‘There are some cool parallels’: The battle between Isildur and Shelob in season 2 of The Rings of Power is based on the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Rings of Power‘s Maxim Baldry has revealed how Isildur’s confrontation with Shelob in season 2 was inspired by The Return of the Kingfilm adaptation of ‘s.
Previously interviewed by TechRadar The Rings of Power Season 2 debuted on Prime Video, Baldry admitted that he watched Samwise Gangee’s duel with the monstrous spider before Isildur came into contact with it.
In The Return of the Kingthe last chapter in The Lord of the Ring book and film trilogy, Sam takes on Shelob to save an incapacitated Frodo from being eaten by Ungoliant’s most famous offspring. It’s a brilliant sequence that speaks not only to Sam’s loyalty to Frodo, but also to his bravery in the face of a terrifying foe. Long story short, he succeeds in his fight with Shelob; the giant spider flees after Sam inflicts three serious wounds on him.
One such wound—a stabbing thrust from Frodo’s sword Sting, which Sam wields during the fight, into one of Shelob’s eyes—is one such moment that influenced Isildur’s skirmish with the giant spider. As Baldry explained, Isildur inflicts a similar wound on a much younger and smaller Shelob in their encounter with her in the second season of the Amazon TV series; one that is actually visible during Sam’s fight with Shelob centuries later.
“I remember reading the script for episode three,” Baldry told me, “and it was like, ‘Isildur wakes up and discovers that… he’s in a spider hole… and that’s Shelob’s house.’ So of course I immediately watched the fight with Sam [to seek inspiration]and there are some cool parallels between that sequence and our show. I end up stabbing her in one of her eyes, which Sam does, but the eye that she’s blind in now is the same eye that she can’t see out of in the movie. I thought that was a nice parallel between our adaptation and [The Lord of the Rings director] Peter Jackson’s adaptation.”
Who’s ready for exclusive interviews from the season 2 premiere of #TheRingsofPower ? You? Awesome, here’s clip number one, where @maximbaldry tells me which of the title rings he’d like to have in real life (spoiler – his answer won’t surprise you!) pic.twitter.com/iXRntX5WBhAugust 23, 2024
That’s not the only aspect of Sam and Shelob’s fight that this scene highlights The Rings of Power Season 2. In both cases, Sam and Isildur also fend off an attack from Shelob’s fangs and jaws, the duo holding the large spider’s jaws at bay with their bare hands. Oh, and let’s not forget Shelob’s classic attack move, which she performs on Sam and Isildur in their respective duels.
His one-on-one battle with Shelob is the first of many tests that await Isildur in one of Prime Video’s best sophomore shows. Of course, The Lord of the Ring Fans – diehards and casual observers alike – know how Isildur’s story ends, but the journey he takes to get there isn’t really explored in JRR Tolkien’s legendary literary works. The gaps in his page-based history allowed Baldry and the show’s writing room to focus on where they wanted his coming-of-age arc to go in Season 2.
“We had to reverse-engineer Isildur in a way,” Baldry said. “We know where he ends up, but how does he get there? In season one, he’s desperate to leave Númenor. In season two, he’s a fish out of water. He has to learn how to survive and who he can trust, and he has to accept that he’s been abandoned by his family and his home. That’s a lot for someone to take in, and as a result of that, he has to evolve as a person, which he does exponentially. He sheds this youthful exterior and becomes a man who is more in line with the mercenary and warrior that we know from the books.”
Want to know more about Isildur’s journey this season? There are a few clues in my spoiler-light review of The Rings of Power season 2, which you’ll want to read before streaming the first three episodes. New episodes will air weekly, by the way, until the season finale on October 3.
