The Rings of Power Spoiler Recap: Season 2 Episode 2

All hail Annatar, Lord of Gifts! Sauron undergoes a massive rebranding in this episode in order to trick Celebrimbor into making rings for Dwarves and Men, further expanding the reach of his will over others. His appearance is Elven, even if he’s not technically one, as he claims to have been sent by the Valar to help craft objects to help save Middle-Earth and protect it from evil. His reveal to Celebrimbor is perhaps the strongest display of his power that we’ve seen so far. Sauron’s reformation from goo into flesh was certainly impressive, but now we get to see how he can affect the weather, change his appearance, and create a strong illusion that seems to show his “true form.” And of course we see his cunning and charming manner twist what Celebrimbor thinks he knows to what Sauron wants him to know. Sauron will eventually drop the Annatar disguise when he creates the One Ring, but dons it again to infiltrate Númenor many years later.

I’m most interested in seeing how Celebrimbor introduces Annatar to Elrond and Galadriel. They’ve been given permission from Gil-galad to go to Eregion since they haven’t heard from Celebrimbor, so their arrival will be a real test for Sauron. Celebrimbor doesn’t know that Halbrand is Sauron, but he knows Halbrand is Annatar, so I have to assume that he doesn’t tell Galadriel of the Halbrand connection. Since Halbrand admitted to being cast out by Galadriel, Celebrimbor must be convinced to not reveal the truth to them. So Celebrimbor is persuaded to make more rings, and I look forward to seeing how they deal with the passage of time for this period. In canon, it takes them 100 years to forge all the rings; this length of time could be easily shown with Elves since they don’t age in any significant way, but the contrast with other groups would be more apparent. We still haven’t seen the Southlanders in this season, but young Theo should grow well into adulthood even if most Men live about 200-250 years in this time. I think we’re essentially going to have to throw the timeline out of the window for this show, especially considering that Elendil and Isildur aren’t supposed to be born yet.

We also get to spend a decent amount of time with the Dwarves in this episode. Prince Durin and his father are still quarreling but we’re beginning to see them start softening towards each other. Disa humbles both of them, which was incredible to watch, and it seems very fitting for such a strong Dwarf and stone-singer as she to bring them together again. We learn a little more about stone-singing in this episode, namely that this is the first time in 900 years that the stone-singers have failed to find safe passage to dig to the light after the ground quakes cave in their tunnels. But I’m guessing that they are eventually successful because the Dwarves do continue to inhabit Khazad-dûm for several hundred more years. The loss of sunlight in the mines does seem to be an omen of evil, perhaps prophesying Khazad-dûm’s eventual downfall. King Durin will get one of the rings of power, so I look forward to seeing if that helps them find the right light tunnels again and also if that’s what convinces him to start mining for mithril.

I look forward to seeing the development of Rhûn as well. In canon, all Elves, Dwarves, and Men originally came forth from Rhûn but most moved Westward. Some of all groups stayed in Rhûn, with the Men turning to evil and fighting on behalf of Morgoth and Sauron. Those Men became known as the Easterlings, who we saw fight for Sauron in The Lord of the Rings. Now in this show, we see some Easterlings working for a dark wizard, whose true identity is still unknown, and the show has clearly modeled their appearance after those in The Lord of the Rings. The Easterlings seem to be working for the dark wizard and his Mystics, but these characters are new creations for the show and therefore their actions cannot be predicted. They are obviously interested in aiding Sauron, so presumably they have been searching for him for 500 years since Morgoth’s defeat, which makes me think that they could sense Sauron’s presence even when Adar could not. And we also have confirmation of the Easterlings as being the Men who are chasing “The Stranger,” Nori, and Poppy. They’re mortal and thus they can’t challenge The Stranger/Gandalf directly, but their plan to threaten the girls could potentially be fruitful.

We’re already getting to the point of there being so many characters in so many different regions with so many complex storylines that it’s going to be tough to truly do justice to any of them. I understand why Prime only has 8 episode seasons due to budget, but the plot would really benefit from a season double that length, especially when they’re condensing so much of the timeline. But I personally am doing my best to put aside any irritation of this streaming television style in order to revel in what we’re given. Any Middle-Earth content is better than none!