The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power actress Morfydd Clark recently appeared in Los Angeles for a FYC Event for the Prime Video show where she attempted to gin up support for series’ second season.
As reported by Deadline, Clark teased that her character, Galadriel, is “about to have a life-changing thing happen to her. She’s about to become acquainted with Nenya, her ring.”
Clark added, “It’s really exciting to see how the magic creeps in.”
As anyone who has read Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, The Rings of Power completely butchered how the Rings of Power were actually made. The show depicted the three Elven Rings of Power being forged by Celebrimbor with slight guidance from Sauron posing as Halbrand before any of the other Rings of Power were forged.
In The Silmarillion, the three Elven Rings of Power were forged last. Not only did Tolkien reveal when they were forged, but he also described the abilities they bestowed upon their wearers.
Tolkien wrote, “Now these were the Three that had last been made, and they possessed the greatest powers. Narya, Nenya, and Vilya, they were named, the Rings of Fire, and of Water, and of Air, set with ruby and adamant and sapphire; and of all the Elven-rings Sauron most desired to possess them, for those who had them in their keeping could ward off the decays of time and postpone the weariness of the world.”
He added, “But Sauron could not discover them, for they were given into the hands of the Wise, who concealed them and never again used them openly while Sauron kept the Ruling Ring. Therefore the Three remained unsullied, for they were forged by Celebrimbor alone, and the hand of Sauron had never touched them; yet they also were subject to the One.”
It’s unclear how The Rings of Power will handle this immense divergence from Tolkien’s lore. The Rings of Power has not yet shown Sauron forging the One Ring, but as noted above, it already depicted Sauron being involved in the process of creating the three Elven rings, something he was not actually involved in. This begs the question as to how the rings will actually work within The Rings of Power given they have been sullied by Sauron.
As far as Clark noting the magic creeps in through the rings, this appears to be confirmation that the show will continue to eschew Tolkien’s writings to forge the novel that Tolkien never wrote. This is because as Tolkien notes Galadriel didn’t use her ring openly while Sauron possessed the One Ring in order to conceal it from him. This is because the One Ring granted Sauron the ability to “perceive all the things that were done by means of the lesser rings, and he could see and govern the very thoughts of those that wore them.”
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Interestingly, Galadriel reveals in The Fellowship of the Ring, that the Elves’ fate is tied directly to the Rings of Power that Celebrimbor forged. She informs Frodo, “It is not permitted to
speak of it, and Elrond could not do so. But it cannot be hidden from the Ring-bearer, and one who has seen the Eye. Verily it is in the land of Lórien upon the finger of Galadriel that one of the Three remains. This is Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, and I am its keeper.”
She added, “‘He suspects, but he does not know – not yet. Do you not see now wherefore your coming is to us as the footstep of Doom? For if you fail, then we are laid bare to the Enemy. Yet if you succeed, then our power is diminished, and Lothlórien will fade, and the tides of Time will sweep it away. We must depart into the West, or dwindle to a rustic folk of dell and cave, slowly to forget and to be forgotten.”
This idea that the Elves’ longevity is tied to the rings was also emphasized in The Silmarillion, “Now the Elves made many rings; but secretly Sauron made One Ring to rule all the others, and their power was bound up with it, to be subject wholly to it and to last only so long as it too should last.” Thus the destruction of the One Ring would lead to the loss of the ability to ward off the decays of time and the postponement of the weariness of the world.
Regardless of the actual lore, Clark told Deadline, “When we finished Season 1, the rings were being made and we knew it was going to be a huge change for Middle Earth. [Galadriel] is going to be part of that change because she has her own ring.”
She added, “She’s trying to see the light through the darkness.”
It’s hard to imagine coming into possession of Nenya being a life-changing thing in the Second Age when she cannot even use it once Sauron forges the One Ring. If the show had any intention of being accurate to Tolkien’s writing, the life changing event would be Sauron’s war on the Elves after they refused to fall for his deception and removed their rings to avoid falling under his sway.
In response, Sauron waged war on the Elves. Tolkien writes in The Silmarillion, “From that time war never ceased between Sauron and the Elves; and Eregion was laid waste, and Celebrimbor slain, and the doors of Moria were shut. In that time the stronghold and refuge of Imladris, that Men called Rivendell, was founded by Elrond Half-elven; and long it endured. But Sauron gathered into his hands all the remaining Rings of Power; and he dealt them out to the other peoples of Middle-earth, hoping thus to bring under his sway all those that desired secret power beyond the measure of their kind.”
What do you make of Clark’s comments about the upcoming second season of The Rings of Power?
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