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Spoilers for Ep 6 of Rings of Power, Udun:

Wow.

Just...Wow.

I really enjoyed watching this episode. Probably one of my favorites so far. It's just...beautiful. The fight choreography, the cinematography, and that cliffhanger of an ending! I can't stop thinking about it. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

This entire episode reminded me so much of the Battle for Helm's Deep from the Two Towers, which has to be one of the greatest battle sequences in all of cinema. The whole battle is extremely well done, even if quite gruesome at times. I truly cannot count just how many things I love about this episode, but I will try to focus on a few of those things.

First and foremost, and obviously the most important:

ARONDIR AND BRONWYN FINALLY KISSED!!!!!

AND HE BASICALLY PROPOSED TO HER AT THE SAME TIME!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰💕💕💕💕💕!!!

(Oh, and a nice Yavanna reference too, even if she wasn't referenced by name)

The scene with Bronwyn and Theo had me legit tearing up. It matches almost perfectly the passage from Return of the King, and has to be one of my favorite parts of the book. "In the end, this shadow is but a passing thing. There is light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. Find the Light, and the shadow will not find you."

I loved the battle, although I wish it wasn't as, well, gorey. Like, did they really have to show us that orc blood is black by it literally gushing out of the dude's eye? Did they really have to show us the torturous process by which they're trying to heal Bronwyn's wounds? I kinda wish I hadn't seen that, even if we did get a nice little family moment between Theo, Arondir and Bronwyn.

Oh, and I absolutely adore Isildur's bond with his father, and am glad to see that Aragorn is indeed descended from a long line of horse girls lol.

But its the scene with Adar and Galadriel in the barn that has to be one of my most favorite(and the part I'm going to ramble about the most) scenes in this episode. For one, it's when we learn just who Adar really is. He is indeed one of the first elves ever twisted into orcs by Morgoth, making him one of the oldest characters in this show. Galadriel calls them Moriandor, meaning "Sons of the Dark". So the orcs he leads and calls his Children may very well be his literal blood descendants. (I gotta admit, Im pretty proud of myself for getting that one right)Not only that but he apparently split Sauron's body open because he did not want to sacrifice any more of his children for Sauron's aspirations?! This is the kind of stuff that's got me so invested in this series. I don't care what you think about the show, you have to admit the writers killed it when it comes to exploring the nature of orcs.

But aside from the Adar reveal, the scene actually reminds me somewhat of the Athrabeth in that it's a philosophocal debate between two people and an exchange of beliefs. In this case, it's a debate about the origin of orcs, their nature and their place in the world. I find the whole thing extremely clever in that it addresses how Tolkien couldn't decide on the origins of the orcs. At first they were written as purely evil and created by Morgoth, only for Tolkien to realize that it wouldn't make any sense given his philosophy of "The Shadow can only mock it cannot make" and that only Iluvatar can create life. He went through multiple different possible origin stories for the orcs, from corrupted elves to corrupted men, but he never really decided or stated which one he preferred. Galadriel and Adar's debate on orcs and their place in the world is just such a clever way of acknowledging the many contradictory writings of Tolkien on many different matters.

Adar represents the side who believes(and the side that Tolkien seems to prefer)that the orcs are living beings, and thus creations of Iluvatar who are deserving of life and a home of their own. Adar seeks only to create a new home for his "children" where the orcs can live and thrive in. While his methods of bringing that reality about are certainly questionable, it's honestly quite a noble cause, and one anyone can sympathize with. I wouldn't exactly say he's a good person, but you can't deny the thing he is fighting for is pretty darn selfless compared to the things that Morgoth and Sauron fought for.

But in Galadriel we see something very different. We see perhaps the most hateful, cruel, vengeful and bloodthirsty part of her we've gotten so far in the series.

I think this scene shows better than any other just how far into darkness Galadriel has ventured. Just how badly she's allowed her obsession with hunting down Sauron to twist her. This Galadriel makes Adar look like a Saint in comparison. I found this on reddit made by someone who was reminded of a certain dark lord and you'll see what I mean:

Talk about cruel.

Like lady, if you seriously think you can say things like that and still think yourself the good guy, no matter how good you believe your cause to be, no wonder Gil Galad feared you would cause more harm than good. This lady's acting like a sadistic, genocidal maniac. And we can't help but nod our heads at the response Adar gives.

"It would seem I'm not the only Elf alive who has been transformed by darkness. Perhaps your search for Morgoth's successor should have ended in your own mirror."

Ouch.

Absolutely obliterated in just two sentences. Hit em' where it hurts, as they say.

And the worst part? It's all true.

Galadriel has become so blinded by revenge and hatred, she has fallen so far into the dark she's failed to recognize just who she's become. And Adar's mention of a mirror reminds me of ep 1, when in the ice fortress Galadriel finds herself looking at her own reflection in the ice, only to punch through it and find evil there.

She certainly seems to feel bad about it later, and perhaps it's this moment when Galadriel really begins her transformation from a bloodthirsty warrior to the wise sorceress we come to know from Fotr. And of course the crushing defeat at the very end may very well speed up that transformative process.

Speaking of the end-

That is all.

#Rings of Power #Udun #Tolkien #Mt Doom #Galadriel #Isildur #Elendil #Bronwyn #Arondir #Theo #Halbrand #Adar #This 90% me rambling about orcs #And 10% other stuff #I could talk for hours about the orcs #They have to be one of this show's biggest strengths #Keep it up Amazon

HIIIIIII!

Oh lord. We’ve just wrapped up recording for ep 6 ‘Udun’!

It’s going to go up a little later than planned because of work obligations and just how busy it has been lately but yay, it’s now done.

We were both extremely excited to record this one for obvious reasons. 😏 It was unanimously voted our favorite episode of the season and there was just so much stuff to talk about! Great musical moments, awesome action sequences, important tension loaded character moments, reveals… All excellent.

We did not keep it brief. We are unable not to dwell on things at this point. We both had just basic notes for this recording but it all escalated fast. And we’re not mad about it because we just had so much fun discussing, theorizing, HAVING MELTDOWNS.

Thank you thank you THANK YOU for everyone’s continued support. It means so much to us, it really does.

You’re going to hear us soon when the ep goes up. ❤️‍🔥

Love,

Paulina & Natalie