RINGS OF POWER Season 1 COMPLETE BREAKDOWN! Every LORD OF THE RINGS Easter Egg Explained

nothing is evil in the beginning hey welcome back to screen Crush I'm Colton Ogburn and this is a complete breakdown of rings of power season 1 we are giving you all the Easter eggs references and little things you might have missed in every single episode from the first season our very own Ryan Ary and friend of the channel Brian silan will be taking you through this very in-depth breakdown of the entire first season of rings of power so whip up some second breakfast sit back and enjoy first and foremost you may be wondering which of JRR tolken books provide the basis for this series did they take the lore from the Similan or possibly The Unfinished Tales neither Doug Amazon doesn't have the rights to either of those books they only have the rights to the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit so how is the sh able to access that lore well token ran down the general events of the first and second ages of Middle Earth and the lengthy appendices that can be found at the end of Return of the King this series uses that as a temp and a lot of lore has been invented by the makers of the series that invented lore for the most part fills in the gaps that tolken left open-ended we begin with gadal as we did in the movie The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the rink much that once was is lost now it's fitting that we begin once more with gad's voice in the dark nothing is evil in the beginning played by Kate Blanchet and Jackson's movies the eventual Lady of lauan is mostly played here by morphid Clark though gadriel plays a part in token's first and second ages she's hardly lead character however she is a touchstone character that modern audiences are already familiar with and she's a character that Amazon has the rights to so it makes sense that she provides our new entry into this new story though there is nothing evil in the beginning the series shows us many instances of Decay with evil slowly taking root as well as evil laying dormant and waiting to strike it's the first age and we haven't even gone to Middle Earth yet we're in valinor which is where the Valar that's the gods of token's work first took form and set down Roots it's where the elves were first created and it's sometimes their ref to as the undying lands whenever we see elves departing Middle Earth on ships this is the land that they are returning to at the end of Return of the King gadriel Gandalf and elron all take one of these ships to valinor because of their importance in the events of the third age Bilbo baggin is permitted to go and so is froto baggin in tolk's lore Elvin Lord and gad's husband kelborn eventually follows now at the very end of his long and wonderful life Sam wi gamji is permitted to take one of the last ships to valinor aside from the fact that the one ring would have never been destroyed without him he technically was a ring bearer for a short amount of time this is where the elves began and it is where they return every now and then a special exception is made for a non-elf to make this journey would I be invited of course you would Buddy now because of this ships and ship imagery are a big deal for the elves and so is the sea in the third age gadal would warn legalo of the call of the sea and he himself hears its call beckoning him later on ELR makes it clear what the call of the sea is in the return of the King movie saying to Bilbo as I said valanor is the ultimate home of all elves a blessed heaven-like realm conar young gadriel is seen making a little paper boat one that becomes a swan shaped ship not going to float it's going to sail this is a sign of how gadriel herself will blossom into a more powerful being also most Elis Ships Take a similar shape the ship that gadriel leaves and Return of the King does as does this little ski that she rides on in Fellowship this episode itself features a ship of similar design other young elves throw rocks at gad's little paper boat eventually sinking it now this symbolizes the constant infighting of the elves during this time they were rarely at peace with one another with the various houses of elves often Vine for power and control it's about as close to getting into the Similan territory as this show can go gad's paper boat being sunk and going underwater may also be a harbinger of her Jumping Ship towards the end of the episode the show doesn't name Gad 's brother but he is almost certainly finrod of house F aren his wisdom about the difference between a stone and a ship is something gadriel turns into a way of life the stone succumbs to the darkness but the ship looks up it might be tempted by the darkness but it looks to the light it thinks of things that the darkness can never know has gadriel ever been tempted by the darkness well she will be later on in life that's for sure as for things that the darkness can never truly conceive of try kindness and small acts of love something that Gandalf tells gadriel in the first Hobbit film simple acts of kindness and love that's really the entire basis for Gandalf's Fool's hope and it turned out just fine now like gadriel finrod is an elf of ndor in token's writing he played a much larger role in the first age than gadriel did he was close with both the dwarves and the men once he came to Middle Earth and he founded the kingdom of naron his skill at carving out this location earned him the surname name felagund from The Dwarves which means Herer of caves he had a friendship with barer of the house beor and he gave him a ring after bar here saved his life now that ring became an heirloom of that house eventually winding up with Aragorn the Ring of bar here is how San was able to identify who Aragorn was in The Two Towers movie ring of bar here so Gandalf greim thinks he has found his s air finrod battled Sauron personally in the first age and Sauron prevailed finrod perished while saving Baron the son of barer now Baron is a first AG Legend in his own right a man who earned the great love of the elf luthan uial now Baron and luthian were a man and an elf that fell in love so naturally both Aragorn and Arwin referenced them ages later so when gadriel asks her brother about how she can know which lights to follow he whispers in her ear now we don't yet know what he says but this entire conversation about the sding for yourself as well as finrod saying he'll not always be there immediately made us think of something that Frodo once asked G hand off who then do I trust you must trust yourself trust your own strength finrod references his and galadriel's parents and though the show doesn't name them they were named ferin and irin the two trees that we see in valinor are laurelin the gold tree and T peran the Silver Tree they were both poisoned by the Fallen V melor and the giant spider angolan melor eventually became sauron's boss renamed morgoth and angolian spawned all of the evil spiders scen in the rest of tolk's work including she up the trees couldn't be salvaged so the Velar harvested what they could Tan's last flower became the moon and laurin's last fruit became the sun it was said that following this event the True Light of the trees could only ever be seen in the simal these are the beautiful shining gems of the first age now there was a Valar known as javana who did create a second version of telperion and the seedlings of that tree eventually find its way through the lore all the way to Gondor in the third age the white tree of minus tith is its descendant in the movies the health of the tree symbolizes the health of Gondor and the King's potential return they got it because they have hope F fading hope that one day it will flow the king will come but in the book the tree is dead Gandalf and Aragorn have to take a journey out to find a lost seedling so that another tree in the same line can grow we do see something dark and Sinister spreading throughout the trees and this could be a reference to melor and unalan poison there are other moments in the episode where a similar poison is shown a leaf becomes corrupted in a similar way foreshadowing the Doom ahead and then we have a black bile pouring out of a cow's udder evil has been lying in weight but the poison has been released so the Show Skips melor and just makes him more goth from the outset he finishes off the trees and flees to launch havoc on a place gadriel calls Middle Earth one that she tells us has strange creatures Beyond count so we've heard that before Middle Earth being after all full of strange creatures Beyond count the elves proceed to follow morg goth in Mass which turns into to a complete truncation of the back and forth travel that the elves did in this age it involved as I've said a great deal of Elvish infighting I mean the broad Strokes are there throughout the elves got to Middle Earth and went to war with morgoth the brief scene of the war of the Wrath that the series shows us is a fleeting glimpse of the size and enormity of this conflict it makes the war of the Ring look like something out of a lesser real housewives episode but it is not this day C me we do see several dragons and one of them is likely ancalagon the black the largest dragon to ever exist he was bred personally by morgoth and with a host of fire drages behind him and calagon personally drove the Valar themselves back when they eventually got involved personally now morgoth's use of ancalagon was likely remembered by the Valar and the mayor that's the wizards of Middle Earth and therefore it would be remembered by Gandalf this would be why he has a much larger concern about smog in the time of The Hobbit a dragon could be used to terrible effect so what took an age for tolken takes seconds for the series but gadel does tell us that the war lasted for centuries and left Middle Earth in ruin the elves of this show didn't have a word for death but now they have many morgoth is defeated but his Orcs are spread to all corners of the land led by his most loyal Lieutenant the cruel and cunning sodon they called him saon the design of saon is mostly in line with what we see of him in the Fellowship of the rink finrod dies trying to destroy saon which tracks with fin Rod's history that we mentioned earlier gadriel assumes responsibility for her brother's Quest his vow became mine Sauron killed her brother so now this is personal she takes her brother's knife as a physical symbol of her vow a mark is left on Finn Rod's body and this is the first of many times we'll see this symbol in this episode tolken wrote that even though Finn Rod's mortal body perished in Middle Earth he reincarnated and came back to life in valinor where he remained until the end of his days that's not in the show but it's nice to know I feel better about all of this galadriel's quest to find sorrow goes on for a long time year gave way to year Century gave way to Century she sums up the time as only gadriel can history became legend legend became myth most of the elves now believe that Sauron is gone for good and gadriel has to fight that complacency it's not the first time in her life that she'll do this it's not even the first time in this episode she knows that Sauron is patient and proficient with a slow and poisonous needle before you even know anything is wrong your leaves are rotting and your cow is sick gadriel eventually winds up at forwe the Frozen area in the northernmost waste that was greatly affected by the evil cold of morgoth in the unfinished Tales tolken wrote about the men who lived in this area that they could slide on the ice by tying bones to their feet that's one way to win the gold gadal is depicted as an armor-clad Commander which seems like a departure but is supported by toking he described her as looking on things with the eye of a commander but more than that he wrote about her Leading Armies personally on more than one occasion she is even described by him as a warrior and an Amazon in the letters of JRR tolking so this depiction is nowhere near as far-fetched as it may initially seem she is never convinced that the evil of morgoth is gone and the evil code of forth supports her belief she's not convinced that Sauron is gone either and neither is Gandalf much later in the third age this is likely why the white Council scene in the first Hobbit movie shows her supporting Gandalf when he's trying to fight the complacency of soromon always you must meddle looking for trouble when none exists sh let him speak Al though the chain mail she wears is not exactly cheery it is adorned with little golden stars which remind her and us to look to the light the light of the stars is sacred to all elves but this could also represent the fight against the fallen stars of morgoth and saon it could also foreshadow the star that comes zooming in at the end of the episode the design of the swords that gadal small company use are also familiar as their lengths and handles make us recall narcy eventually refor as Ander and wielded by Aragorn Sauron will not have forgotten the sword of Val the stronghold that they find looks a lot like sauron's auxiliary Fortress of do gur seen in The Hobbit trilogy within the elves are affected by the cold remnants of Mor Go's magic gadriel briefly sees her own reflection in ice which references a different mirror that gadriel would later use in Fellowship will you look into the mirror what will I see even the wi cannot tell another fellowship connection follows as one of gad's company asks what devilry is this we instantly thought of bamir in a similar line what is this new devilry gadel determines that the magic at play has something to do with this Unseen World which in token's writing is a plane which contains creatures and beings having to do with magic the ring wraths are of the Unseen World and the powers of the One Ring are tied to it as well whatever research was being done in this Fortress could very well have to do with the magic that creates the nine rings for Mortal men which resulted in the creation of the ring raats and could also potentially be related to the craft behind the One Ring itself if we need proof that Sauron was involved in whatever was going on here gadriel finds it despite the evil Cod a metal surface that looks an awful lot like an anvil still Burns hot when touched with water the eye of Sauron is seen once more this time burning with fire it's similar to this truth about the One Ring a secret now that only fire can tell all gadriel knows knows right now is that Sauron was here and even though the Mark is centuries old he's probably now somewhere else gathering strength perfecting whatever Dark Art uded him here so galadriel's followers aren't as committed as she is and they long to go home and so does she but she's not talking about the same place they are she describes still feeling the light of the trees so the home she speaks of is valinor every trace of our enemy is vanquished I can never return morgoth his Orcs And Sauron all to be confirmed dead before she'll return home even though she'd probably love to cut bait and go back right now and we know this isn't going to happen anytime soon because it's going to take a long time for Sauron to be defeated but once he is she does indeed get to return but like that's at least an age away so like not yet the fight with the snow troll reminded us of this in more than one way not Le was gadal running up a sword to the Troll's back just like Legas ran up a chain the design of the Elvin Bose is familiar too as they remind us of Hal deer's Noble contention of archers from this scene in The Two Towers gadriel pulls another legalist move when she finishes the troll off with her brother's knife big map flyovers are a staple of the movies hend back shop hington West F the sh so naturally they continue to be used on this series our first map stop is ranan this is an area that the river and Doan flows through and encompasses much of the Greenwood that's the great Forest that would eventually become merkwood which we saw in The Hobbit two men with big moose antlers on their back pass through and they're on guard against dangerous creatures called harf foots and once they're gone the harfoot start to pop out of the grass and the trees and everywhere else harits close but not quite Doug these folk haven't yet taken that name Haro foots are one of the the three breeds of halfling the other being stores and the fides there's almost nothing relating to Hobbits or haroot in tolken writing about the second age they came to prominence in the third age when the Harford settled what would become the Shire and yes no doubt to others our ways seem claimed along with the fides and some of the stores it Bears mentioning that many stores were River folk staying close to the anduin countless years after the one ring is lost one particular store Hobbit named deagle finds it deag's cousin and best friend another store murders him and takes it that store went by the name smeagle also known as the Haro foots are Adept at burrowing into the ground like the hobbits will eventually do but they are far more earthy they're almost like Hobbits crossed with a bit of the Fay and a smattering of the gelfling from The Dark Crystal they are very wary of the big folk who pass by they may start here clear but they'll eventually get here you B to know one the harf foots have a mysticism about them that the hobbits do not have later on most of it provided by sedak burough who tries to interpret the appearance of the hunters it should be noted that he is played by the legendary Lenny Henry who recently voiced the character of Martin tin bones and the Sandman all of the harfoot characters have been completely invented for this show Elanor Nori Brandy foot comes close to being tokish in nature fool of a t as she is adventurous and doesn't ask for permission the name Brandy foot is also a cross between familiar Hobbit names Brandy buck and proudfoot and the nickname Nory is the same as one of the dwarves in the company of Thor and Oaken shield in The Hobbit when a friend tells Nori that they aren't supposed to be out this far she has a very tokish response if we didn't do everything we weren't supposed to do we'd hardly do anything at all she's not as wary as Sam W gami is about going out too far if I take one more step it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been just like the hobbits the harfoot enjoy living off the land dancing around and living their peaceful life but they aren't immune to the dangers of Middle Earth as they have yet to settle the protected borders of the Shire and appearance of what looks to be a war lets us know why they are told to not venture too far off we then meet the familiar elron played by Hugo weaving in the movies but is now played by Robert arameo who appeared as the young Ned Stark in Game of Thrones he's addressed as Herald elron because he is the heral of the high King gilgalad who we see fighted in the battle of the last Alliance in in the fellowship prologue remember that elron was there too here we find him writing in a familiar Elish script used by both tolken himself and in the movies he's told that he is not invited to a council meeting which is ironic given that elron will be summoning his own councils in an age or so friends of old you've been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor he's told that this session is for Elf Lords only which may be a dig at elon's half Elven status so this takes place in London the capital city of the High Elves in this period the design London is similar to both the designs of Loth lauran and Rivendell in the movies though in this time period neither location has even been built in front of a mural depicting ships Crossing back to valanor Elrod meets with gadriel who is no longer in her armor not only are these two friends they eventually become family in token's writing elron marries Cibrian a daughter of gadriel and kelborn among the children he has with her is of course Arwin I would rather share one Lifetime with you and face all the ages of this world alone now it doesn't seem like any of this has happened yet so maybe this series will show us L baby Arwin Elon talks to gadriel and elf explains the mural here it said that when you cross over you hear a song which may Echo the call of the sea notion that we previously spoke of what El has heard of this crossy will be proved True by the end of this episode as the call to home is strong the imagery is different but it's a similar sentiment to the lyrics of into the West which ended Return of the King Gandalf's words to Pippen during the siege of Gondor also come to mind no the journey doesn't end here now speaking of Gandalf galadriel's connection to him is drawn even further here elron half expected glad to arrive caked in Grime and he gives a similar dig to Gandalf in the first Hobbit movie dressed for dinner you never Gandalf has always been a field man and gadriel has now proven herself a field elf also like Gandalf gadriel is ready to go out again as soon as possible prompting Elon to reply you have only just arrived he sounds like froto baggot you've only just arrived when elron presses gadriel for details on her journey she remarks that you really have become a politician and she's more right than she knows as we'll come to find out by episode's end gadal has more in common with Nori Brandy foot than one might think as both of them defy orders and go as far as they think they must gadriel is now consumed with the quest to find saon and has no problems going against Gil gad's orders to do what needs to be done the only consequence for Nori is that she missed the sighting of the hunters and her father's advice to her is to stay close to home so she doesn't miss anything it's the reverse of Bilbo baggin because if he stayed close to home he would have missed quite a lot instead I'm going on an adventure Nori more than any of the other Haro foots definitely has some TK instincts inside of her she wants to go out and see what wonders the world has in store danger be damned haven't you ever wondered what else is out there how far the river flows or where The Sparrows learn the new songs they sing in Spring her mother lists off the various races of Middle Earth and what they have to worry about including dwarves and she includes trees on this list they have to worry about the soil beneath their roots and this could be a reference to the horns an or both my business is with Eisen God tonight she adds that they are safe because they have each other and that's a hobbit sentiment if I ever heard one I can't carry it for you but I can carry you gilgalad celebrates gadriel and her Warriors saying that their search has proven that saon is gone and that the days of War are are over after a familiar closeup of galadriel's eyes he tells the group that they will receive a great honor they will be allowed to take a ship from the grey Havens and depart for valinor gadriel is going to truly go home and everyone is happy except for her her mission is far from over and she knows it a fireworks celebration that night doesn't really hold a candle to what Gandalf would do Elon tells her that getting to leave is a gift which Echoes tolk's riding in Return of the King when Arwin passes this gift to Frodo gadil rejects the gift here for different reasons but it mirrors the choice that her granddaughter and elon's daughter will one day make when elron says that no one has ever refused the call before he has no idea what's to come and this isn't the first time that elron will be convincing someone to change their mind and get on a boat I have made my choice now he tells her that he shown the sigil that gadriel found to Gil Gad but neither of them think that it's a big deal they think that she is conflicted and she remarks I am grateful you have not known evil as I have now that line will soon prove pivotal to her journey already gladel is the one who has seen the eye one who has seen the eye the scene is ultimately a spin on what elron will tell Aragorn in The Two Towers if Arwin takes the ship she will carry her love for Aragorn to the undying lands and there it will be Evergreen let her go let her take the ship into the West let her bear away her love for you to the undying lands there it will be ever green here gadriel argues that if she takes this unfinished business with her this evil that that will be Evergreen as well it could poison valinor just as Middle Earth has become poisoned as he does with R1 in The Two Towers movie elron is able to convince gadriel to take the ship the magic map then takes us to the final group of characters in this episode's puzzle as we go to the Southlands and enter the world of men now elves are stationed nearby so they come to check on these people regularly to make sure that they're still in line the Elvish watch Warden believes that there is still wickedness in them the elf arand deer checks things out in a Tavern worried about something in the East and the returning motif of things being poisoned these people have no love for elves and a Charming young man calls him knife ears before reminding him that they aren't the same men who cause so much trouble oh Let It Go knife ear the lot you Lum in with died off a thousand years ago r& deer meets with this human Crush of bronwin a healer who givs him with alerin seeds she uses them in healing but in token's writing the name itself translates to Immortal from the sarish elves it's a flower that legus sings of once liken it to a golden Bell Brown when ask if elves have healers and they do according to r& Deer they call them artificers because elves mostly heal themselves it is the job of the artificer to render Hidden Truths as works of beauty tolken wrote of the elf Idris who once possessed a magical Green Gem that could Grant healing powers someone's got to make those donuts and perhaps it's a of an artificer the elf kellmore has been described by tolken as an artificer so file that knowledge away for later in a surprise to absolutely no one we find out that r& deer has the hots for bronwin we're told that only twice before has the union between an elf and human ever been attempted here are those two well the show doesn't tell us but that's why you got us I've already mentioned the famous Baron and luthian but the second couple refer to here is tuor and idril they are involved in the fall of gondolin which takes place in the first age Aragorn and Arwin would go on to be the third couple but that hasn't happened yet some don't even count them because Arwin chose a moral life but by that logic you'd have trouble with Baron and Luan too we're going to count all of them Arend Deere and his company get word from gilgalad that the troubles are over and they don't have to keep their watch anymore they're all being called back much like the Defiance of both gadal and Nori brandyo foot r& Deere goes to see Bron one anyways they get a good look at the sickened cow who wandered East and black bile pours out of it now while they Venture off to investigate bronn's son gets Flack about his father who disappeared while he snoops around for an artifact that he saw he finds it and it's the broken Hilt of a sword for one thing it looks like the evil version of the shards of naril shots of n for another it has the eye of Sauron on it obviously infused with evil and the sigil Flames up when the boy looks at it the evil sigil is beginning to act similarly to the objects that Sauron has touched or corrupted in the movies it turns out that elrond and gilgalad sent gadriel away on purpose with elron being every bit the politician that gadriel said he was they're worried that he would unleash the very evil that she hoped to destroy well the same wind that seeks to blow out a fire may also cause its spread gilgalad has enter no illusions that Sauron is gone in fact quite the contrary he has a plan as he and elron are the leaders facing a new Sunrise his plan with dealing for Sauron Lord kellor the greatest of the Elven Smiths elron is told that he's to work with him on a new project well done Gil Gad send gadra away and give Kell bbor a grant elron looks a little wary here and that weariness will only grow until he arrives at this point destroy it no gadriel and her Warriors have their weapons and armor taken from them signaling that they can lay down their burdens and prepare for a life of peace they are stripped down to their underclothes as if they are about to be reborn gadriel lets it all go say for her brother's dagger she grasps on the symbol of her vow to take up fin Rod's Quest before ultimately surrendering it she hears the call of the sea but then remembers what her brother whispered to her about the stones and ships and how to know what lights to follow and this time we get to hear his words sometimes we cannot know until we have touched the darkness a star falls and blazes across the sky every character we've met sees it and what looks like a pair of ants witness it too the star lands near the harfoot right as gadal jumps off the boat and hits the water making it seem like they are linked in some way a leaf falls in Lyon and a dark corruption is spreading through it evil is indeed spreading but light will theoretically rise to meet it Nori investigates the giant crater and there is a naked man at the center of it he is discovered by the Proto Hobbits harf foots Gandalf has a strong attachment to Hobbits all across the lore seing value and potential in them when no one else does Gandalf feels more at home in the Shire than anywhere else and let's remember that the harf foots are the ones who will eventually settle the Shire they would be his first family harfoot being the ones to find him is almost irresistable for halflings to be the first Denis of Middle Earth that Gandalf gets to know would honor their bond in a powerful way so the Raging tolken purist Denis rages at this potential change but we got to admit we don't hate it we think that we might even like it either way Gandalf himself is the one to perfectly describe the situation at the episode's end the board is sent the pieces are moving the title sequence features several familiar symbols rings of course are dominant and so are the two trees of valinor now remember we saw these two trees in the first episode where they provided all the light in the world before they were destroyed by morgoth and his giant spider friend the straight edged architecture and Jewel design of the dwarves is also represented in this opening sequence and some symbols get wavy and perverted which could represent the design of the Orcs at one point a dark shape slithers its way in symbolizing saon and his persisting evil that slowly poisons all of the other races so because this episode goes back and forth for between so many stories we're going to talk about each story separately who's up first Doug harfoot and the stranger you got it our main harfoot hero nor Brandy foot examines the man in the crater instead of arriving by ship he falls like a fiery star sent from valinor which would track with who and what gandal actually is so the five wizards in Middle Earth are called the istari and they were all my spirits uh kind of like the demigods of Middle Earth for lack of a better way to put it and they were in the service of the Valar and valinor the Valar are basically like gods or Angels who serve the Creator Sauron himself was a Mayar just like Gandalf just as morgoth used to be one of the Valar five myar were given a mission and then placed into the bodies of old men so that they would remain humble but that didn't stop one of the five wizards from finding a way to be a raging ego Maniac but you have elected the way of pain now the my aren't really men at all which is partially why Gandalf was able to be sent back to Middle Earth after his fall and fellowship of the rink because he joined with the enemy Saron did not receive the same treatment he stayed dead what say because the Wizards were sent specifically to counter Sauron we doubling down on the notion that it makes sense as far as the series is concerned for the m to be sent now Gandalf was the last to arrive originally so the other four wizards may already be on the scene now none of them is as fiery as Gandalf is the wizard who is proficient with fireworks might have arrived to Middle Earth as a firework The Stranger is surrounded by flames in this crater and we immed immedately thought of Gandalf referring to himself as a servant of the secret fire I a servant of the secret fire wielder of the flame Gandalf shows himself proficient with fire time and time again and the stranger immediately shows Nori and her friend poppy that he has some control over flame there's another fairly large reason why Gandalf is directly connected to fire but that involves one of the three Elven rings and this show has not introduce them yet now Nori is not just about to leave the stranger alone she's going to help no matter what the spirit of froto is very present what must I do her best friend poppy is more reluctant to get involved she's not clear on how they're supposed to carry a giant back to the settlement how exactly are we supposed to carry a giant now while not referenced much in The Lord of the Rings Giants get a couple of references in the book of The Hobbit though it's mostly in the form of like folk Kay the storm Giants of the Misty Mountains are seen in the first Hobbit movie Giants stor Giants sedak and the other harut Mystics are feeling danger and one of the mystics suggest moving their entire camp now this reminds us that the harf foots are nomadic and have no true home as of yet until Generations later they settle in the Shire having a deep love for their home is something that all Hobbits will eventually appreciate see that's where I belong that's home they don't notice Nori and Poppy stealing lanterns like they marry and pipp and stealing fireworks the two harf foots can't figure out what race this stranger is he's not a giant he's not a troll and he's not a man and he doesn't have pointy ears so he's not an elf Nory points out that he's not a baby eagle with a broken wingk which could be a slight reference to how Gandalf originally earned the respect of the Eagles in tolken riding he found and healed their leader guir from a poisoned Arrow Nori Brandy foot looks to be positioned as our leading harfoot here with poppy backing her up in the kind of Sam wise gamji position they bicker more than froto and Sam but that will give poppy Room to Grow she notes that Nori isn't turning away from this she can't because even in these Early Times these Proto Hobbits are pure and can't help it do the right thing bbo eventually accepts The Call to Adventure I'm going on an adventure chef and as we've said Frodo accepts his mission immediately they keep him a secret and they hide him away in a little Hut like their Elliot hiding ET in case we haven't already gotten the message Nori tells poppy that this is her responsibility it's like there's a reason this happened like I was supposed to find him now she says this making us think of what Gandalf will tell Frodo much later in the Saga bbo was meant to find the ring in which case you also Were Meant to have it now to me this is all spelling out to be divine intervention on the part of the Middle Earth Gods this is a Valar playing Matchmaker with a myar and a harfoot the harfoot duo want to keep him safe much like Gandalf wanted Frodo to keep a certain ring safe keep it secret keep it safe now later on the stranger makes markings on the ground and seems disturbed by the energy of Middle Earth itself he hears what sounds like black speech and recognizes the corruption of morgoth and the ongoing Corruption of sodon he yells at Nori and it immediately made us think of this do not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks now Nori thinks that he doesn't remember his name but we think it's because he doesn't have a name yet if he is Gandalf he hasn't assumed the moniker Gandalf that was what they used to call me he's never been confined to a body before so this is all very new and disorienting to him food also looks like it's a new thing for him too really really just Dives in there doesn't he but no no that's not how you Nori also ask if there are any others like him and he starts scratching images and runes in the dirt when he begins to speak odd words he says the following now this could be a stretch but it sounds like he's saying Olen Olen is Gandalf's my name it would be the only name that he's ever known up to this point that's a stretch but I like it I do too while nory's been trying to figure him out her father Largo twists his ankle now if the Haro foots migrate he and the Brandy foot family could be left behind Nori now has to decide whether to continue helping the stranger or to go along with the other harf foots The Stranger then provides a further connection to fire that night showing that he has a bond with fireflies he whispers to them in the way that Gandalf Whispers to a moth in Fellowship the fireflies align with certain Stars revealing a constellation that the stranger must find so Nori has an idea of where he can find these stars and so the potential quest of The Hobbit protagonist much like Frodo and Bilbo becomes clear now poppy will likely go along because when the fireflies go out this doesn't sit well with her Nori and we think that the fireflies go out because of this ongoing Corruption of nature that we see all throughout Middle Earth but first let's talk about Elon and the dwarves thanks Doug we are introduced to Aron which is the realm of the Elven Smiths it's a glorious Elven city that is of a similar design to London just as it is in token's writing Kell brenor is the ruler here so this is where he's starting work on the special project that we heard about in the premiere that project being the rings of power according to tolken it is the this realm that Kell bmore will Forge the three Elvin Rings elron okay so in the last episode I slipped up I said elron was half Elven not 100% true Elon is the son of arendal and elwick Dior was one of his grandmothers and idril was his other grandmother both of these unions of Mortals and elves are in his family tree so that's where the name half Elvin comes from look nobody's perfect elron is now assisting Kell bbor with his project the specifics of which have not been revealed but what is revealed is that a key artifact is kept within the city vor's Hammer which was used to create the simels so fanor was a major character in The Similan book and a major player in the first age he's likely the greatest artificer in all of tolk's history gadriel is actually his niece feanor's finest work was creating the simal these are beautiful jewels of unmatched Beauty and they Shone with the light of laurelin and telperion the simal were his precious and they were lusted after by more than any other object in the cannon equaled only by the one rank Kell bmore tells Alon that Mor goth stole the seals but he found them too beautiful to handle as he says feanor's work nearly turned the heart of the great foe himself so Kell rimbor wants to do even better now foor also knew how good he was and he totally bought into his own hype he was arrogant he was jealous and he turned fanatical he committed genocide familicide mass murder and performed a whole lot of gaslighting fanor was the cause of a lot of the Elven infighting throughout the first age what happened to feor well him and some of the elves loyal to him attempted to fight morgoth but he was slain by gothmog Lord of the ball rocks b rock now Kell bmore is the grandson of fanor he's obviously learned nothing from feanor's bloody history as he's about to use feanor's hammer for a project of his own that will turn out to be almost as bad as the simal Endeavor the hammer of fanor is not a thing in tolking but it does make sense for the show to give us a visual symbol of one generation of elves taking over from another making very similar mistakes in the process now having some of the Rings of power crafted by the same Hammer that crafted the simal is a New Concept it's really interesting all the same Kell bmore says true creation requires sacrifice Kell bbor is not just making the same mistakes as fanor he is making all new ones yeah yeah but your scientist were so preoccupied with whether or not they could they didn't stop to think of they should an artificer himself Kell rimbor aspires to create something just as incredible as fanor did Beyond jewelcraft he wants to devise something of real power I mean no way that can go wrong doesn't sound arrogant at all rings of power exactly elron doesn't know what he is planning to make he's here to help him with the how which means building a forge more powerful than any in existence The Diplomatic Elon knows right away whose help he will need to make this Forge he'll need dwarves and so it's time for them to enter the story The dwarfen Realm of kadum is close to araon and relations between the elves and dwarves are not yet as Bleak as they will be in the third age elron himself has more respect for them here than he will later on in his life the dwarves they hide in their mountains seeking rich as they care nothing for the Troubles of others now of course we have seen Kaza Doom before but never like this another name for this location is Mor now of course we remember this as part of the perilous Journey that the company of the Ring took through it in The Fellowship of the Ring this kingdom was founded by Duran and the dwarves in The First Age it is the first and greatest of all the Dwarven kingdoms though as soromon says in Fellowship eventually the dwarves delve too greedily and Too Deep following its downfall Thor attempted to regain it after the loss of arabor laia had been taken now after the death of smow and the resettling of arabor Balin there is one I could call King also launched a campaign to retake it it did not go well here lies bin son of he is dead then elrond is old friends with Prince Duran who will eventually be come King Duran the 4th he is expecting tables full of salted pork he'll welcome us with open arms tables filled with salted pork salted pork unlike the other Dwarven doors that we've seen this one is Not Invisible when closed it must be a sign of friendlier times if this is the west gate aka the door of Duran then it will eventually be changed in tol keen's lore it is Kell bmore who inscribed the door with Elvish riding that is mirrored in Starlight it mirrors only Starlight and Moonlight speak friend and enter familiar Elish runes straight from tolken can be clearly seen on these doors and they are also seen in many places all over the series elron talks his way inside and we see that kazad Doom is thriving far from the empty shell that we saw in Fellowship the great realm of dwarf city of D the city is full of life it has large patches of greenery and waterfalls and yet the angular Dwarven architecture still differentiates the culture from the smooth rounded lines used used by the elves beams of light shine all over the place just like the beam that will eventually shine on balin's Tomb and just like ginley said it's much more than a mine and they call it a mine a mine Enter Prince Duren who elron only thought was his friend he receives a cold reception and has to undergo a trial of endurance this unlikely relationship between elf and dwarf can't help but make me think about legus and gimy I thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf what about side by side with a friend I speaking of gley both he and his father gloen what is this horrid creature a goblin mutant letma we Le gim our descendants of Prince Duren now before the trial durran makes one or two references in the episode to Al passioned by Al himself Al was the Valar who was the master of crafting Al was the one who created the Sun and the Moon from what was left of the two trees and he also created the dwarves themselves now this is a very rare instance where one of the Val is named on screen directly once we left our hammers we shall break the great Stones until one of us can break no more if elron forfeits this challenge he will be banished from the dwarfen lands he takes the Gamble and even though the stakes aren't as high I was reminded of an entirely different contest between legless and gimy from the movies he can't hold his liquor the Rivalry here also evokes the ongoing battle tally that legless and gimy have in the two towers still only count as one elron loses but he talks Duran into showing him out personally this is where we find out why Duren has soured on their friendship for one thing elron is only here because he wants something not to see his friend you missed my wedding the birth of my children this has clearly hurt Duran's feelings deeply but we don't think that this oversight was because elron didn't care he just simply didn't notice the passage of time when he's told that it's been 20 years elron replies well 20 years he'll do that has it been only 20 that's a short time for an immortal being but not for a mortal dwarf I've lived an entire life in that time elron asked to apologize personally to Duran's family but we can't tell if he's being sincere or if he's using this as a way to get back into Duran's good graces I mean know might be a mixture of both then we meet duren's wife daa it's one of the first major dwarf females that we have met and she was invented for this show daa is beard free despite the fact that we've been led to believe that all dwarf women have beards it's true you don't see many dwarf women and in fact they are so alike in voice and appearance that they're often mistaken for dwarf men it's the Beards we do see dwarf women with beards in the prologue of the first Hobbit movie so like maybe it's only some of them the name daa is likely a riff on the only dwarf woman that tolkki never named who was named de she was the sister of Thorne Oaken shield and the mother of phy and key El R is invited to stay for dinner despite Duran's objections but if the tables were turned Duran would likely stay for dinner whether he was invited or not and like the dwarves we've seen in the movies Duran enjoys a good belch El Rond and Duran continue to argue which is what El's and dwarves do best I will be dead before I see the ring in the hands of an elf but the fact that Duran has has taken expert care of a Seedling given to him by elron makes it plain that there's still some love here tends it like it's our third child the tree that grows despite the darkness is a Dwarven hammer smashing of symbolism as is elon's reply where there is love it is never truly dark how could it not grow in a home like your Al's beard can these two just get along if close friends can't get over a festering resentment that what chance does the rest of the greatly divided Middle Earth have both morgoth and Sauron excel at pitting one race against the other by taking advantage of already existing mistrust between cultures and we're seeing the seeds of that distrust in this scene but there is hope because Duren comes around and invites Elon to stay and explains what he wants tell me about your King's proposal so I could decide whether to present it to my father or toss it in the nearest slag pet afterwards Duran meets with his father King Duran ivth he's played by Peter Mullen who has appeared in Westworld Braveheart Harry Potter and more will you fight no Prince Duren tells him I'm S no it he doesn't know but the king isn't satisfied now they're hiding something and the king is paranoid that Elon might already know what they're hiding tell me do you not think it's a coincidence that an elf should just land on our doorstep now they look inside a small wooden chest but we don't get to see what's in there is that what I think is MHM it's beautiful now to the Southlands aend deer and braon went investigate the burned down Village and discover a large underground Chasm now Bronn goes on to inform her people but Arend Deere investigates finding a large Subterranean system of tunnels so everything might seem okay on the surface of Middle Earth kind of but bad things are happening beneath it the evil of Sauron weights burrowing biting its time that evil is carving up Middle Earth from the inside and only a few select people are paying attention so bronn's son Theo gets a surprise when an orc invades from below and this isn't the first time that we've seen Orcs invade someone's home on screen the Orcs look slowly rising from below is definitely a sign that evil is physically rising and going on the violent offensive aside from the skull mask the design of this practical orc is not dissimilar to the orc designs that we saw in The Lord of the Rings movies it does have a little wisp of a creepy beard which suggests that it's an older strain of orc one that was possibly not newly bred by saon Theo has another encounter with the creepy sword hilt and his blood seems to give it energy blood magic is rarely a good sign in any fantasy story The Blade starts to remake itself in a reverse of What the witch King's morgal blade does in Fellowship stab by a morg blade we don't really know what the heck is going on with this thing except that it's not great Bob now what about gadriel well gadriel is literally lost at sea stuck between valinor and Middle Earth the only thing that she still clings to is her brother's dagger the symbol of her vow to find and fight Sauron we're reminded of her brother's words in the premiere the stone sees only downward the darkness of the water is vast there is a so will gadriel succumb to the darkness like a stone or will she look up and find her way like a ship for now she looks up to the light of the Moon possibly remembering the light once given off by the tree telip perion she's picked up by some humans who are floating on a ruined ship but they are worried about a worm which turns out to be a sea serpent so though tolken is quoted as one saying there are many monsters in the sea no sea serpents appear in his work but water Dres also called water serpents or rain Dres have appeared in Middle Earth role playing games for years though it wasn't exactly a serpent we also had the Watcher in the water in the Fellowship of the rank a man named H brand survives and takes gadriel aboard an even smaller raft of wreckage he has another invention for this series and he has a curious symbol on the pouch around his neck he tells gadriel that his home was destroyed by Orcs And that now it is ashes gadriel Grieves for what he has lost because she has lost a lot of people in her life as well but she's still on a mission and instead of Glory she is doing what she feels like she needs to be called to do I mean she has more than a little in common with Nory Brandy foot Hey where's H brand from he's from the Southlands where we met the humans who were lumped in with those corrupted by morgoth and who fought alongs side of him those folk didn't trust the elves so that's why neither Hall brand nor any of the other survivors trust gadil she doesn't really give a damn who they fought for she just wants him to lead her to where the enemy could be even when she's in the middle of the sea where nothing but a wet slip of a dress gadriel is still only interested in her Mission but a storm gets in her way because Middle Earth is now throwing everything that it possibly can at her she gets dragged underwater and we're reminded once again of her brother's words will she sink like a stone or will she rise and Float like the ship will she be her own paper boat or will she be the rocks that were thrown at it tol Keen was also a devout Catholic and he said that he considered this epic to be a fundamentally religious and Catholic work you could read gadal submergence is a kind of baptism featuring crucifix imagery after which she is reborn she is pulled up by Hall brand in a moment that is very similar to this one from the end of Fellowship so H brand stops her descent by cutting the rope with fin Rod's knife just as symbolically it's fin Rod's words that continue to guide gadriel toward the light gadriel wakes up in the sun kind of like Tom hanen Castaway and there's a ship beside their little craft a caped man looms over the side a lot of the episode symbols lead to one theme a gold knife in the depths of the sea a swarm of fireflies in the dark of night and a tree flourishing in a dark place because it is filled with love it makes us think of something that Sam wise gamji once said there's something good in this world Mr fle and it's worth fighting for do you stay in the past or do you press forward this is the general theme of this episode and it finds its way into the stories of gadriel Hall brand alland Deere the harfoot and endale if pushing forward means leaving your friends behind do you do it anyways so it turns out that Arend Deere was captured by Orcs at the end of episode 2 they take him to a covered Outpost where all of the vanished men and women from the Southland Village are being kept the Orcs have been using tunnels and coverings to avoid the Sun the light of which is like very dangerous for them they are creatures of darkness and they cannot abide the light this is why saon will eventually cover the entire land of Mordor in Shadow and why he sends Shadows to blunt the light of the sun when sending his orc armies into battle the Orcs of Mordor have no love of daylight so he covers the face of the sun to ease their passage along the road to war hey you know about that you know Mordor how it never get it's it's never Sunny how how do the plants grow cuz that's like the food Tain and stuff cuz it's magic okay then L and Deere is put to work immediately reunited his friend thond Deere and his former watch Ward and Revan apparently none of the elves that were charged to watch the Southlands escaped they're all in Chains and they're all forced to excavate tolken does make reference to these slave worked Fields away South in this wide realm Sauron plundered those fields to supply his armies and we could see the beginnings of that right here gladel wakes up on the ship that rescued her in Hall brand in episode 2 it is indeed a ship of newor captained by a major figure in tolk's work victory was near s will not have forgotten the sword of he refers to gadriel as one of the Eldar a name given to all elves who answered the initial summons to valinor in their earliest days remember the elves were created in Middle Earth and then the Valar that's the gods of this world called them Westward to the land of valinor not every elf accepted but galadriel's people did she is of the ndor and all of them answered the call they sail into newor at long long last an island Kingdom located between Middle Earth and valinor this is the main Bastion of the world of men in this era the Adan were among the men who fought alongside the elves against morgoth and their losses were so great in the war of the Wrath that the elves gifted them this land they paid for this a the blood of their King the island was raised from the sea and then the Adan were led to it by the star of arendel I give you the light of eril our most beloved star so numenorians were sometimes called the Dad in this period and were blessed with long life their descendants were also referred to as dunadan when they came to Middle Earth with both elenil and isor being among them you remember those two guys from the opening Lord of the Rings that isor son of the king took up his father's sword so Aragorn is their direct descendant and is likely the most famous of all the Denine you cannot be 80 87 you are one of the dunad the descendants of numor founded the Kingdom of Gondor so naturally the design of numor itself borrows heavily from the architecture and design that we see in The Lord of the Rings movies meus tith especially the large statues that dominate the Central City evoke argano the great Monument of Gondor that we see in Fellowship long have I desired to look upon the kings of all my K elenil himself is one of the figures in the movies alongside his son isor and to's writing the argano features both isor and his brother anaran so incidentally the Valar really put one rule on the people of numor they told them that they are not allowed to sail westward out of sight of the island the Valar did not want them to come to the undy lands seems reasonable well you think wouldn't you H brand is Amazed by this place and gadriel reminds him that these men are not like him they fought against morgoth and not with him remember morgoth was the original evil that existed in Sauron was his servant so H brand unlike his ancestors didn't personally fight alongside morgoth but elves have long memories Galadriel also notices the island has changed much since it was and the sne that she gets from everyone are part of that change num began to turn away our ships elves used to come and go freely from this island and were friends with the neoran but that is no longer the case so aside from the architecture the helmets of the neoran also evoke the helmets of the soldiers of Gondor the first words we hear from queen regent Muriel are no one kneels in newor which is a not so subtle clue that these people are done being thankful to the Valar resentment is festering what have the Romans ever done for us gadriel tells them who she is and they get because she is not just any elf gadriel of the Noor daughter of the Golden House of fen commander of the northern armies of High King gilgalad she references her father ferin who is a half brother to fanor H brand introduces himself as just H brand this is John snull all gadriel wants is passage back to Middle Earth but no one wants to give her that Chancellor farzon is introduced in this scene and he is a major player in token's writing about numor if you have a weird feeling about this Chancellor then you should trust it the Republic will be reorganized Queen Muriel is the daughter of the king tar pantier in tolk's riding so H brand doesn't want to go just yet we saw him giving an interested eye to the neoran forges so he pipes up and eventually ferzon says that these two will be the guests of numor for the time being H brand also showcases a gift for thievery when he swipes galadriel's knife back from elendil now though Muriel thinks that gadriel is but one elf farizon counsels that an Avalanche can start with one stone which makes us recall the two towers and Gandalf's words in fangorn Forest the coming of Mary and Pippen will be like the falling of small stones that starts an avalanche in the mountains he ties this into Muriel's father and we'll know why shortly he's also wary of endel noting that end's son eor is trying to get into service at Sea just like his father and that is when we meet the young eor doing his best at crewing a ship eventually he'll do this as well as has this destroy it no and he ends up like this for now though he's just a kid trying to learn the ways of the sea but when looking at numor in the distance a creepy voice calls his name to him it is similar to how the ring calls to Aragorn in Fellowship when his captain says there is no harer master than the sea now it is mentioning here that a Valar named olmo was the Master of the Seas and one of the most powerful of his kind we can't help but think of this Mighty being every time the power of the sea is mentioned one of the most powerful of all Devar Almo himself did not participate in the eventual fate of numor that task was undertaken by a being who was even more powerful but like no spoilers for now right the repeated refrain of the sea is always right makes sense because they came to their Island from the sea and some of them Ellen Andor included will eventually returned to it elenil in particular is a skilled Mariner we also get a good look at neemo the fair also known as the white tree of numor it is related to telperion one of the two trees of valinor remember those trees were destroyed by morgoth but the Valar yavana used the surviving seedling of telperion to grow goliathan which in turn resulted in kelborn the tree not the elf the seedlings of kelborn were brought to numor early in its history by The Elves and nimloth was the result unlike telperion of old these trees are unable to give off light now if Nemo looks familiar it's because a seor brings a Seedling of it with him when Gondor is founded and that seedling grows into the the white Tree of Gondor yes the white Tree of Gondor now whether nloth is flourishing or not is often a sign of noor's Health just as the white tree is a sign of gondor's Health it has being tended to in this period of numenorian history but how long is that going to last H yeah how long that going to last mirel tells us as much faithful believe that when the Petals of the white tree fall it is no idle thing her using the phrase the Faithful is loaded with lore as divisions within numor will eventually separate the people into two groups is the faithful on one side and on the other side people who are generally awful alen and isil D are of the faithful that's why you see them in the third age as for the non-faith when she talks about the Velar she says that their eyes and their judgment are ever upon us she really hits the word judgment which showcases the resentments against the Valar that are already present well JZ V I know you created the world and you invented this awesome Island for us but what have you done for us lately dumel she grills elenil on the meaning of his name and it doesn't just mean one who loves the stars in the ancient tongue of the elar it can also mean elf friend now we know from tolken that he lives up to this name but here Muriel is concerned that he's a friend of the elves who are actually no longer welcome on this island ultimately elenil is a man of the sea the sea put gadriel in his path I mean possibly with the help of the valaro it kind of depends on your imagination and for him and the sea is always right Muriel has him watch over gadriel and he's given a sword that has a hollow pommel just like the naril that's the sword that elenil famously will wield later on in life so is this sword supposed to actually be a differently designed naril or is it just another sword time will tell always does back in the miserable Southlands we get a reminder of how the Orcs cannot abide the sunlight more importantly r& Deere takes notice of this revon marks that the Orcs have continued to reference Adar which is an elvish word they wonder if morgoth did indeed have a successor he did and why the successor would use an Elish name they note that Sauron once had many names but told he never wrote that Adar was one of them Anar was the most famous which was the name that he used when he assumed his fair and beautiful form remember the key line from the prologue of Lord of the Rings but they were all of them deceived this series is showing how Sauron deceived all the Realms of men elves and dwarves so unlike others in this episode it's not an everyone escapes or no one escapes situation for Revan if one of them gets out then that elf can alert others and bring help the Orcs are upset because the elves have stopped working thanks to the roots of an old tree and their answer the whole stinking tree down Saran will eventually find a similar solution to his problems burn it and we saw how that worked out for him revon defends the tree and one of the Orcs pretends to offer him and the other elves some water it turns out to not be poisonous but the water was never the danger the danger is from the orc slicing Thunder's throat while they're all drinking up symbolizing how you can be completely guard against one danger while leaving yourself open to another one thond Deere's death made us think of H deer's death in Helm's Deep to prevent more Elven deaths Arend deer cuts down the tree it's for the greater good how can this be for the greater good the alen reveals to gadriel that he speaks Elvish and that there are still signs of the old friendship in many places throughout the city he grew up in the west close to the hall of laws and the most faithful people to the elves still reside there in token's writing about newor the Western area was called el delande which translates to mean Haven of the Eldar gadriel and elendel ride to the west and gadriel seems completely free of all the burdens while she's on Horseback her White Horse evokes Shadow facts as well as asof written by glor fendel in the books and by Arwin and fellowship back to holl Brand story line he's trying to get with the blacksmith that he gave the hungry eye to upon his arrival he isn't allowed to join them until he gets a special Crest so he gets them all drunk and wipes one proving Adept at thievery once again he gets caught and attacked first asking the Smiths please don't do this R well because he proceeds to kick the stuffing out of all of them with like minimal effort and as he's told everyone he's trying to turn over a new Leaf gadriel discovers the Hall of laws was assembled by elros who was the first of the new manorian Kings El Ross was the brother of Elon and their parents were arendel and elwick both El Ross and Elon were considered half Elven due to their Heritage and following the war of the Wrath both of them were given a choice live as mortal men or live among the elves elron as we know chose the Elven way of life but El Ross made the opposite Choice becoming one of the adain and following the star of Arendale to numor the line of the num manorian Kings is also called the line of el Ross so gadriel actually knew El Ross but she tells alendale that she was always closer with his brother Elon we've already seen that friendship in the series alendale lets it slip that the king who ruled before Mel was loyal to the elves and was deposed because of it he keeps himself in a tower and once again we're fairly sure that he's talking about tar paler the father of queen regent Muriel the secret of the sigil that gadal has been following is then revealed and it's awesome while it may also represent the eye of Sauron it is no sigil it is a map specifically one of the Southlands when put to a map of Middle Earth and turned to the side the map symbol looks exactly like Mordor a plan written in Black speech has also been found one that intends for evil to endure and Thrive it is to be enacted in the event of moro's defeat I his success galadriel's worst fears are confirmed Sauron is still at work going along with a contingency plan that has been in place for a very long time the Southland story line and its relation to Mordor suddenly snaps into Focus after this Grim realization the series does an about face and brings us back to the harfoot who are enjoying a festival prior to their upcoming migration sedak burough and the others have a chant nobody goes up but they don't really mean that as literally as we may think lgo Brandy foot is still recovering from his injury in episode 2 as some have pointed out he broke his ankle at the same time the stranger broke a stick Largo tells maragold that they will not be left behind because of his injury they will all make it to their next destination unlike the captive elves in the South the Brandy foots are going All or Nothing Nory is still trying to decipher the star shown to her by The Stranger but poy proud fellow is against it she's gone full Bilbo baggin at the start of The Hobbit giving Gandalf a good morning and not wanting anything to do with anything good morning her line there's common sense and nonsense also remind us of a pre-venture Bilbo Nory steals a star chart from sedak while he's busy rewriting a verse making us think of how Bilbo rewrote one of his own poems in Rivendell in the book of The Fellowship there and Back Again a hobbit's tale by Bilbo baggin sedok begins a gathering most agreeable honorable haroot which reminded us of Bilbo speech at his 111st birthday party my dear baggin is and buffing and then he reads a list of harfoot fell behind on previous migrations they either died or couldn't continue on anymore those that are left behind are as sedak says carried on in their hearts and memories so like no one walks alone is more of a spiritual ideal for them why is Poppy so reluctant to stick his neck out to help someone else well the entire proud fellow family are either dead or have been left behind what was your name again dear Thorn D thank you we wait for you they say for a nomadic people to survive they're bound to have to make difficult choices his own wife daffodil was taken by wolves and surely he'd rather have that not happen to him we wait for you and can I wait for you the stranger tries to make sense of the star map that Nory stole and he ends up lighting it on fire he bungles the attempt to put it out so badly that he ends up revealing himself to the entire Camp so then Nory Secrets out and no one is happy but she was not content to just leave the stranger there she didn't want to leave him behind when she doesn't have to she's going to do the right thing and not the traditional thing when she's told that they don't need friends they only need to survive she responds with a heck of a line that basically sums up Lord of the Rings without friends what are we surviving for now we are reminded of the fellowship of thoren's company and of the multitudes of friendships that have saved Middle Earth time and time again although Nori has broken harfoot laws and should be DEC Caravan sedak lets her and her family stay on albeit at the back of the Caravan Nori knows she isn't special and she's just a little person after all but you're only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all but she believes that the stranger is important he may have caused Largo's accident and the death of the Firefly but it doesn't seem like he did either out of malevolence if anything they were both done out of ignorance he's not used to the magic surging within him and he doesn't yet know how to use it at a family dinner with elendil isor and aaran isor brings up his brother anarion who we have yet to meet on this series now as we previously mentioned the argano features sculptures of both him Andy Sor in tolk's writing Peter Jackson's movies did not give an Arian that much attention elenil makes us think that an Arian has ventured out to the Western Shores where we know that people are still sympathetic to the elves and this is where e seal door's interest lie even though elendil maintains that the past is dead e seor knowing exactly who gadriel is and having an interest in Elvish Works makes it clear that the past is not dead for him and he may have interest in more magical and more powerful things and this sign from elenil we either move forward or we die with it really makes him sound like a harfoot they likewise will be carried with us in our hearts and in our memories H brand was locked up after his spree of violence so gadriel goes to visit him who is he well gadriel is wondering the same thing she found a scroll in the west that has the same sigil on it that we Sal and H Brand's little pouch she says that a man bearing that Mark wants you n of the Southlands she knows Hall brand is from the Southlands and remembers that he said that they have no King so she puts it all together your people have no King for you are him Paul brand all but confirms it telling gadriel that the historical King she spoke of swore allegiance to morgoth she refutes that it was mere destiny that brought them together gadriel believes in much higher Powers she wants this King and rags to return to Middle Earth with her so both of them can redeem their blood lines she says that her lineage began the war morgoth obviously was the chief adversary but the Noor and especially her uncle fanor certainly made things worse so once again we have a secret King situation similar to Aragorn in some ways this is no mere Ranger he is Aragon son of arathor like H brand Aragorn was wary of his connection to weaknesses that came before him the same blood flows in my veins same weakness H brand is no king of Gondor because Gondor doesn't even exist yet in a tower that looks very similar to the Citadel minus tyth Muriel tells her father who I'll say would be tarp paler according to token's lore we think that he's the same character here because Muriel tells him that it is happening do we fear it the elf has arrived the fall of numor has been seen by her father and gadriel could be the first stone that will cause the avalanche now the name Tar paler might sound familiar and that's because it is similar to the name given to the scene Stones the uner they were called seeing stones and they were caused for trouble in Lord of the Rings The Lost seeing Stones we do not know who else may be watching fanor created an unknown number of them and some of them wound up in numor and Ellendale brought seven of them to Middle Earth now while they weren't used for seeing the future they could be used to watch and communicate over vast distances and they will be making an appearance very soon on the series back in the Southland SL Mordor SL the place where bad stuff is going on AR and his fellow captives launch an escape attempt they try to use the Orcs aversion to the sun against them and like legist they make fancy use of their chains we get our first real look at a war in the series and we think that the watch Warden is going to escape instead he ends up getting riddled with arrows like bmir r& deer is finally taken to Adar as the Orcs chant the name of their leader we see someone who looks like an elf before the episode cuts to credits so now it's time to remember the first word spoken at the premiere of the series as gadriel said nothing is evil in the beginning the line comes directly from tolken spoken by Elrod in the book of The Fellowship of the rink his version of it is for nothing is evil in the beginning even saon was not so so this theme comes into even sharper focus in episode 4 from the main title sequence onward and speaking of that main title sequence I think it's time that we break it down because some of you have already pointed out that this main title sequence this shows sand turning into shapes with the power of music evokes the song of inor which happens at the very beginning of the samelan Before Time began ya was sung into existence ya means the world in token speech at the dawn of Creation The Creator created the inor and the greatest of them was melor who is the big bad of this entire series but even melor was not evil at the dawn of creation Now this being who would go on to become the dark lord morgos became impatient and desired more power he lost the faith and became resentful that there were secrets that he was not yet privy to he wanted to create greatness of his own and his selfish thoughts brought Discord to this great music when it was sung we see this happening in the opening sequence when the dark slythering corruption comes sliding in the creators of the series have confirmed that this is what they wanted the opening credits to evoke the music of inor and it's only proper that the main title theme is written by Howard Shore the academy award-winning composer for all six of Peter Jackson's movie adaptations of tolking and the Great Bear mccre takes the Baton from him and writes all the gorgeous music that we hear in the series itself now if melor had never grown resentful then everything would have been just fine there would have been no conflict and token's lore would have comprised of one very brief boring chapter this is fantasy but the defects of real human beings find their way in cause conflict and make the story applicable tolken himself preferred that people refer to his work as being applicable and not allegorical resentment secrets and the desire to attain more power and the feeling that you were entitled to that power is a theme that runs through every storyline in this episode even when the power being sought is going to be used to avert disaster it becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophecy saton is a great threat but he's not the only source of corruption there is like melor showed us at the beginning of time conflict can arise from within with no help from anyone the episode's title is The Great Wave and it is the price of arrogance past a certain point this wave cannot be avoided we're reminded once again of Gondor As We join Queen Muriel as the main audience chamber of the numor looks exactly like the upper level and Battlement of minus tith as depicted in Return of the King Muriel dreams of a Great Wave sweeping over the entirety of numor and then laying it to waste the numenorians believe the sea is always right so she knows that something somewhere is off and This Disaster has to be averted really be averted well did you see numor in the movies um look Doug Anything Can Happen Muriel's vision of The Great Wave is something that was all too real for tolken himself in his letters he writes often that the image of an ineluctable wave coming up out of the sea and to a golf the land was a recurring nightmare of his he freed himself of this nightmare by riding it into the history of numor and he also gave a similar dream to fair and the Lord of the Rings now that's in the third age though and fair obviously had third age troubles on his mind but in the movie Return of the King the dream is transferred from feir to aen I dreamed I saw a great wave and since feir and aen or soulmates who end up married it's fair that Jackson and Company had her talk about the dream and not him when the guildsman of numor talk about gadriel Whispering poison into the Queen's ear we can't help but think of saton and how he will eventually do the same thing to many characters gadriel is trying to help these people but the num manorian are long past giving respect to the elves or the Valar who gave them this island in the first place Chancellor feris who probably goes to bed looking himself in the mirror talks to his son about stagecraft and he makes it clear that his Ambitions are not small faron's son is an invention for the show and wouldn't look out of place in eye Claudius the guildsmen are worried about elves infiltrating their Workforce workers who don't sleep don't Tire don't age but they sound more like this they Dicker again they've gotten by just fine without the help of the elves for some time and they don't want to be accountable to anyone or have someone judge them in any way they have forgotten their history including how they ended up on this island in the first place they accuse the queen of being blind and possibly an elf Lover now we've already seen in the opening that the queen sees things much clearer than anyone else on this island and as for being an elf lover um what have the Romans ever done for us fison joins them and reminds them all that they are of the Adan and the house of elos as well as armanos which is the great structure of the rulers the Valar rais the island but these men built everything on it with no help from anyone and as he says it is the Triumph of our civilization farizon starts by criticizing this Rabel but he soon Stokes their righteous anger even hotter than it was before their ambition was small and his is great we see just how easily ferzon is able to play on their pride and manipulate the people of numor and saon is nowhere in sight so by the calluses on my hands I swear that Elven hands will never take numor helm and to put everything well and truly over the top he gets everyone drunk drinks all around that should help the guy tells it just like it is and talks about jobs what could go wrong his son flirts with alen's daughter who you'll recall is another invention of the show perhaps they'll both sail away to the non-talking character convention that the history of harfoot storyline is enjoying this week anything can happen with these two because they are not beholden to any Cannon or lore he offers her wine from the vineyards near the menal tarma with the menal tarma being the central peak of this entire Island it is sometimes referred to in Tolen as the pillar of heaven when gadal presents Muriel with a filthy parchment that bears the marking of the evil contingency plan we're reminded of gandol showing Thorne a similar looking scrap in the opening flashback of the second Hobbit movie Promise of payment when she tells Muriel that she suspects hbr is a king of the Southlands Muriel cracks a joke about Ellendale being an emperor not a great joke but Muriel will be performing her tip five at The Comedy Store next week so what's the deal with elves am I right elil won't ever be an emperor but he will eventually be the high King of the dadin so take that Queen Chuckles Muriel doesn't like hearing that the task of defeating saton isn't finished they were once in the fight right alongside the elves and they got a nice Island out of it so now they have to go back and fight again Muriel calls gadriel call for men and elves to unite again ambitious which is Rich when you consider what the very ambitious fison is currently doing gadriel does not back down as we've now come to expect from this Show's version of the character when she says there is a tempest in me we know that she is not just being metaphorical the foundation of the earth Muriel does not like her talking about her father T paler so gadriel gets thrown in prison King thru will eventually deal with smaller problems in a similar fashion stay here if you will and root isor meanwhile still hears his name being called from the western part of numor which we visited in episode 3 it is called Eland in tolken which translates to elf Haven tolken wrote that this port was the most beautiful Haven on numor so whatever is to Ailor may be coming from there the mysterious voice coming out of the bright sunlight is more interesting to isor than the menial task of maning his rope so he just lets the Rope go once again his interest in things Beyond his Reckoning is guiding him more than Duty destroy it no his actions get both him and his friends kicked off the ship even though he was only looking to be kicked off himself he doesn't realize that his actions affect other people but here's the scene when he eventually learns that lesson one of his friends calls him out on all this leave it to you to get kicked out of something you never earned in the first place and we think of Aragorn an age later and how he wants nothing to do with the status and title that he was born with I do not want that power I have never wanted it when his friend says the real problem is him and that's not going anywhere he has no idea how prophetic he is being now we get our first look at a darn and he is indeed a corrupted elf now nothing is evil in the beginning but something has turned this particular elf to nefarious ends because he is an invention of the show we don't know what happened to him we only know that his visible scars dominate part of his face and it reminds us a little of thandel talking about dragon fire I have faced the great serpents of the north when he gives one of the Orcs a mercy killing we see real emotion in adar's eyes you'll remember that Adar translates to father from Elvish and all of these Orcs may be calling him father because he is breeding these Orcs himself the look on his face shows that he might even care for them unlike other characters who breed Orcs do you know how the Orcs first came into being they were elves once the other Orcs treat this Fallen orc with a lot more respect than the Orcs of the third age do looks like meet's back on the menu boys r& deer tells Adar that he was born in bellant which is a huge region in the Northwestern Middle Earth during the first age it was completely destroyed in the war of the Wrath and wiped off the map and the only part of it that survived is Lyon seen on this series as the realm of High King gilgalad now because ban no longer exists in the second age we can assume that aand Deere was present in the first age we can also assume the same of Ador as he talks about walking in ban himself referring to the mouth of the river which is likely a reference to the mouths of the river Syrian he says that r& deer has been told lies lies that run deep like the corruption that we see constantly spreading under the surface of Middle Earth in terms of tolken lure Adar might not be a God but saton is or at least a demigod called a myar and Adar does follow all of this up with a not yet not yet so he may be looking at something more powerful Within Envy like melor once looked at aou and how the num manorian now look at the elves now bronwin has taken all the southlanders to Safety in the former Elish Watchtower and we're reminded of the people in Rohan seeking safety in Helms Deep brownin also takes charge much in the same way that aan does before Theoden arrives where is the rest this is all we can say lady her son Theo still has a haircut that hides his ears so that's interesting isn't it the ears make all the difference brownwind and anadir are trading looks but they may have already traded much more than that when he goes Scavenging for supplies we see the sun suddenly get clouded over already we are on high alert without the protection of the sunlight the Orcs will be on their way and that's exactly what happens and Theo is a tax Pine orc who shares their tradition of licking blood off of knives when Theo uses his blood powered sword hilt to defend himself the orc recognizes it and asks where'd you get that now Theo escapes the orc after igniting the hilt and when they go shouting to the others he says I found it I found it which makes us think that this isn't just any other blood power sword hilt it's an important blood powerered sword hilt so what do you think it is I think it's an necros sword from Thord love and thunder really no kellor Forge is coming along just fine thanks to elon's new arrangement with Prince Duran you know when it comes to trying to make things better but only ended up making things worse there are fewer examples that are more glaring than Kell brenor now Kell brenor name drops elon's father who we have talked about in previous videos he was Arendelle the Mariner and one of the most famous elves of all time when Kell bmore talks about him there might be a hint of Yearning For The greatness that was once bestowed upon Arendelle Kell Bimbo's pursuit of his own greatness is leading him to forge the rings of power again we're seeing somebody's ego create an opening for evil to exploit now continuing with the episode's theme of alliance members or former alliance members not trusting each other Kell bbor thinks that Prince Duren has a secret and he's not wrong we saw that secret chest in episode 2 elron tries to use his political Movers On diesa to get answers but she proves that she is not one to be trifled with it's a recipe for strong gravy of all the characters that this Series has newly invented decent is definitely one of our favorites she's not blindly covering for her husband either we see her discussing her false story with Duren in the very next scene she's fully in on this and she's smart enough to look around and tell Duren to keep his voice down now they were right to not underestimate Elon and he isn't close enough to overhear them he does see them from far off though reminding us of how Keen the eyes of elves areas what do your Elf eyes see presumably he has read their lips because he grasps the secret that they're withholding in the old mind specifically it's the old mind beneath the mirror Mir now though not featured in Jackson's adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring the miramir is written about by tolken in the fellowship book in the chapters having to do with the company's Trek through Moria this was a vast Lake outside of kazad Doom now the original Duran Duran the deathless looked into its Waters and saw an image of himself wearing a crown because of this Vision he decided to build kazad Doom in that location within the mountain that fed miramir itself called Ked zeram and dwarvish it is called n kenil in synar which translates to Lake Looking Glass so why should I care about that well Doug prophetic visions and dreams have already played a huge part in this episode and will continue to do so the mention of the miramir is a fascinating addition assuming that you know what the mirrir is elron gets in through one of the secret dwarf doors that look invisible when closed Rich kiss the stone P yours and go and Duran is not happy to see him in an episode full of rivalries and old alliances breaking down the last thing we need is for dwarves and elves to start going at it there's nothing that elron doesn't know that he hasn't told Duren he doesn't know what Kell bimor is going to do with the forge that they're making so there's no secret for him to tell at that moment duren's threat that elron Ken will be doomed if he tells anyone the secret once again relates to the anger among the races on this show sometimes with resentments that go very far back so what's in the box a new ore that was discovered by daa which might be dearer than gold than silk harder than iron as Weaponry it would best our proudest blades fans of both the books and the movies will know exactly what or this is the wealth of Mario was not in gold ORS but my wuren says that it could bring about a whole new age for his people he's not wrong elron sees no problem sharing the secret far and wide but Duran knows better it's perilous to mine my father has restricted our every efforts Duran's father Duran theii is right to restrict those efforts because eventually the dwarves Del too greedily and Too Deep now in tolk's writing mythal could be found in Moria but also in numor everyone and anyone wanted it and it was the most precious metal in the entire lore bbo baggin received a shirt of meal from Thoren this vest is made of silver steel myth and Bilbo then passed it on to Frodo as light as a feather and as hard as dragon scales let me see you put it on Gandalf lets everyone know exactly what a grand gift that was I never told him but its worth was greater than the Val of a shine in tolking the dwarfish name for it was a secret now on the series Duran tells elron what they call it as well as what the Elvish translation might be and our tongue GRE glitter and yours something like me thr no no it would be me thrill now when the Mind shakes and part of it caves in it's a harbinger of the mythro related dangers to come what's happening with my man harand wow he uses one too many horse metaphors when he's talking to gadriel but he's not wrong when he tells her that there is a more diplomatic way to go about getting what she wants especially in the world of men though he's the bluntest instrument around H brand knows that a needle can be more effective than a hammer even for the commander of the northern Elvish armies the following exchange speaks volumes it seems to me that you do well to identify what it is that your opponent most fears give them a means of mastering it not only is that exactly what farizon is doing it is exactly what Saron will eventually do with the rings of power he will deceive all of his enemies with the Rings a means to master their fears and then he will secretly create the one ring which will master all of the other rings and the ones who wield them gadriel might need to learn diplomacy but she does not need to learn how to take out a bunch of guards so for all his talk farizon looks at her in fear and lets her walk out hardly even drawing his sword H brand almost certainly tells farizon where gadriel is going as a means to advance whatever his own agenda is when he seor talks to his sister about no longer being worthy of going into the West he's talking about going into the Western Elvish region of numor but his words can't help but take on a grander meaning going into the West in the larger sense means going to valinor something that the numenorians are forbidden to do at this point on the show going to valinor is a gift that not every elf receives which makes gadal rejection of the gift all the more impactful the theme of farseeing visions and dreams now hits a new high as gadriel finds Muriel standing by the king in the tower as we said in our previous video this is Muriel's father tar paler he was a truth Seer who had visions that foretold num Manor's Doom the white tree dropping pedals was in these Visions as was The Great Wave on this show his visions and the inability to stop the oncoming Doom has made him bedridden and possibly insane Muriel doesn't want the truth of the king's condition to get out so just like Elon and Duran gadriel and Muriel have a secret if the people knew of the king's condition and what his Visions entailed then faith in both him and Muriel would fade and control of the people would be lost Panic would ensue hiding him in a tower is the only way to deal with this as he is in token's writing tar paler is loyal to the elves now on the show Muriel tells gadriel the king wanted to return to these ways as well as the Forgiveness of the Valar whose judgment he felt was on them and he's right about that Muriel only took up the crown because the new manorian rebelled against what tar paler wanted but there was yet another Royal secret in the mix paler one of the scene Stones we talked about in our previous video the paler were forged by Feer in the first age after the numenorians broke off contact with the elar tolken wrote that a paler was given to the faithful of numor so they could still communicate with them endale eventually bring seven of these seen stones to Middle Earth in the series Muriel says that there are only seven stones in total and that this is the only one they know the location of so the show is playing out tar Pal's visions and the paler seen Stones a little differently as here the stone was passed on to him along with the secret another secret Secrets when gadriel says that she has touched a paler before it makes sense because feor created them and she was his niece touching it here gadriel gets a full vision of the falling pedals and the wave as Muriel says it is num's future you saw using a paler to show a vision of the future is a bit of a stretch if anything this scene has more in common with gatal mirror and fellowship palen show many Visions some that will never come to pass the mirror shows many things things that were things that are and some things that have not yet come to pass Muriel is so concerned with the arrival of gadriel because the vision begins with a visiting elf her following line only numor can bring about her downfall shows that Muriel isn't just another elf hater either now while many numenorians are resentful Of The Elves and the Valar and they're in the midst of fully turning away from them Muriel knows that the island was given to them by the Valar and if the num manorian succumb to Darkness then the vlar can take it back once again numor doesn't need saton to Doom itself he may come along and speed up the process but faron's going to ferzon Muriel is damned no matter what she does so she opts for a quick fix get rid of the only Harbinger around and hope that nothing else in the vision comes true gadriel knows full well that sending her away and choosing to not Aid in her fight is a choice based in fear but she also emphasizes that she is no stranger to being the only one who sees the danger when everyone else is painting mission accomplished banners I know what it is to be the only one the only one who sees do not choose fear choose Faith join with gadriel and let the alliance with the elves be reborn let this be the hour that you draw swords together ride out and meet them ride out with me nope Muriel chooses fear I choose the danger now Theo has gotten out of the well he was hiding in possibly with a pouch similar to H Brands around his neck and after a long and wonderful tracking shot of him Escaping The Village he's finally on his way back to the Tower with the help of r& Deere and they're running from the Orcs to the woods definitely reminded us of this it's working I know he's working run r& Deere also has a nice chance to show off some of his legalist moves including this altimer right here when arere Theo and bronwin hit a spot where the sun comes out we're reled these Orcs aren't going to go anywhere near them now so here's hoping that no one ever finds a way to breed an orc that can move freely through the sunlight he's breeding an Army in the Kevin of isard an Army in the comoving sunlight when elron watches diesa sink to the stone we get an insight into How deep the dwarf's relationship with stone truly is they don't just hammer and chisel their way through it they sing to it ask for guidance and ask it to reveal its secrets to them it is a relationship that no other race in Middle Earth has making the dwarves truly remarkable music playing a part in the creation also calls back to the song of inor which we spoke of at the start of this video Duren may have gotten everyone out of the collapse alive but when he returns he says that his father has shut down the entire vein he's being cautious but Duran wishes otherwise even the hottest calls eventually cool well sometimes I wish they wouldn't the wealth and prosperity that meal could bring to his people is already beginning to take precedence over the safety of duren's people he's a little too ready to take chances we hear more of the tale of elon's Father arendel the Mariner whose Deeds were so great that the Elder turned him into a star I give you the light of arendal our most beloved Star elron had a new star in the sky but he couldn't help but wonder what his father would think if he was still there with him he'd only want one more conversation with him something that Muriel probably would wish for as well and something that he seor is not taking advantage of duren's father has not been turned into a star so elon's encouraging him to not waste time that they have together is a touching moment between them Duren takes the advice and talks with his dad King Duren theii who talks to him about how dwarves believe that when a new king is crowned the voices of all his forbearers flow into him not only does this Echo the passing on of tar palan's Vision it also tracks with token's writing about the line of Duren the dwares believed that Duren the first would return seven times and that certain members of his line would be Duren reborn as the king says forever am I with you my son even in anger sometimes in AER most of all so though father and son are at peace for the moment they both believe that there is something more at work when it comes to the elves they aren't wrong so now that we know the true connection between the Southlands and Mordor the Elvish Watchtower is starting to look like it could eventually become the Tower of kirth unle nothing is evil in the beginning the loyalties of the people in the Southlands are about to be tested as well because Ador has sent render back with a message are you people may live if you forsake all claim to these lands and swear FIY to him when the tavern keeper reveals to Theo that he knows all about the sword Hilton that he took from the Sellar he also reveals that he Bears the Sauron contingency mark on his arm just as Theo now does he also knows about a beautiful servant that we feel he's ready to serve again so farizon may get what he wants when gadriel gets back on another boat to skip town but the episode has one final portent to show us Muriel began the episode dreaming of num Manor's potential fall but now she sees part of the vision for real the pedals of Nimo Begin to Fall she only has to give one look to the ever faithful elendil and they know exactly what they have to do she must give a speech worthy of Aragorn but numor as one must once again believe what their ancestors believed potential Heroes and hindrance is about he seal door could be helpful but when we see Hall brand he's just a big question mark Muriel is going to do something that is truly worthy of the Adan of old she is going to personally bring gadriel back to middlee gadriel never Avers to getting off of a boat has returned and stands alongside her they will go to the Southlands and forced to counter the rising threat and when it really counts eor steps up a vast number of numenorians are willing to be of Service as well it would seem that faith is not as Tiny a thread to hang a kingdom on as Muriel once thought it can Inspire and it can unite the episode begins with newor being distinctly anti-elf and wanting to isolate from the rest of the world cut to the end and they're all volunteering to go to war perhaps resentment pride and jealousy have yet to take too strong of a hold so will this be enough to literally turn the tie to potentially save numor or they got a shot got a shot got a shot the episode is titled partings which may be a nod to the chapter in the book of Return of the King called many partings while it is a literal reference in this episode to certain characters and groups of characters parting ways it is also a vocative of how many of them seek to part with their past misdeeds when Nori teaches the stranger some words she begins with migration means like to move what we do Harford Gandalf was known as the wandering Wizard and of the five istari was the only one that we get to know who never planted Roots anywhere Sans settled at Eisen go and radagast stayed close to Rosel tolken wrote that the blue Wizards went into the East with saramin and were never heard from again so who knows what happened to them Gandalf learning about wandering and migration this early on makes sense because that becomes his way of life it isn't an Easy Life as we know that Gandalf is no stranger to trouble Nori introduces that concept to him in the scene as well par like a danger The Stranger doesn't seem to know what death is which would track with him potentially being a mayard and he has no idea that he caused the death of the Firefly the way he reacts to this makes it clear that it was an accident he is not in full control of his powers to make something dead as Nori puts it is the opposite of life that's the ultimate parting in many ways there's also the parting ways of Good and Evil and many characters in this episode who think that they are good prove to be anything but when all this is ended elves will take orders from us characters that are scared of what they could become are a different story when these people discover it they will cuss me out the stranger is worried that he himself is Peril I'm Peril but Nori is certain that he's anything but you're not a pero you're good I'm good The Stranger struggles to understand the concept showing that for now at least he has a simpler mind than many others on this show I I'm I'm good I'm good too yes you are to smash the Gandalf h are even more the shot of nori and the stranger looks just like this shot of Gandalf and Bilbo from the third Hobbit movie we haven't mentioned this Theory yet but it's going around so we'll do it now it's not ours but it's great all the same we'd bet all of the money in your wallets that the wheels on the harfoot carts will eventually become the doors of Hobbit holes they are wandering now but they will eventually settle their wheels keep them in motion constantly moving from Peril eventually they will become doors to keep the Peril out and yes that Peril includes the Sackville baggin's poppy got the song that she sings from her mother who was left behind her singing it as the group travels ever ever on evokes many of tol keen's own traveling songs the theme of wandering once again comes up often in the lines of the song which is probably the most beautiful moment that the show has given us thus far the final line of the song also happens to be right from tolkki in the book The Fellowship of the Ring Gandalf includes a few lines of a poem in a letter to Frodo intending the lines to get Frodo to trust Strider the poem is a reworking of an older work of tolking which he updates to start all that is gold does not glitter not all those who wander are lost it is revealed later that these lines were written about Aragorn by Bilbo bagin so theoretically Bilbo could have taken that line from this older harfoot song Gandalf's use of it could also now have a deeper meaning the last lines of the poem are spoken by Arwin in the movie turn of the king renewed shall be blade that was broken the crownless again shall be king though the Elvish Watchtower that they are using as a fortress was once a symbol of shame to the men who stood with morgoth bronwin seeks to part with that history and transform the tower into something more this Tower will no longer be a reminder of our Frailty but a symbol of our strength it seems like the southlanders are going to unite and fight his hands go up in support mirroring the numenorians in episode for it doesn't go the same way however as wreg steps up and gives a voice of dissent the elves were right to watch these people because not all of them have learned from the past even after all of this time half of them follow wreg to pledge felty to Adar ready to make the same mistakes again I am ready to get hurt again numenorians may have looked United but they have resentments and schemes among them all that seek to tear them apart aor always ambitious has forsaken going into the west of numor and wants in on this Mission s me to the front of the line as usual a seor wants power that he has not yet earned many of the wealthy looking numenorians show that they don't support joining the fight and they prove as much when they yell questions to farizon they likely cannot see any upside in this for them so why would they go elendil's daughter aarian doesn't support it either but this may be because she doesn't want to lose another parent farzan's son Cayman agrees with her Hal brand at his Forge definitely makes us think of narel being reforged in the Return of the King movie he's able to show Muriel and farizon that the enemy is likely headed for the Elvish Watchtower which could point to the new manorian giving the southlanders a last minute save in their upcoming battle the fact that Hal brand is going back to middlee with the new manorian forces is definitely news to him I'm certain your fellowship will prove just as invaluable once you make landfall landfall where Elon gently nudged Aragorn to take up his true destiny in the movie of Fellowship of the Ring you are the last of that bloodline there is no other Galadriel is just making the choice for Hal bran without asking him I have no doubt come time he will do his part he doesn't appreciate it once again uses his sigil pouch as a symbol of his higher purpose find another head to Crown when the harf foots find the woods they're traveling in less giving than usual ual we are reminded of the falling infected Leaf in the premiere episode as well as how Greenwood the great eventually becomes the poisonous merkwood in The Hobbit these Woods have never been this be this time a year we are also reminded of one of tree Beard's lines in the movie of The Two Towers the withering of all Woods is Drawing Near these Woods are not going bare because of the rise of industry the old world will burn in the fires of Industry it is itself that is festering when sadok is made to think that all of this is related to The Stranger traveling with them he is reminded of the greater good how can this be for the greater good the greater shut it it seems cold for the harf foots to leave anyone behind but the perils they face make it necessary for the hole what's it going to take make a widow of somebody or an orphan theoretical Peril becomes literal Peril when wolves attack the harf foots but that's when the stranger proves how useful he can truly be they shall not pass this injures the stranger's hand which may be why Gandalf decides to start using a staff he should start using his staff if he is in fact Gandalf I should say it's still up in the air and then I said to myself how would I do that unlike the harf foots ellenel tells his training soldiers to hold their ground the gadriel makes a reference to stone giants something that we see in the first Hobbit movie The Legends are true Giants stone giants she also knows that holding her ground and using brute strength will not help you defeat an orc she has a lot of experience fighting them and these children of Summer have absolutely none ellenel is wise and modest enough to ask her to help out but for you I will keep it strong and simple stab twist gut many of these numenorians may only have heard stories about elves and have never seen what an elf can truly do in a fight there is Wonder All Around as gadriel takes on multiple opponents with almost no effort telling them that movement maneuvering and balance are what will put them ahead it took five episodes but we get a serious sword fight and it is gorgeous isu's friend valandil is the only one who barely manages to scratch eladriel so he gets the prize of being made a lieutenant in the seag guard translated from Elvish the name valandil means Friend Of The Valor in tolkien's writing it is also the name of sildur's youngest son in the same line of Kings as Aragorn seor may end up naming his future son after this specific friend when how brand can't help but show off gadriel can't help but notice Cayman tries to talk his father farizon into stirring up opposition to the upcoming Journey but he is not impressed sometimes the Folly of youth is enough to make an old man weep no doubt it is the Folly of Youth which is all men in comparison is enough to make the elves weep is my father would sooner die than take orders from an elf Cayman is worried about War casualties and being of service to elves farizon is an older and more slippery game player and he's thinking much larger soon we will save the low men of Middle Earth and give them the king they've long awaited the king who will be forever not de hey the toin ever right about the Nidoran ever going to Middle Earth I'm glad you ass Doug now is a fine time to mention how this series is compressing and Shifting the timelines in terms of num manorian excursions to Middle Earth tolken wrote that they did travel to Middle Earth on several occasions at first because they were banned from going to valanor and there was nowhere else to explore they visited Lyndon made friends with high King Gil galled and eventually went to war alongside him after Salon reemerged many battles ensued and Sauron became determined to ruin them after he was forced to retreat to Mordor the res M of Elves and the Valar mostly began after this point with the numenorians being divided into the faction of Elf friends and the kings men some of these kings men settled umbar in Middle Earth the Corsair of which are shown in the movie of Return of the King the faithful began to be persecuted and the Eldar no longer visited numor tar paler sought to regain the favor of the Valar and repent something that is kind of touched on in this series a major Landing of num manorian forces under farzon took place later on and while this was a supposed Victory Sauron managed to turn it to his Advantage so rich narian trip to M Earth is this at this point who knows Ellen deal is involved here which he usually isn't that much we know as for the rest the series will no doubt continue to pick and choose its battles literally Mariel telling tar paler that they are doing this to rekindle their relationship with the elves kind of tracks with all of that but he has the gift of foresight and asks one thing of her don't go is he talking about myriel specifically or the people of numor in general tolken didn't specificly right that myriel never went to Middle Earth but she has a lot of story left for her in numor itself as for numenorians going to Middle Earth in this period Well gadriel might want it but it may not be the best decision in the long run not great Bob when you're right you're right Doug when the stranger mumbles odd words trying to heal his hand we couldn't help but think of this Nori gets caught up in his magic but again we don't think that he intends this to happen as Nori runs afraid of him for the first time the stranger seems to realize that he's gone too far is he really as good as Nori thought Gil galled makes a reference to Al when he host Prince Doran in Lyndon your furnaces are said to be burning as bright as the eyes of Al himself you'll remember that Al is one of the Valar and the one who created the dwarves in the first place Duran shows more decorum than the dwarves in the first Hobbit movie showed in rivendale where's the meat have they got to the chips but Duran is definitely still GNA Duran bit sudden for elves no though Gil galled has questions for Duran durhan himself is able to get the upper hand on Gil galled telling him that the stone table he is using is made from Stone that the dwarves consider sacred you find out later that this isn't at all true Duran just wanted to give his wife a new table still it shows how little the elves truly know about Dwarven culture save for a specific stone that is most important to them it's good to know there's still some honor left among the elves it's only after this dinner that elron and High King Gil gallid have it out the king doesn't like elon's loyalty to Duran but elron doesn't like that he was used as a Pawn by both Gil galled and Kella bmore to get the truth of the myth real secret Gil galled lets elrond and the audience know of his true concerns having elron recount a legend that is thought to be apocryphal he calls Elon perel along the way which translates to half Elven according to the series this Legend revolves around a tree and the roots of this tree were one of the lost saril it was the resulting light that found its way into the Misty Mountains itself and created Mythril this a lot to unpack you ain't kidding this story is mostly an invention of the show but it uses enough of existing tolken lore that it goes down semi smooth tolkki never wrote that one of the three silmer rils the precious stones that held the remaining light of the two trees ever found its way to the base of a tree at the top of the Misty Mountains one of them ended up with arendal the Mariner one was thrown into the sea and one was thrown into a fiery Chasm this is an age later so the fiery Chasm Sil maril might and that's a strong might have ended up here I don't know manway is mentioned and he is the king of the Valar and brother to melor who eventually became morgoth he never understood evil and he always gave his brother too much leeway tolken originally wrote of an event called the final battle or the dagar dagar which is an apocalyptic event where morgoth would return and manway would battle him personally Christopher tolken maintained that tolken had abandoned the concept of this entire prophecy a balrog of morgo is both mentioned and seen and you'll remember one of those from The Fellowship of the Ring a b rock the look of this balrog complete with fiery whip is very similar to what we see in the movies balrogs were Mayar spirits that were corrupted by morgo and some of them still exist in Middle Earth they don't just fight physically they are powerful Sorcerers in their own right and in the book of Fellowship Gandalf trades many spells back and forth with the balrog that the company encounters the look of the lightning that ens snared the tree evokes the two trees of valanor as well as the image of the trees that we see in the opening credits of the show as for this being the birth of mithil it never happened tolken never directly connected mithil to the light of the silmarils this is an Amazon thing the reason that Gil galled sent Elon to kazad Doom was to discover this secret then you admit the dwarves did find it the or containing the light of the Lost saril Elon is determined to keep his promise to Duran but gilgalad lays out how all of this is connected to the eventual Doom of the elves it's not only a single leaf that has been corrupted it's the entire tree making us remember the poisoning of the two trees which we saw at the beginning of the series just in case the symbolism isn't clear Gil galled tells us what it all means the light of the Eldar is fading leaving Middle Earth is not an option for Gil galled yet because the growing evil will spread and wipe everything out he's not ready to abandon in literally everyone on Middle Earth yet he ties all of this into elron breaking his promise to Duran and telling him about the suddenly magical myth he uses talk of hope to do it hope is never mere Eland even when it is meager once again it's about the greater good the greater good shut it when isor asks valandil to use his Newfound status to get him on the Expedition he does apologize but that's not enough ail says it'll be different but he has shown that his patterns of behavior will never really change as valandil tells him one day I hope you find something that you would be willing to sacrifice anything for his hope for a seal door will eventually manifest no question a seal door and Cayman have more in common than we thought as they both end up on a ship Cayman there to burn it and a seal door there stowing away after a tussle with a lantern the ship blows up their lie is that isor saved Cayman so Ailor begins his long streak of pulling Victory from the jaws of defeat taking this as potential sabotage and not the work of two morons we see myriel now questioning the entire Enterprise farizon is restraining her on one shoulder and gadriel is pushing her on the other Kell bmore talking about elon's father arendal the Mariner is it means to push him even further though he calls arendal a mortal man he was half elf the legend that Kell bmbo tells is true to tolken however he wrote that arendel and his wife and elon's mother elwing sought out the Valar directly imploring them to intercede in the fight against margoth in the war of Wrath they accepted his plea and came to Middle Earth on this series Kell bmore gives a little more detail about elwing asking arendel why he had to be the one to undertake this Mission why must it be him because he was the only one who could do it it's a cheap shot from Kella bmore to use the history of elon's own father to rest information out of him hey can you talk about har brand I was just going to when Galadriel apologizes to how brand for including him on the mission without his consent she keeps pushing him to join his people with hers he has to remind her that his people fought against hers not that long ago you don't know what I did before I ended up on that rough cross cutting to the men of the Southlands currently joining with Adar lets him know that everything that Hal brand feared is still possible history is repeating itself whether his people have a king or not these men are only interested in survival this was true of Hal bran before and it's true of this contingent of southlanders now bowing before Adar Hal bran doesn't tell gadriel specifically what Wicked thing he did to survive but he believes that it is bad enough that his own people and gadriel will cast him out when Galadriel quotes her brother's line about Darkness how bran doesn't buy it why does she keep fighting why do you keep fighting because I cannot stop her pain is revealed to be even deeper than that especially after her Garrison turned on her and Elon conspired to ship her away and each of them acted as they did because I believe they could no longer distinguish me from the evil I was fighting these lines are very telling as are galadriel's lines about earning peace in Middle Earth when she hands Hal Bran's pouch of Destiny back to him she soon will become a part of the evil that she is fighting though she won't be aware of it not only will she go along with the rings of power project once it finally becomes a thing she will bear one of the three Elven Rings herself and she will bear it for the rest of her life Nya the Ring of adamant might give her the peace that she seeks here but it will change her to Bear a ring of power is to be alone when wreg meets Adar he says he wants him and his Brethren to be lifted up to take their rightful place which are lines full of pride and based in resentment at having to be watched over by elves for so very long when Theo asks aand Deere while he is bothering to stay behind with them it makes us think of the invented Moment In The Two Towers movie when a contingent of elves selflessly arrive to Aid the rerum at Helm Deep an alliance once existed between elves and Men we come to honor that Allegiance half of the southlanders may have left but half also stayed and Theo was one of them aend Deere giving hope to Theo evoked Aragorn during the same for a youngster before the Battle of Helms Deep begins there's always hope it is because of this new Bond the Theo shows the creepy sword Hill to arender and arender recognizes it because he spent countless years in this Tower he finds an image of it on the wall and we finally see that the handle of this object has actually been in the shape of the Watchtower this entire time it is a key which leads to something deep below the tower and was used to enslave the southlanders Aaron Deere doesn't know what it specifically does but he does know full well that Adar wants it our enemy knows your son has what he needs to enact it the entire Vibe of these scenes is completely reminiscent of the buildup to the Battle of Helms Deep in the movie of The Two Towers complete with looks at far off armies approaching days bronwin losing hope in wanting to join with the Enemy at the last minute fits right in with this movie invention as well bronwin says what no one else does the elves were right to watch them all those years they are destined for darkness and there will be no parting with their past she says it's how we survive which is a direct Echo to Hal brand lines earlier in the episode surviving in the darkness and not in the light also evokes adar's Orcs perhaps is Who We Are who we will always be as gimle says in tolkien's writing faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens Aaron Deere knows what's on the line because he mentions how entire continents were lost during the battles with morgoth we learned in the prior episode that he is originally from bararan and that was a continent that was lost he knows of what he speaks when Duran tells Elon the truth about the table Duran makes another reference to outlay before asking Elon to tell him the truth in a very Duran way give me the meat and give it to me Elon fesses up about the mithil saying that without it the elves have until spring this may be the reason why Keller bmore was so hot to get his special Forge built the fate of the elves to dwindle diminish and to be lost a Time recalls what elron will say to Arwin much later in the movie of The Two Towers here you will dwell B to your grief and just like that the fate of the entire Elven race is in Duran's hands though there is finally full honesty between Elon and Duran Gil galled watches them from above we find it all too likely that he has sold the two friends a bursting bill of goods when hbr looks intently on his pouch of Destiny we know that the entire fate of Mariel's Expedition rests on his decision for some reason he Parts with his Destiny only to rejoin it seconds later he Parts with his blacksmith self and becomes the king that he once was he pulls an Aragorn yet again now come the days of the king Mariel seems to have ignored her father's advice and is armored up and on Horseback it looks like she's going along Ellen deal must have forgotten that he had a daughter because both he and a seor who ends up being brought along as a stable sweep ride right past aarian the people of numor in their fine armor aboard their fine ships are a sight to see but that's nothing compared to the sight of Galadriel walking on the deck in her own armor with Bear mccreary's music blasting in we all feel like gimle when he departs Loth laan in Fellowship of the Ring except to look upon the lady of the gatum one last time and so it was that way ahead of schedule Ellen deal let a boatload of numenorians for when the episode opens we see Adar planting seeds not only is this symbolic of how Adar himself has grown new Orcs all on his own it has another symbolism for his Elish nature something that we'll discover from another character later on he speaks the line which is a curious thing for an elf to say elves have the gift of immortality something that was not granted to the race of men while they are Immortal they are not Invincible elves can be killed or they can also die of grief the first episode of this series told us that the elves did not have a word for death before they went to war so this ritual likely developed during or after that time though he has been mutilated there is still plenty of elf within Adar when he addresses his children who all hold fiery torches it reminded us of San addressing the Orcs that he created in the movie of Fellowship of the Ring you will taste man flesh unlike San or Sauron Adar talks to these Orcs as brothers they are not slaves to him even though some will die in his service some of us will fall some of you may die he says they won't be unnamed either which is something he brings up again later in the episode in the third age San's uruki had names ugluk being one and even the Orcs of Sauron were named in tolk's books occasionally including grishnack shagrat and your mother you didn't do the joke right I had to try so ises your mom Adar wants them all to be sisters and brothers but the most notable thing of all that he wants them to have is a home because of the southland's location and these Orcs not being able to abide the sun you can already tell what he has in mind he's not going to rent the a condo Block in the Poconos he calls them uruks multiple times here which is getting close to the name Uruk high that saran would give his own Creations in the third age the word Uruk almost translates to orc from black speech wreg asks Adar about Sauron obviously not learning his lesson from the previous episode at all and adar's slow turn to him makes us think once again that Adar and Sauron may not be on the best of terms aand deer's shot that brings down the tower immediately made us think of this while in the two towers the plan was to get everyone out of the city and barricade them into a fortress this plan ends up being the reverse barricade the Enemy Inside The Fortress Fortress and then barricade everyone else inside a village in the first Hobbit movie Bilbo baggin gives his Pony an entire Apple in this episode seor gives his horse a bite of an apple and then keeps on eating that same Apple sharing is caring he then throws what's left of the Apple into the sea it doesn't hit Bill Fernie or Pippen Pi we're about second breast gadriel reminds us once again how Keen the eyes of elves are it'll be visible to your eyes in a few moments what do your Elf I see she meets a seor who wants nothing more than to get away from numor soon enough he'll have his wish granted permanently he speaks of the real numor which may be a reference to valinor under the ban of the Valor the race of men is forbidden to venture there galadriel's assurance that those lands do still exist is probably shallow comfort for the never to be fulfilled aor after having aor get back to work elendil reluctantly tells gadriel that isidor's mother drowned this must make that hurt even more for Lil because if she was taken by the Sea and the sea is always right a Seal's mother is never named in tolkien's writing when ellenel charts out their approach with myriel we get another good look at the Southlands thanks to the map that they use we know that this is Mordor territory but the location of the now ruin Watchtower is very close to where kongol will one day stand also prominent on this map is a certain volcano which is at the moment dormant D speaking of which just like the one ring can only be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom the creepy sword hilt key can't be broken apart by force as aend Deere finds out it's going to take more than that but at least it didn't blow him backwards The Works of Sauron are not so easily destroyed the ring cannot be destroyed gimly son of glin by any craft that we here possess much like the writers of Rohan these people enjoy putting orhe heads on Pikes arender has the following to say to the people soon the sun will set do your part and I swear to you you shall see it rise again this might be a bit of a stretch but this line is very similar to one of our favorite lines in all of tolken in the sil marilon the battlecry of the completely outnumbered hurin during the Battle of unnumbered Tears is a and to Lava day shall come again when Theo is set to guard the women and children we thought of how aoan is given a similar task in the movie of The Two Towers he adds in this I can fight which aoin says earlier in the movie I can fight when bronwin repeats words she used to say to Theo when he was little some of them sound familiar this Shadow is but a small and passing thing two different speeches from Sam wise gamji come to mind starting with this one in the two towers but in the end it's only a passing thing this Shadow and the the one in this scene from The Return of the King there's light and Beauty up there that no Shadow can touch aend Deere lets us know about the seed planting thing that we saw Adar do in the opening it is a tradition among elves before the battle begins plant one once again it is New Life in defiance of death The Valor who watches over growing things and those who tend them that arender mentions is very likely a reference to yavana the Mighty Valor who first grew all of the plants of Arda her husband was Ole who we've mentioned before is the Valor who created the dwarves yavana feared that the dwarves as well as the elves and men would cut down her trees and she brought this issue to manway who then brought it to the very top of the chain to eru uvat who took pity on her and created the an look the trees they're moving is that all she did far from it of her many many Deeds one of the more fun ones is this when the Mayar who would form the isy were being chosen yavana asked the Mayar kumno to bring the Mayar Ian deal with them kumno became him or embrace your own destruction and ianal became him saan likely regretted this later but he wasn't about to refuse the wish of one of the Valor will not speak to me rust the brown he's a foolish fellow also sent by Ivana your maternal figure no that's still not right okay Arend Deere and bronwin steal a kiss but is it there first we'll need Theo to brush that hair off of his ears before we can say for certain when the Orcs slowly approached the village in the night we immediately thought of the urai approaching Helm's Deep aend Deere getting tossed around by this big old boy definitely made us think of legalis meeting bold for the first time in the desolation of smou an orc bleeding all over arender for quite a long time isn't just a lovely excuse for some gore it is a reminder to us in case we needed one that orc blood is black the villagers think they've won but really they're all about to have a smaller version of the moment that Theoden has here make safe the city because of this though there were some Orcs in that first assault most of the attackers were southlanders who joined with Adar in the previous episode Adar sent them in first even to a guy like me that's cold having enemies fight each other before sending in any troops of your own is classic Sauron and apparently it's classic Adar as well A House Divided cannot stand so having men fighting against their own is a familiar and worrying tactic this orc is especially proud of the move to pay the toll but all he's really doing is making us think of this you got to pay the troll toll to get in Aon Deere doesn't seem to have the talents for Elish healing that we've seen Tel use in The Hobbit but that was more of a movie invention the best they can do here is use seeds somewhat akin to Aragorn's use of aalis and cauterize it back and front when the men of numor ride with all their might to the rescue we get another good look at their armor and helmets some of you viewers rightfully point it out that the designs are similar to some designs of the men of Rohan helping to drive that notion home here is naturally the fact that they're charging on horses right now to the mysterious key serves a smaller scale story purpose in this episode in much the same way that the one ring does Adar wants it he's willing to go to any lengths to get it but aend Deere has hidden it you have something I want Adar is perfectly willing to kill every single person in the room until till Adar gives the key to him which is something to remember for later Adar calling it such a little thing also made us think of this it is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing such a little thing Theo is the one who reveals where the key is located though he only saw arender heading into this building earlier not necessarily where he hit it Theo continues to have a connection to the key much like Frodo baggin and the other ring bearers have a connection to the one ring it's not a healthy connection definitely isn't the way that the key is wrapped is very similar to how radagast has wrapped up the morgal blade in the first Hobbit movie the men and the Orcs don't hear horns but they do hear Hooves and that means that much like the men of Rohan will do later on the numenorians have come their Battle Tactics definitely evoke the rerum and galadriel's moves on Horseback instantly made us think of this it might be an overcast day so direct sunlight isn't bothering these Orcs as much as it normally would but symbolically we see the numenorian Sigil of a sun so in a roundabout way the sun is still trouble for the Orcs myriel their leader wears a helmet that also evokes the sun elenil who wears a helmet that looks exactly like the ones worn by The gondorian Citadel guard is saved by how brand in the middle of the battle the future king of Gondor and aror is saved by the soon to be king of the Southlands when gadriel rides after a fleeing Adar it is a reverse of the Black Rider Chase from fellowship in El is now chasing the enemy galadriel's Whisper of nalim to her horse here makes us think of the fellowship movie where Arwin asks the same of her horse asalo Nim asalo translated from Elvish nalim means ride fast I always nurm I know you do where are the harfords not in this episode where are the dwarfs also not in this episode when gadriel interrogates Adar she says that she heard stories of elves taken by morgoth when she was a child tortured Twisted made into a new and ruined form of life this is true in some of tolan's writing though the origin of the Orcs was never firmly decided by him and is debated by tolken Scholars to this very day morgoth melor was always involved that much as clear at one point tolken wrote that they were created by Him whole cloth in mockery of the elves at another point it was decided that melor was unable to create life himself so he captured and twisted the elves to form what would become Orcs the Adar storyline here makes it clear that the series is going with the Orcs began with corrupted and tortured elves bit from the legendarium something echoed by San in the fellowship movie they were elves once taken by the dark Powers tortured and mutilated gadriel calls Adar and his ilk the sons of the dark or the first Orcs we prefer Oro when Adar doesn't give up the location of Sauron gadriel threatens him perhaps we should bring our prisoners into the sunlight it was only a couple of scenes ago where Adar was threatening to kill a room full of people so the scene really features two elves that have both been touched by Darkness fin Rod's knife is ever present in galadriel's hand after maro's defeat Sauron devoted himself healing Middle Earth as he says Sauron wanted everything in perfect order but that sounds a lot like what this guy wants said secure soet Adar also mentions Sauron seeking to craft the power of the Unseen World which we saw remnants of in the abandoned Workshop in the premiere episode The Power of this realm is something that Sauron will eventually become proficient with the nazul become a part of it and the One Ring has some of its power as well the fact that froto can see the true form of the Nazgul when wearing the one ring is an example of this Sauron could not discover what he needed to know on his own however so that would lead directly to him needing to dupe the other races of Middle Earth into helping him when he continues he says that he and his children all come from the master of the secret fire which is a reference to the highest power in all of tolkin eru iluvatar the secret Fire or the flame imperishable is the very power of creation itself Adar isn't necessarily wrong here as the Valar came after eru including melor whether melor created or corrupted elves into Orcs they all technically fall under the same umbrella in Fellowship of the Ring when Gandalf says I am a Ser to the secret fire he is likely also referring to the flame imperishable he is also making a backdoor reference to something directly related to the rings of power or are we going to see one now we're not no I'd make one myself but I am so small when gadriel goes on a rant about Exterminating Orcs making a reference to them being a mockery Adar drops the word mirror something often tied to gadriel when aand Deere brings the still unwrapped sword hilt key to Theo Theo talks about how connected he truly is to the object it's not just guilt I feel it's loss it made him feel powerful which is exactly the same effect the One Ring had on so very many years after the one ring was destroyed both Bilbo and froto baggin were saddened by the loss of it any chance of seeing that old ring of mine again sorry Uncle I'm afraid I lost it when finally finally unwrapped Theo discovers it's a fake walri has the real key and he uses it to do precisely would many of you thought that he would before we see the Fallout elenil calms a horse much like Aragorn calm the horse that belonged to theodred in The Two Towers movie no either way where did Ellen deal learn this from your mother hey ellenel said it I didn't when the Mayhem that the Turning of the key has Unleashed starts going off all around the village the Orcs begin to chant orodruin it is the name of the dormant volcano in the distance which you might know better by the name Mount Doom thanks to the key it is dormant no longer and it Roars to life it will no doubt poison the Skies of this land and make the soon to be more door the ever clouded home that Adar wants for his children whether by intention or by mistake Adar has also now given Sauron something he very much needed Kell Bimbo's Forge isn't built yet but sauron's Forge just roared to life it is within the cracks of Mount Doom that Sauron will eventually create the One Ring Mount Doom has sprung to life and nothing is going well for anybody in Middle Earth unless you're an Orc in which case enjoy your new home almost every main character in this episode is questioning their actions from gadriel to Theo to Nori brandyo foot despite their best intentions all of them seem to think I've made a huge mistake when gadriel wakes up from under a pile of Ash we get our first look at the new and not improved Southlands though it hasn't been given the name Mordor yet it definitely looks like the Mordor that tolken describes in his writing and the Mordor that we see in The Lord of the Rings movies characters stumbling around and coughing repeatedly made us think of boromir's description of the land and the fell ship of the Ring very air you breathe is a poisonous fumel he seor valandil and queen Muriel tried to save some people from a burning house but they pay the price for doing the right thing Muriel gets a load of spark and Ash in her face and he seor gets covered by The Flaming debris is he dead well everybody in the episode thinks he is that doesn't answer my question is he dead Noor is a pivotal figure in tolk's lore and if he was taken out of the picture then the Lord of the Ring itself wouldn't happen the ring passed to isor who had this one one chance to destroy evil forever elron is back at playing Diplomat making Promises to the dwarves they aren't necessarily at odds with them but they question whether they can accept elon's promises King dur remarks that elrond has picked up a few words of stone tongue and he may be referring to cul The Secret Language of the dwarves this language was rarely shared with any Outsiders even elf friends such as Elon tolken wrote that certain elves such as f were able to learn cael but this included the lore masters of the nul door elron could have learned some of these languages through these lore Masters although the series has shown other elves condescend to elron because of his half Elven nature he uses it here to his Advantage but Elon half Elven and I see in elves that which they cannot see in themselves now when he says this we see that Eland has a wisdom that extends past that of the elves alone this is likely why he is able to call a counsil of many races together in Fellowship of the rank you've been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor he doesn't seem to respect the other races as much as he does here however they hide in their mountains seeking riches they care nothing for the Troubles of others King Duran talks with his son alone and aside from another name drop of the Valu he evokes a combination of elements that we saw in the very beginning of this episode he crafted us of two elements Fire and Rock when he speaks of the Fire Within all dwarves which knows the truth that one day all things must be consumed he holds the corrupted Telltale Leaf of lynon the sign that the kingdom of the elves is in grave danger his weariness not to help the elves is not unwise it would as we now know require the mining of a great deal of methil even though they would be mining the methil for a good cause he could be concerned about delving greedily and Too Deep we know what happens when the dwarves of kazad Doom eventually do that and it didn't result in the mountain caving in the dwarves deled too greedily and Too Deep you know what they awoke and just in case you need a reminder you'll get one towards the end of the episode Duran's b as far as king Duren is concerned if the elves time is up it's up the fate of the elves was decided many ages ago by Minds much wiser so we would say that the minds he's thinking of are the Valar and that this is a direct contrast to how his son is thinking King Duran sees a bigger picture and believes in the will of the Valar Prince Duran is only concerned about helping his friend he warns about what could happen about defying their will and he is speaking of the Valar and if he is speaking of the Valar and he almost certainly is this is a portent for a completely different storyline there are those on this show who are all too ready to defy the Valar what have the Romans ever done for us right who's the Valar uh but the Valar are the Servants of the be who created the world and they helped to create Middle Earth and all the other lands so all it takes is one look from Duran and diesa for elron to realize that his proposal has been turned down don't suppose I can you into staying for dinner go galad must be informed and they use a certain Elish word to part ways we say this elvish word comes directly from tolking and it is heard more than a few times in the Rings movies it's usually translated to mean farewell though Scholars would say that the literal translation is to be well El Ron's addition of go towards goodness does not come out of nowhere as some translations of the partial word Maria do mean goodness is anyone on this show even going towards gness not even a little bit when Prince Duren sees this it lets us know that gilgalad and Kell Bor weren't full of it when they told Elrod about what meil would do for the elves maybe make some rings out of it now there's always next season for the Rings Doug gadriel seems to finally realize that she's gone too far when she tells a vengeful Theo that he over in her mind all of this is her fault her pursuit of Vengeance led directly to it when reunites with Queen Muriel he is told that eor is dead where is my son sir he is dead well you never know what this show is going to do but no he's not dead that moment did remind us of this though where is my son when gadriel gives Theo her sword it evokes her possibly hanging up her arms and preparing to leave the battlefield she still has fin Rod's knife but since one of the Rings of power isn't her future if they ever show the rings of power then she won't need a sword when it comes time for her to fight Mariel discovering that she has gone blind is something new for the character and not something that tolken included in his writing but it makes sense however as her father has the gift of foresight and marriel herself has already had visions of Doom these far scen Visions are now in direct contrast to her regular sight aside from that Muriel could continue to be figuratively blind as to what will continue happening in numor itself after he caused Havoc with the tree the harfoot are sending the stranger off on his own sedak references Greenwood the great they call it Greenwood the great which is the large Forest that will eventually become corrupted and renamed merkwood was the stranger's magic ineffective though it wasn't well it took time but life begins to return to the burned out trunk this made us think of the single white flower growing on the Tree of Gondor prior to Aragorn's arrival even though that was invented for the movie when Nori brandyo foot rethinks every action she's taken on the show thus far she instantly next us to froto bagots I wish none of this had happened she's also saying this in a roundabout way I made a huge tiny mistake when gadriel and Theo camp for the night she mentions how she lost her brother and then she drops this bomb and my husband husband kellor um what mhm her talk of meeting kellor while dancing in a Glade of flowers evokes how tolken wrote about Baron's first meeting with luian aside from that gadriel says the last time she saw him he was going off to war in token's writing the two of them married in the first age which tracks with what she says here he certainly didn't die though as he is present in both the books and the movies of The Lord of the Rings so he's dead on this show well I don't see how or why they would do that it would be a major change from both the lord of the books and the movies and would create a gaping inconsistency whether you're a book fan or a movie fan but gag said that he's dead and the other said that he seal door is dead maybe he is he's not and neither is kelborn our theory is that gadriel will be reunited with kelborn at some point and that he could be a prisoner of Sauron or some other dark Forces she only thinks that he's dead can you sit kellor five times fast yes but I won't because I have nothing to prove to you after gadriel drops the kellom it's Theo's time to take responsibility for everything bad that has happened I've made a huge mistake gadal words of comfort to him show even further how taking on the burden of her brother's death and finding Sauron has become an obsession that led to disaster it's not news to us but she is aware of it now when she gives him more wisdom there are powers Beyond Darkness work in this world it once again brought us back to this scene from fellowship there are other forces at work in this world FR besides the will of EV and this is probably our favorite episode for Theo as a character that's not a reference a symbol or a connection it's just something that I'm saying when Gad and Theo hide from the Orcs here what is we could not think that it is composed exactly like this classic scene there's a fair amount of sniffing in both scenes too when Duran and elron go mining elron comes clean about the only lie that still stands between him and Duren de out contest did it it turns out that was yet another clever Ploy by elron tap Elvin the elron Duran friendship might be one of the best relationships on the show and that means that our hearts are surely going to end up being broken I always thought you were might dwarvish for an elf and you are a rather Elvish dwarf when Duren says that dwarfs have secret names that are not shared by Outsiders this is also taken directly from tolking this goes even deeper than the dwarf tongue not being generally known tolken reveals this bit about dwarf names in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings DW B KY phy Dory Nori and ay what are their real names we don't know gimbley isn't gim's real name either tolken very very rarely shared a dwarf's true name I have a secret name oh what is it it is AER dark very good even though Duren finds a huge deposit of methal his father is furious they have found it without a cave-in or an accident of any kind which makes us think even more that King Duran is afraid of a much darker danger Prince Duran has already said that being worthy of the name of his father is one of the deepest honors of any dwarf it is because of this that his father pretty much disinheriting him hurts all the the more the good news for the harf foots is that their Grove has now been fully restored thanks to the stranger the bad news is that the stranger's use of magic has seemingly drawn the attention of middle Earth's worst emo folk Trio when Ellendale struggles with elor's horse baric we are reminded once again of the bond with horses that men of westernness can achieve elenil has no choice but to set the horse free and we'd bet good money that this is because the horse is the only one who senses that he seal door is still alive he is not about to leave him behind and even though this only happened in the movie this definitely reminds us of the horse brao saving Aragorn when everybody thought that he was dead just like everyone else in this episode elendil thinks over everything he's done since he pulled gadal from the water and thinks I've made a huge mistake he and the queen aren't just going to leave the surviving southlanders to fend for themselves a Garrison will be left behind and they'll be taken care of now this makes sense as in token's writing numor began to have several outposts of varying size in Middle Earth the numenorians also traveled to Middle Earth to battle the forces of Sauron more than once and it looks like the show is going to have them do so again based on what queen Muriel says here numor will return and when they come to Middle Earth they often fight alongside elves so this retort makes sense too then the elves will be ready gilgalad is going to love that she promised that now there are already old neoran colonies here as it turns out as Brahman says that herself r& Deere and the others will make way for peler an important location in token's writing peler will be a home base for the faithful of numor and will eventually become the chief Port of Gondor when Largo brandyo Foot tries to pep up the Haro foots with this we're Haro foots look we don't slay dragons but there's one thing we can do why War we stay true to each other we couldn't help but think of marad do Brandy buck in the movie Return of the King I'm a hobbit and I know I can't save Middle Earth I just want to help my friends we face it with our hearts even bigger than our feet good boy high five this prompts a little Fellowship to rise up into decide to go and help the stranger poppy has almost gone full Sam wi gamgi as well she won't be alone and I'm coming with you and soon it's fairly close to this we're coming too with sat at going with them as their wise leader this new Fellowship is off and they just keep walking is Duran worried about failing his father no he's only worried about failing elron his head May recognize his duty but daa is his heart she's going to push him to help the elves anyway and that will lead to them delving not greedily but definitely deep that meil belongs to us to you and me and together one day we are going to dig not great Bob because when King Duran tosses The Telltale Leaf into the hole before sealing up The methal Outpost we see what is waiting for the dwarves down in the depths of kazad Doom it is Duran's Bain the ball roog of morgoth the one that will lay the kingdom to ruin and eventually do battle with Gandalf the gy so when they unleash Shadow and Flame just like everyone else on this show is done Duran and diesa will have only one thing to say I've made a huge mistake oh and in case we didn't already know Adar says that his new orc amusement park needs a new name and for some reason the name is not spoken the onscreen location title the Southlands changes to Mordor now right away the stranger loses his symbol of goodness while traveling through Greenwood the great the Apple represents his connection to the harfoot and is also a reference to Twilight really no it could be a reference to Adam and Eve and the Apple from the Tree of knowledge but that might be a stretch it's Stretch Armstrong if you ask me as we have said in previous videos Greenwood the great is the immense Forest that will eventually become corrupted and be renamed merkwood the Apple leads him to the three Mystics and we see that they are able to change their form as tolken once wrote that saon could do the image of nori the most pure character on the show and the one who told the stranger that he is good takes the symbol of their connection and transforms into someone who is definitely not good at all speaking that he fell from the sky much like morgoth and saon once Fell From Grace they want to worship and serve him because one of the opening shots of this episode may be trying to make fetch happen in that direction as well perhaps trying to make us think of a singular eye so the stranger is Sauron nope more like this fake these three cultists think that he sawon but they've been going down the wrong internet rabbit holes gader and H brand raced to Aron so they are bypassing lendon completely gadriel would want to avoid the high King gilgalad so this makes sense when elron talks with Kell bmore we get a sense that the ticking clock that Kell bmore put on this entire project was because of the growing danger to the elves no one as of yet is whispering in his ear I there was some way of doing more with less it sounds like he's done with the idea to use methal to build a suit of armor around the elves not a great plan he'll be susceptible to other ideas the only meal they have is the small token that Elon was given by Prince Durant the Friendship of an elf and a dwarf that is going to be the basis of what comes next the rings of power maybe just wait and see we haven't seen any rings of power yet trust me the sun itself began as something no bigger than the palm of my hand now this is a reference to the last fiery fruit of laureland one of the two trees of valinor in token's riding the Valar alley crafted the sun itself from this fruit which we'd imagine fit in the palm of his hand kellor wanting to match these Powers not only evokes Greek myth with him flying close to the Sun or the idea of the sun it represents a being wanting to do something that is well past his ability Kell bbor is a skilled elf but he's not a god he's more of a mad scientist than anything the power of the Sun in the palm of my hand when Elon says that they have failed and that the elves must prepare to leave Middle Earth were actually reminded this is something they eventually do in the the third age my people are leaving these Shores now this is still the second age though so not yet as H brand gets healed while the elves chant in Kenya elron makes the one apology that he's yet to make for his political ways I should have never have set you on that ship I should have trusted you this line about trust will be integral later on their talk also reminds us of one of the first scenes in this series gadriel making her little paper boat other elf children destroyed her boat out of jealousy and later in life gadriel found herself literally out to sea R is metaphorically out to sea so what are the two of them going to do the only thing we can do swim H brand heals very quickly which almost makes us think that he was pretending that his injury was worse than it actually was now he approaches Kell bmore like a fan all but asking for an autograph from time man of the second age the Kell bmbo he's not here is he he appeals to Kell Bimbo's vanity before taking a look at three curious gems that are conveniently set up in the workshop the episode will confirm it later but these Three Gems will become part of the three Elven Rings the blue will go to Vila the red to naria and the white to Nya we're getting close yeah we are Kell bamor continues his ambitious talk when he mentions fanor an elf who he has previously shown admiration for now while it's true that fanor was the most gifted Smith of all the elves his Creations the simal led to a legacy of blood pain and War couldn't the right alloy also amplify those qualities he isn't just talking about stretching out their small supply of methil the title of the episode is alloy which from a certain point of view is what happens when two substances form a bond or an alliance Hall brand is about to do this with Kell bimor and later on H brand will seek to do the same with someone else he's already found the right alloy might there not be some alloy to amplify the qualities of yo let's him just say it oh that shoe hasn't dropped yet my friend call it a gift you'll remember that in token's writing that when saon duped Kell bmore he did so in the fair form of Anar the Lord of gifts it is a gift you're n R A Sal it yeah I really do bring me back this Mighty GI in numor T poiner is close to death and ferzon says that when he's gone black flags will fill the harbor he also makes another curious mention granting him the immortality in stone that no man not even a king can attain in life now one of the chief reasons that many of the new manorian grow increasingly angry with the Valar is because they are not Immortal this was considered a gift for the race of men with the ru ilvar only giving them mortality on purpose men like fison do not accept that and their resentment will grow to the point where they will all do some really stupid things I'll leave it at that hey what happen Ellen's daughter Aran is in an art contest to capture the essence of the dying King and thinking that he's murial he says I know what you have been doing in the dark of night when you thought all eyes were asleep he goes on to say that Muriel is not yet Queen but will be and that if the old ways of our people are not soon restored our Island will fall okay so some things to unpack here for one what has Mel been doing in the dark of night in terms of the show worship of melor may have already been happening in numor and Muriel could be a part of it either that or she is doing something that the Valar would not approve of something that goes against the old ways that the king just referenced it is the Turning Away from the Valar that will bring about The Great Wave and Muriel herself has a vision of it earlier in the series going to middlee Earth personally could have been her way of atoning not only for the behavior of her people but of something she's doing herself but don't do as I did I looked for too long of all characters Awin is mistakenly sent to look into the poener and no good is going to come from that gilgalad hits the scene with one hell of a loaded line one object for all Middle Earth you get it one ring to rule them all what kind of object are they making it would be smaller than previously imagined a ring or perhaps a crown oh come on they plan to put this crown on gilgalad and it is very telling that he doesn't go all in immediately he is suspicious from the start and the only thing that makes him interested is the desperate situation of the elves in token's writing gilgalad was never taken in by Anar never trusting him now in this version gilgalad is not being taken in by the plans of Kell bbor and a low man as he says his suggestions were but the key that unlocked the dam that sounds familiar Kell bmore goes too far the though this is a power of the Unseen World this is what lets gadriel know that not everything here is above board in the premiere she saw traces of the Unseen World in sodon's abandoned workshop and knows not only that is connected to him but yet another power that should not be trusted and not only that but Adar pretty much said those exact words to gadriel those words power over flesh where did you hear them was her burned with you she knows the entire solution in my field of you the Arc of this case is a tragedy of erors when gilgalad takes his leave we see him holding agelos his giant spear now this is his weapon of choice and the only one we see him wielding in his brief appearance in the prologue of Fellowship of the Ring he tells elron this it is a Fool's hope El which immediately makes us recall this just a Fool's hope the work begins and we see Kell bmore working closely with h brand much like how in tolkki Kell bmore worked with hitar Kell bmore isn't happy that he has only 3 weeks but at least it too let's do it in two weeks hey when H brand connects with gadriel he says this someone like me working with the Elven Smiths of regon a mortal man or the former number one to morgoth push me to Heights that no one else could have so gadriel and Hall brand form an alloy which brings out the true strength of each other gadal seems pretty creeped out but maybe it's for the greater good how can this be for the greater good the greater when the three Mystics plan with the stranger still thinking that he's saw on they reference the stars that he's looking for for and call the constellation the hermit's Hat as far as we know that's not a thing that tolken wrote about but if you really squint and look at the form of these Stars it almost looks like Gandalf's signature hat Stretch Armstrong Gandalf wasn't a Hermit though so maybe not radagast was a Hermit and this outline looks more like his hat but whatever no need to put a hat on a half what's more important is where the mystics say these Stars can be seen where the stars are strange the lands of run in the Council of elrond in the book of The Fellowship of the Ring Aragorn says that he himself has ventured to both run and Herod where these stars are strange it is also where the two ishari the blue Wizards once traveled and Saron may have gone with them sarmon returned but the blue Wizards and their my names are alatar and palando never came back at all where you will be known at last for who you truly are the three of them hype him up as Sauron before knocking him out as we've seen the stranger doesn't really have control over his powers they play more shape-shifting games when the harf foots arrive stic gets a dagger in the chest but look who comes to their rescue he starts laying these fools out at least until their leader closes their eye crusted staff to fling the stranger around a lot like this but you have elected the way of pain now sadic isn't dead yet and he stabs one of the mystics in the foot it made us think of Frodo stabbing an Orc in the foot in Fellowship something that the animated movie also uses it also made us think of this like Hobbits the harf foots are proficient with throwing rocks token wrote that Hobbits could be lethal with rocks and we see this depicted a few times in the movies a find it when Nori offers the stranger the Mystic staff he doesn't want to accept it I will hurt you again she's able to break through the Mind Games saying that only he can truly show who he is only you can show what you are it's not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me now Gandalf sorry the stranger gets up and bids the mystics return to the shadow back to the Shadow The Stranger really could have gone either way here and it mirrors Gandalf being tempted by the power of the One Ring years later I would use this ring from a desire to do good but through me it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine he declares who he is through action here and though he doesn't fully know who or what he is he decides that he is good he is not s you think the mystics go one further saying that he is the other and use the term Ishtar now as we've already said many times the five May who were sent to Middle Earth were called the aari I good so he's gandar well he's certainly one of these tar and he's been clad in Gray this entire time unless this is an unusual sarmon or radagast origin story yes he's Gandalf I think that we've said that from the start actually well he could be one of the blue Wizards he's not how do you know I just do so when this member of the Atari vanquishes the mystics their true form very much resembles that true ghostly form of the Ring rats when froto sees them this suggests that they themselves are of the Unseen World using their own staff his magic appears as a moth or butterfly and that could be a connection back to the Jackson movies the staff vanishes now it wasn't his first staff and it won't be his last satic dies under a swift Sun R we wait for you when we see ellenel and Muriel talking on their way back home she references his recent losses of a seor or so he thinks she makes it sound like he has no one now and once again his daughter is left in the dirt as is an aryion his other son the show has mentioned him elen also says that his name has multiple meanings it doesn't just reference the stars in tolken and in this series his name also means elf friend and this is why he pulled gadriel from the water it is why Muriel says he follows the way of the faithful if the cost cannot be known and trusting that in the end it will be worth it endale has a long way to go but he's already chosen his path there are other forces at work in this world FR besides the Bel evil he has suffered but like the stranger elendil's actions define him we have little Choice then but to keep serving the black Banners are hung all over numor which tells all of them that the King has died as he prophesies to her before she left Muriel is now physically left in darkness all that awaits you there Darkness she may be metaphorically blind to the dangers ahead because even though she has a strong Ally in elendel we would all do well to pay close attention to this guy he looks way too happy not great Bob when Kell bamore gets frustrated the ever helpful Hall brand has a suggestion supposing we've been using too much force the alloy or Union shouldn't be forced it should be drawn or coaxed together while morgoth was a creature of pure force saon is not at least not at first he was cunning and devious and as we've said he used a needle instead of a hammer he was definitely one to draw and coax until the time was right so Columbo gadriel has discovered that Hall Brand's lost King story is just Aragorn fanfiction right as he excitedly tells her that they have decided to make two of something smaller I told you I found his son a dead man he has told no Real Lies gadriel saved him on the raft and he wanted to remain a numor and not leave and while he did fight with her in the Southlands they were fighting against Adar you enem me and mine his reference to being awake since before the breaking of the first silence confirms that he was once a myar that time I have had many names the entry into his mind games with gadriel evoke a reverse of this if you do not find a way no one will he uses multiple forms with her brother finrod being the first my task was to ensure peace and we've heard this before he was seeking a power not to destroy Middle Earth but to heal it when they appear on the raft once more H brand says that after the defeat of morgoth he felt the light of the one again now this could be a reference to aru ilvar the highest being in all of Tolen and this man is now trying to heal everything that he had helped morgoth ruin as a misguided attempt to atone his truth parade continues he did tell gadriel that he had done evil he told her that giving enemies a way to master Their Fear can be a useful tactic the thing we didn't see coming was that he wasn't tricking gadriel all this time he was trying to seduce her he wanted the two of them to be alloyed here is what he really wants taking a page from a different Playbook than we originally thought together you and I can rule the galaxy make things the way we want them to be he uses very Choice words I would make you a queen in place of a dark lord you would have a queen stronger than the foundations of the Earth the foundations of the earth even galadriel's look in the watery reflection evokes what she looks like when she is tempted by the one ring and what she would become if she wielded it you bind me to the light and I bind you to power with their powers combined they can save this Middle Earth save he sees no difference and that's the problem well if it works the elves weren't wrong when they thought that gadriel would bring the very evil they were fighting back to them but it did only happen because they tried to cast her out ultimately s lives because of you thank you it's been a long road getting from there to here it's been a long time but now we we can say it Hall brand was and is sodon when elron wakes gadero from her vision she almost attacks him reminding us of this when Gad and elron go back to Kell rimbor they mentioned the gland which was the river that Gad was just in in tolken the gland formed the southern border of Aron now she doesn't say who H brand really is and though we expect her to object to the entire project she doesn't we must make three why three triples makes it safe now triple his best as she says one will always corrupt the story of the one ring is proof enough of that two will divide which is what Sauron wanted but with three there is balance when gadal says that the powers they are about to forge must be by the elves alone it tracks with the history of the three Elven rings in tolken Sauron did not make them and he never touched them one of the chief dangers of Sauron regaining the one ring in the third age is that he would have been able to undo everything that the three rings accomplished they would not be hidden any longer and they'd be out in the open a big difference here is that in toing the Elven Rings came last not first and Gandalf shouldn't really be here at all so we're already Off to the Races to move on to the future gadri will have to let go of her past I need gold and silver from venado she'll have to give up fin Rod's dagger and with it will likely be the last vestage of the warrior gadal she's already given up her sword and this dagger has weighed on her like a prologue of concrete it's time for her to let it go true creation requires sacrifice if you're going to make rings of power you really should only mix your me thrill with gold and silver from Valor Spar no expense when Nori and the stranger talk back in harfoot central she asked what the mystics meant when they called him eastar wizard we thought so but thank you wizard now this entire conversation is very similar to conversations that Frodo and Gand off have this line times our PS are laid before us by Powers greater than our own once again evokes a line that we've already quoted in this very video there are other forces at work in this world FR besides the will EV The Stranger also adds it's just Journey no Adventures he must be shared which directly compliments this I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure it's not in the same area of Middle Earth but this image of The Stranger On The Hill definitely looks like the hill The Bag End is located on with the large tree on top it's not the same location at all but it gives us a similar feeling as she was destined to from the start nor is off on an adventure with the stranger like a true baggin I'm going on an adventure we she see the other harfords again I mean I think so poppy is their new Trail Finder and we've come to really love both her and the rest of them it would be great to see them settle in the Shire a few seasons down the line well Nory be careful no you'll be bold I will also be bold Nori also says that she'll be back so there's that she also Echoes this line from Gandalf but you're only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all when she says this the world's not that wi poppy it's that we're so B and small they are so bed and small Nori doesn't have any idea which way they're going though I do not know the way but the stranger has a Way Forward when in doubt Elanor brood always follow your nose come on if you always follow your nose he is gandf the state rest I am gandal and gandal means me when elron drops the meal into the molten alloy it is a slight reversal of the One Ring falling into the fires of Mount Doom this is creation and not destruction however and the shred of meil creates a slit in the fire image that looks something like the eye of saon the ring making sequence has very similar shots to the sequence at the very start of the Fellowship of the Ring and Kell bmore looks pleased with himself give my creation elron discovers the secret of Hall brand but he doesn't put a stop to anything or tell anyone he only shares a knowing place with gadriel making us recall a line that gadriel telepathically shared with him in the movie The Two Towers it is the risk we all took at long last na Vila and narya in token's writing Nya was given to gadriel and it was never worn by anyone else now because of her influence here we can see the series going that way it would be odd if Nya was given to anybody else Vila will likely be given to gilgalad not only is he the high King Of The Elves but it's also what tolken wrote and we know that gilgalad perishes in the battle of the last Alliance so Vila eventually gets passed on to Elon as for naria tolken has it originally given to San so if San does not keep naria he passes it on to Gandalf when he first arrives in the third age San sens that Gandalf would have need of it and wow was he right about that Gandalf is almost certainly already here and ceran is being held in the same Locker where kelborn an Arian and Tom Bombadil are being kept so it'll be interesting to see how the series proceeds to play this out these Rings were made to heal or preserve not to rule or conquer both rivendale and looran came to be with the assistance of these Rings all right so here you go Doug three rings of power right about the seven and the nine seasons 2 3 4 and five I imagine SA now knows what he needs to know about Rings smithing and Mount Doom reflected in his eye definitely represents the Flaming eye that he will eventually become One does not simply walk into Mordor unless you're Hall brand Saar and Von saw around the first in which case you can strut right in we're sure he'll thank Adar for his new Army Of Orcs before killing him and he'll do away with any kind of orc Freedom too soon enough every Orc in Mordor will be singing like this his walk towards Mount Doom is a lot like froto and Sam's descent many many years later much like Peter Jackson's movies the season ends with a song series composer beer McCree worked with Fiona Apple on the tune which takes its lyrics directly from token's famous verses about the rings of power in the land of Mordor where the Shadows lie though this series finale answered a lot of questions especially the hall brand Sauron mystery box there is still a lot left for future Seasons we've seen the three but now it's time to see the seven the nine and the one Sauron will return to numor in some form and will surely visit the dwarves as well now we're still wondering about kelborn and who knows what the strange and Nory will find in room some of the biggest questions of all though but still where did the lighter fluid come from to say nothing of what is God need with a Starship and also I think we're done now I think you're right nobody goes off Trail and nobody walks alone all right well that was our complete breakdown of rings of power season 1 thank you so much for watching and let us know other series that you would like to see a complete Easter egg breakdown of if you're new here be sure to subscribe smash that Bell for alerts for screen Crush I'm Colton Ogburn