The road goes ever on and on, but Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 4 brings the Stranger to an important stop in his journey. There, he meets Tolkien legend – and it’s not the only first-time live-action appearance in the episode.
Episode 3 was a bit of a snooze; an unfortunate feat, given how pivotal it was. After avoiding its shores in the opening two chapters, it finally brought us back to the political dealings of the Númenoreans, with the smarmy Pharazon usurping the throne from his cousin, Miriel.
To borrow a wise man’s words, “forget it Jake, it’s Númenor.” Elsewhere, more interesting things were happening. Isildur returned from the dead (even though we knew he was alive, because of Lord of the Rings). We caught up with Arondir and Theo, who gathered for Bronwyn’s funeral… god, in hindsight it was maybe just a bit bleak.
Importantly, Celebrimbor and Annatar (*cough* Sauron! *cough*) tried to convince the Dwarves to give them mithril in exchange for… Rings of Power (roll credits!). Episode 4 doesn’t improve things… apart from the introduction of one long-awaited character.
Galadriel and Elrond plot their moves
We open in the Grey Havens, where Galadriel and Elrond discuss their journey to Eregion. She’s bitter about having to serve under another commander, but as Elrond points out, it was his request that she be appointed as first lieutenant. She should be grateful, given she shepherded the most dangerous enemy in history back into Middle-earth. Just saying!
She swallows her pride and suggests archers and swordsmen they should recruit. Soon, they’re miles from Lindon – but they’re stopped in their tracks by a broken bridge (seemingly dismantled by a force not of Arda). A huge gulf lies between them and the rest of their path, and they may need to add another two weeks to their journey.
There’s another option: going south through the hills of Tyrn Gorthad (dun dun dun!), words which give Galadriel a vision of “ancient evil filled with malice.” She believes Sauron wants them to go that way, but Elrond thinks speed is of the essence. Against her advice, they move. “This company will not take counsel from that trinket,” he warns, referring to her ring.
She has one good reason to stay: she doesn’t want any of them to die, especially Elrond.
The Stranger meets Tom Bombadil
Over in Rhûn, the Stranger wanders around looking for Poppy and Nori. He follows a goat, which leads him to a rather eccentric, bearded man: Tom Bombadil.
“See you found the goat,” he says. “There’s what you’re searching for and what you find, isn’t there.”
He starts singing to himself, while the Stranger looks around, uncertain of where he is or why he’s there. He questions Tom about the stars above his hill – as he says, there’s “stars above most hills” – and if they match his constellation.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blows his map away, and Tom smiles knowingly as the Stranger chases it. He ends up at a tree, and believes its branch may be the staff from his dreams. If only he’d had the advantage of reading Lord of the Rings – let’s just say you shouldn’t risk hurting a tree in Middle-earth, as it may fight back.
On this occasion, it just sucks him inside, so deep you can’t hear his screams. I’m sure he’s okay.
Poppy and Nori meet the Stoors
After being blown away in the Stranger’s stick-summoned tornado, Poppy and Nori wake up [insert number of miles that seems like a lot but not too far] away.
Moments later, they meet Merimac, a Stoor (another breed of Hobbit) from Rhûn. He seems nice, but he’s also carrying stolen water from the well. They run after him to his village, but they’re warned about three rules: never look his leader in the eye, always stand three steps back, and don’t “ever, ever, no matter what, call her the Gund.”
They arrive at the Stoors’ settlement, a thriving village with fresh fruit and vegetables carved out of the desert. They meet Gundabel Earthauler, who isn’t particularly keen to offer shelter to two Harfoots on the run from Rhûn’s bad guys.
“I have walked across rivers, mountains, and deserts to help my friend find his destiny, one the fate of the world may well depend on – yours included,” Nori explains, and Poppy tells them he’s a giant, even bigger than an elf. “So he’s a big grand elf; Grand Elf… Gandalf… come on! It has to be him.
Nori clarifies that he’s a Wizard, which gives rise to gasps around them. They only know the Dark Wizard, so instead of letting them go, they tie them up.
The Dark Wizard’s tracker returns with tales of the Stranger’s extraordinary power, and promises to find the Harfoots. “You’re either very foolish or very brave,” he’s told, advised to not look for the Stranger at all. “I will see to the Istar myself,” he says.
Bombadil rescues the Stranger
After god knows how long encased in the tomb of Bombadil’s groaning tree, he pulls the Stranger out. “Been a while since I’ve been called much of anything, but folk used to call me Tom Bombadil,” he says, finally introducing himself.
He allows the Stranger to take a bath back at his home, where he sings in the next room with someone called Goldberry (but nobody else is there… interesting). He laughs off the Stranger’s question like it’s totally absurd.
The Stranger tells Bombadil he’s been looking for his friends. “Shows what stars know, doesn’t it? Newcomers, that’s what they are. One year it’s dark, the next there’s a sea of tiny eyes looking down at you, a-watching. They think they know everything… but newcomers,” he says.
During his rambling, he somehow turns a piece of paper into bread in the blink of an eye. Everything he says is a little cryptic and cozy, and he’s able to start a fire with just a yawn. He says he’s “old… eldest, that’s what I am.”
“Eldest… mark my words, friend. Tom was there before the river and the trees. Tom remembers the first rain drop and the first acorn. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless. This whole place used to be green. Now, it’s all sand. I had to come see for myself to believe it,” he adds.
The Stranger asks if Bombadil can teach him his magic. “You wield power over trees, over wind and fire. You wield it as if it belongs to you,” he says, but Bombadil tells him: “All things belong each to themselves. Just as you belong to yourself.”
The Stranger wants to find his staff, but in Bombadil’s opinion, a wizard’s staff is like a name. “It’s yours to wield already, if you prove yourself worthy of it… you showed today that you’re not, yet. Whether you can become so, we shall soon discover,” he explains.
Suddenly, a constellation appears on the ceiling of Bombadil’s home. This was where the Stranger was trying to get all along, he just didn’t know it.
Outside, the Dark Wizard’s trackers can be heard riding across the hills. “You’re not the first Istar who’s eaten honey by my fire,” Bombadil warns. “Once he sought to control magic like you, now he controls much of Rhûn. But still he hungers for more,” he adds, fearing that his influence could spread with an ally even more powerful than himself. Maybe it’s Sauron… or perhaps it’s the Stranger?
Bombadil can’t stop it. He’s a “wanderer, not a warrior… great deeds are left to the hands they were placed in.”
The Stranger asks if it’s his task to “face the fire” and defeat Sauron. “Your task is to face them both,” Bombadil reveals.
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Welcome to the Barrow-downs
Galadriel, Elrond and co. make it to Tyrn Gorthad, aka the “Barrow-downs”, where people once laid their lords and kings to rest. However, “even the trees seem ill at ease” here.
“Fear not, dead men are no threat,” one of them says, and they keep moving. In the distance, one of the Elves sees glowing eyes and hears ghostly murmurings… but it all goes away. “It was like the memory of a song,” he says.
Further ahead, they find Gil-galad’s slain messengers who failed to reach Celebrimbor. Moments later, chains wrap around one of the Elves and drag him into a nearby hole. Soon, they face off with some of the most terrifying creatures in Tolkien’s writing: the Barrow-wights (floating, undead skeletons).
A futile fight ensues, but just when it seems like they can’t be killed (like those enemies in Elden Ring that piece themselves back together), Elrond and Galadriel discover a solution: only the blades of the buried put them to rest for good.
Isildur and Arondir search for Theo
After he was snatched up by something in Episode 3, Arondir and Isildur search for Theo in the woods. Nearby, Arondir finds a dead, crumpled body – it seems they’re being hunted.
Back at Pelargir (feel free to skip this part… it’s probably important but it’s also uninteresting), Arondir warns people about what he found. They all think it’s the work of Wild Men, but Estrid tells them to look in the North, where “worse” may lurk between the trees.
Before they head off, the episode gives us some flirting between Estrid and Isildur… does anyone care?
Arondir then interrogates her about the brand on her neck. She tries to nonchalantly dismiss it… until she attempts to flee. “Self-burn… Wild Men do it to hide the mark of Adar. She’s going to lead us to all of the others,” Arondir says.
Naturally, Isildur is a bit peeved. He feels used. But it’s clear she isn’t evil – like anyone else would have been, she was desperate.
We cut to Theo, who’s sitting inside what’s essentially a large basket atop a tree. “Well-fed’s awake,” the other captives say, while others scream into the empty forest.
While Arondir and Estrid bicker, Isildur accidentally plunges into some mud… which starts to suck him underneath, and when Arondir tries to help, they’re both pulled under the surface. A disgusting, mucky worm writhes out, but Arondir manages to free both him and Isildur from its depths.
Poppy and Nori discover their history
Back at the Stoors’ village, Gundabel tells Poppy and Nori they’ll be cast out at sunrise. They admit that Sadoc Burrows (RIP) would have done the same, a name that starts Gundabel
She shows Nori a stone painting chronicling a Stoor’s dreams of a place “with endless streams of cold water and rolling hills so soft a family could dig a hole and live in it in less than a month… he called it the Sûzat.”
And guess what that translates to? The Shire! The Stoor then set out to find it and promised he’d send someone back to find them if he was successful. His name was Rorymass Burrows. Nori then realizes the story within Poppy’s walking song (listen to this if you want to feel incredibly wistful about a world you can never visit).
Gundabel asks Nori if she’s been sent to lead them to the Shire. “I think Rory must never have found it… and after a while, we just kept wandering. We don’t have a home,” she admits.
The Dark Wizard’s trackers arrive and slap Gandabale to the ground. They demand to see the Harfoots, but she denies ever having seen them. The trackers leave on the vague threat of revealing their faces.
Galadriel and Elrond talk about the ring
Back in Tyrn Gorthad, Galadriel and Elrond debate about the three Elven rings… again. She says she’s yet to reach the point where the price of victory is too high, and that she’s able to see everything they could lose.
Elrond confesses that his father foresaw him being responsible for Celebrimbor’s life. “Protecting which is most fragile, most dear, is a task trusted to all Elves – and that is not yet complete. And I promise you there will be more painful sacrifices,” Galadriel says, as the episode gives us a glimpse of the Siege of Eregion (and its bloody, inevitable chaos).
Elrond promises her that defeating Sauron will take precedence over her life.
Ent-ertainment
Arondir, Estrid, and Isildur take a break. She’s freed from her cuffs, and they share a moment of peace – she even apologizes for her lies, and he says sorry for his harsh words. But it’s a trick: she pulls his sword on him, believing she’s doomed whatever she does.
Before they hurt each other, Estrid is swiped violently to the side by a tree trunk. It’s an Ent (a humanoid tree, like Treebeard in LOTR)!
Arondir asks it to stop, it gets mad when he admits to chopping firewood. Soon, another Ent steps forward, but Arondir insists they don’t wish to fell any of them.
“The spilling sap and burning branch called to us from afar… but we were too late,” one explains, while the other refuses to believe they’re any different to the others. Arondir comforts her, gently placing his hand on her trunk and apologizing for her suffering. “Forgiveness takes an age; rain washing clear the long memory of soil, new bark covering old scars,” she tells him.
Arondir promises the trees will be left in peace, and soon, they’re reunited with Theo. Estrid is okay too; a few bruises, definitely, but alive. Her tender moment with Isildur is interrupted by Hagan… her pesky betrothed. Meanwhile, Arondir tells Theo he’s going to go after Adar, but Theo tells him he needs to help the people of Pelargir.
March of the Orcs
Galadriel and Elrond catch sight of the Orcs marching to Eregion. Before they consider their move, arrows fly towards them as Orcs try to kill a horse – but one of them hits an Elf. He slumps to the ground, struggling to quieten his whimpers. Fortunately, Galadriel’s ring heals his wound; Elrond really needs to get over himself!
Galadriel gives the ring to Elrond and takes on the Orcs all by herself. As expected, she makes light work of them in a spectacular fight sequence; flying daggers, double arrows, flips and kicks, even some “Get over here!” action with a saddle.
“She sacrificed herself to save us all,” one Elf says, but Elrond tells him he’s mistaken. “She did it to save the ring.”
Galadriel tells the Orcs to go back to the shadow, but she’s stopped by Adar, and the episode cuts to black.
Make sure you catch up with our recaps of Rings of Power Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3. Read our predictions for the Dark Wizard’s identity, and check out our guides on Círdan, Forodwaith, and if Rings of Power is considered canon in Lord of the Rings.
