What an amazing week to be alive to see “The Rings of Power” finally hit the Amazon screens with its scintillating pictorial of Tolkien’s masterpiece brainchild, the history of Middle Earth’s Second Age. Patrick Mackay and John D. Payne made this massive rendition look like an accurate study of classic characters, with no expense spared in their craftsmanship. What we see, from Galadriel’s quest to find evil to the mysterious fall of a meteor man, the show is a whole lot of wonder, which is rooted in the unexplored stories of Tolkien’s history that we can find in the appendices of “Lord of the Rings Trilogy.” Here to witness some of the iconic characters are those who have hidden the form of transmuted history, which will gradually unfold episode by episode, and a bunch of new names for the sake of a rebuilt depiction of Tolkien’s universe with freshly undisclosed crossroads.
Galadriel (Morfydd Clark)
“The Rings of Power” Episode 1 begins with a majestic voiceover of Galadriel in the background of the sparkles of Valinor, where little elves are playing nearby in a valley. The voiceover continues to rue about how the evil-less world, with prosperous light and youth, turned to darkness. Little Galadriel, with her brittle paper ship, seems so resolute that it is going to sail, whereas her other cousin brothers embarrass her. But Finrod, as a guide for his sister, Galadriel, makes her realize what it is meant to be a ship, that is guided by the lights, not to be drowned like a stone. And we see Galadriel becoming a ship that floats like a hope to exact her revenge by banishing evil.
Galadriel was one of the greatest elves of Middle Earth. Born in Valinor before the first age, Galadriel is the daughter of the prince of Noldor, Finarfin, and his wife, Earwen. Galadriel’s brother, Finrod Felagund, was a great warrior of the second age who lost his life in the hands of Sauron, the dark Lord who was previously the servant of Morgoth. Finrod’s death inflamed Galadriel’s heart to be entitled to wipe out the evils of Sauron. She possessed her brother’s dagger and headed towards the iced fortress of Morgoth to find a sign of the devil, but failed to even bind her army to the target. She has to return to Lindon to take an honor where she is told to terminate her battle of vengeance. But on the great ocean-way from Middle Earth to her home in Valinor, the irrevocable Galadriel bathed in the holy light of Valinor forces herself to retreat and dives into the sundering sea, accompanied by her brother’s dagger. Along the way, she meets Halbrand, who was hunted by the Orcs from his home. Galadriel realizes that Sauron’s presence is breathing down her neck, and intends to go to the Southlands to kill it completely, but Hallbrand believes she is selfish, thinking that she is only seeking to avenge the death of her kin, while Galadriel’s sole purpose was to protect the entire Middle Earth from Sauron. She is thwarted multiple times in this battle by High King Gil-galad and her friend Elrond, but she remains steadfast in her goal and sinks into the sundering sea. While in the waters of the ocean, from various demons to the raging storm, the path is going to be hard enough to reach her destination.
Elrond (Robert A. Aramayo)
Elrond is not entirely focused on in these two episodes, but he is indeed an important character in Tolkien’s universe, who is a half-elven and later became the King of Rivendell, as we have seen in “Fellowship of the Ring.” Here we see a young Elrond, in the Elven realm, preparing for his speech to the High King, but is interrupted by the presence of his friend Galadriel, so leaving the speech, he rushes to meet Galadriel. He finds Galadriel still in her insistence that the evil Sauron is the only foe that she has to fight. Elrond, bound in the peaceful trust of Lindon, denies her urge, rather he promises to inform her about any trace he will find regarding Sauron. Elrond, aware of the unfinished evil, still worries about his friend more than he worries about the dark Lord. Even after Galadriel fails to convince the High king to let her restart her mission, Elrond is the one who solaces her with healing words but diverts her aim with his proposal to take rest in the blessed realm of the west, after her so long fought battles. It is because he is concerned that the peace of Middle Earth shouldn’t be harmed, which can lead to further bloodshed for the Elves. Later, he meets Celebrimbror, in the Elven Smith’s realm of Ereign, to discuss the tower that Celebrimbror wants to build. Elrond has to reach the Dwarven realm of Khazad-dum, where he has to hammer a bunch of rigid stones to take part in the Rite of Sigin-tarag (a Dwarven way of testing endurance) to impress his brotherly pal, the Dwarven king Durin IV. Though he decides to give up intending his proposal to be presented in front of the Dwarven king, instead of acquaintance, he gets hostility from Durin as he couldn’t attend his wedding and meet him in the past 20 years. So, realizing the hostility is only the sulk that a friend could preserve, Elrond apologizes for his indiscretion, and being a silver-tongued persona, he finally manages to impress the Khazad-dum king and his wife to lend a helping hand in their upcoming project.
Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker)
Gil-galad was an elf of Noldor and the last High King of the Elves in Middle Earth. Here he is seen to impart the honor to Galadriel with the leafy crown to make an end to her mission, intending to send them to the homeland of the West in Valinor. He is also aware of the impending invasion of Sauron but finds it more tranquil to end the battle to prevent the massacre. Thence, he is quiet and reluctant to continue Galadriel’s expedition to find Sauron.
Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards)
Celebrimbor, a prince of the Noldor and grandson of Feanor, was a great craftsman and an Elven Smith who ruled Erigion. He meets with Elrond in Lindon, the kingdom of Gil-galad, to discuss his new project of building a tower that will be established as a place where his creations will be transported to Middle Earth. He wants to build this tower as a great power, which is going to be the greatest builder in Middle Earth, and he wants to finish this construction before the spring, for which Elrond takes him to Khajad-Dum, the kingdom of the Dwarves, to get plenty of help. Celebrimbor, despite being the greatest artificer, is humble to every craftsman in the Middle East who can establish art with stones.
The Dwarves and Durin (Owain Arthur)
The Dwarves are a race of short people of Middle Earth who are the creation of Aule. They call themselves the makers, as they are great at craftsmanship. After the first age, dwarves started residing in the Durin Folk, whose King was Durin I. Durin IV was the next-generation king of the three previous kings called Durin. The Fourth Durin is considered to be a descendant of Durin I due to their resemblance in appearance. Elrond, knowing of Moria’s prodigies, arrives in their realm with Celebrimbor. As Durin IV is his brotherly friend, he is confident that he will get help, but Durin, with his rugged appearance, harbors deep-seated anger that prevents Elrond from coming. But when Elrond challenges the Rite of Sigin-tarag, Durin’s door opens for him. However, while the dwarfs might be smaller, there is no comparison when it comes to mining, so Elrond has to concede defeat to him. Durin finally vents his anger on the way through Moria to his palace, saying that Elrond was never present for his wedding or childbirth, which hurt him greatly. Elrond apologizes to him and his wife Disa (Sofia Nomvete), and is impressed to see the sapling of a Seedling tree he once gave to them has grown beautifully in Durin’s house. Elrond, seeing the couple happily married, comments that their love is so strong that even in the darkness, the tree grows magnificently. Durin’s mind is finally forced to melt, allowing Elrond to put his proposition to him.
Harfoots and Nori (Markella Kavenagh)
The Harfoots were an ancient breed of Hobbit who lived in caves at the foot of Misty Mountain in the Wilderlands of the Aundun called Rhovanian. Their skin color was brown, and their feet could not be seen wearing covers, as their feet were unusually large and monstrous in appearance, while their stature was almost dwarf-like. A non-canonical character from “The Rings of Power” in this species is Elanor Brandyfoot, who wants to abandon her natural Harfoot instincts to become an explorer, to enjoy all the wonders of the world, but eventually meets a stranger, whom she is inspired to help without holding herself back. However, we’ve also seen in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy between Frodo and his friends that the Hobbit is a benevolent and sociable species, yet they don’t like to be in danger at all. But Nori, aka Elenor, feels somehow connected to the Meteor Man to help him out.
Meteor Man (Daniel Weyman)
The Harfoots see a fierce meteor fall across the sky, where Nori and her friend Poppy are present. In the middle of a volcanic crater caused by a meteorite crash, they find a stranger lying there, frail in form and monstrous in height. Nori can’t leave him alone, despite Poppy’s repeated refusals. She covers him with a cloth and leaves him in the forest, but when she comes to visit him the next day, the meteor man yells at him. But Nori assures him that she is harmless. Meteor Man gestures to her in unintelligible language and scribbles, which Nori cannot understand. He looks like he has lost his memory and is very hungry as he munches on snails. But when they finally meet him with the firefly-powered lanterns, he sets the fireflies free with his magical powers and tries to find a constellation in the sky. The meteor man’s shape, appearance, and magical powers suggest that he might be a Maiar Wizard. However, neither Gandalf nor Saruman appeared on Middle Earth before the Third Age, but we wonder if the Meteor Man has something surprising in store for us.
Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) and Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi)
Arondir, formerly a Silvan Elf farmer from Mirkwood or Lothlorien, is now a soldier of the High King. Arondir falls in love with Bronwyn, a single mortal mother and a healer from the village of Tirharad in west central Mordor in the Southland. Both of them are non-canonical characters in the TV show who can understand the presence of Orcs, so they want to track them together, but their association is cause for concern to Middle Earth-speaking people. We had seen Aragorn and Arwen’s “elf-mortal” love before, which was not recognized at first in their society. However, Bronwyn and her son Theo experience the presence of an Orc in their home, leading them to kill it. Therefore, she informs the villagers that the Orcs will come and kill everyone unless the village is vacated immediately.
Theo and his Dagger (Tyroe Muhafidin)
Theo, Bronwyn’s son, is another series-invented character that is significant because he is found with a broken sword of Sauron, possibly from his untraced father, who might have been a follower of Sauron in some way. As Brownyn, after killing the Orc, prepares to leave their home, Theo picks up the broken sword, which absorbs his blood and burns with flames. This indicates the imminent arrival of Sauron.
Halbrand (Charlie Vickers)
When Galadriel dives into the sundering sea, she meets the dubious character Halbrand, who at first refuses to help an Elf but saves her from a sea-serpent, the Worm. However, he is somewhat apathetic and selfish as he leaves his other companions to die, and keeps his identity and address secret, but it is said in his mouth that he has left home because he was being chased by Orcs. Most likely, Halbrand is a mortal who used to live in Hordern, the village next to Tirharad in Southland. Hordern is a village that we first see on the map shown in the 2022 pre-promotional video for “The Rings of Power.”
Almost 20 years after the “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, “The Rings of Power” has made our week, gifting us with all the amazing characters we already have, along with new ones. Hopefully, this series will not disappoint us in advance but will reveal more in-depth characters for which we are gladly waiting.
