Recap: The Rings of Power, Season 2, Episode 5 – “Halls of Stone”

This episode opens with a shot of mountains, which transitions to a ring, one of the new dwarven rings. King Durin III picks up his ring, however he does not wear it yet. As he turns away voices can be heard coming from the other rings.

There is still an issue with sunlight in Khazad-dûm. The dwarves have been attempting to dig tunnels to allow the sunlight in, however every attempt has made the mountain unstable. The king walks off and climbing up a ladder indicates a point where they should dig. He has put the ring on, which appears to be the cause for this new insight. Despite the warning from his son Durin IV that the spot picked is on a foundation wall, Durin III uses the axe he is given to proceed digging into the wall. As he continues digging the mountain rumbles, small rocks and debris are falling from the ceiling, but then a perfect hole appears bringing in sunlight. After his success the King instructs other dwarves where to dig. Further streams of light appear in the mountain and through a cleverly engineered mirrored system the dwarves can supply their crops with the sunlight required to continue growing.

The show now moves Eregion and Celebrimbor gives a speech to his team, explaining his joy at elves and dwarves working together. Annatar is off to the side and seems to have made an impression on one of Celebrimbor’s female assistants. Narvi, one of King Durin III trusted dwarves comes forward and presents the Doors of Durin. You may remember these as the doors for the Western entrance to Moria, where the fellowship had to work out the friend riddle.
Celebrimbor is reflecting on his earlier speech and asks Annatar if it had been too much. Annatar tells him that he had advised him to keep it shorter, after some more back and forth it is not long until Celebrimbor brings up the idea of making rings for the race of men. This is Annatar’s desire and he tries to press this but Celebrimbor does have concerns about the frailty of men and the miseries which they bring on themselves. Annatar recalls Beren, Eärendil and his father Tuor, three heroes from the first age. Anyone who has read The Silmarillion will be familiar with those three names, I wonder if we will ever see Tuor’s cousin, Turin brought to the screen. Annatar proposes to seek out only the wisest and purest men, whom would be entrusted with the rings. Celebrimbor still declines this, to which Annatar walks off and says that he will make them himself.

Now switching to Númenor, Pharazôn is in conversation with Kemen his son, discussing the immortality with of the Elves. He is ambitious wishing to achieve more than being a king. His son tries to remind him that now is his moment to shine and to make the positive changes to Númenor. Pharazôn challenges Kemen to prove himself or he will have other uses for him.

Meanwhile, Elendil is reassuring Míriel that she does still have support amongst the people and that the Sea Guard is loyal to her. After a conversation debating the victories of battle she asks Elendil what it is that he saw in the palantír. He saw himself riding away from the city. She now believes the vision has changed. Potentially the next morning Elendil discovers that the Sea Guard are being stripped of rank and their gear too. He is aggrieved to find that his daughter, is supporting Kemen in doing this. The prove their loyalty to their captain as they begin shouting “Thank you, captain”. Eäiren informs Valandil that she could get him removed from the list as he is her oldest friend, however he declines as he realises who her true friends are. Finally, Pharazôn is at the pedestal holding the palantír, he removes the cloth covering it, what is it that he sees?

We now take a quick detour to Lindon and the High King Gil-galad who has received Celebrimbor’s letter informing him of the closed forge. At this point, Gil-galad has a vision of destruction, with Sauron at the front of it, the vision then changes to Elrond running through the woods.

Returning to Khazad-dûm, Durin IV and Disa are at the market again. They are shopping for a present for their youngest daughter. After finding the gift they bicker about the price. Durin IV walks off and leaves Disa to haggle with the trader. Once agreeing a price she gets the gift, however when walking off, someone bumps into her, this causes the stone to roll off into a tunnel. This tunnel leads to a cavern which has a large body of water. After “singing” to find the stone there is a growling as the water begins to move. Something large is moving in there.

Meanwhile King Durin III has summoned emissaries from the other Dwarven realms to propose a deal. He is offering the remaining rings but at a price. As the scene changes we see the king planning to dig deeper into the mountain into areas which had previously been restricted. After looking at his hand, he realises that his ring is missing, he is suddenly full of fear and anger and accuses the delve master who he had been discussing his plans with of stealing it. At this point the delve master points to the king’s table and explains he took it off as his hand was feeling heavy. At this point Durin IV enters the room and explains Disa’s encounter. He pleads with his father not to dig deeper into the mountain. The king bats away the concerns and explains he can see what the others can hear and all there is to dig is riches beyond belief.

The episode returns to Eregion and Celebrimbor sitting in his workshop. He hears a cry of distress and he sees a number of elven smiths and Annatar stand around one of the tools floating in the air. Then more objects in the smith begin to act independently. As a sledgehammer heads towards Celebrimbor he grabs it, this causes him to remove the ring for one his assistants finger. She then begins to describe what she saw, which was a similar world to the one they were in but it was shrouded in mist and darkness. She could also describe a figure which was surrounded by fire and he reeked of death. Celebrimbor asks his smiths what was done differently with the forging of this ring. They all state it was the same process as previously followed, with the only exception being of mixing alloys.

A few moments later, some guards appear and enter to inform Celebrimbor that Durin IV is there to speak with him. Annatar offers to speak to the dwarf however Celebrimbor decides to do this. Durin IV describes the change in his fathers behaviour, he also explains how he is refusing to share the rings with other Dwarf lords unless he receives compensation to the value of half the shares in their mines. Celebrimbor defends the rings, as they used similar materials and processes to the ones made for the elves. Durin IV is not impressed and accuses Annatar. We then see Annatar with the assistant discussing her experience with the unseen world, he flatters her and asks her to keep their conversation secret.

In Númenor, there is a ceremony taking place in one of the oldest cathedrals on the island. The High Priest is speaking, whilst several people including Elendil, place candles that are in the sea shells onto the water where they drift away. The service is interrupted by Kemen who orders everyone to exit the cathedral by order of the king. As they people are being forced out the cathedral an old man refuses to leave, they cannot understanding him but Elendil speak Sindarin and explains he wishes to take the relic. Kemen picks up the relic and drops it in front of him and it smashes to the ground. Elendil loses control and punches Kemen, he is knocked to the floor with blood dripping from his mouth. He orders his guards to subdue Elendil, they pin his arms behind his back and as Kemen goes to punch him, his arm is blocked and held back by Valandil. The two fight with Kemen initially getting the upper hand as he manages to push Valandil’s head underwater and begins drowning him. Valandil manages to break free and overpower Kemen, breaking his arm in the process and unsheathing his sword ready to end his life. A shout from Elendil pauses him, and he follows his command not to kill him, throwing the sword on the floor. As he walks towards Elendil, his face switches to a look of surprise as a sword protrudes from his chest, he has been stabbed in the back by the cowardly Kemen. As he dies in Elendil’s arms Kemen orders the guards to inform the king that is was Elendil that started the uprising.

Returning to Eregion, Celebrimbor is informing Annatar of Durin IV’s concern with the Dwarven rings. Annatar tries to convince him that it is the dwarves fault as they are not using the rings properly. Celebrimbor remains unconvinced and asks Annatar if he altered the rings. To which he replies that he did not, but they did. He explains that due to them being constructed under lies, the process was made in deceit and that has influenced the process. The only way forward would be to confess the truth or to continue making the nine in more secret.

Durin IV is with his father King Durin III and is explained that he visited Eregion and that he is convinced the new rings have devilry in them and they should not be used anymore. The king does not listen, but he does explain he needs his son by his side and offers him his title of prince back. Disa is waiting for her husband to return and as he does sees that he is wearing his golden neck decoration that signifies his status as prince again. He explains he tried to reason with his father but he would not listen. She makes him promise to never wear one of those rings which he does.
Back at the forge, Celebrimbor is giving another speech to his smiths. Saying their work on the next rings must be perfect with no room for error. If there was anything less than perfection then they will no longer be a smith of Eregion. The smiths are seen muttering their concerns as he walks away, to which Annatar slyly reassures them.

As Adar’s Orcs exit a forest they have arrived outside Eregion. Elrond arrives in Lindon to inform Gil-galad that Galadriel was right and the Orcs are attacking Eregion. Going back to the orcs they be seeing moving parts of siege weaponry but also a cage, which is revealed to contain Galadriel. As she exits the cage she is given some abuse by Orcs. She does not react but upon seeing Adar moves lightening quick and reveals a small knife held at his throat. He explains that he brought her there not as a prisoner but a potential ally, also that they share a common enemy.
The episode ends as it cuts to Annatar making more rings in the forge.

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