Remember the prologue of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring? (The movie, not the book.) In that sequence, Peter Jackson & Co. attempted to condense the history of the One Ring into a 10-minute montage. Not an easy task.
Here's a video that manages to condense it into half that time, while providing loads of additional details. What is the One Ring's relationship to the other rings of power? Who forged all those rings, anyway? Why did Sauron need the One Ring? Why were the Elves all melancholy and serious whenever the subject of destroying the One Ring came up? (Hint: the Elves shared a surprising connection to the One Ring.) And just what was the One Ring's power, anyway?
Warning: you may need to watch this more than once.
This clever video by YouTube channel C.G.P. Grey explores the entire history of the One Ring with original, hand-drawn images, fast-paced but smart narration, and plenty of cheeky jokes. I consider myself a fairly serious Lord of the Rings fan, and yet I learned from this video several things I'd never picked up on or figured out myself before.
Not only does it provide an entertaining five minutes, it recontextualizes several major plot points from the trilogy (both the movies and the books) in ways even hardcore fans should find fascinating.
If you like this video be sure to check out C.G.P. Grey's other Lord of the Rings video, which explains Tolkien's entire Middle Earth mythology in (you guessed it) five minutes. You'll learn all about Ilúvitar, the creator of the world (and Elves and Men), and his angel-like Valar, who created various other species of living beings (Dwarves, Eagles, Ents, etc.). You'll also hear about Melkor, the first true villain of Middle-Earth, and his chief lieutenant (who has a name you'll recognize).
C.G.P. Grey explains complex things, but until recently has focused entirely on real-world concepts like history and elections. The channel's videos based on Lord of the Rings are its first foray into fictional concepts, but hopefully won't be its last.
