In addition to being visually beautiful and having a beautiful soundtrack, the opening of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is also full of meaning.
The opening of the Prime Video series was created by Plains of Yonder and makes use of cymatics, a phenomenon that makes the waves created by sounds and music visible to the eyes. With the vibration caused by the sounds, the rocks scattered on a flat surface move, forming different shapes and mosaics loaded with symbolism. All in the tone of the theme of “The Rings of Power”, created by Howard Shore.
The creation of the universe
What brings even more symbolism to JRR Tolkien’s universe is the music, which played a key role in the creation of the universe in which the series takes place. According to Tolkien’s Legendarium, in the beginning there was Eru Ilúvatar, the One. Then, with a thought, he created other beings, the Ainur, something like his heavenly court of himself. He then began to interact with the Ainur through the use of music, which they came to use as a form of expression through the act of singing.
So Ainur’s music, called Ainulindalë, was like the Big Bang of the Legendarium, the event that led to the creation of the universe. While our universe was born of chaos, Tolkien’s universe was born of music. But for this great event to be possible, the Ainur needed to learn to sing in harmony, starting with individual chants or in small groups, until Eru himself instructed his court to follow the other’s example. With that, the music filled the Void and the universe was created, called Eä.
However, one of the Ainur began to sing out of rhythm, in a different key from the others. It was Melkor, the Ainur who challenged Eru. This dissonance confused the others and some of them even joined Melkor. Eru then rebuked Melkor three times, with the supreme being making it clear the third time that he understood Melkor’s evil intentions.
Through the songs of the Ainur, sung in Três Temas, all existence was created. Then, Eru showed the Ainur the result of the chants: the world brought to life by Eru, when he sent Eä the Undying Flame – which would be the Secret Fire Gandalf refers to in the fight against the Balrogs in “The Fellowship of the Ring. “.
In addition, elves and humans were also created and Eru showed the Ainur a vision of the history of that newly created world. However, as the Ainur watched in awe, the vision was taken away before they could see how the story ends.
After the creation of Eä, the world called Arda, the Secret Fire of Eru was born. As much as Melkor wandered through the Void in search of the Undying Flame, he could not find it, as he was part of Eru herself. The flame was what brought the Sons of Ilúvatar to life – elves and humans – and caused some Ainur to move to Arda, taking on humanoid forms. Those who remained became known as Valar, with the exception of Melkor.
An interesting aspect of Arda is the symmetry. Despite being created by Ilúvatar, it was the Valar who formed Arda as it is at the beginning of its history, when it was not yet spherical, but flat with a domed sky above it. The Valar created the continents of Aman and Endor. The Valar resided in the former, while the latter was the home of the sons of Ilúvatar.
The geography of Arda sees the shape of a dense ring of land, with an island in the middle of the sea. The ring is Endor and the island is Aman, where the kingdom of Valinor is located. It is important to note that when “The Rings of Power” takes place, Arda was still flat. The event that made it spherical was exactly the Fall of Númenor, performed by Ilúvatar himself and, as we know, Númenor is still standing in the series.
Interpretations for the opening of “The Rings of Power”
But like everything else, the creation of the show’s universe refers to the opening sequence of “The Rings of Power”, you may wonder.
We know that music and flat surfaces are an important part of Arda and the history of Middle-earth. Hence, it is possible to use this mythology to interpret the forms presented in the opening theme, which are constantly evolving.
This is because, in theory, Ainur’s music is still in play, as the vision Eru showed them was realized by the music itself. Additionally, throughout its history, Arda has been refurbished many times, as have the rock and grain formations seen in the opening sequence.
In the first mosaic we see nine circles, eight of which are centered around a larger one. Despite the initial thought of seeing nine circles for those who know the history of the Rings of Power, being that the image represents them, the central ring being larger than the others does not make much sense.
Rather, it is possible that the mosaic represents the same event known as Ainulindalë, as the Ainur sat with Eru in a circle while creating Eä.
Two trees are formed in the sequence which can mean many things. The first, and also the most obvious, connection is with the Trees of Valinor, which we see in the first episode of the series. They were responsible for bringing light into the world, until they were destroyed by Melkor and his Ungoliant, an evil spirit in the form of a spider.
Furthermore, the trees have a lot of significance in the series and two of them have already been described: one in Durin’s (Owain Arthur) house in Khazad-dûm, and the other known as the White Tree of Númenor. Both represent the friendship between elves and other races, in this case dwarves and men. Furthermore, the trees in the opening are similar in shape to the White Tree of Gondor found in the Peter Jackson trilogy, which is a descendant of the tree of Númenor.
The third mosaic shows an eight-pointed star, which refers to the House of Feänor, who is one of the most important elves in the history of Arda. Feänor has already been mentioned by Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), and was responsible for the division between the races. In addition, he created the Simaril, gems in the shape of a rotating star in three circles, which is also depicted in the opening:
The following is a reference to Melkor himself. The Great Evil is mentioned several times in the series, but by its other more common name, Morgoth. The opening becomes darker and a black band is seen sliding over the golden beads, a reference to his dissonance in the Music of the Ainur and the darkness he projects on Middle-earth. His successor, Sauron, operates in a similar way, stirring up Middle-earth among those who have no idea who he really is.
Finally, we have a reference to the One Ring itself. Many frames flow across the screen, resulting in a final mosaic that shows many concentric shapes, with a perfect ring in the middle. The end result of Sauron’s effort with the Rings of Power. His play of him, One Ring to Rule Them All.
The first four episodes of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” are available on Prime Video. The following episodes arrive on the Amazon platform on Fridays at 1am.
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The “The Rings of Power” post: Understand the opening of the series that first appeared on Olhar Digital.
Source: Olhar Digital
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
