Summary

• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 will introduce Barrow-wights, creatures from J.R.R Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring.
• The show's VFX supervisor likens the Barrow-wight sequences to a "horror movie."
• Frodo and the Hobbits encounter Barrow-wights in the Barrow-downs and are saved by Tom Bombadil in the book, but this sequence isn't including in Peter Jackson's adaptation.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 gets a new image, teasing the arrival of a creature from the first installment in J.R.R. Tolkien's epic saga. Debuting in 2022, the hit Prime Video fantasy series is created by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne with a story that chronicles Sauron's evil spreading across Middle-earth during the Second Age. After a well-reviewed debut outing, The Rings of Power season 2 is set to add some exciting and dark new elements into the mix.

Now, Empire Magazine reveals that Barrow-wights will appear in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, releasing the first image of one of the Middle-earth creatures.

These ghostly beings, featured in the image above, were first mentioned in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and they represent some of the most terrifying creatures to occupy Middle-earth. Check out a comment about the Barrow-wights from the show's VFX supervisor, Jason Smith:

“The Barrow-wights are ancient, reanimated heroes, acting for evil against their will. It was super-exciting to take on something I hadn’t seen before. We’ve seen undead before, but not like this. We’re doing a little horror movie in Middle-earth.”

What Are The Barrow-wights In The Lord Of The Rings?

Frodo's Ghostly Encounter Explained

The Barrow-wights don't appear in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but they play a fairly prominent role in The Fellowship of the Ring novel. Before they meet Aragorn, the four Hobbits have more of an adventure than is featured in the film. They meet the mysterious Tom Bombadil, who was also cut from Jackson's adaptation, and he is the figure who rescues the Hobbits from the Barrow-wights.

Barrow-wights are dark, phantom-like skeleton creatures, and they're not unlike the Ring Wraiths. They are found in various locations around Middle-earth, most notably in the Barrow-downs, which is near the Brandywine River. The haunted Barrow-downs is essentially a large and very old burial ground for Men, and Frodo and his companions nearly meet their end here in The Fellowship of the Ring. Bombadil, however, arrives just in time to save them.

The Rings of Power season 2 trailer shows Galadriel and her companions standing in a dark and foggy landscape, and the image above suggests this is the scene in which they encounter the Barrow-wights.

Interestingly, Bombadil will also appear in The Rings of Power season 2, with actor Rory Kinnear (Skyfall) playing the enigmatic figure. Though the Prime Video fantasy series takes place hundreds of years before Frodo's quest, two key elements of Tolkien's writing will finally be making their live-action debut. It remains to be seen how prominently Barrow-wights will feature in season 2, but the new image certainly suggests they will be creatures to fear.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 premieres on Prime Video on August 29, 2024.

Source: Empire Magazine