Rings of Power’s Ismael Cruz Córdova “I lost a very dear person to me during the shoot”

Being an actor, an artist, means to surrender oneself to another world. For Puerto Rican actor Ismael Cruz Córdova, that world is the ancient forests, impossible beauty and imagination of Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Having grown up in the mountainous region of Aguas Buenas, I’m pretty certain that he wouldn’t have dreamt that one day he would be stepping onto the rugged slopes of The Southlands as Silvan Elf, Arondir, in Amazon Prime’s epic series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Ismael discovered his calling as a teenager, finding his creative voice through his high school drama club. After making his screen debut in the Puerto Rican film Stray Bullet at 15, he set his sights on New York, eventually graduating from NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. The road to recognition was hardly a fairy tale. He navigated financial hardship and years of uncertainty, building his résumé through television appearances before gaining wider attention as Mando on Sesame Street, followed by roles in The Good Wife, Ray Donovan and The Undoing. Then came Arondir. 

As the series moves into its third season (to be released on the 11th of November this year), Córdova returns to Middle-earth with Arondir’s story still unfolding—a character forged by loyalty, love and resilience.

In the past two seasons of Rings of Power, Arondir has been through a lot of loss and darkness. Do you think that in the next season, he will be changed and reveal who he really is? 

I don’t think a single person can be so close to death and not be transformed. Such a significant thing that can end a life fundamentally transforms him. I definitely think he is a changed man with so much loss over and over again. The love of his life, his home, his best friend have all been taken. There’s so much of his story behind him now, and I think with that, all of those losses have redirected his path to this point. Where he’s being recognized for the great warrior that he is, the great person that he was. Galadriel speaks to him and considers him a friend. Dude, a lowly elf, having Lady Galadriel refer to you as ‘my friend.’ I mean, to him, it’d be like meeting Beyoncé, you know? 

The audience will see a beautiful deepening into Arondir as he understands his confidence and purpose. He’s with the High Elves, and they’re asking him for his expertise. But also you see some softness with the still moments of pain and sorrow and brokenness. I think all of that together, you can expect more layers, but also our same old ‘existential, poetic, stoic baddie.’

In this season Arondir is paired with Galadriel and Marnûkh, an orc foot-soldier. What was interesting about seeing Arondir try to understand the orc rather than fight them?

I think Arondir is an extremely curious person. That curiosity leads to compassion, not the other way around. Compassion doesn’t lead to curiosity. I think curiosity leads to compassion, because the more you wanna learn about someone the more compassion you have. The curiosity has to be non-judgmental. 

I think that’s where you can see the real Arondir struggling with the mistrust, struggling with the grief, struggling with the fact that an orc and an orc leader killed the love of his life. I think he’s always still so curious about these beings. It familiarizes him with them as an underdog, you know? 

Adam Young, who plays Marnûkh, is such an incredible actor. There’s something devastating and tragic in his eyes, but also slightly endearing. It was so, so wonderful to play alongside and against that energy. 

Season three of Rings of Power is going to be darker with Sauron’s power growing. What do you think you learnt as an actor when you played Arondir as hope, for him, became harder to obtain? 

He’s had such a variety of struggles that have shown a different side of what his world is. I lost a very dear person to me during the shoot. When you reach that moment in your life, and difficult times befall on those around you, I think you spring to action. I think he’s great in these circumstances. It doesn’t mean that you’re not hurting, it doesn’t mean that you’re not in excruciating pain, but there’s something that you’re learning. 

There’s a capacity that you have to overcome. It puts you in that kind of position. You can be a leader while hurting. I think he steps into that role very well because of the darkness that he knows even better

Arondir is an original character for the series. Fans don’t know from Tolkien’s source material how his story will ultimately end. Does that make the journey of acting him more exciting for you? Or does it sort of make it nerve-wracking? 

There’s a weight of responsibility, but for other reasons. What I’ve been able to embody, what it’s meant for the fantasy fans. It’s allowed me to break outside the lines. I also had the responsibility to my character to play him moment to moment. That’s ultimately what I had to do as an actor. I loved being responsible to be as present as I can be with the stories that unfolded, however long or short, big or little. I find it completely freeing. I love that I’ll never really know where he’s going. Every day on set I cannot overstate how grateful I am and that I get to play this role and get to put on these f**king amazing costumes with these ears and my sword and my quiver and my arrows. I love it.