Rings of Power Has Begun Its War of the Rings

Last week the tension across Middle-earth escalated dramatically—almost a little too dramatically, like the season finally decided that now as the time that everything had to start going drastically wrong in each of its myriad, distanced plotlines. Well, now that everything’s gone wrong, what’s next? Everyone, hero and villain alike on Middle-earth, is ready to throw down, because now they have to reckon with being committed on the path they’ve been put down.

Much of “Where Is He?”, the sixth episode of Rings of Power‘s second season, is about the build up that we’ve known is coming all season long: a climactic take on the War Between Elves and Sauron from Tolkien’s histories, but with in its own twist that really, it’s the War Between Elves, Sauron, and Adar. The episode, and really much of the season so far, has really yet to take advantage of that particularly interesting dynamic that Eregion is essentially a third party to Adar and Sauron’s ages-long beef, but overall it does a pretty solid job of having almost every one of its differing storylines come to a header where its characters have to commit to the fight that is looming ahead of them.

Just given the sheer amount of disparate threads the show goes on, we only get this in the slightest touches for a few storylines, like Nori and Poppy committing to help the Stoors defend their home from the forces of the Dark Wizard and Tom Bombadil leaving the Stranger with the choice to face his and Middle-earth’s destiny as an Istar, or go and find his friends. Arondir’s part in the episode is almost entirely just to do a bit of jogging and then kill a couple of orcs, but at least points him in the direction of Eregion, and his commitment to protect the world from this encroaching evil.

There’s a bit more to chew on in Númenor, but it’s also arguably the weakest part of the episode. If last week was about how inauthentically sudden Pharazôn’s rise to power felt, this week is mostly about how inauthentically sudden his momentary comeuppance feels. Or maybe it’s just that everyone on Númenor is kind of an idiot and is willing to dictate government exclusively by Presence of Giant Animal, given how quickly everyone re-rallies to Míriel’s right to rule as Queen when she survives a trial-by-sea encounter with a giant, Watcher-in-the-water-esque beast. I cannot stress enough that this plotline hinges on Pharazôn and his cronies, apparently masterminds of political machination, managing to not read a book they’re carrying around, but again, this is moving the pieces about on the proverbial chess board. Míriel’s up, Pharazon’s down, but hey he’s a hypocrite and touches the Palantir, giving him a vision of the Dread Charlie Vickers and setting us on that inevitable path to the island nation’s inevitable doom. Everyone’s on their destined path, no matter how silly it is that they get there!

But no, “Where Is He?” saves its best take on this idea for the most interlinked plotlines of the season so far: the growing corruption of the rings’ influence in Khazad-dûm, and the war coming to Eregion’s doorstep as Sauron/Annatar desperately guides Celebrimbor to crafting the final set of rings. While the latter is obviously going to be the biggest focus as we head toward the climax of this season, it’s in Khazad-dûm that Rings of Power is actually willing to drill its giant stakes and scale back down to real, human conflict. Well, Dwarven, but you know what I mean.

As King Durin’s greed and ensorcellement to the ring becomes clearer and clearer, Prince Durin and Disa finally realize that they can no longer try and appeal to the man they once knew, and that stopping his plans to delve deeper and deeper into Khazad-dûm’s gold and mithril mines will require them to actually take up arms against, crucially, not just their king, but a man they both sincerely and dearly love. It comes to a head in what might be the best scene Rings of Power has ever delivered, dramatically speaking: Owain Arthur offers a beautifully heartwrenching moment of fragility for the otherwise stern and stubborn Durin, breaking down in tears to Disa as he tells her he has no idea if he can actually oppose his father, amid the tragedy of watching this man he thought he’d just gotten back in his life slip away right in front of him. It’s no grand battle or a marching army, but it’s a crucial reminder of the personal cost of the rings of power, the lives that Sauron has wreaked havoc upon in his quest to dominate all of them. The war for the rings is more than just nations against nations, species against species, one army smashing into another: it’s a war for the very soul of Middle-earth and its peoples, and what their lives mean to each other. That’s what Durin and Disa are willing to put on the line in their rebellion, and that matters more than us knowing the inevitable end-point of it.

All this then, is woven around the growing tension that drives the episode in Eregion, as Adar makes his play to Galadriel for a team up that could destroy Sauron once and for all, and Sauron himself realizes that he’s running out of ways to mansplain, manipulate, or manwhore his way out of this one. It’s nice, after six episodes of Vickers relishing the control that Sauron/Annatar has over his plans for the rings of power, actually have to deal with a realization that currently not yet everything is bending to his will. In fact, for a moment it feels like he’s actually desperately spinning a few plates, as Celebrimbor begins to break under the demands of the work and his own prideful impulse to make his place in history, and dead Elven guards begin showing up with ominously carved messages from a baiting Adar. For as much as this season has been about how masterfully Sauron gets into people’s heads to get what he wants, there is a genuine tension to seeing him at least momentarily falter. Just like everyone else in this episode, guided by his machinations or otherwise, Sauron has to make a choice to commit to his design and be ready to stand and fight as Adar’s forces begin to descend on Ost-in-Edhil, literally beckoning the challenge as he both manipulates Celebrimbor with an illusion of a peaceful city while preparing in reality to watch the first flaming salvo of siege weaponry come hurling over the walls.

After slowly but surely (and then rapidly and less surely) reminding us of the stakes and scales this season—storylines across all of Middle-earth, about the fate of Middle-earth, getting bigger and bigger—it’s interesting that the thing that levels the playing field for everyone involved, and brings them back down to earth, is this unified feeling of committing to what they stand for, whether it’s good or evil. Everyone has found their reason to fight… so now it’s time for the fighting to truly begin.

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