Warning: spoilers ahead for The Rings of Power episode 6 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power finally went there – here’s why the romantic confession between Galadriel and Halbrand is a misstep. The intense chemistry between Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel and Charlie Vickers’ Halbrand was evident from the moment Middle-earth’s angriest Elf encountered the Southlands’ missing king on the Sundering Seas. These unlikely companions have wavered flirtatiously between grudging friendship and antagonistic bickering ever since, but The Rings of Power episode 6 (“Udûn”) spices things up.
Basking in the afterglow of a hard battle for the Southlands, Halbrand admits fighting next to Galadriel ignited a feeling he hadn’t known for a long time. Galadriel sheepishly admits she feels the same, but their doe-eyed confessions are interrupted by a message from Míriel, the Queen Regent of ruining romantic moments. The Rings of Power is clearly setting Galadriel and Halbrand up for a love story. It’s early days, and their attraction may yet be quashed before it even begins, but merely cajoling these two characters down a romantic path at this moment in time causes problems for The Rings of Power.
A Halbrand Romance Makes Galadriel’s Missing Husband Worse
One of the many deviations Amazon’s The Rings of Power makes from J.R.R. Tolkien canon concerns Celeborn – Galadriel’s husband in the original books. Galadriel and Celeborn are together during Middle-earth’s First Age, and their daughter is born during the early Second Age, so both should be around during The Rings of Power. Alas, Celeborn isn’t around. Initially, The Rings of Power seemed to have taken this decision in the name of reframing Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel into a roaming warrior focused squarely on vanquishing evil. Regardless of whether that justification holds, The Rings of Power episode 6 renders arguments for Celeborn’s absence redundant. Why go to the trouble of omitting him only to pair Galadriel with, quite literally, the first Man she comes across?
The Rings of Power‘s Galadriel/Halbrand romance smacks of matching-up male and female leads simply because it’s expected, not because the story demands it. But this isn’t High School Musical, and Galadriel’s character benefits little from having a love interest so early. Morfydd Clark’s character has admirably led The Rings of Power as a fearsome, charismatic hero, complex in her emotions and motivations. The Halbrand romance doesn’t detract from those achievements, but neither are they enhanced. The same goes for Halbrand, whose inner fury and mysterious origins provide more than enough substance without a love angle pulling intrigue elsewhere. The whole sorry affair falls somewhere between predictable and unnecessary, when both characters have been anything but thus far.
There’s a pretty good chance The Rings of Power‘s Galadriel and Halbrand romance is a swerve ahead of the Southlands’ King being revealed as Sauron. Even if this were the case, however, episode 6’s emotions are completely genuine – on Galadriel’s part at the very least. The criticisms don’t disappear just because Halbrand’s secretly evil.
Galadriel & Halbrand Hurts Another Rings Of Power Love Story
As The Rings of Power quite rightly pointed out during its very first episode, only two instances of Elves pairing with humans have occurred in Middle-earth history (those are Beren & Lúthien and Tuor & Idril). There’s an air of controversy surrounding such relationships – on the Elves’ side, at least. Strange, then, that within just 6 episodes of The Rings of Power, two brand-new, completely separate romances between an Elf and a human have developed: Bronwyn & Arondir and Galadriel & Halbrand.
Unlike the Galadriel/Halbrand situation, The Rings of Power‘s Bronwyn and Arondir storyline needs romance to work. Their blossoming bond acts as a counterpoint to the wider mistrust between Elves and the Southlanders – a rare, secret ray of happiness in an otherwise unhappy allegiance. Arondir must hide his true feelings in the name of duty, while Bronwyn fears the scorn of fellow villagers. The dynamic between Ismael Cruz Córdova’s immortal Elf and Nazanin Boniadi’s mortal woman sits at the core of both characters, telling an emotive (and more Tolkien-esque) story of forbidden love in Middle-earth. By hinting that Galadriel and Halbrand might also hook up in the very near future, The Rings of Power undermines why Bronwyn and Arondir’s connection is so taboo, making their storyline much less unique.
One could also argue that Halbrand and Galadriel falling in love pushes the former a little too close to Aragorn. Charlie Vickers’ character was already an exiled king returning home to claim the crown of his ancestors, mirroring Aragorn’s trajectory through The Lord of the Rings. Throw in a complicated romance with an Elf of high-standing as a substitute for Arwen, and the similarity becomes a little too uncanny.
Galadriel & Halbrand Could’ve Worked… But Not Yet
Say what you will about Galadriel and Halbrand’s romantic leanings, but you can’t accuse The Rings of Power of pulling the story out of nowhere. Tension has been brewing ever since Galadriel and Halbrand met, growing palpably more intense during their episode 5 argument in the Númenórean blacksmith’s forge. At that point, the dynamic between Clark and Vickers’ characters was difficult to fault. Two vengeful warriors prone to self-destruction brought together by fate’s hand and forging an unlikely bond they couldn’t find among their own people. The sexual chemistry is then just subtext – does it exist or not? The audience is left to decide, which lets Amazon’s The Rings of Power get away with the merest whiff of love while keeping focus firmly on Galadriel and Halbrand as individuals, not a couple.
The issue isn’t that chemistry exists, therefore, but that The Rings of Power has spoken it into existence so soon. Once Halbrand and Galadriel verbalize those emotions and confirm any perceived attraction wasn’t just in the audience’s mind, their narrative becomes a love story by default, which doesn’t serve either character this early in The Rings of Power‘s timeline. All while Galadriel and Halbrand’s mutual attraction existed as subtle glances and body language, it’s an extra layer of nuance in the background. Now romance is at the forefront of their agenda, The Rings of Power needs to actually address Galadriel and Halbrand’s attraction without tripping into the “will-they-won’t-they” trap – a tricky dance it didn’t need to perform this quickly.
Some will inevitably argue that having Galadriel and Halbrand mentally undress each other across Middle-earth is a betrayal of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, which you’ll not be surprised to hear were largely devoid of sex. For The Rings of Power to move with the times and add a little spice is one thing, but entering two characters who don’t need romantic arcs into a romantic arc – despite the “Elf-human forbidden love” narrative already being woven by Bronwyn and Arondir – isn’t the kind of considered, thought-out evolution The Rings of Power has shown until now.
