Are you ready for a (The) Great Wave of Tolkien tidbits from Episode 4 of the Rings of Power? This one, again, focused on the main storylines from three locations – Númenor, Khazad-dûm and the Southlands. Let’s dive into the Tolkien Tidbits!

The topics covered in today’s post:

• Angst and Alliances in Númenor
  • Míriel’s Dream and the Downfall of Númenor
  • Is Númenor’s Tree the Same as the White Tree of Gondor?
  • Isildur’s Island and Eärian’s Potential Romance
  • Tension between Galadriel and Míriel
  • Tension between Galadriel and Halbrand
  • Palantir Reveal
• Antics in the Southlands
  • What is up with Theo’s Morgul blade?
• Arondir to the Rescue
• Mithril, the Mirrormere, Memories and Meaning in Khazad-dûm 
  • Elrond, ‘what do your elf eyes see’ (and your elf ears hear)?
  • The Mirrormere
  • Mithril
  • Memories and Meaning of Fathers
• A Few Final Tidbits

A Few Overall Thoughts

• I like episodes where they limit the storylines/locations portrayed – it feels like we’re able to get deeper into each one. I loved getting back to Khazad-dûm too!
• Elrond has grown to become one of my fav characters. There’s one moment in this episode that completely solidified it for me.
• The music is also really growing on me, and I’m currently writing up this blog post listening to the soundtrack. Highly recommend!

Angst and Alliances in Númenor

Míriel’s Dream and the Downfall of Númenor

The opening scene is quite dramatic. While blessing new Númenorian babies, Míriel notices a plethora of petals falling around her. You get the sense this is an ominous thing, and sure enough, tsunami-like waves come crashing down as the waters destroy the whole city. 

At first, this confused me. Not that this was happening, because from The Silmarillion I know that Númenor indeed gets destroyed by water. I just didn’t understand why this was happening now in the ROP, when in Tolkien’s chronology it happens much later in the Second Age. Of course, then Míriel wakes up and we both realise it was just a dream. 

There’s some epic cinematography here, and I really think when the ROP eventually gets to the actual destruction scene of Númenor, it’s going to be spectacular.

Is Númenor’s Tree the Same as the White Tree of Gondor?

You may have noticed that there is a big tree in Númenor that bears striking resemblance to the White Tree of Gondor we see in the ROTK. Are these two trees the same?

Not exactly, but there’s definitely a connection.

Nimloth was the name of this White Tree, given as a gift by the Eldar (another name for the elves). Nimloth translates to ‘White Blossom’ in the elvish form of Sindarin, from nim (‘white’) and loth (‘flower’). I don’t want to give away too many spoilers. But as we just covered that Númenor will eventually be flooded, I’ll just tell you that a part of the White Tree does get preserved, and planted in Gondor to become the White Tree we know and love.

You may also be wondering, what’s up with the petals falling?

In the previous episode, Queen Regent Míriel said, ‘The Faithful believe that when the petals of the White Tree fall, it is no idle thing, but the very tears of the Valar themselves, a living reminder that their eyes and their judgment are ever upon us.’ I don’t believe this is an actual story from canon. But in ROP, this idea comes into play in episode 4. When Mírielsends Galadriel away, the leaves start falling in earnest from the white tree. Believing this to be a bad omen of the Valar, Míriel does a 180-degree about-face, bringing Galadriel back and deciding to personally escort her to Middle-Earth instead.

Isildur’s Island and Eärian’s Potential Romance

This episode gives us another shot of Isildur’s longing for the island. Apparently he wants to go west, and his father and sister know it. The call is strong enough to get him (and his buddies) kicked off the Sea Guard. What we don’t know yet is where exactly he wants to go in the west – Valinor? And why?

We also see a bit more of Isildur’s sister, Eärien, in this episode, as she takes on her new apprentice architect role, aka the intern doing all the jobs no one else wants to do. We also meet Kemen, who adds some cheesy pick-up lines to the mix, but seems kinda sweet.

I can’t wait to see what happens here. There’s hints a romance could develop between Eärien and Kemen. I wonder why the show chose to create new characters to bring in potential romantic storylines (i.e. Bronwyn and Arondir, Eärienand Kemen), instead of exploring canonical relationships we know from Tolkien’s writings (i.e. Galadriel and Celeborn, Elrond and Celebrían). 

Tension between Galadriel and Míriel

Galadriel is causing more havoc in this episode. There’s some very tense exchanges between Galadriel and Míriel in particular, as Galadriel tries to win the Queen Regent over to her cause. This exchange really reminded me of the exchange between Gandalf and Denethor in the LOTR movies, as well as the books.
Tolkien describes an exchange between Denethor and Gandalf in this way: ‘[Denethor] turned his dark eyes on Gandalf, and now Pippin saw a likeness between the two, and he felt the strain between them, almost as if he saw a line of smouldering fire, drawn from eye to eye, that might suddenly burst into flame.’ I felt the same tension in the ROP’s scene between Galadriel and Míriel just as Tolkien describes here.

I also strongly sense this line of smouldering fire whenever I see the scene between Gandalf and Denethor in the ROTK movie. In this scene, Gandalf delivers the line: ‘Authority is not given to you to deny the return of the King, Steward!’ The way Galadriel says to Míriel, ‘There is a tempest in me. It swept me to this island for a reason. And it will not be quelled by you, Regent,’ felt very similar.

Tension between Galadriel and Halbrand

Galadriel seems to be putting a lot of faith in Halbrand in this episode. She vouches for him to Míriel, saying, ‘I believe the man you hold in your dungeons is no common brawler, but the lost heir in exile to the throne of the Southlands.’ This description raises a couple of LOTR Aragorn vibes. The description of Halbrand as ‘no common brawler’ reminds me of Legolas’ description of Aragorn as ‘no mere ranger’. And the description of Halbrand’s people as ‘scattered’ and ‘leaderless’ echoes Elrond’s iconic line describing the world of men as ‘scattered, divided, leaderless.’

Galadriel gives a passionate argument to Halbrand himself to get him on her side. It’s fascinating to me that Galadriel would be so intent on aligning herself with the apparent heir to the line of men who, as she pointed out in Ep3, aligned themselves with Morgoth against the elves. Halbrand also seems to have betrayed Galadriel here, because he mentions to Pharazon he doesn’t need to go after Galadriel if he knows where she’s going, then Míriel just happens to be in the tower when Galadriel gets there, and we see at the end of the episode that Halbrand is out and about in the city. Hmmm.

Their interactions are also quite interesting. After Galadriel is thrown into prison next to Halbrand’s cell, he advises her on how best to approach her situation. Galadriel continues to come across as young, inexperienced and immature, when in actuality she’s thousands of years old. I can see why the show decided to take this approach, to give her a more dramatic character arc. However, I find it difficult to believe that someone who has lived as long as Galadriel, experienced what she has, and seen the things she has, would need to be guided and shown strategic moves by a mere man.

Palantir Reveal

Here we come across a familiar sight – the Palantir. We saw three different Palantiri used in the LOTR. Sauron had one, Denethor another, and Saruman a third – which Pippin picked up and Aragorn also used in ROTK. Tolkien’s Appendices also speak of a fourth one, which was guarded by the Elves. No one knew about this one until Elrond brought it onto the final ship to the Undying Lands.

Here in ROP, Míriel says that of the Seven Seeing Stones, six were either lost or hidden. The one she currently has was passed to her father. Interesting! I wonder if more Palantiri will be discovered throughout the run of the show to account for the ones we know of in LOTR.

Is there a connection between Tar-Palantir’s name, and the Palantir his daughter is using? Well, the translation of Palantir in Quenya is ‘far-sighted’. As their name suggests, Palantiri could give visions or share communications of their users, able to see leagues in one direction. In Tolkien’s writings, Tar-Palantir was given his name because he was ‘far-sighted both in eye and in mind’ (quoted from the Akallabêth in The Silmarillion). Tar-Palantir prophezied the end of the line of Kings, fore-seeing the future destruction of Númenor. Tolkien does not specify whether Tar-Palantir had a Palantir. But it does sound similar to how his daughter Míriel uses the Palantir to foresee the destruction of Númenor in this episode of ROP.

A few more points about Galadriel in this scene:

1. She mentions that she has touched Palantir before. Which ones?!
2. Her line about the Palantiri was reminiscent of Galadriel in FOTR, asking Frodo if he will look into the mirror. 
3. Galadriel in ROP: ‘Palantíri show many visions. Some that will never come to pass.’
   Galadriel in FOTR: ‘The mirror… shows many things…things that were… things that are… and some things…that have not yet come to pass.’
4. There’s even a moment in ROP when Galadriel starts to say, ‘I know what it is’ and then she pauses. My mind just automatically filled in from FOTR, ‘…you saw, for it is also in my mind.’
5. How in the world did she get to the top of this tower to break in and see the King? You saw the shot of just how tall this tower is, right? It looks like she scaled the building in order to smash the window to gain entrance to the King’s bedroom chamber. Galadriel is portrayed as basically a ninja in ROP, but those are some serious skills. Her long golden hair, and this tall, secluded tower, also gave me Tangled (Repunzal) vibes. Anyone else?

Antics in the Southlands

Onto the Southlands. This episode finally gives us a full reveal of last episode’s title character, Adar. Turns out he’s a very scarred and kinda creepy-looking elf. At first I thought it seemed a bit off that the orcs would, on one hand, be following an elf, and on the other be enslaving a bunch of other elves. But in The Silmarillion, Tolkien describes that orcs were originally elves, taken, tortured and twisted by Morgoth. Adar could be one of those original elves, really making him a father, Adar, of the orcs.

Another bomb drop from this scene was that Arondir is from Beleriand?! I found this shocking, since the map in the prologue of the first episode of ROP did not show Beleriand on it. I assumed this was on purpose because they didn’t have the rights to talk about it. So much for that theory.

What is up with Theo’s Morgul blade?

In the meantime Bronwyn and Theo’s village is on the move, and desperate for food. Theo goes scavenging for food, and while defending himself from an orc showed his hand, or rather his hilt. Turns out the orcs, and actually Adar himself, want this Morgul blade. But what is this blade anyways?

Your guess is as good as mine at this point. I did find the exchange between Theo and Waldreg, an old man from their village, to be very curious. Theo had taken the Morgul blade hilt from Waldreg’s barn, and Waldreg tells Theo that he knows. There’s a moment when they both show their forearms, which felt very Harry Potter Death Eater behavior to me. And Waldreg’s line about the hilt, ‘It is a power, fashioned for our ancestors by his master’s own hand. A beautiful servant, he who was lost but shall return.’ This also just reminded me a lot of Voldemort.

One final reveal from this exchange – Waldreg said that the sky fall from a few weeks back (aka Meteor Man, I’m guessing), means that Sauron’s time is near. Is this a sign that the Meteor Man is Sauron? Or at least connected to Sauron?

Arondir to the Rescue

Arondir is folded back into Theo and Bronwyn’s storyline, when he shows up in the nick of time to save Theo from certain death by orc. His rescue leads to some pretty cool running and fighting sequences. It’s very dark and a lot set in slow motion, which I think makes it a bit harder to appreciate Arondir’s skills at catching arrows. This moment did feel reminiscent of Boromir saving Merry and Pippin, the music and the slow motion especially. I half expected to see a huge orc show up and take Arondir down with a few arrows. But wait, that happened to his buddy last episode.

The sun comes to the rescue, leading to one of my favourite transitions in the show yet. There’s gorgeously haunting music, with Disa’s voice echoing on top as the scenery shifts to the mountains.

Mithril, the Mirrormere, Memories and Meaning in Khazad-dûm 

Back in Khazad-dûm, there was a cave-in, and Disa’s singing was an echoing plea to the rocks for the dwarves to be released. I found this scene quite poignant. But before this moment, there’s a lot more going on in Khazad-dûm.

Elrond, what do your elf eyes see (and your elf ears hear)?

Elrond, suspecting Durin and Disa of hiding something, does some eaves dropping of his own. And I loved how the show highlighted his elf abilities to see far off into the distance and hear too. He overhears Durin and Disa discussing where Durin is actually mining, and you might have picked up a familiar name.

The Mirrormere

In Tolkien’s FOTR, the Mirrormere was a lake located beneath the East-gate of Khazad-dûm. The Fellowship passed by it after their harrowing escape from Moria. Even though the company is in a rush to find safer borders, Gimli refuses to leave without looking upon the lake, and he takes Frodo with him.

Apparently in the ROP, this is where the dwarves are mining mithril. Elrond guesses the password to enter, ‘Rich crone kiss the stone, polish your gems and gold’. This is the phrase Durin’s children were repeatedly saying while playing earlier in the episode. I find it pretty convenient that Elrond happened to hear and remember this. And quite a clunky and odd phrase for the dwarves to use to guard their beloved Mirrormere and in this case, precious mithril, too.

Mithril

In ROP, Disa discovered mithril, a magical material, lighter than silk and harder than iron. Of course, this is the beginnings of Bilbo and Frodo’s mithril coat we see in The Hobbit and LOTR. 

The dwarves call it grey glitter, and Durin guesses the elvish translation would be mithraud, which translates to grey metal. Elrond corrects Durin that the translation would be mithril, meaning grey brilliance. Elrond’s description of it in this episode, ‘it is strange how it catches the light, seems lit from within’, feels quite significant. I also think it’s very sweet that Durin lets Elrond keep a piece of mithril as a token of their friendship.

Memories and Meaning of Fathers

Two of my favorite moments in the whole episode have to do with Elrond and memories of his father. The first comes towards the beginning of the episode, when Celebrimbor is chatting to Elrond. Celebrimbor actually knew Elrond’s Father, Eärendil, the mariner who was turned into a star by the Valar. He shares with Elrond that Eärendil had a way of seeing far-off. In the LOTR movies, Arwen says to Elrond that he has the gift of foresight. Maybe it’s genetic?

Second, nearer the end of the episode, Elrond himself speaks about his father to Durin. It’s a beautifully moving moment, from the music, the delivery, just everything. This scene has sealed my everlasting love for Elrond, and I’m officially sold.

The story Elrond shares of his father also sounds very true to canon as well. It really is an epic tale, especially summarized like this.

Evidently moved by Elrond’s memories, Durin goes to his own father to make amends. Here Durin senior tells his son that when a new dwarf-king is crowned, the voices of his forebearers flow into him, sharing all of their counsel and wisdom. Did this remind anyone else of Harry Potter, where the Hogwarts headmasters would appear in portraits in the Headmaster’s office, sharing their memories and advice with the current Headmaster of the school?

A Few Final Tidbits

This post is long enough as it is! So, I’ll just leave you with a few personal fav quotes of mine from this episode: 

• Disa to Durin: ‘Even the hottest coals eventually cool.’
• Durin to Elrond: ‘Dwarves’ anger outlives even elvish memory.’ This sounds very characteristic of the dwarves and their ability to hold a grudge!
• Galadriel to Míriel: ‘Choose not the path of fear but of faith.’

In case you missed it, check out:

• My First Impressions post, for more of my initial thoughts after watching these first two episodes
• My Rings of Power Review for Episode 1
• Rings of Power Review for Episode 2
• Rings of Power Review for Episode 3