‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Director Breaks Down Sauron and Galadriel’s Finale Sword Fight | How She Did It

After being separate for the entire second season, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Sauron’s (Charlie Vickers) showdown in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” had to make waves – which is why their sword fight in the finale excited director Charlotte Brändström.

“It’s actually their first encounter of the season, they hadn’t seen each other since Season 1,” she told TheWrap during a new installment of How She Did It, presented by Prime Video. “I first looked at a lot of sword fights in various films to get inspiration.”

Brändström turned to the blueprints in movies like “The Duelists” and various “Zorro” movies to help find said inspiration for shooting her own fight. Next came the duel’s location, and the show worked backwards to get the perfect fit.

“The set was designed for the sword fight, it didn’t exist before,” she said. “I was talking a lot to the production designer of what I wanted to have happen in the fight and he actually built the set based on that. We wanted the ground to be not too flat, we wanted some wire work, we made sure we placed the dialogue at very specific moments of the action as well.”

Brändström continued: “It’s really for the actors, it’s like a dance choreography. They need to learn all the moves, they need to learn everything and I feel the same. I need to know the sword fight by heart so I know what move they’re doing and where I am in the sword fight.”

The second trick of the battle was in the fighting styles – specifically for Sauron. Halfway through, Sauron, who is ever the master manipulator, starts shifting shapes between Halbrand, Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) and even Galadriel. This meant in-camera tricks and more coordination with the make-up department.

“Galadriel was playing against herself, the real Galadriel is obviously very dirty and worn out and when she becomes Sauron’s incarnation she’s very clean and needs to act in a very different manner so you need to go back and forth in make-up for that,” Brändström said. “All the little tricks and everything when he shifts shapes and becomes a different character, that was all done in camera. There was no CGI, no special effects.”

She continued, stressing the show’s blend of CG and practical effects and sets that bring Middle-earth to life.

“We have a lot of CGI obviously on this show but we really use CGI a lot to enhance things, to enhance the background and sometimes a little bit with magic. But most of the time I love when I can actually make the effects in camera.”

Seasons 1 and 2 of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” are currently streaming on Prime Video.

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