"Partings" is the fifth 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 shows several groups preparing for conflict with emerging evil forces. It was written by Justin Doble and directed by Wayne Che Yip.
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. Yip was revealed to be directing four episodes of the season that March, including the fifth. Production wrapped for the season in August 2021. The episode includes a legend called "The Song of the Roots of Hithaeglir" that connects the ore mithril to the powerful Silmarils; Wētā FX created the visual effects for the sequence. It also includes an original song, "This Wandering Day", which is sung by actress Megan Richards with lyrics written by Payne.
"Partings" premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on September 23, 2022. It was estimated to have high viewership and received generally positive reviews.
Plot Nori Brandyfoot and Poppy Proudfellow are attacked by a pack of wolves. The Stranger uses magic to scare the wolves off, but injures his arm in the process. He uses more magic to heal himself and nearly hurts Nori, frightening her. Meanwhile, three mysterious women find the location where the Stranger fell from the sky.
At the tower of Ostirith in the Southlands, Bronwyn attempts to prepare for an attack from the Orcs. Waldreg thinks they will be better off joining the Orcs and convinces around half of the humans to leave with him. Waldreg is disappointed to learn that Adar is not Sauron, but still chooses to serve him. Adar orders Waldreg to kill one of the other humans, Rowan, to prove his loyalty. At the tower, Theo shows Arondir the broken sword and Arondir says it is a key designed to enslave the Southlanders.
Elendil denies his son Isildur's request to join Númenor's expedition to the Southlands. Galadriel tells Queen Regent Míriel that Halbrand will be accompanying them to claim the throne of Southlands. He accuses Galadriel of using him and says he wants to remain in Númenor. Chancellor Pharazôn's son Kemen attempts to convince his father to cancel the expedition, but Pharazôn sees potential in turning the Southlands into a tributary state. King Tar-Palantir warns Míriel not to go to Middle-earth.
High-King Gil-galad reveals to Elrond that he knows of the existence of mithril, an ore that contains the light from a lost Silmaril that he believes can counteract the fading power of the Elves in Middle-earth. Elrond refuses to confirm that the Dwarves have discovered the ore, out of loyalty to Prince Durin IV, and Gil-galad accuses him of putting the Dwarves before his own race. Elrond discusses the issue with Durin IV and the latter agrees to help. The pair return to Khazad-dûm to try convince King Durin III.
Kemen attempts to destroy the expedition ships and discovers Isildur stowing away. Isildur prevents the destruction of three of the five ships and saves Kemen's life. When questioned by Elendil, Isildur lies about Kemen's sabotage. He subsequently receives a spot on the expedition crew as a stable sweep. Galadriel apologizes for using Halbrand and opens up to him. He eventually decides to go with the expeditionary force, and the remaining ships depart for Middle-earth.
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. Justin Doble joined the series as a writer by July 2019, and Wayne Che Yip was set to direct four episodes of the first season by March 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 Doble and directed by Yip, the fifth episode is titled "Partings".
Writing
The writers called the three mysterious women in the episode "The Mystics". They are from the land of Rhûn in the east of Middle-earth and one of them has magical abilities. The women have been awaiting the arrival of the Stranger and believe he is someone important to them. The showrunners were inspired by the Three Witches from William Shakespeare's play Macbeth when creating the characters. Before the series' release, some fans speculated that one of these characters was the Dark Lord Sauron in disguise.
Payne felt the scene where Nori Brandyfoot and the Stranger discuss whether he is good or evil was an example of the season balancing smaller character moments with wider stakes. The showrunners felt they did not always get this balance right and wanted to improve on that in future seasons. Yip noted that Nori has been defending the Stranger since meeting him at the start of the series, and this episode shows him becoming a surrogate member of the Brandyfoot family as he spends several weeks migrating with the Harfoots and defending them from wolves. Nori believes the latter is final proof that the Stranger is good, a notion that is challenged when she is accidentally hurt by his magic later in the episode.
The episode includes a legend called "The Song of the Roots of Hithaeglir" that Elrond recites to High King Gil-galad. It tells of an Elf warrior who fought a Balrog, an ancient demon from the First Age, over a tree at the top of the Misty Mountains because the tree contained one of the lost Silmarils—powerful jewels from the First Age. During their battle, the tree was struck by lightning and the power of the Silmaril created a new ore within the mountains. This legend was invented for the series as part of a "grand unification theory" that the writers wanted to tell, which connects the Silmarils to the powerful ore mithril and eventually to the Rings of Power. Elrond notes that the legend is generally seen to be "apocryphal", which is a line that the writers added to give themselves "a little bit of wiggle room" with Tolkien fans who disagreed with these changes from the established lore.
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, Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, Trystan Gravelle as Pharazôn, Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows, Ema Horvath as Eärien, 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, Leon Wadham as Kemen, Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad, Daniel Weyman as the Stranger, and Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot. Also starring in the episode are Beau Cassidy as Dilly Brandyfoot, Joseph Mawle as Adar, Ian Blackburn as Rowan, Geoff Morrell as Waldreg, Peter Tait as Tredwill, Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva, Maxine Cuncliffe as Vilma, Anthony Crum as Ontamo, Alex Tarrant as Valandil, Ken Blackburn as Tar-Palantir, Edith Poor as the Nomad, Kali Kopae as the Ascetic, Bridie Sisson as the Dweller, Edward Clendon as Grugzûk, Phil Vaughan as the smithy, and Ella Hope-Higginson as Mairen. Jed Brophy, Luke Hawker, Phil Grieve, and Robert Strange play unnamed Orcs in the episode.
Filming 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. Yip confirmed that he had begun filming his episodes by March. Aaron Morton was the director of photography for Yip's episodes. Filming for the season wrapped on August 2.
Vic Armstrong was the stunt coordinator and second unit director for the season. He ensured there were foreground elements when the wolves chase the Harfoots through a forest, to help establish what speed the creatures are moving at. Some tree pieces were removable with magnets so they could be moved in shots where the wolves pass by. The sword fight between Galadriel and several Númenórean cadets required Clark to fight with two swords and make 60 different movements. She was concerned about being "uncoordinated" but picked up the choreography quickly after starting with simple duel wielding movements. Yip hoped the scene would be a "source of joy" for the audience, especially since it was the first chance to show Galadriel sword fighting since the first episode, "A Shadow of the Past". He said the choreography was complicated but it was straightforward to film because the actors had rehearsed the sequence and no stunt doubles were required. This meant they did not have to hide any stunt double faces and could just move the camera with the choreography. It took one day to film.
Vickers trained in blacksmith techniques to prepare for the scene where Halbrand does some smithy work in the episode. He, Yip, and Clark considered the forge scene between Halbrand and Galadriel to be pivotal for the characters. They spent a day filming it, working through different variations. Doble said there was an "emotional truth" that each character had to face about themselves in the scene before their stories could progress. Yip and Morton aimed to use specific shots to create the feeling that Galadriel has cornered Halbrand at the beginning of the scene, and to show that Halbrand gains the upper hand later on. When their discussion becomes more intense, the camera angles move from wide shots to closer shots where the actors are almost staring directly into the camera. Yip intended this to represent the characters "staring directly into each other's souls".
Visual effects