Rings of Power's best character showed up, kicked ass and died

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power The sixth episode is the most action-packed yet and follows a siege of Ostirith by Adar and his merry band of orcs. In the tide of violence and chaos, one figure in particular stood out: this great orc.

you know him Arondir the elf does his thing, killing one orc after another with his bow before falling off the roof of a building. When he hits the ground, he stabs an orc in the chest and slowly backs away, clearly out of breath. Suddenly he crashes into an orc that appears to be twice his size and turns around in surprise.

Arondir the Elf looks back in surprise when he encounters a giant Orc in Rings of Power.

It’s a golden moment — there are few better action-comedy beats in this world than “our hero accidentally bumps into an extremely large opponent just after he’s done some extremely cool stuff.” It’s one of the few real ones moments of humor in The Rings of Power so far, and it builds up one of the best action sequences the show has had.

The big orc (I’ll call him Borc) grabs Arondir and throws him through a fence, immediately noting the big guy’s superior strength. The Rings of Power struggles to utilize the elves’ physicality, but in this scene, Borc is a perfect juxtaposition for the agility and grace of Arondir’s fighting style. After being flung around like so many sacks of potatoes, Arondir hits the big guy in melee, dodging Borc’s penalty blows and dishing out some fancy kicks of his own.

A great orc towers tall over a fence and roof in the Rings of Power.

Arondir is then caught by Borc with a powerful straight right, clearly stunning him. It’s a really effective slap on the screen – Arondir blushes and the sound effect is brutal. Borc throws Arondir again and starts brutally charging at him, which actually puts one of the (many) main protagonists of the series in danger. It’s only when Arondir takes up an improvised weapon and repeatedly cuts the big guy that he seems to stand a chance, and even then it’s close – Borc plants Arondir on a well and almost chokes him. Luckily for Arondir fans (but unfortunate for my Borc fans) Bronwyn gets through just in time to stab Borc in the back. But that’s not before Arondir stabs the big guy’s eye and splatters orc blood all over his face, in a particularly gnarly moment.

Arondir the elf clenches his teeth as black orc blood pours down his face in The Rings of Power.

So pour one out for Borc, somehow one of the most memorable characters of Rings of Power. He provided the show with needed moments of humor and hard-hitting action, and satisfied some crucial needs of good action cinema: moments of lightness amidst chaos, juxtaposition of fighting styles, and tense moments of pure brutality. Rings of Power and other shows like this might use more memorable flash-in-the-pan characters like Borc, especially because of the show’s other issues with character building.

You will be missed, big boy.