Thoughts on Rings of Power – S2E01 and S2E02

It’s that time of the year when I give you my (possibly rambling) thoughts on Season 2 of Rings of Power. I did it for season 1, albeit in a more timely manner, but hopefully by the time episode 8 airs I will have caught up.

To give a fair warning, I’m not analysing the episodes from a lore perspective, because (insert shocked Pikachu) I’m not a lore specialist. No, I can’t name all seven sons of Fëanor (knowing there are seven of them and most of their names start with an F feels enough).

Like in 2022, I watched the first episodes in Oxford during the yearly convention of the Tolkien Society, Oxonmoot. That meant a big screen and friendly company, which is the best way to enjoy it. I was actually looking forward to the circumstances of the screening more than the episodes themselves. Two years after season 1, I was still annoyed at the reveal that Halbrand was Sauron, and still confused about some lines of dialogue, or the absence thereof, which have huge consequences for the rest of the plot. The first one that comes to my mind is Galadriel beating about the bush and not saying outright that Halbrand is Sauron when she understood that. She just told Celebrimbor that they mustn’t treat with him again, but if she had simply said who he was, none of season 2 would have happened in the same way. And of course that comes back to having Celebrimbor forging the Elven rings in the first place, which threw the whole plot out of balance. That being said, I was mildly satisfied with how they managed to introduce Sauron back in Eregion in episode 2 & 3, before they ruined things again for me in episode 5. But more on that later.

As this article kept growing longer and longer, I decided to skip the parts where I don’t have anything notable to say.

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Episode 1

Sauron

The opening sequence of season 2, episode 1 felt a little flat for me. However good Jack Lowden is, his Sauron didn’t feel grand and threatening enough for me, more like a precious dandy. I did appreciate that the scene explained how Adar came to say that he killed Sauron, and I wasn’t against the nod to Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke in the wriggling floppy mass that Sauron is before he takes shape again. He did lack poise and grace when he flopped down the mountain. That caused quite a general laughter in the amphitheatre where the episode was screened, which I assume wasn’t the expected reaction to it.

The rest of this sequence, showing how Halbrand came to be on the raft meeting Galadriel, was satisfying.

Lindon

We are then treated to a rather cinematic sequence in which Galadriel is chasing Elrond on horseback. I loved the aesthetics of this scene, however one thing irked me quite badly. While we are treated to Elrond’s gorgeously frayed and weathered cloak, Galadriel’s one seems to have come right out of an Amazon delivery. The fabric looks too new for someone who spends quite some time on horseback. Upon rewatch, I did notice the golden leafy pattern at the bottom, but the overall look felt a little cheap compared to the lovely work on Elrond’s outfit (except the clasp. The clasp is lovely).

To come back to the plot, Gil-Galad (hi King !) thankfully addressed the most pressing matter right from the start: Galadriel’s holding back Sauron’s name. It really made no sense to me and it made the end of season 1 and what I’ve seen of season 2 so far (5 episodes) quite awkward. On the whole, I feel like Galadriel has a lot less agency in this second season, which I’m sorry about. Even if we overlook how the other characters treat her (which is a problem in its own right), she is much more passive in those first episodes and I miss her hot-headedness from season 1.

Then Gil-Galad turns the conversation to the Rings, and treats us with a grunt that was subtitled “[exclaims in Sindarin]” and had the audience roaring with laughter. In fact, Tolkien linguist Andrew Higgins confirmed later that this “garch” (or something close) appears in Tolkien’s writing and is the equivalent of a swear word.

Then, Elrond shows himself to be the concerned, kind cinnamon roll that he is (in this house we worship Elrond’s character writing in RoP) and jumps from the cliff to remove the Rings from Elven grasp.

Mordor

The following scene in Mordor is quite satisfying, and explains that passage in Season 1 when Halbrand held Adar at the tip of his spear and asked him if Adar remembered him, although at the time we were led to think Adar had done harm to Halbrand’s loved ones. This is a rather rare occurrence of Sauron lying fully to the person he’s talking to, whereas what I enjoy about him (yes, I do enjoy some aspects of his character) is that he usually tells the truth, even though his audience interprets it incorrectly.

Rhûn

I don’t have much to say about the Stranger-and-Harfoots segment. They’re cute, but I’m not heavily invested in them. I appreciate that they bring a balance in the episode between two heavier scenes narrative-wise. Nori trying to find a name for Stranger was fun, knowing how names are massively important to Tolkien.

One thing I’m not so fond of is the direct quotes from one work to the next (between RoP and Peter Jackson’s LotR) or from one character to the next. Here, Nori saying “we’re going in circles” immediately brought to mind Sam in The Two Towers. I’ll grant you that there isn’t a ton of ways to say that differently, but this type of quotations takes me out of the story.

Later, when Nori and the Stranger are reunited with Poppy, I started to have a rather sad thought: that she was brought back in the plot only to be sacrificed later as a means to further Nori’s plotline. This feeling is confirmed by a scene in episode 5 I won’t spoil for now (other than it involves a likeable secondary character who meets an unfortunate end to make another character even more despicable).

The Grey Havens

And now it’s time to discover a new location! We are taken to the Grey Havens in Lindon, home of Círdan the shipwright. The overall look of the settlement is lovely and feels very peaceful. The buildings do look like they’re not enough to house all the people working there, though, but that’s a similar problem to the Pelennor Fields not being actual fields. I’m still waiting for a fantasy movie or TV show integrating all aspects of daily life (how people feed and clothe themselves, mainly) into the decors.

That being said, I loved the sense of quiet from the scenes on the Grey Havens and the gentle meditative look of Círdan. I also applaud Elrond’s distrust because it means that both sides of the Elves come from a will to do what is right, but they come to different conclusions, and it also sheds an interesting light on Elrond’s later dealings with rings. I can’t help but think of a later scene we will probably see in a later season when Elrond and Isildur stand in Mount Doom. It means the two of them are going to become acquainted, or even friends, and I’m quite looking forward to that.

Lindon

And then we come to my favourite part of the episode, one that really kindled my interest back to life: Gil-Galad’s song. Although we were treated to a few songs in season 1, I still felt a little frustrated because there was room for more, and so I was delighted by this Elven melody. I don’t know anything about music so I won’t launch into an analysis of this one, but I loved it and it felt very Tolkien to me. We were also treated to a host of extras wearing all kinds of Elven clothing, and that was a lovely backdrop to the High King’s song, but why do some lady elfs have to wear a veil ? I would very much like to be given a sensible reason for that.

The arrival of Círdan led to Galadriel putting on one of the Rings, except it felt entirely random that it should be her, which didn’t sit right with me. That being said, I was more concerned with Gil-Galad not having room enough on his already-ring-heavy hands to fit one more piece of jewellery.

Episode 2

Continuing with my reactions, you’ll see here that I’m not commenting much on the Rhûn scene, at least not on the Stranger and Harfoots storyline. I don’t have much to say about them. I feel like since the beginning of Season 2 they have been used as a respite from other, more intense storylines, and I’m fine with that. I just don’t have much to comment (with one exception below).

Khazad-dûm

This episode started strong with a return to Khazad-dûm in a glorious shot that took us from the mountains to the market-place. In just one shot, the director made my heart very happy because in Season 1 I was missing something in-between the wide shots of a location and the close shots of main characters doing what they were doing. Here, we have middle shots with extras bustling about on their day-to-day errands, which is what I want to see more of. We had a glimpse of that in the previous episode in the Grey Havens, but here it is even stronger in the Dwarven realm. Not to mention that every time Disa is on screen she shines as bright as a Silmaril. Really, the showrunners and writers are doing a great job with her and her relation with Durin IV.

Lindon

Now that the discovery aspect of Season 1 is behind us and we know what to expect regarding aesthetics, I found myself more pleased with the costumes of the Elves. While they didn’t sold me in Season 1, I find them more intricate in Season 2 with a few caveats (see Galadriel’s cape in episode 1). Two years after Season 1, I have made my peace with the fact that Rings of Power is a prequel to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and that the artistic department (led by the wonderful John Howe) are not trying to present us with something wholly different from what has been done before. That irked me slightly in Season 1, but now I get to appreciate the beautiful sets of Lindon for instance, with those autumnal tones that make my heart sing.

Rhûn

We are then taken deep into Rhûn to discover the location of the Dark Wizard, Caras Gaer (“caras” meaning “stronghold” and “gaer” meaning “sea” in The Silmarillion or possibly “frightening” according to the Internet). The exterior aspect of his… dwelling? HQ? looks great. I love the clay architecture, that’s very on-point for a desert location. We do have the same problem as in Season 1 with large shots and then close-ups in the main room with the Wizards and his minions, but maybe we’ll see more later.

The fluttering butterflies reminded me of the Crebains from The Lord of the Rings, which is just one of the links between the Dark Wizard and Saruman, but I don’t buy into that interpretation at all since at first Saruman is not “dark” at all. He might be one of the Blue Wizards, but there is nothing blue at all about him (although that is certainly not a strong argument).

The Grey Havens

After a tense conversation between Elrond and Galadriel, we were treated to a slightly uneasy scene between Elrond and Círdan. First, I can’t decide why the script had him shave. I mean, he’s the only Elf to be described by Tolkien as having a beard, so it feels like him shaving is the showrunners not caring particularly much about what’s actually in the books. I can’t blame them for approximations when Tolkien is vague, but here it’s pretty straightforward. Círdan = beard.

Then, Círdan has this weird speech about separating the art from the artist that didn’t sounded very wrong. On a personal basis first, that’s not something I gel with. Círdan says that refraining from judging the artist is called humility, but the examples he gives are not that hard to overlook. What’s worse is that, Elrond is talking about the Rings, and the potential harm they can do if Sauron has had a hand in their making. So Círdan dismissing his fears means that he doesn’t think Sauron can have a corrupting influence on them, and he really should know better as the oldest Elf in Middle-earth.

After that, Círdan marvels at the power the Rings have over life, and demonstrates that by having a fish jump out of the water and land on a rock for a while. Again, that feels so out of character with Elves who are supposed to be enamoured of nature and life as a sacred gift. Even for sake of an example it doesn’t feel right.

Throughout this scene, I do think the actor is doing a great job, but the script feels off to me.

Eregion

In Ost-in-Edhil, Celebrimbor is busy trying out things like ithildin while Sauron still lurks at the gate. When it would be quite simple to kick him out, no, Celebrimbor has to come down in person when we know that he won’t resist Halbrand’s manipulation.

Thumbs up for the Elf holding Celebrimbor’s fancy umbrella.

The scene of Halbrand revealing himself as Annatar was much needed to justify his continued relation with Celebrimbor. I was really curious to know how the script would land on its feet after the mess that Season 1 was regarding the making of the Rings. To my relief, I found it did make some sense to have him pass as an emissary of the Valar. That being said, that scene and the following episodes showed that the showrunners were determined not to have the seductive manipulation be part od that relation, which was a real let-down for me. Season 1 hadn’t given me much hope, but I was still clinging to the hope that there would some manner of seduction for Celebrimbor to keep working with Halbrand-Sauron-Annatar. What we have so far in episode 2 is closer to religious ecstasy which misses the point for me. What I do like is that Annatar often lets his interlocutor cut out his job for him and come to the conclusion he wants them to come to.

As one last detail, that might feed into the religious reading of his reveal, Annatar is wearing quite a simple linen dress here, almost monastic. This suggest a humility that in turn feeds into his relationship with Celebrimbor when Annatar refers to him as the greatest of Elven smiths.

From what I see of those first episodes, I really enjoy the work on the costumes, which had left me a little frustrated in Season 1 (except for Númenor). One example of spectacular work is Elrond’s tunic at the end of this episode, in a shade of grey that verges on gold when the light is just right, with a lovely raised pattern on the front that I would quite like to know how it was achieved. It is a simple outfit when seen from afar, but up close it looks absolutely lovely.

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And that’s it for my reactions to the first two episodes of Rings of Power Season 2! I do hope to keep up and post the following blog posts regularly.

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