Bring tissues.

This interview contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2, Episode 7, and features comments from Robert Aramayo and Owain Arthur.

The Battle of Eregion has started in earnest as the smiths scramble to try to defend their fair city, Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) has broken free of Sauron’s spell, walls are falling, fingers are being lopped off, and elven friends are exchanging tricky kisses. But there’s a smaller, more human moment that unfolds at the end of The Rings of Power Season 2’s penultimate episode that ended up stealing the show. It is outside of the walls of Eregion that the greatest heartbreak takes place, centering squarely on Durin, Elrond, and a trust that may be broken forever.

Prince Durin (Owain Arthur) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo) stole our hearts back in Season 1 with their breakout bromance. As Lord of the Rings fans, we’ve all always been suckers for a good elf/dwarf partnership, but the two brought something special to the longstanding The Lord of the Rings pairing as they gave fans a new look at younger versions of characters that, prior to The Rings of Power exploring the Second Age, have largely been the stuff of Tolkien legend.

Now, Durin and Elrond find themselves at a seemingly impossible impasse. Eregion’s walls have been breached and the city is in mortal peril, but it’s the episode’s last looks at Elrond that truly rend the heart. After meeting his friend in Khazad-Dum, Elrond is certain that Durin and his armies will come to support the elves against Adar’s (Sam Hazeldine) Uruk. But in the final moments before their departure, Durin learns that Disa (Sophia Nomvete) may be in lethal danger herself. As such, the dwarven army never comes (at least in this episode) and Elrond is left on his knees repeating “Durin will come” as his soldiers fall around him.

Fans of the The Lord of the Rings films are all quite familiar with Elrond’s future trepidation with the dwarven people. “Dwarves care nothing for the troubles of others,” the future leader will note in Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring. So, I sat down with series stars Owain Arthur and Robert Aramayo to discuss their characters’ future and whether or not this is the end.

“It’s a very difficult choice to make. Your wife, your kingdom and your father will die, or your friend will possibly die,” Arthur explains. “[Elrond is] at his most vulnerable, and he was relying on Durin to be there to save his life, to save Eregion, to fight evil in Middle-earth.”

From an outsider perspective, Durin’s decision sits in the complicated realm of understandable but also devastating. Disa is one of the best (and most grounded) characters on the show; losing her so early into their planned story would be an indescribable blow that would leave fans distraught and likely render Durin ineffective throughout the remaining conflict that’s to come. Still, what an emotional wallop to see Elrond’s trust broken.

We should have these moments from Elrond’s perspective of all of these beautiful ethereal Elves getting slaughtered. It compounds his failure.

“God, it’s devastating. It’s absolutely devastating for him,” Aramayo adds. “I had a really specific perspective in my head of what I wanted that to be [in my performance] because it’s not [just] about the fact that we’re screwed and we’re not getting reinforcements. But the devastation, I wanted to make the devastation as intense as I could. I said to Charlotte [Brandstrom, director] and Vic [Armstrong, second unit director], we should have these moments — I wish we’d done more of them, really — but we should have these moments from Elrond’s perspective of all of these beautiful ethereal Elves getting slaughtered. It compounds his failure. Yeah. It’s devastating for Elrond […] I don’t think he ever really imagines that Durin wouldn’t turn up. Maybe Eregion will fall, but Durin will be there with me.”

As to whether or not this will be the end of their friendship and Elrond’s trust in the Dwarves, perhaps there’s hope there yet.

“Elrond’s got a lot of wisdom and a lot of… He’s got a growing maturity,” hints Aramayo. “I don’t know, don’t count out that friendship yet. That’s all I’m saying.”