This interview contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2.
While all eyes have been on Sauron and Celebrimbor in Eregion, the groundwork for an entirely separate tragedy is being laid in Númenor. In both cases, fans know that it is hopeless. Eregion will fall and Númenor will flood, just as Tolkien wrote it. But the beauty of the Rings of Power and The Lord of the Rings franchise as a whole is that hope in the face of hopelessness is kind of the whole point, something that will likely remain true for the remainder of the season. And Season 2’s sixth episode feels like the perfect culmination of that pathos as things continue to grow more and more complicated across Middle-earth. But where the siege unfolding in Eregion is huge and bombastic, the undoing in Númenor is quiet and occurring at a smaller but equally important scale.
With that in mind, I sat down with series star Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who plays Queen Regent Miriel, to discuss her kingdom’s fate, bravery in the face of great defeat, her character’s faith, and whatever the heck is going on between her and Lloyd Owen’s Elendil.
Back in “Halls of Stone,” we wondered if Miriel’s faith would be what ultimately spelled doom for Númenor. Now, though, we’re seeing the Queen Regent drop her insistence on stillness as she steps up, while also taking ownership of her commitment to the Valar and her own destiny.
When Elendil is faced with the trial of the Valar — a feeble attempt by Lord Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) to prove to the Faithful that said faith is absurd — Miriel intervenes, insisting that she be the one to face the trial herself in his stead. He is very noble, she is very steadfast, and it all culminates in one of the most powerful moments of Season 2 so far. The true Queen of Númenor has abandoned her stillness, Palantír be damned.
The Return of the Queen
“[There’s] this idea of blind faith versus what your gut is yelling at you,” Addai-Robinson said of Miriel’s change of heart. “When you have a situation where, based on what I'm supposed to believe, this is the order of things, and yet it is ripping away at my soul. This feels wrong, I can't justify this in any way, that to me is the really interesting tension, and the thing that they [Miriel and Elendil] are trying to understand in different moments. […] It's a very real-world dilemma, this idea of, ‘I'm meant to believe this, but this feels wrong. I know it's wrong. What I'm seeing is wrong. It's immoral. It does not compute with what I am told I am supposed to go along with or believe.’”
Miriel’s decision to act does not mean that she has abandoned her faith, though. While Elendil did see something different than his queen did, it is because their fates are different. Elendil will walk away from Númenor’s downfall to go on to found Arnor and Gondor, while it seems that Miriel very much goes down with the proverbial ship. But, regardless of what has been seen in the Palantír, she understands that passing the trial of the Valar will mean that their gods believe she is on the right path, visions be damned.
Had she not passed the test, Miriel would have died in peace knowing that Númenor would be safe with Elendil and the rest of the Faithful. But that’s not what went down, and now it’s a whole different game for the conniving Pharazôn. Miriel passing the Valar’s test means that the Faithful are only more devout, and many who were on the fence have been decidedly nudged to one side or the other.
“The fact that she has this standoff with this monster and makes it out alive is kind of like witnessing a miracle, essentially,” Addai-Robinson confirms.
“Pharazôn is not just going to go quietly into the night,” she continues. “I don't think he's going to just go, ‘Okay. Well, fair enough, I guess. I guess I had my moment in the sun and we're just going to let her take over now.’ So, that's going to be a question. What was Pharazôn's next step? What's her next step?”
The Reluctant Leader
We spend a good amount of the season seeing Miriel resigned to Pharazôn’s leadership. Given that we fell in love with her in Season 1 due to her fierceness and stalwart devotion to her people, there were definitely some frustrations watching her elect to spend her days wasting away in her tower. This was a clever story choice on behalf of showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, as it gives Elendil the opportunity to act as the audience stand-in, begging his queen to act while we’re shouting the very thing at our televisions.
Addai-Robinson explained Miriel’s initial decision as a kind of introspection. "Should I be the leader if, again, the vision has shifted and changed?" she notes, musing on her character’s behalf.
“Even though [Miriel] was always reared to ultimately become leader one day, I think there is that sense of the reluctant leader,” Addai-Robinson explains. “Not a lack of confidence, but a reluctance certainly. And in some ways, perhaps this trial is also proving something to herself. She's not interested in power for power's sake, and she truly is a leader of her people. […] All of the things that she is feeling are less about herself and her particular circumstances, and more about her people, her island, and how she is meant to be this sort of force for them, not for herself.”
Pharazôn may not be going quietly into the night, but both fact and fiction have taught us that those who are reluctant to seize power are often those most suited to wield it, and it seems that Episode 6 has given us our queen back.
The Freedom to Play
I don’t know if anyone’s told you, but there is an ungodly amount of Tolkien lore. Like, even if you think you have a grasp on it, you don’t. There are literally full-on Tolkien historians. There is simply too much information in this fantasy epic. On the one hand, that gives a ton of meat for fans to dive into. On the other, it can result in some rigidity, even in instances where creators take liberties. Elendil and Pharazôn both have plenty written about them. The depiction of Miriel, on the other hand, is not as deeply beholden to lore (because very little is written about her). This is especially important given that Tolkien, despite being progressive in some ways, was simply from a different time.
“In a lot of ways I'm grateful for that [freedom] because it allows, not just myself, but obviously the showrunners to really fill in some gaps and make creative choices that I think are more in line with what a modern TV-watching audience now expects, certainly of female characters,” Addai-Robinson says of facing fewer restrictions than her colleagues. “I think to be able to have a sense of agency, and to not just be a character that's in service to male characters, there's real opportunity there. And I think the showrunners absolutely have run with that. But it's also a testament to my fellow actresses who all are so talented. And it's that thing where you've got to give them all the different colors of the rainbow to be able to play with.
“I love that there's always a sense of collaboration and conversation with the showrunners,” she continues. “At the end of the day, they are really the ones guiding the plot, and they have mapped out where the story goes. But there's always room for conversation.”
And What Do You Know of Love?
Whether you’re a shipper or simply someone with eyes, there’s no denying that something has shifted in Miriel and Elendil’s relationship in Season 2.
“Oh, yes. Well, we love the idea that people are picking up on something that we also thought was interesting,” Addai-Robinson laughs. “There wasn't necessarily some grand plan to get them together or anything like that. But we did think a lot about what happens when two people go through something so intensive and traumatic.
“I also think it's something that transcends the romantic. I think there’s something really beautiful about an ill-defined relationship, but that you understand that they are bonded for life and they have been through something that nobody else truly understands what they have experienced together. And the reality is, I think at this point, he's really the only person she can trust.”
Those who are familiar with Miriel’s limited lore know the truth in that statement. While little is written about the character, what is written is that Pharazôn — who is also her cousin — forces her to marry him to cement his legitimacy with the Númenorian people. If that’s the way this story must go, then it can’t go without some of the modernized story mechanics the showrunners have become known for.
“My hope is that there is still a sense, that even if that situation occurred, that Miriel still needs to have the upper hand,” Addai-Robinson says. “Sometimes it's about letting somebody believe that they have one over on you, but you are one step ahead. Because I think that's the kind of woman she is.”
That is the kind of woman that she is, but I’d be lying if I said that I found the prospect exciting. Still, I trust the showrunners and performers enough to make it compelling, even if the idea in itself is a little frustrating.
In the meantime, Addai-Robinson is quite enjoying the fan response to Miriel and Elendil’s… whatever they are.
“For Lloyd and I, there was just the excitement of trying to discover it in the moment and not decide in advance that certain things were going to happen,” Addai-Robinson confirms. “But there's a lot of care there. I love that it is in a lot of ways what the audience makes of it, what they pick up on, what they want to see.”
While Númenor and its inhabitants have taken a bit more of a back seat in Season 2, what has unfolded within their halls has consistently been the most gasp-inducing. (RIP to Alex Tarrant’s Valandil.) Political intrigue is difficult to keep engaging alongside creatures and magic, but Pharazôn's despicableness and Elendil’s valor have kept things at a low-boil as tensions rise. Now that the Númenorians have their queen back? Things are about to get very real in this fantasy epic.
Top image: Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage
