A Shadow of the Past

When the two trees that lit the world were destroyed by the Dark Lord Morgoth, the Elves sailed from their home in Valinor to Middle-earth and waged a centuries-long war against him. After Morgoth was defeated, his servant Sauron took his place. Galadriel's brother Finrod died hunting Sauron, and Galadriel vowed to continue the search. Thousands of years later, Galadriel and a company of Elves discover an abandoned fortress in the northern wastelands of Forodwaith. They are attacked by a Snow-troll and sustain injuries before Galadriel kills it. She wishes to continue the search north, but the others refuse and she reluctantly returns to the Elven capital Lindon.

A community of nomadic Harfoots—small, secretive beings—living in the wilderlands of Rhovanion are surprised to see human hunters passing nearby at an uncommon time of year. Harfoot elder Sadoc Burrows also believes the stars are appearing when they should not be and wonders whether they are watching something unfold in Middle-earth.

In Lindon, High King Gil-galad proclaims the war to be over and grants Galadriel's company the honor of returning to Valinor, where they can live in eternal peace. Galadriel intends to decline this offer, but her friend Elrond convinces her that it is time to stop fighting. Gil-galad tells Elrond he has foreseen that Galadriel's search for Sauron could help the latter endure. Gil-galad introduces Elrond to Celebrimbor, a great Elven-smith, who is beginning an important project that Gil-galad wants Elrond to help with.

Word that the war is over reaches a group of Elves in the Southlands of Middle-earth who have been watching over Tirharad, a village of Men descended from allies of Morgoth. One of the Elves, Arondir, has grown close with the human healer Bronwyn and is with her when a villager arrives with a sick cow. It had wandered to the nearby village of Hordern, and when Arondir and Bronwyn investigate that town they find it in flames. Meanwhile, Bronwyn's son Theo finds a broken sword bearing Sauron's mark.

Across the Sundering Seas, Galadriel and her company prepare to enter Valinor. Galadriel has second thoughts about abandoning her search for Sauron and jumps from the ship. At the same time, different groups across Middle-earth watch a meteor fly through the sky. It crashes near the Harfoots' camp and young Harfoot Nori Brandyfoot finds a strange man in the crater.

Amazon acquired the television rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55) in November 2017. The company's streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, ordered a series based on the novel and its appendices to be produced by Amazon Studios in association with New Line Cinema.^[1] It was later titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.^[2] Amazon hired J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay to develop the series and serve as showrunners in July 2018,^[3][4] and J. A. Bayona was hired to direct the first two episodes a year later.^[5] The series was originally expected to be a continuation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) film trilogies, but Amazon later clarified that their deal with the Tolkien Estate required them to keep the series distinct from Jackson's films.^[6] Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films.^[7] Amazon said in September 2019 that the first season would be filmed in New Zealand, where Jackson's films were made.^[8]

The series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings.^[9] Because Amazon did not acquire the rights to Tolkien's other works where the First and Second Ages are primarily explored, the writers had to identify references to the Second Age in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and its appendices, and create a story that bridged those passages.^[7] The first season focuses on introducing the setting and major heroic characters to the audience.^[7][10] In February 2022, Bayona revealed that the first episode is titled "A Shadow of the Past", which is an allusion to the second chapter of The Lord of the Rings, "The Shadow of the Past". McKay said the first season was influenced by dialogue from that chapter which he paraphrased as "After a defeat and a respite, a shadow grows again in a new form."^[10]

The showrunners chose to begin the series with an "intimate" flashback sequence showing a young Galadriel and her brother Finrod talking under a tree. McKay said this was a conscious decision to subvert expectations for the "vast and incredible epic" that they felt audiences would be expecting.^[11] The episode then gives a recap of the First Age. This was difficult to put together for the showrunners because there are so many events they wanted to include as fans of Tolkien, but they thought mentions of anything specific would confuse casual audience members. They instead chose to tell a very high-level summary using general mythological terms that they felt would be accessible to all audiences: there was a "great foe", Morgoth, whose actions triggered a war. This sequence went through hundreds of drafts throughout pre-production, filming, and post-production and had the most iteration of any sequence in the first season. The final version was settled on only days before the episode was completed. The showrunners did not want to change anything from the established lore and hoped their summary would allow Tolkien fans to fill in the gaps with their own knowledge. They also hoped new fans who were intrigued by the sequence would read Tolkien's The Silmarillion (1977) to learn more about the First Age.^{[12]: 22:38–27:01}

The series stars Morfydd Clark (left) as a younger version of Galadriel than the one portrayed by Cate Blanchett (right) in the Lord of the Rings films.^[13]

After the prologue, the episode features an older Galadriel though one who is still much younger than she is in The Lord of the Rings. To approach a young character who is actually centuries old, actress Morfydd Clark felt that naïveté would show in Elves as arrogance. She said there was an "innocence to [Galadriel's] arrogance" which she based on a quote from the character about "how with gaining wisdom, there's a loss of innocence".^[14] Galadriel's characterization in the series differs from the "elder stateswoman" that she is portrayed as in The Lord of the Rings, allowing the series to show her journey to becoming that version of the character. The writers took inspiration from Tolkien's description of a younger Galadriel as being a strong fighter of "Amazon disposition".^[7] Another key difference is that Galadriel does not yet have a Ring of Power which will have a big impact on her later in the story. Clark said the Elves of the Second Age feel the weight of their actions during the First, and Galadriel feels the weight of losing her three brothers during the war. She said Galadriel is lonely and wearied as the sole survivor of her family. The episode highlights her relationship with Finrod who Clark said was a particular favorite among fans of Tolkien. After Finrod's death, this relationship is symbolized by her taking his dagger and vowing to continue his search for the Dark Lord Sauron.^{[12]: 3:01–20:13}

The episode ends with a key decision for Galadriel in which she chooses to hunt for Sauron in Middle-earth rather than enter the land of Valinor to live in eternal peace. Tolkien did not explain why Galadriel chose to remain in Middle-earth in his writings,^[15] though he considered several reasons including her pride, choosing to remain with her husband Celeborn, or being banned from Valinor for an unknown reason.^[14] This gave the writers leeway to create their own reason, which is Galadriel's choice to continue Finrod's hunt for Sauron. Clark said Galadriel has a feeling of hiraeth, a Welsh word meaning "a yearning and longing", in wanting to finish "what she was meant to do".^[15]

Payne and McKay felt it was essential to establish relationships in the first episode that the audience could invest in, such as the Romeo and Juliet-style love story between the Elf Arondir and the human Bronwyn, the hijinks-filled friendship between the young Harfoots Nori Brandyfoot and Poppy Proudfellow, and the respectful relationship between Galadriel and Elrond. McKay described the latter two as "almost peers, but not quite".^{[16]: 1:13–1:57} Clark said Galadriel was fascinated by Elrond because he is also an outsider, being a half-Elf who chose to be immortal rather than a full Elf from birth. She felt that Elrond, who is much younger than Galadriel, is just coming into his own and becoming a worthy foil for her.^{[12]: 3:01–20:13} Elrond's introduction sitting in a tree was inspired by the film Young Mr. Lincoln (1939).^{[17]: 41:34–43:00}

Each group of characters in the series is introduced at "a time of enormous change in their worlds" which the showrunners hoped would help make the series more dramatic. This includes the Harfoots,^[18] who are depicted as precursors to the popular Hobbit race from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. They were included because the showrunners felt the series would not truly feel like Middle-earth to the audience without Hobbits or characters that were "satisfyingly Hobbit-adjacent".^[19] The episode ends with a mysterious being landing "quite literally in [their] backyard",^[18] which executive producer Lindsey Weber said was one of the foundational ideas of the series.^[20] The episode ends with a mysterious man, known as "The Stranger", crashing in a meteor. The showrunners felt this was a momentous enough event to unite the different storylines, despite the major characters being spread across different areas of Middle-earth. The sequence brings them together by having them all watch the meteor from their own locations.^{[12]: 22:38–27:01} Tolkien's tree-like Ents can also be seen in the sequence.^[21]

The season's cast includes Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir, Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor,^[19] Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows,^[22] Markella Kavenagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot,^[23] Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo,^[24] Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow,^[22] Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot,^[25] Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad,^[26] Daniel Weyman as the Stranger,^[23] and Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot.^[25] Also starring in the episode are Amelie Child-Villiers as young Galadriel, Will Fletcher as Finrod, Fabian McCallum as Thondir, Kip Chapman as Rían, Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva, Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma, Beau Cassidy as Dilly Brandyfoot, Geoff Morrell as Waldreg, Peter Tait as Tredwill, Ian Blackburn as Rowan, Augustus Prew as Médhor, and Simon Merrells as Revion.^[27] Sophia Nomvete, who portrays the Dwarf princess Disa in the series, gave birth during the casting process. Her newborn daughter makes an uncredited cameo appearance in this episode as a young Harfoot.^{[28]: 5:43–26:33}

Rick Heinrichs was hired as production designer for the series by July 2019,^[4] before Bayona joined the project.^[29] Ramsey Avery was hired to replace Heinrichs around the end of August.^[30] Avery said he was hired because most of what had been done initially "wasn't working",^[31] and he had to "start from scratch" and work quickly to be ready for filming.^{[32]: 11:58–19:33} Heinrichs is credited as production designer for the first two episodes alongside Avery. One of the initial "guideposts" that the showrunners gave Avery was to ensure that the audience could easily identify the different cultures of Middle-earth in the series.^[33] Costume designer Kate Hawley had created mood boards that established a design language for each Middle-earth culture and Avery was thankful that he could use these as the starting point for his own work.^{[31][32]: 20:33–33:08} A "war room" was assembled where the design language for each culture was defined.^[34] Dialect coach Leith McPherson, who also worked on the Hobbit films, established different dialects for each culture, including standard English for Elves, Northern English for the Southlanders, and Irish for Harfoots.^{[35]: 46 [36]} Daniel Reeve, who was responsible for calligraphy and maps on the films, returned to do the same for the series and also to invent new writing systems for some of the cultures.^[37]

Bayona initially oversaw design work at home in Barcelona from September to October 2019.^[29] He asked for at least one piece of concept art for every scene in his episodes, totaling around 150 pieces of art,^[33] which Avery said was a "tremendous amount" to produce but created a basis for the whole series. He prioritized the designs for the first episode to ensure they would be ready for filming.^[31] Avery oversaw the concept artists while also beginning work on the initial sets. New Zealand supervising art director Jules Cook focused on the Southlands and Harfoot sets while another supervising art director, Don Macauley, was brought in to work with New Zealand art director Jill Cormack on the Elvish sets.^[33] The northern wasteland of Forodwaith was another environment that was prioritized.^[31] The production had use of seven stages and multiple backlot spaces across Auckland Film Studios, Kumeu Film Studios, and Kelly Park Film Studios; Kelly Park is a former equestrian center where they could dig into the dirt floor.^[31][38] Wētā Workshop created props, weapons, and prosthetics for the season.^{[35]: 29 [39]}

Stars, pearls, and other jewels became key symbols for the Elves based on Tolkien's writings.^[31][40] Avery examined close-up photography of plants to include in Elvish architecture, and studied early Celtic art and La Tène culture for ways to make Elvish culture feel ancient.^[31] Vertical lines were used to show the Elves "reaching for the stars",^[41] including open towers.^[42] Avery differentiated the Elf-capital Lindon from the films' dark forest realm of Lothlórien by using golden birches and aspen trees.^[30] He was inspired by an image Hawley included in her mood board for the Elves which showed a pathway through a golden aspen forest. He felt this looked like both nature and architecture, and developed a series of illustrations with artist Roberto Fernández Castro which guided the design of Lindon.^[33] Bayona wanted it to look like a forest in the shape of a cathedral. He was inspired by the works of architect Antoni Gaudí, such as the church Sagrada Família in Barcelona.^[29] The production did not have access to any natural forests that could portray Lindon so sets were built on a stage with 125 artificial aspen trees. These were built on platforms that could be rearranged to portray different areas of Lindon. The Great Tree of Lindon was a large sculpture dressed with 14,700 handmade leaves. To show that the Elves are not just "lounging about", the design team created a tapestry about Valinor that the Elves could be shown weaving in the background of the Lindon scenes. This idea came late during pre-production, and it was not possible to hand weave the 24-square-foot (2.2 m²) tapestry in time, so it was created with a machine by a weaver in France. The Hall of Memorial Trees was the one Lindon set that was created separate from the main stage. Illustrator John Howe, one of the main conceptual designers on the film trilogies, designed twelve sculptures for the set to represent different Elves from Tolkien's history, including Finrod,^[33] and Lúthien. One of the carvings is based on the likeness of showrunner J. D. Payne.^{[12]: 22:38–27:01} The ship that the Elves take to the Undying Lands is an Elven swan-ship from Tolkien's writings. Avery said initial attempts at designing a swan-shaped boat looked more suited for "an afternoon-in-the-park". This was solved by forming the swan shape from vines.^[35]: 18

Hawley differentiated costumes for the Silvan Elves (Wood Elves) like Arondir, who she saw as reflecting grass, hills, and trees, from those for the Noldor (High Elves) who reflect light, gold, and water.^[43] Arondir wears a wooden breastplate with a large face carved into it, inspired by an illustration of Elves by Alan Lee. The carved face is based on the Green Man architectural motif, but in the series it is meant to represent the face of an Ent.^[40] The art of William Morris was another inspiration for the armor.^[35]: 50 Elvish weapons were also differentiated between those of the High Elves, who are master metalworkers, and the Wood Elves. Arondir's swords were designed to look like a tree grew around the blade and that branch was harvested without harming the tree, with the blade and wooden hilt then being refined together.^[30][39] Hawley felt, based on Tolkien's description of Elvish armor, that Galadriel and her companions at the start of the episode would likely be wearing chainmail. The design team generally avoided chainmail because of the difficulties of creating a large amount of it on a television schedule, but Hawley took the opportunity to do so for this sequence due to Galadriel being part of a small company. It took six months to create the chainmail for all members of the company, taking inspiration from depictions of Arthurian knights and a specific Pre-Raphaelite sculpture of a knight in armor. After the chainmail was completed, some links were removed to make it appear more like lace. Because Tolkien described Elvish heroes in The Silmarillion as being "covered in the dust of diamonds" and reflecting surrounding snow and ice, Hawley added hundreds of rhinestones to the armor so it could reflect light.^[40] Damage was added to show that the company had been wearing the armor for centuries.^[44] Galadriel's dagger, inherited from Finrod, has a stiletto blade design that represents a shaft of light. The hilt is decorated with depictions of the Two Trees of Valinor. It was created using 3D printers and the superalloy Inconel.^{[39][45]: 17}

The Tirharad village set was built on a farm near Auckland. Bronwyn's house was built on a hill overlooking the village.^[33] Avery said the Southlanders were downtrodden and the lowest of the human castes. He described their architecture as "melting into the landscapes". Their buildings have thatched roofs that are made from surrounding grasses, further embedding them in the landscape.^{[17]: 10:38–12:13} The bright green countryside was digitally altered to appear more grey and brown, to reflect the difficult living conditions of the Southlanders.^[35]: 44 The make-up team created the appearance of skin disorders, scabs, and psoriasis on the actors to show their lack of vitamins.^[35]: 32 The Southlanders use basic runes for writing which Reeve evolved so they could be written cursively in Bronwyn's apothecary notes.^[37] The Ostirith tower set was built on a backlot at Kelly Park,^[31] up to 40 feet (12 m). The rest of the tower was created with visual effects,^[46] and digitally placed beside Lake Quill in Fiordland National Park.^[47] The broken hilt that Theo finds in the episode was originally designed to look more like a traditional sword, but Avery wanted it to have a unique design. The final look was described as "dark [and] twisted", covered in barbs and spikes that are meant to draw the blood of the person holding it and channel it down the hilt. The spiked pommel reflects the design of Sauron's helmet. The broken blade is meant to look like onyx, and features an engraved symbol that is an early version of the "Eye of Sauron" mark that will be used over the following centuries.^{[39][45]: 17}

Bayona took inspiration from traveler communities for the Harfoots.^[29] Hobbits are known to be good at blending in with nature during the Third Age, which inspired the idea that their ancestors' clothing and wagons could camouflage with their surroundings as they migrate.^[44][48][49] Elements were hand-made with techniques that the Harfoots would use themselves, such as coloring fabric with vegetable dyes, berry stains, and soot,^[49] or weaving the canopies of their wagons from branches. New Zealand willow weaver Mike Lilian was hired to work on the latter.^[50] Each wagon was designed to be unique to its Harfoot family and was engineered so they could actually be moved by the actors.^{[51]: 16:40–20:00} Avery wanted the large wheels of the wagons to remind viewers of the round Hobbit doors seen in the films.^[52] The Harfoot furniture was designed to be collapsible so it could fit inside their wagons.^[50] The production spent several days planning out the introduction sequence for the Harfoots, camouflaging the around 20 different wagons and then choreographing their reveals.^{[12]: 20:21–22:37}

The Harfoot costumes include accessories as camouflage, including berries, acorns, leaves, and other natural elements. These were made bigger than normal so they would appear to be the correct size on the Harfoots, who are meant to be much smaller than humans.^[40] The props team made 10,000 large scale gummy blackberries for the Harfoot children to eat in the episode.^[33] The prosthetics for the Harfoots' large, hairy feet have the same design as those used for the Hobbits in the films, but modern technology allowed the new versions to be sturdier and have moveable toes.^[53] The feet each took three weeks to create and could be used several times.^[35]: 29 The hair and make-up team referenced animals for the Harfoots, and created their wigs from mohair.^[43] For the Harfoots' books, which record star maps and their collected knowledge, Reeve initially wrote in English with a "Harfoot-looking" script. Avery decided this was inappropriate for the Second Age and the text needed to be more primitive. He gave Reeve examples of early pictographs as inspiration, and Reeve developed a new script using simple pictures which the Harfoots could use to represent the natural world, things they would want to record, and phonetic sounds.^[37] These pictures were also carved into the Harfoots' wagons and furniture.^{[51]: 16:40–20:00}

Filming began in early February 2020,^[54] under the working title Untitled Amazon Project or simply UAP.^[55] Óscar Faura was the director of photography for the first two episodes, returning from Bayona's previous films.^[29][56] Location filming took place around Auckland in February.^[57] Filming for the first two episodes was expected to continue through May,^[58] but was placed on hold in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[55] The majority of filming for the first two episodes was reportedly completed by then. Filming was allowed to resume in early May under new safety guidelines from the New Zealand government, but the production decided to segue into an extended filming break that had been planned for after the first two episodes were completed.^[59] Filming resumed on September 28,^[60] and Bayona completed his episodes by December 23.^[61] The director felt like he was making a feature film rather than two television episodes. He was originally supposed to be in New Zealand for nine months for the project but because of the pandemic was ultimately living there for a year and a half.^[62]

Vic Armstrong was the stunt coordinator and second unit director for the season.^[63] It was important to Bayona that the fight sequence with the Snow-troll featured Clark doing her own stunts, which Clark said was easier than some other sequences because she was fighting a creature that did not exist. She described Galadriel's fighting style as being "scrappier" than the other Elves, indicating that the character is losing the "elegance and regalness" of an Elf.^[44] For the moment where Galadriel jumps off a sword to kill the Troll, Clark was in a wire rig that was counterbalanced by a member of the stunt team. The latter jumped off a ladder to make Clark go higher and further than she otherwise could.^{[12]: 3:01–20:13} Bayona took inspiration for the sequence where the Elves climb up a frozen waterfall from the film The Mission (1986), which Armstrong had worked on.^[63] A part of the waterfall was created practically out of wax and resin for filming.^[64] The origami boat that young Galadriel makes during the opening flashback was created by the series' practical effects team and filmed for real.^[65] The meteor crater at the end of the episode was made to look like an eye, a symbol that is associated with Sauron, to set-up a mystery for the season: is the Stranger Sauron, is he related to Sauron, or is he opposed to Sauron?^{[12]: 22:38–27:01}

Visual effects for the episode were created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Wētā FX, Method Studios, Rodeo FX, Cause and FX, Atomic Arts, and Cantina Creative.^[27][66] The different vendors were overseen by visual effects supervisor Jason Smith.^[67] ILM was responsible for the ocean effects throughout the season.^[68][69] Rodeo handled much of the Harfoot storyline, including environment augmentation, scale work, and fire and magic effects.^[70] Cantina Creative created transitions between locations using a map of Tolkien's world.^[67]

Wētā returned from Jackson's films to work on the series.^[71] The company was responsible for the episode's prologue, the Forodwaith sequence, and the watchtower Ostirith in the Southlands. In-house visual effects supervisor Ken McGaugh said the biggest challenge of the prologue was the large number of Elves and Orcs that appear in the battle sequences, along with the addition of Fell beasts and Great Eagles flying above the battlefield which Wētā brought back from the films.^[72] A wide shot of Tirion, a city in Valinor, was one of the first visual effects shots worked on for the series. McKay felt the completed shot was "pretty spectacular", and it became the first image to be released for the project.^[11] Wētā based their digital environment for the frozen waterfall on Bowen Falls and the valley below Castle Mount in Milford Sound. A real frozen waterfall at Wye Creek near Queenstown was filmed as reference, just two weeks before it melted.^[73]

The abandoned fortress Durnost in Forodwaith and the Snow-troll that lives there were also created by Wētā.^[72] Smith said they considered questions such as "Why is that Troll there? What does he do? How healthy or not is he? How old is he? How long has he been there?"^[65] They felt the Troll would be still for long periods of time, allowing ice to form that would crack once it moves.^[44] The face and head were designed by Howe,^[65] who did six or seven sketches of the Troll. He said the design came from various inspirations including his work on other Trolls for the films.^[64]

Musicians Janet Roddick, David Donaldson, and Steve Roche, who form the group Plan 9, and their collaborator David Long returned from the films to provide music during filming.^[74] Composer Bear McCreary began work in July 2021,^[75] and started by composing the main themes for the series.^[76] He wrote an "anthem" for each culture and then created individual character themes that relate to their culture's music in different ways.^[77] The first episode's score introduces several of these: "Valinor", which represents all Elves, with themes for Galadriel and Elrond; a main theme for the Southlands and a love theme for Bronwyn and Arondir; a general Harfoot theme as well as a separate theme for Nori Brandyfoot; and Sauron's theme, which also represents Morgoth in the prologue.^[78] Another theme, titled "Where the Shadows Lie", is heard during the end credits. This represents the Rings of Power and related elements and was primarily composed for the season finale. A chord progression from the theme is heard earlier in the episode over the opening title card and again when Celebrimbor is introduced.^[78][79]

The first version of the episode McCreary received began with four seconds of black screen before Galadriel's opening narration begins. He wanted to use these initial moments to introduce the Valinor theme but found that four seconds was not long enough. The showrunners agreed to extend this to 17 seconds. When the Elves sail to Valinor in the episode, they sing a song "whose memory [all Elves] carry". McCreary wanted this song to be the Valinor theme, but by the time he was hired the scene had already been filmed with the actors singing a different song written by Plan 9. McCreary liked that song but did not think it would work as a theme for Valinor in the score. To solve this, McCreary spent a month working with the editors to select specific takes where the actors' mouth movements matched to the Elvish lyrics of his Valinor theme, which he also adjusted for the scene. McCreary chose to use Elrond's theme for the introductions of Lindon and High King Gil-galad. He did this so the audience would focus on Elrond in those scenes. McCreary wrote a choral piece in Elvish that is heard during the ceremony where Gil-galad proclaims the war to be over; he felt this sounded like it was being sung by an off-screen choir in Lindon. The composer had a specific theme for Gil-galad planned but did not use it during the first season. When the meteor appears at the end of the episode, McCreary added a clarinet that "slices through the soundtrack from its lowest to highest register". This is a technique he borrowed from composer Igor Stravinsky that was also used by film composers such as John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. McCreary was pleased that the showrunners appreciated the addition considering some modern filmmakers are against the use of woodwind instruments.^[78]

A soundtrack album featuring McCreary's score for the episode was released digitally on the streaming service Amazon Music on September 1, 2022. McCreary said the album contained "virtually every second of score" from the episode. It was added to other music streaming services after the full first season was released.^[80][81] A CD featuring the episode's music is included in a limited edition box set collection for the season from Mondo, Amazon Music, and McCreary's label Sparks & Shadows. The box set was released on April 26, 2024, and includes a journal written by McCreary which details the creation of the episode's score.^[82]

The first two episodes premiered on Prime Video in the United States on September 1, 2022. They were released at the same time around the world,^[81][83] in more than 240 countries and territories.^[84] For two weeks leading up to the premiere of the second season on August 29, 2024, the first season was made available for free on the streaming service Samsung TV Plus in the US, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Germany.^[85]

Amazon announced that The Rings of Power had been watched by 25 million viewers globally in the first 24 hours that the first two episodes were available on Prime Video. The company stated that this was the biggest premiere ever for the service. It did not specify how much of an episode a user needed to watch to count as a viewer.^[86] Analytics company Samba TV, which gathers viewership data from certain smart TVs and content providers, reported that 1.8 million US households watched the first episode within four days of its release.^[87][88] Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the 21 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, calculated that for the week ending September 4, three days after the episode's debut, it was the second-highest original streaming series for US viewership.^[89] Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on US television screens, estimated that The Rings of Power was watched for a combined 1.25 billion minutes during its first four days.^[90] This is around 12.6 million viewers, the most for any streaming series or film for the week ending September 4.^[91]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes calculated that 84% of 162 critics reviews were positive and the average rating for the episode was 7.3 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Forging its claim with astounding production value, vast scope and a dense—arguably impenetrable—amount of lore, 'A Shadow of the Past' suggests that this ambitious expansion of Tolkien's opus has a bright future."^[92] Multiple publications found that the first two episodes received generally positive reviews, with particular praise going to the visuals and production value. Some critics were skeptical whether the storytelling and slow pacing justified this.^[93][94][95]

Alex Welch at Inverse said the series' budget was on screen with "some of the most awe-inspiring images that have ever been brought to life on" television, and he thought Bayona's work on the visuals was better than recent Hollywood blockbuster films. Welch highlighted the vibrant color palette and was impressed that the series' depiction of Middle-earth felt like it could evolve into Jackson's.^[96] Andy Welch of The Guardian also praised the visuals, comparing them positively to the films of Marvel Studios as well as Jackson's films.^[97] Dave Nemetz graded the first two episodes an 'A-' for TVLine and said they were "a gorgeously immersive and grandly ambitious spectacle packed with stunning imagery and compelling plot threads". He highlighted the visuals, McCreary's score, the humanity of the characters, and the Snow-troll fight. Nemetz added that the series "captures the same sense of awe we felt while watching the Lord of the Rings movies—one we don't often get to experience on the small screen".^[98] Writing for Screen Rant, Mae Abdulbaki praised the scope and visuals, highlighted Faura's cinematography, and said McCreary's score elevated the action sequences and brought "warmth to calmer, more heartwarming scenes".^[99] Juliette Harrisson of Den of Geek gave the first two episodes four out of five stars. She praised the costume and production design, visual effects, and acting.^[100] Keith Phipps, writing for Vulture, thought it was the right move for the series' visuals to align with Jackson's films.^[101] Reviewing the first two episodes for RogerEbert.com, Clint Worthington said they were gorgeous but thought the showrunners were trying to "have their cake and eat it too" by distancing the series from Jackson's films while still trying to be visually consistent with them.^[102]

Harrisson, writing for Den of Geek, said the drawback of the first two episodes was their focus on set-up and world-building. She thought the pacing of the first episode was particularly slow, though it meant information was given to the audience at an understandable pace. She was left feeling intrigued and excited to watch the next episode.^[100] Alex Stedman at IGN said the episode was a 7 out of 10, lower than the second episode due to the large amount of exposition required, but still felt it was a strong foundation for the series.^[103] Welch of The Guardian was excited by the series' start, though he agreed that the first episode "took a while to get going" with its large amount of world-building.^[97] Phipps gave the episode four out of five stars and called it a compelling and promising start to the series, despite the large amount of exposition and set-up required.^[101] For Screen Rant, Abdulbaki agreed that the series "takes a while... to get going" with the first episode's focus on introducing various characters and conflicts.^[99] Worthington said the slow pacing was the major failing of the first episode, calling it a "somewhat dry, derivative prelude, filled with endless scenes of politicking and Elves droning on against green screens or elegantly-furnished conference rooms".^[102] Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter said the series had potential, and held up better than he expected. He said the first episode was focused on world-building and generally met the grand scope it was aiming for, though he struggled with some of the exposition and longer dialogue scenes.^[104] Welch at Inverse was uncertain whether the series could live up to the "narrative elegance" of the films, and thought the lack of a clear villain gave the first two episodes "an unfortunate sense of waywardness".^[96]

Lacy Baugher Milas of Paste thought the first two episodes did a good job of introducing the series' many characters. Milas acknowledged that some Tolkien fans may take issue with changes to his lore, but she appreciated some of these decisions such as the depiction of Galadriel and inclusion of more female characters.^[105] Stedman at IGN felt the portrayal of Galadriel was key to the success of the series and praised Clark as an "instant star".^[103] Welch of The Guardian also praised Clark's performance.^[97] In his review for RogerEbert.com, Worthington was positive about the performances of Clark and Aramayo, as well as the "well-conceptualized" action sequence where Galadriel fights the Snow-troll.^[102] The Hollywood Reporter's Fienberg highlighted the performances of Clark and Aramayo, but disliked watching their characters "make pronouncements at each other".^[104]

An episode of the official aftershow Deadline's Inside the Ring: LOTR: The Rings of Power for "A Shadow of the Past" was released on September 3, 2022. Hosted by Deadline Hollywood's Dominic Patten and Anthony D'Alessandro, it features exclusive "footage and insights" for the episode, plus interviews with cast members Clark, Aramayo, Walker, and Edwards, as well as executive producers McKay, Payne, and Weber.^[16][110] On October 14, The Official The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Podcast was released on Amazon Music. Hosted by actress Felicia Day, the first episode is dedicated to "A Shadow of the Past" and features Clark, Payne, and McKay.^[12][111] On November 21, a bonus segment featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the episode was added to Prime Video's X-Ray feature as part of a series titled "The Making of The Rings of Power".^[44][112]