In the first two episodes of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” we are introduced to numerous characters and plot locations: the dwarven fortress of Khazad-dûm, the Elven kingdoms of Lindon and Eregion, the Southlands of Middle-earth. But one of the most important places is not shown at all: the island of Númenor, where the greatest and most powerful kingdom of men exists in the Second Age. You will probably have already guessed why we are pointing this out here:
At the end of episode 2, when Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and the mysterious Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) regain consciousness after surviving a storm in the sea, they catch sight of a shadowy figure on a ship above them. This can only be a human from Númenor.
The fact that Númenor was (almost) not seen in the first two episodes is a real surprise: One of the first and most important official announcements about “The Rings of Power” was that Númenor will play a role in the series, and the island was also already seen in numerous trailers and scene images. Our YouTube presenter Sebastian also goes into this in his video above.
In the press screening in which we saw the two episodes of “The Lord of the Rings” series, a trailer for episodes 3 to 8 was also shown afterwards, in which we obviously see Galadriel and Halbrand in Númenor – but even in this, interestingly, the name of the island was not mentioned. In the meantime, you can also watch this trailer on Prime Video. If you have autoplay switched on, the trailer will even be played automatically after the end of episode 2.
I’ve always thought Lord of the Rings was entirely okay so I guess I just don’t see what’s particularly dumb about this. https://t.co/h9dfX1IFr3
– chris (@ChrisRGun) September 2, 2022
So, IMDb is hiding Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power score…who owns IMDb? You guessed it… pic.twitter.com/L3BAja2Ial
– Real Human Bean (@realhumanbean4u) September 2, 2022
ELENDIL OR ISILDUR?
But who exactly do we see in this scene at the end of episode 2? That can only be speculated based on the series episode, but there are two very obvious candidates: Isildur (Maxim Baldry) and his father Elendil (Lloyd Owen) – both names, by the way, that we also know from the prologue of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship”, in which humans and elves go to war against Sauron.
In “The Rings of Power”, however, neither Isildur nor Elendil are the great kings of men known from the prologue, but, according to the information published so far, still quite simple sailors. Therefore it would fit well if one or both (main) characters meet Galadriel and Halbrand here.
The 6 main characters in Númenor: Kemen (Leon Wadham), Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle), Elendil (Lloyd Owen), Eärien (Ema Horvath) & Isildur (Maxim Baldry)
Númenor is instead ruled by Queen Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) and her advisor Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle). In addition, Pharazôn’s son Kemen (Leon Wadham) and Isildur’s sister Eärien (Ema Horvath), two characters who do not exist in Tolkien’s works, will appear on the island kingdom.
The resolution of who exactly is standing so menacingly over Galadriel and Halbrand will be revealed in episode 3 of “The Rings of Power”, which will be released on 9 September 2022 at 6 a.m. on Amazon Prime Video.
