Step aside, Sauron – there’s a new villain in town

Annatar standing with his chin resting on his right hand as he ponders something in The Rings of Power season 2

Sauron is no longer public enemy number one in The Rings of Power season 2 (Image credit: Ben Rothstein/Prime Video)

The Rings of Power season 2 has passed its midway point – and the stakes have certainly been raised in Númenor after what transpired in this season’s fifth episode.

Indeed, with the release of season 2 episode 5, titled ‘Halls of Stone’, early online discussions surrounding the hit Prime Video series’ latest entry have been dominated by one sequence in particular: the death of a minor but no less popular character.

This is your final spoiler warning: do not read past the image below unless you’ve seen The Rings of Power‘s newest episode!

Kemen and Pharazon speak as they walk through Numenor in The Rings of Power season 2

Kemen (left) has infuriated fans with his actions in season 2 episode 5 (Image credit: ross)
So, who dies in ‘Halls of Stone’? Valandil, a Númenórean soldier who not only served under Elendil, but who was (until his death) also the best friend of Isildur.

Some fans, including myself, had sensed that Valandil might not be long for this world after his tense run-ins with Pharazon’s son Kemen throughout season 2. Nonetheless, his demise at Kemen’s hands in the Amazon show’s latest installment was shocking. That came after Valandil had spared Kemen’s life – albeit after Elendil pleaded with Valandil not to kill Kemen – following a bruising scuffle between The Faithful – Númenóreans who are still friendly with the elves – and The King’s Men, who are jealous of the immortal elven race.

As I mentioned, Valandil isn’t a major character in Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings prequel series, but the fact that he perished at Kemen’s hands has infuriated the high-fantasy show’s global audience. Indeed, Kemen has slowly become one of the fanbase’s most resented individuals, and this latest act has only fueled viewers’ hatred for the fictional being.

Need proof of that? Just head over to The Rings of Power‘s official Reddit page, where viewers are already demanding that Kemen meet a particularly horrible end for what he did to Valandil. Ahmadthepianoguy led the charge on that front, writing “I need Kemen to die the worst possible death and I want them to spare none of the budget on the gore”, while Home-Furnishing said they “haven’t felt this much hatred for a fictional character since GoT [Game of Thrones]”. A similar sentiment was expressed by hanburgundy, who simply stated “Middle earth finally has its Joffrey” – Joffrey being the detestable Lannister teen who inflicted misery on many of GoT‘s other houses before he met his end in season 4 episode 2 of the hit HBO series.

Numerous other fans on Reddit, and on other social media sites like X/Twitter, also hit out at Kemen’s life-taking act, but a lot – and I mean a lot – of them are expletive-laden comments telling him where to go, so I’ll refrain from posting those ones here. Among the less-colorful comments, some Redditors, such as Jayk_Dos31 and snostorm8, theorized that, given his malicious tendencies, Kemen seems like an obvious candidate to receive one of the nine rings for the Kings of Men. As The Rings of Power‘s creators recently told me, these rings are “more seductive and sinister” than their elven counterparts, so the embittered and wicked Kemen is certainly ripe enough to be corrupted by them – you know, if he’s gifted one, which seems like a stretch because, well, he’s not a king.

But I digress. While Redditors reacted with fury over Kemen’s actions, many X/Twitter users spent their time mourning the loss of one of the best Prime Video shows’ most notable side characters. Users including cauldrononfire, boldlybookish, and eshiehoshi were just three of many individuals who lamented Valandil’s demise, and I suspect more viewers will do so once they’ve watched ‘Halls of Stone’.

As always, I plan on bringing you even more news, exclusives, and fan reactions for The Rings of Power season 2 between now and its finale on October 3, so stay tuned to TechRadar for more. In the meantime, read some of my previous coverage in the section below.