An ore that could save or end the world and the rise of a new Dark Lord.
The ending of "The Rings of Power" Season 1 will change the future of Middle-earth forever.
Fans of "The Lord of the Rings" know Khazad-dûm as the sinister Moria.
In "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," though, those dark days haven't yet arrived.
Instead, fans are introduced to a magnificent subterranean kingdom at the zenith of its
glory.
As Season 1 plays out, the primary Dwarven plotlines form around King Durin III, his
son Prince Durin IV, and Durin IV's wife Princess Disa.
Tensions rise as Prince Durin discovers mithril in an abandoned mine.
It turns out that the Elves need this ultra-precious metal to prevent their spirits from fading.
The king refuses to help his allies, for fear of darker repercussions from the land's many
secret dangers.
"Delving into depths beyond the darkness.
Tempting shadow, rock, and mine to bury us all beneath the mountain."
But his son wants to help the Elves, especially his friend Elrond.
The two remain in conflict, which causes a rift in the family, and the elimination of
Prince Durin's claim to the throne.
In our last moments in Khazad-dûm, we see the angry, hurt king throw a rejuvenated leaf
into the mithril vein before they close up the mine.
It floats far into the shaft landing near a lurking Balrog when it finally reaches the
floor.
That's the last we see of the fiery demon, but it leaves a plethora of questions about
the future of the Dwarven city.
The Elves are strong in the Second Age.
In fact, they are the primary power when "The Rings of Power" starts, and their greatest
stronghold is Lindon.
Situated in the northwest region of Middle-earth, Lindon is ruled by the High King Gil-galad.
Despite his strength, all is not well in the magical kingdom.
The Elves are fading and must find a way to rejuvenate themselves in the Light of Valinor,
lest they be forced to leave their home on Middle-earth.
This leads to an ongoing struggle as Gil-galad schemes with Celebrimbor, lord of distant
Eregion, to find a solution to their dilemma.
Eventually, an apocryphal tale about mithril is brought up, and they manipulate Elrond
into trying to recover some of the miracle metal from the Dwarves.
In the end, Lindon is spared its doom, as the Three Elven Rings are forged in time using
the small sample of mithril given to Elrond as a gift to keep the Elves in Middle-earth.
It's a good thing, too.
The Elvish kingdom will provide a lot of the muscle in the coming wars with Sauron.
Throughout Season 1, the Elvish territory of Eregion, located near the western entrance
to Khazad-dûm, is little more than a footnote to the story.
We see a couple of meetings between Elrond and Celebrimbor and a few shots of a giant
forge being built.
It isn't until the season's end that the region steals the limelight — specifically, its
capital city of Ost-in-Edhil, which means "Fortress of the Eldar."
The Elves of Eregion are famous smiths, and their leader, Celebrimbor, is hell-bent on
finding a magical way to stop the blight afflicting his people.
While it doesn't have a ton of screen time in Season 1, Eregion's role in the Second
Age is difficult to understate.
The final episode of the season depicts the forging of three of the Rings of Power within
its walls, though the rest of the magical jewelry remains conspicuously missing.
Celebrimbor's people are also famous in Tolkien's writings for forging a close-knit friendship
with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm.
Their leader is even a key contributor to the famous doors that open at the word "friend."
What does fate have in store for the Elven citadel?
Plenty, but we don't know exactly how it'll play out.
The proto-Hobbit Harfoots receive a significant amount of attention throughout Season 1.
From their quiet, hidden lives to their rough-and-tumble cultural quirks, they provide a fascinating
look into a much larger story.
And that tale literally crashes into their midst in the form of a Wizard.
Cryptically referred to as the Stranger, this supernatural visitor shakes up the Harfoot
community, starting with the adventurous Nori and Poppy.
After making initial contact, these two Harfoots help guide the confused, star-fallen figure.
They bring him along on their migration until his usefulness as a protector and his inherent
goodness win over the rest of their group, including their leader, Sadoc.
In the end, Sadoc, Poppy, Nori, and Marigold help the Stranger overcome a trio of evil
mystics who emerge from Rhûn.
Though the invaders are defeated, Sadoc loses his life in the scuffle, leaving a leadership
gap that the orphaned Poppy seems ready to fill.
Nori parts ways with her people in the finale, joining her friend as he sets off to search
for answers.
"If I turn around, I won't ever be able to leave."
"Well then, perhaps it would be best if you lead on."
Tolkien's island nation of Númenor is one of the most famous locations of the Second
Age.
When Galadriel and Halbrand, later revealed to be Sauron, arrive on its shores, they find
a nation of Men who, like the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm, are at the peak of their glory.
And yet, all is not well on the star-shaped island.
As the season continues, we discover that the king, Tar-Palantir, has been pushed from
power due to his pro-Elvish beliefs.
His daughter, Míriel, rules in his stead and struggles to keep the peace between the
traditional Faithful and the progressive King's Men.
Pharazôn, chancellor and cousin to the queen regent, clearly harbors anti-Elvish sentiments,
fears death, and is scheming to exploit resource-rich Middle-earth.
Even the minor noble line of Elendil is hurting, with the future king and his family mourning
the loss of their matriarch when the story begins.
Everywhere they turn, the Númenóreans are struggling.
Even when they sail to Middle-earth to help the Southlanders, they walk into a volcanic
catastrophe and high-tail it back to Númenor to regroup.
The question is, how will this slowly crumbling nation overcome its latent flaws as time goes
on, especially with Sauron aware of its jaw-dropping potential?
In "The Lord of the Rings," Mordor is a nearly impenetrable hellscape the Dark Lord has called
home for centuries.
But in "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," the realm doesn't exist yet.
Early in the season, it's slowly revealed that a group of Orcs, led by a twisted Elf
called Adar, is creeping into an area known as the Southlands.
Things look dicey, but the real danger doesn't reveal itself until the end of Episode 6,
when Mount Doom is unleashed.
The entire area is turned into a fiery heap of volcanic ash, instantly creating Mordor.
The establishment of Mordor is a big deal.
In the source material, this event provides Sauron with a home base where he can plot,
scheme, and gather his armies.
Though Mordor is created in "The Rings of Power," it isn't Sauron's home base yet.
But the last thing we see is the newly revealed Sauron heading into the area.
There's a lot more to come as the power struggle shakes out in the Land of Shadow.
The Southlanders' homeland is destroyed halfway through Season 1 of "The Rings of Power."
Before that point, they're established as a tough group of Men contending with a combination
of their own past sins and the Elves' perpetual power.
When Adar and the Orcs show up, the Southlanders are forced to choose between good and evil.
Many of them quickly return to their old ways.
But the rest resist, led by the town healer Bronwyn and her Elvish beau, Arondir.
Thanks to some timely aid from Númenor, they win the initial fight…only to see their
lands devastated by Mount Doom.
Ultimately, the Southlanders make their way out of newly-minted Mordor and head for Pelargir.
In the source material, this Númenórean colony is a key city of the Faithful and a
crucial urban center of future Gondor.
This could bode well for the Southlanders headed that way as the season ends.
However, it remains to be seen if this settlement will hold the same geopolitical weight in
"The Rings of Power."
Halbrand, one of the characters fans suspected was Sauron, ends up unmasking himself as the
Dark Lord just before Season 1's credits roll.
Until this point, he masquerades around Middle-earth under the guise of a dispossessed Southern
king called Halbrand.
In that persona, he saves Galadriel at sea, only to be talked into reclaiming his kingdom
by the Elf warrior.
After a lot of heroics, Halbrand gives Celebrimbor some very specific and suspicious smithing
advice.
This is the kind of insight that a lowly, mortal human should never be able to casually
offer the world's greatest living craftsman.
After nudging the smith of Eregion into creating some circular jewelry, Halbrand's disguise
is revealed, thanks to Galadriel's investigative work.
This leads to a confrontation, in which Sauron reveals who he is, walks Galadriel through
a semi-convincing vision, and even makes her a tempting offer.
"You would make me a tyrant."
"I would make you a queen."
This disconcerting offer is thankfully rejected by Galadriel.
Finished manipulating the Elves, for the time being, Sauron makes a run for it and heads
to Mordor.
We see him entering the Land of Shadow with his cape billowing behind him and a sly grin
on his face before Season 1 fades to black.
Sauron has a long upward trajectory throughout the Second Age before he's brought to ruin
by the events many know from the opening sequence of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring."
After that, Sauron takes a new shape, spends some time as the Necromancer, and eventually
becomes the titular threat of "The Lord of the Rings."
But most of his narrative as Middle-earth's villainous prime evil is still in front of
him as Season 1 of "The Rings of Power" plays out.
Over the course of eight episodes, we see Halbrand's complicated, haphazard trajectory
slowly turn into Sauron's master plan.
There's a whole lot more to come.
While discussing what Season 2 will bring with GQ, Sauron's actor, Charlie Vickers,
said,
"We start to see Sauron's journey — in the same way that we saw Galadriel's origins,
we see it for Sauron.
Now he's out there and the game is afoot for him.
So we get to start to see him manipulating people."
Sauron's Season 1 reveal may be a slow burn, but now that he's out in the open, we can
expect some true fireworks.
Season 1 of "The Rings of Power" is filled with character development, stage setting,
exposition, and, by the time the finale rolls around, some initial answers.
But it still manages to leave a lot of nagging questions behind.
While he's officially established as a wizard, the Stranger's identity remains shrouded in
mystery.
Galadriel casually mentions that she lost her husband, Celeborn, in a war centuries
earlier, a significant break from Tolkien's work.
Pharazôn is clearly plotting to abuse Númenor's position as Middle-earth's savior, and is
showing some blatant fears about his impending doom.
Elendil's daughter, Eärien looks into a palantir.
Isildur goes MIA amidst the action in Mordor.
There's even a Balrog that wakes up in the depths of the Dwarves domain.
While a lot of initial plot threads are addressed in the finale, there's no doubt that more
questions are left hanging than answered.
While this might seem frustrating, this myriad of mysteries gives viewers food for thought
and ammunition for analysis for a long time to come.
As Season 1 comes to a close, the Three Elven Rings are forged.
But that's not the end of the story for the rings.
Tolkien's Rings of Power include nine Rings for mortal Men, seven for the Dwarf-lords,
and One Ring to rule them all.
That leaves 17 more Rings of Power to be made, or at least revealed, in the series.
The creation of the One Ring clearly lies in Sauron's future.
But we have no idea where the rest of the rings are.
In the source material, they're created by Sauron and Celebrimbor, who doesn't know he's
working with the Dark Lord, before the Three Elven Rings are forged.
This means we're left with three paths.
Either the other Rings already exist in the TV series' world, they're going to be forged
at a later date, or they won't be made at all.
Whatever the answer to this question, the one thing that's certain is that we're going
to need to wait for Season 2 to learn the fate of the Rings of Power.