides with Elendil to the Númenórean Hall of Law, Yip wanted to capture her pure joy at riding a horse and exploring the island. Clark said filming the sequence on a beach in New Zealand was "the dream".
      Vic Armstrong was the stunt coordinator and a second unit director for the season. Simon Raby was also a second unit director for the episode. Cordova spent months preparing for the episode's fight sequence and was intent on doing all of the stunts himself. Yip said they wanted to find action movements that were specific to Elves, but they were cautious about making them "feel too superhuman" or going for "style over content. They're getting out of a situation in an Elf-like way, not creating a situation just so that we could do Elf stuff". For a stunt where Arondir leaps up and collapses an Orc structure, the canopy was rigged with mechanical releases so it could drop in time with Cordova's jump. Cordova said the jump was a struggle for him due to his fear of heights, and he was expecting to spend a lot of time on it due to the complexity. To his surprise, it was filmed in a single take. Another stunt in the sequence required stunt people to pull the victim of the attacking Warg to create the correct movements before the creature was added by the visual effects team.


      = Visual effects

      =

      Visual effects for the episode were created by ILM, Wētā FX, Method Studios, Rodeo FX, Cause and FX, Atomic Arts, and Cantina Creative. The different vendors were overseen by visual effects supervisor Jason Smith. Rodeo handled much of the Harfoot storyline, including environment augmentation, scale work, and fire and magic effects.
      ILM was responsible for the ocean effects throughout the season, in addition to working on Númenor. For the introduction to Númenor in the episode, Yip felt going straight to a wide establishing shot would be overwhelming for the audience and stop them from seeing all the details of the city. He constructed the sequence so that it would reveal parts of the city first before expanding to wider shots once the ship reaches the harbor.: 14:32–15:32  The visual effects team used aerial photography of different European cities as reference for these shots. Payne said seeing the completed effects for this sequence, after the long design process for Númenor, was when he felt they had reached "the thing we've been trying to get to".
      When approaching the wolf-like Warg that attacks Arondir, Smith did not want to copy the Wargs that had previously been seen in the films. The Wargs in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy were based on hyenas while those seen in the Hobbit film trilogy were more like wolves. For the series, Smith asked "What would an Orc's pet giant dog monster be?", and after various designs and researching footage of real dogs he settled on the idea of scaling up the "pure hate" of a chihuahua into a 5.5 feet (1.7 m) tall creature that is 800 pounds (360 kg) of muscle. He felt the familiarity that came with this made the creature even more horrific. Wētā created the Warg, and used footage of different carnivorous animals as reference for animating its movements. For instance, a moment where the Warg licks its mouth was based on a wolf doing the same movement. Smith said these references added a realistic messiness to the sequence.


      = Music

      =

      Musicians Janet Roddick, David Donaldson, and Steve Roche, who form the group Plan 9, and their collaborator David Long returned from the films to provide music during filming, including diegetic music for the streets of Númenor. Composer Bear McCreary began work in July 2021, and started by composing the main themes for the series. He wrote an "anthem" for each culture and then created individual character themes that relate to their culture's music in different ways. The third episode's score introduces several of these: themes for the Orcs and their leader, Adar; and themes for Númenor as well as Elendil and his family.
      The Harfoots participate in a ceremony in the episode where they dress up in costumes and walk through the trees. McCreary scored the start of the sequence with low male vocals to play on the mystery before the scene reveals that it is the Harfoots and the music transitions to sounds from the Harfoot theme. McCreary composed the music for the sequence to be diegetic, as if the Harfoots were making the music themselves, and matched it with the steps and chanting of the actors in each shot. Similar to the Worm attack in the previous episode, McCreary spent nearly a week on the action sequence in this episode between the Elves and the Orcs.
      A soundtrack album featuring McCreary's score for the episode was released digitally on the streaming service Amazon Music on September 8, 2022. McCreary said the album contained "virtually every second of score" from the episode. It was added to other music streaming services after the full first season was released. A CD featuring the music from the episode is included in a limited edition box set collection of the first season's music from Mondo, Amazon Music, and McCreary's label Sparks and Shadows. The box set was released on April 26, 2024, and includes a journal written by McCreary which details the creation of the episode's score.


      Release


      "Adar" premiered on Prime Video in the United States on September 9, 2022. It was released at the same time around the world, in more than 240 countries and territories. For two weeks leading up to the premiere of the second season on August 29, 2024, the episode was made available for free on the streaming service Samsung TV Plus in the US, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Germany.


      Reception




      = Viewership

      =
      Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the 21 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, calculated that for the week ending September 11, two days after the episode's debut, The Rings of Power was the third-highest original streaming series for US viewership behind Netflix's Cobra Kai and Disney+'s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 20 million users around the world, placed the series second on its list of top 10 streaming series in the US for the week ending September 11, after Adult Swim's Rick and Morty. Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on US television screens, estimated that the series was watched for 1.2 billion minutes during the week ending September 11. This was on par with viewership from the previous week, but the series dropped from first to fourth-place on the company's list of top streaming series and films. Parrot Analytics determines audience "demand expressions" based on various data sources, including social media activity and comments on rating platforms. During the week ending September 16, the company calculated that The Rings of Power was 30 times more in demand than the average US streaming series, placing it eighth on the company's top 10 list for the week.


      = Critical response

      =

      The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes calculated that 86% of 35 critics reviews were positive and the average rating for the episode was 7.3 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The Rings of Power risks straining viewers' patience by expanding its scope instead of meaningfully progressing its established story threads, but 'Adar' is just as impressive as its predecessors."


      = Accolades

      =
      Ismael Cruz Córdova was named an honorable mention for TVLine's "Performer of the Week" for the week of September 5, 2022, for his performance in this episode. The site highlighted Arondir's fight against the Warg, specifically "the fire in Ismael Cruz Córdova's eyes and the mighty roar from his lungs as the Elf fought back... Arondir is quickly becoming one of our favorites to watch" in the series.


      Companion media


      An episode of the official aftershow Deadline's Inside the Ring: LOTR: The Rings of Power for "Adar" was released on September 10, 2022. Hosted by Deadline Hollywood's Dominic Patten and Anthony D'Alessandro, it features exclusive "footage and insights" for the episode, plus interviews with cast members Owen, Clark, Vickers, Addai-Robinson, Gravelle, Kavenagh, Richards, Weyman, and Zwangobani, as well as Yip, Doble, and McCreary. On October 14, The Official The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Podcast was released on Amazon Music. Hosted by actress Felicia Day, the third episode is dedicated to "Adar" and features Vickers, Payne, and McKay. On November 21, a bonus segment featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the episode was added to Prime Video's X-Ray feature as part of a series titled "The Making of The Rings of Power".


      References




      External links


      "Adar" at IMDb

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