One of the funniest things about the title The Lord of the Rings is that, within the classic novels, there’s really only one ring everybody is worried about. The rest of the rings, the nine for Men, the seven for Dwarves, and the three for Elves are, in theory, what comprises the entire purpose of The Rings of Power series on Prime Video. While Season 1 didn’t get into the forging of these rings beyond the elven variety, Season 2 is certainly giving us way more varieties of ring action, much more than ever before, and oddly, more varied than even Tolkien’s novels.
Still, the paradox of the Rings saga is the simple fact that the plural is all headed toward a singular. We’re not really thinking about the rings as a group of magical objects, we’re often thinking about them as a means to an end. And that end is simple: The One Ring, the ring to rule them all.Interestingly, Rings of Power Season 2 seems slyly aware of this paradox. And with the repetition of one specific word in the latest episodes, the real endgame of the show already seems surprisingly close — while adding a new wrinkle to the lore surrounding the One Ring itself.
What kind of “precious” are we talking about here?
Amazon
Twice within the sixth episode of Rings of Power Season 2, different characters utter the word “precious.” The first time this happens is in the context of Annatar/Sauron (Charlie Vickers) trying to force the Dwarves to hook him up with some extra mithril in order to forge more rings of power. Annatar offers the dwarves extra timber to make mineshafts but also suggests he could give them something “more… precious.”
Annatar/Sauron doesn’t specify what he means by this, but the use of this word is very pointed. This is the term that Gollum ascribed to the One Ring starting in The Hobbit and throughout The Lord of the Rings. That eventuality is about a thousand years in the future from the point of view of The Rings of Power, but the foreshadowing is fairly clear: Sauron clearly imbued the rings with certain magical trigger words, and the word “precious” is one of those words.
Interestingly though, the word “precious” is used in a totally different context elsewhere in the same episode. Before facing the judgment of the Valar, Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) tells Elendil (Lloyd Owen) that she wants him to stick around and be “a man who will champion all that is precious.”
Míriel is talking about keeping solid values and morals in the kingdom of Númenor, mostly because she knows that corruption is spreading. But, the thing is, we know her seemingly good intentions won’t matter long term. And that’s because just like the Dwarves, Elendil is headed for some rough times ahead.
Rings of Power needs the One Ring soon
Will we ever seen Elrond verus the One Ring?
Amazon
Although it probably won’t happen this season, eventually, The Rings of Power will have to introduce the One Ring, otherwise, all of this talk of “precious” will start to feel strange. In the long term, we know that Elendil won’t stick around in Númenor at all, and along with his son Isildur, will end up creating the kingdom of Gondor. This detail creates a shocking amount of plot armor for Elendil in Rings of Power. Almost nothing can happen to him because the larger lore needs him to fight Sauron, get slain, and have Isildur take up his father’s sword.
Will we ever see the “precious” on Sauron’s finger in this show? Will we ever get to this moment where Elendil — side-by-side with Elrond — is taken out by the Dark Lord? In Season 2, that moment felt very, very far away. But with the preponderance of the word “precious” in Season 2, and Sauron getting very close to cooking up the rest of the titular rings, suddenly, that tragic future doesn’t seem so distant.
The Rings of Power isn’t quite to that point in the larger story yet. But by dropping this one word over and over again, it’ss clear that Season 2 is lighting the One Ring fire in a way that seemed impossible in Season 1.
News
Did you spot this hint about the Stranger’s real name in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Part 2?
We basically already know it, but the Stranger might need some help figuring it out. By the end of its first season, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power all but confirmed that the mysterious Stranger (Daniel Weyman) was none other than…
Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s massive $200 million mansion features an in-home museum
Billion-dollar business enterprises, multi-million dollar tours, endless number-one albums, and the most Grammys in history are all reasons why Beyoncé and Jay-Z are not just one of the most powerful and influential couples on the planet, but the wealthiest. It’ll therefore come as a surprise to…
Watch the wedding of Beyoncé and JAY-Z’s former assistant, which they recently attended with their daughter Blue Ivy
The couple and their eldest child were photographed at the wedding of Bey’s former assistant in Nantucket, Mass. From left: JAY-Z; Beyoncé; Blue Ivy Carter. Photo: Monica Schipper/WireImage; Kevin Mazur/WireImage; Kevin Winter/Getty Beyoncé, JAY-Z and Blue Ivy spent some time in Nantucket celebrating the “II Hands…
Jay-Z filmed a music video at this house in LA in 2000, but you could own it for this surprising price
The billionaire rap mogul filmed the video for his single “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” at this David Hertz-designed contemporary residence in Bel Air. Rapper turned billionaire music mogul Jay-Z dropped the video for I Just Wanna Love U…
The Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century by Billboard: Profile of Number 16, Jay-Z
Jay-Z raised the ceiling on hip-hop’s impact within 21st century popular music, and proved rappers could be pop stars without ever explicitly going pop. With the first quarter of the 21st century coming to a close, Billboard is spending the next few…
Diddy is in dire need of a crisis management team… and where is Jay-Z, is he all alone?
On Wednesday, Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ long-suffering and loyal-to-a-fault publicist, Nathalie Moar, quit her post as Puffy’s mouthpiece, hours after I texted her saying her boss had been looking for her replacement for over six months. Several crisis management PR teams have…
End of content
No more pages to load