Payne and McKay were set to develop the series in July 2018, and a second season was ordered in November 2019. Filming began in the United Kingdom in October 2022, with Brändström returning from the first season. Production on the season wrapped in June 2023. The episode is dedicated to the Siege of Eregion.
"Doomed to Die" premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on September 26, 2024. It was estimated to have high viewership and received positive reviews, with multiple critics praising it as the best episode of the season and highlighting the character development, narrative focus, and the execution of the action sequences. The cast and crew defended a kiss between the characters Elrond and Galadriel which proved controversial among viewers and commentators.
Plot
Celebrimbor creates nine Rings of Power for Men, not knowing that Eregion is under attack from across the river that surrounds the city. He begins to notice signs that he is trapped in an illusion. As Sauron, posing as Annatar, discusses the defense of the city with its Elven soldiers, Adar orders his Orcs to aim their trebuchets at the mountains beyond the city. They cause a rockslide that blocks the river upstream, allowing the Orcs to assault the city's walls on foot.
Elrond comes to Khazad-dûm and asks Prince Durin IV to send aid to Eregion. King Durin III attacks Disa and Narvi in an attempt to mine more mithril. Concerned that his father's actions could awaken the evil beneath the mines, Durin IV prioritizes stopping him and decides not to send their army to Eregion.
Celebrimbor confronts Annatar and the latter ends the illusion, revealing the battle and that Celebrimbor has made the nine rings using Sauron's blood rather than mithril. Celebrimbor tries to warn his soldiers about Sauron, but the latter has convinced them that Celebrimbor is mentally unwell and makes it look like Celebrimbor pushes the smith Mirdania from the city walls to her death. Celebrimbor is imprisoned in his forge, where Sauron promises to spare the city if the nine rings are completed.
Elrond, High King Gil-galad, and the forces of Lindon arrive at Eregion to find the Orcs holding Galadriel hostage. Elrond attempts to negotiate her release, but refuses to hand over her ring, Nenya, to Adar. Elrond kisses Galadriel as cover to give her a pin that she can use to escape her shackles. The Elves continue their attack. That night, Galadriel attempts to escape while Adar and the Orcs are mourning their dead. She is saved from some Orcs by Arondir and the pair sneak into Eregion.
Celebrimbor attempts to escape with the nine rings and is captured by his soldiers. Galadriel finds them and convinces the soldiers that Celebrimbor has been telling the truth. He gives her the nine rings and takes the soldiers to delay Sauron. Elrond, Arondir, and Gil-galad kill the Hill-troll Damrod. As the sun rises, a small number of Elves are faced with a new wave of Orcs led by Adar. Elrond is disappointed when Durin IV does not arrive. Adar stabs Arondir and takes Nenya from Elrond.
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.[1] It was later titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.[2] Amazon hired J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay to develop the series and serve as showrunners in July 2018,[3][4] and Justin Doble joined as a writer by the following July.[4] 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.[5] Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films.[6] A second season was ordered in November 2019,[7] and Amazon announced in August 2021 that it was moving production of the series from New Zealand, where Jackson's films were made, to the United Kingdom starting with the second season.[8] The season's all-female directing team was revealed in December 2022: Charlotte Brändström, returning from the first season; Sanaa Hamri; and Louise Hooper.[9]
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.[10] 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.[6] After introducing the setting and major heroic characters in the first season, the showrunners said the second would focus on the villains and go deeper into the "lore and the stories people have been waiting to hear".[6][11] The season's seventh episode, titled "Doomed to Die",[12] was written by Payne, McKay, and Doble, and directed by Brändström.[13] The title comes from Tolkien's "Ring Verse" poem, which includes the line "Nine [Rings] for mortal Men doomed to die".[14]
Writing
Star Robert Aramayo said he was against the kiss between his character, Elrond, and Morfydd Clark's Galadriel at first, but came around to the idea after discussing the scene with Clark. He explained that it is not romantic and is primarily a strategic move to give her the pin so she can escape, but that it is also an emotional goodbye. Clark suggested that kissing would not mean the same thing for Elves as it does for humans.[15][16] McKay reiterated these thoughts, saying they thought the kiss was "a delightful way to show that [Elrond] was sorry that he mistrusted [Galadriel] for so long, and he loved her, and he was going to have to leave her to her own fate. He needed to distract the room so that he could slip her a hope that maybe she could get out of there. A kiss means a different thing between Elves. Thousands of years of friendship mean a different thing to Elves."[17]
Filming for the season began on October 3, 2022,[28] under the working titleLBP.[29] Episodes were shot simultaneously based on the availability of locations and sets.[30] Alex Disenhof returned from the first season to work with Brändström as director of photography.[31]Vic Armstrong was the stunt coordinator and second unit director for the season.[32] The production wrapped in early June 2023.[31]
Visual effects
Visual effects for the episode were created by DNEG, Outpost VFX, The Yard VFX, Midas VFX, Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies, Untold Studios, Atomic Arts, and Cantina Creative.[27][33] The different vendors were overseen by visual effects supervisor Jason Smith.[33]
A soundtrack album featuring composer Bear McCreary's score for the episode was released digitally on the streaming service Amazon Music on September 26, 2024.[34] McCreary said the series' episodic albums contained "virtually every second of score" from their respective episodes.[35] It was added to other music streaming services after the full second season was released.[36]
All music is composed by Bear McCreary:
Season Two, Episode Seven: Doomed to Die – Amazon Original Series Soundtrack
"Doomed to Die" premiered on Prime Video in the United States on September 26, 2024.[37] It was released at the same time around the world,[38] in more than 240 countries and territories.[39]
Reception
Viewership
Luminate, which gathers viewership data from smart TVs,[40] said the series was watched for 398.3 million minutes in the week ending September 26, which included several days of viewership for the sixth episode in addition to the seventh episode's debut. It tied for fourth place with Netflix's Emily in Paris.[41]Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the 25 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, again listed the series third—behind Hulu's Only Murders in the Building and Disney+'s Agatha All Along—on its US streaming chart for the week ending September 29.[42]Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on US television screens, estimated that The Rings of Power had 733 million minutes viewed in the week ending September 29. This made it the fourth biggest original streaming series of the week behind Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Nobody Wants This, and Mr. McMahon.[43]Samba TV, which also gathers viewership data from smart TVs, listed the series ninth on its chart of top streaming programs for the week ending September 29.[44]
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes calculated that 100% of 12 critics reviews were positive and the average rating for the episode was 8.4 out of 10.[45]
Matt Schimkowitz of The A.V. Club graded the episode an "A-" and said it "raises the show to exhilarating new heights". He specifically praised Brändström's direction, the use of the series' large budget to realize the battle sequences, and Edwards's performance as Celebrimbor.[12] Reviewing the episode for Polygon, Leon Miller praised it as the best of the season and possibly the series, specifically for its thematic clarity and character development which he felt was allowed by the focus on just the Siege of Eregion and related scenes in Khazad-dûm. Miller lamented that the rest of the season could not be so focused due to the number of different storylines. He also praised the work done by Armstrong and the writers in designing unique action moments that allowed the episode to stand out from previous The Lord of the Rings battle sequences.[13] Samantha Nelson at IGN gave the episode 8 out of 10 and called it the best of the season, though she did not think it bested the "dramatic twists of fortune" in the first season's "Udûn". Similar to Miller, Nelson attributed the episode's success to its focus on Eregion and expressed concern that the season finale would not be able to match this with the number of storylines needed to be resolved by the end of the season. She praised the episode's action and character moments.[46]
Vulture's Keith Phipps gave the episode four stars out of five and agreed that it was the best of the season, praising the pacing and saying "every piece here fits together" unlike some episodes of the series. He felt the Siege of Eregion did not reach the heights of the Battle of Helm's Deep depicted in Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) but said it was "an impressive piece of work in its own right, establishing a clear sense of space and then letting all hell break loose within it".[47] James Whitbrook at Gizmodo was positive about the action sequences, calling them "the most sumptuous and grandly scaled fight material" of the series so far, but was even more positive about the character moments. He highlighted the agency that is given to Celebrimbor after he learns about Sauron's deception, saying it brought "Lord of the Rings-ian sincerity and hope" along with dramatic weight. He also praised the scenes in Khazad-dûm, the fight with Damrod, and the cliffhanger ending.[48] Writing for Collider, Arezou Amin gave the episode 7 out of 10. She praised the revelation of Sauron's deception to Celebrimbor and the reunion between Elrond and Durin, but felt the scene between Galadriel and Celebrimbor highlighted the lack of development for Galadriel's relationship with Sauron in the season.[49]
Audience response
The kiss between Elrond and Galadriel was controversial among viewers and commentators, particularly because Elrond goes on to marry Galadriel's daughter Celebrían in Tolkien's history.[15][50][51] In his review, Whitbrook criticized the scene as poorly timed during the battle and said the kiss was "an odd twist" to the characters' relationship despite the justification that it is done as a distraction.[48] The showrunners were surprised by these responses and said they had not added the kiss to be controversial, "stir up the fan base", or as "shipping bait", though Payne acknowledged that it was "slightly eyebrow-raising". McKay compared the kiss to those shared by Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa in the Star Wars films before those two characters are revealed to be siblings, saying it "came out of [Elrond and Galadriel's] friendship, and it came out of the needs of that moment".[17]
Accolades
Charles Edwards was named an honorable mention for TVLine's "Performer of the Week" for the week of September 23, 2024, for his performance in this episode. The site said Edwards had been "sublime" throughout the season and highlighted the scenes where Celebrimbor learns the truth about Sauron in "Doomed to Die", saying: "Even as he fell apart, Celebrimbor retained the pride and pompousness that facilitated all of this in the first place, and Edwards... kept his performance anchored in this truth."[52] "Doomed to Die" was listed as one of the best television episodes of the year by Mashable (20th),[53]IndieWire (27th),[54] and Entertainment Weekly (unranked).[55] Luca Mosca, Katherine Burchill, and Libby Dempster were nominated for Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Television at the 2024 Costume Designers Guild Awards for their work on the episode.[56]
Companion media
An episode of the aftershowInside The Rings of Power for "Doomed to Die" was released on September 26, 2024. It features actress Felicia Day, the host of The Official The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Podcast, interviewing the showrunners, crew members Brändström, Armstrong, and Smith, and cast members Clark, Aramayo, and Hazeldine about the making of the episode, with some behind-the-scenes footage.[57][58]
^Khosla, Proma; Travers, Ben; Strecker, Erin; Foreman, Alison (December 4, 2024). "The 32 Best TV Episodes of 2024". IndieWire. Archived from the original on December 11, 2024. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
