Udun – As the sixth episode of The Rings of Power begins, Adar (Joseph Mawle) talks to his soldiers about their journey so far. Tonight, one more trial awaits them. Waldreg (Geoff Morrell) listens as Adar admits some of them will fall, but they will not be unnamed slaves in faraway lands. They begin chanting Nampat. When they walk through the gates, they find that the area is empty. As they begin spreading out to find them, Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) hides nearby. Waldreg notices the face on the wall before asking Adar about Sauron. Before long, Arondir begins firing arrows at them. Then, he uses one to crash the tower. He jumps down and flees through the gate before locking the orcs inside. Waldreg encourages Adar to move now, but Adar doesn’t seem concerned. Nearby, the townfolks cheer when they see the tower fall.

They wonder how many could’ve survived and how long they have left. Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi) doesn’t think they have long. Isildur (Maxim Baldry) wakes up in the middle of the night to take care of his duties. After feeding Berek, he goes onto the deck where he runs into Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). She tells him that he’ll be able to see the land in a minute while it has been visible to her for nearly an hour. He tells her he is the stable sweep before saying he joined the expedition because he is trying to get away. He wanted to get away from Numenor since it isn’t the real Numenor. Once she learns his name, Galadriel says he has the look of his father. Captain Elendil (Lloyd Owen) joins them so Isildur decides to return to work. Galadriel asks Elendil about Isildur’s mother. He begins talking about how they’re sailing into the dawn before saying she drowned. The Captain lets Queen Regent Miriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) know that they’ve spotted land.

Bronwyn finds Arondir trying to break the hilt only to destroy his hammer instead. He says no one must know where he hides it. Then, they begin preparing to encounter the enemy again tonight. Arondir tells them to wait until every Orc has crossed the bridge before springing their attack. Anyone unable to fight will be barricaded inside the building which will be their keep and fallback point. Bronwyn tells Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) to go to the tavern even though it is for the wounded and children. He will be protecting the people inside who cannot help themselves. Theo reminds her of the bad dreams he used to have when he was little. He asks her to repeat what she used to say when she’d hold him in the dark. Bronwyn says, “In the end, this shadow is but a small and passing thing. There is light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. Find the light and the shadow will not find you.”

She catches up with Arondir who gives her some alfirin seeds. It is a tradition among elves to plant one before the battle begins. It is believed that one of the Valar watches over growing things and those who tend them. They will plant the rest after the battle is over. Arondir says they can plan them in a new garden together. Later that night, they wait for the Orcs and for the battle to begin. Before long, they begin noticing torches coming over the hill. Theo tells the people in the tavern that they’re here. They wait as the orcs begin crossing over the bridge. Bronwyn kills one of them before using his torch to start a fire. Once the orcs are trapped by fire, Arondir and the others begin shooting arrows at them. The Orcs begin heading towards the tavern while Theo waits nervously inside. Arondir is thrown from the roof before he runs into a large orc who throws him around.

The big Orc gets the better of him and begins choking him. Bronwyn manages to save him just before he loses an eye. They hear the others cheering and saying the land is theirs. They check the bodies and find out that they’ve been fighting their own. An orc tells them they have to pay the toll and all of them will now. Arrows begin flying toward them as several people are hit and killed. Bronwyn is hit as Arondir yells for everyone to retreat to the keep. Arondir carries Bronwyn into the tavern as they begin caring for the wounded. As the orcs approach, they shut the door and try to help Bronwyn. She tells Theo what he’ll have to do to save her life. They pull out the arrows and apply pressure to the wounds. She says burn to encourage them to seal the wound using fire. They use the seeds and fire to seal the wounds. They manage to save her before they hear the orcs outside shouting Nampat.

Adar walks through the town while the orcs begin ramming the door. Galadriel, Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), and the others ride on horses. The orcs break in and begin fighting with Arondir. He has to stop when the orcs use Theo and Bronwyn as collateral. Adar enters and asks Arondir to give him what he wants. Arondir says he’ll consider it if he lets the others go. The orcs begin killing people while Adar asks why he’d sacrifice lives for such a little thing. When they try to kill Bronwyn next, Theo decides to tell them that it is under there. He helps Adar retrieve the hilt. Adar takes it outside to tell Waldreg he has a take for him. Back up arrives. Valandil (Alex Tarrant) helps Ontamo (Anthony Crum) when he gets knocked to the ground. The Queen watches from above and sends Isildur into battle. His father is nearly killed, but Halbrand manages to save him.

Arondir tells Galadriel about Adar and that item that he cannot be allowed to escape with. She goes after him on horseback. Halbrand shows up in front of him and trips the horse. Halbrand stabs him in the hand as he tries to reach whatever he has wrapped in the cloth. Adar claims he doesn’t remember him. Halbrand almost kills him but stops when Galadriel yells for him to do so. Valandil tells Ontamo and Isildur that Galadriel is putting together a company to track down the orcs that escaped and he got them a spot, but Ontamo is going to stay here for a while. Galadriel talks to Adar about the stories she heard about elves being taken by Morgoth and tortured. She believes he is one of them which they call the Moriondor or the Sons of the Dark. Adar says they prefer Uruk. Galadriel wants to know where Sauron is so she threatens to bring the prisoners into the sunlight.

Adar says Sauron devoted himself to healing Middle-Earth after Morgoth’s defeat. He sought to create a power over flesh or a power of the unseen world. He bid as many as he could to follow him far north but something was missing. It was a shadow of dark knowledge that kept itself hidden even from him regardless of how much blood he spilled. Adar confesses that he sacrificed enough of his children for his aspirations. He claims he split him open and killed Sauron, but Galadriel doesn’t believe him. He says his children have no master before she calls them slaves. Adar says each has a name and a heart. They are worthy of life and just as worthy of a home. Adar believes the land will be theirs soon and she will understand then. Galadriel argues that his kind was a mistake made in mockery. She vows to eradicate every last one of them, but she will keep Adar alive so the scourge of his kind can end with him.

Adar says it seems he is not the only elf alive who has been transformed by darkness. He suggests her search for Morgoth’s successor should’ve ended in her own mirror. She contemplates killing him only for Halbrand to stop her. Adar asks Halbrand who he is but he doesn’t get an answer. Halbrand and Galadriel sit together as she thanks him for pulling her back. He reminds her that she pulled him back first. Galadriel asks him to be free of whatever they did to each other. He never believed he could be until today. Halbrand hopes he can hold onto the feeling of fighting alongside her. She says she felt it out before they’re interrupted because the Queen wants to see Halbrand. Bronwyn thanks the Queen since her people are alive because of her. The Queen suggests they’re alive because of her. Miriel introduces her to Halbrand. When she notices his pouch and symbol, Bronwyn asks if he is the king they were promised.

Once he says yes, they all hail to the true King of the Southlands. Arondir tells Galadriel that they’ve waited for this moment for a long time. She says not as long as the elves before giving him the cloth which likely contains the hilt. Arondir finds Theo sitting alone so he tells him not to torment himself because many would’ve done the same in his place. Theo doesn’t think he understands. He doesn’t just feel guilty because he also feels a loss. When it was in his hands, he felt powerful. Arondir asks him to rid himself of it for once and for all by giving it to Numenor to toss into the sea on their voyage home. Theo notices that the mark on his arm is doing nothing. He unwraps the cloth and finds a hatchet instead of the hilt. Waldreg uses the hilt to open the floodgates. Isildur has trouble calming Berek until his father arrives. Elendil says it is the pain of his rider that is bothering him.

When a horse of Westernesse goes into battle, it forms an unbreakable bond with the soldier he bears. They eventually become one even knowing the innermost feelings of each other’s hearts. He knows Isildur’s feelings. Elendil learned all of this from Isildur’s mother. Isildur asks if he can teach him. They hear a roar in the distance. Back in town, water blows up from the ground as the orcs begin chanting Udun. The volcano in the distance explodes. As the people are hit with flying debris, the Queen yells for everyone to take shelter. Halbrand screams for everyone to get over the wall. Arondir and Bronwyn worry about Theo. It looks like Adar has escaped.

 

The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Review

This episode of Rings of Power was decent in certain ways, but it likely could’ve been even better since it missed the right notes at points. For starters, it was difficult to understand what Adar was trying to do. His motives and evil deeds weren’t explored nearly enough to make him seem like a monstrous figure. It wasn’t easy to want the character punished because whatever he did was just glanced over.

The two-part battle was too easy for the good side, but that wasn’t an issue since the real battle isn’t over just yet. Besides maybe Halbrand and a few others, it is sometimes difficult to genuinely cheer for the good guys. Personally, I am still struggling with this but some of the characters are easier to cheer for than others.

Aspects of the episode were silly and predictable. For instance, Arondir told Bronwyn he was going to hide the hilt and make sure nobody knew where it was, but Theo somehow did. Another thing that irked me was the hilt since it was pretty clear that the cloth did not contain it. This was obvious from the moment Adar told Waldreg he needed him to do something for him.

Some of the battle scenes are a bit cheesy too with all the jumping around and hanging off the horses. It was still a fun episode with a lot of action, but it could’ve been even better had more attention been given to the small details. With a few episodes left in this season, things will likely worsen for Galadriel, Halbrand, and the others.

It’ll be interesting to see where this season ends and where the next one will pick up. Until then, this episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Rings of Power can be found on Reel Mockery here. Want to support our independent entertainment website? Find out how to do so here.