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The Rings of Power Showrunners: Círdan Will Be In Season 2

IIn the months preceding the publication of The Rings of Power Amazon’s Lord of the Rings prequel, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay remain mum about a variety of plot points.

Here’s what we do know: The show, which premieres Sept. 2 on Prime Video, will be set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before heroes like Frodo or Aragorn were born. McKay, Payne heavily relied on the appendices. The Lord of the RingsThese documents trace Sauron’s rise, the making of the one-ring and the fight between Sauron with the last alliance of men and elves for Middle-earth’s soul. Elves are immortal in Tolkien’s world, so Lord of the Rings Fans can look forward to seeing familiar faces such as Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and Galadriel (Morfydd Campbell). (Both characters also appeared in Peter Jackson’s film trilogy.)

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But a fan-favorite character has been missing: Círdan, one of the oldest and wisest of the elves. TIME can exclusively reveal that the character Círdan the Shipwright will make his debut on the series in Season 2 of The Rings of Power.

“We don’t want to give too much away, but one character we’re excited for folks to meet in Season 2 is Círdan the Shipwright,” says Payne. “In the time of our story, he’s the oldest of all known elves in Middle-earth—in fact he lived so long, he had a beard.”

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Círdan is the only elf Tolkien describes as having a beard in the text of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien superfans and scholars debate whether other Elfs can grow beards.

Círdan is mentioned several times in Tolkien lore. Together with Gil-galad the elf, he fights Sauron. Elrond and the Elf king Gil-galad urge Isildur destroy the one Ring after the Battle at Mount Doom. He thus plays an important role in both the Second Age’s story as well as in setting the stage for the events. The Lord of the RingsIn the Third Age.

But Círdan only appears in person once in The Lord of the Rings proper. As they board the ship that will take them to Middle-earth, he greets their company which includes Galadriel as well as Elrond. The passage reads, “As they came to the gates Círdan the Shipwright came forth to greet them. Very tall he was, and his beard was long, and he was grey and old, save that his eyes were keen as stars.”

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Let’s hope the show version of Círdan has facial hair that lives up to the hype.

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To Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com.

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