Episode Enneagrams – Page 6 – Enneagram and Encaustic

Udûn (Part One)

Episode Six of The Rings of Power . . .

ONE

Adar plants seeds in the forest mulch while his orc legion awaits his orders. He gives them a rousing speech. (Haha, there’s Waldreg standing among the horde, looking uncomfortable.)

Leading them to the watchtower, Adar opens the fort’s door to find the compound empty.

As they search, we see Arondir hiding behind a door. Adar finds the sacrificial altar.

TWO

Standing with him, Waldreg asks what happened to Sauron? The question is interrupted by Arondir shooting arrows. He’s booby-trapped the compound, bringing down the tower and closing the orcs inside. Stones fall toward Adar.

At the base of the waterfall, Bronwyn and her people see the tower collapse and cheer the success of their plan. They return to the village to prepare for the orc survivors.

Partings (Part Two)

Episode Five of The Rings of Power continues . . .

SWITCH

Kemen speaks to the Chancellor and tries to convince him that the people would follow his lead. The war is a return to the old, elf-friendly ways. Kemen wants to stop it.

The Chancellor, playing the long game, schools him on waiting.

The Queen meets with her father in the tower. Thinking he’ll be pleased, she tells him she’s traveling to Middle-Earth. He prophesies “darkness” for her.

FIVE

Nori reports to The Stranger that everyone’s happy about what he did with the wargs. His hand in a puddle, he whispers weird words, freezing the water around his fingers. The ice travels up his forearm. Worried, Nori tries to interrupt by grabbing him but her hand becomes trapped. In some kind of trance, he doesn’t notice as the ice branches onto her arm. His voice increases in intensity, the corona of Starfall flashes, and Nori is tossed free. When The Stranger checks on her, she dashes away. Threatening music intensifies.

Partings (Part One)

Episode Five of The Rings of Power . . .

LEFTOVER NINE

Nori and The Stranger sit at the shore while she teaches him about “migration”. When she describes the dangers of the road, he realizes he is a “peril”. He seems upset by it, and she reiterates that he’s good.

(This scene, which is fairly isolated storywise, is exactly what I meant last episode when I said the Three should be a beat involving these characters. It’s perfect, especially since The Stranger struggles with understanding his ethics. Juxtaposed with Waldreg calling him Sauron in last episode’s Six, this would’ve been genius.)

ONE

And then we continue with the Harfoots (which would’ve made a solid opening to the current episode). The Brandyfoots and Poppy load their wagons and set out. She sings a walking song while the beautiful scenery dissolves to a map of the route. They muscle their way through the Grey Marshes and onward, with no sign of the caravan. At night The Stranger steps out to look up at the stars.

The Great Wave (Part Two)

Continuing Episode Four of The Rings of Power . . .

SWITCH

From a window Elrond views a construction site.

FIVE

He is in Celebrimbor’s apartment. Over refreshments, Celebrimbor mentions Elrond’s father, and then gently complains about Durin.

Elrond visits Durin’s wife, Disa. He suspects her of deception; Durin has been avoiding him.

Dissolve to Disa and Durin walking together. She indeed lied to Elrond. He whispers that they’re making good progress in the “old mine”. Pull out across the chasm to show Elrond with elf eyes reading their lips.

Cut to Elrond in the mine’s entrance. At a stone blockage he recites the rhyme Disa’s children were chanting when he visited her. It works; the stone opens. Pulling aside a cloth, Elrond sees a vein of silvery metal. Durin catches him spying and accuses him of wanting this all along. However, Elrond doesn’t know what Durin means and only wants to preserve their friendship. Demanding an oath of secrecy, Durin shows Elrond the mysterious contents of the chest: mithril (although, because it’s a “new ore” it isn’t named yet). It’s dangerous to mine, so the King has kept the discovery quiet.

(Here all of us whisper to ourselves, “The dwarves delved too deep.”)

The Great Wave (Part One)

Episode Four of The Rings of Power . . .

ONE

The Queen Regent presides over a Blessing of the Children ceremony.

TWO

Suddenly a trembling like an earthquake begins. The wind blows, sending white leaves into the reception hall. While the Queen looks out over her city, a massive wave floods the area. Everything crumbles and the Queen is washed away.

And then she wakes, and moves with a purpose.

Adar (Part Two)

Continuing the third episode of The RIngs of Power . . .

FIVE

We’re back with Arondir. The prisoners, at the bottom of a trench surrounded by a smoking ruin, are digging through the roots of a large tree. Because the sun is out, the orcs hide in their tented tunnel system while the elves toil. Morgoth has a successor, this orc leader with the elvish name, Adar. He seems to be searching for something, possibly a weapon.

Orc torture commences. Arondir, under duress, chops down the tree.

Galadriel, in a proper gown, wanders down to the city’s waterfront. Elendil, charged with watching her, assumes (correctly) that she’s choosing a ship to steal. She threatens him, and he speaks to her in elvish. He mentions their Hall of Lore, a day’s ride away, and Galadriel brightens.

Cut to the two of them cantering across an open field. In slow motion they ride along a beach. As the music swells, we see Galadriel’s face, alight with joy.

(It’s an overly precious shot, but then we get the pay-off. This is an expression we’ve never seen from her. We realize how sour she’s been before this. Is it the power and speed of horseback riding? Is it the sense of freedom? Finally Galadriel shows us more dimension.)

Adar (Part One)

Episode 3 of The Rings of Power . . .

LEFTOVER NINE

Arondir, woozy, is dragged by orcs in skull helmets. It’s nightmarish. We hear orcs arguing about who has to stay in the sun — “sun duty” — and the mention of Adar, who’s their leader.

Chained in a pit, Arondir digs with other elves. Whipped prisoners scream in the shade.

ONE

Cut to Galadriel waking. She’s on a bed in a ship’s hold. Halbrand brings her food. The ship is crewed by men in uniform.

TWO

The captain, who recognizes her as “one of the Eldar”, wears her dagger.

THREE

They approach a magnificent port reminiscent of the Argonath with its gargantuan rock statues carved from the hillsides. Galadriel recognizes the Kingdom of Númenor. (It’s an astonishing location that is given a number of expansive establishing shots.)

Adrift (Part Two)

Episode Two of The Rings of Power continues at the Harfoot encampment.

FOUR (CONT.)

The Harfoots notice that Nori is missing.

Cut back to her and The Giant. When she asks about “his kind” he takes a stick and draws in the dirt.

SWITCH

(Here it is! I just needed a little patience.)

Back to the Harfoots straining to raise a tent. Nori’s father (Largo) pushes on a beam held by a rope that finally snaps, as does Largo’s ankle. Poppy runs up to get Nori. The Giant screams in frustration that they can’t understand his meaning.

Adrift (Part One)

Episode Two of The Rings of Power . . .

ONE

Galadriel, abandoned in the sea, still treads water. With nothing in sight on the horizon, she starts to swim.

Nori stands at the edge of the fiery crater. A man with grizzled hair and beard, naked but for a loincloth, lies in the blaze. Poppy, rushing up to chastise Nori, accidentally pushes her over the slope. The flames are not hot, and Nori approaches “the giant”. She boops his cheek. With a horror-startle, he quickly grabs her hand and rises from the ash. Magical winds and a soul-long look between Nori and The Giant stop when he collapses. She insists that Poppy help her carry the stranger somewhere safe.

TWO

Sadoc, holding a lantern, comes to see what fell to earth. He anticipates a bad omen. He misses Nori and Poppy pushing The Giant over the hill behind him in a wheelbarrow. As the girls argue over what this man is — not human, not elf — they let go of the cart and it starts to roll backward. (The image of an oversized man in a rustic wagon rolling down a hill is played for humor.) Cut to him settled, asleep, under a tree. Nori explains that The Giant, who could’ve fallen to earth anywhere, seems like her responsibility. She was meant to find him. Poppy agrees to keep him a secret.

THREE

Dissolve to Bronwyn and Arondir in the burnt village. They find no bodies. Under a ruined house is a dug passage. Arondir will follow it. Bronwyn will go home to warn her people. Before parting, they share a longing glance.

A Shadow of the Past (Part Three)

Finishing Episode One of The Rings of Power . . .

SWITCH

While looking at a statue of her brother, Galadriel sheathes her dagger. Elrond approaches her with gentle congratulations of the honor to return home.

(The grove has heroic statues carved in the trunk of every living tree.)

Galadriel expected to become one of these statues, but instead she’s to be sent away. She decides she will refuse this “reward”.

(“You have not seen what I have seen,” Galadriel says to Elrond as explanation why she can’t stop hunting Sauron. Well, we haven’t seen it, either. We desperately need more show and less tell.)

FIVE

Putting up a convincing argument, Elrond asks if another dead orc will bring her peace? Will she lead more elves to die and become statues? Turning down the call to Valinor means it will never come again and she’ll be an outcast, left behind.