‘Lord of the Rings’ Stars Tease Arondir and Bronwyn Might Be Headed for “Disaster”

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 5 “Partings” features our most dramatic moment for Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) and Bronwyn’s (Nazanin Boniadi) romance yet. When Bronwyn learns that Adar (Joseph Mawle) and his orcs will attack the tower to retrieve the magical sword hilt/key that Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) has been hiding, she loses hope. She decides the only thing to be done is to bring the hilt to Adar. Arondir tries to convince her there must be another way, but Bronwyn says there isn’t. She will submit to evil in order to ensure her son survives. And so the Southlands claims another soul…

But will Bronwyn truly give up all hope? Surely there must be a way for our heroes to survive! This is the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, after all. And Tolkien’s work is about how even the smallest beings can destroy evil if they have enough heart. (Then again, Arondir, Bronwyn, and Theo are all original characters created for the Prime Video show… So they might just be orc arrow fodder.)

When Decider spoke with Ismael Cruz Córdova and Nazanin Boniadi about Arondir and Bronwyn, they both underlined how special Bronwyn is.

“She’s a single mother to a rebellious teenage son in a forbidden romance with an elf which is frowned upon by her people,” Boniadi said. “All of that lends itself to her being an outcast.”

“She’s also very strong-willed, but I think the strength comes from a deep love for her son, for her people. Her essence, at her core, all of it is driven by love.”

Ismael Cruz Córdova said, “There’s something so strong about her that she stopped his time, in a way.”

“He starts to experience time as men and women. I get as her time, like their curiosity, their struggles, their conflict. And I think [she] literally stopped time for him, and he had this big question: ‘What do I do with this elven-ness? And who are they?’ So I think it’s a testament more to her than to him.”

Bronwyn may have stopped time for Arondir, but time still passes differently for elves and men. We’re told that Arondir has been stationed in Tir-Harad for 79 years. Does that mean Arondir knew Bronwyn as a child??

“Yeah, I’ve definitely thought about this because, I mean, the thing is, with any character, you cannot approach characters with your own morality,” Cruz Córdova said. “For example, like, well, is she a child? I feel like there is an elven mindset of it. So that’s what are you trying to approach. But I’ll just say that, yes, he knows her as a child, but it’s such a story.”

“And this romance [between species] has only happened between elves and humans twice before and has ended in disaster,” Boniadi said.

So what will it be for Arondir and Bronwyn? Will they cleave to hope or rush towards disaster?