- Survivors of a cataclysm try to find safety; the Harfoots confront evil; Durin is torn between friendship and duty; Adar considers a new name.
- The Elf Galadriel wakes up covered in ash following the eruption of the mountain Orodruin. The village of Tirharad is covered in ash and fire, with many dead and injured. Galadriel finds the human boy Theo and together they begin making their way out of the Southlands. Numenorean soldiers Isildur and Valandil find their friend Ontamo dead. They help Queen Regent Miriel rescue survivors from a burning building, but it collapses and Miriel loses her eyesight. Isildur is presumed dead in the collapse.
The Harfoots finish their migration to the Grove, an orchard that has been destroyed by the nearby volcano. They ask the magical Stranger who has joined them to help fix the orchard, but his attempts lead to a large tree branch landing on Nori and Dilly Brandyfoot. Scared, the Harfoots decide the Stranger should leave. Harfoot elder Sadoc Burrows gives him directions to a nearby settlement of Men and the Stranger departs. Sadoc tells the Stranger that the star constellations he seeks have not been seen for over a thousand years. The next day, the Harfoots awake to find the whole orchard regrown. That night, a trio of mysterious women arrive in search of the Stranger. They seem to be able to follow the Stranger with the trail of his magic. Nori attempts to send them in the wrong direction but the women use magic to burn all of the Harfoot caravans and then continue after the Stranger. Nori decides to go after him to warn him of the danger, and is accompanied by her friend Poppy Proudfellow, her mother Marigold, and Sadoc.
Galadriel and Theo bond over their shared guilt for the events leading to the eruption, and Galadriel discusses her husband Celeborn whom she believes to be dead. Theo blames himself for giving the hilt to Adar which brought upon this cataclysm on their lands. They eventually reach the Numenorean camp outside of the Southlands where Theo is reunited with his mother Bronwyn and her beloved, the Elf Arondir. Isildur's father Elendil learns of his son's loss and despairs, regretting his part in joining Galadriel's quest that led to this moment. When Isildur's horse cannot be calmed, Elendil lets the horse gallop off. Miriel gives the orders to leave Middle-Earth and to return to Numenor. Before the Numenoreans depart Middle-earth in their ships, Miriel promises to return and seek revenge against the enemy. Galadriel does not believe that Miriel will ever keep her promise to return to Middle-Earth. Galadriel is reunited with Halbrand, the King of the Southlands, who was gravely injured during the eruption. She helps him ride north to receive Elvish medicine. The other human survivors seek refuge in nearby Pelargir.
In Khazad-Dum, the Elf Elrond and Dwarf Prince Durin IV ask King Durin III for permission to mine the new ore Mithril so it can be used to counteract the fading power of the Elves in Middle-earth. Elrond offers riches and support to the Dwarfs for 5 centuries in exchange for access to the mines. Durin III refuses, believing the ore to be too dangerous to mine. As Elrond departs with a tearful farewell for Durin IV and his wife Disa, Durin IV sees proof that Mithril can save the Elves (An Elven leaf with blight on it, is cured in the presence of a Mithril specimen) and decides to mine it with Elrond in secret. They find a large deposit of the ore, but are caught by Durin III. Elrond is banished, taking a small piece of Mithril with him, and Durin IV is stripped of his royal status when he insists that Elrond is like a brother to him and helping him is his sacred duty. Durin III orders the Mithril mine to be sealed. Unbeknownst to them all, a Balrog lives deep below that mine.
In the Southlands, the Orcs and their human allies name their leader, Adar, "Lord of the Southlands". He says that place no longer exists: it is now the land of Mordor.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content