The Rings of Power episode 7 recap & review: The Eye

Episode 7 of The Rings of Power sees the survivors of the Mount Doom cataclysm seeking safety and refuge; Durin rebels against his father; Harfoots confront harrowing perils.

Recap

Following the pyroclastic onslaught from the volcano, the Southlands is ravaged and many die. The Rings of Power episode 7 opens with Galadriel gaining consciousness to find the harrowing cataclysm that befell.

The surviving villagers escape the burning lands and the smoke while Galadriel helps others from the rubble. Later, Isildur goes missing and is presumed dead by all, including a shattered Elendil.

Míriel loses her eyesight and Galadriel goes to meet her, expressing her regret. However, the queen is firmer than ever in her resolution to battle the enemy head-on.

Before she and the other Númenoreans sail off to the kingdom, Míriel promises Galadriel Númenoreans will return with full support. Meanwhile, Galadriel meets Halbrand, whose grave injuries require Elven medicine.

Galadriel escorts Halbrand to Lindon where she also seeks to face whatever judgment Gil-galad exacts on her. Meanwhile, the Harfoots arrive at their destination only to find the region considerably ravaged by the eruption.

The Stranger attempts to heal a burnt tree but again, his efforts are a bit too dramatic for the Harfoots. When a branch falls over Nori and her brother, Harfoots’ sentiments regarding the meteor man change again.

The Stranger gets pointed by Sadoc to a direction he says will lead him to his stars. With a sad heart, he leaves after Nori gives him an apple as a farewell gift.

However, the Harfoots wake up the next day to find the tree healed up and bearing numerous fruits, along with the ravaged region rife with greenery again.

Their celebrations are cut short when at night, Nori and Poppy confront the mysterious trio who’s trailing the Stranger. When Nori’s father warns them to back off, they burn all the Harfoots’ caravans.

It dawns on them all that letting the Stranger go was a mistake and also that he’s now family too. Nori, Poppy, Sadoc, and two others leave to warn him of the approaching trio.

Meanwhile, King Durin III declines Elrond’s offer and refuses to extend a helping hand, despite Durin IV’s continual stabs at persuasion. The prince goes against his father anyway, when he notices that Mithril does cure a leaf of its darkness, but King Durin III catches him red-handed.

Elrond is escorted out of Khazad-dûm while the prince is shut off, his royal status rebuked by a disappointed King and a father. Meanwhile, deep within the mines a Balrog wakes up.

The Rings of Power episode 7 ends with Adar and his followers basking in the burning Southlands where the lord father of the orcs tells his followers to let go of their sun-cloaks and helms. The name of the Southlands is changed to Mordor.

Review

• The Rings of Power episode 7 makes for an exquisitely shot and created penultimate entry. The screen is beseeched in orange and red for most of the runtime and the dread is palpable.
• Surprisingly, Queen Regent is resolute more than ever, to take on the forces of dark head-on. However, now that she is blind of sight, swaying the Númenoreans will be all the more impossible.
• The Southlands will now be officially known as Mordor in the lore of The Rings of Power.
• Meanwhile, the Stranger and the Harfoots story doesn’t really proceed much and repeats the beats that have already been shown.
• The heated exchanges between the Durins, the awakening of a Balrog, and the mysterious Halbrand heading off to Lindon (Sauron’s passage to Celebrimbor and Mithril?) are all developments that might not go a considerable distance by the end of the first season, but are exciting nonetheless.

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Also Read: Who is Adar in The Rings of Power?