The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has run for five episodes and we are at midseason mark of our journey in the Second Age of Middle-earth. The female heroines of Middle-earth in the Second Age includes the eleven-warrior queen, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) on one end, and the quiet, countryside healer, Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi) on the other. While Galadriel has made her way as stern and unyielding, Bronwyn has been a lot more agreeable yet still fiercely resolute in her own way and Boniadi discusses the character further.
When the hour draws near when bravery, courage and leadership are required in J.R.R. Tolkien’s lore, those who step up are often individuals you would least expect This sort of tale is most symbolized by Frodo Baggins’ decision to bear the burden of the ring for the Fellowship in Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy. The same situation has befallen Boniadi’s Bronwyn and like most characters who walked the soil of Middle-earth, she faces her challenge head-on. Boniadi explains that “when we first meet Bronwyn, she is a healer, she’s a mother,” attributes that would typically endear her to people. However, “she has this forbidden romance with an elf, Arondir,” Boniadi adds. Bronwyn’s relationship with Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) makes her an outcast amongst her fellow humans and when mixed with her being a woman, her opinion is quickly shut down.
Bronwyn and Arondir had discovered that the village of Tirharad was under threat, however, the healer’s warning is not heeded by those in authority. “She’s empathetic but she’s bold when she needs to be,” Boniadi explains and this would see her soon emerge as the de facto leader of her people as they flee danger.
Speaking of how Bronwyn manages to handle her new-found status, Boniadi explains that we can see the beauty of the character in the fact that “she did not think she was going to become a leader” but when she was put in that position, she decided to believe “in the potential of the Southlanders overcoming oppression.” Bronwyn is succeeding where her ancestors, the men and women of the Southlands had failed in their support of Morgoth in the First Age. Speaking to Collider's own Perri Nemiroff at SDCC earlier in the year, Boniadi said this about Bronwyn’s quest to redeem her people:
“And then also she is from the Southlands, and her ancestors chose bad, or evil, over good. And she and her people to try to redeem themselves and prove that they can be trusted. And there's sort of this inner activist in her, and I'm a human rights activist. So I always think of Bronwyn as sort of a fantastical version of myself."
You can watch the first five episodes of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video. The next episode releases on the streamer on September 30. Check out the Bronwyn clip below: