It’s time to return to Middle-earth. While Amazon’s new series resembles Peter Jackson’s trilogy, with its sweeping fields, swanky elven cities and cutesy shires, it actually takes place thousands of year before those films. That means there’s a fresh crop of characters to learn about in Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – mostly Tolkien creations but some entirely new inventions. The elves (the ones with pointy ears) have made the cross-franchise jump. That’s the benefit of immortality.
Elves
Galadriel (Morfydd Clark)
You know her from the movies. Galadriel in The Rings of Power is not the ethereal, preternaturally blonde from Peter Jackson’s trilogy, where she was played by Cate Blanchett. Here, Galadriel has a taste for revenge following her brother's death at the hands of Sauron. A fearless, skilled soldier, she has traversed the world to stamp out Sauron. Her lingering unease that he’s still out there does not sit well with the other elves.
Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker)
Gil-galad is the king of the elves in The Rings of Power, ruling at a time of hard-won, delicate peace. Unfortunately for Gil-galad (and the rest of Middle-earth), he can’t shake the feeling something is up. Perhaps shipping Galadriel off to the Undying Lands of Valinor might not be the best fix-all.
Elrond (Robert Aramayo)
Another familiar face, though this time with better hair. Elrond is a half-elf with some serious family cred to live up to. His father was a saviour of Middle-earth, while his brother opted for mortality and established Númenor. Elrond has plumped for immortality and is now working out what to do with his life – in the opening episode, he’s writing speeches for the elven king.
Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova)
Arondir is a brand-new entry into Middle-earth, an elven soldier who’s on an outpost in the Southlands. It’s a thankless task. The elves don’t trust the humans because they supported Sauron. And the humans don’t like the elves because they have huge superiority complexes. Arondir, though, is slightly different. He's caught feelings for Bronwyn, a human healer in one of the town he's keeping watch over.
Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards)
Unless you’re familiar with elven craftsmen, which some people definitely are, you might not know Celebrimbor. He’s a master elven craftsmen living in Eregion who strikes up a friendship with Elrond and later the dwarves. Keen Tolkien heads will know Celebrimbor has a dark project in his future.
Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson)
One thrill from The Rings of Power will be to see Númenor come to life on Galadriel’s adventures. Half-elves run this island and in this show's timeline, that ruler is Míriel. The place seems picture perfect (that Amazon budget has never seemed more worth it) but is trouble brewing? Given the tone set by this entire show, we would go out on a limb and say yes.
Dwarves
Prince Durin (Owain Arthur)
Durin is one of the princes that rules Khazad-dûm, the underground dwarven kingdom. Underneath that gruff exterior and strategic nous, there’s a sweet family man who loves his wife Disa (Sophia Nomvete). When we first meet Durin, he’s feeling slightly neglected by his close friend Elrond who's missed out on some major life events.
Harfoots
Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh)
Remember hobbits? Forget ‘em. We now have harfoots, ancestors to the bouncy, hairy-footed chaps from the earlier trilogy. And here to replace Frodo as the shire MVP is Nori, the chatty harfoot who is larger than life. She soon encounters a mysterious being (known as "The Stranger") sent from the sky and begins an adventure of her own.
Sadoc Burrows (Lenny Henry)
One of the more familiar faces in this series is Lenny Henry, who plays the harfoot leader Sadoc Burrows. He shuffles about, looking for portents in the sky and reporting back. It never seems to be good news.
Humans
Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi)
A healer based in the Southlands, Bronwyn lives with her son. Things are pretty dreary in these parts except for her top-secret love affair with Arondir. The elf-human duo soon stumble on some nefarious, potentially orc-related doings.
Halbrand (Charlie Vickers)
Halbrand makes a stormy entry into the series, and soon becomes interlinked with Galadriel. We don’t know too much else about him though it does seem like there’s a spark between the elf and the rugged human.
Isildur (Maxim Baldry)
You might remember Isildur from the original films: he’s the one who takes the Ring to Mount Doom, but failed to take it over the line. Before all that, he was just another man with an identity crisis in Middle-earth (specifically Númenor). One of the more intriguing backstories in The Rings of Power.
Henry Wong is a senior culture writer at Esquire, working across digital and print. He covers film, television, books, and art for the magazine, and also writes profiles.
