Episode 4 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiered on Prime Video on Friday, and its title The Great Wave is a reference to the vision that Queen Regent Míriel has had of Númenor’s fate.
The opening scene sees the monarch meet with mothers and their newborn babies, only to notice the White Tree, Nimloth, is shedding its leaves and the titular wave is coming over the city’s threshold, destroying the island nation.
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’: How Miriel’s Vision Predicts Sauron’s Return
The vision is one that Míriel saw through a palantír, one of the seven Seeing-stones that are either hidden or lost throughout Middle-earth, and she shows this vision to Galadriel (Morfydd Clark).
Míriel claims that the vision begins with Galadriel’s arrival, and that is why she believes the elf needs to leave the island nation in order to protect it. However, it seems more likely that her focus should not be on Galadriel but on the companion she arrived with: Halbrand (Charlie Vickers).
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s work, Númenor’s fall is an event that takes place after Sauron successfully climbs the ranks to become an advisor to regent Ar-Pharazôn (named Pharazôn in the show, played by Trystan Gravelle), who he manipulates into cutting down the White Tree and having the people turn their back on the Valar and instead worship Morgoth.
Sauron also manipulates Ar-Pharazôn into believing that he will be able to demand eternal life if he just storms Valinor, and it is this act that angers the Valar and they decide to send a great wave to destroy Númenor.
Halbrand has shown several signs that he is actually Sauron in disguise, and he told Galadriel once again in Episode 4 that he wants to stay in Númenor rather than return to Middle-earth, suggesting that he is the Dark Lord intent on manipulating the island nation’s people.
Míriel’s vision predicts Sauron’s return simply because it is as a result of the Dark Lord’s machinations that the fall of Númenor occurs.
It is also important to note how her vision leads her to act, and the way in which her decisions could pave the way for the island nation’s destruction despite her best efforts to stop it.
In the episode, Míriel decides that rather than banish Galadriel from Númenor she will help her in her fight to protect the people of the Southlands against Sauron.
The villain may well be much closer than either of them realize if he’s Halbrand in disguise, but if that isn’t the case and they were to encounter Sauron in Middle-earth then he could be taken as a prisoner to Númenor, which is how the Dark Lord first comes to be in the island nation in Tolkien’s books.
Míriel’s decision to help Galadriel may well also lead to Pharazôn taking her place as regent, and if that is the case then Sauron’s return would likely not be far behind if the Prime Video show follows the story that was set out by Tolkien.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power airs Fridays on Prime Video.
