When the two trees that lit the world were destroyed by the Dark Lord Morgoth, the Elves sailed from their home in Valinor to Middle-earth and waged a centuries-long war against him.

In Lindon, High King Gil-galad proclaims the war to be over and grants Galadriel's company the honor of returning to Valinor, where they can live in eternal peace.

Word that the war is over reaches a group of Elves in the Southlands of Middle-earth who have been watching over Tirharad, a village of Men descended from allies of Morgoth.

"[10] The showrunners chose to begin the series with an "intimate" flashback sequence showing a young Galadriel and her brother Finrod talking under a tree.

This was difficult to put together for the showrunners because there are so many events they wanted to include as fans of Tolkien, but they thought mentions of anything specific would confuse casual audience members.

They instead chose to tell a very high-level summary using general mythological terms that they felt would be accessible to all audiences: there was a "great foe", Morgoth, whose actions triggered a war.

[12]: 3:01–20:13 The episode ends with a key decision for Galadriel in which she chooses to hunt for Sauron in Middle-earth rather than enter the land of Valinor to live in eternal peace.

[25] Also starring in the episode are Amelie Child-Villiers as young Galadriel, Will Fletcher as Finrod, Fabian McCallum as Thondir, Kip Chapman as Rían, Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva, Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma, Beau Cassidy as Dilly Brandyfoot, Geoff Morrell as Waldreg, Peter Tait as Tredwill, Ian Blackburn as Rowan, Augustus Prew as Médhor, and Simon Merrells as Revion.

He felt this looked like both nature and architecture, and developed a series of illustrations with artist Roberto Fernández Castro which guided the design of Lindon.

The design team generally avoided chainmail because of the difficulties of creating a large amount of it on a television schedule, but Hawley took the opportunity to do so for this sequence due to Galadriel being part of a small company.

[17]: 10:38–12:13  The bright green countryside where the village was filmed was digitally altered to appear more grey and brown, to reflect the difficult living conditions of the Southlanders.

The broken blade is meant to look like onyx, and features an engraved symbol that is an early version of the "Eye of Sauron" mark that will be used over the following centuries.

[44][47][48] Elements were hand-made with techniques that the Harfoots would use themselves, such as coloring fabric with vegetable dyes, berry stains, and soot,[48] or weaving the canopies of their wagons from branches.

[33] The prosthetics for the Harfoots' large, hairy feet have the same design as those used for the Hobbits in the films, but modern technology allowed the new versions to be sturdier and have moveable toes.

[63] The origami boat that young Galadriel makes during the opening flashback was created by the series' practical effects team and filmed for real.

In-house visual effects supervisor Ken McGaugh said the biggest challenge of the prologue was the large number of Elves and Orcs that appear in the battle sequences, along with the addition of Fell beasts and Great Eagles flying above the battlefield which Wētā brought back from the films.

To solve this, McCreary spent a month working with the editors to select specific takes where the actors' mouth movements matched to the Elvish lyrics of his "Valinor" theme, which he also adjusted for the scene.

McCreary wrote a choral piece in Elvish that is heard during the ceremony where Gil-galad proclaims the war to be over; he felt this sounded like it was being sung by an off-screen choir in Lindon.

[83] For two weeks leading up to the premiere of the second season on August 29, 2024, the episode was made available for free on the streaming service Samsung TV Plus in the US, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

[85] Analytics company Samba TV, which gathers viewership data from certain smart TVs and content providers, reported that 1.8 million US households watched the first episode within four days of its release.

[88] Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on US television screens, estimated that The Rings of Power was watched for a combined 1.25 billion minutes during its first four days.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Forging its claim with astounding production value, vast scope and a dense—arguably impenetrable—amount of lore, 'A Shadow of the Past' suggests that this ambitious expansion of Tolkien's opus has a bright future.

[92][93][94] Alex Welch at Inverse said the series' budget was on screen with "some of the most awe-inspiring images that have ever been brought to life on" television, and he thought Bayona's work on the visuals was better than recent Hollywood blockbuster films.

[96] Dave Nemetz graded the first two episodes an 'A-' for TVLine and said they were "a gorgeously immersive and grandly ambitious spectacle packed with stunning imagery and compelling plot threads".

[97] Writing for Screen Rant, Mae Abdulbaki praised the scope and visuals, highlighted Faura's cinematography, and said McCreary's score elevated the action sequences and brought "warmth to calmer, more heartwarming scenes".

[100] Reviewing the first two episodes for RogerEbert.com, Clint Worthington said they were gorgeous but thought the showrunners were trying to "have their cake and eat it too" by distancing the series from Jackson's films while still trying to be visually consistent with them.

[98] Worthington said the slow pacing was the major failing of the first episode, calling it a "somewhat dry, derivative prelude, filled with endless scenes of politicking and Elves droning on against green screens or elegantly-furnished conference rooms".

[103] Welch at Inverse was uncertain whether the series could live up to the "narrative elegance" of the films, and thought the lack of a clear villain gave the first two episodes "an unfortunate sense of waywardness".

Milas acknowledged that some Tolkien fans may take issue with changes to his lore, but she appreciated some of these decisions such as the depiction of Galadriel and inclusion of more female characters.

Hosted by Deadline Hollywood's Dominic Patten and Anthony D'Alessandro, it features exclusive "footage and insights" for the episode, plus interviews with cast members Clark, Aramayo, Walker, and Edwards, as well as executive producers McKay, Payne, and Weber.