Let's Get Nerdy

    Who is Isildur’s sister Eärien? – Let’s Get Nerdy!

    Ashley Victoria RobinsonBy Updated:5 Mins Read

    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!

    Alright, alright, alright, for years at this point I’ve written about High King Elendil and Isildur (and his many downfalls), and their shared relative, Anárion. In the liminal space between the first and the second season of The Rings of Power it feels the appropriate time to give some love and some space to Eärien.

    Eärien is a character who is original to The Rings of Power. This means she has no basis (even if it’s just a name or a passing mention), in the original Lord of the Rings texts from J.R.R. Tolkien.

    To be “that girl” about it, the pronunciations of Eärien and Anárion are actually fairly similar. The vowel clusters definitely “sound” related.

    Eärien (Ema Horvath), in The Rings of Power season 1

    Eärien, despite being the creator for The Rings of Power, does have Quenya Elvish roots. It means: daughter of the sea. Given the focus of the show on Númenoreans culture’s relationship to water it’s probably both smart and telling.

    We do know in The Rings of Power’s internal mythology that Anárion does exist. He is alive, albeit residing on the West Coast of Númenor separate from his father and his other siblings. My guess? There’s a solid chance we never see Anárion and replace his storyline entirely with Eärien making her the co-ruler of Arnor and Gondor – which paints a prettier picture of having a King and a Queen rather than two co-kings.

    In The Rings of Power season 1 we learn Eärien has been accepted as an apprentice in the Builders Guild.

    Argonath statues in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

    Throughout The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, we caught glimpses of some of the incredible architectural ruins of the ancient kingdom of Arnor and obviously once we get to see the nine-ringed city of Minas Tirith it is nothing short of an engineering marvel for a civilization based on the approximate technology of the Ottoman Empire. Having Eärien as the builder/architect of the family puts her in the prime position to oversee the eventual design – and even construction – of these landmarks.

    We also saw, toward the end of the first season of The Rings of Power –  Eärien found and looked into the palantír. Spoilerites who have watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy of films know exactly what happens to characters who find themselves enraptured with gazing into a palantír. They either go the way of Saruman the White and fall completely under the thrall of Sauron OR they go the way of Pippin Took and become overwhelmed by the experience. Neither is a great option.

    If we take the opposite point of view that I posited above and Eärien was not designed to replace Anárion there’s a good chance she is being positioned to be the first of her lineage to illustrate the “weakness” of humankind on Middle-Earth. It would certainly put Eärien in a much more interesting position (dramatically), to have her as a servant – intentional or otherwise – to Sauron while her father and brother lead the charge against him.

    Saruman (Christopher Lee), and a Palantír in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

    Perhaps this is why she shared so many scenes with Kemen toward the end of The Rings of Power season 1?

    What are your thoughts on Eärien’s future? I’d love to read theories down in the comments!

    In past articles I have answered the question:

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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

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