It’s been almost a month since the end of the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and while many things may have already been said, it doesn’t hurt to do a recap and review of the last two episodes that closed another installment of this story.
2×07 Doom to Die
Written by J. D. Payne, Patrick McKay & Justin Doble and directed by Charlotte Brändström
This hour is focused almost entirely in Eregion and its surroundings, since all the action of Middle-earth is focused in this place, so most of the characters that have been on different ways throughout the season, find their meeting point in this elven city, and we can see how Celebrimbor gradually manages to wake up from the reverie in which Sauron had him in and finally sees reality as it is, although he still finishes forging the nine rings destined for men. And though he tries to reveal Sauron’s true self to the others, he doesn’t succeed because he has also manipulated the elves to believe that Celebrimbor lost his mind while working.
In the vicinity of Eregion, the elven army commanded by Elrond approaches, but not before passing through Khazad-dûm to ask for the help of the dwarves through Prince Durin, who despite agreeing to help his friend, has to desist at the last moment because his father, who is still blinded by the power of the ring he carries, insists on digging deeper and deeper into the mines despite the opposition of his son and the rest of the miners, and also refuses to help the elves.
Sam Hazeldine as Adar / Credit: Ross Ferguson / Prime Video / Copyright: Amazon MGM Studios
Adar’s army continues the brutal siege of the elven city, even bringing a troll to the scene, but still unable to break through the walls. Meanwhile, he also tries to “ally” this time with Elrond because he knows that he now has Galadriel’s ring, who is still a prisoner of the orcs, but the elf refuses and, in a distracting maneuver, kisses her and gives her a pin with which she will later manage to escape and sneak through the camp until she’s almost discovered, but then she will be saved by Arondir who has just arrived.
And that is how Galadriel finally gets the elves to take off the blindfold, as she herself confirms what Celebrimbor has been telling them about Sauron’s true identity. At that moment the elven smith entrusts her with the nine rings to take them out of Eregion and prevent the Dark Lord from using them for his purposes. But none of this stops Adar from eventually getting hold of Galadriel’s ring after attacking Elrond. The orcs finally tear down the wall to occupy the city.
2×08 Shadow and Flame
Written by J. D. Payne & Patrick McKay and directed by Charlotte Brändström
In this season finale, all the plots that had been opened in the previous episodes come together, so we have stories for all the characters we know. On one side we have the men, first in Númenor, where a witch-hunt is unleashed when it is decreed that all those who remain faithful to Míriel will be considered traitors from now on, as Ar-Pharazôn claims that she receives help from Sauron. This situation makes Eärien come to her senses and warn her father to hide before he gets caught. He then goes to alert Míriel so that they can flee together, but she, sacrificing herself as always, tells him that her place is there. Before Elendil leaves, she gives him the sword Narsil so that he can use it to protect himself.
Meanwhile in Pelargir, Isildur says goodbye to Theo as he’s about to return to his city, what he plans to do with Estrid, since apparently she has already broken up with her boyfriend, but right then Kemen, Pharazôn’s son, arrives stating that things in Númenor are very different now and he’ll be in charge of the fortress that Pelargir will now become, and in exchange for giving supplies to the inhabitants, he asks them to give him wood from the surrounding forest, which will obviously complicate Arondir’s ability to fulfill the promise he made earlier to the Ents.
In Khazad-dûm, the dwarves continue with their own problems, as King Durin in his increasingly deeper excavations manages to find not only large reserves of Mithril but also a Balrog and this is what finally brings him back to his senses and in an attempt to save his son, he finally detaches from his ring and plunges into the flame and shadow along with the monster leaving his son desolate and with many new responsibilities, although the first thing he does is to send the support army he had promised Elrond.
In this episode we also have the comeback of the Stranger and the Harfoots, all this when the Dark Wizard arrives to “save” them from the Gaudrim and thus try to convince him to join him to defeat Sauron and become his successors. The Stranger obviously does not accept this deal and the Wizard retaliates by destroying the Stoors’ village, to which the Stranger responds with his own magic, which this time he manages to control so he ends up saving Nori and Poppy and the rest of the villagers.
Morfydd Clark as Galadriel; Charlie Vickers as Sauron / Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video / Copyright: Amazon MGM Studios
Going back to the elves, Galadriel decides to ally with Adar, but just at that moment he’s killed in a trap set by his beloved orc “children”, who changed sides and are now loyal to the Dark Lord. After this, Sauron confronts Galadriel, and to do so he plays with her mind and transforms himself into different characters, including herself, until he ends up stabbing her with Morgoth’s crown and that is how he recovers the nine rings, but she manages to resist and prefers to jump off a cliff rather than give him her ring. This upsets Sauron and the rest of the elves, as Gil-Galad is unable to heal her even with the power of his ring, so Elrond, leaving behind his reservations about the rings, puts on Nenya (Galadriel’s ring) and that is how she later wakes up, just to decide that they must continue their fight against Sauron.
And then finally comes the big reveal of the season that many were waiting for, to know the true identity of the Stranger, which can be guessed while the Stoors say goodbye to him, because they have to find a new place to settle after their village was destroyed, and that’s when everyone starts to call him Grand Elf, since they have never seen an elf before and think that’s what they look like; at the same time he finds among the rubble what will be his staff. After this, the grand elf returns to Tom Bombadil and tells him that he finally discovered that it was all a test, because when he decided to save his friends, he was able to find his staff and also his name, Gandalf.
Some final thoughts
I think that to enjoy this series more it’s better not to have too much previous knowledge of the story, as it happens to me, I know part of it but I don’t consider myself an expert, so I believe those who have been most disappointed with the plot development are the ones who know all the details of characters, times and places, so they have higher expectations about what should happen. And I understand them, but I don’t share all of their opinions.
Daniel Weyman as The Stranger (Gandalf) / Credit: Ben Rothstein / Prime Video / Copyright: Amazon MGM Studios
On the other hand, I feel that the story of the Stranger and the harfoots was a bit relegated towards the end, but I think it couldn’t be otherwise. In the last season they were a more important part, but in this one the action was more focused on the forging of the rings and how it affected mainly the elves and the dwarves, and though some space had to be given to the development of the Stranger’s story, leading us to know who he really is, at times that plot felt a bit forced. And I even feel that the final revelation wasn’t that much surprising, I don’t know if it was because I already imagined it, or because the resolution didn’t really have much time to develop.
The same thing happened with the story of Númenor, although in this case it could be somehow more linked to the main story, considering that the rings for the men were also forged at the end of the season, so I think next season may be more focused on those characters, but I think we could also be getting closer to seeing the forging of the One Ring.
Anyway, I think that in general I can say that, despite some details, I really enjoyed this season and I’m already looking forward to seeing what new stories and characters will bring us the next one, even though we’ll probably have to wait a couple more years to watch it.
Did you like this season finale? What do you think will happen in season 3? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
