Tolkien fans, rejoice! After years of patient waiting, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has finally found its Celeborn in Jamie Campbell Bowe
Tolkien fans, rejoice! After years of patient waiting, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has finally found its Celeborn in Jamie Campbell Bower. In addition to the first look at Daniel Weyman as Gandalf, Empire Magazine has also revealed that Bower will appear in Season 3 as Galadriel’s (Morfydd Clark) long-lost husband. Although the interpretation of this romance in The Rings of Power is quite a departure from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, the news that the Prime Video series is course-correcting in Season 3 is long overdue — and the reveal that the Stranger Things star is playing this particular character is a welcome one.
Jamie Campbell Bower Is Officially Playing Celeborn in ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 3
Although we know quite a bit about Celeborn and his exploits from Tolkien’s work, The Rings of Power has thus far revealed very little about the character. Most of what viewers learn about Celeborn comes from Galadriel herself in Season 1’s “The Eye.” While the Elven warrior recovers from the eruption of Mount Doom, she and adolescent Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) wander through the Southlands in search of aid. Along the way, she tells the adolescent boy about her long-lost husband. “The war seemed so very far away then,” she recalls. “His armor didn’t fit properly; [I] called him a silver clam. I never saw him again after that.” In this Tolkien reimagining, Celeborn went to fight in the War of the Jewels against Morgoth and Sauron (Charlie Vickers) and never came home. Since then, Galadriel has been on a warpath to destroy the forces of darkness.
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Bower’s casting as Celeborn is great news for fans who have long hoped to see the character revived on the Prime Video series. Considering how critical he is to the Second Age of Middle-earth, the character ought to have been introduced last season rather than doubling down on the weird kiss between Galadriel and Elrond (Robert Aramayo) — which is even more disturbing when you remember that, in Tolkien’s legendarium, she is his mother-in-law. (No wonder the actors themselves were surprised.) While Tolkien does describe an extended separation between Galadriel and Celeborn during this age in Unfinished Tales, it occurs only after Celeborn chooses to remain in Eregion, while Galadriel, not trusting Annatar (a disguised Sauron), leaves the city for Lórien. Because Celeborn didn’t wish to go through the Dwarven stronghold of Moria, he stuck around in Eregion while his wife and their daughter, Celebrían, retreated. Eventually, they would be reunited in Imladris, the future Rivendell. The Rings of Power changes the timeline of their separation, and will hopefully reunite them for good this time around.
‘The Rings of Power’ Is Using Tolkien’s Real-Life Love Story as Inspiration for Celeborn and Galadriel
According to Bower, there will be plenty for Celeborn to do in his Season 3 debut. But rather than simply pull from Tolkien’s written work, The Rings of Power is reportedly echoing the author’s real-life romance on screen. While it’s been centuries since Galadriel and Celeborn were last united in the First Age, Season 3 will chronicle their reunion as an homage to Tolkien’s marriage. Edith Tolkien was famously the inspiration for characters like Lúthien and Arwen, but The Rings of Power is taking this idea a step further regarding Galadriel’s long-lost love.
When Tolkien served in the British Army during World War I, he was separated from Edith for extended periods, even describing parting from her as being akin to “death,” according to John Garth‘s book Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth. Although their separation was transient, Tolkien and his wife had been separated for years previously when the former’s guardian forbade him from seeing her until he turned 21. On his 21st birthday, he rekindled that fire. It was this emotion that Bower was particularly interested in exploring as Celeborn, as he told Empire:
“This idea of longing and yearning is so pervasive in Tolkien’s relationship with Edith for the time that they were apart. I really feasted on that idea. Celeborn has had to find a way to survive whilst longing for something that he so dearly loved and so dearly missed as well.”
While we don’t know the particulars yet of how Celeborn returns or why he was away for so long, we can only speculate. Perhaps it was the providence of Eru Ilúvatar that brought him and Galadriel together again. Maybe in the fight against evil, Celeborn was wounded or transported to the unseen realm. Was his return (or possible resurrection) a gift from the Valar? There are many questions we have yet to receive answers to. According to series creators J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, though, the chemistry alone between Bower and Clark is enough to be excited about. However Galadriel and Celeborn are reunited, it’s a moment that’s been long overdue — and will only make them stronger as a result.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 premieres November 11 on Prime Video.
