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Rings of Power creator suggests fan favorites Celeborn and Glorfindel “might show up” | SDCC 2024

During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con today, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power writer and creator Patrick McCay, in response to a fan's question, suggested that beloved, marginalized elf character Glorfindel “might” appear in the series “at some point,” alongside Galadriel's missing husband Celeborn.

Asked at the end of a fan Q&A panel if there was “a possibility for Glorfindel to exist beyond the pages of Tolkien,” McCay replied, “The answer is yes. 50 hours is a long story. There's room for a lot of surprising people.” He also added, “Celeborn too!”

Most fans of The Lord of the Rings will remember Celeborn as the husband of Galadriel who meets with the Fellowship in Lothlorien. In the books, Celeborn has a far more extensive role, stretching back to the First and Second Ages, the time period covered by The Rings of Power, but he hasn't appeared in Amazon's series so far, despite his wife playing a major role. Up until this point, many fans have been confused by his absence, but given the role he ultimately plays in the making of the Rings (which we won't give away here), it seems pretty important that Celeborn shows up at some point.

What's particularly interesting is that at one point in the first season of The Rings of Power, Galadriel hints that she believes Celeborn to be dead. It sounds like we're in for a tearful reunion soon.

“Okay, but who is Glorfindel?” you ask, having never read The Lord of the Rings trilogy or The Silmarrillion! Well, I reply, pushing my glasses up my nose, Glorfindel is a High Elf who hasn't appeared in any of The Lord of the Rings films in recent years. He is best known for saving Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring after he is wounded by a NazgĂ»l, lending the hobbit his horse while also summoning the power of the river to wash away his pursuers. This may sound familiar – Arwen took on that role in Peter Jackson's take on The Fellowship of the Ring, and Glorfindel was nowhere to be found.

But Glorfindel's role goes beyond that in the books, and is mentioned a few more times in The Fellowship of the Ring and also appears in the appendices of The Return of the King. He's the guy who makes the prophecy that the Witch-king of Angmar will not fall by “man's hand,” which Éowyn finally fulfills in The Return of the King with the epic “I am not man!” Glorfindel also appears in The Silmarillion, where he actually dies before The Fellowship of the Ring, which for a while led Tolkien experts to believe that Tolkien had made a mistake and simply accidentally used the same name for two different guys. This was later canonically corrected in posthumous publications of Tolkien's background work, with Glorfindel being reborn by the Valar in the Third Age.

Over the years, Glorfindel has become a bit of a fan favorite, possibly due to his supporting appearance in Peter Jackson's trilogy and the silliness surrounding his reincarnation. While Glorfindel has made a few appearances in video games and other supporting content over the years, he's largely never appeared in major popular adaptations. But canonically, he would certainly have been in Rings of Power, so hopefully McCay's comment is more than just a teaser. The good news is that we already have confirmation that at least one popular absentee character will be making an appearance in Season 2: Buckle up, folks, jolly Tom Bombadil is coming!

At the same panel, we got a brand new trailer for season 2 of The Rings of Power, featuring creatures like Ents, spiders, and yes, the Balrog. We gave the show's first season 8/10, saying it “largely succeeds because it stays true to JRR Tolkien's themes and tone, if not to all the specifics of his canon.”

You can read all the announcements about SDCC 2024 here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter at IGN. Have a story tip? Send it to [email protected].

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