WARNING: The article below contains spoilers for episode six of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Going into episode six of The Rings of Power, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the big event of the episode was going to be the battle to protect the Southlands against Adar’s forces. Most of the episode is spent on that battle, and after the Southlander’s defense seems to fail, we see the Numenorians ride into battle and ultimately defeat the orcs.
In the final moments of the episode, though, we learn that Adar is not as defeated as he appears to be. He had a backup plan of sorts, and sent Waldrig up to the watchtower with the dark key in order to burst open a dam. The water from that dam ultimately flows directly into the dormant volcano that has been looming over the Southlands, and the volcano erupts in truly devastating and spectacular fashion.
Was that volcano Mount Doom?
That sudden volcanic eruption has led many viewers to wonder if this volcano is in fact the same one that Sauron will eventually use to forge the One Ring. As it turns out, those volcanoes are very much one and the same, and what we’ve just witnessed is the origin story for one of the most important landmarks in all of Middle Earth.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Patrick McKay explained the way that environmentalism played into their decision to unveil Mount Doom this way.
“A huge theme in Tolkien is the environmentalism and the way machines and industrialization destroys the land,” he explained.“We wanted that to be central and core all the time. It’s a thing that comes up again and again throughout the show. So in the writers’ room, we asked: What if Mordor was beautiful? All bucolic like Switzerland. And then what could happen that could transform it?”
Now, Adar has effectively transformed the land into a place where the sun can’t reach, and Mordor as we know it has been born.
The eruption is actually based in science.
There’s plenty of actual magic in the world of Rings of Power, but when it came time to decide how they wanted to trigger the explosion of Mount Doom, the show’s writers opted for a version that would actually work in the real world. Water is capable of triggering volcanic eruptions, and it often plays a crucial role in how volcanoes erupt.
Now that Mount Doom has emerged, it’s unclear exactly what it means for our main characters. One thing is evident, though: Galadriel has failed in her mission to save the Southlands. In teasing episode seven, which is directed by Charlotte Brandstrom, as was episode six, McKay said that her work as a director remains outstanding.
“We think that Charlotte Brandstrom, the director, and Alex Disenhof, the cinematographer, did an incredible job with the seventh episode,” McKay said. “You’ll see who survives [the Mount Doom eruption] and there are some unlikely pairing of characters. The episode is about consequences and Galadriel is facing the consequences of her judgment.”
