The Rings Of Power Season 3 Has A Surprising Connection To The Two Towers

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" Season 3 is incoming, and Amazon Studios used San Diego Comic-Con to kick off the promotional cycle for the new season. In a flurry of Hall H news, we discovered that the new season is going to get really dark as Sauron finally forges the One Ring. He's also going to enslave an ennead of men with the Nine Rings, fell-beasts will be in focus, and the Balrog is shockingly going to get a voice for the first time.

In the midst of all the horrifying hubbub, the studio also released a short on how the creatures and monsters of the new season were brought to life. In it, tucked in the midst of the spectacle, Gandalf actor Daniel Weyman says (via IGN), "I am taken across the desert on this giant Mûmakil. It's got war armor on it." It's an exciting idea, a Wizard on a war elephant — and it turns out that it comes directly from Tolkien's own pen.

In "The Two Towers," when Frodo and Sam are trying to decide if they should try to sneak into Mordor through the heavily guarded Black Gate or follow Gollum to Shelob's lair, Frodo says, "I wish we had a thousand oliphaunts with Gandalf on a white one at their head ... Then we'd break a way into this evil land, perhaps. But we've not; just our own tired legs. That's all." 

Moments later, the Hobbit hero agrees to go with Gollum. Moments before, though? Sam Gamgee recites a ridiculous poem about the mythical creatures Hobbits call oliphaunts. Another word for them? Mûmakil. That's right. Gandalf on top of a giant elephant ancestor in "The Rings of Power" connects straight back to Frodo's wishful thinking in "The Two Towers."

Showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay have made it abundantly clear over the years that they are super fans of Tolkien's writing, and nowhere is this more abundantly clear than in the easy-to-miss details of their adaptation.

There are dozens of Easter eggs in "The Rings of Power" Season 1, like Harfoots using bird-like whistles; Théoden says Halflings can "change their voices to resemble the piping of birds" in "The Two Towers" book. We see fantastical fireworks in Elven Lindon — the same kind you would expect Gandalf to use at Bilbo's birthday party in "The Fellowship of the Ring." That book also talks about the feasting in Khazad-dûm, and lo and behold, the show has Dwarven fields and flocks thriving before the kingdom's collapse.

The Easter egg-filled Season 2 of "The Rings of Power" maintains these subtle nods to the source material. We see the White Towers in Lindon (Elven towers that are referenced throughout "The Lord of the Rings"). Círdan (Ben Daniels) almost throws Rings of Power into the sea — a possibility that is discussed at the Council of Elrond in "The Fellowship of the Ring." Nori (Markella Kavenagh) suggests naming the Stranger "Fredegar" — a call-out to the fifth and forgotten Hobbit in Frodo's quest.

There are even some deeper resonances between the show and the source material. For instance, the hopeless love story of Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi) and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) is clearly echoing the multiple times Tolkien has immortal and mortal folk fall in love. The fact that it ends with the inevitable death of the mortal is right on the money, too.

Gandalf riding a Mûmak may be a fun callback to the source material, but how does that connect to the "Rings of Power" story? To guess at the answer, it's important to realize that we're in new territory when it comes to Gandalf in this part of Tolkien's world — both geographically and chronologically. It's one of the biggest changes in "The Rings of Power" so far. 

Tolkien confirmed that Gandalf arrives in Middle-earth a millennium into the Third Age. He also toyed with the idea of having him around much earlier in Middle-earth history. But he never mentions any Wizards except the two Blue Wizards during this part of the timeline. In addition, Gandalf tells Faramir in "The Lord of the Rings" book, "To the East I go not."

All that said, what could showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay be cooking up in their adaptation, with Gandalf around in the East in the Second Age? Our best guess hinges on the other Dark Wizard played by Ciarán Hinds, who is reportedly going to be revealed in Season 3 as Pallando. That is one of the two Blue Wizards that Tolkien said went to the East.

Season 2 showed us that Hinds' Dark Wizard has clearly broken bad. But we don't know where the other Blue Wizard, Alatar, is, or if he is good or evil. Perhaps Gandalf will head off across Rhûn on an oliphaunt in search of Alatar, to see if he can help him resist both the Dark Wizard and the rising threat of Sauron. We'll see when Season 3 comes out on November 11.