For Ismael Cruz Córdova and Jamie Campbell Bower, stepping into Middle-earth means finding the human truth inside characters who can easily feel larger than life. Córdova has spent several seasons building Arondir from the inside out, while Bower is just beginning his journey as Celeborn, a character whose absence has loomed over The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power from the start.
At Comic-Con, the two actors talked about the qualities that define their characters and the personal connection they’ve found to the work. Córdova describes Arondir as someone driven by curiosity, hope and a need to protect others, and says playing him has pushed him toward even deeper empathy. Bower, meanwhile, explains how he approached Celeborn through Tolkien’s writings and paintings, using ideas of loyalty, joy and survival to find the character’s emotional core.
They also open up about being dyslexic and how the production helped make Tolkien’s dense material more accessible, while discussing why an actor’s research only goes so far. For both of them, some of the most important discoveries come from the relationships built in the room and on set. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full conversation in the video below or on our YouTube channel.
Ismael, you’ve had one of the most explosive arcs so far. What’s at Arondir’s core, the unchanging part of him?
Ismael Cruz Cordova: The unchanging part, I think he has this almost indestructible curiosity, even at the face of potential hopelessness, because he’s lost so much. People say hope is the last thing that you can lose, but I think it’s curiosity, because even in that hopelessness, you can be curious about it, and it can keep you going forward, and I think that’s it. He’s had this immense curiosity about his own existential queries, but also about humans.
I think he’s a protector as well. You talk about curiosity, and also as a protector, I think that is at the core of who he is. And I think it intensifies, and it deepens.
And that’s not only on screen, but off screen as well. I felt very protective of my fellow castmates and making sure that they came in and felt like they’ve been with us since day one, and it happened.
What have you learned from Arondir that you’ve taken into your own life?
Ismael Cruz Cordova: Arondir has made me a better person in every way. I think that sense of protection, that sense of hope, this unyielding love, this humanity. He’s an elf, but I think he’s one of the most human characters I’ve ever played.
And it’s obligated me. I find myself to be quite an empathetic person, but it’s obligated me to even find deeper layers of empathy.
Jamie, you’ve had two seasons to figure out who Celeborn is because it’s a character that wasn’t in the book. How have you gotten ready for this role?
Jamie Campbell Bower: Celeborn was written and rewritten at least twice, if not three times and so, it was always going to be about finding that sort of through line, the consistency within him. Loyalty is obviously a big one and joy.
In terms of kind of where I went with it, yes, obviously reference the works, but also paintings. It’s about finding that balance between the light and the dark in Celeborn for me, and his paintings really help you to do that. I’m a very visual person, so those books and his paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien were really instrumental for me.
And then discussion about this idea of joy. I don’t want to give away too much, but obviously he hasn’t been around for the first two seasons and has vanished for thousands of years. And what was he holding on to during that time? What was the thing that gave him hope that allowed him to survive?
And we discussed this idea of joy and what does joy mean? And I don’t think that joy is the absence of suffering, joy is the knowledge that all things must be and finding hope, even in the face of great evil.
And that is great for Celeborn but also leaves a little sticky situation.
Did you guys read the books prior to getting cast in the shows?
Ismael Cruz Cordova: I have not. I came into the show as a fan of the visual universe, you know?
I’ve been very open, I’m absolutely, unequivocally dyslexic. So, reading these books, it was like, ‘oh my God,’ because the text is so tiny, so it was very daunting to me.
But during the show, they had some accommodations for me, like they printed it differently and I was able to actually begin to study that.
Also, the cast themselves are scholars, some of them by this point. You’ve got Charlie [Vickers], you got Robert Aramayo who are incredibly well-informed and I think we have all raised each other in that sense and have informed each other about Tolkien in many, many ways.
Jamie Campbell Bower: You know, not to piggyback, but I’m also very dyslexic as well. And I did read The Hobbit when I was younger. Obviously, I’ve done a lot more research now into the world but same thing as Ismael, production was so helpful in providing us with the necessary tools.
And it really is also about us going out there and finding things. I contacted the Bodleian [Library] to see if I could go and see some of the writings and works that they have. And, you know, that for an actor is part of the excavation process of being a character.
Ismael Cruz Cordova: And one last thing about that, regardless of reading the books or not, for us as actors, it’s actually very, very positive to not over-research, I find, because what you create in terms of the real bonds with these characters happens in the room, happens behind the camera. And I think that honesty is what reads and what people are loving from these characters.
