“The Rings of Power”, once again makes us aware of the peculiar but fascinating life of the Hobbits, although this time they are very far from building the shire, and also from the events that we witnessed in “Lord of the Rings”. during the Third Age of Middle-earth. We still remember the warmth and comfort of the county, as depicted in Peter Jackson’s masterpiece, and the curiosity of the people who lived there. Hobbits were peculiar creatures and had their own idiosyncratic way of living life. Hobbits didn’t like to get into the complexities of things. They ate, drank and amused themselves as much as they could in their luxurious and safe burrows. It was a place that had not been touched by evil. It felt like nothing could go wrong in the county. We witnessed the evolution of relationships, the making of memories, the treasuring of moments, and a collective liking experienced by all hobbits for everything that grew. But before the period of time known as the “wandering days”, during which Hobbits began to migrate, they didn’t live in orderly communities like the county, or like the settlements at Bree and Chetwood, like the ones we saw. in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
In “The Rings of Power”, we are introduced to a small group of hobbits who call themselves the “Harfoots”. At this point in the Second Age, hobbits fell into three categories: Stoors, Fallohides, and Harfoots. All three had their own peculiar set of characteristics. Each category had its own distinctive physical features that made it non-identical to the other two. The Harfoots, for example, had darker skin and were shorter in stature compared to the other two categories. They were beardless and generally resided in highlands and hillsides. The Stoors were a bit bulky and preferred to make their burrows on the plains and near the river. Fallonhides were the most skilled among the three categories. They were friendlier to the elves, and unlike a quintessential hobbit, they preferred to hunt rather than farm. The Harfoots were slightly larger in size compared to the hobbits that lived in the earldom in the Third Age. They were extremely shy (more accurately scared) of men, whom they called “Big Folks”.
The Harfoots had a close relationship with mother earth. Perhaps that was why they were able to dig burrows so skillfully and camouflage themselves whenever the Big Folks passed through their territory. They had a characteristic agility like that of a squirrel or a rabbit which also explains the word “har” in their name, which may be a reference to “Hares”. They could disappear as and when they wanted. Some people thought they were magical beings, but that was not true. They respected the land that fed them, they respected the delicate balance of things in nature, and they never once tried to plunder it. Maybe that’s why they could find ways to build this close bond with Mother Earth and also find ways to thrive on it. Although the “War of Wrath” was over, and with Morgoth’s defeat, all evil was supposed to have been vanquished from the face of the Earth, there were some anomalies that were being observed by the intellectuals of the Harfoot community.
Who was the Meteor Man that Elanor “Nori” Brandyfoot had met?
Elanor Brandyfoot was probably the most nosy and curious of all the Harfoot children. Her father, Largo Brandyfoot, pampered her and gave her the freedom he longed for. Nori had gone to the old farm for berries, though her mother, Marigold Brandyfoot, had told her over and over again not to go there. Nori had sensed the presence of some creature, and thought that she saw someone intruding on her and her friends. She thought it was a wolf and didn’t tell anyone. Elanor was always curious about what was going on in the world. Though the Harfoots considered themselves free from the cares of the world, Nori couldn’t help but think of what existed beyond her wanderings. That was why she was always going and poking her nose into the business of Zadoc Burrows and his little team of intellectuals. Zadok Burrows, an academic of sorts, was a Harfoot who studied the constellations, carefully observing the patterns of nature and trying to find some reason behind the mysteries of the world. Zadok studied the constellations and knew instantly that something was wrong. He couldn’t clearly explain what the problem was, but he told Nori that the skies were strange. Nori was curious to know more about her findings, but didn’t want to share too many details with her. The Harfoots kept migrating from one place to another, and before one of those migrations, something extraordinary happened. Nori saw a meteor in the sky. She followed it and discovered that it had crashed at a nearby site, very close to the settlement of Harfoot. She saw that an unconscious man lay in the middle, circumscribed by fire on all sides. Nori and Poppy Proudfellow had realized that the man could not be an elf or a Big Folk. In the second half of episode one from “The Rings of Power”, the great king Gil-Galad saw a leaf fall from the tree and evil ran through his veins. Perhaps it was a metaphor to denote what was going to happen in the near future. Maybe the meteor man was a fallen angel.
Although the identity of this man was not revealed at the end of “The Rings of Power” Episode 2, there are clues that tell us that it probably belongs to the first creations of Eru Iluvatar, known as Ainurs. The Ainurs comprised the Valar and the Maiar. It is important to mention here that Gandalf was an Ainur, but he was born years after the current timeline. Eru Iluvatar taught the Ainur to make music, and through it they created the world together. An aerial view of the meteor man gives us the impression that the fire, with him in the middle, formed a kind of symbol denoting something significant. It seemed that the creators wanted to pictorially represent the harmony and collective consciousness that led to the creation of the world. When the Great Music began, the Ainur were in harmony and cooperative with each other. Perhaps it symbolized that, and the fallen angel was an Ainur. Also, we see that Nori does not get burned by the fire. It could be indicative of the fact that it was indeed the secret fire, also known as the Undying Flame, that gave Eru Iluvatar the power of creation. Meteor Man was constantly trying to communicate by making some cryptic symbols. He was unable to speak or understand Nori and Poppy’s languages. The Ainurs also communicated through thoughts and did not need proper language like mortals. Speculation aside, the man desperately needed help. He did not remember anything and was in a state of anguish. Something was worrying him, and maybe he knew that evil would rise up once more like in the old days. Possibly, he knew something about Sauron and what he planned to do.
All these hints and evidences point towards the possibility that the fallen man could be an Ainur, although the mystery will be revealed in the next episodes of “Rings of Power”, and the real identity and intentions of the Meteor man will be revealed. he revealed.