When Amazon’s highly anticipated 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 approach the opening scene. Would it be a general look at Middle Earth maps? Would it show all the actors? What we got ended up being something more abstract than we could have imagined. Shifting sand, dancing in different patterns, seemed like an odd choice… until game designer Alexander King discovered the mystery on Twitter!
That’s right, the strange drifting sand in the opening of Rings of Power are Chladni figures, named after the physicist and musician Ernst Chladni. The phenomenon occurs on a flat surface due to vibrations, especially audio frequencies. It’s a fascinating response! Anthony Vitaglianothe creative director behind the series, responded to King’s thread and confirmed his hypothesis. According to the teamthe decision to use the Chlandi figures was very deliberate and a big nod to Tolkien’s 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 ascendancy when dragons flew and Proto-Hobbits roamed. We wanted to portray a universe that is both primordial and timeless. Inspired by JRR Tolkien’s Ainur, immortal angelic beings who sing such beautiful music that the world is created from their own sound, we came up with a main title sequence ‘built from the world of sound’.
According to JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillionwhat is a prequel to Under the spell of the Ring and the hobbitMiddle-earth was indeed born by sound. Created by the deity Eru Ilúvatar, a race of immortal spirits called the Ainur literally sang the world into existence. After Ilúvatar taught each subject their own unique song, the Ainur came together in harmony and sang a great chorus that calls the world into existence. But then comes Melkor, with his loud and deep voice cutting through the great harmony and stirring Ilúvatar, causing him to stop singing and start conducting again. Melkor disrupts the harmony a second and third time. The scene ends with the god storming away in frustration and leaving the Ainur.
The Great Song of Creation
A world created in song, with a dark creature disturbing the harmony; it perfectly foreshadows what is to come. The idea of telling that story in an abstract medium like Chladni Rules is nothing short of genius. As the light sands dance and form intricate patterns, they are joined by a soft, harmonious chorus. But soon a river of black sand joins in, and with it a deeper, more sinister musical accompaniment. Shortly after, the music softens and the show’s title is revealed.
Cymatics is a natural phenomenon that makes sound visible to the eye. Vibrations of fine particles on a flat surface exhibit 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 music for the sequence was composed by Howard Shore, who composed the soundtracks for both Under the spell of the Ring and hobbit trilogies. In a way, it’s a bridge from old to new for viewers in more ways than one, whether it’s with the movies to the show, or the beginning of the world to the second age of Middle Earth.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is available to stream on Prime Video, with new episodes premiering on Friday.