In The Rings of Power season two, episode seven, a confusing kiss entered stage right. This mysterious kiss had been teased for quite some time, but no one could have predicted who would share it. Yes, in The Rings of Power season two’s penultimate episode, Elrond kissed Galadriel. “What?!,” Said viewers everywhere. Even if you don’t know that The Lord of the Rings lore dictates that Elrond will marry Galadriel’s daughter Celebrían, Elrond and Galadriel’s relationship never seemed particularly romantic. Well, to clear up what was going on with THAT The Rings of Power kiss, we went straight to the source. Nerdist chatted with Robert Aramayo, who assured us that the kiss between Elrond and Galadriel was not romantic but perhaps more of an elvish cultural thing. Aramayo also spoke to us about Celebrían, Elrond’s destined romance, and whether she would be appearing on The Rings of Power any time soon.
Nerdist: Let’s start with the kiss heard around Middle Earth. What do you think moveded Elrond to kiss Galadriel?
Robert Aramayo: It’s the last thing I’d expect, and I think if you were in that room, I think it’s the last thing you’d expect as well. And it’s a pretty dangerous room. So, whilst it’s a sort of bizarre tactic, I think it’s certainly shocking and achieves his goal of slipping off the way to get free.
You think the kiss between Galadriel and Elrond was free of all romantic motivation?
Aramayo: Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Although I think that that act in this world is slightly different in the way it’s perceived. I think when you see a kiss walking down the street, you instantly make certain conclusions about what’s going on. But in the elven world, I think that’s slightly different. And Miv (Morfydd Clark) spoke a lot about that, about how she looked at it differently and stuff. I was honestly against it for quite a while. But I think it’s good when you get those moments because then you talk about it and you sort of flesh out the world a little bit. When you have those conversations.
Do you think elves kiss one another more freely than we do?
Aramayo: I think potentially. Yeah. That’s the interesting thing about creating a fantasy world, isn’t it? That you get to ask questions like that in these heightened worlds? You get to think, well, how do they communicate and what does that mean? I think, though, that what I’ll run with is Elrond was trying to slip her the keys to get free.
Perfect. The keys not the tongue. We love it.
That, of course, brings me to the fact that Elrond marries Celebrían, who is Galdriel’s daughter in The Lord of the Rings‘ lore. Have you discussed how that romance might surface at all? And When?
Aramayo: No. Unfortunately not. I think it’s something that would be cool to happen, and I really would love it for him because, again, it’s something that I really like thinking about, Elrond falling in love—that would be such an interesting thing to explore. Especially because Token has these amazing romances, obviously Beren and Lúthien being perhaps the strongest, but the romance that he has written into his lore is stunning. And Thingol and Melian, and they’re sort of like, don’t they just stare at each other in the woods for 200 years or something like that? He write this epic love. It’s stunning. And Elrond and Celebrían is no different, I don’t think. Especially what she goes through and all of that stuff. So yeah, it’s a really interesting story.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is streaming now on Prime Video.