Adar (episode)

"What news from the North, Riders of Rohan?" — Aragorn This article is about a current event; it is subject to frequent revision as more information becomes available.

The name Adar refers to more than one character, item or concept. For a list of other meanings, see Adar (disambiguation).

Adar
Director	Wayne Che Yip
Writer	J. D. Payne Patrick McKay and Stephany Folsom (written by)
Music	Bear McCreary Main Title by Howard Shore
Studio	Amazon Studios
Released	9 September 2022
IMDb	IMDb Profile
Gallery	Images from The Rings of Power (TV series)
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"Arondir finds himself a captive; Galadriel and Halbrand explore a legendary kingdom; Elendil is given a new assignment; Nori faces the consequences."

― Official Synopsis, Amazon Studios

Adar is the third episode of Amazon Studios's television series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, released on 9 September, 2022.

Synopsis

The Southlands

Arondir finds himself taken to an Orcs enslavement camp in trenches somewhere in the Southlands, where many other humans and Elves, including Médhor and Revion, had been brought after capture. After Revion argues with the taskmasters Lurka and Vrath about a tree that the Orcs want felled, a leader of the camp, Magrot, offers the Elves water before abruptly killing Médhor in jest as he just so happened to be the last to drink the water.

At the end of the episode, Arondir, Revion, and a few others attempt a rebellion in the trench, tripping the taskmasters with their chains. Arondir saves Revion from a warg that is loosed upon them and impales Magrot in the neck with a tree-root, but Revion is shot to death after briefly climbing free out of the camp. Their attempt is quelled, and while Arondir is pinned to the ground, Lurka tells another Orc to summon Adar. Before the credits, Adar comes out as Orcs bow to him and chant his name, while his face is seen in a blur.

Númenor

Galadriel and Halbrand find themselves on a ship captained by Elendil, headed toward Númenor. They travel up the river Siril and arrive at the capital city of Armenelos. At the city's high palace, they meet Queen Regent Míriel and her chief advisor Chancellor Pharazôn, amid a large company of other Númenóreans, presumably the Council of the Sceptre. Galadriel and Halbrand introduce themselves, and Míriel refuses to allow the two - particularly an Elf - passage back to Middle-earth as Galadriel requests.

Elendil is reluctant to let Galadriel escape Númenor when she tells him she is set on doing so, but the two establish friendship. He takes her to the kingdom's Hall of Lore, where Galadriel discovers that the sigil of Sauron she had seen is in fact an abstract, sideview map of the Southlands, which Sauron intends to make into a new, committed realm. This realm would be located within the Southlands.

A young Isildur, Elendil's son, is seen on a ship at sea near the island, training as a naval cadet with his friends Valandil and Ontamo, and others to get into the Sea Guard. During their current voyage, the Sail Master's son, Imrahil, is rescued from being blown overboard.

After briefly trying and failing to get an apprenticeship with a smithy, Halbrand attempts to steal a guild crest from a man named Tamar. When Tamar and three other men confront him to take back the crest, Halbrand defeats them all in a street fight and is then arrested. At the prison, later, Galadriel tries convincing Halbrand again to accompany her to Middle-earth in order to redeem their blood-lines, as Sauron's endurance is the fault of the Elves who had warred against Morgoth, and of Halbrand's ancestors who were Morgoth's allies.

The Harfoots

The evening before the Harfoots' next migration, from the Norfield Glen to an orchard called the Grove, The Stranger accidentally exposes himself to them while they are gathered commemorating their dead. Shocked at this, and angry at Nori's secret-keeping, the Harfoots confer what to do. Nori speaks out against their law concerning strangers and the outside world. On account of her youth, Sadoc Burrows forgives her deeds.

In the back of caravan the next day, departing from the woods, Largo and Marigold Brandyfoot finally let the Stranger come along with them after he helps the family with their wagon.

Cast

In order of appearance (in episode credits)

Actor	Role
Ismael Cruz Córdova	Arondir
Augustus Prew	Médhor
Simon Merrells	Watchwarden Revion
Morfydd Clark	Galadriel
Charlie Vickers	Halbrand
Lloyd Owen	Captain Elendil
Cynthia Addai-Robinson	Queen Regent Míriel
Trystan Gravelle	Pharazôn
Maxim Baldry	Isildur
Anthony Crum	Ontamo
Alex Tarrant	Valandil
Ema Horvath	Eärien
Sir Lenny Henry	Sadoc Burrows
Beau Cassidy	Dilly Brandyfoot
Markella Kavenagh	Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot
Megan Richards	Poppy Proudfellow
Sara Zwangobani	Marigold Brandyfoot
Dylan Smith	Largo Brandyfoot
Daniel Weyman	The Stranger
Thusitha Jayasundera	Malva
Maxine Cunliffe	Vilma
Joseph Mawle	Adar
Jed Brophy	Vrath
Michael Morris	Guardsman One
Antonio Te Maioha	Sail Master
Edward Clendon	Lurka
Luke Hawker	Magrot
Robert Strange	Other Orc
Phil Grieve	Bazur
Preston O'Brien	Guardsman Two
Phil Vaughan	Smithy
Jason Hood	Tamar
Mana Hira Davis	Worker One
Winham "Mu" Hammond	Worker Two
Gabe Wright	Messenger

Uncredited

Actor	Role
Amand Weaver	Imprisoned Farmer
Unknown actor	Imrahil
Unknown horse	Berek
Ken Blackburn	Tar-Palantir (Off-camera, but in-scene)

Trivia

Below is a list of trivia from Amazon's "X-Ray" feature that accompanied the episode.

• Scene 2 - "Most of the details and elaborations told herein are derived from 'The Lord of the Rings', its prologue entitled 'Concerning Hobbits', and its Appendices, A through F, where the intrepid traveler may journey to discover even farther horizons."
• Scene 6 - "Once slaves of the Dark Power themselves, orcs have been known to enslave even their own kind, and have often forced their conquered enemies into hard labor at their cruel hands. (Book VI, Chapter 2)"
• Scene 14 - "The central wharf of Númenor's capital city is towered over by a statue of Earendil the Mariner, the half-elven savior of Middle-earth in the Elder Days and the forebear of this human kingdom's royal line. (Appendix A)"
• Scene 17 - "The ancestors of the Númenóreans were called the Edain - the men and women who first went west in Middle-earth. They were the allies of the elves in the First Age war against Morgoth. (Appendix A)"
• Scene 20 - "Númenóreans are mariners of great renown, and lords of many ships on their island, which is also called Elenna. but they are forbidden from sailing west out of sight of their own shores, by the Ban of the Valar, to prevent them from seeking the Undying Lands themselves. (Appendix F; Appendix A)"
• Scene 23 - "It is a mark of evil things that came in the Great Darkness that they cannot abide the Sun. Some orcs can endure its light better than others, but they all hate it and only seldom will they journey in the open while the Sun shines. (Book III, Chapter 4)"
• Scene 25 - "Silvan elves hold a great love for trees, delighting in their wood and life within them, often watching them grow from acorns to ruinous old age. Given enough time, they say they might even hear the voices of the trees and understand their thoughts. (Book III, Chapter 8)"
• Scene 30 - "in contrast to the "lesser Men" or "low Men" who remained in Middle-earth, the Númenóreans were gifted a life-span far greater than their cousins who were left behind - up to three times a normal human lifetime, in earlier days. (Appendix A)"
• Scene 33 - "Elros, the first king of Númenor who ruled under the name Tar-Minyatur, was a half-elf like his brother Elrond. But when given the choice by the Valar, he chose mortality and a human life. (Appendix A)"
• Scene 35 - "Halflings delight in parties, and the Harvest Festival is a tradition meant to help the Harfoots prepare for the arduous migration that lies ahead."
• Scene 38 - "Harfoots use a pictographic "writing" system that uses symbols to convey meanings that can help to note important natural rhythms and tabulations which help them better prepare for future migrations."
• Scene 39 - "The wide-world is always around the Harfoots. They're vulnerable and unable to fence out the many dangers that exist for a small-sized creature like themselves."
• Scene 40 - "Sadoc Burrows is the Harfoot's Trailfinder and leads the caravan. He uses his unique Star-book, passed down through the generations, to guide the Harfoots on the right course from one seasonal haven to the next."
• Scene 44 - "The Númenóreans love of the Sea extends to all elements of their culture. The statue in the center of this chamber is a personification of the Sea itself - as this was not, originally, a dungeon, but rather reappropriated as one sometime in the past."
• Scene 46 - "Everything the Harfoots own, they make or find and then carry with them inside their carts - their most valued possessions."
• Scene 48 - "Wargs are akin to wolves, and are closely aligned with the orcs and the Darkness they serve. (Book II, Chapter 4)."

Deviations from Source Material

The ship that was shown at the very end of Episode 2 proves to be captained by Elendil. As in the last Episode, it is extremely unlikely humans would have been present in the part of the Sundering Seas where Elendil found Galadriel and Halbrand on the raft. The Númenóreans (the race to whom he belongs) were specifically forbidden from sailing so far West from their home that they could not see the shore. This prohibition was known as the Ban of the Valar, which Elendil may have been in contravention of.

Other deviations from the source material pertaining to Númenor include:

• Míriel not knowing who Elendil was, when the source material notes they were, in fact, cousins and had known one another since childhood. In fact, Elendil's father was a member of her father's royal Council.
• Míriel was never Regent because her father Tar-Palantir was the reigning monarch until his death.
• Míriel speaks of a tradition which says that the White Tree of Nimloth would shed blossoms as a sign of the Valar's displeasure. No such tradition is mentioned in the source material. It is also worthy of note that in the books, the White Tree bore fruit, not blossoms.
• There is no indication in the source material that Galadriel ever travelled to Númenor. She also can be heard telling the people that the Elves gave the island to men. This is incorrect: the Valar themselves created the Island of Númenor, drawing it out of the sea as a gift to men for their bravery in opposing Morgoth during the First Age.

Other People, Places and Things:

There is no indication in the source material that a stranger , possibly one of the Istari, landed in a meteorite and was found by Hobbits in the Second Age. Where references do exist to any the persons known as Wizards appearing on Middle Earth at this time, they always came among the Elves or among Men, and for a specific purpose. (See History of Middle Earth, Volume XII, "Late Writings".

It is unlikely that Durin III and Durin IV were actually father and son as shown in the show, since they lived many hundreds of years apart. Durin III recieved one of the original Rings of Power given to the Dwarves, and Durin IV was alive at the time of the War of the Last Alliance, which happened over 1700 years later. Given that the average lifespan for Dwarves was just over 200 years, the former was a distant ancestor of the latter.

Reception

• Rotten Tomatoes Reviews

External links

• Episode analysis on Rings & Realms (with Corey Olsen)
• Scoring Adar by Bear McCreary