LOTR: Rings Of Power Season 2 Casts Shadow And Bone Actor As Narvi

Contains potential spoilers for "The Rings of Power" Season 2

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" didn't start out with many recognizable faces. Some of the show's current actors hardly had IMDb pages when they joined for Season 1. Season 2 has had a few slightly splashier casting additions, including Ciarán Hinds ("Silence," "Harry Potter," "Game of Thrones") and Tanya Moodie ("Motherland," "The Rise of Skywalker"). In December of 2022, Kevin Eldon ("Hot Fuzz," "Shadow and Bone") was also included in a list of actors reportedly playing recurring roles in Season 2. However, it wasn't clear what role the British actor would play in J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay's Middle-earth adaptation — until now.

According to the fan site Fellowship of Fans, Eldon will be portraying one of the most famous (at least for diehard fans) Dwarves in all of Middle-earth history: Narvi. An exclusive new inside scoop on the fan site's Twitter page claims, "NARVI the dwarf and friend of Celebrimbor will be played by Kevin Eldon in 'THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER' Season 2."

This won't be Eldon's first foray into the fantasy genre. He currently plays the Apparat in Netflix's "Shadow and Bone" and also made multiple brief guest appearances in "Game of Thrones," including as the actor Camello in Braavos in Season 6 and as a Gold Cloak in Season 7. We likely won't know how big Eldon's role in "The Rings of Power" will be for a while still, but based on the importance of his character, it will likely be substantial.

Who is Narvi in Tolkien's writings?

Narvi is a Dwarf who lives in the subterranean kingdom of Khazad-dûm in its heyday. This is the massive underground dwelling of Moria that the Fellowship of the Ring passes through on their way to Mount Doom. However, by the time Frodo and company arrive on the premises, the area is infested with Orcs — and a latent Balrog, to boot — with nary a Dwarf in sight. That's why it's called Moria, which means "the Black Pit."

The events of "The Lord of the Rings" happen in the Third Age. In contrast, "The Rings of Power" takes place thousands of years earlier, in the Second Age. At that point, Moria is called Khazad-dûm, and it is a bright and vibrant city that sprawls for miles underneath the eastern and western sides of the Misty Mountains. We've already seen significant portions of that very-much-alive underground urban center in Season 1 of the show, although the only real characters we meet within it are King Durin III (Peter Mullan), Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur), and Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete).

Narvi is another member of that Dwarven community, and while he isn't described as royalty like the others, he's famous all the same. The index of the book "Unfinished Tales" describes Narvi as a "Dwarf of Khazad-dûm, maker of the West-gate, close friend of Celebrimbor of Eregion."

Narvi is likely to play an important role in Season 2 of The Rings of Power

The brief summary of Narvi provided in "Unfinished Tales" gives us everything we need to understand this enormously important Dwarf. The West-gate that is mentioned in his description is the glowing blue door that the Fellowship of the Ring uses to enter Moria during "The Lord of the Rings." Narvi collaborates with his bestie, the Elf artisan Celebrimbor, to make that door during an era of profound peace thousands of years before the Ring-bearer arrives on the premises.

The constructive collaboration isn't just a nifty side hustle for the two craftsmen. It's also a rare and powerful moment when an Elf and a Dwarf lay down their differences and petty quarrels and bond over a mutual interest. Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) was already introduced in Season 1 of "The Rings of Power." If Kevin Eldon really does play Narvi in Season 2, chances are we're going to see some fun bro bonding on the screen before long, the likes of which we haven't seen since Legolas and Gimli teamed up in the "Lord of the Rings" films 20 years ago.