“It’s All Starting to Unravel.”
The cast and crew of The Rings of Power break down its darkest episode yet.
For The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the endpoint is more or less set. The Sauron will rise, engulfing Middle-earth in a toxic darkness and century-spanning conflict. But as Charlotte Brändström — co-executive producer of The Rings of the Power — points out, the Dark Lord’s ascendancy is still some time away. The details of his plot remain a mystery, and it’s up to Amazon’s prequel series to flesh them out.
“We know what Sauron’s ultimate goal is, but we have no idea how he’s going to get there,” Brändström tells Inverse.
The Rings of the Power takes place in the Second Age of Middle-earth, a period only loosely defined by J.R.R. Tolkien in his appendices. This offers a foundation for The Rings of Power to build upon, and now that Sauron is even closer to getting what he wants, the series can fill in some major canon blindspots.
It all culminates in The Rings of Power’s latest episode, which sees Sauron launching the riskiest part of his master plan: forging nine rings for the race of Men. His task gets slightly more difficult with Adar (Sam Hazeldine) and his army of orcs bearing down on the Elven stronghold of Eregion. But even as battle breaks out in earnest, Sauron remains two steps ahead, culminating in an action-packed, devastating episode.
As Season 2 creeps closer to an explosive finale, Inverse caught up with the cast and crew to unpack the Siege of Eregion, Sauron’s descent, and the battles still to come.
Spoilers for The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 7 ahead.
The Dark Lord Sauron rises
Episode 7 finally depicts Sauron’s descent: “You really start to see the darkness of Sauron for the first time.”
Though Sauron crafted an elaborate illusion to hide the Seige of Eregion from Lord Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) in Episode 6, the Elven smith finally breaks free of Sauron’s influence in Episode 7. He sees the sacking of his city with his own eyes, which forces the Dark Lord to “give up the game a little bit” to bring him back in line, Sauron actor Charlie Vickers tells Inverse.
“In Episode 7, it’s all starting to unravel for Celebrimbor,” Vickers says. “Sauron is now having to try and navigate, ‘Okay, well now that he knows, how do I make him finish these rings?’”
The answer, according to Vickers, is all-out aggression. To bring Celebrimbor back in line, Sauron causes the young Elven smith Mirdania (Amelia Kenworthy) to fall to her demise. He then threatens Celebrimbor with more destruction, promising to spare Eregion, but only if the Elf completes work on those nine pivotal rings.
“It goes from, I’m manipulating you to make these rings, to Now I’m torturing you to make these rings,” Vickers says.
Episode 7 marks a true turning point, or “descent,” for the villain.
“That’s when you really start to see the darkness of Sauron for the first time in the show,” Vickers says. “There is an enjoyment in things coming together for him. He’s getting to reveal his true nature. I think there is a part of it where he genuinely enjoys all that kind of stuff, and it’s fun to play.”
The siege of Eregion
Wrangling 200 Orcs onto one battlefield was “an enormous team effort” for the crew.
As fun as it may be to see Sauron unleash more of his mysterious powers, it’s not easy to watch Celebrimbor struggle against his influence. Episode 7 especially digs into some dark territory as his relationship with Annatar sours, and theirs isn’t the only dynamic that comes to a head here. A battle is raging just below Celebrimbor’s ivory tower: the combined threat of Sauron and Adar has rallied the Elven armies of Lindon, along with a few characters hungry for revenge against the Orcs.
With Elrond (Robert Aramayo) leading the charge against Adar’s army, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) working to escape a camp full of Orcs, and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) hoping to take out Adar himself, Episode 7 has a lot of emotional threads to keep track of. It gets even more difficult when you add almost 200 Orcs into the mix — but Brändström and her cinematographer, Alex Disenhof, were determined to balance the emotional as well as the physical.
“It’s an enormous team effort to kind of coordinate,” Disenhof tells Inverse. “From conception to completion, it was over a year of planning.”
That gave the team time to hone in on some substantial arcs, like Elrond’s journey from politician to military leader. He gets his first real taste of battle as he leads the armies of High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) to Eregion. He and Gil-galad manage to take down a deadly troll (also voiced by Walker) with Arondir’s help, a major step towards victory for the Elves. But it’s more than just an epic moment: it also affirms Elrond’s relationship with Gil-galad, which has gone through major growing pains this season.
Robert Aramayo, Benjamin Walker, and Ismael Cruz Cordova shoot The Rings of Power’s epic battle.
“Charlotte was so militant about protecting the connection of the characters,” Walker tells Inverse. Even in the thick of battle, Brändström still found ways to follow Elrond and Gil-galad’s emotional journeys. “The moments where we could lock eyes, register each other’s presence, and continue to further the story are just as important as the moment when the hook goes into [the troll’s] hip.”
That connection informs one promising victory and a major defeat, as the Elven armies ultimately aren’t able to stop Adar’s forces alone. Though Elrond used his connection with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm to call on reinforcements, Prince Durin (Owain Arthur) is too busy sorting out problems of his own to lend aid during the siege. The Orcs manage to break through Eregion’s defenses, Arondir is gravely wounded, and Adar ends up seizing the ring of power Nenya from Elrond.
Elrond’s darkest hour
Despite his setbacks, Elrond is still holding on: “It’s not about his ego; it’s about what he’s offering to Middle-earth.”
It’s here, facing down the forces of darkness, that Elrond could have lost all hope. It’d certainly bring him closer to the version of the character many recognize from The Lord of the Rings trilogy: a pragmatic, disillusioned elder who seems to have abandoned his faith in the mortals of Middle-earth. But according to Aramayo, though, there is still hope — and he hasn’t given up the fight just yet.
“I don’t think he’s cynical,” Aramayo says of Elrond. “I actually think he’s really positive and hopeful and intelligent, and he’s not afraid of making the difficult choice.”
“That’s a nice aspect to what Rob is creating with Elrond,” Walker adds. “It’s not about his ego. It’s about what he’s offering to Middle-earth. I think the king can see that in him, and that’s why he gives him the grace to fail.”
The Rings of Power’s season finale will likely follow Elrond as he holds out for reinforcements. Things may get worse before they get better — Adar, after all, now has more power than ever before — but that uncertainty gives the series another opportunity to strengthen Elrond’s relationship with Gil-galad.
It also ups the stakes for fans watching at home, bringing nuance and tension to a story that many think they know. Brändström, at least, hopes the cliffhanger stokes some burning questions.
“Now that Adar’s got the ring and the Elves are being slaughtered, what’s going to happen?” asks the director. “It’s a very exciting episode, and I think Episode 8 is equally exciting and also emotionally strong.”
