‘The Rings of Power’ Recap: A New Dude and Tables Turning
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The following story contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, episode 4, "Eldest."
"FORGIVENESS TAKES AN age." So speaks Winterbloom, the wise but wrathful Entwife who lumbers (sorry) into the fourth episode of The Rings of Power. All throughout the series but in this week's episode especially, our leads are haunted by sins of the past that fester pain in the present. It isn't even ancient sins that eat at them, either. For many in Rings of Power, fresh wounds sting just as much as ones that are millennia old.
"Eldest," co-directed by Louise Hooper and Sanaa Hamri and written by Glenise Mullins, is quietly centered around all the ways the past collides with the present. The restless spirits of the dead rise with a ghoulish vengeance, Ents stomp and smash and cry foul at what's been done to their kind, Harfoots find desert-dwelling distant cousins they've long forgotten–and there's Tom Bombadil (played by an ethereal Rory Kinnear), the "Eldest" who remembers the first raindrop on the first acorn.
It may only be "week two" of The Rings of Power Season 2, but we're already halfway through the journey before the season finale drops on October 3. Still, the season feels like it's only just getting started, riding a lengthy runaway before bigger and better things happen. That's not to say "Eldest" is "filler," as the kids might call it; it's just that for every step forward The Rings of Power takes, the road ahead grows longer evermore.
So grab a walking stick (just don't take it from any living trees) and let's embark on yet another expedition through Middle-earth and break down all that goes down in this week's Rings of Power.
Meeting Tom Bombadil
In an episode loaded with introductions, easily the biggest among them is Tom Bombadil. The mystifying man from deep in the Old Forest makes his long-awaited appearance in a Lord of the Rings adaptation. One that isn't a video game, at least.
In The Rings of Power, The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) wanders in search of Nori and Poppy when he appears in the gardens of Tom Bombadil, played by an ethereal Rory Kinnear who within minutes makes Tom a very likable dude. (Actually, describing Kinnear's take on Bombadi as Middle-earth's "The Dude" isn't so off the mark.) "Well, there's what you're searching for, and what you find," Bombadil tells The Stranger, immortal wise words delivered matter-of-factly.
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A little about Bombadil, given his recurring absence from nearly all Lord of the Rings movies: Tom Bombadil is a supporting character from Tolkien's tale, a merry man who dwells in the Old Forest. He appears in the books to rescue Merry and Pippin from Old Man Willow and give the Hobbits a moment of rest from their journey in his home. Despite his chill nature, Tom Bombadil wields powers of his own. He is distinctly unaffected by the One Ring and its toxic influences. He also has a wife, Goldberry, who is not present in the show but is audibly heard when The Stranger hears a woman's voice sing with Tom, though Tom denies anyone else is present with them.
In his few minutes of screentime in episode 4, Kinnear makes up for lost time with a truly elegant performance as Bombadil. The man seems to walk on a cloud, being alarmingly down-to-Earth yet omniscient over all of Middle-earth. His playful rescue of The Stranger from a consuming sentient tree, echoic of his rescue of the Hobbits in Tolkien's book, exhibits him as someone who wields powers but feels no urgency to obtain any more. Later in his cozy home, Tom warns The Stranger that he must stop an imminent alliance between Sauron and "The Dark Wizard" (Ciarán Hinds); Bombadil also alludes to the Dark Wizard being another Istar like The Stranger. "Your task," he says to The Stranger, "is to face them both."
Stoor'd Away
Speaking of those missing Harfoots, Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy (Megan Richards) wake up together deeper in the deserts of Rh?n. There, the two encounter Merimac (actor Gavie Singh Chera), another humble halfling who takes an instant liking to Poppy. Aww.
A wrinkle in the expanding lore is that Merimac is unaware of Harfoots. Merimac is instead a member of the Stoors, another subrace of halflings who are later revealed to be distant cousins of a sort to Harfoots. When Merimac brings Nori and Poppy to his tribal leader, known as "The Gund" (the end credits list her name as Gundabale Earthauler, played by Tanya Moodie), the Stoors grow hostile when they mistake Nori and Poppy's friendly "wizard" for the Dark Wizard, whose iron grip over Rhun is clearly not in the Stoors' favor.
Later, the Harfoots namedrop Sadoc Burrows–a name with great meaning to Stoors. Gundabale's ice starts to thaw when she informs the Harfoots their communities may descend from the same people, only to be now separated by eons of time. Both Harfoots and Stoors are in search of a home, a fabled place Gundabale describes as having "endless streams of cold water" and rolling hills capable of housing families. (Might as well hold up a neon sign that reads: "Shire Or Bust.") So Gundabale's legend goes, one Stoor went off with a caravan, promising to send someone back after they've found such a place. Clearly the caravan never did, as the Harfoots never stopped moving and the Stoors still live in Rh?n.
Not long after this lore-drop, two of the Dark Wizard's masked men arrive and threaten the Stoors into giving up the Harfoots. Like J. Jonah Jameson telling Green Goblin he doesn't know who takes Spider-Man's photos, Gundabale protects the Harfoots by feigning ignorance. This won't be the last time the Dark Wizard asks, and he may not be so polite next time.
"Forgiveness Takes an Age"
Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) is still missing, being held captive by mysterious forces. Returning back to the refugee camp, Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) and Isildur (Maxim Baldry) warn the people danger is closing in. The mysterious Estrid (Nia Towle) advises they move north, citing her own experience barely surviving in other corners of the forests.
In private, Arondir confronts Isildur and Estrid about Estrid's true intentions. That's when Arondir unveils Sauron's Sigil (which Arondir identifies as a "mark of Adar") on the back of Estrid's neck, which she's gruesomely attempted to burn off to hide. Isildur is clearly stung by this betrayal, though Estrid insists she's only trying to survive. She later regains some of their trust when she rescues Arondir and Isildur from being devoured by a grotesque snake-like mud monster. At camp, Arondir lets Isildur decide if Estrid should be free from her shackles, and naturally, Isildur can't say no to a pretty face.
Out of the corner of their eyes, the trees around them start to move–closer, approaching them. That's when audiences finally meet not just one Ent, but one of the Entwives, female tree beings who are long lost in the Third Age of Middle-earth. The episode's credits identify these two as Snaggleroot (Jim Broadbent) and Winterbloom (Olivia Williams). Much like Treebeard in Tolkien's story and Jackson's movies, the Ents are in anguish over the violence of men–followers of Adar, in other words–who are "spilling sap and burning branch" wherever they go.
While Arondir wants intel on where Adar's men are, he expresses sympathy towards the Ents and asks for their forgiveness. "Forgiveness takes an age," Winterbloom tells him, but an olive branch (no pun intended) is extended. That's when Arondir reunites with Theo, who has been contained by the Ents along with some other men. It just so happens one of those men is Estrid's husband, whose warm return into Estrid's arm kills their vibe.
On the Road to Eregion
Mysteriously, the Elves of Lindon have still not yet heard from Celebrimbor regarding their urgent warning that Halbrand is Sauron. When we last left off in Rings of Power, Celebrimbor was still working with Halbrand (as "Annatar") to forge new rings for Dwarves.
Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) are finally on the move to Eregion only to be stopped halfway there by a broken bridge–a handy and obvious metaphor for their current estrangement towards one another. "This company will not take counsel from that trinket," Elrond lectures the fair elf maiden, his steelyness towards his (former?) friend wisely stemming from his steadfast skepticism about the Three Rings. Galadriel snaps back, arguing that she does not want to see anyone slain, "including you."
Despite the divide between them, Elrond and Galadriel are smart enough to balance their ego against their duties in the name of a greater good. Their trust is tested when, in the haunted Barrow-downs–where they find the corpse of their messenger, with the message that never reached Celebrimbor–they become surrounded by menacing Barrow-wights, zombie-like ghouls who are the buried kings and queens of yore. While the set-piece is mostly an excuse to see some swords swing (truth be told, this episode lacks any real meaty action), its purpose is made clear when Elrond rescues Galadriel from doom. Even when these elves can't stand each other, they have each other's backs.
Galadriel and Elrond share one more major heart-to-heart conversation–about the rings, about the fate of Middle-earth, about destiny and duty–before flashes of an ominous vision compel Galadriel to plead with Elrond to prioritize stopping Sauron. Of course Elrond agrees, though he insists he won't do anything if "that ring" (meaning Galadriel's) tells him to.
Tension between the elves aren't all smoothed over, however. Cornered by orcs, Galadriel hands Elrond her ring and rushes off to fight them (in rather impressive fashion, I'll add) which affords the company time to escape. Her actions may have been valiant, but Elrond feels otherwise. "She did not do it to save us," Elrond tells his men in bitter Elvish. "She did it to save the ring."
Giving up the ring might have dulled Galadriel's swagger too, as who else but Adar (Sam Hazeldine) shows up to literally drag her down. In season 1, Galadriel had Adar tied up for interrogation. Now in season 2, the tables might turn with Adar now in control.
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