Earlier this week, Prime Video aired the season 2 finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The episode revolved around the Siege of Eregion, an elven city that was a hub of culture and industry during the Second Age of Middle-earth. Unfortunatley, it was devastated in the battle. We got to talk to The Rings of Power stars Robert Aramayo (Elrond) and Benjamin Walker (Gil-galad) about what it meant to be in the thick of it.
Aramayo, who you may also remember as young Ned Stark from Game of Thrones, knew the Siege of Eregion was a big moment from author J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology and sounded determined to get it right. "The main thing was we were doing the siege of Eregion, you know what I mean?" he told us. "I felt a lot of pressure and a lot of responsibility and I really wanted it to be something. Because it was the siege of Eregion, it's written, it's something that we have, we don't have many of these things in the Second Age. I just felt the pressure of wanting to do it justice. Even though we mess with the timeline of it and we mess with how it actually unfolds to a degree, the spirit of it is very similar. So I just felt that. I just felt that responsibility, and that's what I was most aware of when working on it."
In the end, Eregion is all but destroyed, although the arrival of the dwarves prevents a complete and total rout. Elrond, High King Gil-galad, and Galadriel lead the elven survivors to a new area that is implied to be the future site of Rivendell, the last homely house we remember from The Lord of the Rings, although the show doesn't confirm that.
In any case, Gil-galad successfully rallies the elves to optimism despite the fall of their city. I asked Benjamin Walker how Gil-galad managed to snatch hope from the jaws of defeat. "Well, in spite of the circumstances at large, we are in a better position," he said. "In the first episode, there might be seemingly more peace in Middle-earth, but our relationships are fractured. I mean, you're jumping off waterfalls for crying out loud. Whereas in the last episode, though we may have suffered a strategic defeat, we may have lost friends and the beautiful city of Eregion, we stand united in principle and in ultimate goal. There is much more hope in terms of what we are capable of when we work together."
"Also, one thing that [director Charlotte Brändström] does beautifully is that even before the king makes his full revolution to lift his sword aloft, the spirit of the elves is already resounding. You know that this kind of Elvish war cry starts to billow up from the woods. We just kind of turn it loose as opposed to, 'come on guys. Let's get back in the game!' It's more like, 'are we doing this?' And there is a resounding affirmative."
What will the elves do next? We'll probably be waiting a while to find out; a third season of The Rings of Power hasn't been greenlit quite yet; if it is, expect it in 2026 or thereabouts.
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