The Eye (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power)

"The Eye" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The series is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Set thousands of years before the novel in Middle-earth's Second Age, the episode explores the aftermath of the volcanic eruption in the previous episode. It was written by Jason Cahill and directed by Charlotte Brändström.

"The Eye"
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode
Cover art for the episode's soundtrack album
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 7
Directed by	Charlotte Brändström
Written by	Jason Cahill
Cinematography by	Alex Disenhof
Editing by	Jochen FitzHerbert
Original release date	October 7, 2022 (2022-10-07)
Running time	72 minutes
Additional cast
Alex Tarrant as Valandil Anthony Crum as Ontamo Beau Cassidy as Dilly Brandyfoot Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma Peter Mullan as Durin III Joseph Mawle as Adar Geoff Morrell as Waldreg Edith Poor as the Nomad Kali Kopae as the Ascetic Bridie Sisson as the Dweller
Episode chronology
← Previous "Udûn" Next → "Alloyed"
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1
List of episodes

The series was ordered in November 2017. J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were set to develop it in July 2018. Filming for the first season took place in New Zealand, and work on episodes beyond the first two began in January 2021. Brändström was revealed to be directing two episodes of the season that May, including the seventh. Production wrapped for the season in August 2021. Payne and McKay said the episode was about the characters facing consequences for their actions. The look of the episode's post-eruption setting was designed by cinematographer Alex Disenhof based on reference pictures from wildfires, including some he took of the 2020 Oregon wildfires.

"The Eye" premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on October 7, 2022. It was estimated to have high viewership and received generally positive reviews.

Plot

Following the eruption of Orodruin, Tirharad is covered in ash and fire. Galadriel finds Theo and they begin making their way out of the Southlands. They bond over their shared guilt regarding the events leading to the eruption, and Galadriel discusses her husband Celeborn whom she believes to be dead. Isildur and Valandil find Ontamo dead. They help Queen Regent Míriel rescue survivors from a burning building, but it collapses and Míriel loses her eyesight. Isildur is presumed dead in the collapse.

The Harfoots finish their migration to the Grove, an orchard that has been destroyed by the nearby volcano. They ask the Stranger to help fix it but his attempts lead to a large tree branch landing on Nori and Dilly Brandyfoot. Scared, the Harfoots send the Stranger away. The next day they awake to find the orchard regrown. When the three mysterious women arrive in search of the Stranger, Nori attempts to send them in the wrong direction. They retaliate by using magic to burn all the Harfoot wagons and then continue their search. Nori leaves to find the Stranger and warn him of the danger, accompanied by Poppy Proudfellow, Sadoc Burrows, and her mother Marigold.

Galadriel and Theo reach the Númenórean camp outside of the Southlands where Theo is reunited with Bronwyn and Arondir. Elendil learns of Isildur's loss and lets the latter's horse, who cannot be calmed, gallop away. Before the Númenóreans depart Middle-earth, Míriel promises to return and seek revenge. Galadriel is reunited with a gravely wounded Halbrand and helps him ride north to receive Elvish medicine. The other human survivors seek refuge in nearby Pelargir, an old Númenórean colony.

In Khazad-dûm, Elrond and Prince Durin IV ask King Durin III for permission to begin mining mithril, but he refuses. When they see proof that mithril can reverse the fading power of the Elves, the pair begin mining the ore in secret. They find a large deposit but are caught by Durin III. Elrond is banished, taking a small piece of mithril with him, and Durin IV is stripped of his royal status. Durin III orders the mithril mine be sealed. Unbeknownst to them all, a Balrog lives deep below the mine.

In the Southlands, the Orcs and their human allies name Adar "Lord of the Southlands". He says that place no longer exists: it is now the land of Mordor.

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. It was later titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Amazon hired J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay to develop the series and serve as showrunners in July 2018. Jason Cahill joined the series as a writer by July 2019, and Charlotte Brändström was set to direct two episodes of the first season by May 2021. 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. Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films. Amazon said in September 2019 that the first season would be filmed in New Zealand, where Jackson's films were made.

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. 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. The first season focuses on introducing the setting and major heroic characters to the audience. Written by Cahill and directed by Brändström, the seventh episode is titled "The Eye".

Writing

Brändström said the episode was an opportunity to slow down and focus on the characters following the action-heavy sixth episode. The showrunners said it was about consequences and bringing together unlikely character pairings among the survivors of the previous episode's volcanic eruption. Galadriel actress Morfydd Clark said the episode was the first glimpse in the series of who her character would have been if she was not hunting for Sauron, and said there is "an element of peace" to her despite the "shame and devastation" that she is feeling. When Galadriel tells Theo not to take on the burden of guilt, Brändström felt Galadriel is seeing herself in him and is really giving that advice to herself. The director added that Theo is awestruck of Galadriel when he sees her fighting in the sixth episode and the fact that she gives him advice and her sword in this episode makes him want to be a good person and live up to her example.^{: 5:08–24:03} The episode includes the series' first mention of Galadriel's husband Celeborn when she tells Theo that she believes him to be dead. This is a change from Tolkien's history, where the two are not separated in this way. The showrunners thought fans would be excited to meet Celeborn in an unexpected way rather than have him be with Galadriel from the start. This allowed them to build towards the relationship that the pair have later in the Third Age, an approach that they took with multiple aspects of the series. They were surprised when some Tolkien fans took issue with this change to established lore.

After already taking inspiration from World War I for the season, the writers noticed a parallel between the smoke, ash, and fire of this episode's post-eruption setting and the chemical weapons used in that war. This led to a suggestion that one of the characters should be blinded in the episode, and multiple writers simultaneously suggested that it should be Míriel. They thought it was a tragic irony that the person who has been having visions of the future of Númenor now cannot see at all. A line of dialogue was added to the fifth episode to foreshadow this development, when Míriel's father tells her that darkness awaits her in Middle-earth.^{: 24:09–28:15}

Casting

The season's cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel, Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Owain Arthur as Durin IV, Maxim Baldry as Isildur, Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir, Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows, Markella Kavenagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot, Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo, Lloyd Owen as Elendil, Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow, Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot, Charlie Vickers as Halbrand, Daniel Weyman as the Stranger, and Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot. Also starring in the episode are Alex Tarrant as Valandil, Anthony Crum as Ontamo, Beau Cassidy as Dilly Brandyfoot, Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva, Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma, Peter Mullan as Durin III, Joseph Mawle as Adar, Geoff Morrell as Waldreg, Edith Poor as the Nomad, Kali Kopae as the Ascetic, and Bridie Sisson as the Dweller. Jed Brophy and Robert Strange play unnamed Orcs in the episode.

Filming and design

Production on episodes beyond the first two began in January 2021, under the working title Untitled Amazon Project or simply UAP, following an extended filming break that began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Brändström first began discussing plans for the sixth and seventh episodes while she was in COVID-19 quarantine on her way into New Zealand.^{: 0:22–2:57} The episodes were planned using virtual production which allowed Brändström and cinematographer Alex Disenhof to move virtual cameras within a digital environment. This was the first time Disenhof had worked with the technology. They had two months of pre-production before filming started for the two episodes. Brändström and Disenhof were inspired more by production designer Ramsey Avery's sets and artwork than what the series' other directors and cinematographers had done so far, believing they could bring a fresh perspective to the series because of their episodes' unique story elements and greater focus on location shooting. Brändström felt the episodes were more like one long film, with the sixth episode being the set-up for dramatic payoffs in the seventh.^{: 5:08–24:03} They chose to play into this feeling by focusing on Galadriel's perspective at the end of the sixth episode and again at the start of the seventh. Brändström was confirmed to be in New Zealand for production in May 2021. The episodes were filmed across 80 first unit shooting days and 30 second unit shooting days. Filming for the season wrapped on August 2.

The episode begins in a post-volcanic eruption version of the series' village set that was built in a studio (top). Cinematographer Alex Disenhof used a specific lighting set-up (bottom) to match reference images he took of real wildfires. Some visual effects were used to complete these scenes.

Disenhof took pictures during the 2020 Oregon wildfires which inspired the combination of red, orange, and yellow colors that he wanted to replicate for the episode's post-eruption scenes. He also compiled reference images from the 2018 California wildfires. He planned with Avery and Brändström to show a progression of color throughout the episode as the characters make their way from the village to the top of the mountain. In the village the main color is red, but this moves to orange and then yellow as the characters get further out, and completely clears once they reach the top of the mountain.^{: 11:58–19:33} To achieve the initial look, a destroyed version of the village was built in Kelly Park Film Studios, a former equestrian center where they could dig into the dirt floor, based on the full village set that had been built on a farm outside of Auckland. The new set was dressed with a layer of artificial ash, which was made from the same style of paper that artificial snow is made from for film productions. Disenhof surrounded the set with muslin fabric which, combined with practical smoke, created a hazy background to hide the studio's walls. Avery added "impressionistic shapes of buildings" on the outside of the set that looked like more village buildings when filmed with the correct on-set atmosphere and camera perspective. Arri SkyPanels, LED screens used to simulate outdoor lighting, were put on the ceiling and Disenhof spent several weeks testing different lighting designs to achieve his desired look. The red color was achieved completely in camera. Visual effects were used to add embers and falling ash.

A week or two was spent filming the episode's village scenes.^: 55 The first shot of the episode is a close-up of Galadriel's eye opening, covered in ash. Clark was covered in the artificial ash while her eyes were closed and then had to open her eye for the shot. Disenhof wanted a circular reflection in her eye to help avoid the look of film lighting, which he achieved with a white circle of cardboard that light was reflected off. The second shot starts upside down on her hand and rotates as it pulls back to reveal her body. Disenhof did this to create a feeling of disorientation and show that "her world has been turned upside down". The first shots were filmed at 38 or 46 fps to create a more ethereal feeling. Brändström combined this with muffled sound design, similar to what would be used for the aftermath of an explosion in a film. A real explosion was used for the building that collapses on Isildur. Avery felt there was a beauty to the episode's depiction of the post-eruption land that aligned with the fact that Adar had used the volcano to create a home for the Orcs. The episode's final shot, which reveals a "Mordor" title card, was filmed with a crane. Brändström started the shot by focusing on Adar's perspective and his satisfaction with having created a home for his "children".^{: 5:08–24:03}

Once the characters leave the village, filming took place on location and Disenhof was unable to control the lighting as he did on set. Instead, he achieved his desired color palette for each scene using filters on the cameras and color correction in post-production. He was able to test this on set while they were filming. Different levels of Tobacco-colored filters were used for these scenes, the only time lens filters were used in the season.^: 53 The atmosphere was augmented with visual effects after on-set attempts to do this were impacted by wind. For scenes after Míriel is blinded, Brändström used her experience working with a blind actor on a previous project. When Brändström was guiding that actor around set, he asked to put his hand on her to feel like he was taking control rather than have Brändström put her hand on him and move him around. This inspired Brändström to direct Addai-Robinson to be more stoic and to take control of her new situation. They filmed a version of the scene where Míriel realizes that she is blind in which she cries, but Brändström felt this was melodramatic and did not want the character to come across as feeling sorry for herself.^{: 7:31–10:33} A scene where Galadriel and Theo hide from Orcs under a tree was compared to a similar moment when the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings hide from a Nazgûl, but Disenhof said this was not a conscious reference.

Disenhof and Brändström's first two days of filming were on location at Mount Kidd in the South Island of New Zealand, for the scene with Galadriel meets with a wounded Míriel. They only had one day to prepare at the location due to how remote it is, but they had been able to plan ahead using a digital scan of the environment. The Númenórean encampment was built near Auckland and visual effects were used to make it appear to be at Mount Kidd.^{: 11:58–19:33} Concept art for the episode's Khazad-dûm scenes reminded Disenhof of Baroque paintings and inspired him to use practical, single-source lighting on those sets where possible. Putting lanterns close to the actors achieved the look that he wanted, but this made the lanterns blow-out on camera. The visual effects team restored some of the lantern details for these shots. For the scene where Disa and Durin discuss mithril and their future as rulers, Brändström wanted to focus on Disa's ambitions and the aspects of her character that are comparable to Lady Macbeth from William Shakespeare's play Macbeth.^{: 5:08–24:03} Because the Harfoots are supposed to be much smaller than the orchard that they arrive at in the episode, the production portrayed apple trees using pear trees with large, artificial apples added to them. When the Harfoots first arrive at the orchard and see it has been destroyed by the volcano, Brändström chose to focus on their reactions first before revealing the damage to the audience. This was a way to keep the focus on the character's feelings.^{: 5:08–24:03}

Visual effects

Visual effects for the episode were created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Wētā FX, Method Studios, Rodeo FX, Cause and FX, Atomic Arts, and Cantina Creative. The different vendors were overseen by visual effects supervisor Jason Smith. Rodeo handled much of the Harfoot storyline, including environment augmentation, scale work, and fire and magic effects. Brandstrom storyboarded the Balrog sequence for the visual effects team to follow.^{: 16:58–20:10} Wētā created the Balrog, which was redesigned from the version that is seen in Jackson's films as part of the "Song of the Roots of Hithaeglir" sequence in the fifth episode.

Music

Composer Bear McCreary expected the episode to be easier to score than the previous one, joking that he felt composing for the sixth episode's large amount of action scenes nearly killed him, but he said the seventh episode was still difficult due to the nuance required in combining his existing main themes in new ways. For example, this is the first episode where he used the theme for Elendil and his family to score tragic scenes. This can be heard when Elendil gains hope that Isildur is alive only to realize that he is seeing someone else, which is a scene that made McCreary cry. He hoped his music for it could convey the same emotions.^{: 14:40–16:57}

McCreary used his Orc theme to represent the post-eruption setting, but still retained his Southlands theme for key moments to show that the people of the Southlands are not completely defeated. His Southlands theme also represents Halbrand, which he thought worked out particularly well for the end of the episode where the Southlanders cheer on Halbrand. When Theo arrives in the infirmary and believes that his mother is dead, McCreary used a choral line from Raya Yarbrough—his wife and frequent collaborator—just as he did for key Bronwyn scenes in the previous episode. He hoped the audience would remember those moments and believe this to be confirmation of her death before she is revealed to be alive. When Mordor is named at the end of the episode, McCreary used his Sauron theme with the choir singing "Mordor, where the shadows lie" in Black Speech.

A soundtrack album featuring McCreary's score for the episode was released digitally on the streaming service Amazon Music on October 7, 2022. McCreary said the album contained "virtually every second of score" from the episode. It was added to other music streaming services after the full first season was released. A CD featuring the music from the episode is included in a limited edition box set collection of the first season's music from Mondo, Amazon Music, and McCreary's label Sparks and Shadows. The box set was released on April 26, 2024, and includes a journal written by McCreary which details the creation of the episode's score.

All music is composed by Bear McCreary:.

Season One, Episode Seven: The Eye – Amazon Original Series Soundtrack

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Crimson Aftermath"	3:03
2.	"The Grove"	3:44
3.	"Fire and Rock"	6:31
4.	"Only Grey"	4:51
5.	"The Apple"	4:12
6.	"Memories of Dancing"	3:48
7.	"The Vein"	7:50
8.	"The Extinguished Torch"	4:32
9.	"Infirmary"	6:33
10.	"A Leaf Burns"	9:53
Total length:		54:57

Release

"The Eye" premiered on Prime Video in the United States on October 7, 2022. It was released at the same time around the world, in more than 240 countries and territories. For two weeks leading up to the premiere of the second season on August 29, 2024, the episode was made available for free on the streaming service Samsung TV Plus in the US, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Reception

Viewership

Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the 21 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, calculated that for the week ending October 9, two days after the episode's debut, The Rings of Power remained the second-highest original streaming series for US viewership, behind Disney+'s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on US television screens, estimated that the series was watched for 988 million minutes during the week ending October 9. This kept the series in third-place on the company's list of top streaming series and films, behind only Netflix's Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Disney+'s Hocus Pocus 2. Parrot Analytics determines audience "demand expressions" based on various data sources, including social media activity and comments on rating platforms. During the week ending October 14, the company calculated that The Rings of Power was 38.7 times more in demand than the average US streaming series, a 25 percent increase that moved it up to third on the company's top 10 list for the week.

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes calculated that 83% of 23 critics reviews were positive and the average rating for the episode was 7.6 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "'The Eye' blinks when it comes to fully capitalizing on the momentum that its predecessor's volcanic climax promised, but it succeeds admirably in dovetailing plotlines and teeing up a cohesive finale."

Companion media

An episode of the official aftershow Deadline's Inside the Ring: LOTR: The Rings of Power for "The Eye" was released on October 8, 2022. Hosted by Deadline Hollywood's Dominic Patten and Anthony D'Alessandro, it features exclusive "footage and insights" for the episode, plus interviews with cast members Aramayo, Arthur, Addai-Robinson, Clark, Vickers, Muhafidin, Baldry, and Gravelle as well as Brändström and McCreary. On October 14, The Official The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Podcast was released on Amazon Music. Hosted by actress Felicia Day, the seventh episode is dedicated to "The Eye" and features Brändström, Payne, and McKay. On November 21, a bonus segment featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the episode was added to Prime Video's X-Ray feature as part of a series titled "The Making of The Rings of Power".

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External links

• "The Eye" at IMDb