The Southlanders Are Headed to Pelargir on 'The Rings of Power,' but What Is That?

Spoiler alert: The following post contains spoilers for episode seven of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Following an epic conclusion to its sixth episode, the seventh episode of The Rings of Power deals with the fallout of the transformation of the Southlands into Mordor. The Southlanders are forced to flee from the land altogether, and by the end of the episode, they have to decide where to go next.

Near the end of the episode, after all of the major players fighting on behalf of the light have coalesced at Numenor's camp, Bronwym says that her plan is to take the people of the Southlands to Pelargir. This naturally led many to wonder what Pelargir is, and what significance it might have to the broader tale that The Rings of Power is in the process of telling.

Pelargir is a Numenorian colony that sits above the delta of the Anduin and below the White Mountains. While the location has not yet been seen on the show, most indications suggest it will eventually become critical to the world of The Rings of Power. Crucially, Pelargir will eventually become the major port for the kingdom of Gondor, which has not yet been founded in the time of Rings of Power.

In fact, in Return of the King, Aragorn leads the army of the dead in defense of the port before arriving in Minas Tirith to turn the tide of that battle. We won't reveal how Gondor is ultimately founded, but the founding of the country will be a crucial plot development in Rings of Power. That's likely still several seasons down the line, however, as plenty of other dominoes have to fall first.

The first season of The Rings of Power is almost at an end, which means many viewers are bracing for what might be in store in the season finale which will be released on Oct. 14.

The showrunners have said that they didn't want to end the season on a major battle. Instead, they were focused more on telling emotionally fulfilling stories for their characters.

"It can become very tempting to end your season on a huge battle. We like the idea of a more intimate, emotional battle, at least that was the aspiration," they said during an audience Q&A session reported on by Total Film. "And then going deeper and deeper and deeper into character. And hopefully, when you watch the eighth episode, that's what it feels like. We want the stakes to feel bigger, but not necessarily in the scope or the special effects."

The trailer for the final episode doesn't give away much, but it does suggest that there will be a major explosion in Numenor. The loss of the Southlands is likely to leave a lasting scar on every character who witnessed it, but what will happen moving forward is far less certain.