Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for the Rings of Power Season 2 finale.
If the Rings of Power have no haters, then Elrond is dead. That seemed to be true for the most part, but the Season 2 finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power saw Elrond (Robert Aramayo) make a decision that would have been downright unthinkable for him earlier this season: to save Galadriel’s (Morfydd Clark) life after Sauron (Charlie Vickers) stabbed her with the Crown of Morgoth, he dons her ring, Nenya, to help Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) banish the darkness overtaking her.
The moment is huge for Elrond, to say the least, and Collider’s Carly Lane got the chance to speak with both Aramayo and Walker about what this choice means for Elrond going forward. For Aramayo, the difficult decision he made in order to save his friend’s life does not signal an overall shift in his way of thinking, but is a little more complicated than that:
“Difficult, isn’t it? Because I think when he puts it on, it’s like he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. One of the narratives could be, ‘Okay, now I’m in the game, now I’m in this role, now I’m opening myself up for corruption.’ But he has no choice in that moment. But we then see the product of it. And so it’s complicated for him, isn’t it? And we know he doesn’t own a ring for a long time.
And so, I think that,
more information needs to come my way about these rings, but something happened in the wearing of it, that saved one of the most important people in my life.
So, there’s nothing finite there, I would say, in terms of the way he feels about things.”
For Walker, Elrond’s feelings of being backed into a corner and having no choice — be it to wear the ring, or that surprising kiss in Episode 7 — is what makes the storytelling in the series so compelling. He told Collider:
“I like that about the show, if I can digress momentarily, that you talk about the kiss, you talk about wearing the ring, that when you seemingly have no option, how do you function? That’s interesting storytelling that.
People read Macbeth and think, ‘Well, I’d never do that.’ Yes, you would.
In those circumstances, you would do exactly the same. And I think that’s compelling, that in those moments,
if they want to preserve the things that they love and care about and or stay alive, they have to make drastic decisions
. And those are stories I enjoy.”
The Final Scene of Season 2 Is “Very Tolkienian”
On the topic of difficult decisions, Lane asked Walker about the final scene in the season, which sees Elrond, Galadriel, Gil-galad, and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) deciding what to do next now that Sauron is advancing on Middle-earth. The season ultimately ends in a wordless display of unity among the Elves, a powerful moment that, according to Walker, was always the plan — no big speeches from Gil-galad needed:
“I think that’s very astute in that, it is twofold. A) It is a unified decision. It isn’t the king coming out and saying, ‘Now I know you don’t want to do this, but we’re going to buck up, guys.’ That it’s something that, again, like we’re discussing, is difficult but inevitable. And the way Charlotte has edited it, I also find profound, in that
the king has drawn his sword and he hasn’t even fully turned about face to the assemblage there. But as he’s turning, the crowd erupts, that they’re poised and ready for the task at hand.
We first see them broken and rejected and dirty and wounded, but their spirit is not beaten, and they’re ready to rally. I think that’s what makes it beautiful, that it’s the juxtaposition of the poise of the king, the solidarity in the decision, and the willingness of the followers to undertake this treacherous journey. And I mean, that’s Tolkienian, and pretty good television, frankly.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 is streaming on Prime Video now.
Watch on Prime Video