Summary
- Tom Bombadil makes a long-awaited return in The Rings of Power.
- The Stranger's true identity remains a mystery, adding intrigue and speculation for fans of the show.
- The gritty setting of Rhun poses challenges for the cast, with on-set injuries adding to the drama of production.
Tom Bombadil is hitting our screens later this month for the first time since 1991 Soviet miniseries Khraniteli. Although I doubt most 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Lord of the Rings fans have sat through the low budget Russian-language production, which means 🧔they’re unlikely to have ever seen the mysterious deity-like figure in any big- or small-screen adaptations before.
That’s so long as we’re not counting video games, of course, which have been Bombadil-heavy between The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Lord of the Rings Online, and Lego’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit games. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering also got in on the action last year.
The Rings of Power has plucked Tom from his comfortable Third Age life in the vall𝕴ey of the Withywindle and transported him to Rhûn, where he’s set to cross paths with Daniel Weyman’s Stranger, a confused, amnesiac wizard in pursuit of his true identity, what his powers are, and how he can use them. The show needed a big actor to fill such big, yellow shoes, and Rory Kinnear is set to don Bombadil’s iconic boots in Season 2.
“It's got such open-endedness to it as a role,” says Kinnear. “So as a fun thing to try and interpret and to bring to life, it was a really fun challenge to do.”
As for Weyman, we have no idea if he’s playing an iconic character or not. He laughs as I say this to him, before ꧙Kinnear interrupts. “You don’t know who the character is,” he says to his co-star. “No,⛦” comes Weyman’s firm reply.
When I follow-up, asking if he really doesn’t know the character he’s playing, Kinnear says that he knows. “Only me,” he says, which is clearly a joke, but it leaves me unsure of how much of what has been said has been true. Weyman may truly not know the true identity of The Stranger – which would mean it’s not revealed this season. On the other hand, this could be press tour shenanigans where the actor’s don’tꩲ want to give the game away. However, Weyman’s poetic explanation of how it feels to play The Stranger, as a lost soul and a complex character in his own right, leaves me feeling that perhaps we won’t get a reveal in Season 2.
“The great thing about him is that, actually, I'm playing this version of a being that has no backstory, doesn't remember any backstory yet,” he explains. “So, from that blank canvas start, all the experiences that I've gone through in Season 1 have layered up to where he is now.
“We're going to take him on now. He can speak a little bit. We're going to take him on and try and figure out whether, as I think he thinks, he's got the tools he needs to find his purpose and possibly help Middle-earth. Or maybe through his interaction with Tom Bombadil, he's going to realise he's hugely unequipped. He's got mountains to learn and not enough time to learn it in.
“I think it's going to get quite dark for him. And maybe the Stranger will become an iconic character for people in the future.”
The Stranger’s mystery is already one of the most-talked about storylines of the first season, and fans have come up with numerous clever theories to explain why he’s Gandalf, why the grey wizard’s quotes are red herrings, why he’s one or both blue wizards, or even why he’s Saruman. After Season𝐆 1, I was firmly in the Gandalf camp, if only because I wasn’t sure the show had the cajones to misdirect us so blatantly. After chatting with Weyman, I’m less sure it’s so clear cut.
On the subject of darkness, the Tom Bombadil I imagine when reading The Lord of the Rings seems a little out of place in the grittiness of The Rings of Power. You can’t imagine him singing a little ditty in the show; Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo! doesn’t quite fit the vibe.
"I ended up having⛄ to go to the Moorfields Eye Hospital," - Daniel Weyman, The Stranger in ಞThe Rings of Power
“He has been slightly transplanted in some ways from the story that he was involved with in The Lord of the Rings into what J.D. and Patrick see him and [how they] are using him in their𝔉 version of the story,” Kinnear explains. “And obviously, it is a period of great threat and darkness to the lives of everyone around him.
“So there is an importance to his role and there is an awareness that much is imperilled. But because he has been around since the dawn of time, he has seen it all before. And whilst he knows there's a more virtuous path that could be taken, he's also aware that should the other path be taken, we go back into the cycle again.
“And so there is an enigmatic quality to him in that sense of being involved, but also because of his age and because of his awareness and wisdom, he's also looking down on things as well. I guess with a slightly sort of a deity-quite-like quality to him.”
However, Kinnear and Weyman take the grittiness to new levels in The Rings of Power Season 2 – literally. The deserts of Rhun proved a lot for the actors to handle, with sand and dust getting int𒆙o costumes, slippers, and eyes, to the point where Weyman ended up in hospital.
“We were generally quite gritty because there was so ❀much sand and wind,” Kinnear says. The enormous sandstorm in the early episodes of the new season immediately springs to mind, and I wince at the thought of sand pouring out of every no꧙ok and cranny after each take.
“It did actually take months to get out of my eye,” adds Weyman. “I ended up having to go to the Moorfields Eye Hospital when we came back to try and remove some of it, which was quite exciting in a way.” He pauses before correcting himself. “It was actually terrifying. I&rsq🍰uo;m a bit squeamish about my eyes,”
The Lord of the Rings adaptations are no stranger ♏to hospitalisations. Think of Sean Astin stepping on glass while filming The Fellowship of the Ring, Orlando Bloom breaking a rib falling off a horse, and did you know that Viggo Mortensen broke his toe when kicking tha🌠t Uruk-Hai helmet?
Whether or not The Rings of Power will enter the esteemed pantheon of Tolkien adaptations that fans actually approve of remains to be seen – and on🦋-set injuries won’t be the thing to seal the deal. But the mystery of The Stranger is an engaging enigma, and the return of Tom Bombadil might just be the addition that turns the tide of fan sentiment.
