Benjamin Walker and Robert Aramayo Discuss ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Season 2 [Interview]

Please note this interview contains spoilers for J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien’s books.

While The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 may be ending soon, some unsolved questions linger in the back of our minds. Particularly, the development around characters like Robert Aramayo’s Elrond and Benjamin Walker’s Gil-galad raised some interesting concerns.

I recently had the chance to talk with Walker and Aramayo about their characters in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2.

They both discussed reading through J. R. R. Tolkien’s material again, some peculiar fan theories about Elrond’s beliefs of the Rings, and what Gil-galad really saw in his vision in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 1, “Elven Kings Under the Sky.”

When talking about getting back into their respective roles in the ongoing season, both Walker and Aramayo shared their personal recommendations for reading (or re-reading) Tolkien’s acclaimed books.

“It just depends on how deep you want to go in terms of reading books,” Aramayo started. “If you want to read the opening chapters of The Silmarillion, get ready! If you want to go even deeper, start reading Christopher Tolkien’s stuff and then [The History of Middle-earth].”

“You need notes in the margins to keep it straight,” Walker continued.

“That’s like scraps of paper on a napkin [Tolkien] wrote [with] some ideas,” Aramayo added.

“And then, four pages of what [Tolkien] surmises in a sentence, and then he really returns to it, but it’s worth it. It’s like reading Leviticus [or] 2 Corinthians,” Walker finished.

By visiting and reading through the stories that showcase what the Tolkiens have in mind for Middle-earth, you begin to have an idea for the grander picture that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 wants to create. Yet, it also takes liberties in creating the motivations for characters like Elrond.

Watch the full interview with Benjamin Walker and Robert Aramayo:

On The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Season 2 Episodes 1-3, Elrond is continually hesitant about the Rings’ power due to Galadriel’s involvement with “Halbrand,” aka Sauron. However, his initial beliefs seemed to be driven by his traumatic childhood, which was seen in The Silmarillion. Aramayo also believes that these events certainly impacted Elrond’s personality shift at the beginning of Season 2.

“I spoke a lot about this with Charlie Edwards in the first season,” Aramayo began. “Think about Celebrimbor [and] Elrond in a room, never met before, and there’s Fëanor’s hammer in between them. I remember speaking to Charles about how Celebrimbor would feel about that, how Elrond would feel about that, the history that we all have.”

“[Elrond’s] a studier of history. He knows the histories better than anybody else. So, he would be wary of something that seems resonant of the Silmarils.”

Aramayo also stated that because Elrond knows what happened in the past, he has a lot to live up to, given how his family saved Middle-earth before. In a way, he nearly lives up to that potential by making a move on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 1, “Elven Kings Under the Sky,” by taking the Rings from Galadriel and jumping into the depths below.

Many, like myself, believed that one of the influences that caused Elrond to jump was the memory of his mother, Elwing, casting herself into the sea with the Silmarils. While Aramayo didn’t initially think about it, he did read about it and eventually saw the correlation between the two events.

“I’ve read a few fan things about the correlation between the two things, which I think is interesting,” Aramayo started. “But, it’s not something that’s actively on my mind when I did it!”

“I think, to speak more broadly, Elwing and [Elrond’s] dad are always on his mind and they’re always governing him. We always talk about these moments and how to get more moments in where he goes, ‘There’s my dad, he’s always up there!’ How do you engage with that?”

Aramayo finished, “All of that history is constantly surrounding him, but more to come!”

One other interesting aspect of the beginning episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 is the vision that Gil-galad has when he begins wearing Vilya. Given the timeliness of Annatar’s eventual rise, it is very likely that the High King could have seen his entire future play out. Walker seems to confirm that Gil-galad indeed sees everything to some degree.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Walker began. “I think that there is something beautifully melancholic about the King and that he continues to fight against what is seemingly inevitable. He will cling onto any small grain of hope, but I think something that gives him grace and poise is a level of prescient acceptance.”

“In spite of the seemingly futile nature of existence in Middle-earth, he still finds space for hope and love and the effort to unify the peoples of Middle-earth.”

“I don’t know if he specifically sees it, but I do think there’s a part of him that realizes, on some larger level, Elrond is correct: his narrative is winding down and that he is forever cracked, in a way,” Walker added.

“There’s something beautiful in a way he accepts it and still pioneers forward in service of Middle-earth, but it’s not, ‘Oh no, I’m gonna die!’ It’s ‘What can we save, who can we save, and how can we defeat evil this time with the time that we have remaining?'”

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New episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 stream Thursdays on Prime Video.

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