The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 7 Spoiler Review
Audiences are treataed in season two episode seven of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ as Adar unleashes his army of orcs against the city of Eregion, with the whole episode focused on his siege. Sauron/Annatar twists Celebrimbor to the point where he absolutely snaps, and realises he’s been a pawn. It’s clear the action was being held back for the last two episodes, with it exploding in this episode with some semblance of strategy, with excellent.
The siege of Eregion lives up to any fan’s wildest expectation, as Adar uses the weapons of war he’s developed to not only launch flaming rocks at the city, but he also uses Eregion’s defences against it. The inhabitants thought the city impregnable due to the natural defences – the mountain on one side, and the river the other – but it’s exactly this Adar uses against it, as he breaks the mountain to dam up the river. From there, he launches his ground assault, complete with a machine to destroy the city’s walls.
Elrond shows up with a meager elven force, with Adar using Galadriel to force a chat between the opposing factions. Adar tries to gain a truce with Elrond, but the elf refuses to collaborate with him. This leads to the elves mounting a defence of Eregion, but unfortunately there’s not enough. Elrond does have an ace up his sleeve with the dwarves, but this isn’t quite the winning hand he thinks it is.
Inside the city, Celebrimbor stands up to Sauron, realising that he’s been used this entire time. As the illusion fades, it reveals that Celebrimbor’s workshop is a wreck and he is dishevelled. It’s an extremely powerful moment, elevated by Edwards’ heartbreaking acting. It only gets worse for Celebrimbor as he realises that Eregion is crumbling, and his men no longer ake orders from him, nor believe that Annatar is evil. It’s truly gut-wrenching to see.
In the later stages of the battle, Adar brutally injuries Arondir, though as the elf is seen crawling on the ground afterwards it’s unlikely that he dies. It’s a shame, as it feels like this siege should have at least one consequential death. Arondir seems like a fitting candidate for this, as a major character who’s at a bit of a loose end with his journey.
Audiences also get the climax of the Khazad-dûm plotline, with Durin IV rallying the dwarves to protect the elves. It’s a moment where he shows how much of a better king he would make than his father, even before he put on the ring. However, just as Durin IV is about to leave, he gets word that his father is about to personally start mining at the lower levels, and is forced to abandon his plan to save his friends as otherwise the Balrog would run rampant in the dwarven city. The consequence to this manifests itself on the battlefield as while Elrond repeatedly promises the dwarves are coming, well they let him down and fail to arrive, a moment that breaks the elf. It’s horrible fo him.
The episode ends with Adar managing to defeat the elven force sent to defend Eregion, and a hole through the wall where orcs can spill through. This sets up the finale, with it likely that Adar will confront Sauron, though that will likely play out very differently to how audiences saw at the start of the show. Especially as Sauron is now no longer Halbrand, making it difficult for Adar to tell who he is.
Sauron does seem to be in a much more powerful position than Adar currently, as while he might not have the numbers to stand up to Adar’s horde, he’s not Halbrand anymore, so Adar won’t know who he is. It’s an interesting power dynamic that will no doubt be resolved in episode eight.
This episode overall was a brilliant episode, not only serving the . Also, it’s elvated by ignoring the other side plots that have only detracted from this key storyline, showing that with focus ‘Rings of Power’ can shine. Charles Edwards delivers a phenomenal performance as a broken Celebrimbor, and the ending of the episode is justifiably bleak. The final episode is shaping up to be fantastic.
