The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power star Tyroe Muhafidin explains the tensions between Elves and humans during the Second Age of Middle-earth. Amazon’s highly anticipated adaptation is based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and developed for television by J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay. The Rings of Power takes place thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, during a relative time of peace known as the Second Age.

The show will transport audiences back to a time long before the Dark Lord Sauron rose to power and almost took over Middle-earth. During the Second Age, the continent is still reeling from the war against Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. While Rings of Power features a few familiar entities like the Elves Galadriel (now played by Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (played by Robert Aramayo), the show has also created a ton of new characters to help explore the world’s vast history, including the Silvan Elf, Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova), who has a forbidden love for Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi), a human healer from the village of Tirharad. Bronwyn has a young son named Theo, who is played by Tyroe Muhafidin and has been seen in trailers wielding a broken black blade.

During a recent interview with Collider at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Muhafidin revealed some new details about The Rings of Power and his character. The actor elaborated on the conflict between Elves and humans during the Second Age and how Theo’s lineage defines his place in the world. Read what he said below:

He’s not happy, you can say that a little. Obviously, the history between the humans and the elves you know, 1000s of years prior, Theo’s ancestors sided with Morgoth and fought against the elves, and so in punishment for their doing that they got banished and had to restart in almost the slums of the Southlands. And it’s patrolled by the Elves. And you know, and it was generations ago, and Theo thinks and Bronwyn thinks, and I think the whole village thinks that it’s time to move past it and move forward, but the Elves just won’t forget. So there’s a lot of tension in there. And especially when your mom is dating one of them.

Providing further context for Muhafidin’s comments on the tensions between Elves and humans during this time, Tirharad is a village in the Southlands populated by descendants of humans who sided with Morgoth during the War of Wrath and fought against Elves. In the village, these humans essentially live in exile under close surveillance by Elves, which only worsens relations between the two races. While the inhabitants of Tirharad like Bronwyn and Theo wish to move on from errors of the distant past, the stubbornness of the Elves prevents them from forgetting these transgressions from generations ago.

Those familiar with the history of Middle-earth will know that the two races eventually overcome their differences to resist a greater evil, resulting in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. The pact is made in response to the threat of conquest by Sauron and manifests itself in the War of the Last Alliance, which lasts for twelve years and has several distant stages. These events and battles will surely be explored in detail throughout the course of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.