The second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power ended with several plotlines going off in exciting new directions. On the island nation of Númenor, the newly installed emperor Ar-Pharazôn declared those who still worship the divine Valar to be heretics. Elendil, one of the leaders of the Faithful, hightailed it to a less fanatical part of the island, but not before saying goodbye to Míriel, who in the eyes of the Faithful remains the rightful queen.
As for Míriel herself, she allowed herself to be taken into custody by Pharazôn. We were able to ask The Rings of Power star Cynthia Addai-Robinson where she thinks Míriel's story will go from here. With the Faithful being persecuted and herself in prison, things aren't looking up. Is despair on the table?
"I'll say this: she's thinking," Addai-Robinson told us. "I mean, I don't think that she's sort of pitying and sort of just succumbing to despair. I think that she is thinking, and I think it's gonna be a fight from within. She's a smart woman, and she knows Pharazôn and she understands human nature. And so I believe that there would be a sense of strategy even around her being in chains and captured on sort of trumped up treasonous charges."
"And I was thinking about it because we don't necessarily see it as much, but there presumably are people out there who believe that Míriel is the true leader. They witnessed the trial by the sea, they adhere to the same beliefs that she stands by...You know, she's not alone in her fight and her belief. So I think with that understanding and knowledge, it's really about strategy and timing, in terms of what I think would potentially lie ahead. But you know, despair...I think she despairs for Númenor. I don't think she despairs for herself, but I think anything that she would be feeling along those lines would be about her people and their future.
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Remember: in the first episodes of the series, Míriel had a vision of Númenor being swallowed by the sea. Those familiar with The Lord of the Rings mythology know that isn't an idle concern. There's reason to be afraid.
We don't know when a third season of The Rings of Power might come along (or even if it's confirmed at all, technically), but the odds are good that we won't see new episodes until 2026. Míriel is going to be cooling her heels for a while. In the meantime, we interviewed several members of The Rings of Power cast about the season 2 finale:
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