‘Lord of the Rings’: Celebrimbor Is ‘Elven Leonardo Da Vinci’, ‘Rings of Power’ Creator Says
The Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power introduced fans to some characters who’d appeared in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium. Since the show takes place during the Second Age, it can feature some characters who made up the history of Middle-earth prior to The Hobbit. Charles Edwards plays Celebrimbor in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Rings of Power creators J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet on Aug. 13. Now that you’ve met Celebrimbor, we’ll share their take on the Tolkien character and what you’ll see from him in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. New episodes premiere Fridays on Prime Video.
Is Celebrimbor the true ‘Lord of the Rings’?
Celebrimbor was an elf who forged three of the rings. Payne said Celebrimbor’s innovative mind will pay off in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
“In some ways, Celebrimbor is the Elven Leonardo Da Vinci,” Payne said. “He’s a brilliant mind, one of the greatest Elvish craftsmen to ever be in Middle-earth rivaled only by Feanor his relative. So we really wanted to treat him with a great amount of respect.”
Celebrimbor wants to change the world
The forging of the rings started with all the best intentions. It was Sauron who corrupted them with The One Ring. Payne said The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will portray Celebrimbor’s conflict.
“He’s one that has wisdom but also an ambition,” Payne said. “He’s someone who wants to craft something that could possibly change the world. So there is something in him that has a hunger for knowledge and for art but also there’s something lovely in his ambition in that he really believes that beauty really has the ability to change the world. That’s something he holds to very dearly so will be interesting to see along the path where that takes him.”
Celebrimbor is just about to make it
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power takes place thousands of years before The Hobbit. Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo) are still young elves. Celebrimbor is just on the verge of his breakthrough.
“We think of him as somebody at the top of their game,” McKay said. “He’s like Picasso right before he’s had the breakthrough to cubism. So you’re meeting a character who’s already well established in the world and seen as this great authority, but in his mind, he has yet to really create his masterpiece and that hunger and that ambition, as they say, we’ll see where it goes.”
