What’s up, guys, we got two episodes as the premiere, so you get to hear from an even more sleep-deprived me as we break down the Rings of Power episode titled “Adrift”. In this episode, we have the series opening, which I honestly had forgotten about a bit. And it’s fine. I think the title reveal was actually way better than this. It kind of follows the fantasy trope of following small things around and gradually revealing bigger things. It seems we have grains of sand in the intro, which first form what looks like 9 rings – possibly alluding to the nine rings of men.
The next distinguishable image is two trees, which I believe symbolize the white tree of Nimloth in Numenor, as we notice the similarities between this and the later Gondorian symbol. I didn’t recognize any of the other symbols, but the next notable thing we have are black grains of sand moving into the image. Which looks to be a mountain – maybe Mount Meneltarma in Numenor, and when we get the title, the three circles might represent the three elven rings, but I really don’t know. Anyways let’s begin with The Rings Of Power Episode 2 Recap.
The Rings Of Power Episode 2 Recap
We open with Galadriel, who is in the middle of the Sundering Sea and decides just to keep swimming. And right away, we’re off to Nori and Meteor Man. Poppy shows up, and Nori falls into the crater, and her hand lands right in some of the coals, but she notes that it’s not hot. Meteor Man wakes up and grabs Nori’s hand, and we see the rocks rise and swirl around them. The fire retreats seemingly into the stranger himself, and last of all, we see the flames reflected in his eyes. He passes out, and all the flames return around the crater.
We catch up with the other harfoots who are freaked out by the crash, and Nori and Poppy start pushing the Stranger in a cart, and after almost losing him, they set up camp for him beneath some trees. And Nori starts talking about how she feels like she’s meant to help him and needs to make sure he’s safe. Nice transition to Arondir and Bronwyn in the remains of the village, and they notice there are no bodies or wounded. They then realize there’s a tunnel going beneath the town, and Arondir resolves to follow the passage back to its source, while Bronywn goes back to Tirharad to warn her people. Cut to the glorious realm of Eregion.
This specifically looks to be the capital of Ost-in-Edhil, home of Celebrimbor’s gwaith-i-mirdain – the famed jewel-smiths of Eregion. And right off the bat, we get a shot and story of Feanor’s hammer. Elrond talks about it being the tool that wrought the Silmarils and how it brought about so much beauty and so much pain. He answers Elrond, saying, “true creation requires sacrifice”. Celebrimbor goes on to tell a rumored story that Morgoth, after stealing the silmarils, stared into their depths for weeks. And when his tear fell upon the silmarils, he was faced with the evil of his own reflection and never looked into them again. Celebrimbor declares that the beauty of Feanor’s work nearly turned the heart of the Great Foe himself.
Elrond And Celebrimbor Goes To Ask For Dwarf’s Help
Celebrimbor then reflects, wondering what has his work ever accomplished. And while Elrond says it has turned his heart and the hearts of many elves, Celebrimbor says he aspires to do far more than that. He wishes to fill the world with beauty and devise something of real power. He reveals to Elrond that his plan is to build a tower housing a great forge that could burn as hot as a dragon’s tongue and as pure
as starlight. The catch here is that he needs it completed by spring, which Elrond says would require a workforce greater than any assembled. Celebrimbor responds that Gil-galad couldn’t provide one, so he sent Elrond instead. Elrond comes up with the idea that clearly involves using the dwarves. Another glorious map shot, and we are outside the realm of Khazad-dum.
We find that Celebrimbor has great admiration for the dwarves. Elrond expects a welcome and gets the Jabba’s palace treatment, so he walks up to the door and invokes the right of Sigin Tarag. And as Elrond heads in and Bear McCreary’s awesome Khazad-dum track kicks in, we bid farewell to Celebrimbor. And here we experience the splendor of Khazad-dum Khazad-dum looks phenomenal in this show. Elrond enters a chamber, and following him is Durin IV, whom Elrond begins to greet warmly, only to have Durin keep referring to him as “the elf”. We get a rundown of Sigin Tarag – if Durin wins, Elrond is banished from all dwarven lands forever, and if Elrond wins, he gets a single boon or favor from Durin. The contest involves the two alternating breaking rocks. The first one to give in loses.
Also Read: The Rings Of Power Episode 1 Recap: The Introduction Of Something Great
Stranger Doing Strange Things
We cut to Nori going to check on the Stranger, and we find him writing on a stone. There’s some whispering going on, and while I initially thought it was a creepy effect like the one ring, I think it might be the stranger murmuring to himself. Nori says hello, and Meteor Man returns the favor by going all Gandalf in Bag End on her, with the trees bending over, the wind whipping around, and everything going darker. As far as what he’s drawing, we learn later that they’re constellations. The Stranger chills out, and he and Nori share some delicious snails. Back at Harfoot Headquarters, Nori’s father, Largo, breaks his ankle trying to put up a tent while Meteor Man starts drawing in the dirt.
Halfway through the episode and we check back in with Galadriel, who is splashing about in the sea. She comes across some shipwrecked men and hides her pointy ears under her hair to hide that she’s an elf. The humans debate whether to bring her on, and when they do, Galadriel discovers they’ve been attacked by what they call “the worm”. They reveal Galadriel’s ears, and the worm makes an appearance. Now fun fact – Tolkien also referred to his sea-serpents as fish-dragons. So the fish-dragon wrecks the raft, and Galadriel and Halbrand end up stranded on a smaller portion of the raft. A quick note, we get a quick shot of Halbrand separating his portion of the raft from the others, which points to him totally ditching everyone else to save his own skin – and Galadriel calls him out for it later.
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Durin Is Unhappy With Elrond
Back to the rock smashing, where Elrond breaks his axe and finally forfeits. Durin agrees to see Elrond to the exit, and they take a lift where we find out why Durin is mad at Elrond. Elrond hasn’t been around in 20 years, and in that time, Durin has gotten married and had two children. It is honestly one of the most moving scenes in the show, and I think the Durin-Elrond storyline, in general is one of the bigger favorites so far. Granted, as Durin points out, a lot has happened in that 20 years, and he’s clearly hurt and missing his buddy. Elrond apologizes and wishes to apologize to Durin’s family, which kicks off one of the more humorous scenes in the show.
In Durin’s home, we meet his wife, Disa, who insists on Elrond staying for dinner. And I really enjoy the interplay between these three characters in this scene. But first, we see the Durin and Disa’s children – Gerda and Gamli playing with giant head statues. Elrond sits down to dinner, where Disa explains their tradition of singing to the stone to determine where to dig and where not to dig – perhaps a bit of foreshadowing of them not making their best judgment in where not to dig.
Durin continues to be really harsh toward Elrond, which leads Disa to exclaim Aule’s beard, which totally made me think of Merlin’s beard from Harry Potter. Elrond points out that Durin planted the seedling from the great tree in Lindon, and Disa points out that Durin cares for it like it’s their third child. Elrond mentions the tree in Lindon is a sign of their people’s strength and vitality – which again doesn’t bode well for what Gil-galad saw in episode 1. Elrond makes to leave for overstaying his welcome, and Durin changes his mind and says he can stay.
Next, Durin meets with his father, Durin III. Durin III is mistrusting of Elrond coming to Khazad-dum, while Durin IV says he’s known Elrond for 50 years and would know if something was off. Durin III is clearly not very trusting of elves and seems very secretive about their recent discovery, which I’m certain will be revealed next week to be Mithril. Celebrimbor and Narvi create the Doors of Durin, and if the dwarves just now discover mithril, it checks out that the doors wouldn’t exist yet. For Celebrimbor uses mithril to invent Ithildin – the material that reflects starlight and moonlight and is used on the doors.
Orcs Are Still Present
We go back to Galadriel and Halbrand, and we catch a glimpse of a pouch around Halbrand’s neck with a mysterious symbol on it. Galadriel and Halbrand go back and forth about elves, and Halbrand reveal orcs drove him from his homeland. Galadriel seems to think the symbol on Halbrand’s pouch could be the mark of his people’s king, and Halbrand says they have no king. Galadriel wants to know where these orcs were and where Halbrand was from, and he says he has his own plans, and we see a storm brewing on the horizon.
Bronywn is heading back home, and we see a couple of monuments Bronwyn tries to warn everyone, but they’re not having it, and Theo smashes in a hole in the floor, thinking it’s the mice he referred to in episode 1 – turns out it’s actually an orc. Cut to Arondir following the tunnel, and he finds a long orc nail in the wall, silence of the lambs style. He realizes there are orcs coming from two directions, so he tries to make an escape in one of the more tense scenes we’ve had in the show.
Arondir surfaces out of some underground water and gets snatched by hands from the darkness. In the trailers, I thought these were ent hands, but seeing this in context, they’re definitely orcs. Bronwyn returns home to find Theo hiding and an orc returning. She starts to leave to get help but has a moment of decision, and I like that she decides to stay. And now we have another delightfully creepy scene with our first up-close interaction with orcs in this new interpretation of Middle-earth. Theo and Bronwyn get some mother-son bonding by teaming up to take down an orc, and Bronwyn delivers the head to the villagers to say let’s get out of Dodge.
Another Stranger, Friend, Or Enemy?
We go back to Galadriel and Halbrand in the storm, where Galadriel is pulled underwater after tying herself to the raft. Halbrand dives in after her and, using her two trees dagger, cuts her free and saves her. Nori and Poppy return to the Stranger, who looks super creepily at them. He then bursts open Poppy’s lantern releasing the fireflies. The stranger says something to the fireflies, and they start to make some kind of constellation. Nori deciphers that they’re stars and that he presumably needs to find the land where those constellations appear – somewhere else in Middle-earth. Things take a dark turn when all the fireflies drop out of the air and die, and the stranger looks distraught.
Next, we see Theo as the townsfolk are leaving, and he grabs the shard once again. This time, blood trickles up his hand from a wound onto the sword, which begins to reform in his hand. While it’s a bit fierier, it still has a bit of a reverse morgul blade effect to me, so I’m sticking with my theory that it’s connected to experiments with the unseen world. We close with Galadriel and Halbrand on the raft at sea and the shadow of a figure on a boat. This is sure to be Elendil, another one of the characters I’m most looking forward to in this series.
Presumably, this means in episode 3, we’ll be heading to Numenor, and like Khazad-dum, I’ve thus far loved the music and the visuals of the island realm, so I’m excited to see it. All right, so 2 episodes down, what are you guys thinking about the show? Who do you think The Stranger is, and do you think Halbrand could be Theo’s father? Halbrand says he has driven away from his home, and last episode, we were told Theo’s dad left. If Halbrand is indeed Sauron, the idea of him having a kid is pretty bizarre, so I certainly hope that isn’t the case, but I think if Halbrand turns into the Witch-king it could create some interesting dynamics.
Also Read: Watch The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power: Streaming Guide
