The Joy of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power"--"Partings" (S1, Ep. 5)
The mysteries remain unresolved even past the midpoint of the series, but the endgame is coming into sight.
Well, we’re now past the middle of the first season of The Rings of Power, and “Partings” displays some of the strengths and shortcomings of this series. On the one hand, there were a number of lovely set-pieces featuring our beloved characters–Galadriel’s training session with the young soldiers of Numenor was a particular highlight, as was the woodland conversation between Elrond and Durin–but at this point the series is starting to feel a bit top-heavy. The visuals and the performances are as stunning as always, and I genuinely enjoy spending time in this world with these characters, but I’m starting to wish that we could actually get somewhere plot-wise.
This is most notable when it comes to Adar. In a fateful confrontation between Waldreg. For a while now, we’ve known that the former innkeeper is a bad apple, someone whose loyalty is to the forces of darkness, and this is confirmed when he leads a contingent of the residents of the Soutlands to Adar. When he finally meets this sinister figure he, speaking presumably on behalf of the audience, asks him whether he is, in fact, Sauron. Though Adar declines to answer, Waldreg still offers up his loyalty and, although this happens off-screen, he does so by taking the life of one of the young men who accompanied him. It’s a striking and horrifying moment–even if, as some have argued, it’s far more circumspect than we might see in, say, House of the Dragon–but I still found myself a little frustrated by the series’ ongoing toying with us. Either solve the mysteries or don’t, but don’t keep toying with us with no payoff in sight. That being said, I did enjoy the revelation of how corrupted some members of humanity have already become by this point.
Notably, Waldreg’s story is in marked juxtaposition to two other significant characters: Bronwyn and Halbrand. For Bronwyn, the choice of whether or not to offer obeisance to Adar is a fraught one, for if she declines, then she will almost certainly condemn her people to death, while if she goes with him, she will seemingly validate every cynical Elf who believes all humans are just one step away from swearing allegiance to Morgoth again. Her conversation with Arondir is one of those moments in The Rings of Power that truly rings true to Tolkien’s way of looking at the world. As he shows in his writings, humankind is indeed very susceptible to backsliding. Even after Sauron’s defeat, there were those who felt themselves drawn into the Shadow, and so it was quite lovely–if also sad–to see this brought out in the series.
The other juxtaposition is, of course, Halbrand, who at last seems to take up his destiny and sails off with the Numenoreans to come to the aid of those in Middle-earth. The mystery of his identity is another of those annoying little enigmas that continue to throw sand in the gears of the series’ narrative momentum, but for my part, I think it more likely that he is the Witch-king, or one of the other Nazgûl, rather than the Dark Lord himself. We do, however, get a bit of insight into his character as a result of his commentary overlaid over Waldreg and the others coming to swear loyalty to Adar. The suggestion, of course, is that Halbrand has done something similar at some point in his history. If so, and if he is seeking absolution, his eventual fall into absolute darkness would be even more tragic (and, it has to be said, Tolkienian). I suppose we shall just have to see.
And then there was the revelation about mithril. It turns out that Celebrimbor knew all along that this valuable ore had been discovered in Khazad-dûm, which is precisely why he manipulated Eltrond into going there in the first place. According to both Gil-Galad and Celebrimbor, this precious metal–the product of a tree which might have contained the last Silmaril–might be the only thing that will keep the Elves from fading away altogether, hence their fervent desire to procure it from its current keepers. At this point, I’m still on the fence about this particular piece of lore. Though some Twitter users have pointed out that Elrond’s reference to it as folklore is a tacit acknowledgment on the show’s part that it might not be true at all, it still seems a bit too much of a gimmick for a Tolkien adaptation.
If, however, this is all a scheme from someone behind the scenes, then this whole storyline becomes much more coherent. There is every possibility that it is Annatar–the guise Sauron adopts to persuade the Elves to join him in forging the Rings–who is secretly pulling the strings. We know from Tolkien’s lore that Celebrimbor was persuaded by the Dark Lord’s blandishments, so it could well be that his hunger for mithril, and his belief in its salvific properties, could very well be a product of Sauron himself. And, given that Nenya, Galadriels’ Ring, was itself forged from this very metal–and, it should be noted, was imbued with the gift of preservation–it would make even more sense for this to be the endpoint of this story. Whatever the flaws of this particular storytelling device, the Elves’ fear of their own encroaching obsolescence, so eloquently articulated by Elrond and Gil-galad does feel as if it could have come from Tolkien himself.
And, it’s also worth pointing out yet again just how great it is to see Elrond and Durin together. There’s just such undeniable chemistry between the two actors, and the cunning looks that they give each other are a treasure. I particularly enjoyed Durin’s successful efforts to puncture the icy hauteur of his Elvish hosts, as well as Elrond’s stubborn insistence on maintaining his oath to Durin, even at the expense of his own people. It’s one of those moral quandaries that fantasy is so good at exploring, and his fraught conversations with Gil-galad and Celebrimbor—particularly the latter’s mentioning of his father and his journey to beseech the Valar for aid—were conversational highlights of this episode.
Meanwhile, the Harfoots are continuing on their own journey and, once again, the central mystery of the Stranger’s true identity looms large. Before we get to that, though, it’s worth dwelling for a moment on just how beautiful these sequences are, with some breathtaking vistas of Middle-earth-via-New-Zealand. This element, combined with Poppy’s plaintive song about wandering, were surely meant to evoke the ethos of the Peter Jackson films, and in that they succeeded. There was also something distinctly Tolkienian about this as well, and it was a nice interlude.
Even here, though, there is a shadow of mystery. For all that Nori tries to convince the Stranger that he is not a danger to them, his strange powers are growing ever stronger, and they even ensnare the young Harfoot herself, much to her great fear. I’m still not convinced that the Stranger is Sauron–it just seems as if it would come too far out of left field, and I don’t know why a being as powerful as the Dark Lord would have amnesia–but there is clearly more here than meets the eye. The appearance of the white-robed cultists just adds more complexity, since they clearly have some connection to the Stranger, and they do not seem to be of the heroic variety. Once again, though, we’ll just have to see how all of this pans out.
Lest you think I didn’t like this episode, there was much else that I enjoyed. Galadriel’s sparring with the young recruits of Númenor was a highlight, and I appreciated the insight it gave into how she views her fight against the Orcs. She is not the type to just rush into battle; instead, there is always a strategy. I particularly appreciated the choreography here; it almost looked as if the Elf was dancing through her sword stances. This is, I have to say, a marked improvement from the sort of superhero antics that we saw in The Hobbit. I also loved the way that we got some further insight into Galadriel’s character, and her obvious agony over her fall from grace was well-executed. Like all epic heroes, she’s come to realize that the price to pay for making the world better is finding out that one no longer has a place in it.
The rest of the Númenor storylines were equally well-done. There is far more going on in Pharazôn's mind than he is letting on, and I have the distinct feeling that we are going to see some of the island kingdom’s imperial and colonialist ambitions come to fruition in the next couple of seasons. As he says to his son, he’s not going to turn away from an opportunity to bring Middle-earth under the yoke. He’s a craft and cunning thinker, and we haven’t yet seen the full contours of his design.
The broad contours of the first season are, I think, finally starting to come into focus. It seems clear that the season will end with some decisive events taking place in the Southlands; perhaps even the foundation of Barad-dûr itself (might this be the ultimate fate of the Elven watchtower that Arondir and his companions once occupied?) The Númenoreans, of course, are seemingly fated to come into a clash with Adar’s forces, though the outcome of such a battle may not be what we expect.
Overall, it seems to me as if this first season will be mostly setup for the titanic conflicts to come in later seasons. Whether or not this will be to the series’ benefit or not is very much an open question, and it’s also debatable whether enough fans will stick with it if at least some of the most pressing mysteries–most notably the identities of Adar, the Stranger, and Halbrand–aren’t at least somewhat clarified by the end of the season. There are, after all, three episodes left, and a lot can happen in three hours. And, while I might be skeptical about some of the creative decisions, I still have enough faith in the showrunners that it’s all going to pay off in the end.
What did you think about the fifth episode of the first season of The Rings of Power? Let me know in the comments!