Middle-earth goes to war in a new Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power trailer

Amazon’s latest trailer for the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is all about war: Specifically, big battle scenes and tense conflicts — almost as if the show wants you to know that season 1 was just a preamble.

The footage touches on all the key players: the elves of Eregion, doing their best to remain in Middle-earth unchanged and undiminished; the dwarves of Khazad-dûm, who’ve already awakened the shadow and flame; the Numenorean humans, with their late king, newly blinded queen, and ambitious regent; Adar, the ancient corrupted elf and self-appointed father of orcs; and, of course, Sauron himself. And based on this trailer, it looks like all of these factions have their very own armies and are gearing up for war — except, of course, for the Stranger and Nori, who are off in the East somewhere meeting Tom Bombadil.

Why? Well, trailers for The Rings of Power’s new season have given every indication that things are going to escalate considerably, into the period of Tolkien’s Middle-earth history in which Sauron dupes the elven smith Celebrimbor into making more rings of power, and then the elves of Eregion band together to fight Sauron, and hopefully defeat him once and for all. It doesn’t work, of course, but it stands to make for great drama.

Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will premiere on Aug. 29 with three whole episodes! The next five episodes will be released weekly on Amazon Prime, with a season finale on Oct. 3.