The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Season 2 – Episode 1
Episode title: Elven Kings Under the Sky
Original release date : August 29, 2024
Plot: Sauron bargains with Adar. The Stranger and Nori venture into new lands. The Three Elven Rings face judgment.
* * *
[Galadriel] My brother gave his life hunting Sauron.
His task is now mine.
This mark’s very existence proves Sauron escaped.
The question now is, where?
The evil is gone.
Then why is it not gone from in here?
[Gil-galad] These heroes shall be granted a passage across the sea to the Undying Lands of Valinor.
[Halbrand] You’re a deserter, aren’t you?
[Galadriel] Duty demanded I return to Middle-earth.
Was that the mark of your people’s king?
My people have no king.
[Galadriel] You are more than you claim.
Your people have no king, for you are him.
Come with me to Middle-earth.
And together we will redeem both our bloodlines.
[Halbrand] Be careful. I am not the hero you seek.
[grunts]
You remember me?
No.
[screaming]
After Morgoth’s defeat, I killed Sauron.
I do not believe you.
[Nori] I feel like he’s my responsibility.
[Adar] You feel like everyone is.
[Nori] No.
He could’ve landed anywhere, and he landed here.
This stranger isn’t a Man, or an Elf…
[screaming]
He’s something else.
[in Quenya] Á kuita!
[in English] Get back!
[Dilly yelps]
[Nori] This is how we help him.
He wants us to help him find those stars.
Where are you goin’?
To help my friend.
[Poppy] You’re my best friend in this whole wide, wild world.
[Nori] Do you remember anything more yet?
More has come. But to discover the rest, I know I must go to Rhûn.
[Nori] Sounds a bit like an adventure.
[Gil-galad] The light of the Eldar is fading.
Despite our every effort, our decline has only quickened.
If the Elves abandon Middle-earth, it will be the end, not just of our people, but all peoples.
[dramatic music playing]
[Celebrimbor] We are on the cusp of crafting a new kind of power.
Not of the flesh, but over flesh.
[Galadriel] All of a sudden, the two of you seem quite familiar.
[Halbrand] I’m just offering whatever humble aid I can.
[thuds]
[Galadriel] There is no King of the Southlands.
The line was broken.
Tell me your name.
[Halbrand] I have had many names.
[voice distorting, echoing] Sauron lives because of you!
[metal clinking]
Galadriel, where is Halbrand?
He is gone. And I doubt he will return.
And should he ever, none of us are to treat with him again.
What happened by that stream?
[dramatic music playing]
[thunder rumbling]
[ominous music playing]
[Orcs snarling]
[Sauron] Always, after a defeat…
the shadow takes another shape and grows again.
Morgoth is gone.
Leaving us alone and disgraced.
But today, a new age begins.
Under me.
Your new master.
Sauron.
[Orcs clamor]
And with a new age, I bring a new vision.
A path to unconditional conquest.
For I seek a new kind of power.
Not of the flesh, but over flesh.
A power of the unseen world.
One we shall use to enslave the peoples of Middle-earth to our very will.
Many Orcs will die.
[all exclaiming]
But out of the chaos, we will forge a new and perfect order.
No longer will we be hunted as the demons who broke Middle-earth,
but rather worshipped as the saviors who finally healed it.
By bringing its peoples together, to rule them all as one!
[in Black Speech] Sauron lies!
[in English] Doubt me at your peril.
You have nowhere else to turn. The Valar will never forgive you.
Elves will never accept you.
Men…
Men will never look upon you with anything but horror and disgust.
[Orcs growling]
[Sauron] A corrupted and ignoble race,
worthy only to be hunted and slaughtered.
[Orcs exclaiming]
[Orc choking]
[growling]
[grunting]
[groans weakly]
[body thuds]
[blade clangs]
I am your only future, and my path your only path!
[snarling]
Who among you dare say otherwise?
[snarling]
[in Black Speech] All Hail, Lord Sauron!
The New Dark Lord.
[Orcs] All hail!
[sinister music playing]
[gurgling]
[growling]
[grunting]
[Orcs yelling]
[both grunting]
[indistinct whispering]
[Adar exclaims in Black Speech]
[grunting and yelping]
[screaming]
[thunder rumbling]
[wind howling]
[Orcs groaning]
[breathing heavily]
[ominous music playing]
[in English] Hail Adar!
Hail Adar!
My children… you are free.
[Orcs chanting] Hail Adar! Hail Adar!
Hail Adar! Hail Adar! Hail Adar!
Hail Adar! Hail Adar! Hail Adar!
Hail Adar! Hail Adar! Hail Adar!
[eerie music playing]
[dripping]
[sniffing]
[munching]
[squealing]
[wind whistling]
[inhales]
[rattling]
[thumping]
[girl screams]
[horse whinnies]
[chomping]
[bones crack, flesh squelches]
[ominous music playing]
[inhales deeply]
[exhales]
[suspenseful music playing]
[crow cawing]
[horse whinnies]
[indistinct chatter]
[Diarmid] That way lies death, friend.
Then that is my path.
An army of Orcs moves against Men.
We were the fortunate ones.
Perhaps the fortunate ones were the first to die.
I know you’ve suffered.
I can see it in your eyes.
There’s another life waiting for you.
You just have to turn toward it.
That heraldry.
What is it?
[Diarmid] A symbol of kings, long-dead.
Your family?
[Diarmid] No.
My family served them.
Then why wear it?
As a reminder that our fates are never certain,
that fortunes can turn, for even the most powerful.
A grim reminder.
Or a hopeful one.
A sure path may crumble,
but there’s always another.
Often, it can lead us someplace better.
Someplace good.
They say there’s places across the sea, a man can escape himself.
Find another path.
Perhaps another life.
Come with us, if you like.
Or, walk on.
And keep chasing death.
Choice is yours, friend.
[wood creaking]
[breathing heavily]
[bell tolling]
[growling]
[man] Are you all right?
[woman] No.
Nightmares again?
What haunts you so?
I’ve done evil.
All of us have done things that we care not to admit.
Not like I have.
Find forgiveness.
You are alive because you have chosen good.
But what of tomorrow?
You have to choose it again. [chuckles]
And the next day. And the next.
Until it becomes a part of your nature.
[rumbling]
[low wailing]
[indistinct chatter]
Grab hold of something.
Ah!
[passengers screaming]
[Diarmid] Help! Help me!
[dramatic music playing]
Help me!
[roars]
[growling]
[wails, screeches]
[gasps]
[panting]
[Galadriel] Over here!
[dramatic music playing]
[Galadriel breathing heavily]
[gasps]
[grunts]
The tides of fate are flowing.
Yours may be heading in, or out.
[theme music playing]
[intense music playing]
[horse whinnies]
[Elrond grunts]
[Galadriel grunts]
[birds chirping]
Elrond, stop, give them to me!
[sighs]
[grunts]
[Mirthless Guard] We intend no insult, Commander Galadriel,
but by order of Herald Elrond, you are to come with us.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Gil-galad] Is it true?
High King.
Herald Elrond carries three Rings.
A means of halting the fading and saving our people.
We will discuss the Rings once you have answered the question.
Elrond just informed me your companion, this Halbrand,
was not who he claimed.
Yet you chose to withhold this from him and Celebrimbor.
Is it true?
Yes.
Who is he?
He is not what I thought.
Which is the reason I did what I did.
Why do you dance so to avoid revealing the truth?
[in Sindarin] High King
You must believe I would never knowingly endanger our kind.
[in English] I will believe you
when I no longer see the lie behind your eyes.
Now, who is this Man?
He is no Man.
He has been… masquerading as one.
Appearing in fair form, to hide his true self.
He is Sauron.
[ominous music playing]
[exclaims in Sindarin]
[in English] How could you?
Of all our kind.
He deceived me. I was deceived!
No, Galadriel, you were blind. Blinded by your own pride.
And what frailty blinded you, Elrond?
[in Sindarin] Silence!
[in English] What other path did your failure
in Khazad-dûm leave us with?
You were my friend.
[in Sindarin] Silence!
[in English] The Rings. Show them to me.
Dare not, High King. He’s no doubt corrupted…
He never touched them, High King.
He worked with Celebrimbor for weeks. We know not the depth of his influence.
Soon, the last Gold-leaf will fall,
and it will be my task to inform all Lindon our time here is ended,
and the Elves must abandon these shores forever.
Now, you inform me our most cunning enemy is rising again.
If we leave now, the peoples of Middle-earth
will be left to suffer under the tyranny of a new Dark Lord.
Those Rings are more than our last hope,
they may be the last hope for all Middle-earth.
It is a risk we must chance to take.
Give them to me.
High King…
Sauron has not yet amassed that degree of power.
These Rings may be how he attains it.
They must be destroyed.
That decision is far above your privilege,
one you endanger with each moment you refuse to obey.
The Rings, Elrond.
It is a command from your King.
I will not utter it again.
[Galadriel, in Sindarin] Obey him.
[in Sindarin] You would say that to me?
It is the only way. Obey him!
[Elrond] I cannot.
You know I cannot.
Seize him!
[Galadriel, in English] Elrond, no!
[dramatic music playing]
[in Sindarin] Find him. Find the rings.
Go!
[sinister music playing]
[Orcs shouting]
Keep up! Move!
Move those legs, king.
[Orc] Well, take that.
[Waldreg] Welcome to Mordor.
Work its land well, and you’ll be fed well.
Work it badly, and you’ll feed the soil.
You, lad, do you swear allegiance to Adar, Lord-father of the Uruks?
[yelps]
[Orcs grunts]
[straining]
It is the Southlands no more!
In Mordor, ya bow or ya bleed.
Right, you there. Do you swear allegiance to Adar?
[whimpers]
[screaming]
[Waldreg] I’ll take this one!
[Glüg] The King of the Southlands turned himself in, Lord-father.
Says he wants to negotiate.
Let my people go.
[all laughing]
Or yours will die.
My people defeated the Men of these lands.
We defeated the Elves who came to their aid.
We even defeated their allies, the Men from beyond the sea.
There is no one left for us to fear.
There is one.
Since Galadriel’s defeat, she sought out a new ally.
An ancient sorcerer, to instruct the Elves in forging a new weapon.
One you first told her about.
A power over flesh.
Do you remember those words?
A power that will allow him to use your children
as slaves in his army once more.
Set my people free, and I will tell you where he can be found.
So you can destroy him, and rid us both of his evil.
No, Your Majesty.
You will tell me everything you think you know of this sorcerer now.
Or I will spill the words from your throat.
If I die, all that I know dies with me.
You can’t kill me.
In time, you will beg me to.
Ah!
[groans]
[sighs]
Your Majesty.
Ha!
[groans softly]
[Glüg] What he said, Lord-father…
Sauron… could never return, could he?
No.
Sauron is dead.
[Waldreg] On your knees, you maggots!
[suspenseful music playing]
[panting]
[indistinct whispering]
[insects trilling]
You got that look in your eye.
You had that dream again last night, didn’t you?
If you tell me what it is you keep seein’, maybe I could…
help you puzzle it out.
Maybe it’s a clue to what we’re going to find…
when we reach those stars.
It’s the heat. That’s all.
[man breathing heavily]
No. It can’t be.
Stone trees.
We’re goin’ in circles.
There must be some evil upon this land, confusing our path.
Just admit it. We’re lost.
Panic is the fool’s meal, Nori.
We would be wiser to sup on patience.
We haven’t supped on anything since we ran out of snails.
There’s nothin’ to eat out here.
[Stranger panting]
[playful music playing]
Oh, no. Oh, no.
Oh, come on.
It might bear some fruit. Least you could do is try.
Have you forgotten what happened when last I tried such a thing?
Further.
Further, Nori.
[sighs]
All right?
[rumbling]
[exhales softly]
[speaking Quenya]
[tree creaking]
Ah! [grunts]
[gasps]
[groaning]
You did it. We’ll eat for days.
[laughing]
[insects trilling]
[Nori] Don’t be so glum.
I asked you to conjure us up some food, and you did.
Nobody got hurt.
I lost control.
So you need to learn how not to lose control.
In the dream, there’s a kind of… branch.
Under the stars.
When I reach out to grasp it…
What is it? What happens next?
Some things are best not shared aloud.
Except, well, you did sort of share it aloud.
So it’s not rightly fair to be all cryptic about it now, is it?
But perhaps, wizards are not always fair.
[Nori chuckles]
Hmm.
Mmm.
[laughs]
I can feel the legs in the throat.
That’s the best part.
They’re dancin’.
Poppy and I, we used sing little buggy songs
so they’d have music to dance to when they…
Well.
It is quite all right for a Harfoot to miss home.
I knew it’d be hard. It’s just, um…
Well.
This hard’s different.
Strange how that which is left behind can be the heaviest burden to carry.
I miss my home, as well.
You don’t even remember yours.
No.
Sometimes, I perceive a glimmer of it nonetheless.
A longing for a feeling I can’t remember or even name.
But I know it’s real.
Just beyond the sunset.
It appears we’re being followed.
[music playing]
[growling]
[growls, snarls]
Come on, Your Majesty.
Not even kings can go without food.
Why don’t you open up?
You tell old Waldreg everything you know about Sauron.
[exclaims]
Pain must be something you enjoy.
[grunts]
After Lord-father releases me, I’m going to kill you.
Adar doesn’t even remember you’re here.
[Halbrand grunts]
[gasps]
[breathing heavily]
[creature growling]
[intense music playing]
[speaking Black Speech]
[horse whinnies]
[indistinct shouting]
[indistinct chatter]
Perfection.
Perfection exists only in Valinor.
Thank you, Master Círdan.
You needn’t hide any longer.
Master Círdan.
Please forgive the unexpected nature of my visit,
but I have nowhere else to turn.
You are the oldest and wisest of our kind.
And the Elves are facing our greatest test in an age.
I perceive you carry something in your charge.
Something louder than the sea.
What have you brought here?
[rings clink]
It is to be given directly to Lord Celebrimbor.
He must be informed
that Halbrand is Sauron.
Move with haste,
and trust no stranger upon your path.
Yes, my lord.
[door closes]
I have yet to thank you. For trusting me, regarding the Rings.
Trusting you?
Let us be clear, Commander.
You and I are momentarily aligned for one reason,
because your actions have left us no alternative.
Because of you, our enemy lives.
Because of you, we’ve no choice but to test the virtue of the Rings.
I should have you thrown in fetters
and cast to the Ettenmoors for what you’ve done.
Then why have you not?
I am considering it.
I swear to you, High King,
I will not stop until he is destroyed and I have put this right.
You would not be here now if I thought otherwise.
[female guard] High King, we have not found the Rings.
We’ve scoured everywhere water meets rock, and yet,
there’s no trace of him.
Perhaps the fall…
No.
Elrond lives.
Expand the search.
Set a watch at every crossing. He must not escape.
Escape is not his plan.
Meaning?
He spoke of destroying the Rings.
Elrond would seek out someone he can trust.
Someone older, wiser…
Whose voice would command respect.
Even from you.
Someone who could turn the tides his way.
[Elrond] You may examine them.
I’ve seen Celebrimbor’s work before.
He’s remarkable.
He is.
I remember, he used to speak of, one day, crafting objects of such power,
they could change the heart of any who beheld them.
If, as you say,
these Rings have so quickly turned Elf against Elf…
it would appear he has succeeded.
Perhaps it was not Celebrimbor’s hand that produced that effect.
If what you’ve told me is true,
these three Rings were made without Sauron’s touch.
The Enemy is cunning.
The Rings may well be a ploy on his part.
A device in some larger plan, the end of which we cannot yet see.
What would you ask of me?
The Rings must be destroyed.
Do so, and the Age of the Elves will end.
We would be abandoning all Middle-earth to its fate.
Could you accept that?
If to do otherwise means falling prey to the designs of the Enemy…
Yes.
You do your father proud.
[suspenseful music playing]
Long ago, there was a battle.
One whose weapons were the very bones of the continents.
Still now, at the spot where our bay meets the sea,
there remains on the seabed a scar so deep,
its end none but Manwë himself knows.
If one were to cast these Rings into its depths, they…
[horse whinnies]
Let me speak with him first.
Please, High King.
Give me one last chance to reason with my friend?
Reason quickly.
Elrond?
I have come to coax you willingly.
If I fail, the High King will see you removed by force.
I have failed enough of late, old friend.
Help me succeed this time?
I should have trusted you, as I asked you to trust me.
But unless we both trust in the Rings now, all will be lost.
With three, there is balance.
Don’t you remember?
We chose this path together.
No, you chose it for me.
Elrond…
What so frightens you, you cannot consider
the possibility of their corruption?
Because in my heart,
I know The Three Rings are free of his influence.
But are you?
The light of Valinor shone upon your very face, Galadriel,
and you turned your back on it.
Was it truly to fight the darkness or was the darkness calling to you?
Can you not see? All this may be by his design.
I did what I felt was right.
And time alone will reveal whether that was folly or wisdom.
What time do you think you have?
Where is Círdan?
You did what you must, Galadriel.
So have I.
Elrond.
Where are the Rings?
[dramatic music playing]
[breath trembling]
[Poppy] Huh?
[gasps]
Poppy!
[giggles]
[Nori] Mmm, honey biscuits.
Never been happier in my life than right now.
How’s everyone at home?
About the same.
Your ma took to giving me your chores,
but your da said I didn’t have to do ’em.
You came after us.
Wasn’t so hard. You haven’t exactly gotten very far.
Yes, well, we appear to be lost.
So now you admit it.
Well, you won’t be for long. Look.
I was sifting through Sadoc’s old book.
Harfoots must’ve journeyed this way a long time ago.
See, there’s a warnin’,
“Not to forget the words to the song, or you’ll just go round in circles.”
Song? What song?
Give you one guess.
Sing to me, sing to me, land far away
The walkin’ song?
I think it’s some kinda directions.
Our folk have been wanderin’ for years.
Guess this path must have been important to them.
I say, we climb.
“Trees of stone… Light in the tower, no longer my home.”
There.
“Past eyes of pale fire.”
“Black sand for my bed.”
“I trade all I’ve known for the unknown ahead.”
Welcome to the lands of Rhûn.
Come on. What are you waitin’ for?
This is only the beginnin’.
Why you looking at it like that?
Like what?
Like you’ve been here before.
Only in dreams.
[intense music playing]
[grunting]
[gasping]
[clinking]
[enchanting music playing]
[music stops]
[scoffs]
I was in your place once.
In the eldest of the Elder Days.
Thirteen of us were chosen to be blessed of Morgoth’s hand,
with the promise of power.
A new birth.
I was led up to a dark and nameless peak.
Chained and left.
And after what seemed endless thirst and hunger…
I saw it.
His servant’s face.
Sauron’s face.
And it was beautiful.
He offered me wine, red as a blood moon.
He offered me wine, and on that dark and nameless peak,
I drank it.
I drank it all.
Your people have been set free.
Now, tell me what you know of Sauron.
Sauron has returned in a new form.
I am not yet certain what shape he has taken.
Then of what use are you to me?
I have something you don’t.
The trust of the Elves.
Release me,
and I’ll go to them and seek him out,
so you can marshal your legions to destroy him.
[breath trembling]
Do you vow allegiance to Adar,
Lord-father of the Uruks?
Yes.
Then kneel.
Now, swear it.
I vow…
With your head at my feet.
I vow to serve the Lord of Mordor.
To the end of my days…
and his.
[indistinct chatter]
[Waldreg] What’re you doing? Keep away.
See that he’s followed. Every step.
“I’m going to kill you.”
Is that right, Your Majesty?
All hail the king.
[thuds]
Oh!
[growling]
[Waldreg screaming]
[Gil-galad singing in Quenya] O Elven-kind!
Too long have we dwelt Upon this Hither Shore
And now, a fading crown…
Must trade, to sail to Valinor
O Elven-kind!
O Elven-kind!
The Winter comes
The bare and leafless day…
O Elven-kind!
O Elven-kind!
The leaves are falling in the stream
The river flows away
The light of the Eldar has faded.
As coals too long removed from the hearth,
we must return to our home or diminish forever into endless night.
And so it is come to pass,
our days in Middle-earth… are ended.
[hushed chatter]
Perfection does not exist only in Valinor, High King.
It is here.
Celebrimbor has brought it to Middle-earth.
[dramatic music playing]
No!
Galadriel.
No.
[thrilling music playing]
[music crescendoes]
[music continues]
[Mirdania] The new forge is remarkable, my lord.
It is, indeed.
Let us pray the Rings worked, so we have a chance to use it.
Forgive me, my lord, but a messenger has just arrived.
Word from Lindon?
To the contrary, my lord. This messenger is from the Southlands.
He says he wants to negotiate.
Well, my lord? Do we grant him entry?
[ominous music playing]
[Gil-galad] I have seen mountains crumbling.
Waters running dry.
And clouds. Black. Gathering over white towers.
[dramatic music playing]
[Halbrand] A storm is coming.
[Galadriel] Prepare yourselves.
[Barrow-wight, whispering] I am waiting for you.
[Vorohil] Something has awoken them.
No. Someone.
[The Dweller] It is said he has taken a new form to deceive his enemies.
Who are you?
Annatar.
Lord of Gifts.
Sauron is alone, without army or ally.
He needs not armies… but Rings.
Seven Rings. Seven Dwarves. And bound within each, power.
[Halbrand] You saved the Elves. Make Rings for Men.
We cannot give Rings to Men.
The risk of corruption is simply too great.
[Annatar] True creation requires sacrifice.
In choosing to wear those Rings,
you have all chosen to become his collaborators.
[Prince Durin IV] Take off the Ring.
[grunts]
I will defeat him. At any cost.
No! This is what Sauron wants!
I’ve felt bound. To try and do something special.
You must remain calm at the storm’s eye.
This magic. Can you teach it to me?
[Tom Bombadil] If you prove yourself worthy of it.
Sauron rises in the west. A Dark Wizard in the east.
Every soul in Middle-earth is in peril.
Will you abandon them to their doom?
[Elendil] Together we can put this right.
Nobody goes off-trail.
[Nori] Nobody walks alone.
I need your axe, old friend. I need it now.
[Halbrand] Celebrimbor, you and I have work to do.
[Gil-galad singing in Quenya]
