Rings of Power, “Halls of Stone” Delves Deep Into Power's Corruption
Tolkien's point about power is subtle and applicable to everyone.
Spoiler-free Thoughts
It should be no surprise that The Rings of Power deals with power, specifically the type that comes from rings, but “Halls of Stone” highlights the temptations inherent with power and a desire for more of it. We’re seeing those temptations take hold across Middle-earth.
In the early moments of episode five, I worried this would be a disappointing episode. Some storylines and characters seemed to move too quickly. The foreshadowing of changes planted episodes ago and even last season suddenly appeared fully formed. While the question of pacing, which has lingered with the show through two seasons, may still be valid, by episode's end the crescendoing tension in this episode overwhelmed those concerns for me and left me excited for what’s to come.
“Halls of Stone” focuses on highpoints of the series so far, particularly Khazad-dûm and Eregion, and builds up the intrigue and outrage in Númenor. As a result, it stands out as one of the best episodes of the season so far.
You can read my full spoiler-filled review at
’s Substack, but I did want to share some additional thoughts on the themes of power from Tolkien and Lewis.The Dangerous Pride of Power
It would be wrong to say J.R.R. Tolkien opposed all power and its use. Middle-earth has good rulers rightly exercising their limited authority. Aragorn was the rightful king of Gondor. His taking the throne and ruling is a sign of restoration and hope.
What Tolkien warns us against in his writing, and what The Rings of Power highlights, is the allure of growing our power and our justifications for doing so. The elves do not want to diminish. The dwarves want to amass more wealth. Men want power over more kingdoms. And obviously, Sauron seeks to rule all Middle-earth.
In “Halls of Stone,” leaders like Durin, Pharazôn, and Celebrimbor, all of whom have varying degrees of legitimacy, are not content with the current power or the limitations placed on them from the past. Neither are they satisfied with their station compared to others.
King Durin seeks to knock down foundational walls in Khazad-dûm and commands his people to dig deeper than the restrictions he placed on mining decades ago. He wants the other dwarf kingdoms to pay tribute to him.
Pharazôn reaches the pinnacle of Númenorean power, but from his newfound perch, he can see reminders of elves and their immortality. He wants what they have.
Celebrimbor knows the dangers of giving rings to men, yet he goes along with the plan because he does not his king to stop his work and his chance to eclipse the greatness of elven craftsmen in the past.
They are not alone. Each of us is tempted to misuse even the smallest measures of power we have and to seek to expand it further. In explaining why he supported a democratic form of government, C.S. Lewis reveals why no one deserves unchecked authority.
In “Equality,” an essay from Present Concerns, he writes.
A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they’re not true. … I don’t deserve a share in governing a hen-roost, much less a nation. Nor do most people — all the people who believe advertisements, and think in catchwords and spread rumors. The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters.
This is part of the reason why Lewis spends so much time on slavery in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a children’s book from the 1950s. That lust for power remains even if the institution is dismantled.
Don’t view The Lord of the Rings or any adaptation of Tolkien’s work as a complete condemnation of power. Recognize the more subtle point he’s making that applies to us all.
Any measure of power can be misused when we seek to exploit others for our own gain and refuse to be content with the extent of our authority. That reveals how pride has infected our power.
In Mere Christianity, Lewis tells us that pride is “essentially competitive—is competitive by its very nature.” He writes:
Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.
Unfortunately, pride and power are often found together. They feed off each other. Pride pushes power to be discontent and power encourages pride to swell.
We know many of The Rings of Power characters will have tragic endings brought about by their pride and power or the pride and power of others. It does not have to be that way for you and me.
During the first season of The Rings of Power, we tracked who Sauron would be. He has been revealed, but we have a couple of other questions that allow us to play the guessing game this season. We still don’t know who the Stranger is or which nine from the race of men will become Ringwraiths.
We didn’t get much new information this week since we never went to Rhûn and the only men we saw were Númenoreans. So, there’s not a lot of change from the possibilities last week … except that we all hate Kemen even more.
Who is the Stranger?
Gandalf — Just this season, the Stranger has been searching for his “gand” and someone asked if he is a “grand elf.” Plus, with all of the emphasis on finding his name, I worry viewers will feel misled and disappointed if the Stranger is not Gandalf.
Blue Wizard — This remains my preference. Whoever the Stranger may be revealed as, the show is giving us the storyline of the Blue Wizards. Tolkien wrote about two Blue Wizards going into the East. He had two different versions of what they did. The Stranger and the Evil Wizard could bring in both versions.
Radagast — Have we seen any wild animals around? Maybe some birds that could mark the Stranger’s hat? This feels like the least likely but maybe they want to avoid using Gandalf, but want a name reveal that at least some people know.
Waldreg the White — Alas, poor Waldreg; we knew him. We never saw the crusty old barkeep die on screen, so we can hold out hope that he could be resurrected like Gandalf and return as a good wizard.
Naming the Nazgûl
Theo — Unfortunately, this still feels all but assured.
Theo’s dad — Mystery characters usually end up as something significant later on. Are father-son matching rings in the future?
Pharazôn — He really doesn’t like elves, does he?
Eärien — Further entrenching herself with the evil Númenoreans could make her Ringwraith status more likely, but I feel like her dad all but guaranteed her future fate with his line about it being a “long way to the bottom.”
Brânk — He already has the creepy skull mask, why not just go full monster?
Belzagar — I could see him quickly shift his “Pha-Ra-Zôn! Pha-Ra-Zôn!” chant to “Sa-U-Ron! Sa-U-Ron!”
Estrid — She’s already taken the mark and has skill in deception.
Estrid’s fiancé — Congratulations, Hagen, there’s someone more disliked than you this week.
Kemen — Yes, he should probably be at the top of this list after what he just did, but I can’t put him rank him first at anything unless we’re talking about the most punchable face in Middle-earth.
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