Some of the darker conflicts in The Rings of Power are delivered in "Partings", just when you thought it was about to start moving. This episode is built off of last week's love-ins and hammers home the importance of people going on brave new journeys together with friends and allies. The episode is about finding the strength to move forward into the unknown, and doing it with people you trust.
Ring of Power is a series that is very methodical in taking that step into the unknown, so before everyone knows if they have learned this, they need to be put in. The group is torn between letting the Brandyfoots stay and seeing them cut off from the wolves. He shows a grasp for magic that raises even more questions about his identity when he heals Nori's wounds by freezing his arm. In Nmenor, there are still doubts about Miriel's decision to ally with Galadriel and seek the favor of the Elves.
Everything is not going well in the south. The Sauron-worshipping oldie who tried to get Theo to side with him last week managed to get half of the refugees to join him. Elrond discovers that the plight of the Eldar might be much, much more dire than he could have known after Gil-Galad hosted Durin.
There is a bit of shit hitting the fan across Arda. An Elven fable tells of a battle between an Eldar and a Balrog in the first war that combined their light and dark into a single entity. He has to break his friendship with Durin in order to reveal Mithril's secrets to the High King in order to get the help of Valinor. Galadriel is also haunted by the shadows of her past, when doubts begin to undermine Miriel's clarity on taking the fight to the Southlands. She's hiding the fact that Halbrand doesn't want to do anything for her because he doesn't want to tell him anything
It isn't like people haven't learned the lessons they encountered in the series so far, it's more about people challenging themselves to take those lessons to heart, and in doing so open themselves up to a chance to heal A tense argument between Halbrand and Galadriel the night before the fleet is set to depart Nmenor shows the true pain of her war against Sauron, a desire to prove to her people and the people she loves most that she has. Elrond has to decide if he should be honest with Durin or if he should watch his entire species die.
These two friends could possibly turn the tide from darkness to light. Halbrand and Galadriel came together on their own terms, and he chose to fight with the Nmenoreans. Durin and Elrond trust each other so much that they decide to work together to get the Mithril to the rest of the Elves. As Adar's forces are strengthened by the faltering hearts of humankind, Arondir and Bronwyn prepare to find away to survive the seemingly impossible odds they face together.
In challenging those messages with the direst stakes for our heroes so far, the series is setting the stage for things to really pop off, and as battle lines are drawn, to get out.
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