[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 5.]
After too little time spent in Númenor in the first half of the second season, The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 5 refocused attention on the island kingdom. A treacherous tragedy befell a character who can only be described as honorable and lovable, signaling a dark turn in this already tensely split nation. Here, Leon Wadham explains what this tragic event means for the show moving forward.
Kemen (Wadham) spends the episode trying to impress his father, Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle), who is now the ruler of Númenor after staging a coup during Queen Míriel’s (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) coronation in Episode 3. Despite the increasingly oppressive forces of Númenoreans who side with the userper, “the Faithful” (aka those loyal to their society’s old ways defined by reverence and respect for the Elves) are still practicing their ancient religious practices. Though that’s an act of defiance now that Pharazôn is in charge, they’re still performing these rituals in peace.
Kemen disturbed the peace in a show of force later in Episode 5. Prior to that, he was shaken up by a perversely cruel reveal from his father. In a private moment, Pharazôn told Kemen that when he was a baby, his late mother prophesied that her son would meet an “ill end.” If Kemen wanted to know more about this vision, he would have to prove himself to his father. It says everything about Pharazôn that he would treat his son this way, and speaks volumes about Kemen as well that he actually played along.
The emotionally wounded Kemen lashed out against the Faithful in response to try and prove himself worthy to his dad, resulting in a fatal fight with Valandil (Alex Tarrant) in a sacred hall where the Faithful were mourning lost loved ones. Valandil — who’s like a son to Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and brother to Isildur (Maxim Baldry, who is still presumed dead by his family but is alive in Middle-earth) — has rightly been challenging Kemen all season long for the insulting way he speaks about Míriel and to Elendil. Kemen has been increasingly jealous of the feelings Eärien (Elendil’s daughter, played by Ema Horvath) has for Valandil.
When Kemen disrupted the peaceful ceremony, Valandil made good on his promise to square up and fight. He broke Kemen’s arm in the skirmish, which being the only soldier of the two of them, he easily won. But Kemen grabbed the ceremonial sword and ran it through Valandil’s back, killing him on sacred ground. He died in Elendil’s arms.
Alex Tarrant as Valandil (Ross Ferguson / Prime Video)
Does Númenor’s biggest nepo baby think he won’t face consequences for murdering Valandil, since he has a powerful protector in his father? Wadham isn’t so sure.
“I don’t think that was ever the plan,” Wadham says of Valandil’s killing. “I think [Kemen] turns up at the shrine to make an impression, sure. But it is a show of force. There’s no intention to use deadly force. Things just spiral very quickly out of hand. That sword is ceremonial. No one’s meant to withdraw the sword. I think he just starts to feel he’s losing control of the situation and desperately tries to gain it back, and it has a tragic consequence.”
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“I don’t think he knows at the end of the episode how this is going to play out. He just hopes that yet again, he’ll get by,” Wadham adds, but notes that Pharazôn “may be furious” over this. “It may be a test from Kemen this time.”
It all ties back to that father-son scene earlier in the episode. The dark story about Kemen’s dead mother is “par of the course” for Pharazôn’s parenting, Wadham reveals, adding that Gravelle’s character has always been a “gatekeeper” who speaks to Kemen in code.
“When I read that scene, I was like, this is a test. It’s another test,” Wadham shares. “My sense is that Kemen’s used to these by now. He’s used to trying to work out what is being presented and what the actual question or the actual hurdle is. Not the warmest father … There’s still a lot that Kemen’s waiting to hear [about his mother], but he thinks if he plays his cards right, eventually he will get the information he’s desperately seeking.”
Wadham hints that there’s important information still to be revealed about Kemen down the line (the character was made for the series, so his trajectory — unlike Isildur’s — is a mystery). “There’s a ton he doesn’t know,” the actor says. “His dad is the gatekeeper and [Kemen] knows that better than anyone. But he still has massive respect for him and is keen to follow in his footsteps no matter what that looks like.”
Kemen knew that “he was living a charmed life” in Season 1, Wadham admits, but Míriel’s defeat in the Southlands and his father’s leadership have given Kemen a taste of power. And being his father’s son, he wants more of it. “He really believes that they need a change in Númenor,” Wadham says, but adds that his character expected support from his people to come more easily to him in the wake of Pharazôn’s takeover.
“He was looking for respect and power and responsibility that was not coming his way,” Wadham explains. “And he feels increasing frustration that it’s not being given to him. The old Kemen assumed he would pay his dues and it would happen. The new Kemen feels like it’s his turn. And things with Eärien are not moving the way he wants. Nothing is moving the way he wants. So he’s trying to make things happen faster. He made some wild moves last season and there were no consequences. So now he feels he can be bolder, he can take risks and probably he’ll get away with it.”
We’ll see if that’s true. In the meantime, Elendil has been arrested in Kemen’s stead for the violence that broke out at the shrine. Will this make Míriel change her mind about letting Pharazôn stay in power?
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Thursdays, Prime Video
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