Actor Robert Aramayo, who plays Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, recently claimed that the intention behind a scene showing his character kissing Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel was “the controversy.”
Robert Aramayo as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
YouTuber Nerd Cookies aka Elaine shared the clip of the scene to X and wrote, “Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse. You sweet summer child, it can always get worse.”
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse. You sweet summer child, it can always get worse. #RingsOfPower pic.twitter.com/XXZuRiR3uK
— Nerd Cookies (@nerd_cookies) September 26, 2024
In a YouTube video discussing the scene she also commented, “This didn’t need to happen. This was specifically contrived by the showrunners to illicit a certain reaction. It is antagonistic at this point. It is woefully malicious to insert this into the show. They knew very well what they were doing. Most fans know that this is Elrond’s mother-in-law locking lips. They know that. Payne and McKay, the showrunners know this. … They have [read the books]. They know very well what they’re doing.”
“This is willful intent to bastardize Tolkien’s work and to antagonize its fans,” she added. “You are eliciting this reaction and you deserve to be mocked. So we’re gonna mock you today.”
She later added, “Here we have Elrond who is locking lips with his future mother-in-law Galadriel. And there’s no excuse for it. There is no reason for this thing to exist.”
From there, she explained the lead-up to the scene, “Elrond and the Elven force are going to Eregion in battle and they stop, I guess, the force once they see that Adar and the Orc army have Galadriel captive. So they all stop and I guess they’re going to negotiate for Galadriel. We’re gonna forget the fact that Eregion has been under siege for weeks, I guess. And everyone just stops in their once Galadriel is unveiled and I guess this indicates they’re going to enter negotiations before the battle actually happens.” The negotiations fall through and Adar plans to executive Galadriel. However, Elrond asks to say goodbye. He then kisses her.
Morfydd Clark as Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
Nerd Cookies then noted, “They’re trying to justify this moment saying that it wasn’t romantic. That it was chaste. The entire setup of the scene, there is romantic, epic music swelling at this moment. And he really lingers. This moment seems to last forever. … They just linger in that moment.”
“Although prior to this kiss, Elrond takes off his leaf pin on his cape and then he goes over to Galadriel and then they have this moment and then he gives her the pin,” she continued. “So they’re saying, ‘Oh well, that was just to distract from him giving her the pin so she can later free herself. Except that’s not how a distraction works. You would have had to pass the pin while they were kissing for it to serve as a distraction. But as it occurred they kissed for quite a while and then he passed it to her. And I could see it plain as day from the perspective of Adar and all these other Orcs watching.”
Robert Aramayo as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
The idea that the kiss was used as a distraction is exactly how Aramayo attempts to justify the scene while speaking with Tech Radar. The outlet’s Tom Power wrote, “considering Elrond uses the kiss as a tactical ploy – he gives Galadriel a sigil pin during the smooch so she can free herself from handcuffs and chains later in the episode – some sections of The Lord of the Rings‘ global fanbase can see the reasoning behind his decision.”
Aramayo concurred, “That’s definitely his motivation. It’s also a really heightened moment because Elrond thinks it’s the last time he’s ever going to see her, so it’s emotional as well.”
He then declared, “But, the intention behind is exactly that – the controversy. It’s the last thing that you would expect him to do in that moment and, if you’re in a dangerous situation, surrounded by your enemies, doing something as shocking as that is going to disarm them. It’s a good ploy on Elrond’s part.”
Robert Aramayo as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
He then shared how there were significant discussions between himself, Clark, and the showrunners regarding the scene, “It was a fun thing to talk about [with Galadriel actor Morfydd Clark, and showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay] as well.”
“They [Payne and McKay] have had some really interesting things to say about how elves express love in this world. We’ve had some really fascinating conversations about that throughout, so it was a really interesting thing to do on the day,” he added.
Finally, Benjamin Walker, who plays Gil-galad attempted another argument telling the outlet, “It’s also a life and death situation for Elrond. It’s a Hail Mary pass. But, you know, it’s also an imposition of our viewership, in being human, that we impose our interpretation of what a kiss means for another species, albeit a fictional and immortal one. What would a kiss mean to them? I think that’s a really interesting way to look at it.”
Benjamin Walker as High King Gil-galad in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
As noted by Nerd Cookies, Aramayo’s argument does not hold water given what actually occurs in the scene. Furthermore, the idea that an opponent doing something shocking would disarm them is ludicrous. It’s highly likely it would raise their suspicions even further and make them even more suspicious.
Regarding Walker’s claim, Tolkien makes it abundantly clear that the Elves are very similar to Men when it comes to romance. In Tolkien’s Of Beren And Lúthien story found within The Silmarillion, Tolkien wrote near the end, “There she set her arms about Beren, and kissed him, bidding him await her beyond the Western Sea; and he looked upon her eyes ere the spirit left him.”
Lúthien eventually chooses to return to Middle-earth to be with Beren, “This doom she chose, forsaking the Blessed Realm, and putting aside all claim to kinship with those that dwell there; that thus whatever grief might lie in wait, the fates of Beren and Lúthien might be joined, and their paths lead together beyond the confines of the world.”
Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir
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