Name: The Rings of Power episode 5
Director: Wayne Che Yip
Released: 2022-09-23T09:30:00

The Rings of Power episode 5 sees Elrond struggling to stay true to his oath while the Southlanders prepare themselves for the attack. Meanwhile, Halbrand makes a decision and Nori questions her instincts after the Stranger loses his state of mind for a moment.

Recap

Episode 5 kicks off with the Stranger learning some words from Nori. When Nori throws some words like “peril” and “death”, the Stranger catches on to them and says “I am peril”, gesturing with his hands how all the fireflies previously died because of him.

Nori reassures him that’s not true and that he’s not a peril. Their caravan resumes and later we see a group of three mysterious and rather sinister-looking individuals at the site where the Stranger crashed. They appear to be some sort of cultists and examine the crash site.

Malva continues to be upset with Nori and the lot and asks Sadoc to take away their wheels and leave them be. However, when the Stranger saves her and others from ferocious wolves, later on, the harfoots change their view of the meteor man.

Meanwhile, the humans at the watchtower of Ostirith split into two factions — one of them standing their ground against the approaching orcs and the other influenced by Walrog to feign loyalty to Adar, who they think is Sauron.

Later on, Arondir finds a carving on the wall of the tower after taking a look at the shard Theo shows him. He remembers seeing it somewhere and that’s when he removes the leaves off a wall and beholds, along with other people, the shard in its full form, carved onto the stone.

Back at Numenor, Kemen sets fire to a ship while also spotting Isildur hiding behind the sacks, trying to be a stowaway when he was refused permission to tag along. The two flee the fire that ravages two ships and later covers for each other when inquired by Elendil, saving each other from suspicion.

Galadriel finally gets through to Halbrand and manages to convince him to join her. Isildur also manages to get a spot in the cavalry and gets on board the ship.

Meanwhile, Gil-galad tries to pry for information about what Durin is digging for inside his mines but the Dwarven Prince is too cheekily clever for that. So the high king tries to extract the information out of Elrond, who refuses to break the oath.

That’s when Gil-galad reveals to Elrond why they need the metal from Khazad-dûm and why the survival of their race and all the people depends on it. He shows Elrond the rot that has started to inflict on their lands and soon will make them all perish.

Elrond later tells about this predicament the elves face to Durin, who tells him that he’ll talk about this with his father and see what can be done after that.

Review

Episode 5 resumes the storyline of the harfoots and it is a surprisingly good addition to the shoe this time.
The stranger gets to flex his mysterious and powerful magic to save the harfoots, while continue being a red herring of sorts. The new addition of the cult-ish figures at his crash site makes his origins and future seem grimmer than they’re probably going to end up being.
Meanwhile, Galadriel and the other Númenoreans set sail for the Southlands and the official photos revealed before the show was released confirm that a proper war sequence is soon to come.
The music by Bear McCreary continues to impress, with the exhilarating Númenor theme building a great uplifting feel before the ships sail off to Middle Earth.
Episode 5 of The Rings of Power is a step up from its predecessor that sees the many storylines approaching the peak before it all gets engulfed in the soon-to-arrive chaos.