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50 free The Rings of Power trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the most expensive television series ever made: Amazon paid close to $250 million for the rights in 2017, committed to five seasons and at least a billion dollars, and spent $465 million on the first season alone in New Zealand. Showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay built their story from the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, compressing the Second Age into a few years so that the forging of the rings, the rise of Sauron and the fall of Númenor could share a screen. This quiz covers the production and the story: the rights auction that HBO and Netflix lost, Howard Shore's theme and Bear McCreary's score, Morfydd Clark and Robert Aramayo as young Galadriel and Elrond, the Halbrand twist, Annatar, the Stranger's reveal as Gandalf, Rhûn and Tom Bombadil, the recasts of Celebrimbor and Adar, the cymatic title sequence, Fiona Apple's closing song and the viewing figures Amazon did and did not want to talk about. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play in sets of ten or print it for a Middle-earth quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Rings of Power streams on which service?
Prime Video
Jeff Bezos, a Tolkien fan, was personally involved in the rights negotiations.
Q 02In which Age of Middle-earth is The Rings of Power set?
the Second Age
Thousands of years before The Hobbit; the events are compressed into a short span for TV.
Q 03The series draws its story mainly from which part of Tolkien's writings?
the appendices of The Lord of the Rings
Amazon only bought rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, so the Silmarillion was off limits.
Q 04Who are the two showrunners of The Rings of Power?
J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay
They had only unproduced or uncredited work before; J. J. Abrams championed them.
Q 05Which director championed Payne and McKay after working with them on an unmade Star Trek film?
J. J. Abrams
The pair beat more than 30 writers, including the Russo brothers, for the job.
Q 06Roughly how much did Amazon pay the Tolkien Estate for the TV rights in November 2017?
close to $250 million
The starting price had been $200 million; commentators called it 'insane'.
Q 07How much did Amazon spend producing the first season?
$465 million
The UK's tax incentives 'dramatically reduced' costs for later seasons.
Q 08Which network pitched the estate a remake of the Lord of the Rings films and was turned down?
HBO
Netflix's pitch of connected Aragorn and Gandalf series 'completely freaked out the estate'.
Q 09Who composed the main title theme for The Rings of Power?
Howard Shore
Bear McCreary wrote the score but was barred from quoting Shore's film themes.
Q 10Who composed the original score for the series?
Bear McCreary
He wrote more than 15 new themes for the first season alone.
Q 11Where was the first season filmed?
New Zealand
Production then moved to the UK, partly because the estate wanted Tolkien's own landscapes.
Q 12Which studio complex hosts production from the third season onward?
Shepperton Studios
Season 2 had shot at Bray and Bovingdon Airfield outside London.
Q 13On what date did The Rings of Power premiere?
September 1, 2022
Its first two episodes drew 25 million viewers in 24 hours, a Prime Video record.
Q 14How many viewers did Amazon say watched the first two episodes in the first 24 hours?
Q 21What Elven alias does Sauron adopt in season 2?
Annatar
It is his 'Lord of Gifts' disguise from Tolkien's writings.
Q 22Which actor plays Sauron's earlier form in the season 2 premiere flashback?
Jack Lowden
It was the one Sauron form not played by Charlie Vickers.
Q 23The season 2 finale confirms the Stranger is an earlier version of which wizard?
Gandalf
Daniel Weyman plays him; Ciarán Hinds's Dark Wizard remains unnamed.
Q 24Which earlier adaptation had depicted Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-wights before The Rings of Power?
25 million
It was the first time Amazon had ever published Prime Video viewing figures.
Q 15What percentage of initial US viewers reportedly finished season 1?
37 percent
Amazon's Jennifer Salke disputed attempts to paint the season as less than a success.
Q 16Who plays Galadriel in The Rings of Power?
Morfydd Clark
She was cast in December 2019 as a younger version of Blanchett's film character.
Q 17Who plays the young Elrond?
Robert Aramayo
He replaced Will Poulter, who left over scheduling conflicts.
Q 18Which actor was originally cast in a lead role but left before filming due to scheduling conflicts?
Will Poulter
His role, then codenamed 'Beldor', turned out to be Elrond.
Q 19Which actor's character is revealed in the season 1 finale to be Sauron in disguise?
Charlie Vickers
His audition included a monologue by Satan from Paradise Lost, which tipped him off.
Q 20Sauron's human disguise in season 1 goes by what name?
Halbrand
The writers avoided the book alias Annatar so even Tolkien readers would be surprised.
the 1991 Soviet miniseries Khraniteli
Jackson's films omitted both.
Q 25Who replaced Joseph Mawle as Adar for season 2?
Sam Hazeldine
Mawle did not take part in promotion for the first season.
Q 26Which actor replaced Tom Budge in a major Elf role after early episodes were reviewed?
Charles Edwards
COVID restricted the search to actors already in New Zealand; Edwards was shooting Under the Vines there.
Q 27Who is the 'principal protagonist' of season 2, according to the showrunners?
Celebrimbor
His relationship with Sauron-as-Annatar drives the story toward the Siege of Eregion.
Q 28Which Dwarf king goes mad after receiving a ring in season 2?
Durin III
Peter Mullan plays him; Owain Arthur is his son Durin IV.
Q 29Which eastern land do the Stranger, Nori and Poppy travel to in season 2?
Rhûn
It was imagined as a lost paradise turned desert, Middle-earth's first on-screen desert.
Q 30The Harfoots are precursors to which Third Age people?
Hobbits
Lenny Henry is among the actors of colour cast as Harfoots.