What that heartbreaking death on ‘Rings of Power’ means for the future of Númenor
We don't need the palantír. We have theories and lore!
Númenor is headed for a mighty fall from grace. And no, that’s not a spoiler for The Rings of Power, because even someone who has watched The Lord of The Rings movies will know this. But how it is going to happen, now that is one hell of a tale.
You can, of course, read about The Akallabêth (the name given to both the fallen island kingdom and the story of its fall) in the appendices of The Lord of The Rings books, The Silmarillion, and now in a separate book titled The Fall of Númenor that was published after The Rings of Power season 1 premiered in 2022. But lucky us, for we will get to see it all on our screens in the later seasons of the Prime Video series, as the events that lead to the fall of this great island kingdom are already in motion. And a heartbreaking death in episode 5 of TROP season 2 has further steered the ship in those directions.
Spoilers ahead for TROP season 2!
Episode 5 of season 2, “Halls of Stone,” is a pivotal episode in the Númenorean storyline. We get a scene where Ar-Pharazón (Trystan Gravelle) is holding the scepter of the kings, and yet, his eyes are set far beyond his glorious kingdom, upon Tol Eressëa, the Lonely Isle where the elves dwell that once used to be friends of the Men of the Westernesse.
He tells his son Kemen (Leon Wadham) about how the elves continue to gatekeep immortality from Men, as the latter are still tied to their doom (death). Even as Kemen tries to steer his father back to thinking about doing more for his newly acquired kingdom, Pharazôn dismisses him and is unwilling to give up on his ambition to have the same privileges as the elves.
At this point in the history of Middle-earth, Númenor is quite hostile towards the elves; elvish tongue is banned in the kingdom, and we see how the arrival of Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) or Míriel’s (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) consultation of the palantír—the seeing stone that was a gift for the elves of Tol Eressëa to Númenor—is considered as treason.
When the leaves of the white tree of Númenor fall, it is a taken as a sign of the loss of faith and the displeasure of the Valar. And it very well might be, because that tree came from the seed of another tree (named Celeborn!) from the island of Tol Eressëa, gifted to Númenor as a mark of their friendship with the elves, which the kingdom doesn’t honor anymore.
In the same episode 5, Míriel asks Elendil (Lloyd Owen) what he saw in the palantír, and he reveals to her the vision he saw of himself riding away from the city of Armenelos, the capital city of Númenor. And Míriel, who has been having visions of the sea engulfing Númenor after it completely turns away from old elvish ways, takes this as a sign that maybe the future has been altered, and whatever they have done so far to alter it, they need to have faith and keep doing it. If this means Pharazôn becomes king, then so be it.
Little does she know that Númenor is only further descending into its irreversible dark fate to incur the wrath of the Valar.
A major turning point
Episode 5 may have given us a character the entire fandom can come together to hate on, but Kemen’s killing of Valandil (Alex Tarrant) is a critical juncture for several reasons. The symbolism of what happened in this scene has much to unpack.
The fight takes place between the two factions that have been at war in Númenor for some time now, since the kingdom closed its ports to the elves—the King’s Men and the Faithful. The location is important too—it is the shrine of the Vala Nienna. She is the goddess of grief, mourning, valor, and pity. When the fight breaks out between Valandil and Kemen, and the former has the latter at their sword, Elendil asks Valandil to stay his hand and not kill Kemen. It is pity despite what Kemen is that makes both these men of honor choose to spare his life. And remember what Gandalf told Frodo about pity?
“It’s a pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play in it, for good or evil, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.”
– Gandalf to Frodo in The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring
Kemen takes advantage of that mercy that saved his life and stabs Valandil in the back. Interestingly, when the Melkor (Morgoth) pleaded for pardon of the Valar, Nienna advocated for him. And we all know what happened after—Morgoth betrayed the Valar again by destroying the Two Trees and plunging Valinor into darkness. It’s a fascinating parallel then to see Kemen’s complete fall from grace as he washes his sword, stained with the blood of a Faithful, a man who showed him mercy, in the shrine’s waters, after breaking the idol of Nienna.
How Valandil’s death sets in motion events that shape the future of Númenor
But what does this all mean for the future of Númenor, now that the Faithful are being rounded up and Elendil has been imprisoned? What will happen to Kemen? And what happens when Isildur finds out both his best friends are now dead!?
Elendil
Let’s look back at the scene between Míriel and Elendil, where he tells her that she has opened his heart again to the ways of the Faithful. This would mean, Elendil, whose name means “Elf-friend,” had at some point given up on being a Faithful, perhaps after the death of his wife. He is in Armenelos with his son Isildur (Maxim Baldry) and his daughter Eärien (Ema Horvath), trying to get away from his past on the island’s western shores. But we know that he has another son, Anárion, and from the conversation Elendil had with his children in season 1, Anaríon is probably still living on the western shores, maybe with other Faithful?
The lore tells us that Elendil’s father Amandil was the leader of the Faithful in Númenor, and the Lord of the Andúnië, i.e the western region of Númenor. So maybe he and his grandson, Anárion remained Faithful while Elendil lost his faith and decided to move to Armenelos with his two younger children to raise them away from all of it. But now, Elendil’s vision in the palantír could mean that he will escape his imprisonment somehow and find himself riding away to Andúnië to reunite with Anárion because he thinks Isildur’s dead and Eärien is a lost cause! Whether this is because he finds his faith again because of Míriel or some other event remains to be seen.
While there has been no news about an Anárion casting for season 2 or even 3, it will be exciting to see this character that we didn’t see in the Peter Jackson movies, who in the future will rule the kingdom of Gondor with his brother, Isildur, and perpetuate the line that will eventually bring forth the heirs of Isildur, and everyone’s favorite ranger, Aragorn!
Isildur
Honestly, I am just waiting for Isildur to find out that Kemen, the guy he saved from a burning ship, stabbed his best friend in the back. You can go ahead and add the death of Valandil to another of those losses that will haunt Isildur and shape him into the man who refuses to throw the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom when the time comes. Isildur hasn’t been a Faithful or frankly cared much about politics. But maybe now, being away from home and all that has transpired, it might change him into one.
But here’s something that’ll make Valandil’s death bittersweet—in the lore, it is mentioned that Isildur went on to have four sons before he died, and he named his youngest son Valandil. It’s a nice touch from the series to give this touching backstory to the name.
Kemen
Speaking of the most hated character on The Rings of Power right now, Kemen has already been prophesied by his mother to be meeting some “ill ends” in his future. And that could simply mean Isildur unalives him for killing Valandil, or he becomes collateral in the fate of Númenor. But what if there was another, much worse fate in store for him?
Multiple fan theories since episode 5 have been speculating on whether Kemen could become one of the Nazgûl, AKA the Ringwraiths! Sauron (Charlie Vickers) tempted nine kings of Men, of which the lore states that three were lords and kings from Númenor. Kemen may not be a king just yet, but his father Pharazôn is one, which makes him a prince just waiting to seize power, now that he has gotten a taste of it!
Eärien
When she realizes that Kemen killed Valandil, one of her oldest friends, she is not going to be happy about it. With her belief that her brother, Isildur, is dead, losing Valandil would be another blow. And Elendil’s arrest would mean that Eärien is now completely alone in Armenelos, which might make it hard for her to forgive Kemen. Whether this deters her loyalty to the King’s Men or further solidifies her hatred for the Faithful, we shall see.
Míriel
There was one scene from the season 2 trailer of Míriel facing a sea beast that has not yet transpired. Could she too be imprisoned and put under trial, perhaps because of her advocating for an arrested Elendil’s release?
Ar-Pharazôn
We have seen Pharazôn contemplating consulting the palantír, the very thing that Míriel was arrested for. But we know politicians cheat, and since Pharazôn is obsessed with immortality and access to Valinor that the elves have but Men don’t, he might dip behind enemy lines by consulting the palantír. What he sees is going to set him down a dark, disastrous path.
The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 is down to its last three episodes for the season that will be released weakly, and I, for one, cannot wait for episode 6 to see what happens in the aftermath of Valandil’s death.
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