The Rings Of Power Season 3 Should Explore One 71-Year-Old LOTR Mystery Season 2 Already Referenced

The Amazon Prime Video show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power could open the lid on a Lord of the Rings mystery long closed. The query was originated by the master of high fantasy himself, British author J.R.R. Tolkien. Writing about the world of Lord of the Rings since 1914, Tolkien published his milestone novel in three parts between 1954 and 1955. Tolkien spun a yarn about Middle-earth, creating contradictions and unanswerable questions that kept readers debating for decades. However, Amazon’s show has been investigating one of its biggest.

The Rings of Power season 3 has started filming and is due to air in what may be 2026 or 2027, while the show launched in 2022. Previous seasons took a bold approach, combining inventive original material with deep cuts of obscure Tolkien lore. As such, it has burst open conversations held by the fandom for many years, just as often through outrage at unfaithfulness as through sudden, renewed interest in powerful old characters or ideas. The nameless things are one such idea, and season 3 may dive in further.

The Rings Of Power Season 2 References Lord Of The Rings’ Nameless Creatures

Nameless Things Are One Of Tolkien’s Unsolved Mysteries

The Rings of Power tackled nameless things in season 2, referring to the enigmatic creatures at the heart of Middle-earth. Tolkien’s first publication mentioning the nameless things was The Two Towers, part two of Lord of the Rings. In “The White Rider,” Gandalf described where he had been when the Balrog of Moria dragged him into the abyss. Far below the caves of Moria lived the nameless things, gnawing on the bowels of the earth. Rings of Power season 2 adapted one of these underground creatures in an original storyline.

With The Rings of Power season 2 ending in October 2024 and a long run-up to the next season, fans have a long time to speculate on what is to come. Perhaps the nameless thing of season 2 will make a comeback in season 3, based on the encroaching darkness to come. Run by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, Rings of Power was brave enough to bring a nameless thing to proceedings, well outside the canon established by Tolkien. The creature attacked the original character Arondir, but also Isildur, who is well-known in LotR lore.

The Nameless Creatures Are A LOTR Mystery Tolkien’s Canon Doesn’t Explore Much

Tolkien Wasn’t Clear On Lord Of The Rings’ Nameless Things’ Origins

J.R.R. Tolkien did not go into too much detail on the nameless things in his legendarium, leaving them an intriguing enigma. Gandalf said that the nameless things were older than Lord of the Rings’ Sauron, and that Sauron wasn’t aware of them. This certainly is mysterious, given that Sauron was an ancient Ainur, created long before Middle-earth. This gives weight to the idea that the nameless things are the same species as Sauron — an Ainur. But this doesn’t seem to hold water, given that Ainur are highly intelligent and more than just mindless beasts.

Although Tolkien never said that the nameless things encountered by Gandalf were mindless beasts, the image of them gnashing away at the tendrils of earth native to them underground definitely makes them seem that way. If the nameless things are not Ainur, they must be some kind of primordial beast — an experiment of Lord of the Rings’ God, Eru Ilúvatar. Or, perhaps an experiment of Morgoth’s, Morgoth being the evil Vala that seduced Sauron into evil at the beginning of Arda, the world housing Middle-earth. Either way, Rings of Power clearly enjoyed its foray into nameless things lore.

The Rings Of Power Season 3 Can Finally Dig Deeper Into This Piece Of Tolkien Lore

Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings Show hasn’t Shied Away From Difficult Material

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has not shied away from challenging subject matter, including nameless things, and there is every chance that season 3 could return there. This is possible as season 3 is set to be even more ominous than season 2. The Rings of Power has unabashedly explored Tolkien lore that the legendarium kept mysterious, from Tom Bombadil to Sauron’s shapeshifting ability. This risky business involves cracking open well-protected secrets, kept vague on Tolkien’s part to generate fear of the unknown and the mythopoeic effect of a realistic set of Elvish legends.

But the show has tackled these topics with creativity, if not always with sensitivity. Sauron’s gooey black matter was just as fascinating as it was hilarious, flopping over the snowy steppes of the Northern Waste. Tolkien may have never intended to show Sauron’s exact regeneration process to leave it uncertain and terrifying, but the show exploited its TV format to tell a disarmingly graphic story. Likewise, it created a completely new script around nameless things. Sauron will continue rising to power in The Rings of Power season 3, and this could come with all kinds of chaos.

Sauron will bring war to the Elves in season 3, seeing as he has already accomplished the Siege of Eregion. As per Unfinished Tales, published in 1980, Sauron’s war is due to extend after this. The season 3 conflict could well include Sauron’s dark creatures spreading from Mordor outwards and emerging from whatever grimy holes they had been hiding in. Season 3 will skip straight to the heart of this conflict, entailing a time jump. This makes it more feasible that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will keep inventing nameless things for its Second Age tale.