The Rings of Power introduced many new characters to the audience who didn’t exist as a part of Tolkien’s original legendarium, such as Isildur’s sister Earien. This is exciting, because there is no way of knowing what lies ahead in her path, or what the next series of the show has in store. When characters are taken directly from Tolkien’s works, fans already know the outcomes of their stories. Fans know that Elendil leads the army of men in the Battle of the Last Alliance, and Isildur cuts the ring from Sauron’s finger. But with new characters like Earien, there is a whole myriad of possibilities that could lead her down any number of paths, for better or for worse.
After the death of the king of Numenor in the final episode led to Earien discovering the palantir, fans have begun speculating on character predictions for season 2. Such predictions include whether or not she will be corrupted by the dark orb like so many that come after her. For the only examples of palantir that have been seen in previous Tolkien adaptations were in the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy, and they were all malicious for different reasons. Is this one the same, and will Earien fall victim to its evil?
The seven seeing stones were originally created to allow beings to communicate with one another across vast distances, and to show visions of past and future to help the rulers of the kingdoms choose wisely and avoid wars. But during the Second Age, when the palantirs made their way to Middle Earth, one of them was obtained by Sauron. He managed to infect them and use them to manipulate the minds of anyone who looked into the others. The most well-known of them is the orb found in the tower of Orthanc, which clearly had a major part in twisting Saruman the white wizard to the dark side, and later almost paralyzed Pippin the hobbit when he looked in it against Gandalf’s will.
There are also two other orbs in the Lord of the Rings that weren’t shown in the film, but made huge impacts on the War of the Ring. One is the orb of Minas Ithil in Mordor, which was used by Sauron to corrupt all the others. The other is the orb of Minas Tirith in Gondor, which clouded Denethor the Steward’s mind, and largely led to his paranoia and hopelessness. Based on the known dangers of these other three seeing stones, the stone up in Numenor’s tower doesn’t bode well for Earien.
The king himself gives her a warning when he opens the secret door to the high tower and encourages her to look at the seeing stone:
“Come. You must go up. But don’t do as I did. I looked for too long, and now I cannot separate what is from what was, and what was from what will be.”
When placed in the right hands, the stones could show powerful visions of the future that could guide the viewer in the right direction. This was the case with Mirirel when she looked into it, and it showed her the vision of the flooding of Numenor, which prompted Galadriel and Miriel to turn from enemies to allies. However, when stared at for too long, the stones' visions can wear down the mind and begin to take their toll. The visions become more vivid than real life, to the point where the viewer can no longer distinguish between space and time.
Miriel has clearly been using the palantir sparingly because she has experienced firsthand how it eventually led to her father aging before his time, and growing increasingly weary of life. But Earien has no such frame of reference, and is therefore in danger of being sucked into the palantir's alluring properties. She is already shown to be very opinionated and quick to anger, especially when it comes to the tension between her people and the elves. These are exactly the sort of negative traits that the palantir may feed off and perpetuate.
Fortunately, at this point in time, it doesn’t seem as if Sauron has found his palantir yet. He has therefore not begun corrupting the other six with his malice and poison. The stone still exists in its original form, which means that Earien, at least for now, will not be privy to the dark lord’s will and control.
There is a possibility that Halbrand may find a palantir in the next series, and that his path will become closely intertwined with Earien’s. But the orbs work both ways, and can also be used for good. For example, Aragorn challenges Sauron in the palantir in Gondor, and uses it to assert his rightful place as king, to intimidate the enemy, and to buy Frodo and Sam vital time to reach Mount Doom and destroy the ring. So whether Earien will be able to conquer the orb and use it to help her people, or whether she will fall prey to it like many other strong and powerful characters over the years, will depend upon who she is on the inside. It will depend on whether she has the traits it takes to make a Tolkien hero, or if she is more inclined towards darkness.
