The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 7 “The Eye” finally confirms what Episode 6 “Udûn” teased: the Southlands are now Mordor. Sauron’s plan to give his orcs a homeland has been brought to fruition by Adar (Joseph Mawle), who is now Lord of Mordor. Elsewhere, Durin III (Peter Mullan) has disowned son Durin IV (Owain Arthur) for attempting to mine mithril and gift it to the elves. But is it possible that Durin III is in the right? It certainly did seem that the younger Durin’s efforts may have awoken a Balrog! Worse, it seems that both Isildur (Maxim Baldry) and Galadriel’s husband Celeborn are dead. So where does the ending of The Rings of Power Episode 7 on Prime Video leave us??
The Lord of the Rings Episode 7 “The Eye” picks up right where Episode 6 left off. Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) wakes up amid the rubble of Mount Doom’s explosion and immediately hooks up with the only other survivor she can find, Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin). Elsewhere, Elrond (Robert Aramayo) begs King Durin III to trade the elves for the mithril they so desperately need to survive. Durin III is unmoved, which sparks a major rift between him and his compassionate son.
The Harfoots finally arrive in the grove, which has been ruined by Mount Doom’s nearby explosion. The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) attempts to cure the ruined trees, but when his efforts aren’t immediately (literally) fruitful, he is chased off. It is only when the Harfoots learn a) he was successful and b) he is being hunted by a creepy cult that Nori (Markella Kavanagh), Poppy (Megan Richards), Marigold (Sara Zwangobani), and Sadoc (Lenny Henry) attempt to warn him. But where is the Stranger going? And is it a place you might know by a different name?
Finally, it seems that two major characters from Tolkien’s lore have been killed before their time. Elendil (Lloyd Owen) is devastated when it seems Isildur has been killed in Mordor and Galadriel tells Theo that she hasn’t seen her husband Celeborn since he left to fight the great war in the First Age.
So what does this all mean for the future of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? Here’s everything you need to know about the ending of The Rings of Power Episode 7 on Prime Video…
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER EPISODE 7 ENDING EXPLAINED: ARE THE SOUTHLANDS REALLY MORDOR?
What? Those snazzy “graphic design is my passion”-esque flaming fonts didn’t sell you on the reality that the Southlands are now Mordor? Well, guess what? The Southlands are officially Mordor.
If you can follow this logic, Sauron gifted a sword hilt to his followers in the First Age that was actually a key to a mechanism that would unleash water from some mountain damns. When this happened, provided a general like Adar had dug the right tunnels leading to the mountains, the water would rush and combust with the lava inside the mountain, triggering the eruption of Mount Doom.
But the long and short of it is that the Southlands are now Mordor.
DO THE DWARVES WAKE THE BALROG IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS EPISODE 7? (IS DURIN’S DAD RIGHT?!?)
After Durin III discovers that Elrond and Durin IV have gone behind his back to mine the mithril, he is irate. Elrond is thrown out of Khazad-dûm and Durin IV is stripped of his titles. Durin III orders the mithril mine to be sealed up, but before it is, we see the dwarf king toss the now healed elven leaf into the bowels of the Mines of Moria. We follow the leaf as it falls leagues and leagues, to the very bottom of the mine. The leaf catches fire and then we see a Balrog roar.
Our best guess is this is the Balrog who Gandalf eventually fights in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. After all, Gandalf explained that Khazad-dûm was destroyed in the Third Age because of the greed of the dwarves who dug too deep in their quest for more treasure. We see the start of this destructive avarice manifesting itself in Disa (Sophia Nomvete) as she tells Durin that “mithril belongs to us, to you and me, and together one day we are going to dig.”
This isn’t to say that the Balrog will destroy Khazad-dûm during the run of the Prime Video series, but that Durin III is right. There is danger down there.
DID THE RINGS OF POWER EPISODE 7 JUST REVEAL GALADRIEL’S HUSBAND CELEBORN IS DEAD?
Tolkien fans have been wondering a while why The Rings of Power hasn’t addressed the fact that Galadriel should be married by now to another elf named Celeborn. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 7 reveals that Galadriel believes Celeborn is dead. She tells Theo that when they married “The war seemed so very far away then. When he went to it, I chided him. His armor didn’t fit properly. I called him a silver clam. I never saw him again after that.”
However that doesn’t necessarily mean that Celeborn is dead. He could be stuck in an Odysseus-like long journey home.
Morfydd Clark told Decider that “[The producers] told me quite early on she thought he was dead and I was kind of curious about why she didn’t speak about him.” Clark added that she really liked that Theo was the character who got Galadriel to open up.
So Galadriel believes Celeborn is dead. Given that he’s ruling Lothlórian with Galadriel in the Third Age, we think he might turn up yet.
IS ISILDUR DEAD IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER?
Hahahahaha, no.
Look, we’re sorry for the grief that poor Elendil must feel as he is struck by the news that his son didn’t make it out of the Southlands — I mean, Mordor — alive. However it is clear that this is a total feint from the showrunners.
First, Isildur’s horse refuses to leave the area. Most likely because he knows Isil is still alive. Second, we didn’t watch Isildur die. Third, Isildur is one of the most legendary figures in the Second Age and his story is far from over.
Expect him to come back to the camp at some point in the next episode. Isildur lives.
WHERE IS THE STRANGER HEADED NEXT IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER?
When the Harfoots stupidly allow their smallest child to run towards an incredibly powerful being doing magic and the kid almost dies, they blame the Stranger. They point him in the direction of some human settlements close to a place Sadoc Burrows calls “Greenwood the Great.” Later, when they realize, oops, his magic was good and, oh no, our friend has three evil ladies hunting him, four of the Harfoots decide to go after their pal to warn him of the encroaching danger.
At some point in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 finale, we expect the Harfoots to meet up with the Stranger and the Sauron cult followers. Does the cult’s interest in the Stranger prove he’s Sauron? Well, we’re inclined that all it proves is he’s probably a Maiar. (Our best guess is still a proto-version of Gandalf or Radagast or one of the blue wizards.) However, we’re more interested in where this reunion is set to take place: Greenwood the Great.
Greenwood the Great would later be better known as Mirkwood, a forest where elves like Legolas and his father Thranduil live. In the Third Age, a version of Sauron called the Necromancer slowly takes power there, corrupting the once pure woodlands. Radagast the Brown lived on the edges of the Mirkwood during the Third Age, so maybe the Stranger is Radagast? (If so, bring back the best part of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy: his pet hedgehog Sebastian! That doesn’t make sense? Who cares! Sebastian rules!)
Anyway, the Stranger is headed for the place that will eventually be the Mirkwood.