Rings of Power begins season two after revealing the identity of Sauron, Galadriel's hunt for him, and the forging of the Three Rings! The series began with Galadriel as a young girl with her older brother, Finrod. The Elves fought against Morgoth in Middle-Earth. Finrod and countless others died in battle. Morgoth was defeated, but his lieutenant, Sauron, came to power. Finrod died facing Sauron, marked him with his symbol, and Galadriel took up his vow to hunt Sauron. She was obsessed with Sauron and High King Gil-Galad sent her to Valinor for her service. Galadriel jumps ship, turning away from paradise to hunt down the darkness!, and finds herself on a raft with a man named Halbrand. They continue to Numenor and board the fleet with Captain Elendil to Middle-Earth.
At the Southlands, the Numenoreans are able to defeat the Orcs and their leader Adar is taken prisoner. He was an elf turned into an Orc by Morgoth. In episode six, “Udûn”, interrogated by Galadriel, he said he had killed Sauron! Halbrand is made king of the Southlands. The dark plan comes to pass with water from the Orc tunnels flooding the magma, the mountain Orodruin, erupts becoming Mount Doom! This was shocking connection to Lord of the Rings. Adar declares that the Southlands are now Mordor! Galadriel takes a wounded Halbrand to Eregion. This is where Celebrimbor is working on mithril with Galadriel’s friend, Elrond. Halbrand suggests he use other elements to forge a ring! Galadriel was researching Halbrand’s past and he reveals himself be Sauron in episode 8, “Alloyed.” She suggests Celebrimbor forge three rings.
The premiere is directed by Charlotte Brändström who also directed “Udûn” last season. Gennifer Hutchison is the writer, she wrote the second episode, “Adrift”, and co-wrote season one’s finale. We hear the chorus of what sounds like Elves. Out of the darkness is the spiked crown of Sauron carried by an Orc. An Elf (Jack Lowden) in red robes says that Morgoth is gone to an assembly of Orcs. Lowden played River Cartwright in the spy show, Slow Horses. He says he, Sauron!, is their master as Adar is at his side (Sam Hazeldine). Eredin in The Witcher was played by Hazeldine. We see that the dark fortress is Forodwaith, a lake before it, and snowy mountains in the distance. This is where Galadriel’s hunt ended in the season one premiere. I like that we find out the back story not only to Sauron, but what happened with Forodwraith, Elvish for "Northern Waste." It is the “Dawn of the Second Age.”
Sauron tells the Orcs that he is searching for power over the “Unseen World” that will take over the people of Middle-Earth. He admits that many Orcs will die, but they will become the “saviors of Middle-Earth” bringing everyone together. In the crowd, an Orc snarls, “Sauron lies!” Sauron says they have no other choice with the Elves and Men. Another Orc tries to backstab Sauron, but he spins and kills the Orc! The Orcs are silent. He shouts that he is their future. Sauron turns to Adar who walks over to pick up the crown. He raises the crown and says, hail Sauron, joined by the others. Sauron kneels, he looks up to see the circle of the crown, great shot! Adar suddenly reverse the crown to stab Sauron’s back! The Orcs swarm Sauron to stab him Julius Caesar-style!
Sauron sends Orcs flying, but can’t stop the mob of killers. He falls, his black blood splattering his face, as Adar watches. Et tu, Adar? His eyes close. Adar has the Orcs withdraw to check the body. Then, Sauron’s eyes blaze and a light blasts out of his mouth! This turns into a icy blast that explodes from the fortress that turns the Forodwriath into the snowy wasteland that we saw with Galadriel. Adar sees that the remains of Sauron is just his robes. He picks up the crown, an Orc says, “Hail Adar!”, and the leader tells them that they are free. We see in the cracks of the stone where Sauron fell that his black blood flows down like a living thing. It collects in an underground gap lit by the sun. A rat is scurrying next to the black pool when it is grasped by tentacles and consumed! It crushes a centipede and becomes a mop of tendrils.
The mass crawls upwards, slides down the snowy cliffside, then flops to a roadside. A peddlar woman (Nellie Burroughes) is riding a wagon across the snow. The wagon wheel catches the mass like rags, then the peddlar woman screams! The horse rears and charges away, the wagon shudders, then out of it steps a man (Charlie Vickers)! He starts to make his way through the wasteland, making a fire, as a male chorus sings a dirge. The next day, the man walks and meets a group of refugees leaving a forest. He is warned about heading towards the forest from an older man, Diarmid (Nicholas Woodeson). It leads to an army of Orcs. Diarmid says there is another life for Sauron who eyes the noble symbol on his pouch. He says his family served an anicent line of kings and wears it a reminder of how fortunes change. They are headed across the sea to a place of safety.
Night, a ship takes the refugees including Sauron across the sea, beneath it a sea creature Kaiju swims! Diarmid sees that Sauron still has nightmares. He says Sauron is alive because he has chosen good and has to keep choosing it every day. Sauron tells him, “Grab hold of something” as the ship is struck! Water bursts from breaches in the hull. Diarmid is trapped under a timber, Sauron snatches his token, as the ship is dragged under water! He faces the beast, it opens its jaws, but then turns away. Sauron reaches the surface and clings to the makeshift raft. The next day, he fingers the royal symbol, and then turns to see Galadriel (Morfyyd Clark) swimming towards the raft. Great perspective to see Sauron’s side of the story from the second ep, “Adrift”! Through trees are two riders in blue cloaks, Galadriel and Elrond (Robert Aramayo). She tries to reach for his pouch, but gets separated.
Galadriel is surrounded by Elf guards in gold armor and robes. She is escorted through a rocky passageway to High King Gil-Galad (Benjamin Walker) who rules at Lindon. Galadriel says Herald Elrond was carrying the Three Rings that could save the Elves. Gil-Galad only wants to know if Elrond is true that the man who was Halbrand is someone else. She reveals it is Sauron. Elrond feels betrayed, but their argument is stopped by the high king. Gil-Galad wants to see the Three Rings, Elrond is uncertain if they were corrupted by Sauron, the high king says the Elves will have to leave Middle-Earth, but doesn’t want to leave behind it to a dark lord. Elrond still insists that they should be destroyed. Gil-Galad again gives the command and his guards step forward. Elrond says he cannot give the Rings and leaps off the cliff to the sea! Gil-Galad sends his guards to find him.
Mordor, Mount Doom erupts, Orcs have a line of prisoners including Sauron as Halbrand. Adar watches as Waldreg (Geoff Morell) tells the prisoners that they must work or die. He used the sword that was the key to flooding the Orc tunnels. Waldreg calls up a man to swear allegiance to Adar, when he refuses an Orc kills him, another man is called up. He kneels and then taken by an Orc to be branded on the neck! The former Halbrand is brought to Adar and he says, “Let my people go”, very Moses! Adar says they have defeated Men, Numenoreans, and Elves. Halbrand tells him that Galadriel has an “ancient sorceror” who will forge a new weapon. Adar told her about the power when he was questioned by her. Halbrand says he can’t be killed and he is beaten by Waldreg. An Orc, Glug (Robert Strange), asks Adar if Sauron could be alive. Adar says he is dead, but it looks like there is doubt in his eyes.
The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) is walking in a strange land at night. He appeared last season after a comet streaked across Middle-Earth. The Harfoot Nori Bandyfoot found him in a burning crater along with her friend, Poppy Proudfellow. She helped him, but kept The Stranger secret from her village. He has magic that uses to make fireflies form the shape of stars. The Stranger reveals himself and the Harfoots leave on their migration. Nori’s family and Poppy are left behind and they are helped by The Stranger. They reach the Harfoots at the Grove, but send the Stranger away when his magic almost injures young Dilly Brandyfoot. Three women, the Nomad, the Ascetic, and the Dweller are searching for the The Stranger, and they destroy the Harfoot wagons. Nori goes to help The Stranger with Poppy, the leader, Sadoc Burrows, and her mother, Marigold.
At the Greenwood, Sadoc is killed, and the Stranger is able to banish the women who realize he is an Istar. The Istari are wizards like Saruman and Gandalf. When they return to the village, he says that Istar is a word for wizard. He has to travel to Rhûn in the east and Nori joins him. The Stranger sees a single tree like a staff at the edge of some rocks underneath the stars that are part of his destiny. He takes hold of it and is given flashes of visions. It is day as Nori (Markella Kavenagh) asks about his dream. He says it is the heat. Someone watches them in a gold mask like a skull in a black robe. They find three trees and Nori says they are in circles. He advises patience and Nori says they haven’t eaten since feeding on snails. It is strange to see him speaking since he was learning last season, but I like it, and don’t doubt he is Saruman in his early form. She looks at The Stranger wanting him to use his magic to make fruit, he sends her back and back, funny!
Stone pebbles shake under his hand. The Stranger moves his hand through the pebbles to the tree. He speaks Elvish, but then the tree suddenly explodes throwing him back! Nori is happy, insects start crawling out of the stump of the tree, she says, “We’ll eat for days!” “Slimy yet satisfying”? A night, by a fire, The Stranger says he lost control, he tells her about the branch in his dream. Nori continues munching on bugs, she offers one to her friend, and he says he can feel the legs in his throat. Nori says that is the best part since they are dancing. She brings up Poppy and their songs starting to miss her home. He says he misses his home, but can’t remember it. They hear howls and The Stranger says someone is following them! Halbrand wakens to hear growling, a Warg, snarls at him through an opening. Waldreg tries to tempt Halbrand with a bowl of food and then beats him. Afterwards, Halbrand reaches out for a bone with meat at the end, then he hears the Warg.
The Warg leaps forward, still chained, and chews on the meat. Halbrand starts to speak to it in Black Speech. Then, the Warg takes the bone. We move to day with the edge of Lindon, “The Grey Havens”, with a tower, ships, and a workshop by the sea. Riders go over a bridge, and beneath it is Elrond taking refuge. At the workshop of a shipwright, the master, Cirdan (Ben Daniels) checks on his apprentices, one artisan (Celeste Dodwell) says, “Perfection.” Daniels plays Santigo in the horror series, Interview with the Vampire. Cirdan tells her that perfection only exists in Valinor. I know of Cirdan’s character from Tolkien. He has an important connection with Gandalf. Cirdan looks out to see the sun setting before entering his workshop. He says Elrond doesn’t need to hide. Elrond apologizes and walks out saying Cirdan is the “oldest and wisest” of Elves. Cirdan knows he carries something “louder than the sea”!
A seal is stamped on a message by Gil-Galad to be delivered by Calenwe (Jamie Bisping) to Celebrimbor about Sauron. Calenwe takes the message into a cylinder and leaves. Galadriel remains and thanks the high king. He blames Galadriel about Sauron, um, he sent her away in her pursuit of the dark lord. Then, Gil-Galad says that he is forced to ally with her to use the Rings against Sauron. He says he would throw her to the Ettenmoors. They return to a room where a guard reports that Elrond and the Rings are gone. Gil-Galad wants the search expanded to find Elrond. Galadriel says he is not gone, intends to destroy the Rings, and would look to find someone “older and wiser”! Elrond drops the pouch with the Rings. Cirdan says Celebrimbor had plans to craft objects to change the hearts of anyone who saw them. Arrogant in that respect.
He says it is without Sauron’s involvement which he would know if he examined them! Elrond says he wants to destroy the Rings and Cirdan tells him that it would mean the end of the Elves! It would leave Middle-Earth to Sauron. He leaves the decision to Elrond who says the Three Rings are part of Sauron’s plan. Elrond accepts the decision and Cirdan said Elrond’s father, Eärendil, would be proud. His father worked with Cirdan to build a ship to reach Valinor, the first mortal to walk there. Cirdan tells Elrond there was a battle that left a depth that only Manwë knows, he was the oldest of the Valar, who created Valinor. This all part of the Tolkien’s world that he put in The Silmarillion. It was largely left out of the Lord of the Rings films.
A horse whinny interrupts Cirdan. Gil-Galad has arrived! The guards with Galadriel ride up to the workshop. She asks permission to talk with her friend and Gil-Galad gives her a little time.
Galadriel admits her failure. She had unknowingly allied with Sauron instead of destroying him. Galadriel tells Elrond that she feels that the Three Rings do not have Sauron’s corrupton. He questions if she has been called by darkness. Elrond is getting paranoid with Sauron. She realizes he has been delaying for Cirdan. The shipwright is on a boat taking out to the sea. The Stranger is watching the approach of the person that was following him, taking cover behind some rock formations and a trip rope has been set up. Nori waits with a net above him.
The shadow of their pursuer appears. The Stranger picks up a rock. The trip wire takes its victim and Nori drops the net! The net is pulled up and it is Poppy (Megan Richards)! She giggles. Nori munches on honey biscuits at a campfire that night. It is great to have Poppy on the journey. She is like Sam, especially since Nori was feeling homesick, and it was Frodo going to Mordor without Samwise. They are lost, but Poppy has found a map from Sadoc’s book. She says Harfoots must have been there and a warning was with the song. “This Wandering Day” was sung by Poppy last season and part of it is sung by The Stranger! The next day, Poppy has found the way, and by night, they enter Rhûn.
She asks The Stranger that he seems to recognize the land, he sees the constellation that was in the first season, but he says he only saw it in dreams. The scout that was watching them, must be an Easterling, rides off. Cirdan has reached the area over the depths and holds out the pouch with the Three Rings! The boat suddenly tips sideway throwing the pouch inside the boat. Cirdan pours the Rings into his hand and examines them. Halbrand, held motionless by chains, is wakened by Adar who tells him that thirteen were chosen by Morgoth. He was taken to a peak and chained until he saw Sauron’s face. Saruon gave him wine to drink. Adar says Halbrand’s people have been freed. Halbrand sits up and says Sauron has a new form, Adar is looking at it! He says he is an ally of the Elves and can find Sauron with them. Rings of Power follows the epic Second Age story with the rise of Sauron, Elrond and Galadriel dealing with the Three Rings, and the journey of The Stranger and Nori!
Five Rings of Power out of Five!
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