"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 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 characters facing the consequences of 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, with praise for the visuals and the focus on characters and consequences, but criticism for the ending scenes which show a Balrog and a "Mordor" title card.
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 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, not knowing that a Balrog lives deep below it.
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, "Udûn". The showrunners added that the episode was about characters facing the consequences of their actions. After taking inspiration from World War I for the Orc tunnels earlier in the season, the writers noticed a parallel between the smoke, ash, and fire of this episode's post-eruption setting and 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, "Partings", to foreshadow this development, when Míriel's father tells her that darkness awaits her in Middle-earth.
The showrunners said the episode would bring together unlikely character pairings among the survivors of the eruption, including Galadriel and Theo. 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 the character feeling at peace despite her overall feelings of "shame and devastation". 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. 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 liked the idea that people sometimes talk about things to a new friend or stranger that they are not willing to discuss with their closest friends, and McKay added, "Maybe Theo's confessions are provoking confessions from her." The change from Tolkien's history was made because the showrunners were approaching the series as a "long-term creative project" with plans to introduce different Tolkien characters each season. They also wanted to explore Galadriel as an individual and in terms of her relationship to Halbrand before introducing Celeborn to the story. The showrunners thought fans would be excited to meet Celeborn in an unexpected way and build towards the relationship that he has with Galadriel in the Third Age. They were surprised when some Tolkien fans took issue with the change to established lore.
In the climactic scene between Prince Durin IV and his father King Durin III, the latter opens up about the former's difficult birth. When Prince Durin says the Elf Elrond is like a brother to him, an outraged King Durin rips a collar from his son's neck and tells him to leave it on the ground. Durin IV actor Owain Arthur explained that this act signifies that Durin IV has been disowned by the king, and said it is "quite a big, vulnerable moment for Prince Durin to be left alone in the lurch and not knowing what's around the corner". The episode reveals that Durin IV has a different name which distinguishes him from his father, a name that is only known to his Dwarven family. This name was originally going to be revealed, but the moment was cut during the editing process. Payne revealed that the name sounds something like "Kheled-Tug", but McKay stopped him from discussing it further.
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, Sophia Nomvete as Disa, 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. Virtual production allowed Brändström and cinematographer Alex Disenhof to plan the two episodes within a digital environment. They had two months of pre-production before filming started. Brändström and Disenhof were inspired more by production designer Ramsey Avery's sets and artwork than what the 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. They chose to play into this 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, and her episodes were filmed across 80 first unit shooting days and 30 second unit shooting days. The first two days were on location at Mount Kidd in the South Island, for the scene where Galadriel meets with a wounded Míriel. They only had one day to prepare on location due to how remote it is, but had been able to plan ahead with virtual production. The Númenórean encampment was built near Auckland, with visual effects used to place it at Mount Kidd. Filming for the season wrapped on August 2.