Who's Who In Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, New And Canon Characters Explained

The Lord of the Rings TV show, Rings of Power has a pretty massive cast, to say the least. There are over twenty characters being introduced in the first season alone, some familiar, many original to the show. And even the characters you might recognize--like Elrond and Galadriel--are being placed in wildly different contexts that we saw in the Peter Jackson trilogy. Afterall, this story is set hundreds of years before the events of Fellowship and during a period where even the source material is sometimes wildly vague.

Luckily, as the show's premiere date looms closer and closer, we've been given more opportunities to finally put together just who some of these characters are, thanks to the countless teasers, trailers, and posters Amazon has released to promote the project. Finally, during San Diego Comic-Con, GameSpot was able to catch up with some of the actors and get the scoop about their characters directly from them. We've rounded up everything we know about the cast of Rings of Power, complete with descriptions from the actors--or, failing that, information we've gleaned from the trailers--to help you navigate the weird, wonderful world of Middle-earth's Second Age.

Of course there are still some major unknowns in the mix, too--there's the guy who may or may not be Sauron, a handful of new characters who remain extremely mysterious, and even a guy who is literally named The Stranger, so don't expect us to have all the answers just yet. For that, you'll have to wait until the show's premiere on September 2 on Prime Video.

Morfydd Clark plays Galadriel in her younger years. Clark has explained this version of the character as a Amazon-like fighter who is still a ways away from becoming the "elder stateswoman" we see in Fellowship. In the trailers, we see Galadriel clad in armor, going on all kinds of adventures. She and Elrond are friends, too, or at least friendly.

Speaking of Elrond, Robert Aramayo plays this version of the character. During SDCC Aramayo said, "he's young for an elf, he's a thousand years old but he's young for an elf in terms of what he's experienced. He's got a lot of curiosity, he's very excited to learn about different cultures in the world. He's a servant of the king, a very loyal devoted servant. He's making his way, but he's not lord of anything yet."

The infamous forger of the rings of power is an elf named Celebrimbor, who honestly hasn't had all that much written about him in Tokien's canon. He's played by Charles Edwards in the show, who described him like this: "As we will see, he goes down a path that he shouldn't go down. But as we see him now -- and Tolkien says this -- the Elves were not at peace in their hearts, which suggests an unrest, a restlessness, which I really liked and picked up on because Celebrimbor is not hugely written about. But I liked to pick up these little nuggets of helpful things for character. So yeah, he's a little lost when we discover him." [...] "To have just a few little nuggets from Tolkien himself, which contradict each other, that's even more exciting because you can tell 'oh, he never really made his mind up,' so you go 'okay, we can work on this together.'"

A newly created character for the show, Bronwyn is a human played by Nazanin Boniadi. At SDCC, she described her as "[...] from the South Lands. She's a healer, she's the mother of a rebellious teenage son [Theo] and she's in a forbidden romance with a gorgeous elf, Arondir. But she's also trying to redeem herself, her people, her ancestors, choose evil over good and were banished to a barren land and had to rebuild and prove they could be trusted again. So she's in that process of trying to help her people find that freedom, autonomy, and respect that they lost during that process."

A newly created Elf character is Arondir, played by Ismael Cruz Córdova. We don't know much about him just yet, only that he's going to be in a forbidden romance with Bornwyn. We've seen several clips of him in battle, too, showcasing his skills as a fighter and an archer.

Another new character is the human Halbrand, played by Charlie Vickers. Vickers told GameSpot that "[...] he's from the South Lands. We meet him in the middle of the ocean, actually. He's moving on from his past, actually, but at this time the less said about him the better, I think. Because at this point, things sort of unfold as the show progresses."

Most mysterious of all is a character who is known only as The Stranger. He's played by Daniel Wayman, who teased some of the mystery. "I think he's driven by a source of purpose deep, deep inside him. We don't know what his intentions are going to be and we don't know how that's going to impact the world around him."

Owain Arthur plays the Dwarven prince Durin IV, who we've seen finding mythril in the trailers for the show--a move that will prove disastrous for the Dwarves and their kingdom. Durin is married to Disa, the first female Dwarf we've ever seen. Arthur explained their relationship to GameSpot. "[Sofia] is a force of nature as is her character, Disa, actually. There's a lot of similarities to mine and Sofia's relationship, to our characters' relationship. [...] We just hit it off."

Speaking of Disa, she'll be played by Sofia Nomvete, who assured us that yes, Disa will have a beard. "Disa very, very much has a beard and I cannot wait for the audience to see it. There is some amazing shots this season where I think there's going to be this collective ripple of 'Ah! There it is!' You know, we were establishing female dwarves for the first time so there were many collaborative decisions about how that was going to work but I think the version we found, you guys are going to love."

She also won't be the only female Dwarf in the show--just the most prominently featured one.

Yet another new human, teenager Theo is Bronwyn's son. We don't know who the father is--but according to actor Tyrone Muhafidin, he's human and didn't require any fancy make-up, so it's unlikely that his father is Arondir. We see him a few times in the trailer, once with a mysterious and magical-looking sword, but other than that, he remains an unknown.

Next to Galadriel and Elrond, Isildur's name has the highest chance to be recognized by just about everyone. Played by Maxim Baldry, Isildur is infamous for being the guy who could have destroyed the one ring but didn't. Baldry explained him like this: "It's a tragic ending for this guy. We start off a little bit before that, we start off with him at home, with his friends and family, and he's at a bit of a crossroads. He's trying to make sense of the world. On one hand, he wants to fulfill his fathers legacy, become a sea captain like him, and on the other hand he wants something else, he wants to travel, he wants to explore. He's a relatable guy! I feel like [viewers] will see themselves in him."

An "advisor" to the queen of Numenor, Tar-Miriel, Pharazôn will be played by Trystan Gravelle. In Tolkien's canon, he became corrupted by Sauron and eventually played a major role in Numenor's downfall. He also forced a marriage between he and Miriel--though we don't know if that will be happening here or not.

Leon Wadham plays Kemen, the son of Pharazon. Wadham describes Kemen as a man who was "born into immense privilege and he's having a great time with it." Kemen is original to the show but knowing what we do about his father, we can assume a villainous turn is in the cards for him.

Played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Miriel, or Tar-Miriel, is the human queen regent of Numenor--a pretty precarious place to be in with Sauron skulking about and Pharazon potentially in league with him. We've seen Miriel a handful of times in the trailers, sometimes even working with Galadriel, but otherwise we don't know a ton about her role in the show.

Benjamin Walker plays Gil-galad, the High King of the Elves and ruler of Lindon. He actually has quite a bit written about him, comparatively, but a lot of it is prose or poetry written in-universe as history. Here's a poem Sam recites about him:

Gil-galad was an Elven-king.

Of him the harpers sadly sing:

The last whose realm was fair and free

Between the mountains and the sea.

His sword was long, his lance was keen.

His shining helm afar was seen.

The countless stars of heaven's field

Were mirrored in his silver shield.

But long ago he rode away,

And where he dwelleth none can say.

For into darkness fell his star;

In Mordor, where the shadows are.

No, the plural of "Harfoot" isn't "Harfeet." We've got a whole slew of Harfoots joining the show--all of them brand new and original to the series. The existence of Harfoots isn't an invention of the show, however--they're the ancestors of the Hobbits and from what we have seen in the show, there will be a lot of similarities. One marked departure, however, is the fact that they're nomatic and live in caravan-style wagons that travel around.

In the show, we have Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow, Markella Kavenagh as Eleanor Brandyfoot, Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows, and Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot.

Emma Horvath plays Earien, Isildur's sister who was invented for the show. We don't know much about her beyond this fact--but we can assume things are going to get very, very interesting for her given Isildur's ultimate path and the results of his actions.

Lloyd Owen plays Isildur and Earien's father, Elendil, who is described in Tolkien's words as a biblical, Noah-like figure who ruled over a kingdom within Numenor and eventually escapes as it falls to become the first king of Gondor.