Episode 6 of The Rings of Power in Prime Video saw the bloody battle for the Southlands fought between the Southlanders, led by Bronwyn and Arondir, and Adar leading his orc army.
The orcs, losing at first, turned their tide against Hordern’s Southlanders and almost won the battle, but Numenor’s forces arrived just in time. The humans defeated the orcs, and Adar was captured.
The battle’s victory may have been the Southlanders’, but as smoke, water, and lava razed the land, it is sufficient to say Adar and his orcs won, as the Southlands were laid to waste. But how did this happen, and what does it mean? We’ll be answering just that!
Before the Numenorian forces had reached the battle’s turning point, Adar had tasked Waldreg with taking the mysterious black sword hilt to Ostirith. In the last episode, the sword hilt was revealed by Arondir to be a key.
While Waldreg escaped with his mission in hand, Adar distracted Galadriel and Halbrand with an axe wrapped in a cloth to give the human a chance to escape without being outed. Waldreg reached Ostirith just as Adar and the orcs were destroyed, and the Southlanders celebrated their true king’s return.
Waldreg used the key to trigger the destruction of the dam built there, revealing the true purpose of the tunnels dug by Adar’s army. The tunnels acted as conduits for the water to flow into the dormant Mount Doom, which erupted and covered the Southlands in fire and smoke.
As the orcs chanted “Udûn” while the eruption shook the earth, it gave viewers a clue to the purpose of the mystery key. The chant, and the title of this week’s episode, led viewers to believe that Adar targeted the Southlands to create Mordor, of which Udûn is the capital.
Mordor is a land of darkness where nothing good can survive, a perfect place for orcs to thrive, and humanity to not.
The dams there were the reason Adar and his orcs chose the Southlands for Mordor. This plan may have even been before Adar’s time, put in place by Sauron or Morgoth himself! And speaking of Sauron, we can’t miss the probable solution to the mystery of Sauron’s whereabouts.
Adar revealed to Galadriel, and the show’s viewers, that Sauron’s vision was too grand for the Uruk and the orcs. He further told that his disregard for the lives of his army triggered Adar’s rage, and he killed Sauron.
Like Galadriel, viewers find it hard to believe that Sauron’s death was so easy and convenient, but only upcoming episodes will tell if Adar was telling the truth or not. But one thing is for sure, the war has just begun, and the Southlands have lost their first battle already.
New episodes of The Rings of Power are available every Friday on Prime Video.
About The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is an American TV series, based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, developed by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay for streaming on Amazon Prime.
Set 3,000 years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the show will be set in the Second Age of Middle-earth. Beginning with a time of peace, the series will follow the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron and the forging of the rings of power.
The cast includes Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, and Dylan Smith among many others.
Source: PrimeVideo
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