Name: The Rings of Power episode 8
Director: Wayne Che Yip
Released: 2022-10-14T09:30:00

The Rings of Power season 1 comes to a close with the eighth instalment, unravelling the big bad villain and bringing back a familiar Tolkien character to the fold.

Recap

‘Alloyed’ opens with the Stranger getting confronted by the mysterious trio who hail him as Lord Sauron. Meanwhile, Galadriel arrives at Eregion with an injured Halbrand.

Halbrand recovers and instantly gets involved with Celebrimbor’s craftsmanship, even giving him the idea to forge Mithril with other metals together, like an alloy.

When Celebrimbor utters a line Galadriel heard coming from Adar’s mouth, she starts suspecting Halbrand because he was definitely the one who Celebrimbor heard it from.

She checks into the lineage of the Southlands kings and finds out that the last of them died a long long time ago.

Halbrand finally confronts Galadriel and she instantly falls into a montage of memories conjured by Halbrand, who actually turns out to be the Dark Lord, Sauron.

He also tries to sway Galadriel, offering her to be his queen and rule Middle-earth. However, Galadriel breaks out of his mind games but he’s long gone by then.

Elendil and Queen Regent return to Númenor to find that former king Tar Palantir has passed away.

Nori, Sadoc, Poppy, and Nori’s mother help the Stranger defeat the mysterious trio. Before disintegrating by the Stranger’s powers, the trio realizes that he’s not Sauron but the “other one” — an Istari, which means the wise one or wizard.

Celebrimbor, along with Elrond and Galadriel, forges three rings, made out of Mithril mixed with gold and silver from Galadriel’s dagger that her brother gifted her.

The Stranger heads off to East, to Rhûn, and Nori decides to accompany him. She bids tearful farewells to the other Harfoots and the two begin their journey.

The Rings of Power premiere season ends with Halbrand/Sauron approaching Mordor.

Review

The Rings of Power season 1 concludes with a highlight of a season-ender in episode 8.
The visuals are again breathtaking and the anticipated confrontation between Galadriel and Sauron is chilling at times, even if the Halbrand/Sauron reveal was rather obvious from the start.
The Stranger almost seems confirmed to be Gandalf, especially with the last line about “following your nose” he says to Nori.
The titular objects of power are created by the time the final episode of The Rings of Power comes to a close, at least three Eleven rings of all.
As far as the rest of the rings go, it’s clear that the sophomore and possibly the later seasons of the series will see them created.
That’s also where the Durin story factors in. The finale of The Rings of Power season 1 lapses on the Khazad-dûm storyline and the lack can be felt as an important part of the overall narrative is missing.