The Rings Of Power Season 3 Is Making One Change Fans Have Wanted For Years

"The Rings of Power" has been busy, with its first two seasons following a smorgasbord of storylines that span Middle-earth and beyond. For a show that already had its hands full trying to communicate a vast and complex section of Tolkien's legendarium, the sheer number of disconnected narratives had a tendency to make it even harder for casual viewers to keep up. One section of the plot that kept claiming a bit too much screen time was the storyline of the Harfoots. But that's about to change.

"It was time for them to take a little bit more of a backseat," showrunner JD Payne told Empire Magazine (via fan site Fellowship of Fans). He did add, "I will also say: never count a Halfling out," but that initial statement, and the absence of all Halfling cast members in the promotional circuit so far, seem to confirm that the half-pint heroes really will be sitting on the sidelines — at least for Season 3.

The Hobbit ancestors had a significant storyline so far, one that involved a magical Stranger (Daniel Weyman) landing in their backyard, only to eventually be confirmed in his real identity as Gandalf. Apart from that, there were some cute scenes and interesting hints at the group's Shire-dwelling heroic potential. But taken as a whole, there just wasn't much there — especially compared to the gigantic events going on in other areas of Middle-earth.

The Halfling storyline has been a pronounced part of "The Rings of Power" from the beginning. Their focus centers on the adventurous Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) and her more timid (but still strong at heart) friend Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards). The pair are shown getting into trouble together in their quiet Harfoot community even before they meet a mysterious Stranger who falls in a fiery ball from the sky.

Season 1 follows the Harfoots as they learn to embrace the Stranger, migrate across eastern Middle-earth together, and are attacked by a truly terrifying trio of mystics from Rhûn. From there, Nori and the Stranger (with Poppy following) branch off on their own eastward adventure in Season 2. That's where we get to discover a previously unadapted part of Tolkien's world as they move further into the Human world of Rhûn. 

This is also the point where showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay chose to introduce the enigmatic and overpowered Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) and another mysterious character in the form of an evil, still-unidentified Dark Wizard (played by Ciarán Hinds).

It's here that the Harfoots also discover another conclave of Halflings — namely, Gollum's ancestors, the Stoors. Led by a matriarch (a Tolkien-accurate fact), the group learns a lot from the Harfoots, ultimately deciding that their best bet isn't to continue living underground, but to migrate back west to greener pastures. The last we see of the Harfoots and Stoors is the beginning of that journey, one that will end centuries later as they link up with other Halfling groups and then settle the Shire.

Tolkien doesn't mention Harfoots, Stoors, or even any Halflings at all in the Second Age. That isn't to say that they didn't exist. On the contrary, the little bit of pre-Hobbit history the author does give us confirms that they are related to Men, but we don't get any details about how the transition from tall men to short Hobbits takes place. And that's precisely the aura that surrounds these furry-footed Shire dwellers when we meet them in "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings." While epic stories with ancient histories unfold around them, Hobbits remain grounded in the present, unworried about the future, and unaware of the past (other than family history).

The Hobbit, Stoor, and Harfoot backstories even hinge on the fact that they don't really know much about their origin. Tolkien wrote in "The Fellowship of the Ring": "Of their original home the Hobbits in Bilbo's time preserved no knowledge." The group doesn't enter written Middle-earth history until over a thousand years into the Third Age (i.e., a millennium after "The Rings of Power" story will end).

Again, that doesn't mean they don't exist before that point. They are just a blank canvas, one that the "Rings of Power" showrunners used to fill in with their own creative adaptation for two seasons of their five-season story. The Harfoot part of the story helped introduce some important characters, but at most points, it was slow and felt a bit out of place. Now, as we enter Season 3, the story has officially picked up too much steam for them to keep up — and that is probably for the better.