Recap: The Rings of Power, Season 2, Episode 7 – “Doomed to Die”

The episode opens with Celebrimbor drinking tea on the balcony of his forge, looking out over Eregion. He can see the sun shining and hear birds in the distance. As the scene changes, he is working on the nine rings for the race of Men. When picking up Fëanor’s hammer, he notices that one of the gems is missing. He looks around the floor, on his hands and knees for the missing gem. It is here that he sees a little mouse running around. As he rises, he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and sees that he looks tired and worn down. After a second glance, he returns to his immaculate condition. At this moment, Annatar enters the room and asks if he has fallen. Celebrimbor explains about the missing gem, but upon looking at the hammer again see’s that it has returned. Annatar reminds him of his forgetfulness. As they discuss the ring’s progress Celebrimbor explains he needs more time. Annatar leaves the forge and enters the chaos outside. 

Adar prepares his Orcs to attack, on the other side of the river, telling them it is time.

Annatar addresses some of the soldiers in Eregion, as well as Mirdania. He explains the Celebrimbor has refused to counterattack as he believes the river will protect them. The soldiers feel that something needs to be done. Annatar, seeing the opportunity, takes command of the city’s defenses. As the soldiers leave following Annatar’s orders, Mirdania asks what they are not being told. He tells her that she has shown her worth and will be duly rewarded. He then notices that the siege engines have stopped. The Orcs are turning the machines onto the mountains. Annatar orders the Elves to prepare for a ground assault. As the artillery hits the mountain, giant boulders fall into the river, causing it to dam. At this moment, Arondir appears. The scene then moves back to Celebrimbor in his forge, marking a line on a candle. 

The episode now moves to the dwarves, where King During III is being updated about the siege on Eregion. He demands for the mine that was discovered by Disa to be excavated, in the search for more míthril. As a party of dwarves get to the area to mine, Prince Durin IV and Disa are standing in the way, armed with axes. The other dwarves decide to side with the prince and agree they need to separate the ring from the King. Prince Durin IV is then informed that an Elf is there to see him. It is Elrond.

Upon entering his home, Prince Durin IV sees Elrond standing by his tree. They exchange pleasantries and Prince Durin IV explains his plan to remove his father. Elrond asks the prince for support in saving Eregion from both Sauron and the Orcs.  

As the Orcs continue to assault and march upon the city, Annatar is again pressing Celebrimbor for the progress on the rings. Celebrimbor is in his own head though as he feels things are not quite right. The mouse from earlier seemed to be doing the same movements, as in the same pattern, whilst the candles although alight were not melting any wax away. Annatar explains that Celebrimbor had asked for peace, so he gave it to him. Things seemed to be becoming clearer to Celebrimbor now and he challenged Annatar about who he really was. After some more back and forth Celebrimbor threw Fëanor’s hammer out the window. As the glass shattered so did the hold on Celebrimbor and he could finally realize the chaos going on around him. He goes back onto the balcony to see his city burning. As he goes back into the forge he sees that it is also in ruin. The powdered míthril had turned into a black goo. Confused Celebrimbor demanded Annatar to tell him what it was. Annatar lifts a hand and explains that true creation requires sacrifice. Celebrimbor now recognises Annatar for who he truly is.

He leaves the forge but is struck from the repercussions of a piece of flaming artillery. As he awakens confused and dazed he makes his way to the wall and finds Mirdania, with other Eregion soldiers. Celebrimbor tries to explain who Annatar is and what has happened, but everyone has already bought into Annatar’s guise. The mental struggles they believed Celebrimbor to have, were now more believable. As the Orcs are about to breach the wall, he calls for the foundations of the wall to be braced as those were the weakest parts. Annatar appears and Celebrimbor unsuccessfully tries to get him arrested, he disproves Celebrimbor’s claims by slicing his palm and showing red blood, not black. Mirdania tries to get Celebrimbor to go back and rest, as she gently places an arm on his arm he pulls away, with a hand wave similar to a jedi Annatar forces Mirdania to fall over the wall right where the Orcs are oncoming. As she splutters, bloodied and winded, an Orc appears over her with an axe and kills her. Annatar makes his final play to Celebrimbor and offers to save Eregion in exchange for the completion of the rings. 

A horn bellows in the distance and the Elven army from Lindon has arrived. They charge the orcs, who pull a cart containing Galadriel to the front. Elrond halts the charge and he and Adar move into a tent, to negotiate, with a handful of soldiers from each side. Galadriel is there too. Adar demands the ring so they can defeat Sauron. Elrond says he does not have it.  Adar also offers Galadriel’s life in exchange for the ring and again Elrond declines. He requests to bid farewell to her before he leaves the tent, which he is granted. 

Unfortunately, now is one of the more controversial moments from the series. 

Elrond kisses Galadriel. This was not a passionate kiss, it was a distraction, so he could pass her a pin from his cloak to enable her to free herself later on. That will be little solis for fans of Tolkien’s law. Those who have read the books will be aware that Elrond would later go on to marry Celebrían, who is the daughter of Galadriel. Together they would have several children, which would include Arwen, who book, and film fans would know as Aragorn’s love interest. As Elrond leaves the camp, he is asked by one of his soldiers why he is so confident, to which he explains his plan to be supported by the dwarves.

We are now taken to Khazad-dûm, where Prince Durin IV has assembled his warriors. As he gives a speech to inspire his army we see a number of scenes playout. We see Galadriel free herself from her cuffs. It then cuts to Celebrimbor handcuffed to a table, continuing his work on the rings under Annatar’s watchful eye. We see Elrond riding through the woods with two Orcs following him. It then goes to King Durin III sitting on his throne, surrounded by gold, holding his axe, he rises and leaves. As Prince Durin IV finishes his speech, he gets cheers from the crowd. 

The episode then shows Elrond fighting more Orcs as he makes his way to Eregion. He is knocked off his horse but carries on fighting. After killing a number of Orcs Elrond looks up to see an Orc slitting the throat of his horse. Elrond becomes angry and kills the Orc. As the fighting along the wall continues we see Adar receiving a battle report. The wall has proven stronger than anticipated and will not be breached until the morning. Also the Elven army from Lindon have destroyed five of their trebuchets. The Orc asks Adar whether they should retreat, to which Adar replies no as they must not allow Sauron to escape. The Orc questions Adar about loving them. He attempts to claim that he is trying to protect them from slavery, however there seems to be a rift growing between the “children” and their “father”. Adar returns to the tent to see that Galadriel has successfully freed herself, whilst finding the tool she used to do it in Elrond’s pin.

Galadriel is making her escape through the camp, with a hood covering her face. Whilst trying to leave she is stopped by a female Orc who wants her help moving a body. She then witnesses the dead bodies being burnt. As she leaves the somber moment she is followed by two Orcs. She is then blocked by a third Orc, suddenly with a swish through the air several arrows fly and kill the Orcs surrounding her. Looking at her savior she sees Arondir, who is there to kill Adar. She convinces him to pause as this is not the right moment for his revenge and it would be a fruitful attempt on Adar’s life.  

Returning to Prince Durin IV and the dwarven army they are prepared and about to match to Eregion, when a dwarven messenger comes to warn the prince that his father has started killing his own men in his determination to continue digging. Prince Durin IV is concerned for his wife who is at the mine, but is torn between the guilt of letting down Elrond. The messenger finally tells the prince that if he leaves now then Khazad-dûm may not be there when he returns.

Returning to the forge, Celebrimbor is putting the finishing touches on the rings. Annatar tries to speak about the differences in his plans compared to his predecessor Morgoth and the differences in the way they hold their captives,how they were in a constant battle to see who had the strongest will. Celebrimbor realizes he is also to blame in the situation as he did welcome Annatar into Eregion, but also that Annatar is such a good deceiver he has even deceived himself. Once Annatar leaves, Celebrimbor throws the bags of rings into the fire. As he removes the rings from the fire they are undamaged. He attempts to free himself from his cuffs but is unable to. Whilst reflecting on Annatar’s comments about the strongest wills he looks at a machine on his worktop and decides that the best way to free himself is to cut off his thumb. The background to this is that as a smith, losing a hand effectively ends his ability to continue crafting, but he is determined to stop Annatar. Finally free he leaves the forge, but is again knocked down by the repercussions of a piece of flaming artillery. As he comes round, he has been found by some of Eregion’s soldiers, who believe he has injured himself through his failing mental capabilities and they should return him to the forge and follow Annatar’s instructions. They are stopped by the arrival of Galadriel. Celebrimbor admits his actions to her in the creation of the rings. The seven for the dwarves and the nine for the men. Galadriel tries to assuage his guilt as she too was manipulated by Sauron. Celebrimbor passes on the message to Galadriel that light is the only thing that can truly defeat darkness as he intends to go and stop Annatar. He gives her the rings to take far away from Annatar. They embrace and she says farewell, thinking it will probably be the last time she sees her cousin. Celebrimbor is also the last descendant of the house of Fëanor.

Returning to the battle raging around the walls of Eregion, the Orcs have nearly breached the wall. They have a huge war machine, which one of Elrond’s warriors believes she can destroy with the right shot. As she stands to fire her arrow, she is pierced by three. As she summons her last bit of strength she fires her arrow, destroying the war machine in a blaze of fire. Arondir is now on the walls of Eregion and can see the Orcs clearing a path. Damrod the hill-troll was joining the battle. He was a killing machine, stomping, throwing, biting everything in his path, both Elf and Orc alike. The Orcs look in with surprise that Adar has allowed this thing to come and kill so many of their own kind. 

Back at the forge Annatar is not impressed that the rings are missing. He is smashing the room apart, when Celebrimbor enters with his six elven soldiers. He informs Annatar that the rings are beyond his reach now and orders he is arrested. As the soldiers surround Annatar with their swords pointed at him, he flicks his wrist and has them stab each other, leaving Celebrimbor alone with him.

Back to the battle and Damrod is using his fallen Orc comrades as human shields to deflect all the arrows being shot at him. Now a battle ensues between Arondir, Elrond and Damrod who uses part of the siege equipment as a weapon. This finally causes the wall to breach. Then out of nowhere a rider and spear manages to take down Damrod. It is the High King Gil-galad and his famous spear Aeglos. Of all the characters in Rings of Power so far Gil-galad has been one of the biggest letdowns, mainly because he is such a strong character in the books and finally seeing him brought to screen it has taken a longtime to see him in battle showcasing his strength. There have been different sources about Gil-Galad’s heritage, however he is from the line of Finwë, whether he is descended from Fingon or Orodreth(Galadriel’s nephew).

Seeing the breach in the wall, Adar commands his Orcs to follow him as they plan to enter the city. Seeing the oncoming Orcs, the sun rises over the mountain and Elrond believes they will be saved as he expects to see the reinforcements of the dwarves arriving. He sees a single rider who draws closer with multiple arrows in him. Elrond is in disbelief and just repeats that Durin will come. Gil-galad can see that Elrond has lost his head and regroups the elves to prepare for the attack. They are severely outnumbered as the Orcs rush towards them. Arondir finally gets his opportunity to meet Adar on the field of battle. In a relatively short showdown Adar easily dispatches Arondir, with a stab through his torso. 

Is this the end of Arondir? 

Continuing on, Adar finds Elrond who is still on his knees, with no fight left in him. Adar grasps him by the throat and tosses him aside. As he looks up in his hand he sees Nenya, Galadriel’s ring. Will the show break canon again to give Nenya another bearer, when she has always only been worn by Galadriel?

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