The Rings of Power Spoiler Recap: Season 2 Episode 5
Ok, I’ll say it: Halbrand is more interesting than Annatar. And I mean as a character, not as a fault against the writers or Charlie Vickers, which makes sense given what Annatar is supposed to represent. Annatar being elf-like means that he has to be calm, unproblematic, and predictable. There are scenes that subtly show how Sauron is having a hard time with this calm facade and Celebrimbor has to pull him back, but he generally seems to be fooling everyone pretty easily- which is great for his plan but not as dynamic for the audience. But then again, my disenchantment with the Eregion scenes may have more to do with my sadness over what’s to come for Celebrimbor. He carried these scenes well, but I can’t help but dread the next few episodes. This is an excellent example of why I’m personally enjoying the aspects of the show not included in established lore more than the inevitable big plot points. The making of the rings is inevitable, the arrival of the Balrog is inevitable, the downfall of Númenor is inevitable, but the development of Hobbit culture is largely untouched, the early history of the Istar hasn’t been greatly explored, and Dwarven women are largely absent from media portrayals. It’s such a delicate balance to keep between known and unknown, and I don’t envy the writers for their task.
What I find most interesting about the Eregion scenes is the formation of a new ring that can turn the bearer invisible and show them the Unseen world, or Wraith-world. We’re familiar with both of these concepts from The Lord of the Rings, with the One Ring casting invisibility and showing Frodo both the Ring-wraith’s and the Elves true forms. At the end of this episode, the Elves at Eregion begin their work towards the Nine rings for Men, which also grant invisibility. It’s unclear to me whether the ring Mirdania tried on would be the first of those nine rings or just a tester. The show will have lots of wiggle room with who the rings go to, if we even see that on screen at all, since the Witch-King of Angmar is the only named ring bearer for the Nine in the books. It’s likely that most of the rings will go to Easterlings since they have long been allied with Morgoth and Sauron, though it will be interesting to see if any go to the Southlanders. We don’t directly see which Dwarven kings get their seven rings but given that there are seven clans, their dispersal is very straight-forward.
King Durin takes to his new ring quickly, showing both how it can help and how it can lead astray. He’s able to easily identify where to dig in order to re-introduce sunlight into Khazad-dûm, but he also repeals his own laws about how deep his people are allowed to dig in the mines. According to lore, the Dwarves’ nature prevents them from being influenced by Sauron through the rings, but they are driven to greed for more gold, which will attract dragons. Anyone familiar with The Hobbit will know the story of Smaug, and his arrival is a direct result of the rings’ influence; four of the seven Dwarven rings will end up destroyed by dragon fire. Prince Durin is against the rings in this episode, which is comforting for now, but that particular ring will continue to be passed down to Durin’s descendants for another eleven generations after him. It will certainly be interesting to see whether or not Prince Durin succumbs to the ring by the end of this series or not. I hope Disa is able to keep him grounded either way. A brief but fun moment for Elves and Dwarves alike is the presentation of the Doors of Durin, the new West-gate entrance that we’re familiar with from The Lord of the Rings. The main entrance to Khazad-dûm had previously been the East-gate, but the West-gate is closer to Eregion and thus these new doors will symbolize their friendship.
The Númenor drama captivated my attention the most in this episode. Pharazôn is moving quickly to establish control, which means Kemen and Eärian have new roles as political leaders establishing policy. I have many choice words for both of them, though Eärian does perhaps have a shred more decency and sympathy than Kemen. It’s her idea to strip the rank of any Queen Míriel loyalists and she is incredibly disrespectful to her own father, but she shows compassion towards Valandil… so naturally I’m hoping to see her reaction to his death in the next episode. With her presumed boyfriend killing one of her oldest friends, will she accept it as an unavoidable loss or start to see the error of her ways? Kemen’s murder of Valandil is completely out of line of course, as is the destruction of the oldest shrine in Númenor, though the removal of rival religious sites in wartime is a tale as old as time. I admire Míriel’s desire for peace but with Pharazôn’s developing plans, she’ll need to either call on Elendil to lead the opposition or whither away as a past figurehead. Elendil certainly seems ready to act in whatever way necessary. I would love to see him leading loyalist ships away to Middle-Earth by the end of this season.
With the last scene showing Adar offering an alliance to Galadriel against Sauron, we’re making progress towards the eventual battle- which I assume will be the last episode of the season. There’s not much else to develop at Eregion besides the creation of the Nine rings, so I don’t expect any lengthy scenes there until the finale. I’m much more excited to see The Stranger, the Harfoots, the Stoors, and Tom Bombadil. I’d be happy with an entire spin-off just about the various Halflings clans that eventually become the Hobbits. That’s much less stressful! I’ll be manifesting some kind of harvest festival type scene for the next episode. Cheers!
