On the island of Númenor, Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has been one long test of the inhabitants' faith in the Elves and the divine Valar.
Some, like new King Ar-Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) and his slimy son Kemen (Leon Wadham), are failing spectacularly, even going so far as to desecrate the oldest Valar shrine in Númenor. A small few, like former Queen Tar-Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) and former Sea Guard captain Elendil (Lloyd Owen), hold strong to their beliefs. That steadfastness has landed them in hot water, with Elendil in prison and poised to be executed. However, in episode 6, Pharazôn and his crony Lord Belzagar (Will Keen) decide that Elendil can undergo "trial by abyss," as is customary for the ways of the Valar.
The sea trial is still as good as a death sentence. After all, the process involves forcing the accused into the ocean to face off against a massive sea worm. There's likely no coming back from that, and Elendil knows it. If he dies, Pharazôn reaps not only the reward of wiping one of his detractors off the board, but also gets to further discredit the Valar by saying they abandon their followers in their time of need.
What Pharazôn couldn't predict was that Míriel would volunteer herself in Elendil's place. It's a massive moment for Míriel, an attempt to take back some control after being at her lowest point all season long. "There was definitely an excitement of getting to put her in a position where there was going to be that show of strength," Addai-Robinson told Mashable.
But getting Míriel to the point of making that choice takes quite a bit of soul-searching. The same goes for Elendil when he accepts the trial by abyss, so Addai-Robinson and Owen had lots of discussion about their characters' relation to faith. Should they blindly accept Pharazôn's rule as the way things are meant to be? Is there any way his rise to power could be the will of the Valar? Or should they listen to their hearts, which tell them that what Pharazôn is doing is fundamentally wrong? Both choose the latter and stand tall in the face of Pharazôn, even if it means their lives are on the line.
For Míriel, there's another layer to her choice: that of sacrificing herself for Elendil. The decision marks a new turning point in their relationship, which initially started as a perfunctory leader-and-subject dynamic before evolving into something greater. The two are bound by their shared faith and love of Númenor, but also by the trauma they experienced in The Rings of Power's first season, when they journeyed to Middle-earth to defend the Southlands from invading Orcs. In that battle and the subsequent explosion of Mount Doom, Míriel lost her vision, and Elendil believes he lost his son Isildur (Maxim Baldry). Now, the two are each other's greatest allies.
"There's obviously a deep love there," Addai-Robinson said. "There's a lovely moment during a conversation after the debacle of the coronation [in episode 3] where she puts her hand on Elendil's chest. It shifts the dynamic, because that's not a leader-subject gesture, but it transcends the romantic. It's really more about the respect and admiration and care and love between them that doesn't necessarily lend itself to a label."
Addai-Robinson added, "I love that there is room for interpretation for the audience. If there's shipping, we're all about it."
That deep connection to Elendil is what pushes Míriel to take on the trial of the abyss. Of course there's some doubt in her mind as she enters the water. But Addai-Robinson believes the "serenity" of Míriel's decision outweighs the very human flicker of doubt.
"If it is a sacrifice for the greater good, if it is a sacrifice for her people, if it is a sacrifice for Elendil, then it is a sacrifice worth making," Addai-Robinson said.
The Rings of Power shot the lead-up to Míriel's trial on location in Tenerife. Months before, Addai-Robinson filmed the underwater portion of the scene in a tank at Pinewood Studios, under careful supervision from a dedicated water safety team. And while the elements of Tenerife posed their own challenges, with choppy water and big waves, the tank work held some fascinating parallels to Míriel's predicament. Just like a nervous Míriel had to believe that the Valar would see her through, Addai-Robinson tempered her own worries about the scene with her faith in the people overseeing her.
"I was absolutely terrified to be underwater. It's not my comfort zone," Addai-Robinson explained. "You spend a long day in the water and it's draining psychologically, as is the case with things that we have deep fear around. In a lot of ways, you're facing your own mortality. Every minute I was down there, I had the panic response of, 'I'm going to drown. I need to come up.' So settling my mind and trusting people was, to me, the real exercise."
In the end, both Addai-Robinson and Míriel made it through the trial by abyss. The resulting scene is one of The Rings of Power's most gripping, as Míriel faces down a massive sea monster that would leave any hero quaking in their boots. Thankfully, the sea worm spares Míriel's life — much to Pharazôn's disappointment — leading Elrond to dub her "Queen of the Sea."
"If people understood all of the people that have to come together to pull some of these things off, it really is an impressive feat," Addai-Robinson said. "So I'm proud that we all managed to have this particular sequence be not just a moment of triumph for Míriel, but a moment of triumph for all of us who put this sequence together."
