Some spoilers for Episodes 1-4 of Season 3 and past seasons of The Rings of Power follow. Episodes 1-4 are available on Prime Video now, with Episodes 5 and 6 debuting on Nov. 18, and Episodes 7 and 8 finishing out the season on Nov. 25.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 is a new beginning for the Prime Video series, kicking the story off five years after where things ended in Season 2, and streamlining the overall narrative into a more cohesive war story.
Season 3 refocuses The Rings of Power on its simple yet compelling good vs. evil premise, jettisoning some past characters and subplots while ensuring the ones remaining all align with the same goal: you exist to either defeat Sauron or to serve him.
Season 3 refocuses Rings of Power on its simple yet compelling good vs. evil premise, jettisoning some past characters and subplots while ensuring the ones remaining all align with the same goal.Celebrimbor’s death last season means The Dark Lord (Charlie Vickers) isn’t having an easy time forging the One Ring. (Nice touch having Sauron keep Celebrimbor’s skeleton hanging around so his “ghost” – actor Charles Edwards returns for a cameo – can psychoanalyze him about his self-doubts.) Sauron desperately wants to discover whatever secret element Celebrimbor put into the Elven rings, as the Elves have thus far been able to stave off Sauron’s army at the borders of Lindon and Rivendell while nearly everywhere else in Middle-earth has fallen. To aid him in his quest to capture the Elven rings and discern their magic, Sauron has been busy turning mortal men into Nazgûl, promising them eternal life in exchange for becoming his servants of the ring.
This Is Where the Rings Are in Rings of Power Season 3
Meanwhile, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) have been busy battling the Orcs (and humans) that Sauron sends after them. Although she hasn’t encountered him in five years, Galadriel is beginning to feel Sauron’s presence again (Robert Aramayo’s Elrond thinks she’s just being paranoid). Galadriel’s past is briefly but sweetly explored here when she meets her future husband, Celeborn (a stalwart Jamie Campbell Bower, back to being a pretty boy following years of Vecna ugliness), during a flashback to the First Age, where they court each other in a wire-fu duel reminiscent of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
This sequence, when contrasted with the hardened warrior Galadriel has become, reveals how much she’s changed over a thousand years and the toll the conflict has taken on her. Morfydd Clark’s nuanced performance adeptly captures Galadriel's evolution from romantic to badass in just a few moments of screen time.
While the ongoing conflict between Sauron and the Elves is the main focus of Season 3, the first four episodes also catch viewers up with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm, led by now-King Durin IV (Owain Arthur). While there’s some strained humor with the Dwarves, things get interesting with the arrival of Durin’s older brother, Thrain (the always compelling Eddie Marsan, who, even under a mound of makeup, proves an intriguing screen presence). Thrain has an agenda of his own that, by Episode 304, pits brother against brother for control of the dwarf kingdom. Durin and Disa’s (Sophia Nomvete) marriage is put to the test when a misstep from her past comes up, resulting in one of the strongest and most emotional scenes between the two in the whole series thus far.
In addition to Celeborn and Thrain, Season 3 also introduces another curious new addition to the cast in Marnûkh (Adam Young), the “orc with the arc” who initially seems like a willing soldier of Sauron’s but ends up having a more complicated role to play. Marnûkh’s presence puts Galadriel and Arondir’s feelings about Orcs to the test, ultimately leading to tragedy by the end of Episode 304.
Speaking of which, Season 3 also gives Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin), who has not always proved the most interesting character in this show, an Anakin-style arc. A grown man now, Theo has been enslaved by the Númenoreans the last five years, so when a chance presents itself for him to rebel against them – even if it means possibly becoming a Ringwraith for Sauron – he seizes it. This pays off hints that Theo was meant for the dark side that were first seeded in Season 1 when he found that broken sword hilt bearing the sigil of Sauron. He’s a bad guy now but, as with Anakin Skywalker, perhaps redemption is still possible for Theo in the end.
David Weyman’s Gandalf has more of the qualities we associate with the lovable wizard this season, and by Episode 4 his backstory and connection to Ciarán Hinds’ Dark Wizard is revealed (thanks to a Moses-like chat with The Sacred Fire), setting up a more interesting challenge for Gandalf than simply having to battle a fellow sorcerer. I’ll be interested to see how that plays out in the remaining quartet of episodes.
I found the Númenor storyline less compelling than the other plot threads explored in Season 3’s first four episodes, but that’s been my least favorite storyline of the series since Season 1. Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) is a political creature and he has always struck me as a player better suited for a historical drama about intrigue at the royal court than in this particular fantasy tale. He’s a Westeros power player dropped into Middle-earth and whenever the story dwells too long in Númenor, I yearn for it to get back to literally any other character’s plot line.
That said, Ema Horvath’s Eärien gets a key episode this season that realigns her with her father Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and brothers Isildur (Maxim Baldry) and Anárion’s (Andrew Richardson) cause. Given how she broke with them at the end of Season 2, how and why Eärien is now working as their spy goes unexplored (for now). Was that always the case and she was on a long-term undercover mission? Or did she finally see the light after being married to Pharazôn? That remains unclear to me.
And while the first four episodes of Season 3 still offer their share of action (sword fights, arrows, etc.), any grand-scale battles are apparently being held for later in the season once Sauron’s quest to forge the One Ring inches him closer to victory. With the latest trailer teasing a Balrog battle and Sauron wearing the One Ring, I fully expect the latter half of Season 3 to start ramping up the action to epic levels.