True creation requires sacrifice. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 wrapped up on October 3rd, just a little over a month after its August 29th premiere. The second season picks up directly after the conclusion of the first, continuing the story of our second age heroes of Middle Earth and, of course, Sauron. The second season kicked the series into high gear with the anticipated forging of the Rings of Power. While the Rings of Power may be the main focus of the season, more than several storylines are at work this season. Let’s take a look at what our heroes and villains of Middle Earth have been up to as I share my thoughts on the new season now streaming on Prime Video.
[Warning: Spoilers for season 2 of The Rings of Power discussed below!]
Sauron and Celebrimbor are the highlight of The Rings of Power season 2
The highlight of this new season, with little doubt, goes to Charlie Vickers as Sauron/Annatar. His performance, along with Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, are highlights of each episode they appear in throughout the season. As mentioned in my social media review, after revealing that Halbrand is Sauron at the end of season 1, Charlie Vickers is in full-blown Sauron mode throughout the course of the second season.
Each scene with Annatar exhibits how terrifyingly brilliant it is to see Sauron’s deception and deceit portrayed on screen. The introduction of Sauron’s Annatar form in episode 2 (titled “Where the Stars are Strange”) is wonderfully done and sincerely felt faithful to how it was envisioned in the source material. As many Tolkien fans know, Annatar’s appearance and influence over this season is paramount to the success of the series.
Episode 1 (“Elven Kings Under the Sky”), surprisingly, delivers a twenty-minute cold open that portrays the backstory of Sauron at the dawn of the Second Age. Sauron’s cold open ends up as one of the more pivotal sequences in the series so far, showcasing the original strife between Sauron and Adar, displaying how the events of the series were set in motion.
Another shocker is the portrayal of Sauron by a different actor. The brilliant Jack Lowden delivers a near perfect portrayal of Sauron. Hearing Sauron gloriously decreeing “I am your only future!” to the legion of orcs while his black veins bulge with anger feels entirely in line with the character. A giant tip of the cap to Jack Lowden and his performance with such limited screen time. The series should look to include more scenes that capture the essence of this flashback.
Episodes 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and even 8 all feature immediate standout moments featuring Annatar and Celebrimbor’s partnership. The forging of the Rings of Power is one of the most critical and crucial storylines to capture in this series, and this season manages to deliver on it. As the second season plays on, Annatar’s deception over not only Celebrimbor, but all of Eregion grows further and becomes increasingly more convincing. While Annatar’s deception felt a little forced in terms of dialogue early in the season, many of those issues were smoothed out in the writing of the second half of the season.
Episode 7 (“Doomed to Die”), in particular, delivers the most well-written dialogue between Annatar and Celebrimbor. While we know the forging of the Rings of Power is certainly important, the downfall and demise of Lord Celebrimbor is also not to be forgotten. The show thankfully provides ample time to portray the demise of Celebrimbor through episodes 6, 7 and eventually episode 8, where Celebrimbor meets his end at the hands of Sauron. While the infamous bannering of Celebrimbor’s body doesn’t occur in the way fans hoped for, the writing of the character’s demise is nonetheless still sufficiently well done.
Galadriel and Elrond are at odds in the second season
Moving from the darkness to the light, season two adequately builds upon the relationships and foundations built in Lindon and the elves of the Noldor. Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo), as expected, are central figures this season, and Benjamin Walker’s High King Gil-Galad gets a nice boost in screen time as well. While Sauron is the main character of the series, both Galadriel and Elrond are established as the true female and male protagonists of the series this season.
The first half of the season revolves around the arrival of the three elven rings and the restoration of the elven kingdoms. The strained friendship of Galadriel and Elrond also takes center stage early on in the season. Elrond’s strife with Galadriel, understandably, comes from his distrust of the three elven rings and Galadriel’s dishonesty about Halbrand being Sauron. The first episode closes out with a beautiful sequence involving Galadriel, Gil-Galad, and Cirdan becoming the three elven ring bearers. Bear McCreary delivers undoubtedly his best musical score of the series throughout this sequence, as a beautiful choir captures the true essence of Elven beauty and light.
While Elrond’s strife with Galadriel does seem to drag on a bit too long, the conflict is an important reminder to the audience that these elven rings could have been dangerous for the elves, even if Sauron truly has no influence over them. The untapped power of the ring is again showcased via visions of events that have not yet come to pass for both Galadriel and Gil-Galad, proving how unpredictable these rings could be. At the end of the season, Elrond finally gives in and embraces the rings in order to save Galadriel’s life, ultimately proving that the rings will not harm the elves. Again, while the strife over the three elven rings was necessary, it likely should have ended before the eighth episode of the season.
The Dwarves of Khazad-Dum continue to be the heart and soul of the series
In terms of the Dwarves this season, episodes 3, 5, and 6 are the clearest highlights. Each delivers some of the richest storytelling throughout the series thus far for the residents of Khazad-Dum. The Dwarves as characters are easy to appreciate and love, as both Owain Arthur) and Sophia Nomvete portray Prince Durin and Princess Disa with a beaming ray of heart and humor. While the prince and princess of Khazad-Dum are endearing, it’s Peter Mullan as King Durin III who delivers a brilliant display of regalness and stoicism as the King of Khazad-Dum.
Mullan’s performance as King Durin III sneaks by as one of the more underrated performances of the season. King Durin III is the first character in the series that we see somewhat affected by the power of the rings. To clarify, in Tolkien’s legendarium the dwarves never truly succumb to the power of the ring itself, the ring more so amplifies their hunger and greed for gold and riches.
King Durin’s greed ends up as his own undoing, as the opening of the finale features the end of King Durin at the hands of a Balrog that will come to be known as Durin’s Bane. The eventual resolve of King Durin relinquishing his ring and handing over the kingdom to his son Prince Durin before meeting his end is a bittersweet but fitting end to this season’s plotline for the Dwarves.
Numenor establishes its own story without Galadriel and Sauron
Numenor’s plot certainly flies a bit under the radar this season and never feels as pivotal as some of the other storylines. Part of that is simply due to Numenor having to establish its own contained story without the help of both Galadriel and Sauron to provide a boost in attention. What can be said is Lloyd Owen is a standout, and it is enjoyable to see the arc his character seems to be taking throughout the series. Cynthia Addai-Robinson’s portrayal of Miriel and her stalwart faith in Numenor is also admirable, even though her character certainly suffers some of the heaviest burdens this season.
Perhaps the most interesting development for Numenor this season is Pharazon’s (Trystan Gravelle) quick ascension to the throne of Numenor. Some with knowledge of the tale of Numenor might have expected this development to come a little bit later in the season, or perhaps in The Rings of Power season 3. Pharazon essentially overthrows Miriel as Regent in the first episode the Numenor plotline begins, in the third episode.
The future of Numenor’s story will be interesting to witness, lore experts certainly know what to expect from the island kingdom in the future. The long-awaited reveal of Narsil is a sweet little scene that mirrors Aragorn receiving the reforged blade Anduril from Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. With Elendil eventually fleeing the capital of Numenor to find his son Anarion, it’ll be interesting to see if Numenor’s plot is perhaps split in two next seasons.
The Stranger’s identity is finally revealed, while Nori and Poppy adventure through Rhun
That’s right, The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) is indeed the servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor, also known as Gandalf. Gandalf realizes his true name after locating his infamous staff in the season finale. While it’s been no surprise since the season one finale, it certainly will be a shock for some fans to see an actor other than Sir Ian Mckellen playing Gandalf. For any fan of Middle Earth, it’s going to take some time and adjustment to fully accept Daniel Weyman as the Grey Pilgrim. The decision to officially include Gandalf is likely to cause an even further rift in the fandom as well.
Our fan favorite Istar spends most of the season accompanied by another infamous character from Tolkien’s Legendarium known as Tom Bombadill (Rory Kinnear). Tom Bombadill’s inclusion is certainly another surprise for fans after his appearance was left out of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Does the inclusion of Old Tom work, though? For the most part, it does. Tom Bombadill may be a bit more rough around the edges than he is in the book, but we still get the classic songs and humor along with some more serious wisdom from the character.
The season 2 finale also reveals that the Dark Wizard (Ciaran Hinds) is indeed an Istar as well. The Dark Wizard mentioning that “Manwe promised you would come” to Gandalf is a hint that this character could indeed be Saruman, another infamous Tolkien character. It makes sense if Manwe were to inform any Istar of Gandalf’s coming, it would be Saruman, given that he was appointed head of the Istari order by Manwe himself.
While Gandalf and Saruman never actually had any conflict in the east, a theory can be hatched from this development that the writers are actually adapting the story of the Blue Wizards. Using Gandalf and potentially Saruman in place of the Blue Wizards would certainly be a choice, but it all depends on what material the writers have at their availability to work with. Time will tell whether this show has been given the rights to the Istari chapter of the Unfinished Tales, as some fans have theorized already.
Outside of all things Istar related, we find Nori and Poppy on their own little adventure this season. The pair of Harfoots find themselves in a Stoor encampment. Poppy is given some nice little character development, as she develops a relationship with the newcomer Stoor Merrimac (Gavi Singh Chera), meanwhile Nori learns of a place called The Suzat. Many fans have discovered that the word Suzat actually means Shire in the common language spoken in Middle Earth. It’s safe to say in the third season we’ll see the Harfoots and the Stoors continue their journey together to locate The Shire.
Pelargir’s storyline is the thinnest plot of The Rings of Power season 2
Not much needs to be said about the Pelargir plot this season, as it features likely the thinnest storyline of the show so far, unfortunately. The one shining area in this storyline is Isildur and the show’s effort to increase his screen time and importance. The relationship and bond between Isildur (Maxim Baldry) and Estrid (Nia Towle) is endearing as well. Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) is sidelined a bit for a majority of this season, unfortunately, along with Theo(Tyroe Muhafidin) and the rest of the Southlanders.
Nazanin Boniadi’s unexpected exit from the series left the Southlander plot in a state of limbo, and the effects of that are felt this season. Most of the time we spend in Pelargir revolves around Isildur, Estrid, and Arondir searching for Theo. It’s eventually revealed that Theo was taken by a pair of Ents, one of which is voiced to perfection by the great Jim Broadbent.
The resolution of the Pelargir storyline sees Arondir departing from Theo in episode four to follow Adar’s army and eventually join in the fight at the Siege of Eregion. Isildur also ends up returning to Numenor without Estrid, as Kemen deems there be “no passage for low men” on the ships back to the island kingdom. It’s safe to say Isildur will make his way back to Middle Earth eventually and the relationship between him and Estrid will be reignited.
The Rings of Power season 2 delivers an epic large-scale battle with The Siege of Eregion
The long-awaited Siege of Eregion sees a good portion of the season’s plot lines converge and culminate in a huge two-episode battle. Seen are the likes of Sauron, Celebrimbor, Galadriel, Elrond, Adar, Arondir, Gil-Galad, and the dwarves. Ultimately, the battle concludes with the defeat of the elves, the fall of Eregion, and the death of Celebrimbor and Adar at the hands of Sauron and the orcs.
While the battle is an epic and massive spectacle, there are a few missteps throughout. The halting of the charge of Elrond’s army was a disappointment, and essentially pulled the rug out from under the pacing of the battle for a solid ten minutes. Not following through with the charge felt as though it may have been a budgeting issue, as following through with such a moment would certainly cost a pretty penny in the VFX and practical departments. Using Galadriel to prevent the charge may have been a way for the show to feature an epic Lord of the Rings scale charge without using too much of the episode’s budget on charging through a massive legion of orcs.
The rest of the battle and siege occurs throughout episode seven and most of episode eight. As mentioned previously, the conflict between Celebrimbor and Sauron throughout the duration of the siege is the highlight of the final two episodes. Elrond is the true hero of the battle, as he leads the elven legion as commander in defense of Eregion. Some fans may have expected a bit more of Gil-Galad in battle, but giving Elrond his time to shine as commander also made sense for the direction of the show. Gil-Galad’s time to shine as commander will come later in the series.
Arondir also joins the fight late and is given a really brief and final confrontation with Adar that felt a bit intentionally underwhelming. A good portion of Arondir’s plot line this season involved his unfinished business with Adar. The message behind the quick ending to the confrontation between Adar and Arondir may have been a subliminal message to the viewers to not let your vendettas control your life.
The confrontation between Galadriel and Sauron in the season finale (“Shadow and Flame”) is an enjoyable final showdown, though. This comes directly after the orcs turn their allegiances against Adar, murdering him and pledging allegiance to Sauron. While it’s fulfilling to see Galadriel and Sauron share the screen after a full season apart, some of the dialogue does come off a bit wonky at times.
In the final moment of the confrontation, as Galadriel is about to fall off the cliff to protect her ring, Nenya, she says to Sauron “You wish to heal all of Middle Earth…heal yourself”. While this is merely an opinion, the line certainly does not land as well as it was likely intended. Beyond some of the mixed dialogue, the confrontation between Galadriel and Sauron nicely wraps up the season and pushes forward the narrative for the expected third season.
Final thoughts on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2
Overall, season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a grand step up from the first season in scope and storytelling. Most of the issues with the first season likely revolve around how much serious foundational work there was to be done before the series could truly get going. The second season has been clear for lift off from the get-go and delivers a season full of action packed moments. Charlie Vickers once again establishes himself as a brilliant performer and a true highlight for fans as Sauron.
While general audiences may still be mixed on the series, it is truly a gift to see Tolkien’s second age come to life. The third season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power should be highly anticipated amongst the fandom after a definitively strong second outing.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video. Did you enjoy this season? Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus.
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