The latest episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, "Doomed to Die," is centered around a huge battle scene where an army of orcs under the command of the corrupted elf Adar attack the elven city of Eregion, a major moment in J.R.R. Tolkien's mythological history of Middle-earth. There are a lot of characters involved, including Arondir, who has a score to settle with Adar after facing off with his forces in the Southlands in season 1.
For a while, it looks like Arondir is unstoppable; he even teams up with Elrond to take down a troll. Actor Ismael Cruz Córdova, who's played Arondir since season 1, told Variety what it was like filming that moment on set: "There was a big structure that had all these mats around it and nets and chains. I jump and grab onto it, and drive him down. They had two big feet and a little part of it at the bottom, so we interacted with that as well. We saw the sketches, so we know what it looked like and the battle itself was so realistic with so many orcs. You really felt like that troll is there."
Obviously there was a lot of CGI involved in bringing this massive fantasy battle to life, but there's a lot of practical stuff too, and Córdova assures fans that it felt very real on set, particularly when he does many of his own stunts. "The energy is there; I feel so immersed," the actor said. "There’s fire, the big wall of Eregion was built, it was so freaking muddy. The landings are completely different. When you land on that, the mud just sucks you in. There are people running around you. So when you’re doing choreography and you learn it in certain directions, you’re completely disoriented. Everyone has to be precise. There are so many swords floating around. It can be overwhelming, but I find it exhilarating. I absolutely love that kind of stuff. For me to have Elrond and Gil-galad close by, those heavy players of the elven world, I felt like one of the guys."
"All the wire work and everything you see on the show, it’s me. I only have a tiny bit of a stunt that I have a double for, because it was supposed to be one take and we had to split it — but the rest is me. I learned all of that in the first season, and got trained on wires. They’re quite complex. In Eregion, I’m actually up there on that tall wall, and I jump. They’re stuntman stunts! I had to train quite a bit in strength, martial arts and choreography. I was trying to also change a little bit of the texture of the movement to signify a little bit more of his anger and grief."
All of this led up to Arondir's confrontation with Adar, who...promptly kicks the younger elf's ass. After beating that troll, I was thinking that Arondir stood a chance against Adar, but according to Córdova, his eagerness got the best of him.
"As the battles go, he gets a little more reckless," Córdova explained. "That recklessness, that’s the mistake that I made. I get super emotional. That allows Adar to get me. Otherwise, Arondir would have been able to face him in an equal way. We needed to find the flaw. You see Arondir do all these great things; you just saw him help kill a troll. There’s no justification for him not to be able to have quite the equal battle with this baddie, other than he lets it go. His posture completely changes, and in that tiny bit of weakness, Adar knows it exactly. He’s been breaking me down and breaking me down, and we had to find that moment."
Will The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power get a third season?
There's one more episode left in the second season of The Rings of Power, after which we'll have to wait years for more, if we get it at all. While it's expected that Amazon will renew the series — they've spent a ton of money on it and purportedly have a five-season plan — we haven't heard anything official.
Neither has Córdova, although he's been picking up the same vibes we've gotten. "As far as I know, they did kind of confirm that we’re going for a third. I haven’t seen any scripts, though. I would love to. But I’m pretty sure we’re going for a third."
We can't be certain that Arondir will survive next week's season finale, but if he does, there's a lot that Córdova still wants to do on the show:
"I would love to sing in the show. There’s so much written about elven singing, and we see it with Gil-galad. I think it’s always super great for Arondir to do a lot of these things, because it shows you this difference and the contrast between types of elves. He’s not a royal, rich or a city guy. He’s a rugged, rough, warrior poet, covering for every mistake that comes from the capital, essentially. He’s the one that’s like, “OK, I’ll save you now, and I’ll save you and I’ll save you.”"
Time will tell if he gets his wish. Should Amazon choose to renew The Rings of Power, we likely won't be watching season 3 until 2026. Until then, we have the season 2 finale to look forward next Thursday, October 3.
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