The internet is freaking out about THAT ‘Rings of Power’ kiss
There's no way 'Rings of Power' just pulled a 'Twilight'!
Did The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power just pull a Twilight in season 2, episode 7, “Doomed To Die”? The internet is losing its silmarils over a kiss between two unexpected characters—a kiss which was hinted at by Morfydd Clark, who plays Galadriel, in a previous interview.
Spoilers ahead for TROP season 2 episode 7!
During the SDCC 2024 promotion for The Rings of Power season 2, when Clark was asked about a moment she was excited for the fans to see in the new season because it would blow their mind, she simply left it at “a kiss.” Now, if you’ve been following the series, you know my girl Galadriel has chemistry with a lot of characters (except for her canonical husband Celeborn because he is currently MIA).
Ever since Clark dropped that hint, fans have been wondering which characters would be the ones to kiss. The obvious choice seemed to be Galadriel and Sauron because there are plenty of “Saurondriel” or “Haladriel” shippers out there who haven’t been able to resist the lure of a lady of the light being seduced by a dark lord. However, this season we also met a new Adar, played by Sam Hazeldine, who seems to have some smooth flirting skills with his enemies on the battlefield—no, seriously, the dark elf spoke the sweetest Quenya greeting to Galadriel when he met her (“A star shines upon the hour of our meeting”), and the way he looks at her like he’s dying for her to see him as an equal is just *chef’s kiss*.
Then, of course, there’s Galadriel’s bestie, Elrond. The two started the season off as somewhat estranged over Galadriel’s decision to wear the Elven ring forged with Halbrand/Sauron’s help. But you can see just how much love, hurt, and care there is between them, and all that yearning can easily make you ship them, even though we know that Galadriel is technically Elrond’s distant aunt (of sorts) and his future mother-in-law!
But oh, were we about to be proven wrong because, surprise! The kiss Clark teased was between Galadriel and Elrond! In The Rings of Power season 2, episode 7, Galadriel is still a prisoner of Adar, who uses her to stop the charging armies of High King Gil-galad, led by Commander Elrond. He then invites Elrond to negotiate terms—the Elven ring Nenya in exchange for Galadriel’s life. But Elrond refuses and challenges Adar to meet him on the battlefield. This meant Galadriel’s life was forfeit, something that she made Elrond promise he would be okay with because defeating Sauron was paramount.
Elrond then asks Adar if he can bid Galadriel farewell. Since Glûg the Uruk declares him unarmed, Elrond goes to Galadriel, who is chained up, and bids her “Namárië.” They can’t exchange any possible escape plans in Elvish because Adar would understand them. So, instead, Elrond leans in to kiss Galadriel on her lips and shocks us all, including Galadriel herself, who quietly raises an eyebrow as if saying, “WTF, dude?” when he pulls back!
Now, before you interpret it as romantic, it is clear that Elrond used this kiss to slip Galadriel his cloak pin, which she uses to get out of her shackles and escape. But, let’s be honest—the chemistry between the actors, the music, and the emotion of that moment makes it such a hot kiss that fans are now super confused about their feelings.
Plenty of fans understand what the kiss meant and why it needed to happen. But many others think this was merely a gimmick to induce shock amongst audiences, because why else would you pull a Twilight moment between Galadriel and Elrond à la Bella and Jacob? (Jacob later “falls in love” with Bella’s daughter Renesmee).
I, for one, think this wasn’t a romantic kiss at all. It was a beautiful, tender moment of forgiveness, love, and farewell exchanged between two friends who had been on shaky ground for a while. Besides, this was the only way Elrond could cover Galadriel from the front with his body and turn everyone’s attention to their faces while he slipped the pin in her hand. Had he hugged her, it would have been much more difficult, logistically speaking.
As a few fans on X pointed out, the Elves were an immortal race that rarely aged and spent millennia together. There’s no way to fully understand what they meant to each other throughout all that time. Perhaps, for these fair people, kissing on the lips or the forehead was merely an act of showing love, no matter the kind. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, we see Aragorn kiss Boromir’s face when he passes away as a mark of their friendship and his respect for a fallen son of his kingdom. Why can’t a similar custom exist among the Elves?
What did you think of the kiss between Elrond and Galadriel? Do we inform Sauron? Do we send for Celeborn?
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