Hey guys, and welcome to my review for the Rings of Power, Episode 7, the Eye.
So this is it, season 1 is nearing the end as we go into the last episode.
But unfortunately, for me at least, this might have been the worst episode yet, because in
addition to the usual bad writing and subpar acting, I just found it so utterly boring,
maybe even moreso then earlier episodes in the season.
However, thankfully there were still a few moments I could enjoy, with numerous references
to the books throughout.
Starting with the fifth best moment of the episode, and that was when the Harfoots spoke
about Greenwood the Great, a large northern forest just east of the Anduin River.
In the books, the earliest known hobbit ancestors, which included the harfoot, stoor and fallohide
clans, did indeed live along the vales of anduin, west of the Greenwood forest.
Yet they were not the only peoples to call this region home, as the second age saw the
rise of the Woodland Realm led by King Oropher, a noble sindar elf who lived in the fabled
realm of Doriath during the first age.
Surviving the wars, Oropher and his son Thranduil migrated east to the Greenwood forest, where
they met the more primitive Silvan elves, who took Oropher as their king.
In the first age, Oropher’s homeland of Doriath was a hidden realm for much of its
history with their king remaining out of most external conflicts, and similarly, the Silvan
elves were more isolated, and violent then many western elves, preferring to focus on
their own affairs while protecting their territory aggressively.
Combining these cultures, the Woodland realm developed into a kingdom somewhat separated
from the other elves realms, rarely leaving their territory or interfering in affairs
outside their forest.
However they did not sit out of larger conflicts entirely, as they aided their elven allies
during big events like the War of the Last Alliance and War of the Ring.
In addition to Elves and Hobbits, humans called middle-men populated these lands in the second
age.
Although in the books the hobbits existed in the third age, so the men they knew about
in this region were actually the Northmen of Rhovanion, who descended from the middle-men
and later on became the Rohirrim of Rohan.
Moving onto the number four spot, I chose Bronwyn saying the people of the southlands
will take refuge in pelargir, an old numenorean colony.
Although these scenes weren’t particularly great, I do enjoy these little mentions of
important people and places from the books, like Pelargir, the Numenorean city of the
faithful, a colony founded by those loyal to the Valar and friendly with the Elves.
In time, Pelargir became a rival to the southern city of Umbar, another numenorean colony founded
by King’s Men, those loyal to their royal family and hostile to the elves.
However unlike the show, Pelargir was never abandoned, and when Numenor fell, it became
part of the Kingdom of Gondor, becoming the most prominent city of southern Gondor, sometimes
in conflict with their neighbors.
For the third best moment of the episode, I chose Durin talkign about his secret name
to Elrond.
I’m still not really into the dwarf storyline, though it certainly got more interesting this
episode with all that happened.
However despite my reservations I will say the actors playing Elrond, Durin, the king
are among the better performances on this show, as seen in this episode, both with the
emotional scenes between Durin as well Durin and his father, which were very well done
and I think pretty well represented Dwarven attitudes about outsiders versus their own
people.
As Durin mentioned, Dwarves did indeed have names that for the most part were secret,
and in fact had an entire language, Khuzdul, they did their best to keep hidden from the
rest of the world.
Taught to them by the Vala Aule, their creator, others races knew this language existed, but
for the most part Dwarves were unwilling to teach it to outsiders and instead learned
local languages to communicate with neighbours.
However, if certain Dwarves befriended and truly trusted an outsider, then he might reveal
their language, but even in those cases it was difficult to learn.
Their Khuzdul names were considered very personal and rarely spoken aloud, usually only with
a spouse, family member or very close friend.
For the second best reference of the episode, I went with the reveal Galadriel actually
is married to Celeborn.
Ok so first I’ll just say I pretty much hated this scene and this reveal, but I’ll
get to that later, for now I’ll just focus on the mention of Celeborn, Galadriel’s
husband in the books, where they have a very different, far more loving and devoted relationship
than what’s being portrayed in the show.
A survivor of the First Age, Celeborn grew up as a Sindar Prince in the Realm of Doriath,
under the rule of his grandfather’s brother High King Elu Thingol.
It was there he met Galadriel when she visited with her brother Finrod soon after arriving
in the continent.
Falling in love, the two married and lived together in Doriath for many years before
eventually making their way east of the blue mountains, where in the second age they ruled
realms in Harlingdon and Lake Nenuiel, before living in Eregion, Rivendell and Lorien.
Celeborn and Galadriel actually did go their separate ways for various periods throughout
their long lives, but this was common among the elves as they were bound to their spouses
for all of their immortal lives, and so being separated for some years did not affect their
marriage or commitment to each other.
Even so, Celeborn and Galadriel would miss each other and after a time one or the other
would seek a reunion.
Together they had a daughter Celebrian who married Elrond and became the mother of Arwen
the Evenstar.
Finally, for the best moment of the night, I chose the reveal of the Balrog.
Again, this is very different then how it happened in the books, but the visual was
great, and introducing a Balrog at least means their will be some cool battles and scenes
in the future, hopefully.
I thought, the Balrog waking up because of a leaf was kinda silly, but I think they were
referencing how the dragon Smaug was awoken by a small bird tapping a nut against the
side a mountain in the hobbit movies.
In the books, the Balrog awoke in the Third age because the Dwarves kept mining deeper
into the mountains, searching Mithril ore, until finally he awoke in 1980 TA, afterwhich
he killed King Durin VI.
The king’s son Nain then took up the throne, and tried to fight back for the next year,
but he too was killed and so the Dwarves fled from their homeland of Khazad Dum, remaining
away for over a thousand years.
If the show is going to follow this storyline then I think the Balrog will end up klling
the king allowing Durin to inherit the throne.
He’ll then defend Kahzad Dum for awhile, during which time they could mine mithril
for the elves, until eventually the Balrog wins the war and kills Durin as well.
So those were my top five moments for the night, and while I did enjoy these references,
for the most part I was pretty down on this episode.
Being so close to the finale I thought they would at least put some serious effort into
these last few episodes, but it’s just not happening.
There were many things I didn’t care for, but among the most noticeable for me, was
when Galadriel and the boy went off on their own instead of helping the people suffering
around them when they first met up at the start of the episode.
Then there was the mention of Pelargir as an old numenorean colony, which confused me
because in an earlier episode, during a moment I really liked, Pharazon made it seem like
Numenor was only now exploring the idea of colonies and empire.
I’m also not sure why Miriel referred to her father as Ar-Inziladun, which was his
name and title in the language of numenor, used by those hostile to the Elves.
Whereas he called himself Tar-Palantir, which was the name they’d given him up to this
point in the show, and which was the title and name associated with those the Faithful
to the Valar and elves.
Since she was invoking his name to pledge war against the enemies of the elves, it just
kind of felt disrespectful to use that name.
I also thought it was odd how they made a big deal about Halbrand being injured and
looking like death, only to be fine and riding a horse for a long journey a few seconds later.
However for me the biggest criticism stemmed from their treatment of Galadriel and her
husband Celeborn.
It was already weird and ridiculous that Galadriel was falling for a man who may be Sauron.
But I at least thought she hadn’t met her husband yet.
To learn that she is actually married to Celeborn already, and might pursue another relationship
anyway is so insulting to her character I just can’t ignore it.
I guess they’ve changed all this from the books, but in the source material Elves, because
they’re immortal, mate for life, choosing only a single partner to whom they are connected
for the rest of their existence.
Even if one of them dies, their immortal spirit simply returns to the Halls of Mandos where
they will be reborn in a new body.
So even if a husband, wife or both die, they will eventually be reunited and so are entirely
committed to each other no matter the circumstance.
This is a fundamental part of their nature, taken so seriously, that when Galadriel’s
grandfather Finwe wanted to take a second wife, the Valar had to have a meeting to figure
out if this was acceptable.
The reason Finwe wanted this was because his first wife, suffered great pain and was so
miserable in her physical body, she voluntarily ended her life, so she could heal and live
as a peaceful spirit in the Halls of Mandos.
Since she refused to return to her physical form, her husband Finwe was condemned to an
eternity of loneliness, and so sought permission to take a second wife.
In the end the Valar decided that an Elf could take a second spouse, but only under exceptional
circumstances where the first spouse refused to be a part of the marriage and agreed to
never marry again.
This is why I found it so unfortunate that Galadriel was so quick to forget her husband.
Even if he did die, which I don’t think he did, Celeborn’s spirit would still be
alive and he might even have been reborn into a new body by now.
This also made me think that might introduce Celeborn later on for a love triangle of some
sort, which I would not enjoy in the least.
Yet worse than all these criticism, is the fact that his episode was so utterly boring.
About 40 minutes into the episode I paused it and got up to do housework because that
was more interesting than what was happening on screen.
Unfortunately, unless the finale is an utter masterpiece, for me this season and show has
just been a massive disappointment.
So lackluster that with each episode that passes, the previous ones look worse in retrospect
because any early promise or potentially interesting moments have not been almost entirely squandered.
Overall, I think I will have to give this episode my worst rating yet with a 3 out 10.
Hopefully the final episode will feature Adar prominently because he is still pretty much
the only thing I really care about.
So that’s it for my review of the Rings of Power, Episodes 7, the Eye.
But what do you guys think, do you agree with my harsh take or are you enjoying what this
show has to offer?
And what do you think will happen in the finale?
Let me know in the comments and like always be sure to check out my spoiler free Prelude
to the Rings of Power video, as well as my spoiler filled videos about the Rings of Power,
Kingdom of Numenor and Second Age, which go over all the events of this period in detail.
As well as a Beginner’s guid to LOTR, exploring the entire history of this universe in 30
minutes.
Links found below.
So that’s all for now guys, thank you very much for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.