Rings of Power Episode 3

Galadriel really, really, really loves riding horses. That's basically my takeaway from the third episode of 'The Rings Of Power.'

In fact, the Harfoots are kind of a dystopian version of the Hobbits. They’re nomadic and when they ‘migrate’ they simply leave behind any of their number who can’t make the trek—kind of like how we Americans leave behind anyone who can’t afford their healthcare bills. But the rebellion is short-lived and almost everyone except Arondir is slaughtered. The blacksmith replies that he can’t work in a forge unless he’s a member of the guild, signified by a guild coin of sorts that the guildsmen wear on their shoulders. In his panic, he’s revealed to the community. We also meet Isildur, a young sailor and son of Elendil who has grown tired of the sea and apparently wants to head West, to discover more about his family’s heritage. He’s swiped the guild coin off one of the men he bought drinks for—repeating the trick he played on Elendil earlier, when he stole back Galadriel’s dagger. This is the stuff of ancient legend by now, but they talk about the dark god like he was a household name. Galadriel, Halbrand and Elendil are all brought to the court of Tar-Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) where she greets them with a wary eye. I am still mostly on Team RoP, and mostly happy with this episode, but it felt weaker than the first two for a number of reasons. For those unfamiliar with the character (spoilers!) he ends up being the last king of Númenor, shepherding his people to what becomes Gondor. A long and troubled feud has separated the two peoples, and Galadriel does herself no favors by meeting the cold greeting with a hot head and stubbornness.

Who's … Adar? Can you refresh me on Númenor and Isildur? And since when are orcs vampires?

While it won’t make them turn to stone, like the trolls in The Hobbit, orcs are not a fan of sunshine, although it’s not entirely clear or consistent in the books just how debilitating it is to them. In The Rings of Power, the One Ring hasn’t yet been created, but when it is created, Isildur will be the one to defeat Sauron and cut it off his finger. As Galadriel realizes in this episode, Sauron’s symbol is actually a map—a map of what we’ll come to know as Mordor, imitating the shape of the mountain ranges around Mount Doom. When Númenor is destroyed, Isildur takes a cutting from the tree to replant it later. Númenor is an island to the west of Middle-earth. Remember: The Lord of the Rings takes place in Middle-earth in the Third Age, but [The Rings of Power takes place thousands of years earlier, in the Second Age](https://slate.com/culture/2022/09/lord-rings-power-amazon-elrond-tolkien-movies-elves.html).

Introducing familiar names, foreshadowing reveals, and establishing visual connections to Tolkien adaptations past: Enter “Adar.”

It’s there that Yip and “Rings of Power” have the room to calibrate the level of bloodshed that this show can withstand. There is only ground to cover.” Though this episode may not have some of the flourishes of its two predecessors, there’s still reason to believe that the path to come is over stable storytelling terrain. For all of the splendor and visual nods to past “Lord of the Rings” properties, the early third of this “Rings of Power” season does have something of a personal touch. For Isildur, one potential roadblock is his father Elendil (Lloyd Owen), first announced in “Adar” by the parting of his crew on the deck of his ship. As with the familiar elves, this is another instance of “Rings of Power” setting up a neat origin story arc by pinpointing the biggest thing each of these characters had to overcome. If “The Rings of Power” is moving toward a battle against Sauron and the forces of the Southlands, this episode is the biggest acknowledgment yet that this world has its own strain of isolationism standing in the way of a unified front.

We're not in Middle-earth anymore, Toto. This week's episode of 'Rings of Power' sends us to Númenor.

When Galadriel and Elendil travel to the Hall of Law in Andúnië, she discovers that the library was assembled by “Elros himself.” Elros, Tolkienheads know, was the founder of Númenor and the brother of Elrond. Miriel presents herself as one of the King’s Men, but given her heritage, I’m not counting her out as a secret Faithful sympathizer just yet. We know from the lore that Arondir can’t stop the tide of evil from taking root here, but based on his spirited defense of the elves and humans enslaved alongside him, he’s sure going to try like hell. With Nori’s father Largo still recovering from a broken ankle, the Brandyfoots won’t be able to keep pace with the caravan, meaning that they’ll be abandoned in the wilderness to fend for themselves. It could be Sauron (Adar does mean “father” in Elvish, and he’s certainly a father figure to these creatures), but it seems awfully early for Rings of Power to reveal its Big Baddie (and awfully strange for him to be slumming it in these trenches). This week, I’m giving out a special Ring of Power for the most kickass stunt work, and it’s going to Arondir. But as Númenor grew in wealth and power, so too did it grow in hubris, with some of its inhabitants becoming bitterly envious of the immortality enjoyed by the elves and the gods (known as the Valar). But for now, Elendil is just a captain among Númenorean seafarers, and Isildur is just a dreamy teenager failing to live up to his father’s expectations. It’s worth noting that Rings of Power is going off-book here: there’s no Tolkien lore about royals in the Southlands. Daughter of the golden house of Finarfin. Remember back in Episode One when an angry teen in the Tirharad tavern revealed that the Southlands once had a king? [Rings of Power](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a13529805/lord-of-the-rings-series-amazon-details/), we’re making landfall on the splendid shores of Númenor.

Did you spot these 'Lord of the Rings' Easter eggs?

New episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiere weekly on Amazon’s [Prime Video](https://screencrush.com/tags/amazon-prime-video/). [The Lord of the Rings](https://screencrush.com/tags/the-lord-of-the-rings/) Easter eggs. We look at how this idea is reflected in all the various characters of the show, and we also point out all

New characters, new realms and the same old prejudices (onscreen and off). Here are five takeaways from the third episode of Amazon's “Lord of the Rings” ...

The big one happens back in Númenor, where Galadriel has taken advantage of the island’s archives to learn that Sauron’s sigil is actually a kind of map, and that it reveals the new Dark Lord’s intentions to establish a full-on evil realm. Last week, a stray orc terrorized Bronwyn and her son in the Southlands; and while the beast was suitably imposing, it was nowhere near as muscular or fearsome as the other orcs we have seen in “The Lord of the Rings” movies. “And it was mine who started it,” she replies.) But she is ready to start mounting an attack against Sauron regardless. Then she proceeds to ignore his edict and let the Stranger help the Brandyfoot cart keep pace at the rear of the migrating party. The Harfoots have to do a lot of work to hide their existence, for one thing. Also, during their regular migrations — which they are preparing for at the beginning of this episode — they leave friends and family members behind if they can’t keep up. Before we leave Númenor — which, by the way, is the most visually dazzling location of the series to date, which is saying something — we should check in one last time with Elendil, a formerly undistinguished officer of the island’s sea-guard who now has Míriel’s full attention whether he wants it or not. Even the charming Halbrand, who thinks of Númenor as “a paradise, ripe with opportunity,” has a hard time convincing his smug hosts he is worthy of their favor. At the start of the series, we are told that the life of a Harfoot is superior to other Middle-earth races, because the halflings have no responsibilities. There are signs of that largess around the city, including in a tree whose white petals are a reminder of elves’ eyes, always watching from afar. Here are five takeaways from the third episode of Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings” prequel. This week we met that captain: Elendil (Lloyd Owen), who delivered the castaways to his homeland.