Amazon Studios The Rings of Power is here. We want all Spoilerites to have the best viewing experience possible and have the widest knowledge base about the Second Age of Middle-Earth. This is a weekly Let’s Get Nerdy article series highlighting a different piece of Tolkien I think you need to know about!
In past articles I have answered the question:
- What Are the Rings of Power?
- What is Númenor?
- What is the Second Age?
- Who are the Harfoots?
- Who is Prince Durin IV?
- What is Khazad-dûm?
- Who is Celebrimbor?
- What is the Last Alliance of Men and Elves?
- Who is Elendil?
- New Pics! Who are Bronwyn and Theo?
- What is Rivendell?
- The Rings of Power First Reactions Are In!
- What is Lindon?
- What are the Nine Human Rings?
- Empire Magazine’s The Rings of Power Covers
- New Character Pictures
- Will Wizards Appear in The Rings of Power?
- New Promo for The Rings of Power
- What is Eregion?
- Leaked! Rings of Power Trailer Breakdown
- The Rings of Power Teaser Breakdown
- New EW Rings of Power Pictures
- SDCC Rings of Power Trailer Breakdown
- Who is Isildur?
- The Rings of Power is Here! Read the Reactions
- Who is the Stranger?
- Who is Queen Míriel?
- Who is Ar-Pharazôn?
- What is the broken black blade?
- What is Mordor?
- What is Mithril?
- What are the Silmarils?
- What is Narsil?
In the first season of The Rings of Power we saw a lot of Númenor! The kingdom of humans was announced from the beginning as being the focal point for the drama of the series. In the third episode of the series, titled Adar, viewers got our first introduction to Númenor and the Númenorean people including a passing reference to – and very quick peek at – the tapestry below.
This is the part of watching The Rings of Power where my fan brain goes absolutely wild. Screw the arc of the season, I wanted nothing more than to dive into this tapestry and crawl around. Would it have halted everything else the episode was trying to achieve? You know it would! Would I have loved to see it? Yes. Would it have been indulgent? Absolutely!
So, with all that fangirl passion at my back, let me explain to you why this moment in the third episode of The Rings of Power so captured the obsessive side of my personality.
In various installments in this series, I’ve written about Elros. Twin brother of Elrond. Half-elven. Founder of the race of humans. Founder of the Númenoreans, specifically. Ancestor of Elendil, Isildur, Aragorn, and Arwen.
Elros Half-Elven was the twin brother of Elrond Half-Elven and came to be known as Elros Tar-Minyatur. If you remember my feature on Queen Míriel you know the prefix “Tar” is used by the Númenoreans to denote a kingship or high title. The name “Tar-Minyatur” is from the Elvish Quenya which means “High First-Ruler” and led to the tradition of “Tar” as formal title.
He was born in The First Age of Middle-Earth. It was during The Second Age of Middle-Earth when the Valar approached Elrond and Elros and demanded which of them would live their life as an elf and which would live their life as a human. For his sacrifice the Valar gifted him long life. Descendants of the Númenoreans (like Aragorn), are known to have long life. You may remember the “87” scene from the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings. Despite the truth of the long life no human ever lived as long as Elros. He was also rewarded with a special land all his own – which would eventually become known as Númenor – and was crowned the first High King thereof.
Fun fact: Elros was crowned in his 90th year of life!
He did marry a human woman who is never named and had four children as he went on to rule Númenor for 410 years and eventually died in The Second Age, 442
I’m definitely going to be spending the time between now and the second season of The Rings of Power hoping we get a chance to see Robert Aramayo (who played Elrond), doing double duty and playing a flashback scene as Elros as well!
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She/her. Canadian actress. Bi Queen. Canadian co-host of Geek History Lesson. Canadian comic book writer: Witchblade, Apollo IX, Jupiter Jet series, Science! The Elements of Dark Energy, Aurora and The Eagle. Award-losing: actor, writer, podcaster. https://linktr.ee/AshleyVRobinson