The Rings of Power Episode 5 Finally Does Something With Its Rings of Power

For a story built around seduction, The Lord of the Ring is largely defined by its clear morality. The same cannot be said of The Rings of Powerthat has leaned on the moral ambiguity and questionable choices of its expansive ensemble cast from the start. And so it is with Season 2’s fifth installment, which continues the show’s recent form by devoting the bulk of its running time to people doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. The result is more than just the strongest hour of television the season has delivered thus far (though it certainly is that). It provides a springboard for Episode 5 to illustrate the seductiveness of the Rings of Power — and the villain behind them — in ways that Lord of the Rings media rarely (if ever) does.

(Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, episode 5.)

JRR Tolkien’s original Middle-earth lore is pretty clear on the details of Sauron’s long con. The dark lord deceives Celebrimbor and the other Elfsmiths with his “mission from God” Annatar ploy, luring everyone into it by playing on their arrogance, greed, or both. As backstory for The Lord of the RingThis more than does its job. However, as a story in itself, it leaves plenty of room for further elaboration. How did Sauron, even in his “honest” guise, keep the famous wise elves hooked long enough to produce so many rings? And how did he convince the notorious insular dwarves to accept them?

It’s questions like these that episode 5 spends the better part of its runtime on – and directors Louise Hooper and Sanaa Hamri and writer Nicholas Adams do a pretty good job of answering them. It gives us an up-close look at why anyone would stay aboard the Rings of Power train, despite it being piloted by an enigmatic cat like Annatar (yes, people are finally starting to realize that there’s something wrong with Eregion’s self-proclaimed “Lord of Gifts”; we’re no longer in purely mythological territory). And if anything, it boils down to the fact that people are fooling themselves into believing – or even being required to believe – that making or wearing a ring is in the service of some greater good.

Take Celebrimbor. Sure, he’s driven by his calling, and by a family deficiency complex that barely dares to speak its name (thanks to legal issues that The Silmarillion off-limits). But just as importantly, Celebrimbor still believes in the rings as Middle-earth’s best chance for a better future. He even goes along with Sauron’s shaky logic that ramping up production is somehow the solution to the Dwarf Rings’ obvious, inherent flaws. Why? Because the alternative—that he has betrayed his king and partnered with a bad dude — is too horrible to face. It’s the most human arc of The Rings of Power Season 2, and Celebrimbor actor Charles Edwards makes the most of it. There’s a real sense of tragedy in the corruption of his character. Even the elf-smith abruptly switching from “conflicted yet scrupulous” to “jerk boss” isn’t enough to diminish the overall effectiveness of these scenes.

The events in Khazad-dûm are also some of the stronger material in The Rings of Power Season 2 so far – and again, that’s thanks to some ring-centric virtue signaling. Like Celebrimbor, Durin III’s stated goal in this episode is a noble one. He puts on a ring because Khazad-dûm needs sunlight; otherwise, it’s game over for the underground kingdom. But it doesn’t take long for greed to replace need. Durin III quickly goes from installing skylights to taxing ring benefits and scaling up mining operations to dangerous, Balrog-wary levels. He disguises it as protecting Khazad-dûm from want, but it’s pure profit-seeking, pure and simple. Admittedly, the transition happens almost too quickly. Still, it’s in keeping not only with Tolkien’s writings on the dwarves and their rings, but also with Episode 5’s overall mission to make us fully appreciate the rings’ allure (beyond the supernatural): they’re the solution to all your problems. Until they become a problem in themselves.

None of the above applies explicitly to events in Númenor, which continue to play out like a post-credits scene that escaped and took on a life of its own. But these scenes are at least on point, thematically: Elendil ignoring Míriel’s advice to fly under the radar, resulting in Valandil finding himself on the wrong end of something pointy, is a fairly literal expression of where unchecked moral certainty can get you. But – as with everything in Season 2 that doesn’t directly tie back to the Rings of Power – it suffers from the absence of one key player: Sauron.

As much as The Rings of Power is about the titular jewels, but also about the mind that unleashed them upon the world. This is perhaps the show’s real selling point: unlike in The Lord of the Rings correct, The Rings of PowerSauron isn’t some largely offstage, inscrutable entity — he’s present and knowable. That’s important, because (as with the rings themselves) it explains Sauron’s compelling effect on those around him, something only hinted at in Tolkien’s core story and Peter Jackson’s big-screen blockbusters. When you only know Sauron from the Second Age as an oversized dark lord in spiky armor — Satan 2.0, essentially — it’s hard to imagine why anyone would fall for his shit, let alone some of Middle-earth’s more devious operators. But as Tolkien’s broader writings make clear, many of Sauron’s greatest victories in this age were built on flattery and mind games, not on beating up extras with a mace. Episode 5 reflects this better than any episode of The Rings of Power so far. Watching Charlie Vickers’ “Annatar” convince Celebrimbor to create the Nine, or have Mirdania make the moves, brings Sauron’s knack for knowing which buttons to push into sharp relief. Who would not stand behind the rings, while the man promoting them always knows exactly what to say?

That Sauron’s seductive personality meshes with his more famous, overtly demonic incarnation in The Rings of Power results in the most fully fleshed out version of the villain outside of Tolkien’s own. Other adaptations depict the future lord of Mordor primarily in fairly literal terms; he’s an all-seeing eye or a nasty black cloud, both of which, despite their metaphysical substance, are characterized by what they actively do (even if that means “tailing”). Real hard”). On the other hand, The Rings of PowerSauron is a much more insidious proposition; he makes bad things happen, simply by existing. While Galadriel in previous installments has consistently attributed misfortune to Sauron, bordering on unintentional comedy – we know he’s been busy with the rings, not blowing up bridges – when Mirdania briefly encounters Sauron’s true self in the unseen world, his dual nature is revealed. He is at once the puppet-master of Eregion and a terrifying cosmic virus spreading misfortune and ill will throughout Middle-earth itself.

This is broadly true of Tolkien’s canon; Sauron’s noticeably corrosive aura appears at least once in The Lord of the RingAnd even if it wasn’t, it’s exactly the kind of thing The Rings of Power should do, rather than redundant wizard origin stories and Shire prophecies. By giving viewers a better understanding of the full extent of Sauron’s threat, it both raises the stakes of Season 2 and advances the overarching story. It leaves us wondering what questionable decisions our heroes will make — what right things they’ll do for the wrong reasons, or vice versa — to stop him. The Galadriel/Adar alliance announced as the credits rolled on Episode 5 suggests that whatever they encounter is going to be pretty monumental. Whether this is good or bad for Middle-earth remains to be seen, but it’s an undeniably solid platform for The Rings of Power the last three episodes of season 2 to build on.