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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has introduced a host of new characters in Middle-earth. There are a few familiar faces as well. Well, not their faces but their names. Robert Aramayo plays Elrond, he of the Council of Elrond in The Lord of the Rings. Back in the Second Age, he’s a young elf, so how old is he on the show before he grows up to be Hugo Weaving?

'Rings of Power': Elrond actor Robert Aramayo looks out the window with his arms outstretched
Robert Aramayo | Ben Rothstein/Prime Video

Showbiz Cheat Sheet is here to help. We not only added up the years between Elrond’s birth, The Rings of Power and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But we also spoke with the creators of the show about how Elrond is different in this period. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres new episodes 12:00 a.m. ET/9 p.m. PT Thursday nights on Prime Video. 

Elrond was born 1500 years before ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’

According to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, Elrond was born in the year 532 of the First Age. That date is cited from the book by The Lord of the Rings Wiki and Screenrant. The Rings of Power already takes place in the Second Age which begins about a thousand years later. Then its another two thousand years before the Third Age when Elrond’s Council meets the Fellowship. 

“The Elrond people know from the Third Age is maybe a little more world weary, a little jaded, a little cynical,” J.D. Payne told Showbiz Cheat Sheet on Aug. 13. “He’s seen a lot and he’s seen a lot of things go wrong and a lot of people make poor choices. He’s been around dealing with the consequences of those choices for many centuries and millennia.”

1500 is young in elf years 

Elves live thousands of years, so 1500 is still relatively youthful. That will show Elrond in a more optimistic frame of mind as the Rings of Power are forged. Aramayo, for the record, is 29.

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“But we’re going back thousands of years before that when Elrond is living in an Elfindom that is at the height of its civilization. It’s not the elves that are one foot out the door already looking to the west of Elendor and saying our time in Middle-earth is done. This is a time when elves really did rule Middle-earth. He’s living in the center of their political and cultural power in Lindon in the court of high king Gil-galad.”

Young Elrond may get his spirit crushed 

Elaborating on young Elrond’s high hopes, Payne added, “So it’s a time when for him everything’s possible. He’s looking out to the horizon saying elves can do anything. This is a time in which we might even be able to take the beauty and majesty of Valinor and bring it to Middle-earth. So really it’s a limitless horizon for him and over the course of the show we’re going to watch as he experiences some of those defeats I alluded to earlier and how that gradually tempers his optimism and brings him to a place of real pain.”

Of course, Tolkien fans know what happens with Sauron and the Rings of Power and how Elrond feels about it once he’s a more mature 3500. Millenia are a long time though. Will the Prime Video show run long enough to see Elrond get disillusioned? It could happen pretty quickly given the stakes of the show. 

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