The Fall of Eregion is a sad event in Middle-earth history, but it’s far from being the saddest one in the Season 2 finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. That award goes to Celebrimbor’s (Charles Edwards) death, as the character is shot with multiple arrows at point-blank and ultimately stabbed by Sauron (Charlie Vickers). It’s a tragic end to the greatest of Elven smiths, and a pity that it means the end of Charles Edwards’ role in the series. He has given the series’ best performance, and his take on Celebrimbor is so unique that it challenges fans’ preconceptions of the character for the better.
Not Much Is Known About Celebrimbor in the Books
When the first images of Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor in The Rings of Power came out, a sect of the fandom complained. His portrayal simply didn’t match what they had in mind about the character, which was, most notably, artist Angus McBride’s concept, depicting Celebrimbor almost as Conan the Barbarian. That’s valid, but Edwards gives Celebrimbor an older look, with short, tidy hair, and a facial expression that hints at him being gullible enough to allow the Dark Lord to manipulate him.
It’s important to point out, however, that J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t have much time to delve deeper into Celebrimbor’s character, so we never knew much about him. Before The Rings of Power, he was defined by the passion for forging that he inherited from his grandfather, Fëanor, and for being tricked by Sauron into forging the Rings of Power — and for having an unrequited crush on Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), too. Celebrimbor is actually one of the many gaps in Tolkien’s writings of the Second Age that the series proposed to fill, and it’s thanks to Edwards that we get such depth of character.
Charles Edwards Gives Celebrimbor Unprecedented Depth in ‘The Rings of Power’
Edwards had a great challenge ahead of him: building on the concept of a character whom we only knew the very basics about. The script helps, of course, but whatever feelings we have for him throughout Season 2 are because of the actor’s work. From the start, his Celebrimbor is defined by two traits: pride and ambition, and those translate through Edwards’ every move in character.
That’s not an easy task. Fëanor forged the Silmarils, gems of unspoken beauty over which most wars of the First Age were fought. As his grandson, Celebrimbor feels the weight of this legacy — not because others expect him to, but, instead, because he places it upon his own shoulders. He has masterfully displayed his craft for everyone to see, building Eregion from the ground up, forging the Elven Rings in Season 1, and, now, the other sixteen Rings of Power, but it’s not enough. He uses Fëanor’s hammer, he has a Fëanor statue just outside his forge… s urpassing his grandfather is an obsession, and Celebrimbor does everything in his power to achieve this goal.
Edwards takes all that in stride. He builds a character that displays all his pride while still hiding some warmth underneath, like when showing Ithildin to Mirdania (Amelia Kenworthy) in the Season 2 premiere. Throughout the season, he also calmly deals with Annatar’s pressure, fully aware of his skills and the daunting task that he is being pressured to complete. Sauron only gets through to him by playing into Celebrimbor’s emotions, getting him to lie to Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) about the closing of his forge, even. In those scenes in Episode 5, Edwards goes from calm, to impatience, to fury within moments, but that was just a taste of how even more dramatic things would get.
Celebrimbor’s Arc Plays Out to Tragic Perfection in ‘The Rings of Power’
Celebrimbor’s story in The Rings of Power is essentially a tragedy. His ambition blinds him to the dangers of what he is doing, and his pride keeps him engaged in the forging of the Rings of Power even after he tells Annatar/Sauron he won’t do it. Celebrimbor is hardly innocent when it comes to the evils that his work unleashes upon Middle-earth. Still, we pity him in the end, because he did what he did out of relatable sentiments. Who doesn’t want to build a l asting legacy of beauty?
It’s in this pity that Edwards’ acting shines brightest. Celebrimbor fell willingly into Sauron’s lies, but it took him a lot of suffering to understand that what Middle-earth really needs isn’t powerful tools of any kind, but, instead, simple devotion to the light, as his farewell speech to Galadriel in Episode 7 evidences. His pride and ambition allow him to be manipulated by Sauron, so he has a good enough reason to work with the Dark Lord, not simply wanting to craft powerful rings. There is as much vanity in his deeds as is a real will to make the world a better place, and that’s a tragedy. His realization that he has been played by Sauron is sad to watch, because he was an accomplice to all of it. Celebrimbor is deceived, gaslit, and violates the sanctity of his own work on behalf of someone he doesn’t even fully trust, but who is also making him think he is finally living up to his potential. People fall prey to similar evils every day, so who are we to judge him at all?
Celebrimbor’s last scene with Sauron in the Season 2 finale is perfectly acted on both sides, but Edwards highlights the tragedy of it all. Celebrimbor has accepted the truth of what happened, and he is both sad and angry. Edwards’ sharp looks at Sauron are as piercing as the arrows shot by the Dark Lord. This scene is the culmination of a character arc played to perfection. Celebrimbor’s redemption is only possible because he realizes what is really happening, and regrets the things that led him to this position. He still dies a tragic and violent death, and fans may complain about Sauron not using him as a banner (a “Celebanner,” if you will), like he does in the books — but it’s perfect for who Celebrimbor is as a character, and there is no one better than Charles Edwards to translate onto the screen.
