| Season: | 1 |
| Episode: | 7 |
| Director: | Charlotte Brändström |
| Photographer: | Alex Disenhof |
| Editor: | Jochen FitzHerbert |
| Length: | 72 minutes |
| Guests Title: | Cast |
| Guests: |
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| Prev: | Udûn |
| Next: | Alloyed |
| Season Article: | The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1 |
| Episode List: | List of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episodes |
"The Eye" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series . Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth and explores the aftermath of the battle and volcanic eruption from the previous episode. "The Eye" 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.
"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.
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 carts 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.
Amazon acquired the global television rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings 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 . Amazon hired J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay to develop the series and serve as showrunners in July 2018. Jason Cahill had joined the series as a writer by July 2019, and Charlotte Brändström was revealed to be directing two episodes of the first season in May 2021. The series was originally expected to be a continuation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit 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 confirmed in September 2019 that filming for the first season would take place 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 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".
The series' 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.
Filming primarily took place at Kumeu Film Studios and Auckland Film Studios in Auckland, under the working title Untitled Amazon Project or simply UAP. Production on episodes beyond the first two began in January 2021, and Brändström was in New Zealand for production in May. Filming for the season wrapped on August 2.
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. He explained that the Balrog seen at the end of the episode was a new design by concept artist Allen Williams that derived from existing artwork but had its own face and horn shapes.
A soundtrack album featuring composer Bear McCreary's score for the episode was released digitally on Amazon Music on October 6, 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 and Amazon Music. 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 composed by Bear McCreary:
"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 U.S., Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
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 U.S. viewership, behind Disney+'s . Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on U.S. 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 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 U.S. streaming series, a 25 percent increase that moved it up to third on the company's top 10 list for the week.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 83% of 23 critics gave the episode a positive review, with an average score of 7.6/10. 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."[1]
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 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".