The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 7
The most common storytelling structures for novels and films feature a moment of crisis before the hero works out how to get themselves through the climax and reach the story’s resolution. It’s often an “all is lost’”moment when it seems like the hero has completely failed. Think Mathesar being tortured in Galaxy Quest, Khan setting off the Genesis Device in The Wrath of Khan, or the disappearance of Fantasia in The NeverEnding Story. That’s what this episode is. Having worked up to a major development in the action in the previous episode, “The Eye” takes a breather before the season finale to present a dark night of the soul for all our major characters. The Númenoreans and the Southlanders are counting their losses after the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Doom; Durin and Elrond is facing Durin III’s (well-founded) opposition to his plan to save the Elves by mining mithril; and the Harfoots have exiled the Stranger/Probably-Gandalf from their group and had all their belongings destroyed by our new, silent character, the Dweller, who is probably Sauron. The pace has definitely picked up as we make our way into the last couple of episodes of the season. The consequences of the eruption of Mount Doom are serious – Míriel is blind and the Southlands have been destroyed. Elsewhere, Durin and Elrond’s attempts to save the Elves have awoken a Balrog and the Harfoots seem doomed to starve. After a first half of the season that really dragged, as we head towards the first season finale, the plot is racing to make up for that. That said, the closest we’ve come to seeing an actual ring on the show is still the one Harfoot Sadoc Burrows wears around his neck, not unlike the way Frodo would eventually wear the One Ring. Maybe next week. Thank goodness we still have Disa and Durin, who manage to combine humor and seriousness in a more effective way than any other characters on the show. Their storyline progresses the least in this episode, but it does culminate in a really chilling image. The shot of the Balrog awakening is the best use the series has yet made of nostalgia for the Peter Jackson movies or references to The Lord of the Rings in general. It also works especially well because even if you aren’t familiar with The Lord of the Rings, it’s a scary image. We have a strong sense from Durin III of how risky it is to mine so deep, and we know there might be a Balrog down there from Gil-galad’s story in episode 5. It’s a shame the episode didn’t finish on that image – seeing the phrase “The Southlands” fade into “Mordor” is a fun idea and nicely done, but we’ve all known that the Southlands were going to become Mordor for weeks, so it’s not quite as exciting as seeing a Balrog stir into action. The Harfoots storyline has a distinct advantage over the others when it comes to the prequel-problem because all those characters are new. We don’t know for certain exactly who the Stranger is, but even assuming he is a character we’ll see again in a later incarnation, all the rest of the Harfoots are unknown in Tolkien’s lore and we genuinely don’t know what might happen to any of them, which means any time any Harfoot is in danger, it’s that much more uncertain and exciting for the audience. The Harfoots themselves are becoming more rounded and relatable characters as well. There are some inconsistencies in how they have been portrayed across the series. Largo’s speech about staying true to each other is very nice, for example, but isn’t reflected in the Harfoots’ attitudes as seen in previous episodes. These are people who will leave a friend to die if they break their ankle! But we see them work towards helping their friends a bit more in this episode, and they also give us our latest Middle-earth twist on a common saying – Largo threatens anyone who would “harm a hair on her foot” instead of “her head,” because Harfoots, like Hobbits, have hairy feet. It’s a nice touch. Although the big questions are still unanswered, we are starting to get answers to some of the smaller ones – most importantly for book fans, just what is going on with Galadriel and Celeborn, her husband? In the books, Galadriel and Celeborn are already married at this point, but living separately. In the show, Galadriel seems to believe that Celeborn is dead, describing him as “lost” and talking about the last time she saw him, when he was going off to war in badly-fitting armor. Again, we know he is alive, but the fact that Galadriel thinks he is dead may be significant in season 2. This episode introduces a new bit of potential speculation as well – who is Theo? Galadriel gives him an Elvish sword. No human characters carrying Elvish swords that we haven’t already met from Tolkien’s lore spring to mind, so perhaps he is an entirely new character. In Tolkien’s lore, Isildur had a brother called Anárion who hasn’t appeared in the series. It’s most likely his role will go to Isildur’s newly invented sister Eärien, but it’s always possible Theo will join Elendil as a sort of adopted son at some point and take on the role instead, though that would make Anárion not a Númenorean, which would be a significant departure from Tolkien’s mythology.
