- - This is Wired's fifty most asked questions
- About Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
[snappy music]
- Let's begin.
- How do the rings of power work?
- With magic.
- They're not battery powered.
- Fingers.
- Well one has nun chucks, the other one has a bow staff,
- We're in trouble already.
- They can enhance, kind of the power that one already has
but they can also corrupt.
It's a double edged sword, the ring of power.
Which Middle Earth character are you?
I am Galadriel, who is an elf from Valinor,
one of the oldest elves in Middle Earth, older than Ulmo.
- I play Queen Regent Miriel, and she is the leader
of the island kingdom of Numenor.
- I am Durin.
- I'm a sailor on the island of Numenor called Isildur.
- I'm Elendil, the tall.
- I am Gil-Galad, King of the Elves,
and you know, giver of Numenor.
[laughs]
- Not me, particularly, we do.
- Who is Galadriel in Lord of the Rings?
- She's a very old and powerful mythical elf,
and I am playing her in The Rings of Power.
- Who has the Rings of Power?
- Which ones?
Ooh, didn't see that one coming, did you?
- Okay, how many,
- Cause there's like 19.
- Is there? - You need to read the books.
I get a bunch, Celebrimbor gets one,
- I think she's gonna get one.
- And the bad guy gets one.
- Spoiler alert.
- [yells]
- How old is Sauron?
- Old.
- Thousands and thousands of years old.
- Since the beginning of time basically.
- Where was the Rings of Power filmed?
- Detroit.
[laughs]
New Zealand.
- In and around Auckland,
and some location stuff on the south island.
- If you were lucky enough.
- Does Middle Earth have bees?
Yes.
- I imagine the Hobbits and the Harfoots
would like a bit of honey
- They're flowers, so let's say there are bees.
- Yeah, but the bees are enormous.
[laughs]
- How big are Dwarves are Harfoots?
I think we're, 3 foot 54,
no 4 foot? Four foot and a half?
[speaking over each other]
- What's shorter, who's shorter?
- A Harfoot would be smaller.
- Harfoots are smaller.
- That sounds like a dwarf opinion.
- Pfft. We're much taller than the Hobbits.
- My stool is lower than everyone else's on this table
so I feel a little bit like a Harfoot and a dwarf here.
- Are we taller than you?
- Most dominant, no.
- I think we are.
- Hm, no.
We're, we're,
- I reckon, Elendil, Elendiel the tall
- Well, I mean, he, you know, had joint problems.
- Is Mordor Lord of the Rings?
- So Mordor is where Sauron resides during the third age
full of fire and darkness.
- Well, if you think about it,
Celebrimbor is a lord, and he makes the rings,
- So in my opinion, he is the lord of the rings.
- How many kingdoms in Middle-earth Second Age?
- Okay, let's list them.
- Lindon,
- Kingdom of Numenor,
- Yes.
- Kingdom of
- Khazard-dum.
- Mhm.
- Eregion.
- Well, is Eregion a kingdom?
- Good question.
- I mean, I'm going with Mordor.
- Yeah, the orcs, yeah.
So six.
- Six, yeah.
- Who is Valar?
- It should be who are the Valar.
- Like Mount Olympus, you've got Zeus,
which would be Iluvatar, and beneath him
are the kind of demigods which are the Valar.
- Sort of like angels, right?
- Yeah.
What is an Orc?
- A baddie.
- Well, he originally was an elf.
- A fallen elf.
- It all goes back to the elves.
- Who is Elrond in Lord of the Rings?
- He's related to me, Isildur.
- He's a half elf, he chose to be an elf instead of a human.
- Could you see the judgment in the pure elf there
about the half elf?
[laughs]
I felt it.
- How many Lord of the Rings shows are there?
Just one, I think.
- I mean there's ours, could be others.
- That's the only show.
- A few cartoons, there's some films,
- Some games,
- Some radio plays.
- What's a Harfoot?
- It's a small person.
- They're a prototype of a Hobbit.
- Yeah, like a predecessor.
- They're emotional, kind, and brave.
- Who directed the Lord of the Rings shows?
- We have three incredible directors.
- J.A. Bayona,
- Wayne Yip,
- And Charlotte Brandstrom.
- Who is Melkor?
- The origin of evil.
- Or the dragon in NeverEnding Story,
[laughs]
Oh no, that's Falkor.
- Is Hobbit Lord of the Rings?
- I would say yes to that.
- Yeah, definitely.
- It's the original book that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote.
- The book of The Hobbit is set before
The Lord of the Rings, but the ring is in The Hobbit.
- Is in The Hobbit.
- Can there only be one lord for all rings?
Ooh.
- Yes.
- Well, I'd say, the baddie thinks so.
- Yeah, and I would agree with him.
- Sauron wants to be the lord of the rings.
- He made one to make himself
- [in unison] the lord of the rings, but he's lost it.
- How small are elves?
Ah, very small.
- That's a bit passive aggressive, how small are elves?
Ouch! - That is a bit messed up.
How grand are elves, I'll accept.
- Does the ring give you powers?
- Yeah.
- Superpowers, you can fly, I'm joking.
- Are there wars and battles in Lord of the Rings:
The Rings of Power?
- Yes.
- What are the races of Middle-earth?
- Elves,
- Dwarves,
- Ents,
- Humans,
- Numenorians, who are humans but
- Special humans,
- Yeah.
- Super Humans.
- The Harfoots,
- Goblins,
- Balrogs,
- Not really a race though, are they?
- Imagine if we're all wrong on these questions
- Yeah.
- And we just,
- We've enjoyed being in the show.
[laughs]
- How long is the Second Age?
3, 2, 3, thousand years?
- It is 2 thousand years,
- I think it's almost 4 thousand years.
- Long, but very adventurous.
- Who wrote the Lord of the Rings?
- 3,2,1
- [in unison] J.R.R. Tolkien
- Jrr Tolkien.
- Where does Lord of the Rings take place?
It takes place in Middle-earth, which is part of Arda.
- Why is Sauron mad?
[laughs]
- I like that question,
- That's a really existential question.
- Why is he, why is he mad?
He's power hungry, he wants it all for himself.
- He's after absolute power.
- But he doesn't think he's mad, that's what's scary.
- Well, we never do.
- When does Lord of the Rings take place?
Well there's a first, second, and third age.
- The Lord of the Rings takes place in the third age,
which is thousands of years after our show.
- Where is Middle-earth?
- In Arda.
- [in unison] in Arda.
- Bang in the middle of the road.
- That's simply put.
- Um, yeah, uh, yeah.
- In the Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power,
who arrives in Middle-earth via comet?
- A stranger.
- A strange man.
[talking over each other]
- The Stranger.
- What kind of answer is that? The nobody.
- The nobody.
- What source of power did Celebrimbor use
to create the Rings of power?
- Mithril.
- Thank you.
- He built a forge as hot as dragon's breath
and as bright as a star.
- Are Lord of the Rings elves immortal?
- Yes.
- They are.
- However, it's not quite as simple as they live forever
because they sometimes die
and then they go to the Halls of Mandos
where they have to wait a bit,
and then they can come back into a new body,
is that correct? Or is it the same body?
- I don't know, I stopped listening about halfway through.
- Glorfindel came back.
- Are there wizards in the Rings of Power?
- Watch and see! Wait and see.
- [sings]
- What Middle-earth race are you?
- If you get this wrong,
[laughs]
- I am a dwarf.
- We're Numenorians,
- Proud Numenorians.
- Only because the elves gave them the place
but they get really upset about that.
- Oh!
[talking over each other] - And Ben's a small elf.
- How much did the kings of Numenor know
about the Rings of Power?
- Zip.
- I don't think they knew anything about them
- Yeah
- Until Pharazon decides he was more powerful
than anyone else.
- And then they ultimately became the Nazguls,
so it wasn't a good ending.
- When is the Second Age?
- After the first.
- And before the third.
- What is Middle-earth made of?
- Dirt?
- No, in the
- Oh! I got the question wrong.
- You can even read.
- What is Middle-earth made of?
- The ocean, surrounded by the sundering seas.
- But what's to the East of it?
All the way, all the way, all the way to the East,
because I don't think it's surrounded,
I don't think it's an island, is it?
- The ocean, water.
- Everything's an island when you zoom out far enough.
- It's in the middle of water.
- What is the new Lord of the Rings about?
It's about the Rings of Power.
- It's the quintessential battle between good and evil.
- Also, about different groups coming together
for a common cause, the common cause of defeating evil.
I like the idea of that.
- Who is the most powerful person
in the Lord of the Rings universe?
- Don't, don't jump too quickly guys.
- Elendil.
[laughs]
- I think you have to watch the show to see that one.
- What is Sauron doing in the Second Age?
- Being naughty?
- Yeah, devious.
- Growing.
- Yes.
- Did the Elves blame Celebrimbor
for making the rings of power?
- I mean, they feel conflicted about it,
he, he's so quickly punished for doing it
that I think casting blame at that point is pretty ruthless.
- How big is Middle-earth?
- It's pretty vast.
- Huge.
- It would take you a long time on a horse to travel across.
- Who are the bad guys in Lord of the Rings:
The Rings of Power?
You could make the case that the orcs, in particular,
are the bad guys, but you know, it's a conflicted issue.
- Okay, are Elves and humans friends?
It's complicated!
- Definitely on the island of Numenor
there's a schism happening.
- If you're a Numenorian,
you might not be too keen on an elf,
cause they live forever, and we don't,
and we're a bit jealous of that fact.
- Who is Elendil?
- Me. I'm Elendil.
- Elendil is the father of Isildur
and founder of the kingdom of Gondor.
- Why were the Rings of Power created?
- To match an outfit.
- Well they were created by Sauron,
- To control Middle-earth to one entity.
- Is that correct?
- No he only created the one to control those rings.
- Oh, but why were the rings of power created?
- To save Middle-earth, basically.
- To kind of save, save the elves.
- What are the Misty Mountains?
Where the dwarves live.
- Where to the Elves live?
- In the woods.
- Who is Isildur?
He's Elendil's son.
- Me.
[laughs]
I'm Isildur.
- Potentially a problem child.
- Why is it called Middle-earth?
- It was something that Tolkien was playing with
round about the Middle Ages idea, wasn't it?
That somehow, it gives it a time
that is fantastical and yet rooted in some sort
of historical reality.
- [in unison] We made it through.
- Fifty questions. How do you think we did?
- Fine.
- I enjoyed that. - Yeah it was really good.
- I love talking Tolkien, and you guys are incredibly fun
and really good in the show.
- I mean, we could have stayed here for hours,
- We probably got 30, 30 percent.
- I'm sure as a cast we answered all of them, beautifully.
- Thank you for watching!