Hot off the heels of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s Season 2 premiere comes Episode 2, “Where the Stars Are Strange,” where we at long last check in with some characters who didn’t make it into Episode 1. At the same time, the tensions for the rest of the season are set in motion as far as the Dwarves and Elves are concerned, after the extended prologue that was the first episode.

The episode opens in Khazad-dûm, with my favorite Dwarf couple, Durin (Owain Arthur) and Disa (Sophia Nomvete), adjusting to their new life now that King Durin (Peter Mullan) has stripped his son of his title. The two are shopping in the market, demonstrating nothing but couple goals as Disa reminds him she married him because she loves him, not because of the title he once had. Disa encourages him to talk to his father until the conversation is interrupted when she detects a shift in the stone and tells everyone to take cover. The rot spreading from Mount Doom all across Middle Earth has reached the Dwarven kingdom at last.

Galadriel Has Dark Visions in ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2 Episode 2

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Over in Lindon, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) now sporting her new ring, is planting seeds at her brother’s grave when she’s approached by Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), who brings her news of a visitor. Galadriel clues in immediately to what the Elven-smith is implying, and the surrounding sky darkens in response. The seeds she planted form vines that wrap around Celebrimbor and pull him against a tree as he recites the poem about the rings forged for the Elves, Dwarves, and Men. No sooner do the vines kill him than Galadriel snaps out of the nightmare and back into the real world — namely, a strategy meeting with Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) and his commanders, where they speculate Sauron (Charlie Vickers) is headed into Mordor.

Galadriel agrees with their assessment that they should invade Mordor, but once the rest of the commanders leave, she tells Gil-galad that she doesn’t believe Sauron would stay in Mordor, as his larger goal is to conquer all of Middle-earth by bending its people’s will to his own. She tells the king that for that, Sauron needs rings — and for rings, he needs Celebrimbor. Gil-galad assures Galadriel that Celebrimbor is safe in Eregion, but she’s not so sure — especially as she has a flash of a vision of Sauron, who turns to face her (and if this turns into some kind of mind-to-mind, long-distance Reylo connection thing, my shipper heart might just explode). Galadriel insists that Sauron is on the move, and confesses that since donning the ring, she’s had visions of the unseen world. The High King confesses in turn that he is also having visions of doom. She asks to go to Eregion, but Gil-galad refuses, saying she cannot face him alone, as Sauron is said to have the ability to sculpt the mind of anyone who once trusted him.

Over in Eregion, Celebrimbor’s messenger comes to tell Sauron — who I’m calling Halbrand, again, for ease of reference — that her master has denied him entry, and bids him leave. Halbrand refuses to go and hitches up his horse instead. The messenger spots Halbrand’s injuries and relays them, as well as Halbrand’s refusal to depart, to Celebrimbor. Though the Elven-smith seems conflicted, he reminds her, and himself, that he promised Galadriel not to treat with Halbrand anymore, and chooses instead to await news from Lindon. The news is doomed not to make it, however, as the messengers Gil-galad has sent to inform Celebrimbor that Halbrand is Sauron have been slaughtered on the road.

The Stranger Is Hunted in ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2 Episode 2

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Out in the desert, the masked, hooded figure that has been following the Stranger (Daniel Weyman), Nori (Markella Kavanaugh), and Poppy (Megan Richards) arrives at a large stone building. Inside, a procession leads towards the Dark Wizard (Ciaran Hinds), who doesn’t have a name beyond that for the moment, but whose beard looks awfully Saruman-esque. He reawakens the Dweller (Bridie Sisson), whom the Stranger disintegrated last season, to ask for an update on Sauron, and she tells him what all of Middle-earth seems to know: that he’s taken a new form. As for the “Istar”, aka the Stranger, she tells him that he’s vulnerable, but the Dark Wizard says that he needs to be caught before harnessing his power. The masked figure, who is one of the Dark Wizard’s scavengers, arrives to tell his master he knows how to capture the Stranger, saying he can force his surrender by threatening the “halflings” he travels with.

Speaking of the halflings, Nori, Poppy, and the Stranger continue to wander Rhûn while Nori tries to jog The Stranger’s memory about what his name might be. Their journey grows more and more desperate, especially as supplies begin to dwindle. Even Poppy’s shortcut idea would prove fatal due to exposure and a lack of water. Poppy asks the Stranger if he can conjure up more water for them, but they don’t get much past his refusal before the sound of hooves on the wind alerts them to the arrival of the Dark Wizard’s scavengers. The group hides until they pass through in a tense sequence reminiscent of The Fellowship of the Ring, when the four Hobbits hide themselves from the Ringwraiths — I love when the show makes subtle nods to the movies. After they pass, The Stranger advises them to find another path, as it’s clear they’re being watched, and they begrudgingly opt to take Poppy’s dangerous shortcut to throw them off the scent.

Back in Khazad-dûm, the Dwarves are in rough shape following the earthquake and the collapse of their sun shafts, as their natural resources dwindle. Disa’s fellow stone singers worry that this is part of a larger ill omen affecting the Dwarven kingdoms, but Disa assures them that things are going to be fine. She goes before King Durin to seek permission to find a new path to dig for a sun shaft. Beautiful as their song is, the success is short-lived and the sun shafts they do find collapse almost instantly. King Durin laments the broken bond between Dwarves and their home in Khazad-Dûm and dismisses the assembly, asking Disa to stay behind to inquire about the welfare of his son without saying those exact words. He tries to pass her a half-apology, but Disa suggests the apology would be best directed at his son, adding that the pair of them are too stubborn to apologize to one another.

As for the Durin formerly known as Prince, he’s working the mines with the other Dwarves, who mock him for not yet having the calluses that all miners develop, which leads to a tussle, because of course it does. Over a stale dinner with Disa, she turns her attention to him, urging him to apologize, but like his father, Durin suffers from a tremendous lack of perspective. Disa tells him this is so much bigger than whether they can or cannot find fresh grain for bread, as their connection to the mountain itself is breaking — remind me why she isn’t in charge — and ends by confessing she’s afraid.

As much as I understand why the first two episodes have spent so much time on the Elves — they do have those rings of power already, after all — the focus on the Dwarves is honestly refreshing. Yes, we know they’re doomed to receive rings of their own soon, but for now, they’re just trying to survive a rising evil that they don’t possess the ability to stop. I know there’s only so much time in a show like this, but I feel like we so rarely get to explore the fallout of evil as it pertains to everyday people, and it’s an exciting change of pace to actually get to do that with the Dwarves for a bit before they also get wrapped up in the larger story.

Galadriel Seeks Elrond’s Help in ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2 Episode 2

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Elrond is keeping busy working in Círdan’s (Ben Daniels) workshop, where Galadriel finds him to ask him to accompany her to Eregion to check on Celebrimbor, who is not answering their letters. Elrond refuses, but Galadriel confesses that Gil-galad won’t actually let her go if Elrond doesn’t go with her, admitting that it’s because Gil-galad believes she’ll be vulnerable to Sauron’s deception, and that she agrees with him. She tries to tell Elrond that Sauron worked his way into her soul unwillingly, but he counters that it was far from unwilling — as he painted himself to be everything Galadriel wanted, and she welcomed it.

Desperate, knowing Sauron still has a hold on her, Galadriel begs Elrond to come with them, but he refuses again, saying they’re all Sauron’s collaborators now that they wear his rings, and asks her to leave. As much as I feel this season’s early emphasis skews a tad too Lindon-heavy so far, I’d be lying if I said Elrond and Galadriel’s friendship wasn’t one of my favorite dynamics out of these first few episodes. There’s a real weight behind the way they speak to each other, and you can really feel how long they’ve been friends and how well they know each other.

Once Galadriel leaves, Elrond turns to Círdan, asking him to remove the ring he wears, as the beauty they live in now has been tainted by evil. Círdan tells him that the beauty is no less because of the evil that helped forge it, and makes a case for separating the art from the artist. I can’t help but feel, however, that “this talented poet liked to drink wine to excess” and “these rings were forged by a being that wants to see us all subjugated” should not be judged on remotely the same scale, but then again Círdan is likely already feeling the ring’s effects. When Elrond continues to struggles with this concept of letting his concerns over the rings go, Círdan tells him that having the Elves keep the rings for themselves is the safest option, as Sauron would do untold evil with them, whereas they can channel their powers in a better direction. He encourages Elrond not to turn his back on the rings, and on Galadriel, especially if he believes she’s lost, and, at last, this seems to get through to him.

Back in Rhûn, Nori, Poppy, and the Stranger make their way through the sun-drenched valley when the heat and lack of water finally get to the Stranger and he collapses. Poppy has Nori help her drag the Stranger to a well she spotted, and the group miraculously finds water there to revive him. The pit stop suits a secondary purpose, as the Stranger spots a staff like the one he’s been dreaming about, and the discovery comes not a minute too soon, as the clanging of the bell attached to the well alerts the scouts to their whereabouts. He manages to banish them by conjuring a whirlwind of sand but quickly loses control of what he’s created. The staff disintegrates, and the ensuing sandstorm carries Nori and Poppy away from the Stranger.

Halbrand Sweet-Talks Celebrimbor in ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2 Episode 2

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In Eregion, Celebrimbor is hard at work in his forge creating “ithildin,” an alloy made with a sliver of mithril, which renders its carvings invisible outside of direct moonlight. As he and his assistant take it out to test, he asks whether Halbrand is still there, and she suggests taking him a shawl to protect against the chill, her concern almost certainly a side effect of his power. Rather than do that, Celebrimbor himself goes to visit Halbrand to tell him he will be removed if he doesn’t willingly leave, as the Elven-smith cannot treat with him anymore.

Halbrand immediately launches into his plan, asking Celebrimbor if he’s spoken with Galadriel, and the Elven-smith admits he hasn’t, further admitting that Gil-galad also hasn’t sent word of the rings and whether they worked or not. Halbrand plays right into Celebrimbor’s feelings of neglect, telling him the Elves of Lindon have used both of them once they got what they wanted before offering to leave at last. But his hooks are already in Celebrimbor, who invites him inside to ask if the rings worked. Halbrand tells him that they saved the tree and Lindon, which gives Celebrimbor cause to celebrate.

Whipping out a truly Oscar-worthy performance — or whatever the Middle-earth equivalent of that is — Halbrand tells Celebrimbor he hasn’t been completely honest with him, but is afraid to reveal the truth. He confesses that the reason he came to Celebrimbor is to ask him to forge rings for Men as well. The smith refuses, saying men are too corruptible, and even if he wanted to, he would need mithril, which the Dwarves likely won’t provide. Halbrand reveals that the Dwarves are currently in trouble anyway, but before he can expand on that at Celebrimbor’s request, he adds that his real name is actually not Halbrand, and that Galadriel cast him out when she learned the truth.

Right when it sounds as if Halbrand’s about to reveal that he’s actually Sauron, he tells him instead that evil is staring down Middle-earth, putting all the realms at risk, and that he is a messenger sent from beyond their current realm to help offer guidance to weather the storm. Celebrimbor is, rightly, skeptical that Halbrand is actually a messenger from the Valar, but with some impressive window-opening, lighting theatrics, a promise to make sure Celebrimbor is revered for his accomplishments, and a dramatic entrance via the forge, Halbrand reveals himself to be… Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, sporting a new, blonde, flat-ironed hairdo and pointed ears.

Meanwhile, Galadriel is summoned before Gil-galad, who tells her she’ll be heading to Eregion after all, as Elrond has agreed to go. However, the news comes with a catch: Galadriel’s role as leader of the Northern Company has been given to Elrond instead in exchange for his assistance. Meanwhile, in Khazad-dûm, Durin and Disa receive an invitation from Celebrimbor, also inviting them to visit. As we head into Episode 3, it seems all roads lead to Eregion.