The Rings Of Power Season 3 Episode 2 Delivers A Shocking Death No One Saw Coming

Contains spoilers for "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" Season 3, Episode 2 - "The Gift of Men"

"The Rings of Power" Season 3 jumps forward in time five years. This creates the feeling of a soft reboot, as the landscape has changed a lot in that time. This plays into an unexpected departure at the end of Season 3, Episode 2: Eärien's sudden death is a real shocker. Ema Horvath's Númenórean character played a substantial role in the first two seasons, and, up until the Season 3 premiere, it felt like her importance was only going to increase.

It's important to point out that Horvath's character was entirely made up for the show, so there is no specific path that she needed to go down in terms of Tolkien's source material. However, as a member of one of the most influential Human families in Middle-earth history, many likely assumed that she would continue to play an important part in the story. When Season 3 Episode 2 ends and she's suddenly gone, it comes as quite the shock for those who watched the previous two seasons.

The character's dramatic ending is as shocking as it is unexpected. Throughout Episode 2, Eärien is revealed as a covert member of the Faithful (the pro-Elvish faction of Humans on the island nation of Númenor). She's deeply ensconced in the inner circle of her enemies — until she's discovered and trapped in the final minutes of the episode. With nowhere to go, Eärien steps up to a balcony and casts herself onto the road below. It's the stuff of legend, and it sounds Tolkienian enough. But it really does come out of left field, especially considering where we left the character a season ago.

In Tolkien's original writings, there's a distinct lack of female representation in Eärien's family. All we hear about are her dad, Elendil (Lloyd Owen), her brother, Isildur (Maxim Baldry), and her other brother, Anárion (Andrew Richardson). Elendil's wife is never mentioned, nor is it stated that he has any other children. Showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay (who have spoken out about the backlash to "The Rings of Power") filled the female gap with Eärien, who got a solid amount of screen time across Season 1 and Season 2.

Eärien started as the innocent and wide-eyed "baby" of the family. While her father and brothers leaned toward pro-Elvish sympathies, Eärien was attracted to the anti-Elvish group called the King's Men. This is led by Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle), who, by the end of Season 2, has usurped the throne and started forming a ring of trusted advisors to help him rule. The last we saw of her in Season 2, Eärien was on the edge of that circle and clearly interested in getting more involved.

However, the five-year time jump between seasons changed things (if you haven't watch it yet, here are the major plot points you need to remember going into "The Rings of Power" Season 3). When we catch up with Eärien it soon becomes clear that she's not the same character she was before: She has shifted her loyalties toward the rest of her family's convictions. We learn that she's using her proximity to power to help the Faithful. That is, until it all goes up in smoke.

While Eärien may have made an early exit in Patrick McKay and JD Payne's adaptation, you can bet her family is only going to get more involved as the story continues. In Tolkien's source material, Elendil, Isildur, and Anárion are critical figures for the future of Númenor and indeed all Middle-earth. The trio brings contingents of the Faithful back to the continent when Pharazôn and the King's Men lead their island nation to its Atlantis-inspired doom.

The survivors of the catastrophe set up two kingdoms in Middle-earth. In the south, the two brothers, Isildur and Anárion, co-rule the new kingdom of Gondor. In the north, Elendil creates the Kingdom of Arnor and rules as the high king over both kingdoms. This sets the stage for the end of the Second Age, where these surviving Númenórean kingdoms will team up with the other Free Peoples of Middle-earth to create the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

This alliance will ultimately attack Sauron in Mordor, where Anárion will die in battle, crushed by a stone. Elendil will also perish at the hand of Sauron himself before Isildur takes up what's left of his father's broken sword and uses it to cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, as depicted at the beginning of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." While Eärien's death is tragic, the family is destined for plenty more heartbreak before this story wraps up.