Recap: The Rings of Power, Season 2, Episode 4 – “Eldest”
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
Finally the arrival of Tom Bombadil. But we will get to that later.
Episode 4 chooses to start in Lindon picking up where episode 2 left off. Elrond and Galadriel are gathering a squad of Elves to take to Eregion as there has still been no word from Celebrimbor. Galadriel is not pleased to be following Elrond and when he enquires about which Elves to take with them, she questions his trust in her. To this he replies that it was due to his discussions with the High King that she was granted the position of first Lieutenant, however if this position was on she felt was beneath her then he could find another.
The scene moves along to the company travelling to Eregion. They come across a bridge which has been destroyed meaning they will need to talk an alternative path. It is here that Galadriel has another vision. Elrond’s decision is for the party to head south, although Galadriel opposes this. He does not fully trust her judgement as he believes it is being guided by her ring, he challenges her to this and says that he will not let it make decisions for them.
Returning to the east of middle-earth and The Stranger is searching for his hobbit friends Nori and Poppy, following the sandstorm he created which blew them away. He follows a goat up and ends up finding a house nestled in the mountains. It is here we get the debut of Tom Bombadil. Someone who has been asked for since his absence from Peter Jackson’s trilogy. The Stranger informs Tom that he is looking for the stars that appear above his house. The map that The Stranger is holding is blown out of his hand, whilst Tom is singing. It becomes stuck in a tree. Here The Stranger believes he can pull a branch off the tree to create a new staff. However, this backfires as he is completely consumed by the tree. It takes Tom appearing and singing to the tree for him to be released.
In the next scene we discover that the Harfoots did survive. They are still trying to dodge the Easterling trackers which leads them to roll down a hill right in front of another hobbit pushing a cart. This one however is not a Harfoot. He is a Stoor. When questioned by Nori and Poppy he tries to claim his name is nobody, before conceding it is Merrimac. When questioned about where he got his water from, which was the contents of the cart, he tried to run away. They catch him up and he eventually agrees to take them to their leader, however he does warn them that outsiders are not welcome.
Once in the villages, a woman steps out and asks why they have been brought there. Merrimac explains they need a place to hide. When the Harfoots are asked why they should be allowed to stay Nori tries to explain that she is helping their friend a wizard find his destiny. The Stoors only know of one wizard, which is The Dark Wizard, so the leader of The Stoors orders The Harfoots to be tied up.
We cut to The Dark Wizard receiving a report about the failed wizard capture. The Masked Man explains that the Istar is too powerful and that he is heading north towards the hermit. The Dark Wizard enquires about the hobbits and is told they are being looked for. The Dark Wizard asks The Masked Man to focus on the hobbits and he will deal with the Istar.
Returning to The Stranger and assumedly the “hermit”, Tom Bombadil. He is explain why the tree swallowed him. The Stranger asks Tom who exactly he is to which he gives him a song without any real definition behind it. The Stranger asks Tom to teach him magic. Tom explains there was another Istar and that he taught him magic but he is currently a Dark Wizard and if he should join the Sauron then fire will burn the earth.
The episode returns to Elrond’s company of traveling Elves and they are in the Barrow-downs. They discover the message to Eregion never made it to which was supposed to warn Celebrimbor of Sauron. Galadriel encourages them to leave. Suddenly the group is attacked by Barrow-wights. Unfortunately the Elvish weapons have no effect on the Barrow-wights. Elrond gets another Elf to open one of the tombs with him, Galadriel is trapped but Elrond appears and kills the Barrow-wights. After they are defeated Elrond explains that they can only be killed by the weapons they were buried with. Galadriel blames their awakening on Sauron.
Returning to Isildur, they are searching for Theo, who disappearing in the unseen attack in the last episode. He is with Arondir who reassures Isildur that Theo has been through worse and he is confident he will be fine. As they separate in their search Arondir finds some white petals, however as he follows them he finds human limbs scattered around. The search party are back in the town and deciding what move to make next. Arondir does not believe humans were responsible for what he had seen. The girl who stabbed Isildur from the previous episode encourages them to go north as that is where many of the Wildmen are. Isildur has been going closer to the girl. Later, Arondir confronts her about the wound on her neck. She claims she slept to close to the fire. As they stare at each other, she throws the pot she was holding at Arondir. They scuffle but he reveals the wound on her neck is to hide the mark of Mordor. They decide to use her to help locate the Wildmen.
The scene cuts to Theo who we can see is caged in a tree by branches, but he is with the other Wildmen. Arondir, Isildur and the girl are heading north. Isildur is upset as he believes the girl has betrayed him. He then gets stuck in a mud bog. Arondir attempts to help but they both get stuck and end up submerged in the bog. The girl takes the opportunity to escape, or so it appears until she returns with a branch which she uses to pull them out. At this point a giant mud worm monster emerges from the bog, but it is quickly disposed of by Arondir.
The episode returns to the Harfoots now, the two girls and Merrimac are tied together. As they are about to be excavated from the village Nori mentions Sadic Burrows, who met his end in the previous seasons finale. He was known to the leader of The Stoors, with his wish of finding a home for the Harfoots to settle in. The Masked Man arrives at the village and demands to know where the Harfoots are. The leader of The Stoors says they are the only halflings around. The Masked Man does not believe her and tries to intimidate her with an explanation for the masks and the fear of The Dark Wizard.
Back to Elrond’s company and they have just buried their fallen comrades. Galadriel pleads with Elrond to understand that the ring is guiding her, not deceiving her. Elrond explains he foresees Celebrimbor’s fate will be in his hands, that he will do anything to protect him. Galadriel believes there will be more painful sacrifices will be made as she has more flashes of visions from the ring, this time about Sauron. She asks Elrond to promise to put defeating Sauron above everything else, including her life. He agrees to this.
Now the episode goes back to Arondir, Isildur and the girl sitting by a fire. Arondir places a key beside her, giving Isildur the choice to free her from her bonds. He does this, however she immediately grabs a sword and prepares to attack him, Arondir was prepared for this and is a few paces away with an arrow point at her. Then you see the same white petals as earlier in the episode, enter the second debut of the series, an Entwife. Isildur calls for the girl to put down the sword, but she does not react quickly enough and is smacked away by the Entwife. Arondir approaches the Entwife and sooths her by speaking Entish. She asks him if he has ever chopped down a tree. He reveals that he has and this angers the Entwife. An Ent then appears and explains that Orcs have been destroying their forest. Arondir comforts them and explains no more harm will come to the forest. Isildur has moved over to check the girl is ok, they look at each other with a strong desire. Theo then reappears, The Ents have released him along with the Wildmen. It turns out one of these is the girls partner who she had been looking for originally. Arondir and Theo manage to reconcile.
Elrond’s company have come across Adar’s Orc army. The mistakenly believe they are there to side with Sauron. They decide a message must be sent to Gil-Galad before the Elven army is sent in the wrong direction. Suddenly an Elf is hit by an arrow. They believe they have been discovered by the group, however they realise it was a misfired arrow aimed at a stray horse. Galadriel heals the wounded Elf with her ring. She tells them to return to Lindon, gives her ring to Elrond and says she will hold them off as long as she can. She attacks the orcs, killing many including using fire arrows to set many Orcs on fire. As she jumps on a horse to ride away she is pulled down by a chain and Adar is standing over her.
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