Armed with a massive Orc army, the powerful Adar (Joseph Mawle) brings war to the Southlands in the sixth episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
The last episode ended with Numenor setting sail for Middle-earth, after Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) convinced Queen Regent Miriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to come to the Southlands’ aid.
The men and women of the Southlands will need all the help they can get as Adar and his Orcs lay everything in their path to waste.
Adar: Armed with a massive Orc army, the powerful Adar (Joseph Mawle) brings war to the Southlands in the sixth episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Galadriel: The last episode ended with Numenor setting sail for Middle-earth, after Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) convinced Queen Regent Miriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to come to the Southlands’ aid
The episode begins with Adar saying, ‘New life, in the defiance of death’ in the Quenya language.
Adar gets to his feet and finds hordes of his Orcs carrying torches, ready to march into the night for their leader.
‘My children. We have endured much. We cast off our shackles, crossed mountain, field, frost and fallow, ’till our feet bloodied the dirt,’ he tells the Orc masses.
‘From Ered Mithrin to the Ephel Arnen, we have endured. Yet tonight, one more trial awaits us. Our enemy may be weak, their numbers meager, yet before this night is through, some of us will fall,’ Adar says, as we get a glimpse at Waldreg (Geoff Morrell) – who in the last episode pledged his allegiance to Adar.
‘But for the first time, you do so not as unnamed slaves in far away lands, but as brothers. As brothers and sisters in our home!’ he says as the Orcs start chanting, ‘Nampat.’
‘This is the night we reach out the iron hand of the Uruk, and close our fist around these lands,’ Adar adds, as they keep chanting Nampat.
The episode transitions to Adar and his army approaching the watchtower… but when he opens the door he’s surprised to find it deserted.
Adar tells one of his underlings to search the place and find them… as we see Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) hiding in the ramparts above them.
As the Orcs continue their search, Adar finds the wall that Arondir discovered, as he’s approached by Waldreg.
‘Meaning no offense, Lord-father, but where is he? What happened to Sauron?’ Waldreg asks, as one of the Orcs say there is no trace of him and assume he must have ‘got smart and scarpered.
Adar insists the Elf is here, saying in the Orc language that he ‘smells’ him when another Orc says, ‘Up here’ as Arondir begins his attack.
He takes out a few Orcs with his bow and arrow, before firing a flaming arrow at a precise pulley, causing the entire watchtower to collapse.
He moves quickly and barricades them all in as the tower keeps crumbling, crushing the Orcs one by one.
Waldreg says Adar must move now as Adar grabs him as the tower collapses.
We see the tower collapse from a distance, as we hear all of the humans cheer, though some wonder how many could have survived that.
Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi) tells them all to follow her as they have to get the village ready as they all make haste.
The show made history long before the first two episodes debuted on Thursday evening, since it’s considered the most expensive series ever.
The show’s inception can be traced back to July 2017, when a grueling lawsuit between Warner Bros. – the studio behind the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films – and the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate, was settled.
Both the studio and the estate started offering the television rights to the franchise to streaming services, with Amazon quickly becoming a front-runner.
History: The show made history long before the first two episodes debuted on Thursday evening, since it’s considered the most expensive series ever
Front-runner: Both the studio and the estate started offering the television rights to the franchise to streaming services, with Amazon quickly becoming a front-runner.
Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos has previously given a mandate to the Prime Video streaming service that he wanted a large-scale franchise.
Bezos was also reportedly a huge fan of the franchise and was personally involved in the negotiations for the just the rights alone, which were ultimately acquired in November 2017 for a whopping $250 million.
Amazon also struck a deal with the Tolkien Estate and the Tolkien Trust where they are believed to have given the green light for upwards of five seasons of the show.
Mandate: Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos has previously given a mandate to the Prime Video streaming service that he wanted a large-scale franchise
Estate: Amazon also struck a deal with the Tolkien Estate and the Tolkien Trust where they are believed to have given the green light for upwards of five seasons of the show
With an estimated production commitment of between $100 million and $150 million per season, Amazon is expected to shell out $1 billion for the production costs and the rights, when all is said and done.
The series was created by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, who had previously only worked on 2016’s Star Trek: Beyond as uncredited writers.
The duo pitched a series that would be set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, a history glossed over in a five-minute prologue during the Lord of the Rings films.
Production: With an estimated production commitment of between $100 million and $150 million per season, Amazon is expected to shell out $1 billion for the production costs and the rights, when all is said and done
They wanted to expand this into roughly 50 hours of television, which would include the forging of the Rings of Power, the rise of the dark lord Sauron, the fall of the island kingdom Numenor and the final alliance between men and elves.
There will be characters fans will recognize, though, most notably Galadriel, played in the LOTR movies by Cate Blanchett, with the much younger version played Morfydd Clark.
There have been rumors that a white-haired character shown in the trailers, played by Bridie Sisson (previously thought to be Anson Boon), is actually Sauron himself, though producers have not confirmed that.
Fifty: They wanted to expand this into roughly 50 hours of television, which would include the forging of the Rings of Power, the rise of the dark lord Sauron, the fall of the island kingdom Numenor and the final alliance between men and elves
Executive producer Lindsey Weber would neither confirm nor deny Sisson’s character, she did offer a hint as to his origins to Time.
‘We are enjoying all the speculation online and can tell you Bridie Sisson is an incredible actor,’ Weber began.
‘We also thought fans might like to know that her character is traveling from far to the east—from the lands of Rhûn…’ Weber teased.
Lands: ‘We also thought fans might like to know that her character is traveling from far to the east—from the lands of Rhûn…’ Weber teased
The new episodes will roll out simultaneously across the globe, with the first two episodes dropping on Thursday at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET/2 AM UK.
The final six episodes will roll out weekly at 9 PM PT/12 AM ET/5 AM UK, with the finale of the eight-episode season arriving Thursday, October 13 exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
Final: The final six episodes will roll out weekly at 9 PM PT/12 AM ET/5 AM UK, with the finale of the eight-episode season arriving Thursday, October 13 exclusively on Amazon Prime Video
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