Rings of Power Season 2, Episode 2 BREAKDOWN

We’re back at it folks, with another  breakdown from the start of season 2 of   Prime Video’s The Rings of Power! Today,  we’ve got a dark wizard to content with,   some deep cut name drops courtesy of Cirdan,  and the reveal at long last of Annatar. As always, we’re going to dive into the  story, point out the lore references,   and do some theorizing. Be sure you’re  subscribed with notifications on so   you never miss a breakdown or Tolkien  lore video here on Nerd of the Rings. Episode 2 opens with the same shot of magma that  the Stranger had in his vision last episode. We   cut to a wide shot to confirm this is indeed Mount  Doom. We then get a nice little map transition   that shows some kind of darkness spreading  from Mount Doom all the way up to Khazad-dum. We get a nice wide shot of most of the entry  into Khazad-dum - we see two massive dwarven   statues which, of which we can get a hint  of the scale as the camera passes into the   mountain - these things are enormous. One has  an axe, the other a hammer and they seem to   be looking down - either at the entryway far  below, or perhaps at the balcony in this shot. Based on the map’s movement, this is the East  Gate into Khazad-dum. The one we saw Elrond   enter in Season 1 was the West Gate, which  will eventually be replaced by the Doors of   Durin - and we will get a hint that development  is coming in this very episode. Real quick,   another detail we can see in the Ninglor  river, an elvish name meaning “Goldwater”   for what is more commonly known as the  Gladden. The Gladden Fields here is where   Isildur would later lose the One Ring and where  Gollum would claim it many centuries later. We get a cool shot of the lighting system the  dwarves use to bring light into Khazad-dum so   they can get crops - and good ol’ vitamin D.  I’ve enjoyed this particular design element   of Khazad-dum since we saw it in season 1. In  Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf mentions Moria   once having great windows on the mountain-side  and huge shafts leading out to light the upper   reaches. And one such shaft is what casts light  upon Balin’s Tomb in the Chamber of Mazarbul. Durin and Disa are shopping at the market  and we find the fallout of Durin being cast   out by his father in season 1. Money  is tighter when you’re not the crown   prince. We get a nice moment and some  humor when Disa says she wouldn’t trade   Durin for a mine full of fire opals -  which led me on a fun google journey   to find they’re pretty sweet looking and  form near volcanos - the more you know. Disa feels a reverberation and all heck  breaks loose as the areas containing   their light reflectors collapse,  leaving Khazad-dum in darkness. We then get the Howard Shore title theme  which actually has a lot of new elements   this year - and some big references!  We get these red grains of sand,   which initially form what we will later see  is the table Celebrimbor has setup for the   seven dwarven rings. We see a closeup shot of  this swirling effect at one of the ring spots,   which is reminiscent of how they  created in the rings in season 1. Next we see what I initially thought to be 10  circles, but I think this one at the top middle   might not be an actual ring, meaning this  could represent the 9 for men. Otherwise,   it could be 9 for men, plus this  central one with red representing   the One to rule them all. We then  get a wide shot where we see the 19   rings - all but the One represented. Across  the top we have the 9 for men, in the middle   section we have the 7 for the dwarves, and in the  innermost portion we have the 3 for the elves. The image then forms into a tree, likely  representing the tree of Lindon - although   another option would be the white tree of  Numenor. Speaking of Numenor he next image   is a crown with seven stars a symbol with  ties specifically to Elendil. This symbol,   along with that of the White Tree, was  taken by Elendil after the downfall   to be his standard - a banner than  Aragorn himself would one day unfurl. We then get a blink-and-you’ll miss it allusion  to the Doors of Durin - the arch being the most   prominent portion, but we can see some hints  of the two trees represented along the sides.   We then see the outline of the balrog’s  head, followed by a bit of a sun motif,   which we’ve seen come up in Numenor. However,  this certainly appears to instead be a menacing   and a bit bloodshot, eye. In the next frame we  can see most clearly the golden circle within   the eye - possibly representing the One  Ring Sauron will forge. After getting some   formations where I didn’t recognize anything, we  briefly see Sauron’s crown form in the center. We then see Galadriel planting some Alfirin seeds  like Adar did in Season 1 - again Alfirin is what   men call Symbelmyne - the flowers that famously  cover the graves of the much later Rohirrim   peoples. She’s standing in front of her brother  Finrod’s tree carving as Celebrimbor approaches.   It becomes apparent pretty quickly this is a  vision and we see the seeds Galadriel plants   grow into vines that attack Celebrimbor,  who mentioned he had a visitor in Eregion. Celebrimbor speaks the opening three  lines of the full ring verse in black   speech. These are indeed the words  that Celebrimbor and the other elves   hear as Sauron speaks them when he  creates the One Ring to rule them all. Fun Fact: Tolkien played around with  different numbers before settling on the   ones we now know so well. At one point  he considered 12 for men. At another,   he swapped the numbers for elves and men, stating: Nine for the Elven-kings under moon and star, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,  Three for Mortal Men that wander far,  One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mor-dor where the shadows are. Celebrimbor is killed by the vines and turns into  a horrific perversion of their wooden memorials.   The elves are chatting about scout reports of  Sauron and Adar when Galadriel comes out of   her vision. More on her vision and how her ring  plays a role in a bit! She tells Gil-galad that   Sauron needs rings to achieve his goal of  bending the minds and wills of all people. As Gil-galad makes the point that Sauron  is alone and Eregion is well protected,   we see an elvish map of Middle-earth.  In the corner we see a depiction   of Elrond’s father Earendil, with the light  of a silmaril as he sails. As we talked about   last season - he and Elrond’s mother Elwing  went to Valinor to ask the Valar to intervene   against Morgoth. After the War of Wrath, Earendil  sails the sky, silmaril upon his brow as a star. After a brief flash of Sauron waiting in Eregion,  Galadriel finally tells it straight to Gil-galad,   saying that this ring is affecting her. She  mentions getting glimpses of the unseen world   and I gotta say, I’m still not 100% sure  what this show means by Unseen world. As   an elf who lived in Valinor, Galadriel already  exists in both the seen and unseen world. Let   me know what you think of this concept  in the show in the comments because it   kind of just feels like a phrase they  throw out to sound ominous right now. They get around to the fact that the  ring has enhanced Galadriel’s ability   of foresight - something we see not only  elves, but on more rare occasions men,   have in Tolkien’s world. A big trait  of a ring of power is to enhance the   wearer’s natural abilities, so the idea that  it could enhance an elf’s foresight checks out. Gil-galad confides that he’s also had  his foresight amplified and I gotta say,   it’s nice these two are actually working  together and being straight with one another.   Galadriel wants to be sent to Eregion but  Gil-galad says she can’t face him alone.   Galadriel thinks she is the only one who  can slay him because she knows his mind,   but judging by how well that  went over for Adar in episode 1… We’re back in Eregion where Sauron continues to  wait, gives some googly eyes to Celebrimbor’s   assistant and gets some pity from her, but  not from Brimby for now. We then see that   the messengers from Gil-galad did not make it to  Eregion. Their corpses are dragged off with chains   and initially I thought this might be the orcs  sent to follow Sauron, but instead, I think this   may actually be barrow-wights. Time will tell, but  I think if it were orcs we might have seen them. Next we see the rider who was tracking the  Stranger last episode come up to a desert   structure of 3 buildings. We can see his  flag definitely has an eye symbol. Again,   I hope this is the actual eye of Sauron  because I think it looks pretty legit and   would make a cool standard for his  servants going forward in the show. We also see some statues that kind of give off  wizard vibes and we can see this one closest to   the rider seems to have an orb in his hand. Now,  at this time, the seven palantiri that exist in   Middle-earth should all still be in Numenor. While  we don’t know exactly how many seeing stones were   made by Celebrimbor’s grandfather Feanor in  total, we know the seven that existed outside   of Valinor were given to the men of Numenor. And  here we find the new wizard character in the show   as one of his followers has her hands cut open  to drip blood on the ground. And let’s face it,   no good guy gets up to this ominous and dark  kind of stuff, so he’s probably bad news. The wizard swirls his staff around a bit and the  moths form into a person and guess who’s back,   back again - Shady’s back to give a  report on Sauron taking a new form   to deceive his enemies. The  wizard asks about the Istar,   mentioning hearing rumors from Mumakil thieves.  What’s interesting here is that Mumakil are   not known for being in Rhun. Rather they are  from the lands of Harad - quite some distance   from the Easterlings. While the Easterlings  would be allies under Sauron in the Third Age,   in the early to mid-second age the Haradrim  actually have friendship with Numenor. No doubt one of the big questions this season  is - who is this new wizard. The promo images   we’ve seen have led some to guess that this  is Saruman and the Stranger is Gandalf. An   understandable guess based on some of the not so  subtle Peter Jackson-inspired hints the Stranger   dropped last year, and the general high and  mighty evil vibe Ciran Hinds gives off. However,   I actually think the way they’re set  up being on opposite sides is actually   indirect confirmation of my theory that  these are in fact the two blue wizards. Aside from Gandalf’s book declaration that he  doesn’t go to the East, the simple fact that   having Saruman and Gandalf antagonistic toward  each other this early in their history would be   incredibly odd. Saruman is meant to be a traitor  - the greatest of the order turned against them.   It’s hard to surprise people with changing  sides if you were already evil to begin with. Instead, what I think the show is doing -  and what I said long ago would be really   cool if they did - is taking inspiration  from Tolkien’s two accounts of the blue   wizards. I dive deeper into this on my  video on the blue wizards, but in short,   Tolkien originally said they failed their  purpose - founding secret cults and magic   traditions. However, toward the end of  his life, Tolkien amended this, saying   they helped the Easterlings who rebelled against  Sauron and without them, Sauron’s forces of the   East would have outnumbered the peoples of the  West in both the second and third age conflicts. Basically, I think we are getting both  in this story - the Stranger will be   the good blue wizard, helping  rally the good men of the East,   while this new wizard will be the one founding  cults…which it kinda seems he’s already done. The masked man gives a report to the wizard,  and we find that his people have a curse upon   their flesh. He offers to bring in the Istar in  exchange for them being healed. Also in this scene   I noticed Hinds’ wizard has some epic eyebrows  - always good to see big eyebrows on a wizard. Next the hobbits are trying to come up with  names for the Stranger and one Nori throws out it   Fredegar - a nod to the fifth hobbit of the Lord  of the Rings - Fredegar “Fatty” Bolger, who stays   in the shire rather than accompany Frodo and the  others. They’re really playing up the name thing,   which is the one thing making me think they  might make him Gandalf - but I sure hope not.   It’s kind of wild because there’s kind of a  lot hinging on his identity here - taking the   blue wizards route would be pretty inspired  and cool, but if we end up getting some wonky   version of Gandalf and perhaps Saruman, it  will just cause a plethora of lore issues   and honestly just be taking the lazy option  because they’re recognizable characters. The trio goes on to talk about their dwindling  food options and am I the only one who looked   at the hobbits and thought - don’t you  have acorns, which are indeed edible,   in your hair? Is this weird fashion choice worth  starving for? As the helmet crew show up, we can   see their horses have blue markings on their  right legs. Not sure what this could symbolize,   but we see the men here have blue on their  chestplates as well. Perhaps this is nod to them   serving a blue wizard. The trio avoids detection  and decide to go on the waterless desert route. Back at Khazad-dum, we see the exterior  damage caused by the collapses,   as the right dwarf statue is now missing  his head. Their crops are dying and we   hear dwarf women talking about dark  omens across all the dwarven realms,   and it’s nice to get an acknowledgment that  Khazad-dum isn’t the only dwarf realm. This   gives me some hope that when rings get handed  out, it will actually be to different realms and   not only Khazad-dum. We know that there are four  clans of dwarves who live in Rhun - the Ironfists,   Stiffbeards, Blacklocks, and Stonefoots. At this  point in Khazad-dum, there are the Longbeards   native to the realm, but also refugees from  Beleriand in the Firebeards and Broadbeams. I gotta say, it would be nice if some of the dwarf  women with speaking roles had full-on beards. We   get a report from Narvi that the eruption of  Mount Doom actually caused the collapse of   their shafts and they can’t find a safe path to  dig. I get the reverberations causing a cave in,   but I’m not quite certain how that makes  it impossible to repair or dig new shafts.   Anyway Disa and the Disettes sing to the  rocks and the last shaft collapses which   is like the opposite of what they  were going for, so that’s a bummer. Now a quick note on Narvi here - he is a pretty  significant character from the books. He has a   great friendship with Celebrimbor and most likely  a minor spoiler for this season - together they   create the Doors of Durin. Disa and Durin III  have this great little family chat about the   feud between father and son and I gotta say, I  think the bits about stubbornness and wounded   hearts- here and later - is some of the best  writing in the early going of this season. Disa mentions the peaks of Zirakzigil  falling - this is the same peak where   Durin’s Tower is built and where Gandalf  would fight the balrog. Meanwhile Durin IV   gets picked on by bullies at work. In the  background of the following dinner scene,   we see the tree Elrond gave Durin over  20 years ago seems to still be alive,   but is shrouded in darkness. Durin and  Disa argue about going to the King. Next we see Elrond working away on boats at  the Grey Havens, where Galadriel pitches him on   joining the company to go to Eregion. Elrond is  really not letting Galadriel off the hook here,   which is good. I definitely could’ve  done without the reminder of Galadriel   and Halbrand giving googly eyes in Season  1. My word, Celeborn can’t get here soon   enough. I truly can’t wait til the Haladriel  nonsense is done with. It has to be one of the   most baffling things to arise from this show.  Elrond rejects Galadriel’s request we next get   a nice scene with Cirdan where the elder elf  brings some nice wisdom to the situation. Cirdan drops a couple names here - first Cirdan  mentions Rumil’s verses before saying the poet   was a drunkard. Now, I can’t speak to the latter  claim, but Rumil was an elf of Valinor famous   for devising written characters known as the  Tengwar of Rumil. He then says do not ask of   Daeron who was insufferable but had a lovely  singing voice. This made me chuckle as Daeron   is the elf who coveted Luthien and betrayed  her love for the human Beren to her father. Cirdan basically says to judge the work and  leave the judgment of the makers to Eru - the   god of Tolkien’s world. He goes on to say  Elrond is right to fear what these rings   could do in Sauron’s hands, but it’s his most  trusted friends who have them Again, overall,   I’m really enjoying the character of Cirdan  in this show. He’s got this great ethereal   quality and wisdom about him that seems the most  elven of all the characters in this show. His   line about guiding those who have gone astray  rather than abandoning them is great stuff. Next the Stranger and hobbits come to a well and  we can see the flag in the shot has the same eye   logo. The well has kind of a clever trick  where when the rope is let down it sounds   a bell…unless of course you slowly lower it,  but they don’t do that, so the riders show up. But before that, the Stranger  finds the staff from his dreams.   And when the riders attack he slams the  staff down, reciting something in Quenya.   I couldn’t quite make out the entire phrase,  but I believe I caught the phrase lennatúlie   which can mean “depart” so perhaps he  is issuing a command for them to leave. The ground pound gets the dust flying and  one of the Easterlings exclaims “Zigûr”.   What’s interesting here is that this  is actually Adunaic - the Nuemnorean   language. It translates to Wizard. In  fact, when Sauron comes to Numenor he   is known as Zigur. We don’t have any  words in the easterling language save   one - Khamûl - the name of the second greatest  of the Nazgul. The duststorm goes crazy and his   staff disintegrates. The hobbits fly away,  never to be seen again…but probably not. Next we get a really cool moment where Celebrimbor  invents ithildin - made by the elves, this is the   mithril derived substance that makes the Doors of  Durin visible by the reflected light of the moon   and stars - yet more evidence that the Doors of  Durin should be on their way later this season. We then get a scene of Sauron playing  Celebrimbor like a fiddle - lying   about talking with Galadriel, then playing on  Celebrimbor being in the dark about the rings.   Celebrimbor asks about the rings, and is ecstatic  to hear they’ve worked and that elvendom is saved. Sauron goes on to ask Celebrimbor to make rings  for men and confess his name is not Halbrand,   not even a mortal. Halbrand  disappears after the shutters   blow open and Brimby knocks over his  First Age wine, so that’s a bummer. And then, we finally get the emergence  of the Lord of Gifts himself - Annatar.   He promises that using Annatar’s knowledge  will make Celebrimbor be remembered forever   as the lord of the rings - spoiler alert, he  won’t be the one with that title. I gotta say,   this is a pretty great entrance for Annatar and   Celebrimbor totally falls for this and  I think they did a believable job here. It’s a bit clumsy with the way Sauron  says I’m a sharer of gifts, Annatar,   then Celebrimbor says “Annatar, lord of gifts”.  It seems the sharer of gifts line could’ve been   cut and it would’ve been less repetitive and  cleaner. But overall, I think it’s a strong   entrance for a character many book fans like  myself were really hoping to see in season 1. Next we find out that Elrond has agreed to travel  to Eregion, but its revealed he will be leading   the company, not just joining it. This is played  up super dramatically, like Gil-galad is pretty   extra when delivering this line. Still, this  is probably a wise move - Elrond is kind of   the voice of reason so far and Cirdan helped  set him on this path to guiding his friends. Lastly we get Durin IV getting an invitation for  the dwarves to come to Eregion, cut to black,   end of episode. One thing from the credits we  do see Ciaran Hinds credited as Dark Wizard. So there we have it, ¼ of the season down. I  think the issue of the 3 elven rings already   existing continues to have some undesirable  consequences lore-wise. Sauron is going to   give his knowledge and guidance to Celebrimbor to  take him to a new level - yet he’s already created   the three greatest of the rings of power.  It’s a bit contradictory in a way. Still,   I’m glad we are getting Annatar  and Celebrimbor in some form and   hope it will do justice to the story  fans have been dying to see play out. But what did you think of this  episode? Are you with me on team   blue wizards? What did you think of Annatar’s  introduction? Let me know in the comments,   and we’ll see you for my episode  3 breakdown coming up next. Thanks   so much for watching and we’ll see  you next time on Nerd of the Rings.