(Not all those who wander are lost … but if you haven’t watched the latest episode of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” keep on wandering. This article contains major spoilers.)
Beware self-proclaimed envoys of the Valar bearing gifts, as they say. After getting a whole lot of table-setting out of the way in its debut season, the latest episodes of “The Rings of Power” have been free to go full bore and dive into the reason we’re all here in the first place: the forging of the lesser rings of power. Everyone’s favorite Dark Lord in disguise, the elvish-looking Annatar (Charlie Vickers), has wasted no time at all appealing to Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) and exploiting the smith’s most glaring character flaws: mainly, his unfathomably deep sense of pride and ambition. While all the other heroes are distracted by their own worries and troubles, much of which derive from disagreements over the nature of the three elvish rings of power, Annatar has been free to manipulate the great craftspeople of Eregion into creating nine more rings of power.
For those up to date on their Tolkien lore (or, you know, who simply remember some nerdy details from Peter Jackson’s wildly popular “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) it’s painfully clear what sinister agenda Halbrand Annatar Sauron is driving towards. In episode 5, we receive our most significant act of foreshadowing yet and from the most surprising source of all. We’ve previously glimpsed the elven acolyte named Mirdania (Amelia Kenworhty) in various other scenes, most notably when Celebrimbor unveiled his newest work known as ithildin. Here, she unexpectedly takes centerstage during a moment of experimentation gone awry. Once the smoke clears, however, there’s a good reason why even the most casual of viewers may have those nasty Ringwraiths on their mind — along with their absolute creepiest characteristic.
The Rings of Power is setting up the Ringwraiths
Remember those black-robed, relentless Ringwraiths that haunted our hobbits’ every step in “The Fellowship of the Ring” and throughout the subsequent sequels? These villains, also known as the Nazgûl, appeared fully formed and at the peak of their powers in the original trilogy (along with a cameo in “The Hobbit” prequels), enslaved to the will of their master Sauron as they hunted all of Middle-earth for the One Ring, led his armies, and otherwise caused all sorts of mischief. Those scamps! In “The Rings of Power,” those nine servants of Sauron haven’t yet made their mark (though we have seen similar entities, such as those undead Barrow-wights) … but in this latest episode, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay (along with credited writer Nicholas Adams) finally gave us the biggest hint about their origins.
It doesn’t take much rocket science to connect the dots between Annatar and Celebrimbor’s struggle to forge these nine rings of power and the later appearance of nine evil individuals who eventually fell under Sauron’s sway. When even the greatest elven lords and warriors like Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), and the High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) worry about the possible influence of their three rings, what hope do mortal men have to resist the inherent power of their own rings? In Tolkien lore, Sauron gifted nine rings to great kings of men in the Second Age (the same time period that “The Rings of Power” is set in) who would inevitably become corrupted and turn into his greatest weapons of war. In season 2, we’re now seeing the earliest stages of this centuries-spanning plan.
We’ve yet to meet the nine men that the great villain will set his sights on (although certain fan-theories point to Tyroe Muhafidin’s Southlander Theo as a potential Ringwraith-in-the-making), but consider the wheels very much in motion for the arrival of the Nazgûl.
A glimpse into the Unseen World
A mere tease of the Ringwraiths isn’t the only thing that “The Rings of Power” has up its sleeve this week, however. As Annatar, Mirdania, and the rest of Celebrimbor’s order of crafters work tirelessly to complete the nine rings of power, a setback occurs when an attempt to size the rings goes completely sideways. When Mirdania puts on one of the rings, she unwittingly turns invisible — a neat party trick, for sure, but one that nearly has dire consequences when she’s overwhelmed by her glimpse into what season 1 called “the Unseen World.” This spiritual realm cannot be perceived under typical circumstances, but there’s absolutely nothing “typical” about these rings of power.
The invisibility itself is something we’ve seen the One Ring do in “The Lord of the Rings,” but Tolkien’s writings make it clear that various rings of power have the ability to do the same thing. (This is why, in “Fellowship,” Bilbo being able to turn invisible doesn’t immediately set off Gandalf’s suspicions that he’s actually in possession of the One Ring itself — it could’ve easily been one of the lesser rings scattered across Middle-earth and, therefore, merely a trinket rather than the existential-level threat it proved to be.) But “The Rings of Power” uses poor, unsuspecting Mirdania as a witness to the Unseen World itself. This ability is likely as a result of Annatar’s direct contributions, infusing the rings with his own malice and evil. (In contrast, the three elven rings don’t have the same effect because Sauron, then under the guise of Halbrand, technically had no physical contact with those rings in season 1.)
Here, she sees Annatar as he truly is in the Unseen World, but is subsequently misled by Sauron that this is nothing more than a manifestation of Celebrimbor’s deteriorating state of mind. When confronted by Celebrimbor, Annatar smoothly pins the blame on the crafter himself and claims any defect in these rings is an extension of his “cloak of deception,” stemming from his choice to lie to Gil-galad about shutting down his forge. Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that the corroding influence of these rings spells nothing but bad news for whichever unfortunate souls wear them down the line.
New episodes of “The Rings of Power” stream on Prime Video every Thursday.
