If there’s one thing we love, it’s a forbidden romance, and in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1, the Elf warrior Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) and human healer Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi) delivered on that front in spades. However, real-life circumstances — specifically Iran’s Women, Life, Freedom movement — meant that Boniadi chose to step away from her role in the series to dedicate herself to activism and advocacy.
Rather than recast, though given the direction of the season, it’s unlikely this was considered at all, Boniadi’s character Bronwyn instead succumbed to a wound sustained at the end of Season 1, leaving behind a devastated Arondir, as well as her equally devastated teenage son Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin). In an interview with Collider’s Carly Lane, Cordova weighed in on whether Arondir would spend the rest of his immortal life alone, or whether he was open to the possibility of love again.
While Cordova generally believes Arondir would never say never, that doesn’t mean he isn’t still fully grieving the loss of the woman he loves. As Cordova explained:
“I can only speculate, but I think it can go either way. Some people have one true love that carries for the rest of their lives, but then again, love is unexpected. It can hit you in your most vulnerable moments. So, I like to think that he would be open to love when the time comes. With that,
I also know that he will feel his grief as fully as necessary.
I don’t think he’s one to shy away from having the emotional experience that is authentic.”
Arondir Takes Theo Under His Wing in ‘Rings of Power’ Season 2
But of course Arondir isn’t the only one grieving, with Theo also dealing with the loss of his mother way before her time, and having to take on her mantle as healer as well as trying to process his own feelings. An attempted overture by Arondir is quickly shut down by Theo, who reminds him that he’s not actually his dad, and with Bronwyn gone, the two of them don’t need any sort of relationship anymore. When Lane asked Cordova if Arondir’s attempts to reach out to Theo were a result of his own desire to watch out for him, or an expression of what he believed Bronwyn would want, Cordova said it’s a bit of both, explaining:
“One led into the other. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in love, but when you’re in love, your partner’s life and the extensions of that life and their likes and dislikes and their families become important to you, as well. My happiness, even if it’s a pet, you want the pet to be well because it is of your love and your beloved. Suddenly the puppy also becomes your favorite. Not to compare it to a puppy, but I’m just talking about the dynamic. I fall in love with this woman, this being, and she has a son, and it is an extension of her. It is a future that I begin to imagine together, and it is a promise that I made.
I said I would protect both of you. So, it is one thing into the other.I begin to respect this boy as a young man around the fifth episode of the first season. “Raise your aim,” I think is the line, and I tell him, “The courage that you found at 15 took me like 100-something years or more to find.” So I see a lot of me in him, and
I also feel instinctually called upon to protect him.”
The first three episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are streaming on Prime Video now. Stay tuned to Collider for more on Season 2.
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