Rings of Power – Halls of Stone Review

There we go. This week’s episode of Rings of Power may have been heavy on the plot (and light on the fighting), but it centered Sauron – sorry, make that Annatar ::wink:: – which helped to make the talking and plot development go down much smoother. As I mentioned in my overall season review, the sequences this season that explore the mechanics of just how Annatar was able to infiltrate Eregion (despite Celebrimbor knowing exactly who he is and knowing the danger he brings with him), forge the Dwarven rings, and start to turn the other smiths against Celebrimbor without our head smith being any the wiser are far and away the most interesting pieces of this season’s complex arcs.

Because most of the audience knows the ultimate fate not only of all those rings, but also of Sauron himself, the fun and excitement in this story is gaining an understanding of just how Sauron was able to manipulate so many in Middle Earth to achieve his goal – corrupting those within each of the major races with his rings, tying them to him and sullying their honor and their hands so that they couldn’t simply point the finger at him and claim all that was to follow was his fault.

Think about it. He crafted the three rings for the Elves – which have managed to find their way onto three powerful fingers thus far (Galadrial, Gil-Galad, and Cirdan at this point – although later Elrond and Gandalf will come into possession of the latter two) – and their power “saved” the dying forest. But the magic that did that stemmed from Sauron’s desires – even if he didn’t directly corrupt the rings as he did with the seven rings for the Dwarven lords (we’ve only seen King Durin wield his thus far and boy, does it look like trouble). What we’ve seen of the power of the Dwarven rings is immense. King Durin is pushing the Dwarves mining abilities to the limit, seeing the potential gold in the walls. Unfortunately, there’s a clear price to be paid and the King is exhibiting signs of dragon-sickness and a need to keep amassing treasure and gold. Not great. And poor Prince Durin can see what’s happening, but since it was his idea to team up with the Elves and get the rings, well, he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on here. Oh, and lest we forgot from last season, there’s a pesky Balrog somewhere under the mountain.

So, the Elves don’t want to lose access to their powerful rings, even though they know they were crafted at the behest of Sauron – so there has to be a catch. And they want to defeat Sauron, but he did give them a great gift in the rings, so what to do? Keep the origin of the rings secret? Bite the hand that fed them and hope the rings end up okay in the end? They can’t really warn the other races, especially since our central three Elves – Galadriel, Elrond, and Gil-Galad – really aren’t on the same page these days on, well, pretty much everything. And the other Elf with full knowledge of just what is happening here (the manipulations, the deception, and the additional rings proposed for the Men) has his head stuck so far in the sand I don’t know if he’s ever coming back up for air again.

So, let’s talk about Celebrimbor. A great question with Tolkien’s tale of the forging of the rings was just how he was tricked into accepting Annatar and agreeing to forge the rings for him. Well, the series has taken that question and given it a simple answer: vanity. Flattery, winks and misdirection, and boom, Sauron was easily able to slither his way not only into Eregion but also gain the trust of Celebrimbor despite him KNOWING EXACTLY who Annatar is. Because like so many, Celebrimbor wanted to matter. He wanted to be recognized for the brilliant smith he is. And he loved the attention and flattery. After all, the Elven rings were masterpieces that saved the race. Why wouldn’t he want to make more? And they were Sauron’s idea and that turned out okay. Why not trust him one more time? And prove to all of Middle Earth how amazing he can be. It’s that self-centered need for recognition that blinds Celebrimbor not only to Sauron’s master plan (why else would he be making rings for the two other major races if not to try and subjugate them in some way), but it also blinds him to the manipulation of the other smiths at Annatar’s hand. He’s so convinced in his own genius that he doesn’t see that everyone around him is receiving the same flattery, the same focus, the same attention. And that all of them are slowly being turned against Celebrimbor.

And that’s really the moral of this episode – never believe your own hype. Durin’s single-minded focus on his new-found power and greatness will be his downfall. Celebrimbor is so proud of himself he can’t see how badly he’s being isolated and manipulated. Oh, and over in Númenor, our new ruler and his lackeys are so over-saturated with their newfound power that they can’t see that they’re sparking a rebellion amongst those their persecuting. Sure, they might not have the numbers now, but I wouldn’t count out Elendil.

So, lots of interesting beats when it comes to Sauron’s continued ability to amass power and control over some of the key players in Middle Earth. And while Celebrimbor appears to be very much against the idea of forging rings for Men (lowly Men who are so easily corruptible – pot, meet kettle), we all know those nine rings are going to be made, come hell or high water, so Celebrimbor needs to change that tune or I suspect Sauron will change it for him.