The Eye (episode)

"The Eye" is the seventh episode of . It aired on October 7, 2022.
== Synopsis ==
=== The Southlands ===
After Orodruin has erupted, ruining and covering in ash most of the Southlands, Galadriel, Theo, and Míriel seek survivors amid the chaos. Ontamo has died, and Theo cannot find Bronwyn or Arondir. Isildur is assumed to be killed by a falling roof, of a building he and Valandil had been rescuing others from. Elendil learns of this at a Númenórean camp they have erected, a day later, and amid his sadness is unable to calm and subdue Berek, the horse to whom Isildur had "bonded" in the prior episode. Berek gallops out of the camp, likely back towards Isildur's location. Míriel has been turned blind, by either the smoke or an injury in a burning building; she asks Elendil and Valandil to keep this a secret.
Theo and Galadriel wander in the woods, somehow having strayed from the village, and eventually, outside the smoke cover, find the camp where everyone has gathered. Theo is reunited with Bronwyn and Arondir there, and Míriel resolves resentfully to return to the ships and depart back to Númenor. She promises Galadriel that Númenor will return to Middle-earth soon with a great force, to confront the newly emerged evil. Galadriel learns from Bronwyn that the Southlanders have declared Halbrand, whom Galadriel thought dead, as their king. He and Galadriel ride out on horseback somewhere.
At the end of the episode, back within the smoke cloud, Waldreg and the Orcs hail Adar as "Lord of the Southlands", before Adar says that the region shall be renamed. It is implied that he renames it Mordor.
=== The Harfoots ===
On reaching the Grove, the destination of their migration, the Harfoots are dismayed to find it destroyed by distant eruptives of Orodruin. The Stranger, however, speaks strange words to a burnt tree, and then departs from the Harfoots, without words. The next morning, all the trees and greenery of the Grove have been miraculously restored. While the Harfoots ecstatically collect the abundant fruits and other foods from the Grove, the Nomad, Ascetic, and Dweller find them, while in search of the Stranger, and the Dweller magically sets fire to the Harfoots' packed carriages when Largo threatens them with a torch. The Harfoots are greatly dismayed a second time, but, on the next day, Largo encourages them all to persevere. Nori, her family, Sadoc Burrows, Malva, and others decide to go together and seek after the Stranger.
=== Khazad-dûm ===
King Durin III declines the Elves' request to trade with the Dwarves for mithril. Prince Durin IV and Elrond drink together in low spirits, believing they will not see each other again for a while, until they find that a gem of mithril restores a corrupted, yellow Elven leaf on Durin's table, when Durin IV inadvertently places the gem near the leaf. With new apprehension, the prince shows Elrond a shockingly plentiful, unentered chasm of mithril veins, but the king finds them there, upon which he expels Elrond from Khazad-dûm. Later, Durin IV pleads with his father again to reconsider, and allow the mining and trading of mithril, but the king is enraged when Durin III references his late mother in saying that Elrond is as close to him as a brother. The king removes his son's royal neck-crest, declaring that he is no longer the prince. At his home, Durin IV is encouraged by Disa that he is still the heir to the kingdom, despite his father's decision and disappointment, and that the mithril shall be theirs when Durin III's reign ends.
Near the chasm of mithril that Durin IV had shown Elrond, the king tosses the restored yellow Elven leaf down into the chasm; when it touches the ground hundreds of feet below, it burns instantly, and, a few feet away, a Balrog emerges from the darkness and roars.
== Appearances & mentions ==
== Lore deviations ==
The merged Southlands storyline creates more original material, but does not interfere with more existing lore beyond Míriel's blinding. The main deviation in this episode for The Stranger storyline is the continued presence of the Mystics. The appearance of the Balrog is the only surprising element of the Khazad-dûm storyline.
== References ==
Category:The Rings of Power episodes
fr:L'oeil (épisode)
it:L'occhio