Thunderheads
Reflections upon Episode 6 of Rings of Power Season 2
“Black clouds forming over white towers.” That’s how Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) described some of the prophetic visions that his Ring was giving him to fellow Ringbearer and receiver of visions Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). How right he is, in more ways than one. Black clouds are rising in this episode of Rings of Power; indeed, they have been rising ever since Gil-galad first spoke of them in Episode 2. And this is finally the episode where some of them burst. Sometimes it’s pretty; Numenor and Khazad-Dum actually have their first rays of sunshine (figuratively in the latter case; the sun did come back physically in E5) all season. But there is enough cause for concern in both kingdoms; the clouds have opened, but there is no great wind from the West to scatter them just yet. And in Eregion, the storm is coming; indeed, the last scene of the episode shows that the storm is already here, as Adar (Sam Hazeldine) begins his assault. And not just at the walls of Ost-in-Edhil, but within the safety of Celebrimbor’s (Charles Edwards) palace and workshop too. Although honestly, those may be the two least safe places in Middle-earth at the moment.
Things were not…great in Eregion when we last checked in on them in Episode 5, but in our first lengthy scene of Episode 61 we see that they haven’t gotten better. Celebrimbor’s workshop is a mess, with metal shavings and dust piled high in the corners and actual mice running around. Celebrimbor himself is not much better, talking to the scraps of metal that are refusing to become Rings of Power and forgetting the name of Mirdania (Amelia Kenworthy)2, instead of the more “healthy” reaction of snapping back when she rebukes him for overwork and taking out his stress on others. Luckily Annatar (Charlie Vickers) is around to defuse the situation. And throughout the episode, he is a rock of calm good sense, always there to help nudge and inspire and support his friend Celebrimbor in his quest to best Feanor and creat a work of art that will make even the Silmarils look like cheap baubles (and no, that wasn’t necessarily a dig at the Silmaril that we see in the hand of the statue of Feanor that appears in this episode). He makes sure that he has no interruptions, no outside interference; he assumes the regency of Eregion himself to ensure that Celebrimbor can focus solely on his work; and he even goes to Khazad-dum to pick up some mithril when the existing supply runs low. He really is such a good friend…
…except that I have been speaking with my tongue thoroughly in my cheek for most of the preceding paragraph. Celebrimbor never asked Annatar to become his regent so that he could focus on the Nine Rings, nor did he instruct Mirdania and the other smiths to step aside; those are lies, and not even the half-truths Sauron has trafficked in so far. When a scout turns up dead with a message carved into his chest, Sauron hurriedly has it swept under the rug. That mission to Khazad-dum was actually a failure, and there are real questions about what, exactly, is in that box of mithril powder he gives Celebrimbor. Questions that only are exacerbated when Celebrimbor, when the tocsin starts sounding, tries to leave his workshop and see what is happening; Sauron tries to physically stop him, but Celebrimbor, finally showing some gumption, bodily shakes him off and throws him into the wall. But by now it’s too late; for as Gil-galad once warned Galadriel “Once the Deceiver gains a being’s trust, he gains the ability to sculpt their very thoughts.” And Sauron proves this by literally altering Celebrimbor’s reality; he doesn’t see a city reeling under siege when he steps outside, but an idyllic paradise almost worthy of Valinor itself. No need to worry, everything is just peachy; and with that in mind, why not go back inside with Feanor’s hammer and that box of mithril* and keep working away at besting your grandfather and helping to bring about peace and order in Middle-earth? Sauron has him practically working as his slave, even whole his city is going to be under attack in just a few minutes. It’s a living nightmare that seems fair and sweet, but will dissolve into fire and blood; this is what Galadriel would have ended up living if she hadn't resisted Sauron in Season 1, and for all her mistakes I'm glad she avoided this fate.
Which brings me to the part of the episode that I have had probably the most problems with: Galadriel’s storyline. This is a very new thing for me. Until now, I have never once doubted Galadriel; I’ve always loved her and supported her, and even when she’s made mistakes I’ve understood why. This episode was…different. I am far less harsh to her than I was at 9 am on Thursday, as the episode was first concluding. I was ready to dismiss her as a liar (when Adar asks what Sauron promised her, she says “An army”, which on the face of it flies in the face of the power and crown he did promise her at the end of Season 1) and an idiot (why did she tell Adar that Elrond was coming with an army and with her Ring?), even as the episode unfolded and showed us that Adar was playing her false from the beginning (more on that later)? Now, I’m less eager to rush to judgement. But I do still have questions.
Enough people whom I trust believe that Galadriel was conflating Halbrand (whom by now she knows to be Sauron) accepting the crown of the Southlands with the promise of Numenorean and Southlander armies that she could fight alongside; it’s a bit of a stretch, but I can see it. And ultimately it’s small potatoes compared to sharing Elvish battle-plans and the location of her Ring. Except…she’s not really telling Adar anything he doesn’t already know or believe. By now, he either knows for sure that Halbrand is Sauron, or is like 90% sure. By bringing such a huge army to Eregion to crush him, he is inviting a counterattack from Lindon; and indeed, he probably welcomes the attack, since somehow he knows that the Three Rings are real, and has a convoluted plan to destroy Sauron by marrying them to Morgoth’s crown that he still carries with him. Any army from Lindon will almost certainly be led by somebody important, who might either have a Ring themselves or be a bargaining chip to get one; Galadriel falling into his hands in Episode 4 was a happy accident, but Gil-galad would probably have done just as well. Not only that, but there’s probably some 4d chess involved on Galadriel’s part. Did she really know or think Elrond was coming to Eregion with her ring? Thus far, all he’s shown Galadriel is that he hates rings and wants to destroy them or otherwise get rid of them. She may well have been expecting him to bring the Ring to Lindon and then lock it away for safekeeping, not bring it back with him when he comes with the army. Especially since by now he doesn't know whether she's even still alive. What’s more, she doesn't merely tell Adar that Elrond is coming with an army, but that said army will seal off the city and free Celebrimbor before she and Adar can finish Sauron. There's an unspoken but very real plea for Adar to pull his army back and let the Elves do their thing, since she knows from experience that Orcs can be indiscriminately violent. She's actively trying to avert a war between Adar and the Elves, to mitigate a bad situation before it becomes worse. The game is worth the candle, especially if we consider something that Tolkien wrote in Letter 183. After describing the conflict against Sauron as believers of the One against a fallen angel trying to set himself up as a God, and therefore as a noble and just cause, he states: "So even if in desperation 'the West' had bred or hired hordes of orcs...their cause would have remained indefeasibly right."
And yet…for all the progress I’ve made in being at peace with this storyline, it’s still not perfect. For one thing: Galadriel is able to guess at Sauron’s plan, but somehow doesn’t pick up on the fact that Adar was going to betray her? There were signs, like his chilling “The fate of that city rests upon your ability to put aside your pride”; the writers could have had her realize Sauron’s plan sooner, or have her be more persistent in trying to wring guarantees from him before offering something in return. And after some initial shock and revulsion at seeing Morgoth’s Crown, why doesn’t she swat down the idea of marrying it to the Three out of hand? That seems a bit “ends justify the means” for Galadriel, even after she showed in Episode 4 that this is not her philosophy. But perhaps more importantly, the writers could have done a better job at drawing a contrast between Galadriel and Adar. Both touched the darkness, but as she herself points out, she resisted, while he yielded. And it seems to be that until this point, we've seen a clear difference in them because of it. She's still a good person who fights for all the helpless and innocent of Middle-earth regardless of their race; he's a ruthless killer who would burn the whole world down to protect his children, even if some of them got caught in the fire. We can even see this as their storyline this episode climaxes, as Galadriel is free enough to think outside the box and see the bigger picture, but Adar is still too much slave to his past to trust her, or anything else than the might of his army. I think this episode emphasized too much their similarities and not their differences; the seeds are there, they just were not watered and tended as well as they could be.
Honestly, what could use water is the barren steppe of Rhun. I think we can all agree upon, that, even if many people are less forgiving towards the existence of this storyline than I am. And I confess, of the three scenes we got here, two definitely made me sympathetic to the idea that this whole tangent is a waste of time. Nothing really happened in the two scenes we have for the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) and Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear), to progress their story forward. Rather, what we ended up getting were even more hints that the Stranger is Gandalf3, and Tom being far more more brusque and harsh and “mission-oriented” than even this version, more invested in the future of Middle-earth than his book counterpart. And part of the problem involves how Gandalf’s famous quote about “Many who live deserve death…” ended up being put in Tom’s mouth; not only would he never say that, he says it in a way that’s completely antithetical to what Gandalf had in mind.4 But on the other hand, the one scene we got of Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy (Megan Richards) in the Stoor village was actually kind of nice. I kind of ship Poppy and Merimac (Gavi Singh Chera); it’s nice to see young love blooming even in the desert. And Gundabel’s (Tanya Moodie) monologue to Nori about the importance of a home could have been taken straight from the mouth of a Hobbit of the Shire. It’s why Frodo ultimately sacrificed himself to save the Shire and its people, and ultimately it’s why Nori and Poppy decide not to give themselves up, but to stand and fight.
On the other hand, the tree of faith is watered and tended very well over in Numenor, where we are dealing with the aftermath of Kemen’s (Leon Waldham) violent desecration of Nienna’s shrine; he’s still sporting some bruises and a broken arm, and his father Pharazon (Trystan Gravelle) doesn’t mince words that he wildly overstepped his authority. But “Never let a crisis go to waste,” as the saying goes, and this offers a perfect opportunity to neutralize the nascent threat from Elendil (Lloyd Owen), now the most visible leader of the Faithful and the greatest threat to Pharazon’s power. The deal is simple; if Elendil swears fealty to Pharazon as the rightful king of Numenor, he will be pardoned and all will be forgotten. But Elendil will not do it. For him, this is not just a matter of remaining loyal to your liege lady, it’s remaining loyal to your liege lady who has been blessed and chosen by the Valar themselves, by law, custom, and the presence of that envoy of Manwe all the way in Episode 3. Continuing his habit of being willing to appropriate traditions he doesn’t believe in for his own ends, Lord Belzegar (Will Kean) suggests that Elendil be essentially subjected to a trial by ordeal, with the recurring presence of the Fish-dragon (a familiar sight to us ever since S1E2) filling in for the more customary fire or hot iron. Both Earien (Ema Horvath)—back to looking softer and gentler, like she was in Season 1 and like she WASN'T in episode 5—and Miriel (Cynthia Addai Robinson) beg Elendil to give up this fight in service to the longer game, but Elendil, firmly believing that “Faith is not faith if it is not lived” will not do it.
As it turns out, Earien need not have worried for her father. Not only does Miriel take his place in the ritual, but the Numenorean saying of “The Sea is Always Right” turns out to be more than just a motivational chant. The Sea is right, or at least Ulmo, the Vala of the Sea, with whom the Fish-dragon seems to have some sort of professional relationship5. Not only does Miriel survive, but Elendil and everyone else gathered as witnesses actually takes the hint that the Valar would prefer her to be Queen of Numenor. For the first time Miriel is no longer just Miriel, but “Tar-Miriel, Queen of the Sea.”6 But the clouds are still gathering despite this momentary break, because as of now there are two monarchs in Numenor, and the one who currently holds the Palantir is getting nightmarish visions from it, among them a strong indication of Halbrand’s true identity. The last time two monarchs existed in the same kingdom on our TV screens was Season 2 of House of the Dragon, and although the actual civil war was only promised us, the civil war is coming in season 3, and in full force. Will Numenor face civil war as well even as Sauron is setting out to overrun all Middle-earth?
A small-scale civil war may be brewing in Khazad-dum as well. Our first visit there is…not encouraging; King Durin III (Peter Mullan) sitting on his throne, like a statue, as his people pile up tribute and taxes of gold. There’s a brief ray of sunshine, however, when as mentioned Annatar shows up asking for more Mithril and the King shuts him down. But our relief, and that of Prince Durin (Owain Arthur) is quickly shattered when the King essentially states that he intends to become a war profiteer, selling mithril weapons and armor to the highest bidder. In desperation at what the Ring is turning his father into, Durin first begs him to take it off, and when that doesn’t work he physically tries to remove it; he’s lucky that he only gets yeeted across the floor. Disa (Sophia Nomvete) has had quite enough and states that it’s time to take action to keep the mad king from destroying the kingdom. Thankfully, her course of action is different from Jaime Lannister’s; instead of stabbing Durin III in the back she simply stands in the way of a work team sent to do more digging, and then takes a page from Batman’s book and uses a flock of bats to scare them away. Quite relieved that no harm has come to his father (whom he can barely recognize but still loves dearly), Prince Durin takes up his place next to his wife as they wait for what is coming next. And this story is by no means complete. Durin III will almost certainly respond with force; Narvi (Kevin Eldon), who is loyal to the king but also a close friend to the prince, will need to pick a side; Elrond (Robert Aramayo) is probably going to show up soon to ask for an army; and there’s still a Balrog to deal with. Sauron saw a vision of him in the flames of a brazier, and given how nobody says “No” to Sauron, he will probably end up using him to wreak vengeance on the Dwarves, or at least try to.
One thing is for sure. As King Durin told his son, “War is coming to Middle-earth.” Indeed, the war is already here, as the last shots of the episode show Adar’s host opening their bombardment of Ost-in-Edhil from across the river. Just as Sauron planned, and it’s a beautiful plan: destroy Eregion and with it all trace of Ring-lore, assume control of the “Great Heathen Army”, bleed white the armies of the Elves, and maybe even kill the Uruk who defied him centuries ago. And Adar, who fell to Sauron once even though he now wants to destroy him, is so consumed by his pride, his hate, and his fear that he charges straight into the trap. Galadriel has done her best, swallowing her own pride by being willing to work with Adar to turn his wrath away from the innocents of Eregion and to focus his energy on defeating Sauron. But like everyone in Middle-earth, Adar has free will, and has made his choice. Even his lieutenant Glug (Robert Strange) is openly concerned, as Galadriel begs Adar to turn aside but he remains implacable. As all of us should be concerned. Not only because we only have two episodes left to cover the start of the War of Sauron [,Adar,] and the Elves, plus all the other storylines, but who will make it into next season? What other sacrifices will be made, either by the writers or by characters themselves? Will people like Galadriel, Elrond, Durin IV, Elendil, the Stranger, Nori and Poppy be able to remain true to themselves? Just how dark will things get before “The Sun Yet Shines”? The long build-up that began all the way in Episode 3 is finally over. The wind has been sown, and now we shall see everyone reap the whirlwind.
All images ©2024, Amazon Studios, unless otherwise indicated.
For Further Reference
Felicia Day, “Inside the Rings of Power S2, E6”
Aaron Earls, “Rings of Power ‘Where Is He?’ Gives Everyone What They Want. Mostly.”
Jolkien with Tolkien, “Pride Comes Before The Fall in ‘Where Is He?’”
Nerd of the Rings, “Rings of Power Season 2, Episode 6 Breakdown”
Dan Selckie, “The Rings of Power star Lloyd Owen talks Elendil-Míriel ship, Númenórean superiority, and more (Exclusive)”
Tea with Tolkien, “The Rings of Power Season 2 Breakdown and Reaction: Episode 6”
Leah Marilla Thomas, “‘If the sea monster chews me up, then that’s what’s meant to be’: Cynthia Addai-Robinson on Míriel’s Underwater Trial in ‘The Rings of Power’”
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Technically, our first scene is of Arondir (Ismael Cruz-Cordova) channeling his inner Three Hunters and Nathaniel Hawkeye, running through the forest and killing two Orc deserters who have a map of Eregion on them.
The way this scene plays out, it almost is a wink at the audience that there’s more to “Mirdania” than meets the eye. Like how in the last episode, Annatar was comparing her hair to Galadriel’s.
Not something I have a problem with in principle, but I swear, if he’s not called by his Valinorean name of “Olorin” I’m gonna be super annoyed.
In stark contrast to how, in S1E7, Galadriel says something to Theo that is almost certainly derived from Gandalf’s quote about “There are powers beyond any design of the Ring-maker at work…”; but when she says it, she completely brings the spirit of that quote to life, even more than when Gandalf said it in the Peter Jackson movies.
This sheds a whole new light on how, and why, the Fish-dragon was responsible for Galadriel and Halbrand meeting on the open sea in Season 1, and is a strong argument against Sauron having some sort of grand master plan back then…although he certainly has one now.
During his trial, Elendil is referred to explicitly as "Elendil, son of Amandil." Honestly that made me squee for joy a bit, almost as much as when Galadriel named her father Finarfin in Season 1. I hope this means we'll be getting to see Amandil later; what little we see of his relationship with Elendil in the Akallabeth is very touching, and given how well the show has shown fatherhood it would be a missed opportunity not to include Amandil.