In episode 2 of Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) directly asks Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) to forge some of these magic rings for men. Obviously, Celebrimbor hesitates. That is until Halbrand makes him believe that he is an otherworldly messenger. What we saw was to what extent Sauron has regained his power. Rings of Power season 2, episode 3: “The Eagle and the Sceptre” allows us to catch up with the last characters that we haven’t seen yet. We get back to the Numenorians and Isildur (Maxim Baldry). 

Recap

Isildur’s horse comes and finds him in the black forest where he has to escape spiders and an orc. It is a properly creepy scene that really hammers home the dangers of Middle Earth. He finds himself on his own, not realizing that his people left him. He stumbles upon a stranger and they travel together. Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) is back! He saves Isildur and the new girl from an ambush. 

The Numenorians must now deal with the consequences of heading into Middle Earth. The queen (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is blind, and she now has to deal with her people feeling hurt and betrayed. When a mourning mother smacks her in front of everyone, she handles it with grace and understanding. Numenor seems to be at a bit of a crossroads, caught between two leaders and belief systems. And there seems to be a bit of a coup brewing. 

The other “evil” creatures of Middle Earth seem to be searching out Sauron. He is gathering an army without even lifting a finger. This is a really great way to show the scale of his influence and power. 

Durin (Owain Arthur) and Disa (Sophia Nomvete) make a trip to the surface to meet with Celebrimbor. Durin is very skeptical of Halbrand’s disguise. This is great because it really shows the strength of his and Elrond’s (Robert Aramayo) friendship. Durin apologizes to his father, and it is such a sweet moment. Both men dug in their heels, and we were pretty sure that they were going to stay estranged. But Durin swallowing his pride and warning his father about this new power shows that his heart is different, softer than his fathers. 

Sauron’s very presence seems to be negatively influencing Celebrimbor. Celebrimbor seems agitated, short and defiant. 

Isildur’s girl bears the mark of Sauron. Whatever that means for their relationship is certainly going to be interesting and heartbreaking. 

The Eagles

We see the giant eagles for the first time. They are known as kind of the saving grace in Lord of the Rings, always showing up exactly when they are needed most. Like when the coronation broke into chaos, an eagle appeared. That was taken as a sign that Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) should rule instead. Now that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, as the eagle appeared, and all Pharazôn did was step toward it. But a coup was going to happen and the people just needed a reason.

The Sceptre

The queen of Numenor goes into her little secret hideaway for the palantír (seeing stone), but it is gone. She is officially being crowned but her cousin has other ideas. There is unrest among her people. There is so much distrust towards the queen and elves and anything that’s associated with them that people immediately turned on her.

Rings of Power season 2, episode 3 ends with the forging of the dwarven rings. This one was far more politically based. The people of Numenor made some decisions and pushed Middle Earth further into turmoil. Really what these first three episodes did was set up the fact that every single faction of middle earth seems to be falling apart. Because each of these factions needs a reason to have the rings. So it is doing the set up very well, we will just have to see how the fallout goes.