The Rings of Power introduces new elven and dwarven ringsmiths in season 2

In the first season of Amazon's Lord of the Rings prequel show The Rings of Power, the elves created three magical rings: Narya, Nenya and Vilya, all of which will be important to the story. They had a little help from the crafty Sauron (Charlie Vickers), but mostly they were able to make the rings apart from his corrupting influence.

But we know there are more than just the three rings of power. How does the rhyme go? "Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne." We've got a lot of accessories to make.

In J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings mythology, the dark lord Sauron disguises himself as a divine being named Annatar and helps the various races of Middle-earth create rings of power, secretly intending to control them with his One Ring. In the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, we learn about a great dwarven craftsman named Narvi, who built the Doors of Durin. On the show, he'll be instrumental in making the dwarven rings of power, according to actor Kevin Eldon.

“He’s weaving in and out of the action throughout the season,” Eldon told Entertainment Weekly. “He’s only mentioned in Tolkien’s appendices, and he’s described as a great craftsman. J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay had little to go on, but I think we have successfully turned this footnote into a flesh-and-blood character. As well as being this fantastic architect, we see in season 2 that he’s an adviser as well. He’s a right-hand man of King Durin.”

"Narvi has an interesting journey in season 2, as the king increasingly falls under the power of the rings. These rings are getting under his skin; he’s becoming less logical and showing signs of madness. So Narvi has to make a very difficult choice about whether he obeys his natural instinct, which is to be loyal and to follow the king’s wishes or to abandon that very basic requirement of his life and instead show more loyalty to Khazad-dûm? He gets to a point where he has to leap one way or the other. I’m not going to tell you what he chooses, but it’s certainly a dilemma for him."

Fans will remember this kind of ring madness from the original story, where Frodo was slowly corrupted by the power of the One Ring. And King Durin (Peter Mullan) was already on something of a dark path at the end of season 1, disowning his son Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur) for getting too chummy with the elves. “The rings certainly have an effect on the king, and therefore the entire kingdom, really," Arthur said. "We see the positives of the rings, but Durin certainly also feels the negative aspects of them.”

Apparently, Prince Durin will be at the lowest point of his life when season 2 begins. “He’s on his knees," said Arthur. "Everything he’s known in his life has now been stripped away from him. The only thing that stays constant is his wife and his kids. So we certainly see Durin on the backfoot. I don’t think he can get any worse than when we see him at the beginning of season 2.”

Well, the show is leading up to a bloody war with Sauron, so we'll see if it gets worse.

Amelia Kenworthy is Mirdania, an elven smith

Meanwhile, Sauron will return to the elves in the guise of Annatar. It's unclear to what end he does this, since the elven rings of power are already forged; maybe he wants to see if anybody will remember him now that he has a new wig; in the first season, Sauron hung out around the elves in the guise of a mortal man named Halbrand.

He may also run into Mirdania, an elven smith played by Amelia Kenworthy. I believe Mirdania is an original character dreamed up for the show, but her master Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), the greatest elven craftsman of his time, is a towering figure in Tolkien's lore.

We'll see the lot of them mix it up when The Rings of Power season 2 premieres on Amazon Prime Video on August 29.

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