On Rings, Power & Touchstones to the Real

or, my interview with Daniel Weyman

Photo by Uliya Kurilova on Unsplash

I got to do a cool thing a week or so ago. I got to interview two of the cast members from The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power—which returned with its second season this past week on Amazon Prime.

For four remarkably fast minutes, I was dropped into a Zoom room to chat with Daniel Weyman who plays “The Stranger” (aka definitely a wizard) and Markella Kavenagh who plays Nori Brandyfoot (aka basically a hobbit). It was awesome. (Thanks,

Shannon K. Evans

.)

You can read my reflections on that conversation and my review of the start of the second season over at NCR now. Click here!

The thing about interviews, though, is that there are inevitably nuggets of wisdom and quotes of delightful insight that get lost a few drafts into the writing or that just don’t get the attention they deserve in the final draft. There’s just not enough room; the article goes in a different direction; so on and so forth.

But here’s the thing: I’ve got this here Substack with which to hold up and dust off some of those neglected insights—and I think you’re going to like them, no matter how big (or small) a fan of The Lord of the Rings you happen to be.

So, let me drop you into our conversation. I was asking Daniel Weyman (again, The Stranger, this wizard-ish character who was discovered by our proto-hobbits aka Harfoots in season one and has essentially lived his entire Middle Earth-ly life in their company) about how a character of such power perceives another character of such seeming insignificance (i.e. wizard v hobbit).

Weyman gently pushed back on the framing of the question. “The Harfoots,” he said, “they are actually his [The Stranger’s] touchstone as to what is real.”

I like the phrasing a lot: a touchstone as to what is real.

That followed up on something he’d said earlier, about how The Stranger will have to assume a more significant role this season and have to make decisions that are hugely consequential to the future of all of Middle Earth. For a character that has only seen a handful of living creatures and who has only traveled a wee bit of Middle Earth and who, really, hasn’t been around much of anything for very long, that’s a huge, dizzying step up the social ladder.

Can he make decisions at a higher, more conceptual level? Or, will he remain tied to the more intimate, immediate reality in which he’s so far existed? How will he strike that balance? That, Weyman suggested, will be part of The Stranger’s journey.

“That’s very difficult for him because I think the things that he’s learned make him feel like this is the most important thing,” Weyman said of The Stranger’s relationship with the Harfoots. “This feels the most real.”

I’m really struck by that insight. On some level, it’s obvious: The decisions we make about our own lives are weighed against our most important relationships. And it’s good and right that any of these higher level, cosmic decisions we make be grounded in the lives of real people—real people we love.

But I think it’s one thing to know this to be true and another to really practice it. And so, what are the relationships in your life through which your most important decisions are made?

Put another way, what is your touchstone to the real? How does that relationship anchor you to what is solid and firm even amidst the many storms of life, your own necessary discernment within the wind and rain and weather?

Even wizards need a touchstone. Even wizards need to be reminded what their decisions—who their decisions—are for.

And if you want more of my thoughts on The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, check out my full review over at NCR.

And another thing:

This past week marked the 6-month anniversary of the publication of “My Life with the Jedi: The Spirituality of Star Wars!” If you’ve already read the book—thank you! (It would be super cool if you left a review on Amazon, Goodreads or literally anywhere.) And if you haven’t, well guess what’s in stock at your local bookstore…