The Eye

Plot

Following the eruption of Orodruin, Tirharad is covered in ash and fire. Galadriel finds Theo and they begin making their way out of the Southlands. They bond over their shared guilt regarding the events leading to the eruption, and Galadriel discusses her husband Celeborn whom she believes to be dead. Isildur and Valandil find Ontamo dead. They help Queen Regent Míriel rescue survivors from a burning building, but it collapses and Míriel loses her eyesight. Isildur is presumed dead in the collapse.

The Harfoots finish their migration to the Grove, an orchard that has been destroyed by the nearby volcano. They ask the Stranger to help fix it but his attempts lead to a large tree branch landing on Nori and Dilly Brandyfoot. Scared, the Harfoots send the Stranger away. The next day they awake to find the orchard regrown. When the three mysterious women arrive in search of the Stranger, Nori attempts to send them in the wrong direction. They retaliate by using magic to burn all the Harfoot wagons and then continue their search. Nori leaves to find the Stranger and warn him of the danger, accompanied by Poppy Proudfellow, Sadoc Burrows, and her mother Marigold.

Galadriel and Theo reach the Númenórean camp outside of the Southlands where Theo is reunited with Bronwyn and Arondir. Elendil learns of Isildur's loss and lets the latter's horse, who cannot be calmed, gallop away. Before the Númenóreans depart Middle-earth, Míriel promises to return and seek revenge. Galadriel is reunited with a gravely wounded Halbrand and helps him ride north to receive Elvish medicine. The other human survivors seek refuge in nearby Pelargir, an old Númenórean colony.

In Khazad-dûm, Elrond and Prince Durin IV ask King Durin III for permission to begin mining mithril, but he refuses. When they see proof that mithril can reverse the fading power of the Elves, the pair begin mining the ore in secret but are caught by Durin III. Elrond is banished, taking a small piece of mithril with him, and Durin IV is stripped of his royal status. Durin III orders the mithril mine be sealed, not knowing that a Balrog lives deep below it.

In the Southlands, the Orcs and their human allies name Adar "Lord of the Southlands". He says that place no longer exists: it is now the land of Mordor.

Production

Development

Amazon acquired the television rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55) in November 2017. The company's streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, ordered a series based on the novel and its appendices to be produced by Amazon Studios in association with New Line Cinema. It was later titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Amazon hired J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay to develop the series and serve as showrunners in July 2018. Jason Cahill joined the series as a writer by July 2019, and Charlotte Brändström was set to direct two episodes of the first season by May 2021. The series was originally expected to be a continuation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) film trilogies, but Amazon later clarified that their deal with the Tolkien Estate required them to keep the series distinct from Jackson's films. Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films. Amazon said in September 2019 that the first season would be filmed in New Zealand, where Jackson's films were made.

The series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings. Because Amazon did not acquire the rights to Tolkien's other works where the First and Second Ages are primarily explored, the writers had to identify references to the Second Age in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and its appendices, and create a story that bridged those passages. The first season focuses on introducing the setting and major heroic characters to the audience. Written by Cahill and directed by Brändström, the seventh episode is titled "The Eye".

Writing

Brändström said the episode was an opportunity to slow down and focus on the characters following the action-heavy sixth episode, "Udûn". The showrunners added that the episode was about characters facing the consequences of their actions. After taking inspiration from World War I for the Orc tunnels earlier in the season, the writers noticed a parallel between the smoke, ash, and fire of this episode's post-eruption setting and chemical weapons used in that war. This led to a suggestion that one of the characters should be blinded in the episode, and multiple writers simultaneously suggested that it should be Míriel. They thought it was a tragic irony that the person who has been having visions of the future of Númenor now cannot see at all. A line of dialogue was added to the fifth episode, "Partings", to foreshadow this development, when Míriel's father tells her that darkness awaits her in Middle-earth.

The showrunners said the episode would bring together unlikely character pairings among the survivors of the eruption, including Galadriel and Theo. Galadriel actress Morfydd Clark said the episode was the first glimpse in the series of who her character would have been if she was not hunting for Sauron, and said there is an element of the character feeling at peace despite her overall feelings of "shame and devastation". When Galadriel tells Theo not to take on the burden of guilt, Brändström felt Galadriel is seeing herself in him and is really giving that advice to herself. The director added that Theo is awestruck of Galadriel when he sees her fighting in the sixth episode, and the fact that she gives him advice and her sword in this episode makes him want to be a good person and live up to her example. The episode includes the series' first mention of Galadriel's husband Celeborn when she tells Theo that she believes him to be dead. This is a change from Tolkien's history, where the two are not separated in this way. The showrunners liked the idea that people sometimes talk about things to a new friend or stranger that they are not willing to discuss with their closest friends, and McKay added, "Maybe Theo's confessions are provoking confessions from her." The change from Tolkien's history was made because the showrunners were approaching the series as a "long-term creative project" with plans to introduce different Tolkien characters each season. They also wanted to explore Galadriel as an individual and in terms of her relationship to Halbrand before introducing Celeborn to the story. The showrunners thought fans would be excited to meet Celeborn in an unexpected way and build towards the relationship that he has with Galadriel in the Third Age. They were surprised when some Tolkien fans took issue with the change to established lore.

Casting

The season's cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel, Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Owain Arthur as Durin IV, Maxim Baldry as Isildur, Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir, Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows, Markella Kavenagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot, Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo, Sophia Nomvete as Disa, Lloyd Owen as Elendil, Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow, Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot, Charlie Vickers as Halbrand, Daniel Weyman as the Stranger, and Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot. Also starring in the episode are Alex Tarrant as Valandil, Anthony Crum as Ontamo, Beau Cassidy as Dilly Brandyfoot, Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva, Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma, Peter Mullan as Durin III, Joseph Mawle as Adar, Geoff Morrell as Waldreg, Edith Poor as the Nomad, Kali Kopae as the Ascetic, and Bridie Sisson as the Dweller. Jed Brophy and Robert Strange play unnamed Orcs in the episode.

Filming and design

Production on episodes beyond the first two began in January 2021, under the working title Untitled Amazon Project or simply UAP, following an extended filming break that began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Brändström first began discussing plans for the sixth and seventh episodes while she was in COVID-19 quarantine on her way into New Zealand. Virtual production allowed Brändström and cinematographer Alex Disenhof to plan the two episodes within a digital environment. They had two months of pre-production before filming started. Brändström and Disenhof were inspired more by production designer Ramsey Avery's sets and artwork than what the other directors and cinematographers had done so far, believing they could bring a fresh perspective to the series because of their episodes' unique story elements and greater focus on location shooting. Brändström felt the episodes were more like one long film, with the sixth episode being the set-up for dramatic payoffs in the seventh. They chose to play into this by focusing on Galadriel's perspective at the end of the sixth episode and again at the start of the seventh. Brändström was confirmed to be in New Zealand for production in May 2021, and her episodes were filmed across 80 first unit shooting days and 30 second unit shooting days. The first two days were on location at Mount Kidd in the South Island, for the scene where Galadriel meets with a wounded Míriel. They only had one day to prepare on location due to how remote it is, but had been able to plan ahead with virtual production. The Númenórean encampment was built near Auckland, with visual effects used to place it at Mount Kidd. Filming for the season wrapped on August 2.

Concept art for the episode's Khazad-dûm scenes reminded Disenhof of Baroque paintings and inspired him to use practical, single-source lighting on those sets where possible. Putting lanterns close to the actors achieved the look that he wanted, but this made the lanterns blow-out on camera. The visual effects team restored some of the lantern details for these shots. For the scene where Disa and Durin discuss mithril and their future as rulers, Brändström wanted to focus on Disa's ambitions and the aspects of her character that are comparable to Lady Macbeth from William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. Because the Harfoots are supposed to be much smaller than the orchard that they arrive at in the episode, the production portrayed apple trees using pear trees with large, artificial apples added to them. When the Harfoots first arrive at the orchard and see it has been destroyed by the volcano, Brändström chose to focus on their reactions first before revealing the damage to the audience. This was a way to keep the focus on the character's feelings.

Visual effects

Visual effects for the episode were created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Wētā FX, Method Studios, Rodeo FX, Cause and FX, Atomic Arts, and Cantina Creative. The different vendors were overseen by visual effects supervisor Jason Smith. Rodeo handled much of the Harfoot storyline, including environment augmentation, scale work, and fire and magic effects. Brandstrom storyboarded the Balrog sequence for the visual effects team to follow. Wētā created the Balrog, which was redesigned from the version that is seen in Jackson's films as part of the "Song of the Roots of Hithaeglir" sequence in the fifth episode.

Music

Composer Bear McCreary expected the episode to be easier to score than the previous one, joking that he felt composing for the sixth episode's large amount of action scenes nearly killed him, but he said the seventh episode was still difficult due to the nuance required in combining his existing main themes in new ways. For example, this is the first episode where he used the theme for Elendil and his family to score tragic scenes. This can be heard when Elendil gains hope that Isildur is alive only to realize that he is seeing someone else, which is a scene that made McCreary cry. He hoped his music for it could convey the same emotions.

McCreary used his Orc theme to represent the post-eruption setting, but still retained his Southlands theme for key moments to show that the people of the Southlands are not completely defeated. His Southlands theme also represents Halbrand, which he thought worked out particularly well for the end of the episode where the Southlanders cheer on Halbrand. When Theo arrives in the infirmary and believes that his mother is dead, McCreary used a choral line from Raya Yarbrough—his wife and frequent collaborator—just as he did for key Bronwyn scenes in the previous episode. He hoped the audience would remember those moments and believe this to be confirmation of her death before she is revealed to be alive. The Mordor title card is accompanied by Sauron's theme with the choir singing "Mordor, where the shadows lie" in Black Speech, one of Tolkien's constructed languages.

A soundtrack album featuring McCreary's score for the episode was released digitally on the streaming service Amazon Music on October 6, 2022. McCreary said the album contained "virtually every second of score" from the episode. It was added to other music streaming services after the full first season was released. A CD featuring the episode's music is included in a limited edition box set collection for the season from Mondo, Amazon Music, and McCreary's label Sparks & Shadows. The box set was released on April 26, 2024, and includes a journal written by McCreary which details the creation of the episode's score. All music was composed by Bear McCreary:

Release

"The Eye" premiered on Prime Video in the United States on October 7, 2022. It was released at the same time around the world, in more than 240 countries and territories. For two weeks leading up to the premiere of the second season on August 29, 2024, the first season was made available for free on the streaming service Samsung TV Plus in the US, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Reception

Viewership

Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the 21 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, calculated that for the week ending October 9, two days after the episode's debut, The Rings of Power remained the second-highest original streaming series for US viewership, behind Disney+'s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on US television screens, estimated that the series was watched for 988 million minutes during the week ending October 9. This kept the series in third-place on the company's list of top streaming series and films, behind only Netflix's Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Disney+'s Hocus Pocus 2. Parrot Analytics determines audience "demand expressions" based on various data sources, including social media activity and comments on rating platforms. During the week ending October 14, the company calculated that The Rings of Power was 38.7 times more in demand than the average US streaming series, a 25 percent increase that moved it up to third on the company's top 10 list for the week.

Critical response

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes calculated that 83% of 23 critics reviews for the episode were positive, and the average of rated reviews was 7.6 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "'The Eye' blinks when it comes to fully capitalizing on the momentum that its predecessor's volcanic climax promised, but it succeeds admirably in dovetailing plotlines and teeing up a cohesive finale."

Matt Schimkowitz at The A. V. Club graded the episode "A-" and said it was the best of the season so far, believing the themes explored and the style of dialogue were true to Tolkien's writings and what the franchise is really about, rather than the action and spectacle of the previous episode. Total Film's Jack Shepherd said "The Eye" was another brilliant episode after "Udûn", successfully moving the story forward by dealing with the aftermath of that episode and going deeper into the characters. He scored it four-and-a-half stars out of five. Leon Miller of Polygon also thought it was sensible to have an episode with less action that explores the consequences of the characters' choices. He felt the episode brought clarity for where the story was going moving forward, and said changes from Tolkien's lore were taking the series from an "unsure adaptation to a confident story in its own right". Tom Power at TechRadar gave the episode four stars out of five and said it was as dramatically tense, if not more so, than the previous episode despite not being as narratively focused or action-packed.

Michael Nordine at Variety said the series had always been "visually arresting... but never has that beauty been as haunting" as in this episode's post-eruption setting. Power praised Brändström's direction, particularly for the opening sequence, as did Keith Phipps in his review for Vulture in which he gave the episode four stars out of five. Schimkowitz said the episode was "visually striking". Writing for The Escapist, Darren Mooney compared the episode's depiction of a post-eruption setting to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and discussed the relevance of such comparisons to Tolkien's history and writings. A scene where Galadriel and Theo hide from Orcs under a tree was compared to a similar moment when the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings hide from a Nazgûl. Disenhof said that scene in the films was not a conscious reference.

Schimkowitz praised the performances of Aramayo and Arthur, while Power described Arthur as an "emotional powerhouse" in the episode. Phipps said the scenes with Elrond, Durin, and Disa showed how The Rings of Power was able to take meaningful breaks from action to develop its characters and relationships. Christian Holub, who graded the episode "B-" for Entertainment Weekly, thought this storyline would be stronger if the series had been more clear on the plight of the Elves and why they need mithril. He was also confused about how the series was handling Celeborn, while other reviewers felt it was clear that he would be introduced in a later season. Multiple reviewers noted the surprising pairing of Galadriel and Theo, and the episode's unified focus on themes of responsibility and consequences. Den of Geek's Juliette Harrisson said the episode was the "dark night of the soul" for the main characters and gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five. She thought some of the emotion was undermined by the audience knowing the fates of key characters, such as Isildur.

Companion media

An episode of the official aftershow Deadline's Inside the Ring: LOTR: The Rings of Power for "The Eye" was released on October 8, 2022. Hosted by Deadline Hollywood's Dominic Patten and Anthony D'Alessandro, it features exclusive "footage and insights" for the episode, plus interviews with cast members Aramayo, Arthur, Addai-Robinson, Clark, Vickers, Muhafidin, Baldry, and Gravelle as well as Brändström and McCreary. On October 14, The Official The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Podcast was released on Amazon Music. Hosted by actress Felicia Day, the seventh episode is dedicated to "The Eye" and features Brändström, Payne, and McKay. On November 21, a bonus segment featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the episode was added to Prime Video's X-Ray feature as part of a series titled "The Making of The Rings of Power".