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Spoilers below.
A little jewelry can transform a person. When someone gets engaged, many things can change after they obtain their ring–sometimes, even their personality. I know mine did when I said “yes,” as I slowly turned into a Bridezilla to make sure everything was perfect. I get it. It is the One Ring that rules us all. So, it’s no surprise that rings created by dark magic would have a significant impact on the people who wear them, for better or for worse. But usually, worse.
Episode 5 begins with the seven rings for the Dwarves completed and Durin III taking the Ring of Thrór. He immediately uses the ring’s power to find a light source for the cave. Despite the protests from his son and the other Dwarves, King Durin smashes the wall to discover sunlight and more spots to mine.
Disa and the other Stone singers look at each other with discomfort as the kingdom cheers. She expresses her uneasiness about the ring to her husband, hoping the King will remain a kind and true soul. Well, that doesn’t happen. When Disa and Durin IV go shopping, they learn of the new “ring tribute” tax that must be paid for every sale made: “For every one coin made, one goes to the crown.” To make matters worse, Disa happens upon a hidden location within the caves and finds an evil entity living there.
King Durin further reveals his greed when he offers the other rings to the Dwarf rulers, who must pay him half their wealth to receive one. He also plans on breaking his rules by digging for gold deep in the mines, ignoring his son and Disa’s warnings of the evil creature that lies below. His paranoia comes to light as he questions everyone around him when he cannot find the ring, despite having merely placed it in front of him due to its heaviness.
Meanwhile, in Eregion, the Dwarves and Elves celebrate their alliance, but Annatar/Sauron looks pretty pissed because he’s still stuck on the idea of wanting to give rings of power to men. Celebrimbor is annoyed at the suggestion because men are the worst and asks Annatar/Sauron to let it go.
“Much of the misery of men is of their own making,” he tells Annatar/Sauron. “We cannot give rings to men. The risk of corruption is too great. Whatever problems we might solve is nothing against those that we could create.” Valid.
But Annatar/Sauron can’t let it go, suggesting they will choose the purest men (yeah, ok) worthy of the rings. Celebrimbor rejects him, and Annatar/Sauron responds like a brat (not the Charli XCX kind), essentially saying, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.”
Celebrimbor begins questioning Annatar/Sauron’s intentions as his letter to Gil-galad is being read in a voiceover. He looks concerned over Annatar/Sauron’s creation of the rings of men.
During the process, Celebrimbor’s protégé Mirdania tests one of the rings made by Annatar/Sauron, causing her to become invisible and go mad. She describes seeing an evil force that resembles the One Ring’s properties of seeing Sauron’s true evil self. Annatar/Sauron secretly comforts Mirdania, tricking her into thinking the creature she saw was the dark being inside Celebrimbor, slowly turning his people against him. There is an added creep factor from Annatar/Sauron as he tells her she bears a likeness to Lady Galadriel. Yikes.
Fearing for his Elves’ safety, Celebrimbor steps in to assist, but just as he’s about to give the group advice for the rings for men, Durin IV arrives to discuss the Dwarven rings. Durin reveals to Celebrimbor his father’s changed behavior since wearing the ring, including his coldness and increased greed. Celebrimbor denies it is the ring, but Durin suggests the ring maker may have polluted the rings, asking him how well he knows Annatar/Sauron, sowing more doubt into Celebrimbor’s mind.
Celebrimbor confronts Annatar/Sauron about possibly contaminating the Dwarven rings, but Annatar/Sauron places the blame back onto Celebrimbor, who brought deception into the rings for lying to Gil-galad. (Damn, who knew Sauron was also the Lord of Gaslighting?) Now filled with guilt over the tainted Dwarven rings, Celebrimbor must atone by creating a balance in the world by making the rings for men. As Annatar/Sauron gives the Elves a pep talk, Celebrimbor exhibits doubt and anxiety.
Durin IV returns home to warn his father of the evil sorcery in the rings, but King Durin is far too gone now. He praises his son for partnering with the Elves, which saved the kingdom, and returns his son’s prince armor, much to Disa’s disappointment. Disa makes her husband swear never to wear one of the rings, which he promises.
Back at Lindon, Gil-galad sees a vision of destruction caused by Sauron. Elrond arrives to alert Gil-galad to have the Elven army go to Eregion since Adar’s army is heading there. Gilgalad says they cannot defeat both Adar and Sauron (who they believe is at Eregion already) alone. Cut to Galadriel as a prisoner of the Orcs, where Adar presents her with a potential alliance between the Orcs and Elves against Sauron.
Now, onto the men that Celebrimbor didn’t care for…
In Númenor, now-King Pharazôn reflects on his bitterness towards the Elves for their immortality, while men like him are mere mortals. Kemen reminds his father that he’s king now–what more could he want? Still, Pharazôn wants more. (Again, Celebrimbor was right about men’s corruption.)
Mìriel is locked away in her tower and accepts her fate as Elendil tells her what he saw when he touched the palantír: a vision of himself just riding his horse someplace. Because he didn’t see the destruction she had seen in the palantír during her rule, she believes Pharazôn would be best for the people of Númenor.
As Elendil returns to his ship, he finds that all those loyal to the queen have been stripped of their rank and duty… all thanks to his daughter, Eärien. Father and daughter exchange a few mean words, with Eärien warning her father to bow to Pharazôn or deal with the consequences. Elendil turns in his armor and–in the most Dead Poets Society “O Captain! My Captain!” fashion–his former soldiers all thank him and call for the Valar to protect him, despite the protest from Kemen. Eärien offers to take Valandil off the King’s hate list, but he turns her down, letting her know she has betrayed them all.
During a Valar service for the soldiers lost in the battle in the Southlands, Elendil finally has a chance to mourn for his son but is interrupted by soldiers of Pharazôn, led by Kemen. They condemn the church of Valar, telling everyone they must leave as the King now owns the location. A scuffle between the King’s soldiers and Elendil’s men breaks out, leading Kemen to kill Valandil. Elendil is arrested.
Meanwhile, Pharazôn is tempted to test out the palantír because, of course, he is.
Laura Sirikul is a freelance entertainment journalist and copy editor based in Los Angeles. Throughout her career, she has written for Entertainment Weekly, NBC News, the Los Angeles Times, and many more outlets. She has appeared as a TV and film expert on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour and BBC World News. She is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and Critics Choice Association.