Looper Asks: Who Is Your Favorite Character On The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power? - Exclusive Survey
"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" has taken on the gargantuan challenge of telling the multifaceted tale of the Second Age of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. The idea of cramming everything that happens within that era's 3,500-year time span into a single 50-hour, five-season event sounds daunting — and that doesn't even take into account how much original content has been added to supplement the author's sparse writings on the subject. (The Second Age was sketched out by Tolkien, but he never wrote it as a full story, like "The Lord of the Rings.")
Season 1 of the show tackles this storytelling test in a few interesting ways. It deals with the lengthy timeline question by compressing the story into a single life span. Geographically speaking, Season 1 plays out in several different places located across the Middle-earth map. And when it comes to characters? Season 1 rapidly introduces viewers to a smorgasbord of Elves, Men, Halflings, Dwarves, and Orcs. Many of these quickly became fan favorites, like Arondir the Elf warden (Ismael Cruz Cordova) and Prince Durin of Khazad-dûm (Owain Arthur). Some, like Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), garnered a loyal following ... only to dash their hopes and dreams through the reveal in the finale that he was Sauron in disguise all along.
With a show juggling so many characters at once, we thought it would be fun to see which ones resonate the most with viewers. Looper conducted a survey of 600 people around the country and asked them who their favorite character on "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" is so far, and the answer is someone who plays about as central a role in the story as you can get with so many different faces trying to soak up screen time.
Galadriel is the most popular Rings of Power character so far
When asked who their favorite character is, members of the Looper audience gravitated toward one powerful Elf-maiden more than anyone else: Galadriel (Welsh actor Morfydd Clark). It's hard to definitively say that any one character is the primary protagonist for a show this huge. Nevertheless, the future Lady of Lorien is one of the most important central characters of the show. While Cate Blanchett showed us a stoic, older version of Galadriel in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Clark brings a younger, more headstrong version of the Tolkienian fan favorite to the screen.
From the moment we first meet her, the "Rings of Power" version of the character is hell-bent on finishing her brother's task of finding and defeating Sauron. She spends ample time in the season covered in armor and wielding swords and daggers as she follows the signs and ferociously hunts down her foe. This translates to a version of Galadriel that is very different from what fans of Peter Jackson's trilogy are used to, and it appears to have resonated strongly with viewers. Just shy of a quarter of respondents (24.67%) chose Clark's Galadriel as their favorite Second Age character. While she may be the official front-runner, though, there were a couple of other options in the survey that came in hot on Galadriel's heels.
Poppy Proudfellow is also very popular
In second place, we have Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards), who received an impressive level of support from 23.67% of respondents. Poppy is a surprising name to pop up this high on the list. And yet when you break it down, there are quite a few reasons for the orphaned Harfoot to have found such a special spot in the hearts of the fandom.
When first introduced, Poppy is a fun, somewhat silly companion to Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), the lead character in the Harfoot storyline. Over the course of Season 1, Poppy remains a faithful, Samwise Gamgee-esque (Sean Astin) support person for Nori. She provides a voice of reason for her friend, helps her out of multiple predicaments, and steadily shows a positivity that is hard to come by when you've, you know, lost your entire family and have to fend for yourself and stuff.
Perhaps Poppy's most endearing moment, though, comes when she chooses to turn back and suffer with the Brandyfoots at the back of the caravan, regardless of the deadly perils it entails. Her selfless commitment to friends and family, along with her potentially promising future as the leader of the Harfoot community, have clearly established Poppy as one of the most likable characters on the entire show.
A Dwarf and a mutt fill out the top rankings
Coming in third place is the fiery Dwarven princess, Disa (Sophia Nomvete), who walked away with 21.33% of the vote. The character has been made up for the show — partly because Tolkien only briefly names a single Dwarven woman in his writings. The existence of the first female Dwarven character to have a significant role in a Tolkien adaptation is cool all on its own, but Nomvete's fun, intense, and charismatic performance takes things to a new level. It's no surprise that her character has already become so popular.
Galadriel may have taken first place, but she isn't the only Elf on the list — even if she is the only pure-blooded Elf. Elrond (Robert Aramayo), the half-elven herald of High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker), came in fourth place, with 17.00% of the vote. While technically an immortal being, the character has a very complicated ancestry that has prompted Aramayo to call him "the mutt of the legendarium." An Elf, a Man, a Maiar ... call him what you like; the very young iteration of the future leader is as charming as he is good-natured — and that clearly translated to the audience's liking.
After these four, the distant fifth- and sixth-place choices were Captain Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and Nori Brandyfoot, who got 7.33% and 6.00% of the vote, respectively. While there are plenty of characters to choose from, it appears that Galadriel, Poppy, Disa, and Elrond have firmly established themselves as some of the most popular faces to grace Middle-earth in Amazon's adaptation of Tolkien's popular fantasy world. The question that remains: Can they hold their position as the rest of the five-season show plays out? Only time will tell.