It’s hard for me to think about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien without thinking of fathers and sons.
About a year and a half ago, my wife and I were standing outside 20 Northmoor Road, Oxford. I’d convinced her to come with me on a Tolkien pilgrimage, driving all over the stormy English countryside, visiting places where the late author wrote, or lived, or took the inspiration for locations in his books.
This mostly involved me doing things like bolting manically towards the ancient church door which inspired the entrance to Moria, pointing feverishly, and trying not to pass out.
But standing out front of that house on Northmoor Road, as slate-grey skies threatened to break open above us, I was struck by the staggering magnitude of what Tolkien did inside this fairly unremarkable house.
He fathered a universe, one which continues to inspire, to rally, to bewitch generation after generation.
I pulled out a small card I’d printed out weeks earlier, and re-read it.
Apart from being an absolutely baller invite to a party, it’s a reminder that more than just Tolkien’s stories were born here.
His son, Christopher, was born here, too.
And today, Tolkien’s legacy continues. The Rings of Power, Amazon’s colossal foray into the worlds of Middle Earth, is big. Really big.
As the second season kicks off, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have had a terrifying tightrope to walk: they don’t own the rights to everything Tolkien wrote.
I asked J.D. Payne about this in Mumbai, back on the press tour for the first season.
“We have the rights to The Lord of the Rings,” he told me, “The Hobbit, and the appendices to the books. And so we’re aware of everything in The Silmarillion, and the rest, and we need to make sure that we harmonise with it, but don’t actually use any of it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Do you ever contradict it?”
JD laughed. “We try not to. We try to play nicely with it — and actually, we tell stories in a way where people who know what’s going on can go, oh wait. That’s that thing! And they can’t quite say it, but there it is.”
The Rings of Power does its playing thousands of years before The Lord of the Rings, during an era when the titular rings themselves are being forged. It does a spectacular job of filling in the gaps without ever messing anything up; it feels like the offspring – the child, if you will – of the original body of work.
Charlie Vickers
And season two debuts mere days before Father’s Day rolls around.
I recently mailed my dad his Father’s Day present, and as I went to pay for the postage, what fell from my wallet? The dog-eared printout of Tolkien’s birth announcement.
So, I decide to ask the cast of the show something I hadn’t planned to. Sprawled on a spacious couch in a hotel suite in Sydney are four of the stars of the show: Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Tyroe Muhafidin, and Leon Wadham.
“Something that struck me watching The Rings of Power,” I exclaim, “And when re-reading all of Tolkien, is how much it deals with fathers and sons. Lotta daddy issues in Middle Earth. And in fact, this season debuts pretty much bang on fathers day, so… could we talk about the Dads of Middle Earth?”
They burst out laughing, and nod enthusiastically. So I turn my attention to Leon Wadham first. Leon plays Kemen, the son of power-hungry despot Ar-Pharazôn. This frightening little father-son duo are Numenoreans, the race of quasi-immortal ocean faring people from whom Aragorn would claim lineage, but Kemen is a bit of a nepo baby.
I ask Leon how he thinks Kemen ranks in the “I’ve got the worst dad in Middle Earth” competition.
“Well, here’s the thing”, he says, giving it genuine thought. “I think Kemen really admires his dad. He just can’t work out how to become him… like, tomorrow.”
Markella laughs at this. “And I think that’s really his plan, in season two… he wants to catch up, as quickly as he’s able. And he’s struggling with that. You know, they’re big shoes to fill, right?”
I lean in. “Leon… I’ll be honest. You’re a friendly, charming guy. You don’t appear to have an ounce of Kemen in you. How do you take that ‘tyrant’s son’ energy and infuse it into this performance?”
He laughs. “I don’t know. I mean… I feel like Kemen’s just so hungry to seize power for himself. And that’s fairly playable. It’s an easy thing to aim at. How much can I get out of every person I come across? Just like his Dad, actually. Like father, like son. And look, Paul. He’s not going to win father of the year. But he’s an… impressive figure, you know? Like, I can see why Kemen would be interested in following in his footsteps.”
But what about a Middle Earth Dad on the other end of the parenting spectrum? A good dad?
I turn to Markella, who plays Nori Brandyfoot, a hobbit with an adventurous streak. In season one, Nori has a pretty chill life: the Harfoots, a precursor to the Hobbits we see in “The Lord of the Rings,” are nomads. Nori is rebellious, but she’s deeply loved by her fantastic parents, her father, Largo, and her stepmother, Marigold. But when The Stranger (a bearded and decidedly Gandalfy figure shows up), Nori heads off with him, leaving her family behind.
“Largo is primo dad. Whereas The Stranger has a profound “long-lost Dad who just showed up and now we’re going on a weird roadtrip together” energy,” I suggest to Markella. “So between Largo, her father, and The Stranger, a father figure… who’s the cooler dad?”
Markella Kavenagh as Nori
“Well I agree with all of that. That’s The Stranger’s energy for sure. And Largo, love him. But look, I don’t know if Nori views The Stranger as a father figure, per se? And I honestly feel like sometimes, she considers The Stranger’s feelings the way a parent should be doing,” she laughs. “So, look. I’m gonna have to say… Largo. Largo, definitely.”
She was similarly – and charmingly – evasive when we talked about The Stranger back in Mumbai, too. I raise this point, and she lights up, pointing. “Yes. I remember. You asked me about…” “I asked you, very directly, whether The Stranger was, in fact, Gandalf,” I reply, laughing.
She nods. “And you seized up, got real quiet,” I continue. “I think a laser sight appeared on your forehead? And you wouldn’t say yes or no. Care to update your answer?”
The others turn to look at Markella, and she laughs, clamming up again. “Yeah, look… I think I’m gonna have to give the same reaction this time. Nope… not gonna… not gonna walk into that one, Paul.”
Largo and Nori have a very open, honest and loving relationship. But for Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin), whose Dad has never been on the scene, it takes his mother’s new love interest to serve as a father figure. Namely, an elf named Arondir (played by Ismael Cruz Córdova).
“Theo is such a wonderful, complex guy,” I tell Tyroe. “And someone potentially helping shape him into a good guy is his super cool new stepdad, Arondir. What does that relationship, that dynamic, mean to you?”
I think maybe Theo has some really, really strong abandonment issues,” says Tyroe. “Just from his own traumas, and what he’s been through, I think he really struggles to find his own self worth, you know? And I think there’s a conflict there with Theo and Arondir when it comes to the fact that… well, Theo is really aware that he’s mortal. And Arondir is not. And I think he doesn’t… or can’t really understand how Arondir can care for him like a Dad would, when he’s such a miniscule part of his life. Right? It’s like, why do you care about me? I’m nothing compared to you. That’s stuff he really struggles with, and it’s something we really get to dive into in season two.”
There’s that nature versus nurture theme again: the idea that where you put someone, and who raises them, can reshape who they become.
In the case of Kemen, it’s possible that unfettered wealth and power, and a despotic, xenophobic father, made Kemen into who he is in the show. With Nori, it’s possible her dad’s kindness fostered in her the compassion she showed to The Stranger, which led her to leaving with him in the first place. And with Theo? Perhaps Arondir arrived just in time to help walk him back from the brink of a terrible fate.
But when it comes to daddy issues, Charlie’s character takes the cake.
I say “character,” because he plays two, technically. And if you don’t want season one’s spectacular finale reveal ruined, turn back here.
“Charlie, Charlie, Charlie,” I intone. “You play Halbrand. The Kaiser Soze of Middle Earth.” The whole room cracks up at the reference. And it’s true: after a season of posing as a mysterious, roguish Aragorn-esque figure who flirts with Galadriel and fights for mankind, it is revealed that he is, in fact… Sauron. The big bad. Sauron, who has issues with his father figure and mentor, Morgoth, who has issues with his Dad, Eru Iluvatur… see? Even Middle Earth has generational parental trauma.
“I remember in Twin Peaks, they didn’t tell the actor who played Laura Palmer’s killer that they were in fact that bad guy until the very last moment, so as not to taint their performance”, I say. “How do you internalise such a biblically huge plot twist without giving away the game? And do you feel better, now that the cat’s out of the bag?”
Charlie grins. “Actually, they didn’t tell me who Halbrand was, either! And I see why they didn’t tell me. ‘Cos they didn’t want me to… give it away, I guess, in those earlier episodes. And it was also a relief because, well… look. I was very suspicious of Halbrand. He had this sinister part of him that we hadn’t looked at closely, that I couldn’t figure out. And now, to be able to talk about it… it’s so freeing. Because I do feel like I had so much information, so many secrets, stuck in my brain, that I was unable to get out of my head. Kind of like Sauron, actually. He was hiding who he really was, too. So being able to talk about it? Huge relief.”
I tell the cast that it would be nice to reach a consensus regarding who the worst and best dads are in Middle Earth, given that it’s almost Father’s Day. Without missing a beat, Tyroe jumps in. ”Definitely Theo’s biological dad,” he says, deadpan.
“At least the other bad dads are there.” Charlie barks with laughter at this. “Hands down,” agrees Markella. “Yeah, hands down,” adds Charlie. “Although Morgoth isn’t great, either, if you consider him Sauron’s Dad.” “But Largo is the best dad.” says Markella. The whole room agrees on this point. They’re not wrong. Largo is a hell of a dad.
I take it all in for a moment. This clutch of Aussie and New Zealand performers, sitting on a couch in a hotel suite, seventy years after The Fellowship of the Ring was first published. Discussing Tolkien’s legacy. Starring in a bombastic, ambitious exploration of Tolkien’s world, his stories, his characters. Shimmying into the gaps of the vast, expansive world he brought to life. A world which, somewhat poetically, he left unfinished when he passed.
A world which his son, Christopher, born in that unassuming house at 20 Northmoor Road, Oxford, spent the rest of his life working on. Taking his father’s legacy, patching it together, cleaning it up, and lovingly reassembling and publishing it for the rest of the world to enjoy.
Happy Father’s Day, everyone.
Season Two of The Rings of Power launches globally on Prime Video on Thursday, August 29th.
