The Rings of Power Season 2 finds Arondir, played by Ismael Cruz Córdova, at a pivotal and heartbreaking crossroad. He’s lost Bronwyn, the woman he loved. He’s trying to reach out to Theo, Bronwyn’s son, to be a sort of father figure and protector, but Theo is understandably upset and reluctant. And all of this is happening while, in the backdrop, Sauron is playing games to try to consolidate his power.
Remezcla spoke to Cruz Córdova and Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who plays Queen Regent Míriel about their character’s similar journeys of grief in Season 2, how the two characters process their anger and keep pushing forward and creating something that everyone can see themselves in.
“Grief can be a hindrance, but also a great motivator,” Cruz Córdova shared. “But overwhelmingly for everyone, it is a transformation. There’s no way to go through such grief as we both have without emerging a different person.”
What does that mean for Arondir? Well, “I think the character has got to find himself in what you saw. I don’t think he has time to make a decision on how he’s going to proceed. It’s like this happened, but am I going to stay? Am I going to go? Am I going to step up as a father? Am I going to protect? And then suddenly what happens, happens. So, he makes his decision and kind of goes for it.”
For Addai-Robinson, there’s something profound about the “parallels of grief for our characters. And I think for me, it becomes an act of service as an actor to present a character’s journey with that because somewhere at home, people are relating to it in that way. And they are grieving for real people in real situations.”
Both Cruz Córdova and Addai-Robinson put their real feelings into that, and that can, sometimes, be the greatest unifier. Storytelling is, after all, about creating empathy.
The Rings of Power season 2 makes us feel for these two characters, in very different ways. And when we first see them, the two seem like they’re closer to anger in the five stages of grief than anywhere else. For Cruz Córdova¸ it could be no other way for Arondir. “He’s a man that leads with the heart, a man of honor and he has very little but his word, you know? And he made a promise. He made a promise of protection and he couldn’t keep that promise. And I think he does blame himself.”
It’s not just that he blames himself, though, it’s that he “had a family and suddenly he lost it.”
“But he’s still called upon to be a father and a protector because it’s not just Theo. It’s Isildur too. So, there is a part of the decision that I am like, do I grumble or do I step up? And if I step up, do I protect? Who do I protect? But at the end of the day, I’m going to avenge and I’m going to make this right. And that’s very, very clear.”
Addai-Robinson agreed that, as much as there’s anger, sometimes “in duty and in leadership, you can’t let your emotions lead. You have to kind of lead with logic and reason and not emotion.” Which is what sets up such an interesting journey ahead for both characters.
Both actors were also very clear about their experience with what is, perhaps, the uglier side of fandom – and the backlash about the show casting POC. For Cruz Córdova “the priority has always been to create something that represents us well.” And that means that “even if [one person] feels represented, then it was all worth it. Truly, truly, there’s a real butterfly effect of having an impact in someone’s life.”
Addai-Robinson, who is from Ghana, shared that the impact extends beyond the little kids who might see themselves in someone like Arondir, to someone like her mother watching the show for the first time and thinking “I’ve been waiting all my life to see myself, my children, my family represented in this way. So, I think it’s whether you’re five or whether you’re 80 to get to have the experience of seeing this and feeling fulfilled and feeling seen… We don’t take that responsibility lightly.”
But make no mistake about it, The Rings of Power can be both an epic tale that satisfies die-hard Tolkien fans and a modern story that is capable of representing all the fans of that world. Don’t believe us? Check out Ismael Cruz Córdova and Cynthia Addai-Robinson in the first three episodes of The Rings of Power Season 2, now available to stream on Prime Video with new episodes each Thursday.
