This is it, Middle-earth. Today is the day that we find out what awful fate lies ahead for Celebrimbor. The Rings of Power’s most entertaining and tragic character was tricked into forging 19 rings for the dark lord Sauron as easily as Buggy Bunny got Daffy Duck to switch from saying “rabbit season” to “duck season.” Now his task is complete. The elven smith has little else left in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series, meaning that this season 2 finale most likely ends in his death. If we’re lucky, it’s just a farewell.

Last episode, Celebrimbor’s (Charles Edwards) city of Eregion faced a brutal siege from Adar (Sam Hazeldine) and his orc army. As Galadriel mentions, it’s exactly what Sauron (Charlie Vickers) wants from the orc leader—since Sauron possesses no army of his own yet. Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), and their elf army rush in to hold back Adar, but it proves useless. Without help from their dwarf allies, Elrond is defeated by Adar on the battlefield and Adar claims Galadriel’s (Morfydd Clark) ring of power.

Meanwhile, the dwarf prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur) must stop his ring-maddened father (Peter Mullan) from destroying their home. The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) is searching for his name, and a magical orb is dictating the events of Númenor’s presidential election. If that sounds a little too close to home, don’t worry, because I’m mainly going to focus on Celebrimbor … for one last time.

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King Durin III would have been right if it wasn’t for the Balrog.

Mind the Mines

But first, King Durin III’s ring madness is threatening the safety of every dwarf in Middle-earth. His greedy paws will stop at nothing to extract the valuable mithril from the mines of Khazad-dûm, even if the mountain collapses and kills everyone. Durin IV confronts his father after the king seals the gates and traps them inside. But King Durin III doesn’t take off the ring until he digs deep enough to come face-to-face with the Balrog—a literal demon with a flaming sword that lives in the depths of the mountain.

The Lord of the Rings fans knew this moment was coming, especially since Gandalf faces off against the monster in Peter Jackson’s award-winning film trilogy. To save his kingdom, the ringless Durin III sacrifices himself in a fight against the Balrog that seals the demon back in the caves.

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Finally, the Stranger reveals his name.

People Are Strange; Wizards Are Stranger

In a scene so dark it’s barely even visible, the Stranger finally confronts the “dark wizard of the East” played by Ciarán Hinds. Remember him? He ordered an army of skeleton-mask-wearing nomads to capture the Stranger’s friends. Well, he knows who the Stranger is and where he comes from. Sadly, though, he’s evil. When the Stranger refuses to join him, he destroys the Stoor’s home and departs. Since he chose his friends, the Stranger also doesn’t complete his staff-searching plot with Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) until the end of the episode. Strange indeed.

As the Stranger says goodbye to his Harfoot friends, the Stoors call him a “grand-elf” multiple times. “Grand-elf?” he asks. Nori (Markella Kavenagh) explains to him that they’ve never seen an elf before, so they just assumed he was some tall elf. Hmm … grand-elf.… That kind of sounds like Gandalf, no? Bombadil gives him a little nudge. “Gandalf,” the Stranger finally says. Let the record show that steam is furiously shooting out of my ears like a cartoon character.

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Balrog, unbound!

Pharazôn 2024

Feeling the election slipping from his fingers, Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) comes up with a truly birdbrained scheme to defeat Queen Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). He forges a document that says she has allied with Sauron, and everyone in court just believes him. It’s written right here! It must be true! Outside, soldiers start arresting anyone who answers “Yes” to questions such as “Are you a traitor?” Celebrimbor was right. Men are dumb. As Míriel is tried for treason, Elendil (Lloyd Owen) runs away to fight another day. She gifts him a cool new sword dubbed “the White Flame.” So I guess this is another plot that will carry over into season 3.

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Celebrimbor, say it ain’t so!

Celebrimbor, the Time Has Come

Sauron is a master trickster, so his decision to torture Celebrimbor using a bow and arrow is quite odd. I imagine a horrific death for the elf is just minutes away. Something like Sauron sucking all of the bones out of Celebrimbor’s body or twisting him into a pretzel until his limbs rip off. But Sauron’s going with arrows for now. When Celebrimbor refuses to tell him where the final nine rings are (they’re with Galadriel), Sauron finally switches his tune. “There are ways of keeping you alive, friend,” he warns him. “Must I show you my mastery of that craft as well?” Honestly, yes please. I want to see the evil bad guy do some gnarlier stuff than sling arrows. “Your only craft is treachery,” the elf spits back. Nice one, Celebrimbor.

The elf stands up even though five arrows are poking out of his body. “Hear the dying words of Celebrimbor!” he declares. Oh no! Not his dying words! “The Rings of Power shall destroy you,” Celebrimbor warns. “And in the end, I foresee, one alone shall prove your utter ruin!” How prescient, Celebrimbor. You nailed it. One hundred percent correct! How do you know that?

Sauron then impales Celebrimbor with a giant lance. He states that his vision is impossible because he is master of the rings. “No, you are their prisoner,” Celebrimbor says with his dying breath. “Sauron, Lord of the Rings.” Wow. He said it, folks. He said both titles of the show—that’s why he’s No. 1. In episode 5, he was the first character to say, “the Rings of Power.” Now he’s the first character to utter, “the Lord of the Rings.” And with his final words?! Pour one out for Celebrimbor.

Sauron, You Evil Fiend!

Orcs break into Eregion’s city gates and make their way to Sauron in Celebrimbor’s tower. “What is your name?” Sauron asks one of the orcs. We don’t learn it right away, because the scene cuts back to Galadriel as she’s caught by Adar’s forces for a second time this season. Wearing her ring, Adar appears not as a ghastly dark elf but as a regular elf with pale flesh. He gives her the ring back and promises that if she helps him defeat Sauron he will recall his orcs back to Mordor and never wage war on Middle-earth again. He wants peace. “No more fire, no more darkness.”

The band who met Sauron return as we learn that the orc’s name was Glüg. It’s an excellent orc name. But after Glüg betrays Adar and his fellow orcs stab their father like he was Jon Snow in the Game of Thrones season 5 finale, Glüg can go to hell. So can Galadriel; she stands still and watches the whole mutiny in fear like a deer in headlights. When she finally gathers enough courage to fight him, they just trade ideologies. Sauron wishes to “heal all Middle-earth,” which is still a goal I don’t entirely understand. Does Middle-earth have any real problems other than Sauron? I guess there’s still greed, wealth inequality, and war just like anywhere else. But there’s also magic. We should be able to figure this out.

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The final confrontation (this season)!

I Miss Celebrimbor

Anyway, there’s still another half hour left in this finale—if you can believe it. How many more seasons are there? I already miss Celebrimbor. And so does Elrond. When an orc exits his workshop holding some scrolls, Elrond shouts, “No! That is the full record of Celebrimbor’s works! Its value is beyond jewels or even blood!” Sorry, orcs aren’t really known to listen to reason. They burn Celebrimbor’s scrolls.

As Galadriel and Sauron continue their fight, she wastes another opportunity to kill him when he switches his face back to season 1 boyfriend mode. He gazes at Galadriel with puppy-dog eyes before he changes to look just like her. Then … the most evil trick of all. Sauron changes his form to look just like Celebrimbor!

“I know your mind,” Sauron says. “The door is still open.” Galadriel’s had enough. “The door is shut,” she responds. Then she hits him with a spinning wheel kick so fast that the impact should’ve broken his neck. I took a photo of it below, for reference, because it looked like Sauron’s head spun all the way around his body.

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Ouch.

Sauron stabs Galadriel with Morgoth’s crown and berates her for one last time, saying she could have been his queen. Sauron takes the nine rings for mankind from her and then telepathically requests that she hand over her special elven ring as well. “You wish to heal Middle-earth?” she asks him. “Heal yourself.” It’s not as good a burn as Celebrimbor’s earlier. I would’ve tried for, maybe, “Sauron? More like Sauroff!” But I’ll take it.

As the dwarves finally arrive to aid the elves in saving Eregion, the city is pretty much burned to the ground and full of orcs already. Galadriel jumps off a cliff to save the ring and falls so far down the cliff face that it should’ve killed her before she even hit the ground. Honestly, it’s a miracle that king Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) finds her body and not a spattered mess. She’s even awake, which is insane. Elrond puts on her ring and heals her.

When she wakes up, our heroes surround her and immediately ask what they should do next to stop Sauron. Naturally, she shares some words from Rings of Power’s greatest character to finish this long finale. “I would remember the counsel of our dear friend, Celebrimbor,” Galadriel says. “It is not strength that overcomes darkness, but light.