The latest episode of The Lord of Rings: The Rings of Power revolved around the Siege of Eregion, a major moment from J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology of Middle-earth. On one side, an army of orcs threatens the elven city. The elf Elrond (Robert Aramayo) tries to negotiate with their leader Adar (Sam Hazeldine), who has taken his friend Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) prisoner. Thinking that Galadriel will die in the coming conflict, Elrond asks Adar leave to say goodbye. Getting it, he goes over to Galadriel, looks her in the eye, and kisses her.
This surprised a lot of fans, not least before Elrond will go on to marry Galadriel's daughter Celebrían, so he's kissing his future mother-in-law. According to Robert Aramayo, it surprised him too when he first read it in the script. "I too was shocked when I read that. We both were," he told Radio Times. "We talked about it a lot and what it meant. We went on a journey with it too, beginning , 'What?!' And then came full circle to, 'This is really interesting and unexpected and we can do something with this.'"
I also got the chance to ask Aramayo about the kiss when I talked with him and star Benjamin Walker (Gil-galad) earlier this week. I asked whether the kiss was mostly a cover so Elrond could slip Galadriel the lockpick she later used to free herself from her chains, an earnest expression of affection, or a little of both:
"He kissed her as cover, I would go with. There's a function to it. But it's also a really heightened moment. And he also thinks that she might die very soon, so it is emotional. And it's odd, but I think it's supposed to be odd."
Aramayo expanded on that idea when talking to Radio Times: "I didn't see the romance there at all. It's an emotional goodbye to someone who is one of the most important people in his life. He truly believes she's gone...It's also his only real chance to get close enough to her to give her those keys...to escape. It is an emotional heightened moment."
The Rings of Power felt "a lot of responsibility" to get the Siege of Eregion right
I also asked Aramayo about participating in the Siege of Eregion, a huge battle scene of the kind he didn't get to play in season 1. "I felt a lot of pressure and a lot of responsibility and I really wanted it to be something," Aramayo told me. "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 , so I just felt the pressure of wanting to do it justice. Even though we messed with the timeline of it, and we messed 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."
Meanwhile, Benjamin Walker wanted to make sure the crew was given their props: "The months that it took to take some grassy knoll in the middle of the woods and turn it into a wall in Eregion filled with detritus and destruction and flames was humbling to say the least."
Thanks very much to Robert Aramayo and Benjamin Walker for talking with us! There's only one episode left before the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power comes to an end! Tune in next Thursday for the big finale.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.