SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Episode 2 of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power.
The second episode of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power follows four different stories that weave in and out: Galadriel in the ocean, the Harfoots, the Southlanders and Elrond reuniting with Durin.
Starting right where Episode 1 left off, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) is shown alone in the ocean as she starts swimming towards what we hope is land.
Thankfully, she finds a raft from a wreckage with some human survivors on it. Despite arguing amongst themselves, they agree to allow Galadriel aboard. However, the second they realize she’s an elf, they blame her for what happened to them and one of them pushes her off. This ends up saving her, though, as the beast who sank the humans’ ship destroys the raft, with only Galadriel and one human, a rather hostile man named Halbrand (Charlie Vickers). The two of them talk while they float on what’s left of the raft, with the man revealing that they were fleeing Orcs.
Suddenly, a storm starts, and Galadriel falls off. She is in danger of drowning until Halbrand, in a sudden change of character, jumps off the raft to save her.
In the world of the Harfoots, Nori (Markella Kavenagh) goes to investigate the crater formed by the impact of the object that fell from the sky, finding The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) lying unresponsive in the center, while Poppy (Megan Richards) reluctantly accompanies her. Nori falls into the crater and, in a spark of bad luck, The Stranger wakes up, grabbing her. The two of them lock eyes for a few tense moments as the dirt around them begins floating before The Stranger passes out again.
Nori becomes determined to help this creature, convinced he came there for a reason, and despite Poppy’s attempts to convince her to leave him alone, the two of them bring him to a secluded area where he can get shelter for the night.
However, when Nori later checks on him he has left — or so she thinks, as she soon stumbles upon him, now fully awake. They eat snails together, but can’t understand each other since The Stranger doesn’t speak their language. While Nori interacts with him, her father, Largo (Dylan Smith), helps his fellow Harfoots erect a tentpole, twisting his ankle in the process.
After nightfall, Poppy, Nori and The Stranger are together again. He takes out the fireflies in the girls’ lanterns and lines them up in the formation of the stars he’s looking for. Nori plans to steal a book from the leader of the Harfoots, Sadoc (Lenny Henry), to find information about the constellation. The beautiful moment soon turns to horror as the fireflies drop dead, with The Stranger fainting from his effort.
In the Southlands, Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi) and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) venture further into the destroyed town. It’s an eerie place, and soon we realize why: It’s completely empty, with not a single human alive or dead. What they do find is a pit within one of the homes that serves as the entrance to a tunnel made by some sort of creature. As Arondir goes into it, he sends Bronwyn away to warn her people.
Bronwyn goes home and begins packing despite Theo’s (Tyroe Muhafidin) protests, but when she tries to warn everyone else they don’t believe her. Throughout it all, Theo complains about rats under the floorboards, but when he peeks he sees a yellow eye.
Meanwhile, Bronwyn’s star-crossed lover hears sounds behind him as he crawls in the tunnel. He gets out only to be pulled back in by a pair of clawed hands.
Unaware of Arondir’s fate, Bronwyn returns to her cottage, finding everything a mess and seeing a hole in her floor just like the one in the destroyed village. Thankfully, Theo has managed to find a hiding spot, and even though he insists she go, she also finds a hiding spot right before an Orc appears. When the orc finds them, they fight, with Bronwyn finally beheading it. She brings it to the tavern where most people are gathered and, in an epic moment, slams the head down on the table, telling everyone who wants to live to go to the elves’ abandoned Watchtower in the morning. It’s very persuasive.
Elrond is at Celebrimbor’s workshop, a pure gem for fans of the legendarium through its relics including Feanor’s hammer (the one used to create the Silmarils). Celebrimbor details his plans to build a tower with a powerful furnace for smithing by spring. To do it he needs a workforce significantly more powerful than the elves.
To get this workforce, Elrond and Celebrimbor go to Khazad-dum, the realm of the Dwarves. Despite saying he’s good friends with Durin IV (son of the Dwarven king), Elrond is initially turned down when he tries to enter their kingdom. However, he has a trick up his sleeve as he invokes the rite of Sigin-tarâg, forcing them to let him into Moria — a beautiful and awe-inspiring city, unlike the desolate place it will later become.
Once inside, he and Durin (Owain Arthur) compete at splitting increasingly large boulders with axes. When Elrond gives up, During escorts him to the exit. He explains why he’s so angry: Although Elrond has only been away for 20 years (a short time for an elf), he missed Durin’s wedding and the birth of his two children. Eventually, Elrond is able to convince Durin to let him meet his wife, Disa (Sophia Nomvete), and she convinces Durin to let him stay for dinner.
After a touching story of how Durin met Disa, Durin is finally willing to listen to Elrond’s proposal. Seeing their friendship rekindle hints at one as epic as the “bromance” between Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) in the trilogy.
As Episode 2 winds to a close, several things happen all at once, setting up developments for Episode 3.
Galadriel and Halbrand’s raft is engulfed by the shadow of a ship.
As the Southlanders leave, we see Halbrand’s heraldry on the arms of Theo’s father’s coat. Theo grabs the hilt he had in the previous episode, but when a drop of blood touches it, an ominous dark blade forms.
Finally, we end with Durin talking to his father, King During III (Peter Mullan) about Elrond’s intentions, and though the king doesn’t trust the elf, Durin uses his 50 years of friendship to advocate for him. We see the king opening a chest containing a bright element, and the two Durins stare at the contents — something to be revealed in future episodes.
