Adrift (episode)

"Adrift" is the second episode of . It aired on September 2, 2022.
== Synopsis ==
=== The Harfoots ===
Poppy finds Elanor Brandyfoot at the crater, and they strenuously relocate the sleeping Stranger with a cart. When he awakes, Elanor struggles to communicate with him. Unsettled, he suddenly causes great winds with his voice, and utters strange words Elanor cannot interpret. Back at home, Largo injures his ankle putting up a canopy.
Later in the episode, at evening, Poppy and Elanor meet with the Stranger again. They offer their help, unsure if he understands them. With telekinetic powers, he breaks open Poppy's firefly-lantern, and as the fireflies disperse, he speaks to them, entranced as they fly around. Then he arranges them into a certain constellation against the night sky, which Elanor believes to be a clue to find The Stranger's home.
=== Hordern and Tirharad ===
In the fresh ruins of Hordern, where no survivors are present, Arondir and Bronwyn find and enter the burnt house of her friends Ciaran and Hana. Arondir goes alone into a tunnel below ground, leading from the house. By an underground pool, within the hour, he is suddenly seized into the dark by an unknown foe.
Back at Waldreg's bar in Tirharad, Bronwyn tries to convince the folk to spread the news of Hordern, but with no luck. At Bronwyn's house, Theo discovers beneath their floor-boards a long-hidden Orc (whose noise Theo had believed was caused by mice) just as Bronwyn returns home. As the Orc emerges, they hide from him, and then desperately try to kill him. She manages to behead the Orc. With his head, Bronwyn goes and convinces the town-folk to seek safety and relocate at the local Elven outpost.
Theo privately inspects the strange weapon he had found with Rowan in the , and then embarks with his mother, as all citizens of Tirharad exit the town with their belongings toward the Elven tower.
=== Eregion and Khazad-dûm ===
Elrond goes and meets Celebrimbor at Ost-in-Edhil, capital of Eregion, and marvels at the hammer of Fëanor had used to create the Silmarils. Celebrimbor tells of his own new ambitions, requesting that Elrond assist him in attaining the means to build a specialized forge-tower necessary for making the Rings of Power. For this, they go to Khazad-dûm to ask for the help of the Dwarves. In Khazad-dûm, Elrond fails in a contest to earn Prince Durin's favor, but Elrond convinces him to hear his proposal. He joins Durin and his wife, Disa, for dinner, and tells his proposal off-screen.
Durin later relays the proposal to King Durin III, his father, who is untrusting, and cautious against the notion of cooperation between Dwarves and Elves. In the same room, Durin III opens a chest, and the two observe a precious shiny object within, blocked from view.
=== The Sea ===
Swimming back to Middle-earth, Galadriel encounters a raft of stranded human mariners frightened of a nearby creature that had wrecked their ship. Among them are Halbrand, Eamon, and Abigail. The worm soon finds them and destroys the raft, and Galadriel escapes with Halbrand only. Heading east, Halbrand questions Galadriel's business at sea, and after an argument, she is gratified to learn from him that Orcs are indeed still active on Middle-earth, as they had driven Halbrand from his home in the Southlands. At dusk, the waters turn stormy, and Galadriel nearly drowns before Halbrand rescues her.
In the last moment of the episode, an unknown ship the next morning finds Galadriel and Halbrand wearily sleeping on their raft.
== Appearances & mentions ==
== Lore deviations ==
As with the previous episode, there are few deviations from known canon, but we do get some names for new, original locations. The largest divergence is the introduction of the original character, Halbrand, who Galadriel meets on a raft in the middle of the sea. The primary, but not serious, deviation of the Khazad-dûm storyline is the simultaneous presence of both Durin III and Durin IV who may or may not have been alive at the same time and are not previously connected as father and son in existing lore.
== References ==
Category:The Rings of Power episodes