Recap: The Rings of Power, Season 2, Episode 8 – “Shadow and Flame”

The episode opens in Khazad-dûm, Prince Durin IV is going to find his father and as he walks down the tunnel finds many slaughtered dwarves on the floor. Disa is there trying to help them, she appears to be unharmed. As the Prince continues on to find his father, he instructs Disa to not follow him, regardless of what she hears. When he continues and encounters his father, King Durin III is using a battering ram to break down a wall. They have a conversation where the King challenges the Prince as to whether he is strong enough to harm his father. The Prince replies with a story about how they used to arm wrestle when he was a child, and how even though his father let him lift his hand occasionally, his hand would be slammed down and in those moments knew that nothing was as strong as his father. King Durin III finally manages to break the wall and shows his son a cavern with the raw mithril running through the entirety of it.

As they long in wonder, there is an orange hew growing strong, and with a growl and flame the mighty Balrog rises. As the king realizes his fate, he removes the ring placing it in the rocks around him. He tells his son that it was his strength that had grown whenever he managed to lift his hand. He then lifts his axe and jumps headfirst to attack the Balrog. As Prince Durin IV screams and goes to chase his father he is held back by DIsa and another Dwarf and is pulled to safety. There is a rumble as more rocks fall into the cavern and the Balrog appears to be encased again.

We are now taken east and to The Stranger. He is in the Stoor’s village and encounters The Dark Wizard. They have a conversation about Sauron and The Dark Wizard claims that The Stranger is the reason they are there and he will help him with his foggy memory. The Stranger is concerned for the hobbits and The Dark Wizard shows that they are safe. They are actually being held at knife point by The Masked Man from earlier in the season. The Dark Wizard kills him and his companions run off. This is an attempt for The Dark Wizard to win the trust of The Stranger, however this does not come to fruition. The Dark Wizard becomes offended and causes an avalanche of boulders to fall onto the village. The Stranger manages to control his powers and hold the falling boulders in the air with his magic and protect the hobbits.

The episode now takes us to Númenor. The King Pharazôn has gathered members of the faithful. He informs them that he has found the reason how Míriel survived her trial. That she has allied herself with Sauron. Therefore all the faithful are deemed traitors. As some are killed others are imprisoned and chaos ensues through the city. Eärien races off to warn her father that the soldiers are coming for him. She even stops some from finding him, by threatening her position with The King. Elendil goes to Míriel, he is trying to convince her to leave with him and go to the west where his son Anárion is. Despite her feelings for him, Míriel believes her place is there. She then goes on to present Elendil with a gift. It is a sword, called Narsil. As he admires the sword and draws it from its sheath, she tells him to reclaim his lordship. This scene is a little challenging to take. It is essentially a carbon copy of Elrond giving Aragon, Andúril, Flame of the West, which is forged from the shards of Narsil, in Return of the King. It however lacked the emphatic grandeur of the film, it felt copied and therefore unoriginally and quite flat. 

Moving to Eregion, the city is overrun with Orcs. Galadriel is trying to lead some women and children to safety. She uses a tunnel to exit the city and up onto the mountain top, however there are Orcs waiting on the other side. She negotiates her surrender to let the others go. 

Further down in the city, Celebrimbor is crouched on the floor pierced by many arrows. Sauron stood a few paces back and shot another arrow at him. He is trying to find the location of the nine rings. He eventually pierces Celebrimbor with a spear and his final words that Sauron is actually a slave to the rings and that someone will be his downfall cause an uncharacteristic emotional reaction and he kills Celebrimbor, meaning he can no longer get the information of the location of the rings out of him. Moments later, some Orcs enter the tower and ask if he is Sauron, to which he replies that he has many names. 

In Pelargir, Isildur is playing with a knife when Theo enters. They have a heart to heart and Isildur tries to get Theo to come to Númenor with him. He declines as his place is with his people. Later on the woman who is betrothed to another enters to leave something for Theo. She reveals to Isildur he is the one she wants and they kiss and he invites her to Númenor and she agrees to go. They are interrupted by the arrival of a ship. It is Kemen with some soldiers from Númenor. He explains that any old agreements are gone as his father is now king and if this colony will house Númenorian soldiers. The “low” men will be expected to provide timber in exchange for any supplies. Kemen is surprised to see Isildur still alive, their friendly greeting soon becomes animated as Kemen shows his true nature in the way he speaks about Isildur’s father and only subdues him due to threatening to feed his horse to the men. Isildur wishes to get passage back to Númenor but Kemen, seeing the woman at his side, tells him that he can only go alone.  

Back to Eregion and Galadriel has been taken to Adar. He is looking off into the distance, with the Crown of Morgoth next to him. As he turns he looks healed of all his scars, he looks like an Elf again. He is wearing Nenya. As Galadriel pleas with him to stop the violence in exchange for helping to destroy Sauron. He returns the ring and promises to never let his “children” wage war on middle-earth again. At this point Glûg, the Orc who has been communicating most with Adar is carried over on a stretcher with wounds. Adar rushes over to comfort him and convince him to carry on and that it is not too late. We then see Glûg’s betrayal as he holds a knife and stabs Adar. Then in the same way as the Orcs killed Sauron in the first episode, they did the same to Adar, believing he had lost his faith in them. Annatar walks over and collects the Crown of Morgoth and watches Adar be killed by his “children”. Sauron then instructs the Orcs to destroy Eregion and kill all the Elves, but to bring him their leaders. 

Galadriel witnesses all this, she picks up a sword and attacks Annatar. He parries with the Crown. He sees Nenya on her finger and tries to claim it. They then have a fight around the top of the cliff, with lots of fast paced strikes and a lot of acrobatic moves. There is some body changing as Annatar switches from himself, to Halbrand, to Galadriel. 

Down in the city, Elrond, Gil-galad and Arondir are all held hostage by the Orcs. After the Orcs tear down the statue of Fëanor and burn the scrolls containing the work of Celebrimbor, Elrond loses control and tries to fight out. As they are all subdued, they are surprised by a flurry of arrows. The dwarves have arrived from Khazad-dûm. Their strong armor and mighty warriors quickly daze and confuse the Orcs who start to flee. Elrond asks for Durin, but is informed that he is not there as he is in mourning.  

As the fight continues they argue about good and evil. Galadriel lands a few strikes but it feels like Annatar is barely trying. As he backs her against a tall stone he informs her that he would have given her a crown, after which he stabs her in the chest with the Crown of Morgoth. The magic steeped in the crown clearly has more evil imbued and Galadriel struggles backwards. As she realizes she has lost she decides she would rather die than surrender to Sauron and lets herself fall backwards off the cliff. 

As she falls the Elven leaders rush to her aid. Gil-galad tries to use Vilya to heal her but the black infection is continuing to spread through her body. After seeing her nearly passing, Elrond sees Nenya on the floor. He finally seems to understand the point of the rings and placing Nenya on his finger says that he can heal Galadriel. 

As entertaining as these scenes are, it is a well known fact that Galadriel was the only bearer of Nenya, yet in this episode alone it has had two other Elves wear it. 

Returning to the east, The Stoor’s village has been ruined, although The Stranger has managed to stop the people from being harmed. Poppy starts to give a speech about some advice from Mr.Burrows which mirrors Samwise speech at the end of The Two Towers. We are given a montage of different scenes. Isildur is on a ship heading to Númenor. Míriel is being sentenced by the king. Elendil has one last look before riding off. Sauron is holding Fëanor’s hammer. 

As the hobbits all leave they say goodbye to The Stranger, who they call “Grand Elf”. He and Nori have a sentimental farewell as she goes to be with her own people. The Stranger then finds a broken branch at his feet. He walks to Tom Bombadil’s home, he challenges Tom, claiming this was all a test. Tom replies that a wizard doesn’t find his staff, it finds him, like his name. The Stranger then confirms that his name is Gandalf. They then sit down and sing a song together. 

Although many had previously guessed that The Stranger was Gandalf, this does dispel the blue wizard theory. The only real information known about the blue wizards is that they are called Alatar and Pallando and they headed east. Therefore there was a real opportunity for Amazon to create a storyline which did not break any lore, which they opted against doing.

Returning to Khazad-dûm and Durin IV is given a report about Eregion and is told that there are survivors and Elrond is leading them. He wishes to continue aiding his friend, however is reminded by Disa that dwarves of the Blue Mountains are demanding their prize (The rings) after paying their tribute. He is also informed by another dwarf that he is not the preferred successor and that his brother is garnering support to take the throne, Durin IV then looks at the table with rings, is he considering breaking his vowel and wearing one to gain the power needed to ascend the dwarven throne. 

Returning to the survivors, Galadriel is waking up from her unconsciousness. Gil-galad and Elrond are with her. The former actually has a joke and laugh with her for the first time in two series. It seems that the Gil-galad of the last two episodes has had a personality transplant from the one from the previous fourteen. Arondir arrives and informs them the other survivors are awaiting their orders. That they could fight Sauron’s armies, or stay there and defend themselves. She replies echoing the words of the fallen Celebrimbor, that it is not strength that overcomes darkness but light. The leaders stand to address the crowd. They are in a beautiful green valley which will one day become the hidden land of Rivendell. Gil-galad raises his sword and all the survivors cheer their support. It looks like the Elves are ready for war.

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