Why Rings of Power Wanted to Recreate an Iconic Return of the King Moment

A lot of the Rings of Power season two finale was about finally pushing the series closer and closer to familiar events and iconography from The Lord of the Rings itself. Characters came into their familiar selves, names were invoked… and certain objects made their debut on the series. One in particular, apparently, made its debut with a clear homage to Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy.

That moment, of course, came in the finale’s Númenor plotline, as Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) prepared to flee the capital after Ar-Pharazôn staged a military coup, rounding up Míriel’s religious supporters. Preparing to stay behind and face her political rival, Míriel begged for Elendil to reclaim the noble title he had eschewed in his career leading her seaguard, and offered him a gift to take out of the city in the form of a sword.

Not just any sword, of course, as she names it: it’s Narsil, the one-day-legendary blade that King Elendil will use as he leads the Last Alliance into battle against Sauron at the climax of the Second Age. The one that, once broken, will eventually be reforged as Andúril and reclaimed by his descendant Aragorn to restore the royal bloodline of the Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor. It’s a potent moment, the first time we’ve seen Narsil on the series, and according to Addai-Robinson, she and her scene partner Owen specifically wanted to call back to the moment Aragorn unsheathes Andúril for the first time in Peter Jackson’s Return of the King to mark its importance.

“We definitely had the sort of dual moment of like.. ‘Okay, we’ve got to make sure that this scene carries in a symbolic way,’” Addai-Robinson recently told io9 at a press junket for Rings of Power‘s sophomore season finale. “And then we were like ‘Oh my god, Narsil!‘ Lloyd was watching the Viggo Mortensen clip from the movie so he could see how to flip the sword around [in a similar way].”

But for Addai-Robinson, neither she nor Míriel could hold a particular reverence for the weapon in that moment: because the scene still had to resonate for an audience that might not know Narsil’s eventual importance in Elendil’s hands. “What was important for me is that it holds this significance—it’s definitely an Easter egg, maybe it’s even more than an Easter egg,” the actress continued. “But I said specifically [on the day], my mom also needs to watch this scene and she knows nothing of Narsil, she still needs to understand symbolically what this moment is about.”

“It’s a moment of significance and allure, but in that moment we don’t necessarily know—Míriel doesn’t know, Elendil doesn’t know, how that sword is going to play down the line. It really is more about giving this sense of responsibility, and really saying [to Elendil] ‘You’re now ready to take on this responsibility and basically prepare for a revolution.’”

In the moment for Míriel, passing over the sword represents her understanding that she and her closest confidant in the capital are about to part ways—for a very long time, perhaps even for good, for those viewers familiar with Númenor’s fate. “As much as it pains her to part ways, I thought that it was very true to life, to me,” Addai-Robinson concluded. “Sometimes you have people in your life where you know it’s a necessary thing to go on your separate paths and have the conviction to do that. And it can be sad, but you can still understand that it has to be this way, with no less love in your heart. She knows she has to stay. But I’m hopeful that she won’t just wither away in a prison. I think there’s definitely more to their story.”

Season two of Rings of Power is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

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