The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Premiere Recap: Strange Skies

The first episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is finally here, giving LOTR fans a chance to return to a Middle-earth that is both familiar and completely new. The premiere offers everything from captivating, cinematic shots perfected in the movies to bold new elven hairstyles.

If you want to read a spoiler free review: Fly, fools! If not, let’s dive into a full episode 1 recap.

Prologue

What, you thought this show wouldn’t have a prologue? We open in a field in Valinor. Galadriel says in a voiceover, “Nothing is evil in the beginning.” A group of elven children play in a field. One of them is Galadriel herself, who is already clearly too good for the rogues she hangs out with. She makes a small boat and sets it afloat in a creek. It unfolds in an origami swan situation. The other elf children mock her and throw rocks at her until she sinks. Because you know who is evil in the beginning? children.

After the boat attack, her older brother comforts her. They have a conversation about rocks and boats and how to know which light to follow. He tells her he won’t be here forever — DESTINATION — and she’s like, excuse me? That’s kind of the whole thing with the elves. As he leaves, we see a magnificent wide shot of Valinor.

It doesn’t last long though. Galadriel explains that the first dark lord, Morgoth, did some really stupid things and destroyed their two trees, Telperion and Laurelin, which were sources of light in Valinor. He also stole three stones containing their light, called the Silmarils. If you’ve read The Silmarillion, it’s a big party fail. For the purposes of this show, it doesn’t seem like we’ll need to know much about Morgoth, but I’ll quickly explain him like this: He’s one of the Valar (a set of angelic beings – – think of him as Lucifer / the fallen angel in the Bible). But really, Morgoth is that preschooler who knocks down everyone else’s block tower. A real peep if you ask me.

The Elves cannot stand this nonsense, so an army, including Galadriel’s brother, leaves Valinor. We see a legion of boats traveling across the Parting Sea to Middle Earth. Dragons! Hand-to-hand combat! Elves fight orcs in the rain! Galadriel tells us that the war left Middle-earth in ruins and lasted for centuries. On the battlefield, she picks up a helmet and places it in a pile so large that I doubt its structural integrity.

Despite losses, they defeat Morgoth. But it’s never that easy, is it? Sauron is ready to fill the power vacuum.

Unfortunately, Galadriel’s brother dies. Sauron roughly carves a sigil into his skin, and Galadriel sets about not only the dagger, but her mission to wipe evil from Middle-earth.

Sweeping shot over snowy mountains. Is that a pack of penguins? No! These are elves with a vendetta! Sauron’s hunt has failed. Centuries pass. Elves prevail over all. Except Galadriel.

We catch up with her and a small group of elves climbing the ice face of a mountain to the north in Fordhwaite, the Northmost Waste. (Are those elven cats?) At the top, an elf, whom I’ll call Rebellious Elf, says to Galadriel, You know what would be super cool? If we just forget about this whole thing. I’m paraphrasing.

Galadriel rejects this idea, and later, in the midst of a raging snowstorm, they wander right into Sauron’s fortress. Inside: Too much obsidian. (Is it obsidian? I don’t know. I’m no geologist.) They make their way into the inner chamber and find an orc corpse welded to the wall.

– What the hell is that? asks the Naughty Elf as if it were me when my cat pees outside the box. They find another sigil, but he’s still trying to get home for dinner and I just prefer not to.

Then: A Snow Troll appears and attacks. Galadriel uses a sword as a ramp and does some aerodynamic mischief and takes care of it herself. She wants to move on, but the other elves rebel despite the fact that she just saved them. The defiant elf continues to run his mouth. The struggles of #WomenintheWorkplace, am I right?

Putting your best Harfoots forward

RHOVANION — The magical map of Middle-earth takes us to Rhovanion, where we find the Harfoots hiding from a pair of wandering humans. (What is Harfoot? Read about them here.) The dudes walk by and the Harfoots start popping out of all sorts of hiding places to reveal a busy camp. The Harfoot kids, led by one named Norrie, are busy raiding berries from an old farm, but have to split up when a wolf shows up. Merry and Pippin would approve.

Back at camp, Nori’s mom is a little pissed off at her antics. Nori begins to wonder about life beyond – it’s big Little Mermaid / Part of Your World vibes. Her mother looks tired.

Meanwhile, Zadok, who appears to be the bigger Harfoot of the crew, seems to think something is wrong, cosmically speaking. Nori pops up looking for information and he tells her to watch her own wheels.

Sometime later, a large fiery thing rushes into the sky and crashes not far from the camp. Nori goes to investigate the smoking crater.

oh well it’s an old man with a loincloth.

Elves reunited

LYNDON — Elrond is in a tree having a poetic moment with his journal when he realizes that Galadriel has returned. They get back together, there’s some cheek caressing and some elf and she fills him in on the whole sigil deal. Galadriel wants to ask High King Gil-galad for a new command so she can fly again, but Elrond is all cool your jets, sister. Paraphrasing again. If anything, she stayed out too long, and the High King is gracious enough not to be angry with her for not returning sooner.

Later, the High King holds a ceremony for Galdriel’s company. He presents her findings as proof that the threat has passed and Sauron is no longer a problem. (Just wait until this guy watches the original trilogy.)

“Today begins our days of peace,” he says as an elf. It also enables the crew to return to Valinor. Which is technically a good thing, but Galadriel is similar thanks i hate it.

After the ceremony, she fights with Elrond.

“Evil does not sleep, it waits,” she says. He basically tells her not to worry about it and to go to Valinor because apparently there isn’t a single male elf she can count on.

We then see Galadriel and company standing in their armor on the deck of a ship heading for Valinor. Elves can build cities, but apparently not benches. As they approach Valinor, giant clouds open, light pours through them, and everyone on board begins to sing, except for Galadriel, who looks around as if she’s about to pull a Jim Halpert face at the camera. The other elves are charmed when they approach the light. She looks down at her brother’s dagger. She starts backing away from the light like she’s a coworker with coffee breath, and the Recalcitrant Elf tries one last time to pressure her into doing what she knows is the wrong thing to do. The scene is very Joe Gardner in Pixar’s Soul, trying to escape the conveyor belt to the great beyond.

Before we know it, Galadriel, turning, jumps overboard.

Back in Lyndon, Elrond is talking to the High King, whose sideburns seem to have taken the house, the children, the dog and escaped his ears. He introduces Elrond to Celebrimbor, a famous elven smith who looks like Sheen’s lost brother.

Later, a single orange leaf falls before the High King. When he picks it up, his veins fill with black crap. It feels unfavorable.

All over the observation tower

SOUTHLANDS — We come across a rural village of men called Tirharad. Several elves appear and one enters the local pub where the man I assume is the owner of the place is driving an animal, shirtless. Health Code Violations. They are numerous.

The elf, Arondir, talks to him about some strange happenings — the grass in the east that makes the animals sick. A local bully gets Arondir into a fight, and the main thing you need to know is that this city of humans, generations ago, sided with Morgoth and has been occupied by elves ever since.

Back by the well, Arondir talks to a human woman named Bronwyn, who flirts with him via a vial of flower seeds. Later, his elf friend warns him about the dangers of “elf-human mating”. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Lord of the Rings: After sunset.

In any case, they are later told that the war is over and they will soon be going home. Arondir has been on the watchtower next to the city for 79 years. He goes to Bronwyn’s house where they are staying a safe distance for COVID and she says, “Say whatever you want to say.”

This spicy moment is interrupted by a local farmer with a sick cow. To clarify, Bronwyn is a healer. This guy isn’t just driving his cow around for wood. The cow had been grazing in the east, and when Arondir milked it, it emphatically answered the question, “Have you any milk?” with a viscous black dregs. Expect a letter from Dairy Council, Amazon lawyers.

Elsewhere, Bronwyn’s son Theo is lurking around a barn with a friend and finds a broken sword hilt under some boards. It is marked with the sigil of Sauron and begins to blaze.

Placing cow dung, Arondir and Bronwyn head east to investigate. They go to the city where she grew up and he makes a comment about these people being descended from Morgoth’s supporters. Kinda rude. But his spicy moment continues. “You are the only kind touch I have known in all my days on this earth.”

ike Things are certainly heating up. But this is not the romance between Arondir and Bronwyn. This is the city. Because it burns.

Head here to read our Rings of Power episode 2 recap.