If you love Ismael Cruz Córdova’s Arondir from The Rings of Power, be warned. There are major spoilers ahead for his fate in Season 3 of the Prime Video show. And Fangirlish got to interview co-creator Patrick McKay about Arondir’s fate and how this was planned for a very long time.
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*SECOND MAJOR SPOILER WARNING JUST IN CASE*
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Arondir’s fate is a tragic one in The Rings of Power Season 3. After fighting for the people of the Southlands, falling in love and losing them, and then joining Galadriel in the fight against Sauron’s forces, Arondir was killed. And not just by anyone. Arondir was killed by Theo, the young boy, now young man, he took under his wing after the death of Bronwyn.
In Episode 3 Arondir joins Galadriel and Marnûkh in Gundabad. Along the way they find and collect Galadriel’s long lost husband Celeborn. And as they wait for rescue at the top of a tower they are confronted by a Nazgnagôl. When it’s revealed that this Nazgnagôl is Theo, Arondir tries to help him. But one quick order from Sauron sees him stabbing and killing Arondir.
According to McKay, Arondir’s tragic fate has been part of the plan since Season 1. He told us, “J.D. [Payne], my co-showrunner and I, we’ve had a long-term plan for this show. We always knew that Arondir’s story would be a tragic one. Actually, the first dialogue he has with his friend, another elf […] way back in Episode 1 of Season 1, says to him something like, “You know, it’s going to end in tragedy.”
As McKay and J.D. approached Season 3, they knew that Arondir’s time was coming to an end. “We knew we were going to tell the story of The One Ring. We knew we were going to tell the story of the distribution of the Nine Rings for men. Sauron is powerful. He’s recruiting servants and allies around the world. And we felt very strongly that there needed to be consequences to Sauron’s evil, and they needed to hurt.”
It did hurt. After years of watching Córdova’s Arondir try and find his place in this war, it felt like he was finally hitting his stride. But as things get darker in Middle-Earth, we’re going to start losing characters. “One of the things we thought about is “What is sort of some of the worst things that could happen in the world of this show?” That something just so happened to be Arondir killed by the young man he cared for like his own.
Talking about the actor himself, McKay also said, “Ismael Cruz Córdova has been such an incredible asset to our show and such a dear friend to us, and a wonderful collaborator. We love that character. And the idea of Theo’s journey crossing paths with him with tragic circumstances, was one of the earliest. And once we had that idea, we couldn’t back away. We knew it would hurt, it was supposed to.”
As for those that might think, hey, maybe Arondir is still alive somehow. It looks like this death is final. McKay said, “In Lord of the Rings, death is real. Tragedy is real. There are fates worse than death, and people fall to evil, and those have consequences.” Arondir’s death was that consequence.
The first four episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 are now available on Prime Video.
