‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Season 1, Episode 4: Strange Magic

Season 1, Episode 4: ‘The Great Wave’

The title of this week’s “The Rings of Power” refers to a prophetic vision, haunting the Númenor Queen-Regent Míriel’s dreams in the opening scene. As she welcomes an assortment of what look to be elven mothers and their newborn babies, Míriel hears and feels a low rumble, which grows more intense until she looks outside and sees an enormous wave, crashing over the city of Armenelos. Though she wakes up safe (and dry), she fears this will be Númenor’s ultimate end: reclaimed by the Sundering Sea in an act of divine fury. And she feels she needs to do something about it.

Is Míriel right? This raises a question worth weighing as we go forward with this series. “The Rings of Power” is a prequel and like most prequels, it is designed to connect to a story most fans already know. We have already been introduced to several characters in this first season who appear in the “Lord of the Rings” novels and movies: Galadriel, Elrond and Isildur, to name just three. Their fates are sealed. So is Númenor’s, for anyone who has read J.R.R. Tolkien’s books.

But for me, the best way to approach a TV show like this is to treat it as an unfolding saga, not as a collection of signs and clues pointing to a foregone conclusion. There is a lot of story left to be told here. The ending, when it arrives, will only be one part of it. For now, I am inclined to consider Míriel’s ominous dream just as something that drives the plot. It’s a motivator — and a spectacular one, which kicks off this episode in style.

As with last week’s installment, “The Great Wave” leaves some major characters out completely. (No Harfoots, alas.) Besides Númenor, we spend our time in the orc-infested Southlands and deep underground among the dwarves. Here are some takeaways and observations from this portentous episode.

Mystical hoo-hah abounds.

Last week in the orc’s prison pit, Arondir learned the monstrous hordes had been ransacking villages on behalf of their master, Adar (Joseph Mawle), in search of something unknown. At the end of this episode, we get an inkling of what that treasure might be: the mysterious, broken black sword that Bronwyn’s son, Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin), secretly stashed away in the series’s premiere. The weapon radiates a strange power that allures Theo — not unlike the way Sauron’s One Ring tempts characters throughout Tolkien’s books.

This semi-sword is also still lethal, as Theo learns when he fends off orcs while out scavenging for his people, who are hunkered down and starving at the Silvan elves’ abandoned fortress. When Theo returns triumphant, he discovers that his connection with the weapon has earned him an unexpected ally: the old publican Waldreg (Geoff Morrell), who hints that some humans still remember and honor their loyalty to the Dark Lord Morgoth.

Meanwhile, in the underground dwarf kingdom of Khazad-dûm, Durin finally reveals to Elrond the big discovery that has made him so nervous around his old friend. It’s a new ore, lighter than silk and harder than iron, but perilous to dig out of the ground. In the eleven tongue, it would be called “mithril,” and it has the potential to make the dwarves who mine it incredibly prosperous — though there is some concern that pursuing this kind of wealth could upset the physical and spiritual balance of Middle-earth, and leave many dead.

So … coveted weaponry, magical minerals. We are starting to get into the high fantasy weeds here, folks.

Soft power solves hard problems.

Durin hesitated to tell Elrond about mithril, lest other elves start swarming to Khazad-dûm to commandeer the mines, as they tend to do whenever they want something. Elrond, though, has insisted, over and over, that he is just visiting as a pal. This isn’t entirely true, of course. Elrond hopes to recruit dwarf labor to build a forge, for a purpose that in the TV show has yet to be revealed. (Hint: Look at the series’s title.) But his methods of persuasion are light. So far he has just been a bosom companion, giving Durin warm praise and sound advice … to make him more inclined to do a favor, eventually.

This is a motif throughout this episode, as characters use diplomacy and calming rhetoric to advance their goals. We see it at its best when the Queen-Regent’s top adviser, Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle), quells a potential riot among the elf-hating guild-members by making them feel ashamed, as proud humans, for being scared of another race. And we see it at its worst when Adar chats with Arondir, calmly suggesting that everything the elf knows about Sauron and the orcs is mere propaganda.

Elf privilege is real.

Even as Elrond is winning over Durin, there is an element of presumption underlying his every pleasant smile and kind word. Robert Aramayo’s performance conveys this subtle haughtiness well — this sense that Elrond humbly beseeching the dwarves is meant to be a noble gesture, given that the elves, as far as he is concerned, are the superior race.

And Elrond is only a half-elf who had to earn his elven bona fides. Galadriel, by contrast, is a pure-blood commander and aristocrat, used to bossing around other elves — which makes it especially tough for her to abide the way Míriel keeps telling her what she can and can’t do. These two headstrong leaders have several face-to-face confrontations in this episode, and Galadriel keeps spitting vinegar instead of honey. She berates the Queen-Regent for betraying her own father, the deposed king, who had an alliance with the elves. And she demands the Númenóreans raise an army against Sauron. (“I call on you to finish the task left undone,” she hisses.)

In the end, Míriel agrees to accompany Galadriel to Middle-earth, joined by a volunteer contingent of protectors (including Isildur, who has been kicked out of the sea guard). But make no mistake: No one is helping Galadriel because they find her inspiring or charming. If anything, give some credit to Míriel for making the case to the Númenóreans that they can’t rest forever on their ancestors’ past glories.

The dialogue on this show has real gusto.

It’s not easy to write lines for fantasy characters. Make the words too modern and they distract from the reality of the story. Make them too old-timey and they come out stiff. For the most part, “The Rings of Power” has struck a balance, combining grand pronouncements that sound chiseled into stone with asides and jokes that keep the show relatively loose. (Note the word “relatively” — the dialogue can still be pretty stodgy.)

When Míriel rouses her people by asking, “Is our valor confined to the graves of our slumbering fathers?” or when Adar warns Arondir that he has been told lies that “run so deep that even the rocks believe them,” the lines have a real boldness and resonance. That said, it’s a welcome bit of comic relief when Galadriel shouts, “There is a tempest in me that swept me to this island for a reason, and it will not be quelled by you, Regent!” and then in the next shot she is getting thrown into jail.

The future is already written … maybe.

When Galadriel left Lindon in this season’s first episode, her king wondered if her Sauron obsession “might have stirred the very evil she is trying to thwart.” On the flip side, in this episode Galadriel warns an overly cautious Míriel that, “Avoiding this war may be the very thing that brings about your downfall.”

That’s the thing about omens and visions: They are open to interpretation. Míriel has been consulting a palantír, one of Middle-earth’s seven seeing-stones, which she thinks is telling her that Galadriel is bad news. But when she starts making plans to banish the elf, the petals of the Nimloth tree begin to fall in a flurry, possibly signaling the Valar’s displeasure. What to do?

So I ask again: Can Númenor be saved? That answer is out there; you can Google it. For now, what matters is what Míriel thinks — and what she does next.