Re:turn of “Adrift”, on the makeshift raft, Galadriel eyes Halbrand’s amulet and pouch. She still has the long, white dress from the ceremony to Valinor. A bit awkward especially at sea. Galadriel wonders how Halbrand could easily sacrifice the others. He asks if she was a deserter. Halbrand says Orcs chased him from his homeland which he says has turned to ash. She brings up that his amulet is from his kingdom and tells him that she could help him reclaim his kingdom. She tells him that she has lived lifetimes of people who have fallen to Sauron. Halbrand admits he is from the Southlands, like the Hordern?, possibly connected to Theo like his missing father? Most likely, he is further south towards the Bay of Belfalas to get to sea. She commands him to take here there and the banner of the army. There is a storm coming. We get some chanting as Bronwyn runs to the tavern and tells them of the destruction of Hordern. They don’t care.
Theo stares at the black blade next to the fireplace. He hears creaking of the floorboards and thinking it is mice, strikes repeatedly at the floorboard with a fireplace poker. Theo looks at the tiny gap in the floor and an eye stares back at him! Arondir pulls himself through the tunnel system with his lamp. He sees massive claw marks on the tunnel walls. Arondir continues on holding up his lamp. A very tense scene. Some creature crawls towards him and Arondir moves as fast as he can back through the tunnel! He stumbles on the rocks and mice scatter away from the danger. Arondir struggles to pull himself forward and then falls into water! He swims up the cave pool and pulls out his dagger. Bubbles in the cave pool and then suddenly Arondir is pulled back by clawed hands! Bronwyn races to return home and sees the scattering of objects. She sees the large hole in the floor boards and calls for Theo. He has hidden in a small storage room and tells his mother to get help.
Pov of the Orc moving up the tunnel. Bronwyn heads for the door, but sees that her son is still in trouble and instead hides in a supply room. Claws bring up the Orc as Bronwyn watches through the door slats. Touches of a horror movie! The Orc turns with its skull mask kinda like the Predator. It breaks through the supply room door, Bronwyn screams, and Theo stabs it with a kitchen blade. He is knocked down, Bronwyn tells him to run, the Orc slams a table blocking the entrance door. Bronwyn throws a vial of red powder at the Orc’s head. It removes its skull helmet and we see it is a bearded Orc. Theo pulls on a rope that strangles the Orc. It slashes at Theo and then Bronwyn is about to attack it with a blade. She drops the Orc’s head at the tavern’s butcher table and says they should all leave for the Elf tower. Night, the storm is tossing the makeshift raft, Galadriel has tied herself to the mast. It is torn into the sea and Halbrand finds himself alone. Galadriel is pulled down into the depths by a pulley. Halbrand swims down to free Galadriel.
He takes her dagger to cut her free and they head for the raft. The Stranger looks at the starry sky. Nori and Poppy approach with lanterns. He turns and Poppy explains that they use fireflies for the lanterns. They start to stir and Poppy drops the lantern freeing the fireflies. The Stranger cups one in his hands and begins whipering to it like Gandalf with the moths. The fireflies turn into a constellation formation and Nori thinks that this is where he wants thtem to take him there. Poppy discovers tha the fireflies have all died. Durin IV walks to meet with his father, King Durin III (Peter Mullan), and the son trusts Elrond. The king opens a chest and they both regard the object inside. Theo is packing for the trip, blood from his wound trickles up the broken sword and reforms the blade! Bronwyn calls for him and they join the evacuation. Galadriel and Halband are asleep on the raft in the morning. She wakes to see a man on a ship above them!
“Adar” begins with Arondir coming to his senses, taken by two Orcs to a line of others with the skull helmets. Hands of human prisoners reach out to him. Arondir is thrown down. He hears talk of Adar before being knocked out. Arondir’s ankle is chained, he is tossed a pick ax to dig, but then he finds his fellow guardsman, Médhor. The humans stare at them. Others scream tortured by the Orcs. Galadriel is startled awake. Halbrand gives a bowl of soup. A hatch is opened. On deck, Galadriel sees that it is a crew of men in blue armor with gold chestplates. The ship’s captain (Lloyd Owen) says his order is to take her to their port. They are entering a port with large guard towers, giant faces carved from rock, which Galadriel realizes is the kingdom of Númenor! There is an epic pan as we get the city of Armenelos with a towering statue of Eärendil the Mariner. Galadriel explains that Halbrand’s people allied with Morgoth, but the people of Númenor were given the island by the Valar! Elves were welcomed, she explains, but then Númenoreans closed them off.
They are led to the palace, there is a channeled waterfall from the cliff of the city leading to a white tree, like Minas Tirith! The captain takes them to Queen Regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), in the books she is Tar-Míriel and Chancellor Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle). I find her character unlikeable, not because she is queen, there is no back story about her, just that her father may disapprove. We don't find out the essential question, why were the Elves banned from Númenor? I get that the kingdom is isolated, but that would lead to a break down of society, I see none of that in the island (read: Atlantis) nation. The queen asks Galadriel to introduce herself and Halbrand adds himself. Galadriel wants passage back to Middle-Earth. It looks like there is conflict with Queen Regent Míriel and Galadriel. Still, Halbrand interjects and wants to stay to give time for the Númenoreans to decide on their passage. Pharazôn has them as guests for three days. Halbrand has an arm grasping agreement and gives Galadriel a sword.
Pharazôn tells the queen about the captain, Elendeil who is now a Sea Guardsman who has a son. Elendil fought in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men seen at the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Elendil’s son is Isildur (Maxim Baldry). He is serving as a cadet on a Númenorean ship. Isildur is of course the one who cut the Ring from Sauron’s hand. His descendant is Aragorn. Now, Isildur helps secure a line that had a cadet dangling from the ship. Later, three boats are brought ashore and the sail master (Antonio Te Maihoa) leads them into the saying, “The sea is always right!” His friends, Ontamo (Anthony Crum) and Valandil (Alex Tarrant) go over their years to pass the Sea Trial and become officers. Isildur is told about the arrival of his sister, Eärien (Ema Horvath), but he is more eager to see her horse, Berek. His friends pass by her and note she is usually caught up in her sketchbooks. Past the White Tree, Queen Regent Míriel tells Elendil that it is a reminder that the Valar are watching them. She asks him why he brought an Elf to Númenor breaking tradition. She says he has to complete a service for the kingdom and Elendil is handed a sword!
This shifts on the map from Númenor to the Southlands. Arondir is watching the sun come out of the clouds. The sunshine drives away his Orc captor, this is in line with Lord of the Rings books, but not really in the films. Arondir is working out the situation with Médhor and Revion who says someone else is in line to take Morgoth’s place, Adar. He wants them to go above the trench to plan their escape. The Orc supervisor, Lurka (Edward Clendon) wants them to continue digging. Revion notes that digging up a tree blocking their path will delay them. The leader, Magrot (Luke Hawker) says he likes Revion’s defiance and gives him a bottle of water. This passes to Arondir and when Médhor drinks, Magrot strikes him! Arondir rests down the body of his friend and then volunteers to cut down the tree. He spies the land outside of the trench and then begins cutting with his axe. Númenoran guards search for Galadriel, she has leaped on the walls, but Elendil has found her! He speaks Quenya, an Elvish language, and they team up to reach the Hall of Lore. The Rings of Power episode focuses on Númenor with peeks into Arondir’s capture and Nori!
Four Rings of Power out of Five!
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