Watch out for spoilers for ‘The Big Wave’, a new chapter in JRR Tolkien’s universe-based series
Ah, the prophecies … They are a danger. They cloud decision making and become self-fulfilling. And at the same time they are irresistible. As in The house of the dragon (House of the Dragon), a vision of the future is at the heart of the great wavefourth episode of The Lord of the Rings: The rings of poweraired this morning on Prime Video.
SPOILER ATTENTION FOR EPISODE 4 OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER. READ ONLY IF YOU ARE UPDATED WITH THE SERIES.
the great wave, directed by Wayne Che Yip, begins with a collective baptism led by Queen Regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), in which she talks about the future. A noise, an earthquake, a wind that sweeps the petals of the White Tree in the building. Then a huge tidal wave that destroys the kingdom of the island of Númenor.
But, uff, it was just a nightmare. Sara?
As we will see later in the episode, no. It is a vision that comes to haunt the sleep of the regent queen, offered by the palantír that Númenor guards. The palantír is a kind of sophisticated crystal ball, which serves to see the past and the future. Who saw the trilogy Lord of the Rings knows that a palantír will end up in the hands of the magician Saruman (Christopher Lee).
And what Míriel observes in the palantír explains her reticence towards Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), who is still trying to get her to rejoin Númenor and the Elves, as in the past, to fight Sauron.
But this alliance has another problem than the palantiric one. He is political. The alliance established by the queen regent’s father with the elves was unpopular. There are people on the street who complain that elves find work because they don’t sleep, they don’t get tired, they don’t age. Those who defend them are called “elf worshipers”. It looks a lot like certain talk we hear here in our real world.
The one who intervenes to calm the crowd is Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle), chancellor of Númenor, who has appeared only a short time until now, but who will have a more important role to play in the future. He is politically adept and achieves his goal of him.
Galadriel was born with zero political abilities and ends up in trouble with the regent queen again. It is suspected that he will have to improve in this regard and lower the level of arrogance a little if he is to unite everyone against Sauron, or whoever Morgoth’s disciple is.
There are theories that Sauron is not the new threat. Was it Adar, which in Elvish means “father”? I do not know. But I could finally see his face. And it’s … Uncle Benjen, da game of Thrones! The actor is Joseph Mawle and Adar is a misshapen elf who has clearly succumbed to the dark side of the Force. Adar tells Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) that many lies have been told and that to clarify everything it would be necessary to create a new world. That kind of talk never goes far.
Adar’s solution to free Arondir is halfway through so that he can issue an ultimatum to the inhabitants of the Southern Lands, saying join me or you will be destroyed. Adar could, I don’t know, send an army of orcs to do the job, right? Anyway. But this is how Arondir manages to save Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) from the clutches of the orcs and to reunite with the boy’s mother and his great love, Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi), who is having difficulty managing the refugee camp installed in a tower.
Meanwhile, the other famous elf from this story, Elrond (Robert Aramayo), reappears. At the instigation of Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), he goes to speak with Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur), who suspects he is hiding something. Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete) also sneaks up on the cover-up of the dwarves’ actions. But Elrond uses his elven abilities and puts Durin against the wall. He eventually reveals that they have discovered a new metal, which Elrond calls mithril: it is the material that lines Bilbo’s shirt that saves Frodo in Lord of the Rings.
Returning to Númenor, there is another plot involving Isildur (Maxim Baldry), who hears his name whispered and makes a mistake on purpose, being expelled by the Sea Guard. His father, Elendil (Lloyd Owen), is the captain of the Sea Guard, meaning his decision causes more than one problem, also because Isildur causes the expulsion of his friends as well. Both Elendil and Isildur are important in the future, and The Rings of Power shows here the first signs of Isildur’s troubled nature.
the great wave it is strangely full of things going on, but it feels slow at the same time. For a world threatened by something terrible, there is little sense of urgency or terror. The episode also spends more time with the characters, but doesn’t reveal much about them. The budding romance of Isildur’s sister Eärien (Ema Horvath) seems out of place. But she arouses some curiosity to know what’s coming to her, being a character created for the series.
What is worse is that even the moments of humanity of the characters are very rare, weightless. Galadriel shows a certain sensitivity when talking to the queen regent about his father, while Durin and Elrond exchange stories about the burden of being their own children. But it is little for an hour of episode.
It can be argued that The rings of power it is a series of events, of action, not of character development. Even so, it needs the viewer to care about who is on screen for events to have an impact. The series is now in the middle of its eight episodes, and hairy feet aside, which didn’t appear in the episode, and Durin and Disa, are more interested in mysteries than connections and emotions.
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Source: Terra
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
