The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 brought to viewers a high-octane battle action, fought between the elves and the orcs at Eregion, all by the design of the master manipulator Sauron. The dwarves jump in at the last minute to overwhelm the orcs and save the survivors. But one of the most exciting moments from the siege of Eregion was Galadriel and Sauron’s sword fight. Their reunion in the final episode was a first after Sauron deceives Galadriel in the debut season, thereby making the confrontation a crucial element in this Tolkien lore.
Many elves die in the battle, some flee, Eregion falls, and Sauron intercepts the nine rings from Galadriel. But the fight that appears smooth onscreen was difficult to shoot in real life. Director Charlotte Brändström, who was behind the camera during the takes, confirmed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly there was no VFX involved in the scene.
“It’s all planned ahead, but it wasn’t easy. Switching between Annatar and Halbrand takes hours in costume and prosthetics, plus he has beard stubble as Halbrand. It was really a puzzle and a process; we had to find the most efficient method. It took about four or five days to film,” said Brändström. The director confirmed the only fake thing about the swordfight was that Charlie didn’t do his fall.
In between the combat sequences, we saw Sauron changing different forms be that of Hallbrand or Celebrimbor. And he wasn’t doing it for fun at all. “So he was doing it because she (Galadriel) managed to kick him down and he fell on his back. He needed to reassert his power. He felt weaker, so he wanted to destabilize her, and that’s why he’s doing it,” explained the director.
But it wasn’t Sauron alone who felt the destabilization, Galadriel felt it too. Brändström added, “This duel proves that Galadriel is one of the few beings in Middle-earth capable of directly resisting him — but that doesn’t mean it’s easy for her. It was really important that we felt the tension, the provocations, and how destabilized she felt because she was very much in love with Halbrand.”
After the final episode of season 2, Sauron is raging his army across Eriador. All Middle-Earth is within his reach now, even Lindon.
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