The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 5: Galadriel trains the men of Numenor

After gaining the support of the elves of Numenor to fight for the people of the Southlands, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) trains them for battle in Episode 5 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

As Galadriel was about to be sent back to her homeland, a powerful omen—the white petals of a falling sacred tree—made Queen Regent Miriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) support the elf’s cause.

Thursday night’s new episode – titled Partings – also shows the little Harfoots continuing their pilgrimage as Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) shows off his mysterious sword while Elrond (Robert Aramayon) and Durin (Owain Arthur) display a visit King Gil-Galad (Benjamin Walker).

The episode opens in a field with Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and the monstrous Stranger (Daniel Weyman) as she tries to teach him her language.

He keeps saying, “My big thumb,” but she corrects him by saying, “Migration,” the arduous pilgrimage the Harfoot is on.

“You see we hibernate in the Old Forest, and in the middle of summer we go to Norfield Glen to slug when it’s good to snail,” explains Nori.

She adds that “at the first blush of the oak leaves, we go to the Grove,” an orchard with all kinds of food.

“The only problem is that there are hundreds of dangers between here and there,” explains Nori as he eats a snack.

He asks what ‘risks’ are and she says ‘danger’ and all that ‘will kill you’ while the Stranger asks what killing means.

“It means something … to kill,” she says solemnly, as a realization sinks into the great stranger.

“I’m in danger,” he says, although Nori insists he isn’t and the fire he started with the fireflies “was just an accident.”

‘You are no danger. You’re good,’ explains Nori. “You’re good because you’re here to help,” when her mother Marigold (Sara Zwaangobani) calls her and they leave.

The show made history long before its first two episodes debuted on Thursday night, as it is considered the most expensive series ever.

The show’s beginnings date back to July 2017, when a grueling lawsuit between Warner Bros. — the studio behind the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies — and the JRR Tolkien Estate was settled.

Both the studio and the estate began offering the television rights to the franchise to streaming services, with Amazon quickly becoming a frontrunner.

Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos previously mandated the streaming service Prime Video that he wanted a large-scale franchise.

Bezos was also reportedly a huge fan of the franchise and personally was only involved in the rights negotiations alone, which were eventually acquired in November 2017 for a whopping $250 million.

Amazon has also signed a deal with the Tolkien Estate and the Tolkien Trust, who are believed to have given the green light to more than five seasons of the show.

With an estimated production commitment of between $100 million and $150 million per season, Amazon is expected to pay $1 billion for the production costs and the rights, when all is said and done.

The series was created by Patrick McKay and JD Payne, who had previously worked only as uncredited writers on 2016’s Star Trek: Beyond.

The duo pitched a series set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, a history obscured in a five-minute prologue during the Lord of the Rings movies.

They wanted to extend this to about 50 hours of television, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the rise of the dark lord Sauron, the fall of the island kingdom of Numenor, and the eventual alliance between men and elves.

However, there will be characters that fans will recognize, most notably Galadriel, played in the LOTR movies by Cate Blanchett, with the much younger version as Morfydd Clark.

There are rumors that a white-haired character shown in the trailers, played by Bridie Sisson (previously thought to be Anson Boon), is actually Sauron himself, although the producers have not confirmed that.

Executive producer Lindsey Weber wouldn’t confirm or deny Sisson’s character, but she did hint at his parentage to Time.

“We enjoy all the speculation online and can tell you that Bridie Sisson is an incredible actor,” Weber began.

“We also thought fans would love to know that her character travels from far east – from the land of Rhûn…” Weber teased.

The new episodes will roll out simultaneously around the world, with the first two episodes airing Thursday at 6:00 PM PT/9:00 PM ET/2 AM UK.

The final six episodes will roll out weekly at 9pm PT/12 AM ET/5 AM UK, and the eight-episode season finale arrives on Thursday, October 13 exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.