For a narrative constructed on temptation, The Lord of the Rings is basically outlined by its clear-cut morality. The similar can’t be mentioned of The Rings of Power, which has leaned into the ethical ambiguity and questionable selections of its sprawling ensemble just about from the soar. And so it’s with season 2’s fifth installment, which continues the present’s current run of type by devoting most of its run time to folks doing the best factor for the fallacious causes. The result’s extra than simply the strongest hour of TV the season has mustered to date (though it’s actually that). It’s a springboard for episode 5 as an example the seductiveness of the Rings of Power — and the baddie behind them — in ways in which Lord of the Rings media not often (if ever) does.
[Ed note: This article contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, episode 5.]
J.R.R. Tolkien’s authentic Center-earth lore is fairly clear on the top-level particulars of Sauron’s lengthy con. The darkish lord hoodwinks Celebrimbor and the opposite elf-smiths with his “mission from God” Annatar schtick, and suckers everybody else in by taking part in to their vanity, avarice, or each. As a backstory for The Lord of the Rings, this greater than does the trick. Nonetheless, as a narrative in its personal proper, it leaves lots of room for fleshing out. Even in his “fair” guise, how did Sauron preserve the famously smart elves on the hook lengthy sufficient to crank out so many rings? And the way did he persuade the infamously insular dwarves to simply accept them?
It’s questions akin to these that episode 5 devotes most of its run time to answering — and to administrators Louise Hooper and Sanaa Hamri and author Nicholas Adams’ credit score, answering fairly effectively. It offers us an up-close have a look at why anybody would stay on board the Rings of Power prepare, regardless of it being steered by an enigmatic cat like Annatar (sure, individuals are finally beginning to twig that something’s up with Eregion’s self-proclaimed “Lord of Gifts”; we’re not in pure fable logic territory anymore). And in each occasion, it boils all the way down to people fooling themselves into believing — needing to consider, even — that making or sporting a hoop is in service of a larger good.
Take Celebrimbor. Positive, he’s pushed by his vocation, in addition to a familial inadequacy complicated which barely dares communicate its identify (due to rights points preserving The Silmarillion off-limits). However simply as importantly, Celebrimbor nonetheless buys into the rings as Center-earth’s finest shot at a brighter future. He even goes alongside with Sauron’s rickety logic that ramping up manufacturing is one way or the other the answer to the dwarven rings’ apparent, inherent flaws. Why? As a result of the choice — that he’s betrayed his king and struck up a partnership with a dangerous dude — is just too horrible to resist. It’s essentially the most human arc of The Rings of Power season 2, and Celebrimbor actor Charles Edwards makes essentially the most of it. There’s an actual sense of tragedy to his character’s corruption. Not even the elf-smith abruptly shifting gears from “conflicted yet scrupulous” to “jerk boss” is sufficient to diminish these scenes’ general effectiveness.
The goings on in Khazad-dûm are likewise some of the stronger materials in The Rings of Power season 2 to date — and once more, that’s due to some ring-centric faux-virtue. Like Celebrimbor, Durin III’s acknowledged aim this episode is noble. He slips on a hoop as a result of Khazad-dûm wants daylight; in any other case, it’s recreation over for the underground kingdom. Nevertheless it’s not lengthy earlier than greed replaces want. Durin III pivots from putting in skylights to imposing ring profit taxes and scaling up mining operations to harmful, balrog-waking ranges very quickly in any respect. He sugarcoats it as safeguarding Khazad-dûm from need, but it’s bare profiteering, pure and easy. Admittedly, this transition occurs virtually too shortly. But it nonetheless jibes not solely with Tolkien’s writings relating to the dwarves and their rings, but additionally with episode 5’s general mission of making us absolutely recognize the rings’ attract (past the supernatural): They’re the answer to all of your issues. Till, that’s, they change into an issue in their very own proper.
None of the above explicitly applies to occasions over in Númenor, which proceed to play out like a post-credits scene that escaped and took on a life of its personal. However these scenes are no less than thematically on level: Elendil ignoring Míriel’s recommendation to fly below the radar, leading to Valandil discovering himself on the fallacious finish of something pointy, is a reasonably literal expression of the place unchecked ethical certainty can get you. But — as with all the pieces in season 2 in a roundabout way tied again to the Rings of Power — it suffers for need of one key participant: Sauron.
As a lot as The Rings of Power is about its titular jewellery, it’s additionally concerning the mastermind who unleashed them on the world. That is arguably the present’s true promoting level: Not like in The Lord of the Rings correct, The Rings of Power’s Sauron isn’t a largely offstage, inscrutable entity — he’s current and knowable. That issues, since (as with the rings themselves), it explains Sauron’s persuasive impact on these round him, something solely gestured at in Tolkien’s core narrative and Peter Jackson’s big-screen blockbusters. If you happen to solely know Second Age Sauron as an outsized darkish lord in spiky armor — Devil 2.0, principally — it’s exhausting to think about why anybody would fall for his shit, not to mention some of Center-earth’s extra savvy operators. However as Tolkien’s wider writings clarify, many of Sauron’s greatest wins throughout this period have been grounded in flattery and thoughts video games, not whaling on extras with a mace. Episode 5 displays this higher than any episode of The Rings of Power so far. Watching Charlie Vickers’ “Annatar” cajoling Celebrimbor into making the 9, or placing the strikes on Mirdania, Sauron’s knack for understanding simply what buttons press comes into sharp focus. Who wouldn’t get behind the rings, when the man selling them at all times appears to know simply what to say?
That Sauron’s seductive persona coexists with his better-known, overtly demonic incarnation in The Rings of Power ends in simply essentially the most absolutely fleshed-out model of the villain, exterior of Tolkien’s personal. Different diversifications primarily depict the longer term lord of Mordor in pretty literal phrases; he’s an all-seeing eye or a nasty black cloud, each of which, for all their metaphysical substance, are characterised by what they actively do (even when that quantities to “stares really hard”). Against this, The Rings of Power’s Sauron is an altogether extra insidious proposition; he makes dangerous shit occur simply by current. Whereas in earlier installments, Galadriel continually attributing any misfortune to Sauron verged on unintentional comedy — we all know he’s been busy with the rings, not blowing up bridges — when Mirdania briefly clocks Sauron’s true self within the unseen world, his twin nature reveals itself. He’s without delay the puppet grasp determine in Eregion and a terrifying, cosmic virus spreading misfortune and unwell will all through Center-earth itself.
That is broadly true to Tolkien’s canon; Sauron’s perceptibly corrosive aura comes up no less than as soon as in The Lord of the Rings. And even when it weren’t, it’s precisely the kind of factor The Rings of Power ought to be doing, relatively than redundant wizard origin tales and Shire foreshadowing. Giving viewers a greater appreciation of the complete extent of Sauron’s menace raises season 2’s stakes and drives the overarching story ahead. It leaves us questioning what doubtful choices our heroes will make — what proper issues they’ll do for the fallacious causes, or vice versa — to cease him. The Galadriel/Adar alliance teased as episode 5’s credit roll suggests no matter they land on will likely be fairly monumental. Whether or not this bodes good or unwell for Center-earth stays to be seen, however it’s an undeniably strong platform for The Rings of Power season 2’s closing three episodes to construct on.
