‘The Rings of Power’ Episode 6 is the Series’ Best – Except for One Big Issue
The Rings of Power delivers an action-packed battle episode.
Last week’s Rings of Power gave us a lot of talking backstory. This week the show focuses on one big ol’ battle. It’s a classic battle episode and, though it has some flaws, it’s likely the strongest one yet. And it comes with an explosive ending!
The shadow of spoilers lies over all that follows – BEWARE.
It’s Tower Time
Rather than jumping around between its sprawling storylines, Rings of Power Episode 6 focuses on just one event/conflict. Down in the Southlands, Adar is finally launching his attack on the humans (and Arondir) at the watchtower. Because of this, there isn’t a ton of plot to the week’s episode. After giving his Orcs a nice pep talk, Adar attacks the Watchtower. However, the Orcs find it abandoned. Only Arondir is still there, and he collapses the tower on the attackers killing a bunch. 
The humans then retreat to their town and spend the next day fortifying it. We also check in on Galadriel and the troops from Númenor. They are rushing to get to the Southlands. Back at the village, the defenders trap and kill the first wave of attackers, but find out that they were mostly humans, the ones who had joined Adar last episode. Then Adar launches his main attack and overwhelms the defenders.
Rings of Power Episode 6 Goes Boom
Bronwyn gets shot and looks pretty bad, but Theo and Arondir save her. However just once she looks ok, the Orcs break into the last part of the town and the remaining defenders are captured. Adar demands the hilt and starts killing the prisoners to get it. Arondir seems willing to let Bronwyn die, likely knowing Adar will kill them all anyway, but Theo isn’t and gives him the sword. However just as all seems lost the cavalry of Númenor arrives with the dawn and Orcs are defeated. Galadriel and Halbrand capture Adar and he tells them that he killed Sauron and he and his Orcs are free and just looking for a home. Halbrand is also declared king of the Southlands.
However, the happy ending is not to be. It turns out Adar gave the hilt to Waldreg, the old villager, before getting captured. He uses the sword to unleash an old dam, which pours water into the trenches we’ve seen the Orcs digging. They lead the water to an underground magma pool and set off a volcano. It’s the birth of Mount Doom! The Rings of Power Episode 6 ends with the eruption overrunning the village and raining destruction all around.
A Strong Episode With Some Major Major Flaws
Overall, I really liked the tighter focus of The Rings of Power Episode 6. It let us dig into one event and really show it off. It was also a very action-packed episode. If you’ve been missing that or felt the show was slow and boring, this should fix it. The episode delivers a fulfilling story. However, it has two flaws, one minor and one major, that really bring it down for me.
On the more minor end of things, I guess I don’t understand the motivation of the humans here. In the first couple of episodes, they discovered the Orcs and then fled their homes seeking safety. Once it was clear they couldn’t hold out in the tower, I’m not sure why they stayed there so long. However, in this episode they leave the watchtower, at last, only to go back to the village. Why?
The Village is harder to defend than the tower. They know the Orcs are coming. Why not just keep fleeing? Aren’t there places to go to for help? At least Lindon or the other Elves or something? Why fight to the death? This could have been fixed with a speech about fighting for their homes, or not wanting to leave the old and injured behind. But it wasn’t.
Saving the Day, How?
Ultimately the biggest issue I have is the Númenóreans arriving to save the day. How did they know exactly where to go? How did they know when to arrive and that they needed to hurry? I know Halbrand says in Episode 5 that the Watchtower of Ostirith is where the Orcs seemed to be heading (though he points at the wrong part of the map when he says this). But the Númenóreans don’t go to the Watchtower, they go to the village.
Also when we see them they are galloping there. They are in a major rush – why? Unless they know the village is being attacked right now, why gallop there? It just doesn’t make sense. (Also they sailed up Anduin, unloaded, crossed Ithilien, and then over the Ephel Dúath mountains all in like one or two days??)
It’s extra annoying because there are ways the episode could have made this work with ease. The Palantíri, the seeing stones, are designed for this kind of thing. It would have made sense if the Númenóreans had used them to see where the Orcs were going and that they needed to hurry. But the show has already made it clear that aside from the one that only shows the sinking of Númenor, they are lost. So it can’t be that.
Another easy answer would have been the villagers sending someone to try and get help. They could have met the Númenóreans and told them where to go and to hurry (this would have also made the villagers staying put make sense) but that didn’t happen. All in all there a just a number of kind of amateurish mistakes that really bring down the episode.
Some Thoughts on The Rings of Power Episode 6
Why did it take them hours to check if the hilt was in that bundle? You would think Galadriel would want to look at the thing Adar wanted so bad.
This was the show’s most Game of Thrones episode yet. Not only was it really bloody and brutal, but it leaned into the GoT trope of having a late-season episode devoted just to one big fight. This was Rings of Power’s “The Watchers on the Wall”.
I really like what they are doing with Adar. Having him and his Orcs be effectively anti-Sauron is great. I also think it cool that they are giving Orcs a little more beyond the “inherently evil servants of the dark lord” bit.
Alos, it turns out that is kind of how Volcanoes work? So I guess this whole show is just going to be about who can build a better forge.
4/7 Rings for Dwarven Lords
