--- title: Everything About Lord of the Rings Explained in Less Than 5 Minutes description: One explainer video to rule them all canonical: https://time.com/3701398/lord-of-the-rings-mythology-video/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-09T20:53:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:27.799Z og:title: Everything About 'Lord of the Rings' Explained in Less Than 5 Minutes og:description: One explainer video to rule them all og:url: https://time.com/3701398/lord-of-the-rings-mythology-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf226c46c194d0cd7/69877e58524fc03495dec62d/81498032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: New Line Cinema's "Lord Of The Rings" Gets 13 Oscar Nominations og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Everything About 'Lord of the Rings' Explained in Less Than 5 Minutes twitter:description: One explainer video to rule them all twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf226c46c194d0cd7/69877e58524fc03495dec62d/81498032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Everything About _Lord of the Rings_ Explained in Less Than 5 Minutes > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: 100 Years of Blockbusters in 5 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): 100 Years of Blockbusters in 5 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tfrXo5zL.m3u8) (5:21)  _Published 2014-02-12. Time has taken the highest grossing film each year for the past century and crammed them into 5 and a half minutes. No Intermission._ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Feb 9, 2015 8:53 PM UTC  Academy Award? nominees Grant Major for Best Art Direction and Dan Hennah for Best Set Decoration in New Line Cinema's epic adventure, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." (Photo by New Line/WireImage) Academy Award? nominees Grant Major for Best Art Direction and Dan Hennah for Best Set Decoration in New Line Cinema's epic adventure, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." (Photo by New Line/WireImage) New Line—WireImage by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Feb 9, 2015 8:53 PM UTC _The Lord of the Rings_ was successful because J.R.R. Tolkien knew how to tell a good story, one that director Peter Jackson was able to bring to life on the screen. But Jackson’s version didn’t even scratch the surface of _The Lord of the Rings_ mythology, a complex tale of wizards, elves and rings of power woven into a tapestry so tight it could be hung in the Great Hall of Thingol. Luckily the elves that operate the internet, which may or may not be the same elves that populate Middle Earth, have heard our head scratching and created a helpful videos series that unravels some of the mysteries of the _Lord of the Rings_. In the latest installment of the informative series posted on [YouTube channel CGP Grey](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2C%5FjShtL725hvbm1arSV9w), the origin story of the One Ring —and the secret to elven agelessness and dwarf wealth— is explained in less than five minutes. If you are preparing to face-off against LOTR superfan [Stephen Colbert](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/06/watch-stephen-colbert-schools-james-franco-in-lord-of-the-rings-trivia-smackdown/) you may want to check out [p](http://youtu.be/YxgsxaFWWHQ)[art one of the series](http://youtu.be/YxgsxaFWWHQ), which helps you know your Balrogs from your Orcs. ### PHOTOS: See the 13 Actors Who Play the Dwarfs in 'The Hobbit'  Fili - Dean O’Gorman Warner Bros.; Anita Bugge—WireImage—Getty Images  Kili - Aidan Turner Warner Bros.; Gregg DeGuire—WireImage/Getty Images  Oin - John Callen Warner Bros.; Tschiponnique Skupin—Geisler-Fot/picture-alliance/dpa/AP  Gloin - Peter Hambleton Warner Bros.; Dave J Hogan—Getty Images  Dwalin - Graham McTavish Warner Bros.; David Livingston—Getty Images  Balin - Ken Stott Warner Bros.; Ben A. Pruchnie—Getty Images  Bifur - William Kircher Warner Bros.; Ray Tamarra—Getty Images  Bofur - James Nesbitt Warner Bros.; Ray Tamarra—Getty Images  Bombur - Stephen Hunter Warner Bros.; Joel Ryan—Invision/AP  Dori - Mark Hadlow Warner Bros.; Ray Tamarra—Getty Images  Nori - Jed Brophy Warner Bros.; Ray Tamarra—Getty Images  Ori - Adam Brown Warner Bros.; Anita Bugge—WireImage/Getty Images  Thorin Oakenshield - Richard Armitage Warner Bros.; Jason Merritt—Getty Images _Read next:_ [_Watch a Supercut of Every Onscreen Death in the_ ](http://time.com/3628745/lord-of-the-rings-supercut/?xid=time%5Freadnext)[Lord of the Rings _Trilogy_](http://time.com/3628745/lord-of-the-rings-supercut/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3701398/lord-of-the-rings-mythology-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3701398/lord-of-the-rings-mythology-video/"},"headline":"Everything About Lord of the Rings Explained in Less Than 5 Minutes","datePublished":"2015-02-09T20:53:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:27.799Z","description":"One explainer video to rule them all","url":"https://time.com/3701398/lord-of-the-rings-mythology-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf226c46c194d0cd7/69877e58524fc03495dec62d/81498032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf226c46c194d0cd7/69877e58524fc03495dec62d/81498032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New Line Cinema's \"Lord Of The Rings\" Gets 13 Oscar Nominations","caption":"New Line Cinema's \"Lord Of The Rings\" Gets 13 Oscar Nominations","creditText":"New Line—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3701398/lord-of-the-rings-mythology-video/","name":"Everything About Lord of the Rings Explained in Less Than 5 Minutes"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"100 Years of Blockbusters in 5 Minutes","description":"Time has taken the highest grossing film each year for the past century and crammed them into 5 and a half minutes. 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