Recap / The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - S1 E7: "The Eye"

Galadriel, the Númenoreans and the Southlanders struggle for survival after the volcanic eruption. In Khazad-dûm, Durin's folk hold the fate of Elvenkind in their hands, while the Stranger says his goodbyes to the Harfoots as three enigmatic figures follow him.

---

• After-Action Healing Drama: Galadriel learns that Halbrand survived the eruption only to discover he has a Agonizing Stomach Wound that festered over the night, and it could become fatal to him. She decides to ride with him to Eregion to give him Elvish cures.
• Artistic License – Geology: The lightning-fast cloud of ash and smoke from Orodruin is disastrous, but not nearly as bad as a real pyroclastic flow would be—they reach temperatures in excess of 1000F and instantly incinerate any organic matter caught in their path. (For a historical reference, it was the pyroclastic flow and not lava that caused the massive loss of life in St. Pierre after the eruption of Mt. Pelee.)
• Big Sister Instinct: Nori saves Dilly from a falling branch, after she tried to approach the Stranger who was using magic on the tree to heal it.
• Bookends: The episode begins with the aftermath of the eruption, showing the destruction it created, and ends with Adar and the Orcs claiming the Southlands.
• Call-Forward: Bronwyn tells Galadriel that she and her people are settling at the mouth of the Anduin at an abandoned Numenorean colony known as Pelargir. This reveals that the Men of the Southlands will become the future people of Gondor.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Durin IV and Durin III have a very heated conversation during which the former finally confronts the latter about his perceived emotional distance and lack of ambition. In response to Prince Durin saying that Elrond is like a brother to him, King Durin effectively disowns him.
• Character Development:
  • Helping Theo escape the Southlands leads Galadriel to confront her own losses and inner darkness, and she becomes somewhat more introspective in trying to comfort him, admitting that the war against Morgoth's forces has left even her heart open to darkness.
  • Theo initially blames himself for the Southlands' devastation — assuming his mother to be among the dead — but takes Galadriel's words of wisdom to heart. When reunited with his mother, he not only hugs her but Arondir as well, showing how far he's progressed from the bitter and angry teenager he was at the beginning of the series.
  • Marigold has spent most of the series telling Nori to keep her head down and scolding her for trying to be more. After seeing how depressed Nori is after the caravan is set on fire, Marigold is obviously sorry about her previous attitude and tries to cheer Nori up. When Nori announces she's going to find The Stranger it's Marigold who volunteers to "go off trail" and keep an eye on her.
• Desolation Shot: What is left after Orodruin's eruption is a shocking vision of a world covered in ash and fire under a red sky, accompanied by the corpses on the ground and the survivors crying for help.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Subverted. At first it looks like Miriel doesn't want to be pitied by Galadriel because she's wearing a Tough Leader Façade. What she means is that Galadriel should save her pity for their enemies, as they just Awaken the Sleeping Giant.
• Dramatic Irony: Miriel is (likely permanently) blinded by the eruption. Her father's regal name (Tar-Palantir), not mentioned in the show so far, means... "the far-sighted".
• Evil Is Petty: When Nori's father threatens the Dweller with a torch to protect his daughter, the Dweller calmly extinguishes it with a touch and then casts a spell that razes the Harfoots' carts.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: As they ride through the forest, Miriel just seems to be looking with a harder gaze than usual.
  Miriel: How much further until we're clear of this smoke?"
  [everyone stops and slowly looks at her]
  Miriel: [slow understanding] ...how long have we been clear of it?
  Elendil: Nearly a mile.
  Miriel: I see.
  Elendil: Do you?
  Miriel: Only grey.
• Eye Open: The first image of the episode is Galadriel opening her left eye, showing the horrors of defeat for Adar.
• Eye Scream: While she doesn't lose her eyes, Queen Miriel is blinded when sparks from a burning building fall into her eyes.
• Familial Cannibalism Surprise: Poppy sings a nursery rhyme about a Harfoot girl who was turned into a snail by a witch and accidentally eaten by her father.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: After the Desolation Shot of the Southlands in ash and fire, the plot moves to the Harfoots, who are introduced in this episode by stepping in a puddle of water.
• Given Name Reveal: Durin IV wants to reveal his real name to Elrond, as a sign of their mutual trust, Elrond stops him before saying a word.
• Heroic BSoD: Isildur is so shocked at seeing Ontamo dead, that Miriel and Valandil have troubles snaping him out of his state.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Isildur seemingly sacrifices himself saving the villagers trapped in the burning remains of the inn, leaving Elendil devastated by the apparent loss of his son — especially since he'd been so harsh on him.
• Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: Two dwarves-lords have a conversation in Khuzdul, doubting Elrond's offer, thinking he does not understand, only for Elrond to answer that he never makes a promise he cannot keep.
• Hope Sprouts Eternal: After all the hardships suffered by the Harfoots to reach a shelter, Orodruin's eruption destroys the orchard where they usualy spend the winters. The Stranger tries to revive a tree, but only succeeds in injuring Dilly. As a result, he is asked to leave. Shortly after his departure, a yellow flower sprouts from the trunk of the tree he tried to revive earlier. The next day, the whole orchard is healed and everyone has plenty of food.
• Jacob Marley Warning: When Theo starts to blame himself for Orodruin's eruption by giving the Artifact of Doom in exchange for his people's life, Galadriel warns him to not burden himself with such such guilt because otherwise he will have to live with it for the rest of his life, something that Galadriel often reflects over.
• Lady Macbeth: Disa gives an earful on how to commit treason to Prince Durin, telling him they should be ruling Moria, mine the Mithril in place of his unfitting father the King.
• Idiot Ball: Nori grabs it when she runs out and confronts the three white-robed figures and attempts to mislead them by shouting that they're going the wrong way, leading to the figures destroying the caravan after Largo threatens them with a burning torch.
• I Let You Win: Elrond implies he lost to Durin in the rock-breaking challenge on purpose, although Durin doesn't buy it and Elrond reluctantly admits that he was "winded", leaving it up in the air to what extent he forewent the competition.
• The Lost Lenore: Theo despairs assuming that his mother and Arondir are dead, leading Galadriel to reveal that not only did she lose her brother to the War of Wrath, but her husband Celeborn went off to war and hasn't been seen since.
• Mauve Shirt: Ontamo bites the dust this episode, and unlike Valandil, he was mostly a Satellite Character with little characterization beyond being Isildur's best friend since childhood.
• Moment of Silence: Used for a dramatic effect as Galadriel wakes up and witnesses all the death around her.
• Mordor: At the end of the episode, Adar renames the razed Southlands "Mordor", claiming it as the new homeland of the orcs.
• The Mourning After: From her discussion with Theo, is clear Galadriel never recovered from losing her husband in war.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Theo — assuming his mother and all his friends to have been killed — blames himself for the destruction of the Southlands, having revealed the location of Sauron's sword to Adar, but Galadriel consoles him by saying it was not his intent for this to have happened and he should not blame himself.
  • The Stranger tries to rejuvenate the apple orchard for the Harfoots, but his magic almost kills Dilly and Nori, leaving him horrified. The Harfoots cast him out, only to see the following day that his magic worked, leaving them feeling guilty. When they learn that sinister forces are hunting the Stranger, they decide to break tradition to help him.
• Never Say Goodbye: Elrond tells Durin that Elves don't say goodbye, but they say Namárië- go toward goodness.
• Oh, Crap!: When Poppy spots a footprint in the mud next to a river, she abruptly stops singing, drops her bucket, and flees. The bucket is washed downstream, where the Dweller and her two companions find it.
• Papa Wolf: When the three white-robed figures threaten Nori, Largo jumps between them and threatens to fight the mysterious beings if they touch his daughter.
• Playing with Fire: The Dweller displays an affinity for fire magic, and is able to hold flame in her hands before blowing it about her in devastating blasts. She burns down the Harfoots' carriages only because Largo was trying to defend his daughter.
• Please Select New City Name: Adar renames the Southlands to Mordor after he causes Mount Doom to erupt and drives out the humans.
• The Reveal:
  • Galadriel is already married to Celeborn, as it turns out, but he's gone missing and is presumed dead.
  • The Southlands get renamed Mordor in this episode.
  • The Balrog of Moria, best known as Durin's Bane, is awakened.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: King Durin claims that trying to save the Elves could doom them for attempting to defy the natural order, that all things pass in time. That mine will eventually doom the Dwarfs of Moria, but for a different reason: the Balrog.
• Say My Name: First name Galadriel utters after waking up is Halbrand, a clear sign he is the most important to her.
• Scatterbrained Senior: Disa considers her father in law to be a "lice-bearded, uncaring, old fool" at hearing he refused to help Elrond.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
  • After his father refuses to give the elves mithril, saying the Valar have deemed it is their time to die, Durin reluctantly tells Elrond the bad news. Seeing Elrond's quiet resignation to the fate of the elves, and witnessing the mithril ingot heal the corrupted Elven leaf, Prince Durin decides to keep digging and uncovers the mother lode of mithril. King Durin furiously exiles Elrond, leading to an argument between father and son that results in Prince Durin getting disinherited.
  • Seeing the Stranger — who meant them no harm — is in danger, the Harfoots decide to break tradition to find and warn him.
• Sequel Hook: The Númenorians return home to rally a larger army to aid the elves, Galadriel takes the badly wounded Halbrand to be healed in Lindon, the Harfoots set out in search of the Stranger to warn him of the Dweller, and the dwarves unwittingly awaken the Balrog that will turn Khazad-dûm into Moria.
• Throwing the Fight: Elrond reveals (or at least claims) he did this during the challenge between him and Durin.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • King Durin tossing the rejuvenated leaf down the mithril chasm has the unintended consequence of awakening an Ancient Evil that slumbers in the depths: the Balrog that would come to be known as Durin's Bane.
  • Elendil considers that if he hadn't help Galadriel, none of this would have happened.
• War Refugees: The remaining survivors of the eruption are housed in the Numenorian military camp, where they are taking cared of. When Theo enters one of the tents, he sees a lot of wounded people, who were burnt or lost their limbs.
• Wham Line: A rare case of a Wham Chyron as the title of "The Southlands" burns away to be replaced by Mordor.
• Wham Shot: Disa and Durin have a shocked reaction at seeing the mithril instantly healing the birch leaf Elrond brought with him.
• The Whitest Black Guy: Elrond says Durin is a very elvish dwarf while Durin says Elrond is a very dwarvish elf.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Largo's speech is this when everyone feels down.
  Largo: Weepin'? Is that all you think we have left in us? We're Harfoots! Look, we don't slay dragons. Not much for diggin' jewels. But there's one thing we ca do, I warrant, better than any creature in all Middle-earth. We stay true to each other. No matter how the path winds, or how steep it gets, we face it with our hearts even bigger than our feet. And we just keep walkin'.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Theo laments to Galadriel that his home is gone now and doesn't understand why the higher powers would allow such destruction.
• You Should Have Died Instead: Believing Isildur to have been killed, Elendil laments having rescued Galadriel and says he should have left her to drown — blaming her for his son's apparent death. When Miriel reaffirms her alliance with Galadriel and the elves, Elendil is noticeably bitter and conflicted.