The words 'Rings of Power Review, Episode 6', overlaid on top of images from the episode Udun
Udûn: My Rings of Power Review of Episode 6

Udûn: My Rings of Power Review of Episode 6

In Ep6 of the Rings of Power, Udûn, the peoples of the Southlands and Númenor collide with the orcs of Adar in a battle kickstarting Sauron’s plan and the establishment of Mordor.

Here’s what this post covers:

Overall Thoughts

I found quite nice, albeit a bit strange, to stick with one main storyline through the whole episode, particularly after jumping around so much in the last one. I really did miss Khazad-dum, however, so will be happy to into the new developments there in Ep7!

Ep6 felt very dark and violent. Granted it focuses on battle, so one couldn’t expect puppies and roses. I know there are tv shows and movies that are way more graphic. But I personally felt there was a lot of attention placed on violent and gory moments – blades stabbing, blood spilling or at times squirting out of various orifices at alarming rates, you get the idea. To me it was a bit gratuitous at times. I found myself frequently squinting throughout the episode, both in avoidance, as well as in sympathy, especially when Arondir’s eye was very much in danger of getting stabbed. But anyways, let’s dig into the Tolkien tidbits of Ep6! Starting with perhaps the most obvious…

What does Udûn mean?

Before starting any Rings of Power (ROP) episode, I always consider the meaning of the episode title. For Ep6 it’s Udun. My first thought when I saw the title was Gandalf’s epic delivery to the Balrog of Morgoth in Moria, ‘The darkness will not avail you, flame of Udûn’ (FOTR). This doesn’t give a lot of information about Udûn’s actual definition. But considering Gandalf used it to describe a Balrog hints that its meaning must be pretty dark.

Sure enough, in Sindarin Elvish, Udûn means ‘dark pit’ or ‘hell’. In Quenya Elvish, it means ‘underworld’. Udûn was also another name for Utumno, the first fortress of Morgoth, the evil Dark Lord in the First Age. These meanings of Udûn seem to fit with this episode setting up the Southlands as the Mordor we come to know in LOTR. 

What are Alfirin Seeds?

The episode opens with a creepy scene of Adar’s armoured hand burying into the dirt. He plants a handful of alfirin seeds, while saying in elvish, ‘New life, in defiance of death‘. This scene gains a lot more context later in the episode. Arondir tells Bronwyn that it is a tradition among elves to plant one alfirin seed before battle, and he hands her two seeds (one for each of them). Bronwyn responds, ‘New life, in defiance of death’, which is exactly what Adar said, except she speaks in English. Nice parallelism, but I wouldn’t want to be thinking on the same wavelength as Adar myself.

What are alfirin seeds? They’ve come up a couple other times in ROP, and are also in LOTR. Alfirin is a Sindarin name meaning ‘immortal’ or ‘not dying’. Alfirin flowers grew near the Anduin, the Great River, and covered the mounds of the graves of great Kings, including a familiar character I won’t share yet to avoid any spoilers.

While speaking about things that grow, Arondir also mentions a Vala, saying ‘it is believed that one of the Valar watched over growing thing’. It’s true, and she’s one of my favorites! Say hello to Yavanna, the Giver of Fruits, and ‘lover of all things that grow in the Earth,’ (as stated in The Silmarillion). She played a big part in the growing of those Two Trees of Valinor we got a glimpse of in Ep1.

There’s a tender moment between Bronwyn and Arondir here, after he expresses just how serious he is about their relationship, promising a future for the two of them and Theo. I still have some reservations about their relationship, since it wouldn’t be keeping with canon. We’ll just have to keep watching to see how it turns out.

Númenor’s Three Ships

In such an action-packed, war-focused episode, I appreciated and liked best the quieter moments of stillness where we got to see some meaningful interactions between characters. One such exchange was between Isildur and Galadriel. While on the ship’s deck looking out across the water, Isildur turns around in surprise when Galadriel approaches and starts a conversation. I loved this exchange. It was the first time I saw an authentic nobleness to Galadriel’s character that I’ve been missing. Similarly, I really appreciated Isildur’s honesty. He admits to coming on the expedition not to learn humbleness, but instead to get away. I liked seeing a more vulnerable and genuine side to him. This scene made me like Galadriel and Isildur much more than I had previously.

At the start of this scene, we got a gorgeous shot of the three Numenorian ships making their way to the Southlands, and the sleepy passengers inside. Isildur was up much earlier than the rest, and I loved seeing him eating an apple! Apples were a notable prop in the LOTR movies – we saw Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Aragorn all holding one at some point. It’s a small detail, but I liked it a lot. Though Isildur biting into the apple after letting Berek, his horse, take a bite out of it, was going a bit too far for me. And what was the point of him throwing it into the water – was he trying to hit land?

A Tolkien Quote, Harry Potter reference, and New Tidbit

In terms of language, Galadriel’s use of the phrase ‘at ease’ felt a bit too much our-world military language to me. But on the flip-side, Isildur’s Tolkien-quote brought me right back to Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. Aragorn says, ‘Keen are the eyes of the elves’ to Legolas, just like Isildur does here to Galadriel. I also definitely felt a Harry Potter reference when Galadriel said, ‘[Numenor] exists still, if only in the heart of the lowliest stable sweep. This reminded me of when Dumbledore said, ‘You will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me’. Similar vibes, no?

This scene ends with a stunning shot of the ships sailing into the sunrise. But not before Elendil responds to Galadriel that his wife had drowned. There’s very little known about Isildur’s wife in canon, so I wonder how much of her story ROP will create.

The Calm Before the Storm

The scene transitions to the Southlands, using a very cool magnifying glass map trick. Here we see Arondir trying to destroy the hilt Theo found. Eventually he gives up, telling Bronwyn that this is ‘beyond our skill to destroy’.

This wording reminded me of when Gimli tried to destroy the One Ring during the Council of Elrond. After his ax broke and he fell backwards, not making a dent to the One Ring, Elrond patiently explained to him that ‘The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli, son of Glóin, by any craft that we here possess’. It seems like the hilt is similar. This isn’t the first One Ring and Hilt comparison of the episode either.

Arondir hides the hilt where no one would be able to find it. Even Bronwyn. But apparently not Theo. Did you see him skulking in the shadows? It appears he followed Arondir. I just have a bad feeling about him.

Battle Speeches and Similarities

Bronwyn and Arondir then prepare the villagers for battle. Arondir’s speech reminded me of Theoden’s and Aragorn’s speeches going into battles in LOTR. But it didn’t stir me in quite the same way. I found Arondir’s speech far too optimistic for the occasion. He says to the villagers, ‘Take heart. All of you. I have seen smaller armies defeat greater foes. Soon the sun will set. Do your part, and I swear to you, you shall see it rise again’. This seems a pretty big promise to make, especially to a bedraggled band of villagers who have not seen much battle.

The fighters at Helm’s Deep, on the other hand, seemed much more realistic in their outlook of the battle. Legolas tells Aragorn (in Elvish) that all of the villagers were going to die. Aragorn responds (not-altogether-helpfully) in an outburst to Legolas that he would ‘die as one of them!’ Later in ROTK, Aragorn’s rousing speech (‘I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me’) seemed to contain similar language, but was more tempered to the realities of war. But both Aragorn and Théoden understood that their people might not see the dawn after facing their foes. But they would ‘stand and meet them nonetheless’ (Theoden), ‘not forsaking the world of men’ (Aragorn). 

I felt further similarities between the Southlands and Helm’s Deep (the best battle sequence ever!) throughout the episode, especially in the moments right before battle. The quiet stillness of the shots, the men standing and watching and waiting, the torches blazing in the dark and the orcs’ torches coming towards them. Both here and at Helm’s Deep I very effectively felt the ‘deep breath before the plunge’ (a ROTK quote, but too appropriate not to use). I’d much rather be in the fortress of Helm’s Deep than the Southlands’ tavern though. I did notice that the tavern in ROP was specified as set apart for the wounded and children, and not women, as the caves in Helm’s Deep. The Southland women were very much part of the fighting.

Another Tolkien Quote

Clearly frightened about what was to come, Theo asks Bronwyn to repeat to him the words she used to comfort him with when he woke from bad dreams as a child. Bronwyn responds, ‘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.’ What a beautiful line!

This is almost straight from Tolkien’s LOTR, when Sam thinks: ‘For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.’ I think it may be a bit drastic to compare young Theo having bad dreams to Sam’s situation, in the deepening darkness of Mordor with Frodo, weary in their quest to destroy the One Ring. But, I always appreciate and adore the use of Tolkien’s language. 

And So It Begins

When the orcs first approached the village, ma and I both wondered why the orcs weren’t taking the tunnels to get in. You know, the tunnels Arondir crawled through with the ROUS (rats of unusual size). We found out why later in the episode.

Arondir has an intense struggle with an orc, and it’s interesting to see him having such a hard time taking this orc down. With all of his training and experience, I expected him to have an easier time taking on orcs than the villagers. Bronwyn swoops in and saves the day, stabbing the orc in the back just in time to save Arondir from losing an eye. My confusion increased when the villagers triumphed decisively over the first wave of fighters. I was thinking, how did they defeat all those orcs?! Well, it turns out the first wave was composed mainly of defected Southland villagers dressed up to look like orcs. Talk about crushing.

When the main cohort of orcs enter, the villagers start falling, and Bronwyn gets hit by an arrow straight through the center of her chest. I really thought she was going to die here, and still don’t quite understand how she didn’t. Arondir and Theo save her by pulling out the arrow and using alfirin seeds and burning wood to cauterize the wound. Alfirin seeds must hold healing properties I don’t know about, like athelas in LOTR, because they sure do pull off a miracle with Bronwyn.

The Southlands and Númenor Colliding

Watching the Númenoreans riding across the plains to come to the aid of the Southlands, I couldn’t help but think of Gandalf and Eomer leading the Rohirrim to Helm’s Deep. We see Galadriel’s super impressive horse skills. While chasing down Adar, she says to her white horse, ‘Noro lim’, which means ‘Run swift’ in Elvish. Sound familiar? You’re likely remembering Arwen using it to spur on her own steed while being chased by Ringwraiths.

Halbrand displays some slick spear skills as well, using them to actually save Elendil. So that further confuses the question about his intentions. I also loved how when Halbrand tripped the horse Adar rode, the horse immediately got back up again. No horses hurt here. Halbrand asks if Adar remembers him, and I’d also like to know, thanks. Galadriel stops Halbrand from killing Adar, then takes Adar away for interrogation.

Adar’s Children and the Origin of Orcs

Orcs play a huge role in this episode, so let’s discuss them a bit. Tolkien wrote different versions of the origin of orcs. The version in The Silmarillion, also referenced by Saruman in the FOTR movie, seems to hold in ROP’s Middle-Earth as well. While interrogating Adar, Galadriel describes how elves were taken by Morgoth (known as Melkor then), tortured and twisted to become ‘sons of the dark’, the very first orcs. Galadriel calls them the ‘Moriondor’. In The Silmarillion, this act is described as perhaps ‘the vilest deed of Melkor and the most hateful to Ilúvatar’ (the one God of Middle-Earth) because it made a mockery of Ilúvatar’s beloved creation.

Tolkien struggled majorly with the fate of orcs, and whether they were redeemable or not. I feel like the ROP is leaning into this. Adar believes his children were created by Ilúvatar, ‘The One, Master of the Secret Fire, the same as you’. Which, by the way, echoes Gandalf’s words to the Balrog, ‘I am a servant of the secret fire, wielder of the flame of Anor’. Adar believes his orcs worthy of light and a home, just like Galadriel and Gandalf. On the other hand, Galadriel calls the orcs a mistake, a mockery. I’m curious to see what ROP does with this storyline. I listened to a fantastic interview with Corey Olsen on The Friendship Onion where he touched on the topic of orcs. So recommend checking that out if you want to dive deeper!

A few more Orc related tidbits from Ep6:

  • Adar speaking to his orcs in the opening of the episode felt reminiscent of Saruman’s speeches to the Uruk-hai in the LOTR movies.
  • Throughout this ROP episode, the orcs chant ‘Nanpat’ over and over. This is black speech meaning death.
  • Adar refers to the orcs as ‘brothers and sisters’ – are there female orcs?
  • According to Adar, the orcs prefer to be called ‘Uruks’. This is interesting, because in LOTR we see the creation of Uruk-hai, the cross-breed of orcs and goblins created by Saruman, ‘that can move in sunlight, and cover great distance at speed’.

Christopher Tolkien said his father would use Uruk and Uruk-hai interchangeably. But the orcs in ROP are definitely different from the Uruk-hai, so I’m not sure how that works in this universe.  

  • Adar believes he spilt Sauron open and killed him. Galadriel doesn’t believe him, and I’m skeptical myself. Sauron is a Maiar, so his spirit actually cannot die – only his physical form can. Someone might want to let Adar know about that.

Darkness in Galadriel

I was surprised by how dark Galadriel was during her interrogation of Adar. She threatens to torture the orcs by bringing them into the sunlight, to get more information from Adar. She also vows to eradicate every last orc, except for Adar, so that she could tell him that all of his offspring are dead before killing him as well. I’m not the only one who thinks this sounds ominously dark. Adar says, ‘It would seem I’m not the only elf alive who has been transformed by darkness. Perhaps your search for Morgoth’s successes should have ended in your own mirror’. The fact that it’s Adar saying this too. Eek.

The Return of the Southlands’ King

I was amazed and frankly incredulous that the Southlands were so quick to accept Halbrand as King. We first see Bronwyn, who made a pretty miraculous recovery. A day after getting an arrow to the chest, she’s up and about and glowing! She shares with Queen Regent Míriel how she took up her leadership role reluctantly, and the Míriel tells her she has a solution for that. Cue, Lord Halbrand.

Bronwyn sees the pouch at Halbrand’s side, with the symbol of the Southlands, and accepts him as their King. Everyone takes up the call, ‘All Hail to the true King of the Southlands.’ Just like that. Shouldn’t there be some sort of vetting process to undergo? A background check or something?! It seems a tad too convenient. Also, what could be the reason why the elves have been waiting for the King of the Southlands, even longer than the Southlanders themselves?

Sauron’s Key

Before we get into the whole key thing, I just have to ask – why did no one, until Theo, feel the need to double check that the bundle they were holding was actually the Hilt, aka the key to Sauron’s plan?! Galadriel gets the wrapped (non-)hilt from Adar, and hands it off to Arondir, without taking a peek. Arondir likewise passes it off to Theo (which is showing a lot of faith in Theo, if you really think the key to Sauron’s plan is in there), without checking. The shape of the plain ax that is inside the wrapped cloth in place of the hilt seems pretty different as well. Could Arondir not feel that this ax was much flatter?

Theo continues to ring alarm bells for me, especially when he admits to Arondir that he feels the loss of the hilt (sounds like more One Ring-possessed language to me), and liked the power he felt when he had the hilt. Arondir’s response echoed too much of Sam and Frodo’s exchange on the foot of Mount Doom. Arondir says to Theo, ‘Then rid yourself of it, once and for all‘. Just like Sam said to Frodo, ‘Then let us be rid of it, once and for all.’

Is ROP trying to compare the Hilt to the One Ring? Is the Hilt the precursor to the One Ring? Also, when Arondir advises Theo to toss the hilt into the sea, did anyone else think about how this was an option presented as a solution to the One Ring-problem in the Council of Elrond?! (It also reminded me of Harry Potter ridding himself of the Eldar Wand…but that’s enough comparisons for now).

We then see that the hilt, which Arondir called the key to Sauron’s plan last episode, is literally a key. I wasn’t expecting that. Waldreg, tasked by Adar, plunges the hilt into a stone slot at the tower of Ostirith and twists, just like a key. The legend of King Arthur held a lot of meaning for Tolkien, and I wondered if this could be a nod to that.

I noticed Wadreg’s dark mark bleeding during this scene, and that the hilt turned into a full smoking and fiery sword. Once he gets the sword in, this kickstarts Sauron’s plan and the creation of Mordor. The river begins to flood, the waters entering the orc-dug tunnels (which I suppose is why the orcs didn’t use those tunnels to march into the Southlands in the first place), and making its way to the mountain volcano that will eventually become known as Mount Doom. The waters meet the lava.

And the world begins to explode.

Hello Mordor

The shot of the mountain that will become known as Mount Doom is pretty iconic. The orcs begin a new chant, ‘Udûn, Udûn’. A shockwave goes over the land, and I wondered if this was meant to look similar to the end of ROTK, after the One Ring was destroyed and a shockwave rolled over Mordor as the tower with the eye of Sauron collapsed.

There’s an intense amount of smoke and ash and fire, and everyone is running around. Except for Galadriel, who looks solemn and resigned to her fate. As the fire washes over Galadriel, and the screen turns to black, one must wonder, how do the people survive this? Of course we know at least some key characters do survive. But that’s a pretty impressive firestorm to endure.

More Meaningful Moments, Final Thoughts and Fav Quotes

  • Galadriel saves Halbrand from killing Adar, and soon after Halbrand does the same for her.
  • There’s a moment between Halbrand and Galadriel that felt pretty…charged to me. Halbrand says he never believed he could be free, until he fought alongside Galadriel. And Galadriel says she felt it too! And they exchange a look, until they’re conveniently interrupted. As I’ve said before, I think it would be strange for these two to get together. But I feel like it could happen.
  • The post-battle moment between Elendil and Isildur is my other fav scene from this whole episode. It shows lovely development in their father-son relationship and I love it.
  • How did Adar escape the burning barn, when he was chained to the pole?!
  • Elendil speaks to his horse, using what sounds like similar Elvish words to how Aragorn soothed Brego in The Two Towers movie. Elendil tells Isildur he gained his horse knowledge from Isildur’s mother – was she a horse-master?
  • Galadriel to Isildur: ‘Despise not the labor which humbles the heart. Humility has saved entire kingdoms the proud have all but led to ruin.’
  • Bronwyn about leading her people: ‘A burden I never sought to take up’, and the Queen Regent’s reply:‘Few of the finest leaders do.’

That’s a wrap on Udûn! In case you missed it, check out:

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