Is That A Balrog In The Rings Of Power Season 2's Trailer?

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Summary The upcoming season of The Rings of Power hints at the Balrog's appearance, shaking up Tolkien's canon once again.

The destruction of Khazad-dûm's bridge in the season 2 trailer raises questions about the show's timeline changes.

Fans are concerned about condensing the canon timeline too much with the early emergence of the Balrog in the series.

A mysterious force is seen destroying the bridge of Khazad-dûm in the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 trailer, and this seems to imply that the Balrog is going to make its big appearance in the upcoming episodes.

The first trailer for The Rings of Power season 2 dropped on May 14, 2024, teasing many of the events that we can look forward to in this next installment of the Prime Video series. However, some of these seem to be happening far sooner than expected, which raises concern about the Lord of the Rings prequel series making even further changes to Tolkien's canon.

That Could Be A Balrog Destroying The Bridge In The Rings Of Power Season 2's Trailer

The trailer for The Rings of Power season 2 sees the bridge of Khazad-dûm crumbling, and though the beast itself is out of sight, it's difficult to imagine that anything else but the Balrog would be the cause. Durin's words at the beginning of the teaser also support this since he mentions the return of a "great evil." Though this is framed as being about Sauron, it's more likely that, in context, the Dwarf prince is talking about the beast that has been buried beneath his city for centuries.

How The Balrog In Rings Of Power Season 2 Risks Breaking Tolkien Canon

Prime Video's The Rings of Power has already made several changes to canon regarding Khazad-dûm and the Balrog since season 1 retconned the reason in which the Dwarves mined Mithril. The emergence of the Balrog as early as season 2 brings even more uncomfortable change. The beast isn't supposed to emerge until Prince Durin's grandson, Durin VI, is the king of Khazad-dûm. The Rings of Power has no choice but to condense the canon timeline, but featuring the disaster of Khazad-dûm so early in the story could be a massive mistake.