Season 2, Episode 4, titled “Eldest,” of the Prime Video series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is directed by Louise Hooper and Sanaa Hamri and penned by Glenise Mullins. The episode continues the journey of Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramyao) as they head out to Eregion to defeat Sauron and warn Celebrimbor. On the other hand, Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova), with the aid of Isildur (Maxim Baldry) and Estrid, (Nia Towle) searches for Theo. In Rhun, the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) and the halflings meet with a jolly traveller along the road that helps the former find the purpose he is searching for.
The Barrow-Wights
Galadriel and Elrond set out on their journey to Eregion and recruit one archer and two swordsmen. Together, the group travels to the Axel Bridge but realise it is destroyed and Galadriel deduces it to be the work of Sauron. Sauron is ensuring no one gets in or out of Eregion without his say so. They later are confronted by ghosts of ancient men called the barrow-wights likely raised by Sauron using his necromantic powers. It should be noted that the barrow-wights only existed in the Third Age and were raised by the Witch King of Angmar. However, it is plausible that Sauron can raise barrow-wights as the Witch King’s powers derive from Sauron’s abilities. The barrowwights are defeated by their weapons as only weapons of the dead can put their former owners back to rest.
Galadriel is Captured by Adar
Galadriel, Elrond, and the remaining elf company continue to Eregion. However, they find the orcs and the hill-troll Damrod heading to the great elvish city of smiths. The mission goes awry as they cannot pass through the orcs, so Galadriel sends the rest of the company back to Lindon to warn Gil-Galad of the war to come. She even entrusts Elrond with Nenya as she sacrifices herself in distracting the orcs so her team can escape. This regains Elrond’s trust in his old friend and he flees to Lindon to warn Gil-Galad of the orcs heading to Eregion. Galadriel holds off long enough, but she is personally captured by Adar (Sam Hazeldine) as his prisoner.
The Stranger and Tom Bombadil
As his journey continues, the Stranger meets with Tom Bombadil, one of the most mysterious beings in Arda. It is strange since Tom never went to Rhun and he rarely leaves Underhill with no care of what goes on in the world. Nevertheless, Tom loves his wife Goldberry (Raya Yarbrough) and helps travelers in their journey. A Tom Bombadil who makes serious decisions is out of character, and it would have been better if a blue wizard was the one who guides the Stranger on his journey.
Soon, Tom brings the Stranger into his home and helps clean him up. The Stranger asks Bombadil for his help in locating his friends and seeking guidance of what he must do. He even needs help to harness his powers and abilities with magic. Despite this, Tom warns the Stranger that he is not ready and that he needs time to hone his power before facing his destiny. Bombadil explains that the Stranger was not the first Istar to meet him. The first was the Dark Wizard who once came to control his magic and now controls much of Rhun under his tyranny. Power corrupts and the Dark Wizard’s ambition is so dark, that he is willing to ally with Sauron, the enemy he was supposed to fight and defeat, not aid. Overall, the Stranger’s destiny is to defeat the Dark Wizard and in extension Sauron. Both fallen maiar need to be defeated.
The Stoors
Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy (Megan Richards) wake up from the aftermath of the tornado. They are lost and alone as they cannot find their long Istar friend. Things get worse as the Easterling trackers, led by Brank (Zates Atour), are still looking for them. Yet things do get better when they meet a halfling, a stoor. The stoor’s name is Merimac (Gavi Singh Chera). Stoors are another branch of halflings aside from the harfoots and the fallohides. These three separate branches of halflings existed long before the halflings became and identified themselves as hobbits. Merimac is nervous yet the two harfoots continue to follow him to his village.
At the stoor village, they find the stoors living in holes to Nori’s astonishment. The village is located somewhere in secret between the cliffs, hidden from the prying eyes of the Easterlings, men who worship Sauron as a god king. The leader of the stoor village is Gundabale Earthauler (Tanya Moodie) and she is not accepting of the harfoots, as they are outsiders who might bring nothing but trouble. Things get even worse when Nori explains that they are in Rhun with the Stranger, a wizard to the fear of Gundabale, as the only wizard in Rhun is the Dark Wizard. Fearing that the Stranger is affiliated with the Dark Wizard, the Stoors tie up Nori and Poppy as their prisoners
At Caras Gaer, the Dark Wizard (Ciaran Hinds) receives Brank’s report of his failure to capture the harfoots and the Stranger. Since Brank reports that the Stranger is with Tom Bombadil, the Dark Wizard decides to handle the Istar himself while Brank and his fellow trackers should focus their efforts on capturing the harfoots.
The Story of the Halflings
Gundabale later meets with Nori, Poppy, and Merimac, who are tied up and planned to be cast out of the village to ensure the Easterling trackers do not find the village. However, Gundabale has a change of heart when Nori says that the harfoots were formerly led by Sadoc Burrows. As a result, the leader of the stoors shows Nori a mural detailing an ancient halfling myth. The myth is about how a stoor, named Rorimas Burrows, dreamed one night of a place with endless streams of cold water and rollin’ hills so soft, a family could dig a hole and live in it in less than a month. The location is called the Suzat, which will eventually become the Shire many years in the future. Rorimas left his village one year later with a caravan of followers to find it and promised to send someone back to bring the rest of the stoors to the promised land. This reveals that the harfoots descended from the stoors.
Gundabale is telling this because she wonders if Nori was sent by the harfoots to bring the stoors to the Suzat. Unfortunately, Nori states that Rorimas never found the Suzat and that the harfoots are still wanderers to this day with no home to stay. Soon, the Easterling trackers find the stoor village. Brank confronts Gundabale and asks the stoor where the harfoots are. She refuses to answer after bonding with Nori. Surprisingly, Brank is open and calm with the situation and even divulges why they wear the masks. Brank seems sorrowful at the reason and states that if the stoors do not wish to wear masks like them, they should quickly turn in the harfoots before the Dark Wizard arrives. This indicates that the Dark Wizard unleashed a plague on the Easterling trackers and their people which led to their enslavement and being infected with a disease that only the Dark Wizard can cure.
The Ents of the Southlands
In the Southlands, Arondir and Isildur, with the aid of Estrid, lead a scouting party to search for Theo (Tyroe Muhafiden) . Arondir eventually learns that Estrid was one of the wild men serving Adar but Estrid regains the elf and Numenorean’s trust by saving them both from a nameless creature in a mud pit. Soon, the trio discover the ents and that they are holding Theo and the other wild men, including Hagen (Gabriel Akuwudike), Estrid’s betrothed. The ents consist of Snaggleroot (Jim Broadbent) and Winterbloom (Olivia Williams). The presence of an entwife is interesting as they are supposed to be extinct or missing, according to Tolkien’s texts. Many were killed by orcs and the servants of Sauron.
The ents eventually trust Arondir and Isildur enough that they free Theo and the rest of the wild men. Theo bonds with Arondir who invites the boy to journey with him to Eregion to track down the orcs and eliminate Adar as a threat. However, Theo explains he will stay back in Pelargir and subtly hints that he will continue his duty as a healer in the Southlands. The rest of the wild men are grateful and join the rest of the Southlanders, casting off their allegiance to Adar in favor of their own people. The men of Middle Earth are strong together and this is proven when they fought Sauron till the end.
Rating: 6/10