The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Recap: Clash of the Dwarves

The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power
Episode 4
Season 3 Episode 4
Editor’s Rating ★★★★
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Uh-oh. Is it possible that Galadriel and Arondir have made a horrible mistake trusting Marnûkh and letting him lead them into the mountainside prison fortress of Gundabad? That’s always been a possibility, of course. Marnûkh has never seemed that trustworthy, and following him has been something of a desperation play from the start. But the early scenes of this episode seem to confirm they’ve been foolish to bet on Marnûkh’s sincerity. Once inside Gundabad with his “freshies,” Marnûkh announces himself as General Marnûkh and claims this has all been part of a plan to bring Galadriel and her Ring to Sauron, whom he expects is on his way. (And he is, having fed some fresh meat to The Beast, which sort of looks like a dragon but almost certainly isn’t a dragon because Tolkien dragons are much different creatures. We’re told it’s an eagle that’s been corrupted by Morgoth, which might make it to eagles what Orcs are to Elves. Maybe. It’s confusing.) Marnûkh sends Galadriel off to prison and takes Arondir, claiming he plans to question him about Rivendell’s defenses. Everything that unfolds before the credits seems pretty bleak for our Elf heroes.

They’re bleak in Khazad-dûm, too, where a debate rages about what to do now that news of Durin helping the Elves and sending Marnûkh to Rivendell has leaked and Sauron is amassing forces along the border. The Dwarf Lords demand Durin hand over the Dwarf Rings, which he refuses, but when he turns to Thráin for support, he finds his brother does not have his back. (Just how little Thráin has his back, he does not yet know.) And, to be fair, Thráin sounds reasonable when he says that the Dwarf Rings might be their best defense against Sauron. But Disa’s counterpoint that they risk madness by wearing them and that the Dwarves are tough enough to take on Sauron seems even more persuasive.

It also opens up the opportunity for Thráin to make his big move. If Durin III was wearing the Ring, and thus mad, when he reinstated Durin IV as heir, does that even count? There’s some legal ambiguity there, and Thráin exploits it. That leaves the crown up for grabs, and the proper heir can only be decided by the will of the Dwarf god Aulë. It’s trial by combat time, and Durin really has no choice but to rise to the challenge, he argues, despite Disa’s protests. And, in the end, even Disa comes around. If they’re going to hold on to what they’ve got, there’s only one path forward. 

Of course, the Dwarves’ reluctance to take on Sauron is perfectly understandable. When the action shifts to Lindon, we see that the Elves have successfully fought off an Orc attack, but the victory has come at such a high cost that it doesn’t feel like victory at all. Even Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker), the Elves’ High King (ingaran, in Elvish), seems shaken, though he takes some reassurance from Círdan’s (Ben Daniels) insistence that hope might be their best weapon. But when Elrond arrives, after barely escaping an Orc attack, he doesn’t have much hope to offer.

He does come up with a plan, however, one that’s been cooking for a few episodes: They ought to reach out to Númenor, combine forces, and find a way for Elves and men to live together after they defeat Sauron. Even Círdan’s revelation that they’ve already tried only to receive a terse letter of refusal from Pharazôn doesn’t squelch Elrond’s enthusiasm. What Círdan reads as “drop dead,” Elrond interprets as pride. Their best plan of action is for Gil-galad to travel to Númenor and make a personal plea “king to king.” Elrond is also onboard when Círdan suggests Elrond accompany his king. (He was planning to go anyway, really.) Elrond’s brother Elros, after all, gave up his immortality to found Númenor. What better reminder of the bond between Elves and men could there be than an Elf than the twin brother who looks just like him? 

But would they be so optimistic if they knew what was actually happening in Númenor? On what has to be the longest ride of Elendil’s life, he listens to Kemen reveal his secret origin as the son of a woman who “worked her trade at night” who was killed by Pharazôn after she informed him they had a son together. That hasn’t stopped Kemen, whom Pharazôn spared, from trying to win his dad’s approval, however. But as dedicated as he might be to the father who, in his eyes, spared him, Kemen doesn’t seem entirely unswayed by Elendil’s talk about finding “true freedom” by seeing Pharazôn for the monster he is and joining Elendil’s cause. Kemen doesn’t have long to mull this notion over, however, before Anarion and his men ambush the carriage and take him prisoner in the process of rescuing Elendil. It’s a stunning reversal of fortune for Kemen, and perhaps the first development to wipe the smirk off his face since season one.

Over at Gundabad, things don’t seem to be going gundagreat for Arondir, who’s seemingly headed to the deepest, darkest cell in the place. Until, that is, Marnûkh turns on the other Orcs and frees his Elf companion. This, it turns out, was part of the plan all along, even if Arondir is kind of pissed by the degree of abuse Marnûkh heaped on him in the name of retaining the ruse. They proceed with their plan to rescue Maitalle only to find an Elf corpse in her cell shortly before hearing the sound of approaching Orcs. Maybe this was a bad idea after all? 

Hope presents itself in the unexpected form of a living Elf. And not just any Elf. It’s Celeborn, who discovers his legend does not precede him when he reels off his bona fides to Marnûkh and Arondir. He doesn’t even get a chance to tell them he’s Galadriel’s husband before they start to leave. Then Celeborn proves they need him to make their escape by demonstrating that he knows the Orcs’ routines and is their best shot at escaping. 

Miles away, drama has begun to escalate at Khazad-dûm. Over drinks, Thráin attempts to enlist Disa into a couple of power plays. First, he says he’ll give up his claim on the throne in exchange for the Rings of Power Durin has hidden. Then he tries extortion, threatening to tell Durin that he has a history with his wife. To circumvent this, Disa confesses to Durin, telling him that once, before they were married and while they were fighting, she hooked up with Thráin. And, honestly, Durin seems pretty cool and sensitive about this. (He also, rightly, sees Sauron’s influence as a real possibility.) But when Gamli brings up that he saw his mother and uncle alone just before the brothers’ scheduled fight, Durin sees red. Losing his head, he flies into rage, allowing Thráin to get the better of him. As the crowd chants Thráin’s name, it looks like the reign of Durin IV has come to a premature end. 

While this unfolds, Sauron is flying high, literally. Mounted on the Beast, he soars toward Gundabad while Marnûkh, Arondir, and Celeborn (who quickly establishes himself as a crucial part of their plan) attempt to make their escape. Without knowing the identity of the third member of Marnûkh and Arondir’s party, Celeborn strongly advises them to leave without her, then starts to make an exit himself before heading back after Marnûkh mentions Galadriel’s name. Within moments, the couple has reunited, and both seem too shocked to know what to do or say. But they don’t have much time to process their feelings before Sauron shows up, demanding that Galadriel and Marnûkh be taken alive.

As Galadriel and the others attempt to make their way to the roof, it, once again, appears as if Marnûkh is on the verge of switching sides before he again proves his loyalty to his new friends (if that’s the right word) by releasing all the nearby prisoners and causing all hell to break loose. They barely make it to the top alive, then have to fight off an Orc horde for the right moment to make their escape via Landroval, which the Great Eagle Galadriel summons. In a touching moment, Arondir heroically saves Marnûkh’s life despite their past troubles. But the moment doesn’t last. 

When a Nazgnagôl arrives, he wastes no time before killing Marnûkh. Then, curiously, the Nazgnagôl warns Arondir to leave rather than attacking him before taking off his mask. It’s Theo, now fully Nazgûled up. Despite this, Arondir seems to be on the verge of convincing him to abandon Sauron and remove the Ring that gives him power but leaves him in Sauron’s control. That ends, however, with Sauron’s arrival. At his master’s command, Theo kills Arondir while Galadriel and Celeborn look on in horror before Celeborn forces them both to dive off the roof and into Landroval’s clutches. Then Sauron and Theo leave Arondir’s body on the roof. 

That’s … actually pretty shocking. Arondir has been a major character from the start. And though the departure of Nazanin Boniadi at the end of the first season brought Arondir’s romance with Bronwyn to a premature end, he still had a lot to do in the second season (and, to this point, in the third). But maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise. We’ve reached a point in the story when it would seem that anyone whose fate isn’t explicitly laid out in Tolkien’s text might not be safe. (RIP Eärien. Everyone else, from Kemen to Largo Brandyfoot, should probably watch their backs.) 

We’ve also reached the point in the season when tension has reached a point unlikely to let up until the season’s end. Are Durin and his family outcasts now? Does Elrond know what he and Gil-Galad are in for when they reach Númenor? Is Theo — who’s increasingly looking like the show’s Anakin Skywalker — completely beyond redemption now, or is there still good in him? With the possible exception of what Gandalf is up to in Rhûn, a plot that hasn’t quite caught fire yet, all the story lines remain compelling, too, which hasn’t always been the case with The Rings of Power. Halfway through, this looks like the series’ best season to date. Let’s see if that’s still true at the end of the second half.

Mithril Links

• RIP Marnûkh, too? Where it looked at first as if he would serve as a kind of Orcish analog of Gollum, he revealed hidden depths with each episode. He taught us all that Orcs, too, have poems in their hearts. Hopefully, he has an afterlife filled with grubs and all the other awful things he loved to eat. 

• What is the vibe of Galadriel and Celeborn’s reunion? It’s hard to discern. Maybe it’s impossible to get what’s going on there if you’re not an Elf. 

• Maybe the distinction between the Nazgnagôl and the Nazgûl we know from Tolkien is a matter of intensity. The Nazgnagôl possess some magical powers, but they’re also recognizably human when they remove their masks. Also, if Theo is typical, they’re under Sauron’s influence but not yet wholly in his thrall. There’s some free will left, even if it’s dwindling.