Spoilers – Warning, the article below contains potential spoilers. If you do not want to know the content, please do not read the following…
“Morria. You’re afraid to go into those mines, aren’t you, Gandalf? The dwarves dug too deep and too greedily. Do you know what they woke up in the darkness of Khazadum? Shadow and flame. .”
Thus spoke Saruman to Gandalf in the Fellowship of the Ring, for the wizard was about to cross the mines of Moria against his will. This sentence from Tolkien, which depicts Mithrandir’s famously terrifying Balrog, also finds a special echo in Episode 4 of Rings of Power, available on Amazon Prime Video earlier yesterday.
Indeed, in this new chapter we learn that Durin IV, against his father’s will and prudence, carried out major works under the city of Khazad-Dum (then still in its full golden age).
The goal of this huge project? Mine a brand new ore, more precious than gold and well known to fans of The Lord of the Rings: Famous Mithrilwhich was marked prominently in Frodo’s coat.
Given the sequence of events, we can reasonably assume that it is this excavation site – already unstable as we saw in the episode – that will be the source of the coming disaster: the release and destruction of the Balrog. City of Dwarves.
Even if such an event would normally only happen in 1980 of the third era, it is likely that the series will need a little (a lot) in advance and this dark episode sooner than expected. Indeed, one of the trailers for the show teased the presence of the Balrog in the first season.
That being said, the dwarves may still have a bright future before the Shadow and Flame awaken. Because as production designer Ramsay Avery recently revealed on the site’s microphone IndieWireThe architecture of Khazad-dûm evolved greatly between the TV series and the Peter Jackson films.
As he explains, in the Second Age, before they “digged too greedily,” the people of Durin dug the rock with reverence.
“A lot of John Howe’s and Alan Lee’s work was also very imposing, geometric and monumental, but I was able to find this series of illustrations among their sketches where dwarven architecture created this sense of stonework. where there was a pillar that came out and turned back to stone as it ascended the mountain”– says Avery.
“These were the types of forms I wanted to express with our Khazad-Dum presentation. It was supposed to be a tribute to the mountain, the shapes of the mountain, we had to see this work of stone. , instead of rushing it in favor of huge things.”
Accuracy and precision over excess: This is how the Dwarf City was conceived according to the second age in the circles of power. It remains to be seen how long they can hold on to their art before they fall into the bomb, causing their own downfall.
(re)discover the series trailer…
Source: allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
