Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 6.
While most roads in Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 have been leading to Eregion and the imminent battle therein, one kingdom belonging to Men has been on an island of its own. Last week’s episode of Season 2 saw the building civil conflict in Númenor reach a new breaking point, as Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle)’s son, Kemen (Leon Wadham), stabbed one of his fellow Númenoreans in the back — and in a temple belonging to the Faithful, no less. Having recently been stripped of his own rank and authority, Elendil (Lloyd Owen) could only watch in horror as Valandil (Alex Tarrant), a close friend of his son Isildur (Maxim Baldry) bled out on the stones of Nienna’s temple. Given that Elendil has believed Isildur to be dead since the battle in the Southlands back in Season 1, the loss of Valandil is another harsh blow to a man who has struggled to balance his duties to both his kingdom and his family. Now, with Elendil’s own daughter Eärien (Ema Horvath) having thrown in her lot with Pharazôn, who seeks to wrest control of Númenor from its queen, Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), the coup is already poised to divide Men even further than they were before.
Ahead of the premiere of Season 2 Episode 6, “Where Is He?,” Collider had the opportunity to speak with Owen about the biggest moments for his character in the episode, as well as Elendil’s most important relationships. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Owen discusses how Valandil’s death has forced Elendil to question his faith, why he believes Elendil and Eärien are on opposing sides, how Elendil and Míriel’s romance stemmed from one key moment in Season 1, what it was like filming the Trial by Abyss on location, and much more.
Lloyd Owen Discusses the Latest Turn for Númenor in ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2
COLLIDER: Last week’s episode felt like a big turning point for Númenor, in a lot of ways, with Kemen literally stabbing Valandil in the back. It feels like this coup is sinking to new and unfortunate depths. What do you feel like Elendil’s mindset is right now? Is this the breaking point in terms of any kind of peaceful outcome at this stage?
LLOYD OWEN: Like all of these events in history, they all come one at a time. Shakespeare says something about that. —not in single spies, but in battalions. Because then, they suddenly come in a wave, as it were. But at the moment, it’s just an event, I suspect because [Elendil]’s been under strict instructions from Míriel not to get involved, really, or not to act on whatever his instincts would tell him. This is the ancient question with him about leadership. There’s a little bit of pushback from him in it, so far, which we haven’t seen much before, but he cedes to the hierarchy of that relationship and that position. What’s going to happen, what happens in Episode 6, is that he has to question what his faith is, and what should be done over and above, perhaps what Míriel wants. That’s the internal dialogue.
What I quite liked about that were their differing journeys with what their sense of Elven faith is, and how one slightly supersedes the other. Different things happen, different interpretations. That’s the nature of faith, isn’t it? That somehow, there is no manual. There’s no template for how you’re supposed to behave, or what your God, or your feelings, or your belief tells you to do. You just have to try and try and make the best decision as each difficulty or occasion presents itself. I think that’s probably where he is. That’s between duty and his own instinct, really. Duty over instinct is what’s coming now — where previously, it’s been duty over family, and now, duty over his own faith is coming up.
Talking about family, this civil conflict has taken a more personal turn with Elendil and Eärien on opposing sides. How much of that divide is a consequence of the pain they’re both in after what happened in the Southlands, thinking that Isildur is dead, and this is just how they’re both dealing with that grief?
OWEN: I’m doing a play at the Royal Shakespeare Company at the moment, and it’s where the personal blends with the political. Sometimes, those individual motivations are driven by their emotional instinctive response. Actually, not even a response or reaction. It’s kind of immediate because your gut gets involved — definitely, for Eärien, and, talking with Ema [Horvath] about this, it’s like her driver, which Elendil noticed enough, although I think he’s lost in his own sense of grief.
As you probably know from your own life, grief comes in different rates and paces for different people. We all go through different stages of it, at different times. So, I think she’s furious with him. She’s furious with him for not feeling enough, for tying himself to the mast of Míriel and her decisions, for his sense of duty over the grief that they should both collectively be sharing about Isildur’s death. And she blames Míriel for making that decision. To a certain extent, he would consider [Eärien] too young to understand. If he could have had a rational conversation with her, there might have been a different outcome, but I don’t think he’s capable at that point in time. So, it feels, for her, that her move over to Pharazon’s side was less ideological and more based in a sort of emotional revenge against Míriel. She’s going to take whatever side Míriel is not on.
We haven’t had a chance yet to explore it deeply enough. But if you look at the political situation in Númenor, then you can argue as Tristan [Gravelle] does, very, very articulately, that this is just a progressive point of view of where those types of Númenoreans feel the island should go. Míriel is stuck in the past, and she’s conservative with a small c, and she’s just making decisions that are still clinging to the past, rather than progressing forward. You can see the logic of the argument, which perhaps Eärien also sees, that that’s the future, and that’s very much a child-parent view, isn’t it? That generational divide. Now, this is the side of history we need to be on. So, I think that’s in the mix too. That’s why Númenor is such an amazingly rich story, and what Tolkien wrote is why it’s resonated throughout the ages ever since. That’s the fall of man, right? The fall, ego that takes you there. The idea of for the greater good, or for oneself, the nature of power, vanity, temptation. It’s all in there.
Lloyd Owen Reveals How Elendil and Míriel’s Romance Developed in ‘The Rings of Power’
In terms of characters who probably need to have a conversation, Elendil and Míriel have always had a connection. Working closely, being politically aligned. He’s always ben her right-hand man, but it feels like their relationship this season takes on a different note. There are some feelings between the two of them, even if it’s not something that can be necessarily outwardly, publicly expressed. Was there ever any conversation about when those feelings changed from soldier and queen into something deeper, or was it just as you were getting the scripts, seeing where that was headed?
OWEN: I think it was a moment that happened on set, in Season 1, Episode 8, and we were on a boat together. There’s that beautiful scene where she’s trying to get her way to walking again, with not being able to see, and he’s there to help, but she doesn’t want to rely on him. Then they share the amount of loss that they both have. Her, of her sight, the battle, the decision they have made together. It’s quite a lonely position for them both to be in, because they’re both taking self-responsibility, and he’s lost his son. The result? She feels guilty. That scene was always a good scene on the page.
And then there was something that happened, the particular way that [director] Wayne Yip shot it. Oftentimes, you’ll shoot one way, and then the camera will turn depending on that, but he shot it with two cameras, so we were able to play the scene very instinctively, without having to compromise at all. Sometimes, if you can get those two cameras going, then something can happen. JD and Patrick and Cynthia and I have sort of… something developed from that scene that they wrote. What happened in performance, that made us all go, “Oh, okay, so there’s something in here that’s deeper than duty, friendship. Shared grief, perhaps.” But because of all those things, it’s what could potentially open their hearts to something that’s also not possible on some level. And I also feel that’s the…I don’t think they would quite be aware, or able to articulate anything about it. Might even be surprised that you would say that to them. But it’s definitely there.
What you saw in Episode 5, when she stops him and puts his hand on his chest… There was something, again, slightly instinctively, that happened, because it was there so long. Sorry, you’re getting me back into that moment. But it was there so long that he had to do something, because it wasn’t just her stopping him talking. It was there for long enough that he thought, “Okay, maybe I do touch your hand.” And then she obviously removes it at that point. It was a lovely little ballet, really, of feelings all unexpressed, which are… they’re always the best, aren’t they? In literature and anywhere else where people don’t quite say it. Look, it’s impossible because of rank for him, on some level. His wife’s died, which is an invention of ours. But at the same time, I think it’s a good invention. Do you know what that grief, and then his children, all the responsibility achieved? And for her too. She’s the queen, for heaven’s sake, but, yeah, it’s been a nice thing to discover, put it that way.
Jumping forward to the trial scene, it’s such a striking visual, that cliffside pool. Was that a set that was filmed on, or did you all film in a specific location?
OWEN: That’s a location in Tenerife in the Canary Islands. We got there, day one, and it’s literally a pool. I can’t remember the shots, whether you can fully see that it’s this sea pool that comes in. We had a whole massive safety briefing about how you couldn’t get too close to the edge. And I remember thinking it was like a mill pond. If it laps over the edge, I don’t think I’m going to fall in. We can be overcautious, probably quite rightly.
The next day, there was a swell on, and we were halfway through the scene, and we just… everyone had to scream just to get off the side, as the waves were coming in. We were there three days, but even then, we were running out of time because literally got to this position where, in order to get the shot, the crew moved in. People were looking out. Some of the local folk in Tenerife were reading the sea and going, “Right. You’ve got 30 seconds before there’s a wave coming.” So we’d do the thing, and they would go, “That one’s not big. It’s okay,” and then we’d get some water in, and then some of them were like, “No, move.” Halfway through the scene, we were all having to run into the background, so, it gave us a real edge. It felt like a sea monster was coming. It was one of those good days where nature just goes, “Okay, you can have a little bit more drama if you want it.”
Lloyd Owen Discusses Elendil’s Thoughts About Isildur’s Fate in ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2
I wanted to ask you about Isildur —
OWEN: That naughty boy?
Yeah. Because at this point, nobody really in Númenor knows that he’s okay, that he’s fine. Is there a part of Elendil that is still holding out hope, that maybe… it wouldn’t be Tolkien if there wasn’t a bit of hope, regardless. But, at this point in the story, has he resigned himself?
OWEN: We lost a little scene before the scene in Nienna’s temple, where [Elendil] is putting the candle in the water. He is very reluctant. Because Valandil invites him, and he is very reluctant to go because he knows he’s going to fail if he goes there. I think there was a bit of acceptance in him offering that candle and floating it off. But as you say, there is that Tolkien-y bit of hope, because how far is that going to float, that candle? How far is it going to keep going?
Valandil’s death does him in quite a bit because it’s almost like he’s cradling Isildur at that point. Again, because of our story there, and because of what we discussed, his only way through at the moment is not to feel. All of those thoughts are dangerous because they could just unzip him. If he lets himself into the hope, and it doesn’t come, it doubles the agony. So, he’s a locked box. Those feelings are very deep inside that box. That’s where we are with him now.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 is available to stream on Prime Video, with new episodes premiering every Thursday.
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