Just when I think I don’t give a Took about the many branching narratives in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the Amazon Prime series drops an episode that cleverly pulls together the disparate stories, justifying their (somewhat plodding) existence. Episode five is one of the more potent examples of the prequel series setting the stage for events that take place in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, weaving together plot threads that felt like they were blowing in the breeze for the last few weeks. Spoilers to follow!
Episode five begins with dwarf king Durin using the ring bestowed upon him by the elves to find where to dig in order to restore the sun shafts to Khazad-dûm, which collapsed a few episodes back, threatening the city’s livelihood. He doggedly insists that the dwarves dig into a foundational wall, which immediately gives way to a massive ray of sunlight, justifying what his own son believed to be an act of folly. As the episode progresses, it becomes more and more clear that the ring is negatively affecting Durin, causing him to become angrier and more paranoid, and to enact a city-wide tax called, simply, the Ring Tax. His son, concerned with how much his father has changed, heads to Eregion to ask Celebrimbor what the hell kinda demon shit he put into this ring, but not before we see how Durin’s doggedness will lead to Khazad-dûm’s, well, doom.
You see, years ago, Durin set restrictions on how far down the dwarves could dig for a variety of structural and logical reasons. But thanks to the ring’s dark urges, he wants to ignore those restrictions and dig deeper into the mountain’s rock. Any self-respecting Lord of the Rings fan knows what happens soon after, and the episode gifts us with ominous growls just in case you forgot: The dwarves will soon awaken a Balrog that will destroy the kingdom of Khazad-dûm, also known as Moria. The same Balrog that the Fellowship of the Ring encounters when cutting through those mines to get to Mordor.
In another bit of foreshadowing, soon after Durin demands the dwarves dig wherever he says, we see the elves putting the finishing touches on a magical door that will be installed at one of the entryways to Khazad-dûm. Known as “Durin’s Door,” it can only be visible in the light of the moon, and can only be opened with a password told “to friends.” These are the very same glowing doors that the Fellowship struggles to get past in the first Lord of the Rings—though they eventually open after Frodo (or, in the books, Gandalf) figures out the password.
Along with the imminent demise of the dwarves of Khazad-dûm, episode 5 also lays out a path for the fall of Middle-earth’s men to the allure of Sauron’s rings. Still disguised as an elf, Sauron convinces Celebrimbor (after much deception and gaslighting) to create nine more rings for men, despite the latter’s concerns about the quality of their character. We know that men will not be able to resist the dark allure of the rings (Isildur fell victim to their power, and Boromir nearly did as well), and as the episode flits back and forth between the elves, dwarves, and humans of Númenor, we see why—many Numenorians, still reeling from the recent coup against Queen Miriel, are being persecuted by the new king’s men, who are callous and careless of the people’s religious beliefs. A surprise death hammers a message home: Men are capable of great cruelty, but so are dwarves, and so are elves, despite their holier-than-thou stance. The Rings of Power finally feels like it’s crafting a cogent tale of how Middle-earth came to be so broken.
The Rings of Power season two episode six airs September 19 on Amazon Prime.
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