SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for the Season 2 finale of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
The massive orc assault on Eregion reached its devastating conclusion in the Season 2 finale of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” and all of the elves now stand united against one common foe: Sauron (Charlie Vickers).
In a shocking betrayal, the orcs murdered their leader Adar (Sam Hazeldine) and pledged their loyalty to Sauron, their true dark lord. With Adar’s army of orcs now under his control, Sauron is Middle-earth’s deadliest foe. He presents a near-unbeatable enemy for the elves, but luckily they have some help on the way: The newly crowned King Durin IV (Owain Arthur) and his dwarves.
The episode begins with the dwarves in Khazad-dûm, where King Durin III (Peter Mullan) has been corrupted by his ring of power. He’s been mining for more mithril, the previous metal used to create more rings, and ignoring the pleas of his son. All the mining has woken up the colossal Balrog, and Prince Durin finally gets through to his father and convinces him to take off the ring. However, it’s too late. As the Balrog unleashes its fiery whip, he grabs hold of the dwarven king, who sacrifices himself to save his son, and Prince Durin IV officially becomes the new ruler.
The other major death of the episode is Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), the master blacksmith, creator of the rings and Sauron’s unwitting puppet. The two have an intense conversation, during which Sauron styles himself the master of the rings, but Celebrimbor says he’s simply their prisoner. With his dying breath, Celebrimbor calls him “the lord of the rings” — which has a better “ring” to it!
After taking care of Celebrimbor and Adar, Sauron turns his sights to Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). The two have a trippy showdown as Sauron transforms himself to resemble Celebrimbor, his past alter-ego Halbrand and even Galadriel herself. He gains the upper hand when he stabs Galadriel with the cursed crown of Morgoth, Middle-earth’s original dark lord. Galadriel escapes Sauron by jumping off a cliff into water, but the crown leaves her with a spiritual wound that Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) must heal after the elves lose the battle of Eregion. Sauron and his new orc army are victorious, and the elves gather in a new sanctuary that’s protected by their rings. With all the elves reunited, including warrior-archer Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova ), they can take another stand against Sauron.
That final scene is how Season 2 of “The Rings of Power” concludes — and the elves’ show of force ends the season on a hopeful note. “You know what I call them? I call them the Aveng-elves,” Córdova told Variety in an interview breaking down the season’s penultimate episode, published on Sept. 26.
Notably, the finale also at last reveals the identity of the Stranger (Daniel Weyman), which fans have theorized about since before the series even came out. Just like many people speculated, he is, in fact, Gandalf. In a scene with fellow wizard Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear), the powerful sorcerer regained his memory and got his magical staff.
Prime Video hasn’t officially renewed “Rings of Power” for Season 3, but Córdova said it should be coming soon. He hasn’t seen any scripts yet, but he did tell Variety where he hopes to see Arondir go next.
“This season, Arondir has been a little bit quieter than the first season, but I think he’s proven himself by this point. I’d love for him to have a tactical, higher position,” Córdova said. “I think he’s ready to command, strategize, be in those rooms and for his input to be heard and used. I would love to see him really be woven into the story with the other characters. Right now, he’s been a little peripheral from the lore, but at the end of this, I’m in with the established characters that we know from the books. I think it’d be a great asset to see how those two worlds collide and how maybe it would humble down the relationships. These higher-ups need to actually connect with the people, so I’m really looking forward to that. I have my ideas, but the thing is if I tell you one, and it’s actually what they’re thinking about, I’m scared that they’re gonna think I spoiled it and do something else.”
