Ok so Rings Of Power Episode 7 has just been released and throughout this article, we’re gonna be breaking it down, pointing out all of the Lord of the rings easter eggs, and giving our review on the episode as a whole. Episode 7 ends with the awakening of a Balrog as well as a 1990s text reveal that confirms The Southlands are now Mordor. The Balrog has the exact same design as it does in the Peter Jackson movies and though there were many designs of them in the source material and lore they’ve leaned into that.
Now it’s said in the original trilogy that the dwarves unearthed the Balrog because they dug too deeply and hastily into the mines when trying to unearth more Mithril. However, Balrogs at beasts have been around for a long time and they ended up joining Melkor in the unrecorded times. They originally lived in Utumno but they ended up fleeing after the Wars for Sake Of The Elves and from here they traveled to Angband where they hibernated until the Years Of The Tree. Anyways let’s get into the episode recap.
Rings Of Power Episode 7 Recap
Now Rings Of Power Episode 7 itself is called The Eye. This has several meanings in Middle Earth but predominantly it’s referring to Saurons Eye which features heavily in the main trilogy. The Eye of Sauron was also a symbol of the character long before he became one and it stood for his piercing gaze and how he looked over everything. An eye was also spotted on the weird group that is stalking the stranger whom we’ll talk more about later on.
The main exhaust point in a Volcano is also referred to as The Eye and we open the episode with a focus on Galadriel. This comes in the aftermath of the Pompei-level explosion from last week that blanketed the land in ash. I was expecting this to kick start a massive battle in which the Orcs and Adar were now freed and the survivors had to fight them off whilst trying to escape.
What we get though is a slower-paced entry with several scenes in which characters just sit and talk to each other. This happens in the case of Galadriel and Theo, Elrond and Durin, Durin and Durin, Disa and Durin, and Nori and her Mother.
Now there are actually way more survivors in this scene than I would’ve thought from a volcanic eruption of this size and the characters all get covered in Ash. Pompei still stands as a monument to how devastating events like this can be but our core cast of characters all survive.
Valandil is pulled out of the fire by Isildur and the character would later go on to name one of his sons the same thing in this show creating a reason for why that’s the case. Isildur ends up getting lost and there’s a scream of his name which sounds similar to how Elrond shouted it in The Fellowship. This would of course also happen in Mordor and from here we cut to a stream. Isildur died in the Fellowship film after jumping into a river and this could be the matching-up shots to foreshadow that.
Harfoots And The New Strangers
Here we join the Harfoots who end up settling on the edge of Mordor. The land has signs of ash in the fruit and there’s also a giant volcanic rock that’s crashed there. Though.I was thinking that The Stranger might end up creating the Shire when they started saying about how long they could last there I don’t think it’s the case. Looking at the map of middle earth this is the complete opposite end to Mordor so either the volcano shot things that far or they’re on the edge of Mordor.
They did travel through marshes that I thought could be the dead marshes and they also end up talking about Greenwood the Great which would go on to become Mirkwood. Therefore I think this is a proto-shire that just shows the Harfoots can settle somewhere instead of having to constantly be on the move.
The New Strangers
After accidentally becoming a peril the stranger ends up leaving and he’s stalked by Feminem who is called The Dweller. Along with them are the Ascetic and also the Nomad. The former means someone who practices discipline with the latter meaning someone who travels from home to home without a permanent place to live. The plate they carried had the stranger’s constellation on the back of it and they clearly possess magical abilities.
I think they’re likely going to be The Stranger’s first major fight so we can see how truly powerful he is. I can imagine that’s the way his storyline wraps up next week with him discovering the constellation on the plate and us potentially getting it confirmed about who he is. It did cross my mind that it might be a misdirect and that they could actually be forces of good that want to find him and teach him things but they set the harfoots home alight so f**k em.
Also nice little line with Largo saying you harm a hair on their foot and later he’s asked to give them a moment to weep similar to what happens with the fellowship after the death of Gandalf. Nori ends up giving him an Apple and this is typically seen as a symbol of knowledge and wisdom. Apples popped up last week with Isildur throwing one away whereas the stranger ends up taking it with him.
Elrond, Durin And Mithril
Cut to Elrond promising to pimp the Dwarf’s caves if they help them get the mithril which King Durin shuts down. Even with Elrond’s pleas about being half-elf and his son’s words he still sees as things dying off as part of the way of the world. King Durin brings up Awle who in the lore created the dwarves. They also created the trees of Valinor and convinced Eru to bring life to the Ents.
He doesn’t want to dig deep to help the elves but he ends up unleashing the Balrog anyway by dropping the leaf into the darkness. The mithril pushes the corruption back on said leaf and therefore I think it’s gonna be used as a way to fight in the future battles against the forces of Sauron.
Mithril was said to be made from light contained in the two trees of Valinor and we of course saw a Balrog fighting over this in episode 5. I love the Dwarves and I think they’re one of the strongest elements of the show with all of them giving really memorable and heartfelt performances.
Disa especially seems to be the heart of their dynamic and after some mother-in-law jokes she gives Durin the nudge to help his friend after seeing what Mithril does. Rather than saying goodbye Elrond says Namarie which means go towards goodness as well as be well.
Miriel Gets Blind
Elsewhere Elendil desperately searched for his son who doesn’t end up turning up at the end. They might even do something where he’s captured by the enemy but Sauron could let him go after realizing he has a path ahead of him that could help out. I also think it’s possible Galadriel and Halbrand save him as they travel off together toward the end of the episode.
Miriel also ends up becoming blind and this will no doubt allow Pharazon to seize power easily due to his being able to manipulate her. Because she’s blind Pharazon can tell her whatever he wants and he could end up playing so this is how he takes over.
Theo and Galadriel wander the Wilderness too and after she gives him her sword the pair discuss Celeborn. Either way, this scene is very reminiscent of when Frodo and the other Hobbits hid under the tree whilst the Ring Wraith Stalked them. Orcs move overhead and the shots are very similar with swords being drawn and the general positioning of the characters.
The Father And Son
Durin and Elrond are caught digging too deep and the way the mithril threads slowly light up is similar to how it happened when Gandalf lit it up in fellowship. Elrond is jazzy jeff’d out of Khazad Dum and King Durin talks to his son about how he was a sickly child but that he saw greatness in him. He talks about seeing the great beard of an old Dwarven King and Dwarves were thought to be reincarnated from their Ancestors.
Durin the third would eventually go on to become Durin the fourth but the show has changed that up for its own mythology to have the two interacting with each other. They both have their own views with the son saying his father is holding him back whilst also wanting him to be a great Dwarf. Very much a comment on father and son relationships that sees Durin the Fourth being stripped of his necklace.
Elendil wrestles with Isildurs horse Beric and he and his son of course had a scene involving it last week. Beric is sent on his way similar to how Bill was sent back home when the Fellowship arrived at Moiria.
Rings Of Power Episode 7 Ending Explained
Anyway, we discover Bronwyn and Arondir are alive along with Halbrand who’s badly injured. Initially, the Numenoreans want to pack us and return home but Galadriel appeals to Miriel and convinces her not to abandon the men to their fate. She rides off in the end back to Numenor to get more forces but I think the Kingdom is gonna be stolen from her upon her return.
I think they should’ve cut the scene at this point but instead, we get a focus on Elendil crying in what’s one of the most jarring moments in the show. I don’t think that my guy is a bad actor and he’s delivered a lot of really good moments but something just felt off about this to me. Obviously, he’s devastated his son might be dead but the moment just kinda loses it a bit due to it feeling almost like an insert shot.
Galadriel initially wants to go to Gil-Galad but she and Halbrand end up riding off in the end with him. After King Durin orders for the mithril hole to be sealed up, he throws the leaf in that shows you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. We end with Adar announcing that the Southlands are no more and close out with a weird stylistic choice. I personally just don’t think that changing the text like this fits in with the style and aesthetic of the show and it felt like something they would do in the 90s.
Rings Of Power Episode 7 Review
It’s an episode that I’m pretty torn on again. It has its high moments but for 70 minutes there’s not really a lot that goes on that feels that important. Much like episode 5, I think you could’ve probably skipped a lot of these scenes and still ended up at the same point for us in the finale.
The show has a habit of doing very little until the last couple of minutes when it teases something big. However, we’ve been through that enough now to the point where it often fails to deliver on it the week after, and because of this, it’s becoming difficult to get excited. Now Amazon has promoted the finale as being something big and I really hope that it is.
I’m really struggling to see where the budget has gone and with each episode costing more to make than Deadpool did I think they’ve wasted a lot of their potential. This is the most expensive tv show of all time and it should really be a spectacle but it feels like not that much really happens and it’s just characters discussing how they feel rather than showing it with their actions.
I do hate saying stuff like this as I know a lot of work will have gone into the show but yeah this was probably my least favorite episode of the entire series. I think the misfires with the crying scene and the text as well just felt like bad ways to put across their point and it just detracted me rather than ramping things up for what could be a big finale.
The show is so poorly paced and looking back I’m thinking there are a lot of weird choices in what they spend their time on. Thinking about it I think episode one would’ve been way more powerful if the entire episode was the opening montage and then we ended with a big gut punch which came with the death of Galadriel’s brother. Instead of focusing on things like that though they gloss over them and instead have episodes like this where they spend ages talking about minor things.
Also Read: Aegon’s Conquest Explained: The New Game Of Thrones Spinoff
