![Rivendell in The Rings Of Power Season 3](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/e48a141/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1688x1125+156+0/resize/300x200!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F14%2Ff2%2F049b987e43689ba94d9d05a6a393%2Frivendell-hero-trop-amazon-news.png) # Building Rivendell: How 'The Rings of Power' team brought the iconic 'Lord of the Rings' location to life *'The Rings of Power' showrunners and production designer give us an exclusive glimpse into crafting an early iteration of the Elvish sanctuary.* --- ## Key takeaways - *The Rings of Power* Season 3 introduces the early years of Tolkien's iconic Rivendell. - A Tolkien watercolor from an edition of *The Hobbit* served as the team's "North Star" for designing the set. - The Rivendell set is filled with real plants and was built primarily from wood to reflect the Elves' harmony with nature. --- I've written about Middle-earth from behind a screen for years, but nothing could have prepared me for the moment I stepped onto a soundstage at Shepperton Studios. Suddenly, I found myself on the bustling streets of [Númenor](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/lord-of-the-rings-numenor-images), marble arches stretching overhead. An actual chill ran through my body when I crossed into the shadows of Barad-dûr, realizing that the staggering scale of the place isn't CGI—it's timber, metal, and paint, all built by hundreds of hands. Over the course of a day on the set of [*The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power* Season 3](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-season-3-prime-video), I visited realms I'd only ever seen on screen or in my imagination. What struck me most wasn't just the beauty of these places, but the passionate craft behind them. The creative team have already spent years building this immersive world that expands even further in Season 3, introducing audiences to another iconic location from Tolkien's work: Rivendell. ## A new Rivendell ![Elrond (Robert Aramayo) on a horse outside a house in Rivendell in 'The Rings of Power' Season 3](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/84c923b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1600x900+0+0/resize/767x431!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F64%2Fa8%2Fcaba7a264770b4cf0d9f6d3dfb22%2Felrond-house-trop-rivendell-amazon-news.png) *Elrond (Robert Aramayo) on a horse outside a house in Rivendell in 'The Rings of Power' Season 3* This hidden Elven sanctuary—a longtime favorite among Tolkien fans—was teased at the end of the second season and is fully introduced in Season 3. However, this is not the mossy, Art Nouveau-style refuge director Peter Jackson brought to audiences. Instead, this is an earlier iteration that somehow feels ancient yet brand-new: an outpost surrounded by lush greenery and cascading waterfalls, bathed in golden sunlight, built to shelter the Elves as Middle-earth becomes engulfed by violent war. For the team, it was crucial that they "didn't step on the toes of what has been done before," production designer Kristian Milsted told me. It helped that Jackson's Rivendell is from the Third Age, so has been there for thousands of years. In *The Rings of Power*, Elrond has only just started establishing it. However, while that made it easier to ensure Rivendell was distinguishable from the one depicted in Jackson's movies, it did present another challenge. "We want our show to be situated in a certain time, but the audience wants to go to Rivendell and not be shortchanged when they get there. It needs to not feel like a construction site,” said co-showrunner Patrick McKay. “It was about capturing the feeling of Rivendell, but it's a raw version of that world." ## Tolkien's North Star ![Concept art for Rivendell for 'The Rings of Power' Season 3](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/a413324/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1600x900+0+0/resize/767x431!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F6b%2F06%2Fc9ef19524917a49f58057c977040%2Frivendell-concept-art-inline-amazon-news.png) *Concept art for Rivendell for 'The Rings of Power' Season 3* So, how did they do it? As co-showrunner J.D. Payne emphasized, like with everything in *The Rings of Power*, they "always go back to Tolkien." On this occasion, this meant looking at the text, as well as various sketches and paintings Tolkien made. [One watercolor in particular](https://museoteca.com/r/en/work/7376/j_r_r_tolkien/the_fair_valley_of_rivendell_/!/), which was used as an illustration in the first American edition of *The Hobbit*, served as the team's "North Star." Much of that painting is replicated on the screen. "If you compare our Rivendell to that watercolor, it's remarkably similar,” McKay said. “The river that cuts through the middle of the valley, the bridge, the water, even the chalet is positioned in the same place as it is in the painting." ![Esther McGregor and Emilio Sakraya to star in ‘Fourth Wing’ on Prime Video](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/18f79ad/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1688x1125+154+0/resize/300x200!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F04%2F88%2F351846924f6798af2e91654f25fd%2Ffourth-wing-casting-amazon-news-nb-102126.jpg) - [Prime Video’s ‘Fourth Wing’ series casts Esther McGregor and Emilio Sakraya as leads](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/fourth-wing-cast-violet-xaden-prime-video) It's not just the painting that the creative team mirrored when crafting their Rivendell. Tolkien took a trip to the Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland in the summer of 1911, which directly inspired his vision of this Elven sanctuary. Visiting that valley, and mapping it out, was therefore vital. "We flew a helicopter over it with a visual effects team who scanned the entire valley. We then situated our physical set in a virtual world inside that valley,” Milsted said. So, every time the characters are facing out, they are looking toward a recreation of the real valley. Milsted added that even the camera movements in the show replicate those taken by the team on that helicopter trip. ## In harmony with nature and Elrond ![Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) around the table at Elrond's house in Rivendell in 'The Rings of Power' Season 3](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/9e8df18/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1600x900+0+0/resize/767x431!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Fd7%2F67%2F369fb1b549199cc5910b6d1ec488%2Felrond-house-interior-trop-rivendell-amazon-news.png) *Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) around the table at Elrond's house in Rivendell in 'The Rings of Power' Season 3* Even though Rivendell is a set at Shepperton Studios (a facility in Surrey, England, that has hosted major productions such as *Alien* and *2001: A Space Odyssey*) rather than filmed on location, it’s filled with real trees and plants, all of which are watered so everything there is growing naturally. For Milsted, this makes Rivendell "feel real" for everyone working on the set. It also helps embed the location within nature, which was his key to bringing Rivendell to life. Very little stone was therefore used, with Rivendell being mostly built from wood. The only stone used formed the foundations of Elrond's house, which is the one building we explore in Rivendell. Even this was created with nature in mind, as Milsted explained: “Elrond's house has a balcony that overlooks the valley, with three openings to the outside. We wanted to have the Elvish finesse clearly defined in the architecture, but it was important to me that you see it's built by hands and grows with nature, so it has the vines running up it." The verdant greens and golden sunlight of Rivendell starkly contrast with the other locations we see in Season 3—not just Sauron's dark fortress Barad-dûr, even the Dwarf kingdom of Khazad-dûm is now shrouded in gloom. That's because, to quote Milsted, "the threat of Sauron is now everywhere." One of the only places now out of his reach is Rivendell. ![The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power New Season November 11 promotional poster](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/87c9e95/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1688x1125+0+0/resize/300x200!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Fcb%2Fcb%2Fb53e548747d5ab3d7ac510435791%2Fthelordoftherings-theringsofpower-primevideo-amazonnews-cdlt-july-24-2026.png) - [Watch the trailer for ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Season 3, premiering November 11](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-season-3-prime-video) This juxtaposition was at the forefront of the showrunners' minds. They hope that audiences get a sense of the story through even a single frame of a location. "We want to tell this story through images, evoking emotion even if you are watching the show silently,” McKay said. “If you are in Barad-dûr, you know what kind of world it is immediately. The same is true with Rivendell. These locations are designed in contrast to each other." Given that Elrond is the founder of Rivendell, it was important to the team that his characterization helped shape this location too. The only building physically built within this alpine sanctuary is Elrond's house, which Milsted sees as "an open one where you can come seek advice." He thinks of Elrond as both "a scholar and mayor," which helped shape the interior set. "Within his dwelling there are items that reference his work as a healer, scrolls that show his deep knowledge, and tapestries that depict events from history or are significant to him,” Payne said. “We had to think about who Elrond is after five years of war. What kind of place is he building? How does that feel? How does that reflect on him?" ## A cure for weariness, fear, and sadness ![Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) in the Rivendell woods in 'The Rings of Power' Season 3](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/2dea226/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1600x900+0+0/resize/767x431!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F13%2F36%2F0489fe154110a6e5c25c3c29c0d4%2Frivendell-forest-trop-amazon-news.png) *Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) in the Rivendell woods in 'The Rings of Power' Season 3* Why introduce Rivendell now? Of course, it makes sense for the story and stays true to Tolkien's text, but the reasoning runs deeper than that. Put simply in a chaotic world, we all need a safe haven. For McKay, this theme manifested the more the team worked on Season 3, realizing that this chapter is "about how you find a safe place in a world that has gone sideways, where rules no longer seem to be applicable." He concluded that: "Rivendell is that place. Outside *Lord of the Rings*, on a basic human level we all need that place, so we wanted Rivendell to feel that way. Somewhere quiet in a world where there is a lot of noise." Payne agreed, citing a quote from Tolkien's *The Fellowship of the Ring* that he felt summed up what Rivendell represents in their show: "Frodo was now safe in the Last Homely House east of the sea. That house was, as Bilbo had long ago reported, ‘a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep, or storytelling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.’ Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness." ![Prime Video weekly chart highlighting top original films and series, October 19-25](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/08a2ec2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1688x1125+160+0/resize/300x200!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Fc6%2Fb2%2Fc1786e054ec09169ffe5f783b8ea%2Famazon-prime-video-weeklytop10-amazon-news-nb-102726.jpg) - [Top 10 Original films and series on Prime Video: See the weekly rankings](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/prime-video-top-10-movies-shows) It's clearly a location that means a lot to the creative team, and the same will ring true for fans who will certainly hope to see more of it. As for what lies ahead for their Rivendell, the team sees it as a living canvas that evolves on an Elvish timeline. While Milsted is keen to go beyond the boundaries established here, "go over that bridge that leads into the forest, explore the houses behind Elrond's," McKay grounds that ambition in the show's philosophy toward world-building, which is "anchored" by the people of Middle-earth. "Elves move slowly so it will be a long time before Rivendell doesn't look like the one we introduced in Season 3,” McKay said. “It takes them centuries to change and grow." For now, what lies beyond will have to remain a mystery. But if Milsted gets his way, it may not stay that way forever. Next, find out more about [*Bloodaxe*, the epic Viking drama coming to Prime Video January 20, 2027.](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/bloodaxe-vikings-prime-video)