Celebrimbor's New Building Plans On The Rings Of Power Mean Much More Than You Think
Contains spoilers for "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2 – "A Shadow of the Past" and "Adrift"
At the end of the first episode of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," the High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) sends his Herald, Elrond Half-elven (Robert Aramayo), to help Lord Celebrimbor of Eregion (Charles Edwards) with a special task. It's a lot of Tolkienian names, but to put it simply: one Elven leader sends his second in command to help another Elven leader with a really important project.
In the second episode, we get a much better idea of what this special task is. As Elrond and Celebrimbor talk, the latter pulls out plans for a special workshop that he's been, well, workshopping. The plans are, in the Elven lord's own words, a tower "that can host a forge more powerful than any ever built. Able to birth a flame as hot as a dragon's tongue and as pure as starlight."
Celebrimbor goes on to explain his ambition of using such an impressive forge to create things that could transform Middle-earth for the better. He also talks about weirdly short timelines (I need this by next spring?) that are oddly compressed for an immortal Elf.
Strange schedules aside, the plans that the Elf-lord is suggesting likely aren't just made out of whole cloth for the purposes of showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay's on-screen story. Judging from the images, we just might be looking at a structure that comes right out of J. R. R. Tolkien's own writings ... a building that plays an instrumental part in the history of Middle-earth.
Does Rings of Power give us our first look at the House of the Mírdain?
J.R.R. Tolkien doesn't provide a lot of details about the Second Age of Middle-earth history (when "The Rings of Power" story is set). Nevertheless, there are little hints here and there that Amazon Prime's creative team have clearly taken to heart as they've developed their story. A handful of these little notes have to do with Celebrimbor's people and the place where they work.
Celebrimbor's Elves live in an area called Eregion, where they build a capital city called Ost-in-Edhil, which means "Fortress of the Eldar." The people who live in this area are called the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, which means the People of the Jewel-smiths. "The Silmarillion" describes this group as "the fellowship of craftsmen in Eregion, greatest of whom was Celebrimbor son of Currufin."
In the book "Unfinished Tales," we get another little glimpse into how the Gwaith-i-Mírdain ordered their craft-focused society — get this — by constructing a central building where they could work and store their creations. The name of this building is called the House of the Mírdain, and the one mention we get of it in the book says it is "the House of the Mírdain, where were their smithies and their treasuries." We won't go into any more detail here, because the particular area of text that the quote is pulled from is heavy spoiler territory for "The Rings of Power" narrative.
However, there's no doubt that the House of the Mírdain is an important place. It's a treasury with a lot of fantastical Elvish objects. It's also a place with smithies, which lines up with Celebrimbor's desire for a tower with the unique ability to craft powerful objects.
Harnessing dragon-fire and starlight
In "The Rings of Power," Celebrimbor doesn't just express the desire for a new forge — he wants a powerful workshop that can really bring the heat. In his description of that new tower, he uses the words "as hot as a dragon's tongue and as pure as starlight," which is likely a double Easter egg for diehard Tolkien fans who have the eyes to see it.
First, let's tackle the dragon fire part. In "The Fellowship of the Ring" book, Gandalf tells Frodo, "It has been said that dragon-fire could melt and consume the Rings of Power, but there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough ..." Celebrimbor's reference to dragon-fire would fit neatly with a desire to create some really powerful jewelry in his new forge, jewelry that must be heated to extreme temperatures to be both created and destroyed.
Second, there's the starlight bit. The book "Unfinished Tales" talks about a pair of jewels, both of which are called the Elessar or Elfstone. These are powerful and really important. In fact, Aragorn is given one and even receives the nickname Elessar in "The Lord of the Rings" books. These stones are described as jewels that contain clear, imprisoned sunlight — and what is the sun? That's right, it's a star. And guess who makes one of the Elessar? Yup. Celebrimbor.
Between the building of a huge forge and the desire to harness a power equivalent to both dragon-fire and starlight, it seems safe to assume that Celebrimbor is gearing up to build himself the master forge and treasury that will eventually be known as the House of the Mírdain.