Ema Horvath, who played the younger sister of Isildur in the upcoming series “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” has explained why the show created her wholly original character Eärien. The Rings of Power will act as a prologue to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, describing the key events of the Second Age of Middle-earth and taking place within the vast fantasy universe created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The new series is anticipated to show significant events including the creation of the Great Rings and the destruction of the island realm of Nmenor. It is set thousands of years before Frodo and the Fellowship set out to destroy Sauron’s One Ring.
Tolkien barely sketched down the events of the Second Age, thus the show’s writers were compelled to invent a number of new characters to serve alongside some of the author’s most well-known literary creations. While fans of the Peter Jackson or the original books will already be familiar with characters like Robert Aramayo’s Elrond and Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel, viewers will be introduced to a cast of new characters that represents nearly every race in Middle-earth, including elves, dwarves, humans, and harfoots. Horvath’s Eärien is a new addition to the famous family of Isildur, who according to Tolkien lore would be the one to ultimately cut Sauron’s ring from his hand.
Horvath recently spoke with Looper on her part in the series and the reasoning behind making her Elendil’s daughter and Isildur’s sister. She’s trying her hardest this season to be as much of a mother as she can be to her extremely disturbed brother, adds Horvath, implying that her character plays a “plot role” that helps mirror the political tensions occurring within the Kingdom of Nmenor. See her complete remarks below:
Her name is Eärien. She’s the baby of the family. I think she was created because the schism that happens on the island also needs to be reflected within the family. She serves a plot function in that sense. She also replaces the feminine hole that’s been left by the loss of our mother. At least, she’s trying her hardest this season to be as much of a mother as she can be to her very troubled brother.
Despite the fact that there isn’t any source material for the First or Third Ages of Middle-Second earth’s Age, “The Rings of Power’s” creative team is taking a big risk by including so many new characters. Peter Jackson encountered some popular outrage when he first began work on The Hobbit trilogy because of his contentious choice to add a whole new character in the form of Evangeline Lilly’s elven fighter Tauriel. Some fandom groups mocked the character and labeled her incorporation as one of the trilogy’s most problematic components since they felt it did not treat the original Tolkien material with the proper respect.
Isildur and the House of Elendil, one of the most significant bloodlines in ancient mythology, have undergone direct modifications, suggesting that Amazon is now going even farther by not only developing a number of new characters but also altering Isildur himself. Given that many people will undoubtedly be closely following the series and on the lookout for even the smallest apparent maltreatment of Tolkien knowledge, this is a very risky decision. Tolkien’s beloved characters should hopefully blend naturally with Amazon’s original characters in order to produce a work that does the original material justice. Audiences will have the chance to discover whether the risk pays off when “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” launches on streaming later this coming week.
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