TV Review: Rings of Power Episode 8

What a finale! The show revealed more than I thought it would, and it did so very well in a little over an hour without feeling rushed. I wondered if they would wait until Season 2 to reveal the identity of The Stranger and Sauron, but it was probably a wise move to reveal them now since the audience would have been speculating on their identities and possibly getting leaks between now and when Season 2 is released. They’re filming now but considering that it took 18 months to film the first season, I doubt we’ll get the next season in a year’s time even with speeding things up post-Covid restrictions. I bet J.R.R. Tolkien’s book sales will increase in the interim as more casual fans of The Lord of the Rings are now getting more invested.

To start with what I personally found to be the most exciting, we saw The Stranger confronted by the three mysterious women, The Nomad, The Ascetic, and The Dweller. They greeted him as Sauron, which I immediately objected to, but they pretty quickly realize that they have the wrong person. They do at least succeed in helping remember some about who he really is and they vastly speed up his speaking comprehension so that he can use full, complex sentences now. Sadoc is very sadly killed in the confrontation, but he has a beautiful moment of watching the sunrise before he passes; he will surely be well remembered in the Harfoots’ stories. But as Nori decides to leave with The Stranger on his quest, we get the long-anticipated and sweet reveal of The Stranger’s identity as Gandalf, as he says: “When in doubt Elanor Brandyfoot, always follow your nose,” which is the exact line that Gandalf says to Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings. I suspected from Episode 1 that The Stranger would be a Wizard and hoped that it would be Gandalf, but knew it could also have been one of the other four. So now it will be interesting to see if Gandalf finds any of the other wizards during the time covered by this show, and also if he’ll actually take on the name Gandalf yet. I hope that Nori eventually returns to her family so that she can tell them all about her adventure. And I think it’s safe to assume that from being first welcomed to Middle-earth by Harfoots is why Gandalf later entrusts Bilbo and Frodo with such large tasks.

The other big reveal is that Halbrand is actually Sauron, which fellow Waffle Arezou predicted several weeks ago. It wasn’t a shock to me since we knew nothing of Halbrand’s past except that he’s from the Southlands which becomes Mordor, and I thought that it was very convenient that he had a wound bad enough to need Elven healing- especially when he recovered so quickly after arriving in Eregion. Then when Halbrand suggested combining mithril with other ores and suggested making two rings, I was positive that the theory about his true identity was valid. But knowing that didn’t make his reveal any less impactful. His influence on Galadriel’s mind brilliantly demonstrated his power and the image of himself with his well-known crown and Galadriel at his side was a striking image that will stay in my mind for some time. In an amusing turn, Halbrand’s attempt to bring Galadriel to his side awoke all the Reylos watching who saw a parallel between this relationship and that of Kylo Ren and Rey in Star Wars. I’m sure the fanfiction for Halbrand and Galadriel is about to explode in quantity. And as for Halbrand’s assertion that he would not be evil with Galadriel by his side, this idea is pulled directly from The Silmarillion. That book states that after Morgoth’s defeat, Sauron did have a long period of regret and an attempt at redeeming his past until his eventual turn back to the dark, so I don’t think that Halbrand was necessarily lying or being deceitful in every scene during this show. He really does see himself as an agent of order and preservation for the moment, though I’m sure we will witness his rapid decline back to his identity as Sauron in Season 2.

It was very appropriate to finally see the crafting of some of the Rings of Power considering the name of the show. As explained in a previous review of mine, there will eventually be twenty rings in total including the One Ring. If the show sticks to what is in the books, the three rings that Celebrimbor made for the Elves are the only ones that he makes personally, and they are the most powerful since they were made using gold and silver from Valinor and are untouched by Sauron. The other sixteen lesser rings (nine for Men and seven for Dwarves) should be crafted by Elves but not Celebrimbor, hence why they are slightly less powerful than the ones he made. And Halbrand/Sauron should not yet be aware of Celebrimbor’s rings since he is later meant to be angry at their existence since he didn’t make and distribute them himself. The One Ring will be made last, which makes me wonder if the end of the this show in the future Season 5 will either be the creation of the One Ring or its passing out of Sauron’s hands. As for the three Elven rings, Galadriel will take and keep the white one named Nenya and eventually take it to Valinor, but the other two get passed around a little more. Nenya specifically helps with preservation and the concealment from evil, which Galadriel uses to maintain the power of Lothlórien until she leaves for Valinor after the destruction of the One Ring. Vilya, which has the blue sapphire, is first given to Gil-galad who then passes it on to Elrond; Elrond will keep the ring to help sustain Rivendell until he also leaves for Valinor with Galadriel. The red ring Narya was taken to Gil-galad who gifted it to Círdan, who we will be meeting in Season 2. He keeps the ring until he meets Gandalf, who then has the ring in his possession until he leaves with the Elves for Valinor. He used the ring’s power to fight the Balrog in Khazad-Dûm, and possibly to help inspire courage during the battle of Minas Tirith. All three of the Elven rings were not made as tools of war but rather of preservation and endurance, so while they were still lesser in power to the One Ring, they were not tainted by evil and so were able to be used for good.

There were only some brief moments with the Númenóreans, essentially only seeing that the King dies and so now Míriel will be fully Queen as opposed to Queen Regent. Númenor has a bleak future ahead of them that we will definitely see devolve in Season 2. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see any more of the Dwarves in this episode. I suspect that in Season 2, we will see the death of King Durin III so that our beloved Prince Durin IV will be able to start mining for mithril again. Even though we got a glimpse of the Balrog that is essentially hibernating at the depths of Khazad-Dûm, it shouldn’t be awoken fully until the time of Durin VI. Sadly, it will kill Durin VI, as we saw evidence of when The Fellowship of the Ring traveled through Khazad-Dûm in The Lord of the Rings, and the Balrog will then be named “Durin’s Bane”. I hope that we get to see plenty of Durin and his wife Disa in Season 2 since they are just so delightful. We also didn’t get any further updates on Bronwyn, Theo, and Arondir, but their story is understandably taking the back burner to the larger threads. As I’ve said before, I think that with the help of the Númenor, they will probably find the Morgul Pass to travel from where they are now in Mordor to the area of the future Gondor. I’m personally a little disappointed that we didn’t see any romantic developments between Bronwyn and Arondir, so hopefully we’ll get that in Season 2 as well.

It’s been a few years since I last read The Hobbit and about 18 years since I read The Lord of the Rings, so I am very much tempted to do a re-reading to satisfy my craving for more of Tolkien’s material. Perhaps even a few other works! And I’m sure I’ll rewatch this show again several times since I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can’t wait to see the next developments!