There were three episodes released as part of the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 on Thursday, August 29, and you'll need to watch all of them in order to catch up on all of the characters from the first season.
For example the first two episodes haven't told us what happened to the Númenóreans after their retreat from Middle-earth, but that changes with episode 3, which brings lots of drama on that front. We also finally find out what happened to Isildur, Bronwyn, Arondir and the human refugees from Mordor.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set before the classic Peter Jackson movie franchise, and it tells us how the titular rings were forged. New ones are created in episode 3 too.
The Rings of Power season 2 episode 3 jumps about between different plot threads a fair amount, so for ease of reading I've re-ordered them by plot in this recap. Obviously, spoilers ensue, so watch the episode on Prime Video if you want to see it for yourself.
So let's jump in...
The survivors of Mordor
When the Númenóreans are fleeing Middle-earth, Isildur's horse Berek refuses to go, and it runs off towards Mordor. After narrowly escaping some orcs it runs into caves and finds Isildur (Maxim Baldry). He's been caught by a spider and gets attacked by an orc before escaping with his life. Who is that spider, I hear you ask? Well here's the identity of the arachnid.
Also in Mordor, Adar is being chastised by one of the orcs as the creatures don't want to go to war again. However he insists that they need to destroy Sauron to prevent being enslaved. Then a giant troll named Damrod approaches, as he received the message from Adar that Sauron is still alive.
Isildur wanders around in Mordor until finding a destroyed caravan, in which a woman called Estrid is hiding. She stabs him in the leg before realizing that he's not an orc. She tells him that the Númenóreans have left, but she has a map towards Pelargir, where the survivors from the eruption have taken to living.
They begin to travel there, and near Pelargir they find another cart that's been destroyed. Isildur wants to help but it's an ambush, with wild men who follow Adar springing an ambush. Isildur and Estrid are saved by Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) who is collecting wood for the settlement, though some surviving wild men get away with Berek.
That evening the town is hosting a funeral for Bronwyn, one of the major characters of season 1. When Theo stitches up Isildur's stab wound later, we hear that Bronwyn succumbed to poison from the arrow that hit her in the previous season's sixth episode. Arondir is trying to be supportive of Theo, but the boy angrily states that he's not his dad.
The next day, Theo tells Isildur that he knows where the men who took Berek are hidden, and they can retrieve it that evening. Waiting for Theo later, Isildur meets Estrid, who's waiting for her betrothed and has survivors' guilt about what she's been through. Then Theo arrives and the men depart; after, we see that Estrid has the mark of Adar upon her back.
In the enemy camp, Isildur is nearly spotted by the wild men, but Theo turns up as a distraction to say that he's joining them. We learn that some of the camps of wild men have been attacked, but Theo insists that it's not the inhabitants of Pelargir. Just then something attacks this camp too; it's something giant that whisks the men off the ground. As he tries to flee, Theo is picked up too, and though he hears the calls Isildur can't find him.
In the hall of the Númenóreans
Over in Númenor, Queen Regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) has lost a lot of respect from her people after the failed expedition to Middle-earth, with many thinking her cousin Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) should take over, which Elendil's daughter Eärien (Ema Hovarth) backs up. At a tavern with Pharazôn and some other sympathetic ears, and despite the attempts of one of Isildur's friends to talk her down, she tells some others about the Palantir that Míriel uses.
At the coronation of Míriel, people in the audience begin to shout out in protest at her, and Eärien shows up with the Palantir to reveal that the soon-to-be-queen uses it for advice.
Pharazôn initially feigns shock, saying that a Númenórean queen wouldn't use an elven artifact, but when he orders it destroyed Míriel demands that it isn't, inadvertently revealing that she does use it. This kicks off a riot which only ceases when a giant eagle flies to the castle, which is supposed to be a positive omen for someone being crowned.
However Pharazôn steps forward, making it seem like the eagle is there for him, and people begin to chant his name as the new king.
The new rings are forged
Prince Durin (Owain Arthur) and Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete) visit Eregion, where Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) and Annatar (Charlie Vickers) offer to forge new rings for the dwarven kings. These will heal the crumbling mountains, but they want mithril in return.
Durin doesn't trust Annatar but Disa insists that he makes amends with his father to bring the proposal to him.
Annatar deceives Celebrimbor by telling him that High King Gil-galad has forbidden the forging of new rings, and in return the elf writes a letter to his king to pretend that he's packing up the forge at Eregion. In fact, he plans to secretly make the rings, just without Gil-galad knowing.
In Khazad-dûm, merchants are asking the king to open the grain reserves. Then Durin approaches his father, telling him of Celebrimbor's offer, and then making amends with the king. He also tells his father that he doesn't trust Celebrimbor or Annatar.
The last thing we see in the episode is the dwarven rings being forged. Annatar seems to do something to the mithril that was brought to him, before casting it into the forge.
