Yeah, in my opinion, this was a definite step back in quality from the first two episodes. Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 3 was the worst episode of the bunch released thus far as certain characters really regressed.
Alright, I’m starting to think that I may have been really wrong when I said that Galadriel would be the best characters to come out of the show. Simply put, her character has been really disappointing as to the vision/path I thought the showrunners would write for her, and she was one of the sole reasons why I disliked Episode 3.
She’s WAY TOO ARROGANT and WAY TOO DISRESPECTFUL for not only a being a heroic Tolkien Elf, but also one of a royal lineage.
Initially, I thought having Galadriel being a little more arrogant and surer of herself than what we saw in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie trilogies made perfect sense.
She was destined to experience some character growth within the thousands of years that separates the Second Age (when the Rings of Power takes place) and the Third Age (when the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings takes place). But not to this degree.
If I didn’t already know Galadriel’s backstory, then I would have thought she was the daughter of some Elf pirate considering how disrespect and arrogant she is towards authorities/traditions of various cultures.
(Amazon-Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power-Official Trailer)
The reason why I’m saying this as Galadriel’s story was a massive part of this episode, and I couldn’t fully enjoy the beautiful scenery shots of Numenor because of it.
In summary, during this episode, Galadriel and her new friend, Halbrand, were rescued by Elendil, a Numenorean captain, and taken to the island nation of Numenor. Upon being taken to the island, Galadriel informed an ignorant Halbrand that the people of Numenor despise the Elves for their immortality, even though the Elves were nothing but kind and giving to the race of men.
So, seeing as she was stranded on the island, I thought she woudl take this opportunity to try and amend the rift between the Numenoreans and Elves. Boy was I wrong.
Instead of trying to make peace and be respectful as any normal person/elf would do (especially when the Numenoreans were more than willing to kill her), Galadriel insulted both the chief advisor, Ar-Pharazon, and the Queen-Regent, Tar-Miriel, in one conversation.
It took Halbrand, a honor-less rogue, to interject and sooth the tensions before the Numenoreans imprisoned and then executed Galadriel and himself.
Seeing as this is an adaptation of Tolkien’s work, I just can’t believe any of his elves (apart from the villains/anti-heroes, of course) would ever be as disrespectful and crass as Galadriel was in that moment, especially when her life was on the line.
It was almost as if she wanted to get imprisoned/executed.
Anyway, after that whole situation calmed down, it was revealed that Halbrand is not just some honor-less rogue as he has a passion/affinity for crafting (a little suspicious as Sauron also was a great smith) and is more than capable of defending himself as he single-handedly defeated four Numenorean men in hand-to-hand combat.
Meanwhile, as Halbrand was getting into trouble, Galadriel journeyed back with Erendil to his home village/town, thus leading to one of the worst slow-mo shots I’ve ever seen.
Who in the production team thought that showing a slow-mo shot of Galadriel riding a horse would be a good idea? It was beyond cheesy.
Anyhow, Galadriel visited the local ‘Hall of Lore’ discovered that Sauron’s brand was not a sigil, but actually a map to the Southlands (which eventually becomes Mordor), and that Halbrand is a descendent of an ancient line of kings that swore allegiance to Morgoth.
Like I said, this episode really did Galadriel a disservice. The showrunners are making her way too arrogant and disrespectful while not giving her any of the redeeming qualities she possessed during the time of the Lord of the Rings.
In order to successfully transform this version of Galadriel into the one we see in LOTR, the showrunners need to show hints and glimpses of Galadriel’s gentler, more compassionate side of her personality. Or else her personality shift will seem like it came out of nowhere.
Nevertheless, the other Eps. 1 and 2 storylines that were shown in this episode, Norri and Arondir’s, were…okay, I guess.
Norri and the Harefoots began their great migration, but the Stranger, who Norri was protecting, accidently burst into the Harefoot camp and revealed his existence to everyone.
Some of the Harefoots tried to get Norri and her family banished for exposing their existence to a ‘stranger’, but Sadoc refused and allowed them to journey with the larger group during the migration.
(Amazon-Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power-Official Trailer)
Personally, I think this plotline is even worse than the Galadriel one as Galadriel, despite her flaws, is still an interesting character to watch. Moreover, she travels to some of the most mysterious and exciting places in all of Middle Earth, such as Lindon, Undying Lands, and Numenor.
Norri, on the other hand, has been stuck in one spot, trying to hide a rather annoying, clueless man who just jettisoned out of the sky, and perform her mundane Harefoot duties.
Now, if I fell out of the sky in a meteor into a strange world with Hobbits running about, I would also be a clueless, annoying person as well. That doesn’t make me like having to watch three episodes of the guy bumbling his way around a tree and acting like a 2-month-old.
As for Arondir, he, along with the rest of his watch company, was captured and imprisoned by the orcs for the entire episode. We got to see the full extent of the orc’s underground digging and tunnel system, though we still don’t know the true purpose of it. It seems like they are digging for something. Maybe Theo’s blood-magic sword?
Unfortunately for Arondir, when his escape plan fails and the rest of his watch company is slain, the orcs resolved to bring him to “Adar”, their mysterious Elven leader that may or may not be Sauron (it sure looked like him, but if it is, why is Sauron underground digging with the orcs? Isn’t that a little beneath him?)
Regardless, like I mentioned during Galadriel’s scenes, we were finally introduced to Elendil and his son, Isildur, the man who refused to throw the One Ring into the fire. Elendil is really starting to grow on me as a character as his dilemma, whether to be faithful to his family’s traditions to the Valar and the Elves or turn against them for his own political rise, is very relatable.
(Amazon-Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power-Official Trailer)
Also, the actor who portrays Elendil, Lloyd Owen, has done a wonderful job portraying a conflicted, stoic, yet honorable man that is just trying to do right by his family and heritage, while also staying in line with the Queen Regent and the royal court.
As for the actor playing Isildur, Max Baldry, he’s done a good job portraying a day-dreaming, adventure-seeking boy. However, there was only a few scenes with him in the last episode, so it’s too early to judge him as Isildur.
Anyway, my final score for this episode is a 7.8/10. This episode did start progressing the story faster (for some characters mainly), but it also really degraded some characters as unbelievable versions of themselves from the past movies and novels. I’m not panicking for this show yet as I really liked the first two episodes, but hopefully these strange character depictions will be smoothed out as the season progress.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Amazon) (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube)
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