The Rings of Power used a Lord of the Rings movie veteran to help its actors learn fictional Tolkien languages

Sep. 30, 2024

Celebrimbor actor Charles Edwards recalls learning Black Speech for his surprise opening scene in The Rings of Power season 2

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We imagine your Duolingo streak might be cut short if you had to learn Khuzdul, Sindarin, or one of the many, many fictional languages J.R.R. Tolkien invented in his works. So, how do actors on The Rings of Power get to grips with the new tongues by the time the cameras are rolling?

As Celebrimbor actor Charles Edwards tells us, wordy moments such as his Black Speech scene inGaladriel’s visionearlier inThe Rings of Power season 2requires the help of dialect coach Leith McPherson, who has coached actors on various Tolkien languages in the past, including on all three Hobbit movies.

“She’s extremely well versed in it but we knew what I was going to be saying, which was The Ring poem – essentially – in Black Speech and I had to learn it by rote,” Edwards explains to GamesRadar+ of the scene, which features the Elven craftsman hoisted up on a tree after reciting the famous words inscribed on The One Ring.

From there, it was surprisingly straightforward for the Celebrimbor actor, who went home and learned his lines with the help of an audio aid from McPherson.

“I said the words and she did an audio bit for me on how it should sound and you just learn it by parrot fashion in the kitchen, [walking] up and down until you got it,” Edwards explains. “That was my first day of shooting, actually, this season. Black Speech and up on a harness.”

Edwards, who has been one of the season’s standouts as Celebrimbor, also went further than most by literally taking ring-making classes to better understand the master craftsman.

“It informed me tremendously. Because when I got this role, I had never heard of Celebrimbor. I was a big Lord of the Rings fan when I was a kid and obsessed with it. But I hadn’t registered who Celebrimbor was,” Edwards explains.

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“I looked him up and the first thing are these fan art pictures of these huge muscle guys with hammers and I thought, ‘Oh, they want to go in a different direction with that!’ But then when I read the translation of his name – Hand of Silver. People often say Fist of Silver, which implies a different kind of thing. Hand of Silver is much more my take. The lessons I had with the jewelry was all about delicacy, tiny detail, and dealing with the minutest of touches. I was so pleased to discover that, because it fell directly into how I had envisioned him,” Edwards says.

“I saw him much more bookish, much more cerebral and surgical in the application of his work.”

The actor also broke downMirdania’s deathinThe Rings of Power season 2, episode 7in our recent interview, a shocking moment that saw Celebrimbor (and mostly Sauron’s magic) push Elven smith Mirdania over the walls of Eregion.

The Rings of Power season 2 is currently streaming on Prime Video. For more, check out our guides onThe StrangerandAnnatar.

I’m the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you’ll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.

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