Welcome to the Ending Explained for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episodes 1 and 2. The series based on the popular stories by J.R.R. Tolkien debuts with a bang, with two episodes filled with amazing production quality and also an incredible number of actors and storylines. The series does justice to the world that Tolkien created so long ago, and there will certainly be impressive movements in the future of this first season of the show.
The first two episodes leave one thing clear, Amazon has not cut any corners when it comes to costumes, sets, and wonderful visual effects. The storylines are very much in their infancy after these two episodes. It is quite early to judge them in terms of quality. They are basically just setting up everything that is going to happen in this and future seasons. The pacing can be a bit too much, and for the most purist of Tolkien fans, the changes to the lore might be too sinful. Nevertheless, Rings of Powers will set a before and after for TV.
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episodes 1-2. Read at your own risk.
Why is Galadriel Hunting For Sauron?
The series introduces Galadriel as the first main character of the show. Just like she did in the Peter Jackson trilogy, the character gives us the backstory to the show in a montage of scenes that depict the war of the elves against Morgoth, the biggest enemy the world has ever seen. Morgoth is a sort of Satan figure in the Middle-Earth lore. Once, he was considered one of the most beautiful creatures in the world, but once he falls from grace, he becomes a monster that is set on ruling the world.
Morgoth is defeated in the end, but the cost of the victory is very high. Among the countless dead elves, Galadriel counts his older brother, whom he loved very much. Millennia have passed, but Galadriel feels in her bones that evil has not been conquered, not completely. While Morgoth is no more, his creations, the orcs, are still roaming around in Middle-Earth. They have been hiding from the world, but they are still there, waiting.
Galadriel believes that the one keeping the evil alive is none other than one of Morgoth apprentices, the sorcerer Sauron. Who in the Middl-Earth lore also acts in a Satan kind of role, not only as an enemy but as a deceiver. Galadriel searches endlessly for the sorcerer, but he cannot find him. Once she returns home, she is sent to Valinor to live in eternity. However, Galadriel rejects the passage and jumps from the ship. She will not leave Sauron rampant in Middle-Earth. She will see his demise one way or another.
She is left stranded at sea until she finds a raft of survivors from an incident at sea. This group of survivors rejects her for being an elf, and when a sea monster comes to eat the group, they throw her into the water. However, Galadriel survives, and she is rescued by the only other survivor, a man named Halbrand. Halbrand saves Galadriel later in their voyage and also lets her know that orcs have been seen in his realm in the Southlands. At the end of the episode, they are rescued by a ship. Galadriel will probably decide to go to the Southlands in search of Sauron.
Who Is The Man In The Meteor?
Besides Galadriel, the series introduces a number of other storylines. All of them aim at one single conclusion: the return of evil and the return of Sauron and his forces to Middle-Earth. The result of this return will, of course, be the forging of the rings of power, including the One Ring for Sauron himself. The storyline dealing with this outcome is the one involving Elrond, future lord of Rivendel. He is placed by the High King to work alongside Celebrimbor, the elf who will forge the rings very soon.
Elrond visits the dwarves at Khazad-dum to ask for their collaboration in the forging of the rings, but we don’t see if the mining race accepts the proposal. However, we know they will because they will also get their own set of rings from Celebrimbor.
Another storyline deals with Arondir, an elf who has been posted in the Southlands for several years. When the king’s orders dismantle the post and ask him to return home, he doesn’t do it, as he is in love with a human woman named Bronwyn. Bronwyn also has a son named Theo, who has found a strange broken sword, a dark sword with the sign of Sauron engraved on it. Not good news at all. Arondir and Bronwyn are the first witnesses to the return of orcs to Middle-Earth.
Last, but not least, is the storyline involving the Harfoot, better known as Hobbits. This storyline follows Nori, a young Harfoot who lives in a nomadic tribe of Hobbits. One night, Nori and her best friend see a star falling from the sky. However, at the crater, they don’t find a rock but a man who looks confused and speaks in a strange language. The series makes several callbacks to Gandalf while working with this character.
He might not be Gandalf, but he is certainly a lesser Maiar, maybe one of the Blue Mages? Or maybe he is a new character who will fill the mage spot in the series.
