Season 2, Episode 1, titled “Elven Kings Under the Sky” of the Prime Video series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is directed by Charlotte Brandstrom and penned by Gennifer Hutchison. It should be noted that The Rings of Power is nothing more than an embarrassment deemed more fan-fiction than a proper live adaptation. Although The House of the Dragon had some creative liberties, they did not take it too far changing actual major historical events that occurred, according to Fire and Blood. The Rings of Power takes the creative liberties too far by breaking the historical timeline of events in the Second Age, mischaracterizing the characters, and ruining the sequence with how the Rings of Power were forged. The Rings of Power will always be a disappointment and should be remembered as a warning as to what happens if showrunners and writers take things too far to the point of disrespecting the source material. The only good things out of the show are Bear McCreary’s amazing music, the orc designs, the costume designs, and the set designs.
Sauron’s Speech
At the Dawn of the Second Age, Sauron (James Lowden) gives a speech to the orcs of Forodwaith, led by Adar (Sam Hazeldine). The Great Deceiver proclaims himself Morgoth’s successor as the second dark lord of Middle Earth, desiring to heal and bring order in his twisted way. He plans to use the power of the Unseen World to enslave all races of Middle Earth with himself and the orcs as their masters. However, Sauron angers the orcs when he tells them many will be sacrificed for his plan to work. The anger mounts into an assassination attempt on Sauron’s life. Sauron kills the assassin and tells the orcs they will never be accepted by surface dwellers. He insists they need a powerful leader like himself to remain a prominent race to be feared by all of Middle Earth. Adar plans to crown Sauron as Morgoth’s successor but betrays him, piercing his head with the crown instead. The orcs attack Sauron, stabbing him until his physical form deteriorates. Suddenly, his body emanates a powerful cold energy that terraforms all of Forodwaith into a cold wasteland. The orcs proclaim Adar as their leader, not noticing Sauron’s black blood seeping beneath the ground.
Sauron’s Revival
For thousands of years, Sauron’s spirit endures as a black goo that resembles a Venom-like symbiote. Sauron devours any living being he can get his hands on to regain his strength to create a new physical form. He manages to climb out of Forodwaith’s darkest depths and possesses a female traveler as his new vessel, transforming her body into that of a man known as Halbrand (Charlie Vickers). For a long time, Sauron traversed east of Middle Earth and headed to the Southlands likely to take revenge against Adar.
Sauron meets Southlanders leaving Middle Earth in fear of the orcs and travels with them for some time. Their journey is cut short when their ship is attacked by a sea wyrm, leaving Halbrand and others stranded at sea. This is where Halbrand encounters Galadriel, kickstarting the events of season 1 and ending the flashback detailing Suaron’s origin.
Overall, Sauron’s story as a failed dark lord betrayed by the orcs, reforming his physical form for thousands of years, and going with the Southlanders to find a safe haven is laughable. In the books, it details that Sauron spent thousands of years in the Dawn of the Second Age in Rhun as he worked to gain the support of the Easterlings and build up their power so they could join him in his conquest of Middle Earth. Sauron struggled initially as he had to face rebellious Easterlings and the Blue Wizards. Additionally, he also prepared the orcs and their legions in Mordor for the coming war against all the races of Middle Earth. Although it is true that the orcs disrespected Sauron for having a fair physical form, the orcs would never betray Sauron because they feared the fallen maiar’s power and could only worship and obey him with barely any free will of their own.
Gil-Galad on the Elven Rings
In the present day, Galadriel chases Elrond (Robert Aramyao) who stole the three elven rings, and heads to Lindon to warn High King Gil-Galad (Benjamin Walker). Gil-Galad hears Elrond’s warning about the dark nature of the newly forged Rings of Power with the aid of the mysterious Halbrand. The two then confront Galadriel who admits Halbrand is Sauron. Elrond is furious at Galadriel for letting her pride lead to the return of the new dark lord and Gil-Galad is angry that this is even happening.
Gil-Galad explains that the elves were meant to leave the shores of Middle Earth back to Valinor to avoid their fading. However, the High King does not want the peoples of Middle Earth to suffer under the tyranny and reign of Sauron, likely remembering how dangerous Morgoth was when he started alone with no army. Gil-Galad believes the three elven rings are the elves’ only last hope to ensure they would not fade and to keep their lands safe from the decays of time. This would allow the elves to remain in Middle Earth and aid the dwarves and the men in the coming conflict with Sauron. Galadriel agrees but Elrond does not as the latter believes that the Great Deceiver plans to ensure the elves use the rings. As a result, Elrond follows what his mother did in the past and jumps off a cliff in the waters below with the three elven rings at hand much to the frustration of Gil-Galad and Galadriel.
Halbrand Meets Adar
In Mordor, Halbrand is captured alongside many Southlanders and brought before Adar accompanied by his orc lieutenants and Waldreg (Geoff Morrell). The captured Halbrand asks Adar to let his people go in exchange for information about Sauron’s whereabouts. Adar and his orc lieutenants are horrified at the thought of Sauron’s return and take Halbrand’s words into consideration. The irony is that Halbrand is Sauron and is manipulating the orcs who betrayed him to his own ends.. Nevertheless, Halbrand is thrown in a cell guarded by a warg and tormented by Waldreg through several beatings.
After several times of beating, Sauron wants to kill Waldreg so he uses his dark magic to dominate the mind of a warg to his very will. This alludes to Sauron’s former role as the Lord of Werewolves during the First Age and how he commanded an army of them at his command. He even took on the form of a werewolf himself. The following day, Adar agrees to free the Southlanders though only those who accepted to be his spies and agents.
Adar also agrees to free Halbrand so he can help track Sauron’s whereabouts. However, Halbrand must first submit and vow allegiance to the Lord of Mordor. Halbrand claims his allegiance to the Lord of Mordor but in truth vows allegiance to himself, Sauron. Adar frees Halbrand and has some of his orc trackers follow the mysterious man. The event ends with Waldreg inspecting Halbrand’s cell and being attacked by the warg Halbrand freed. It turns out that the warg was freed and controlled in case Adar refused to free Halbrand. Sauron hears Waldreg’s scream from afar and is glad his revenge against the man is satiated.
The Stranger and Nori
In Rhun, the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) and Nori (Markella Kavenagh) struggle to find food and the former keeps having visions of finding his future staff. The Strangersummons insects for them to feast on for supper, and during supper, they discuss his desire to find a staff to wield and hone his powers to their fullest potential. They also discuss how the two miss their homes: Nori with her fellow Harfoots and the Stranger with Valinor. The Stranger misses and longs for his home though he’s forgotten the name and what life was before he arrived in Middle Earth, showing how becoming an Istar in physical form took a toll on his memories and mind. However, this is not the case in the books as the wizards did not arrive as falling meteors in Middle Earth but on ships, arriving and greeted at the Grey Havens.
Surprisingly, Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards) arrives and aids her best friend Nori and the Stranger in their journey to navigate Rhun. It turns out that the key to traversing Rhun is to sing the Wandering Days song and use its lyrics as a compass to find where they need to go. Unknown to them, they are being tracked by Easterling mercenaries hired by the Dark Wizard, likely a fallen blue wizard who has strayed and turned to evil.
Cirdan the Shipwright
At the Grey Havens, Elrond meets with Cirdan (Ben Daniels) to discuss what must be done about the three elven rings. Elrond meets with the shipwright because of the former’s wisdom as an elf who has lived for three cycles. Elves who lived for three cycles tend to look old but remain immortal The shipwright explains that the three elven rings seem safe to use as they were made without Sauron’s touch and not using them will end the age of the elves in Middle Earth, forcing the free peoples to fend for themselves against the dark lord. However, Elrond is still adamant about destroying the rings as the elves using the three elven rings could be a part of Sauron’s long-term goal of enslaving the elves to his will.
Cirdan is convinced and takes the three elven rings to the deepest and darkest depths of the sea. He plans to cast the rings into the depths so no one can use them. However, the sea stops Cirdan from doing so as if the great sea valar Ulmo is stopping him. As a result, Cirdan believes the Valar is subtly instructing him that the elves must remain in Middle Earth so he heads to Lindon with the three rings in hand.
Before Cirdan made his decision to spare the rings, Gil-Galad and Galadriel track Elrond to the Grey Havens after following her intuition that the herald would seek out the oldest and wisest elf for aid. Galadriel confronts Elrond, but he refuses his friend’s advice worried that Sauron may have influenced her to his manipulations and that she cannot be trusted.
The Three Elven Kings Under the Sky
Back at Lindon, High King Gil-Galad announces to the elves that their days in Middle Earth have ended and they must head to Valinor before they fade. However, Cirdan arrives and announces that the three elven rings are the solution to stopping the fade. Cirdan wears Narya (The Ring of Fire), Gil-Galad wears Vilya (The Ring of Air), and Galadriel wears Nenya (The Ring of Water). With their combined powers, the fading of Lindon ends; the elves can remain in Middle Earth long enough to fight Sauron in the wars to come. However, Elrond is disgusted with the elves accepting the three rings and leaves the ceremony.
Halbrand in Eregion
At Eregion, Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) prepares his forge to craft potentially more rings of power for the elves to wield, if and only if the three elven rings are successful. His assistant Mirdania (Amelia Kenworthy) informs about a messenger from the Southlands who has arrived at Eregion. Celebrimbor heads outside with her and sees Halbrand for the first time in a long time. Halbrand smiles at his arrival in Eregion, the center point of where Sauron’s next scheme will begin: the crafting of the seven rings for the dwarven lords and the nine rings for men. It is where the downfall of the dwarven lords and the kings of men will begin.
Rating: 6/10