The Lord of the Rings is a story about disparate societies coming together in the name of good. It is an idea key to the fabric of the narrative and so it makes sense that Rings of Power is making it key to its own story as well.
The third episode of The Rings of Power feels very much in step with its premiere last week in that it shares a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses. We are whisked away to the island of Nmenor with Galadriel and Halbrand in tow. The series is slow as it has to balance this and many slow motion shots of everything from vistas to Galadriel riding a horse as if to remind us to look at its excess as much and as often as possible.
There is some progress made, and with it comes more of the promise that Rings of Power has. Although the episode is named for the mysterious Orcish master that Arondir and his fellow elves, and the humans of the Southlands, have been captured in the name of, its focus is mostly on Galadriel and Halbrand as they find themselves saved by a N Halbrand might be a human, but he has never considered what an advanced human society such as Nmenor would look like in his life. Galadriel knows the history of how Nmenor came to be, but she also knows that with the passage of that history there has come change, and Nmenor is no longer a representation.
The duo gets an icy welcome from Queen Regent Mriel and Pharazn. The Last King of Nmenor and the architect of the island's ruin are both mentioned in Rings of Power. There is a focus on the distrust between Elves and Nmenoreans in the here and now. This distrust is nothing new in fantasy, and it is an interesting mirror to focus on as the rest of the episode deals with people trying to find the strength to look past differences and face the hardship at hand. Galadriel is laser focused on getting back to Middle-earth as quickly as possible and ignores the Nmenoreans. Mriel and the rest of the Nmenoreans can't see past their past with the Elves because of dire portents from her family.
In the episode, we can see the seeds of that distrust. Arondir and his fellow watchtower guards, including his captain, who had previously dismissed the humans they watched over as still feeling the effects of Morgoth's influence, now find themselves isolated and in dire stakes. When Nori accidentally stumbles into their pre-migratory remembrance of the nomadic haflings left behind, the distrusting Sadoc caused Nori's family to be consigned to obscurity.
This is a story about the people who choose to look past their differences and work together. By learning to trust the seaguard captain who rescued her in the first place, who it turns out is Elendil, a former noble who was put into military service by Mriel. He helps her uncover the information she needs to not only figure out the Dark Lord's real plans, but also uncover historical records that reveal that Halbrand himself has a noble line.
She made a friend in Elendil after largely distrusting the man. When the Stranger comes to their aid to push the family homestead, Nori is rewarded for her kindness because they won't be left out. Arondir gets punished for trusting someone when the Elves' plan to escape Orc capture fails, but he doesn't see the rewards of it. Arondir was dragged in to the Orc's master, Adar, who some have speculated could be Sauron himself.
Sauron still has a physical form at this point in the Second Age, and that he can change form at some point in the future, as long as he pretends to be a Valar emissary. Rings of Power may play its biggest card yet. No matter how Sauron-esque the armor was at the end of the show, it seems unlikely. Whatever Adar turns out to be, we know they have big, evil plans for the Southlands, and that Arondir is going to need to learn a lesson from his distant other heroes.
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