Few men of Middle-earth have ever left a more complicated legacy behind than Isildur. Fans of The Lord of the Rings know why. As does The Rings of Powers‘ Maxim Baldry, who plays a younger version of the character on the show. What’s it like playing such an important figure from J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary story? How will things change for Isildur in season two of the show? And what’s it like building a meaningful human/elf relationship? We asked Baldry about all of that and more when we spoke to him ahead of the show’s return on Prime Video.
Nerdist: I’ve done so many of these interviews over the last two days I am now in my head with how to properly say the names of every character. It’s so intimidating because obviously all of you know how to say them perfectly.
Maxim Baldry: Well we’ve lived with them for a while now. I was speaking with someone today about this. We got the job five years ago, and it’s insane to think how quickly time moves. We were talking about what kind of characters we would love to be, and I think I said an elf, just to be able to see time pass in a way that stresses me out. Whereas, for (elves), they’d be able to be slightly more detached from it and see it things come and go. It’d be quite a beautiful experience.
The season opens with you believed dead and abandoned in Middle-earth, which is a pretty big change from where you were last year when you’re mostly in Númenor. What was it like playing the character under such drastically different circumstances this time?
Baldry: I loved it. Isildur lends himself to being thrown around in the mud. He’s a physical character. It’s important to have all of that, to influence and maybe make light of why he chooses to not throw the ring into the fire. That’s what all of these early seasons are about. For him, it’s very exploratory, it’s world-building, it’s understanding who he really is rather than what he does.
And fighting Shelob is just an extension of this whole season for him. It’s a story of survival. Not only is he abandoned by Númenor and left to fend for himself, he also has to survive. He’s thrown into the world of adulthood when he’s out there. He kind of entered as a boy into Middle-earth and is now learning pretty fast that he has to grow up, he has to fend for himself, he has to learn to survive.
So that is Shelob you fight in episode three?
Baldry: In episode three, it’s Shelob. It’s baby Shelob.
You touched on my next question a little bit, because every Lord of the Rings fan, whether they are book readers or moviegoers, know Isildor’s ultimate fate. With each season and episode bringing you closer and closer to that moment, does the knowledge of where he is going to end up influence your choices as a performer at all? Do you try to reverse engineer versus focusing solely on where he is in his life right now?
Baldry: My instinctive reaction was to reverse engineer and (showrunners) Patrick and J.D. sat me down and were like, “We know the end point, but let’s just play here and let’s really create who he is as a person.” I think we did a really good job with season one, because you’re thrown into this family dynamic of a broken one. They’re missing the mother. They’re all grieving in their own respective ways. And Isildur’s fractured relationship with his father never really resolves up until the last scene in episode seven where they have this touching moment and understand their mother’s influence on each other.
Thinking to the end is almost the wrong way of looking at it. Which is what I wanted to do. I’ve always been like, okay, “But he ends there, so how…?” But it’s actually about, “Let’s create this character. We know that he comes from a broken family. We know that he wants more. He’s driven and he’s ambitious.”
What’s more interesting is the ambition that he has in him. On one hand, it can make him resilient on one hand, can propel him to these new extremes of being able to survive, being able to fend off evil. But then it could be a double-edged sword later on. That ambition could also be used in ways that….and I’m just throwing things out here and speculating…but it could be when he takes the ring, it could be, “I’ve lost so much that I will do good with this. I am so ambitious and driven that I know I’ll be able to withstand this evil.”
Obviously it ends up corrupting him. But there are so many ways to play him and all of the experiences that he has in season 1, 2, 3 will shed light on who he is as a person and will actually inform the later decision that he makes.
I asked you about your choices as a performer, but personally…and maybe this is a loaded word…are you ever intimidated by who you are playing?
Baldry: Hell yeah. When was first told, Patrick and J.D. sat me down on a Zoom call before I went to New Zealand. And they were like, “We just want to let you know who you’re playing. You’re playing Isildur. And they took off a ring. My instinctive response was, “Holy sh….”
There’s a weight of expectation because a lot of fans have an idea of who he is to them and what he represents to them. I did a lot of reading and I did a lot of digging as to who he really is, but we don’t really know that much. We know what he does, but you don’t really know who this character is, what motivates him, what is his relationship look like with Elendil.
This was all world-building that Patrick and J.D. crafted. And I’m very grateful to them because they’re very collaborative in their approach to creating these characters. They like our input. And I’ve lived with the character a lot longer than they’ve actually lived with Isildur now. So they do value my opinion. I think that’s so wonderful, to wake up at 3:00 AM when you’re in the makeup trailer and you are pinning your eyes open and yet you know that your opinion and your voice is heard.
It’s a wonderful place to work at, because I think great things happen because of collaboration. We all put so much time and effort into it. And we truly have a love for Tolkien. So it’s a fantastic place to work and I think we do it justice. I really truly think so, because our intentions are firstly to respect the works of Tolkien that we all grew up loving. And secondly, to create a compelling story that inspires a new generation of Tolkien lovers.
Speaking of your story this season, there’s a brewing partnership between Isildur and Arondir. What can you tell us about their relationship in season two?
Baldry: They’re unexpected. They meet in unexpected circumstance, ad they have a real profound respect for one another. Elves have always infatuated Isildur. There’s a kinship to his Elvin history as a Númenorian audience. So when he meets Arondir in such close proximity, they just instantly gravitate towards each other. Isildur learns so much about resilience from Arondir, who has withstood so much. (Arondir) has grown and he’s kept himself together, he’s shown up for everyone in the southlands. To Theo with his grief with Bronwyn. And Isuldur, with Arondir, he’s taking notes. He’s like, “Oh, I see how to do this.”
That’s a nice relationship for Isildur to have because he doesn’t really have anyone like that back home. He’s sort of been alone. And he’s learning that bond and community is very important. That’s what drives him to really reevaluate his relationship with his home.
Did you look at other human/elf partnerships in Tolkien stories to help understand how you might feel and interact with him?
Baldry: I thought of Aragon and Legolas in a weird way, because obviously Isildur and Aragon are connected. That’s quite a nice relationship, in a way, that they sort of have a respect for each other. They’re both kind of similar in the way that they’re both physical, but in very different ways. But that’s kind of the extent of my thinking of elves and human partnerships.
What did you take from that, if that’s the one that stands out to you? In what ways does it influence what we’ll see with Isildur and Arondir this year?
Baldry: What we also developed was a sort of look that we wanted to give each other, in the way that Legolas has a very strong gaze. Aragorn was a little bit more malleable, but we wanted to have a moment of stillness between all this chaos. So we’d do this thing where, whenever a situation would happen, we’d look at each other and it would just be a gentle nod. It was just a wonderful moment of appreciating one another for what they’ve done, but also reserving each other with our emotions and actually without having to speak a lot.It’s all done in looks. That’s what a lovely relationship is like between an elf and a human. It’s all done in the look rather than with actual words and dialogue.
What did you learn about Isildur this season that you didn’t know or maybe fully appreciate before you filmed it?
Baldry: His resilience. That’s what I also connected with the most. It’s the fact that he shows up, continues. He pushes forward, and it’s the undercurrent of drive and ambition that I was talking about before. That resilience is also linked with that drive and ambition, which I think is a double-edged sword to him, but one that I’m very keen to explore further on down the line because I think personally he’s hardened by season two. He is blunter and more fanatical. It won’t surprise me if he becomes more of a mercenary. More of a warrior.
This season introduces a new character, Astrid. Her motives and allegiances are not clear. Did the events of season one make Isildur do more discerning and wary about strangers? Or is he still just as trusting as before?
Baldry: Astrid is an enigmatic one because she has also lost a lot of things. She’s lost her whole family. And when she opens up to Isildur about this. Something in that response allows him to connect with her over a shared loss that they both feel. So it’s almost trauma bonding, in a way. But obviously it’s deeper and profound.
What I love about that is that it’s not superfluous love at first sight. It’s deep. It’s a Tolkienian connection in the way that Aragon falls in love with Arwen. I’ts not just a facade. There’s something deeper. It’s rooted in something in the cosmos. Isildur is one of those people. He feels a kinship towards her and their relationship sort of blossoms from a shared loss. And what she will present to him is another case of him having to decide whether or not his love for her is stronger than his love for Númenor. So season two poses him this dilemma. Does he choose his heart or does he choose his home? Or are they inextricably linked? Should she be his wife?
There are a lot of questions. Those are the sort of questions that make Tolkien so fascinating to so many people. Because they connect with those feelings of being human. Even though you’re in a fantasy world, even though you’re escaping into this Middle-earth, they still resonate. They still pull on your heartstrings. That’s what I love about it.
It’s clear you have a reverence for Tolkien. What part of his lore are you most excited for fans to see during season two?
Baldry: It’s obviously the Akallabêth. It’s the Civil War of Númenor, it’s unrest, it’s bloodshed.
I love politics and I love when a city becomes split down the middle and there’s two factions. There’s the King’s men, and then there’s the New World, the New Republic. And I love when those things happen. I love the repercussions of those two things. Especially because as my character I’m so connected to it . I’m excited to see the Civil War, the Civil Unrest in Númenor.