In Review: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (S2 – EP5) Halls of Stone

Synopsis: In Halls of Stone, Durin grows suspicious of the Dwarven Rings, and Celebrimbor must reassess his priorities. Amidst Númenor’s shifting currents, Elendil searches for hope.

The Story

King Durin III receives the Rings for the seven Dwarven Kingdoms from Celebrimbor and begins to make use of his own ring to detect weaknesses within his mountain home where they can digs holes through to bring light back to his kingdom. However, when his son Prince Durin sees the effects that the ring is having on his father he tries to persuade the King to stop using it and not give the remaining six rings to the other Dwarv Kings. 

Meanwhile, back at the Forge Celebrimber is having second thoughts about making rings for the 9 Human Kingdoms claiming that any darkness that falls on human kind is self-inflicted. Sauron isn’t buying it and says that he’ll proceed to make the remaining 9 rings without Celebrimbor.

On Númenor there has been a power shift and Ar-Pharazôn has taken the throne from Míriel and has disbanded her armies. Ar’s son Kemen is enthusiastic about doing his father’s bidding and seems to savor the task of taking Captain Elendil’s ranks and status from him. 

The Acting

Owain Arthur puts in a fantastic performance as Prince Durin. The scenes where he is trying to warn his father are performed brilliantly as are how he conveys Durins worries to the Elves. Likewise, we get a brilliant performance from Leon Wadham as the manipulative and evil Kemen who is testing Captain Elendil’s patience. The scene where Kemen runs The Captain’s loyal second-in-command through the back with his sword is jaw-dropping.

Overall

Halls of Stone was a fairly decent episode, but it felt a bit drawn out in parts. I found all the political stuff based around Númenor was slow to get going and it wasn’t really until the final few scenes between Kemen and Elendil that my interest was piqued.