When Amazon’s long-awaited fantasy series,The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, made its grand debut, one of the big questions was how the show would handle its opening sequence. Would it be a general gaze over the maps of Middle Earth? Would it show of all the actors? What we got ended up being something more abstract than we could have imagined. Shifting sands, dancing in varying patterns, it seemed like an odd choice… until game designer Alexander King figured out the mystery on Twitter!
That’s right, the strange shifting sands in the opening ofRings of Powerare Chladni figures, named after the physicist and musician Ernst Chladni. The phenomenon occurs on a flat surface through vibrations, particularly audio frequencies. It’s a fascinating reaction!Anthony Vitagliano, the creative director behind the sequence, responded to King’s thread and confirmed his hypothesis.According to the team, the decision to utilize the Chlandi figures was very deliberate and a big nod to Tolkien lore!
We conceived and created the opening title sequence for The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power. The prequel series is based thousands of years before The Hobbit - a time of Sauron’s ascendency when dragons flew and Proto-Hobbits roamed. We set out to portray a universe both primordial and timeless. Taking inspiration from J.R.R Tolkien’s Ainur, immortal angelic beings that sing such beautiful music that the world is created from their very sound, we conceived of a main title sequence “built from the world of sound.”
According to J.R.R. Tolkien’sThe Silmarillion, which is a prequel toThe Lord of the RingsandThe Hobbit, Middle Earth was indeed brought into the world by sound. Created by the deity Eru Ilúvatar, a race of immortal spirits called the Ainur literally sang the world into being. After Ilúvatar taught each subject their own unique song, the Ainur came together in harmony, singing a great chorus that summons the world into being. But then comes Melkor, with his loud and deep voice that cuts through the great harmony and agitates Ilúvatar, causing him to stop the singing and start conducting again. Melkor disrupts the harmony a second and third time. The scene ends with the god storming off in frustration and leaving the Ainur.
The Great Song Of Creation
A world created in song, with a dark being disrupting the harmony; it makes for a perfect foreshadowing of what’s to come. The idea of telling that story in an abstract medium like Chladni lines is nothing short of genius. As the light sands dance and form intricate patterns, they are joined by a soft, harmonious choir. But soon, a river of black sand joins in, and with it a deeper, more sinister musical accompaniment. Soon after, the music softens, revealing the title of the show.
Cymatics is a natural phenomenon that makes sound visible to the eye. Vibrations of fine particles on a flat surface display striking symmetrical patterns that reflect audio frequencies. Cymatics are understood by physicists and mathematicians, but to us mere mortals, they are nothing short of magic.
The sequence’s music is composed byHoward Shore, who composed the soundtracks for bothThe Lord of the RingsandHobbittrilogies. In a way, it is a bridge from old to new in more ways than one for viewers, be it with the films to the show, or the beginning of the world to the second age of Middle Earth.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Poweris available to stream on Prime Video, with new episodes premiering on Fridays.
