Elrond has a long, exciting story ahead of him in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, but the series has him off to a pretty weird start. Lord of the Rings fans know Elrond as the Lord of Rivendell and father of Arwen, and it seems that season 2 of the Prime Video series will see the Elf take his first steps toward this role. Of course, a few other things must happen first. The Siege of Eregion will ultimately lead to Rivendell’s establishment, and before Arwen can be born, Elrond must get married. Unfortunately, this is the bit Rings of Power has made a little odd.

The Rings of Power season 1 took Elrond outside of canon a bit. In this version of the story, he is revealed to have a close relationship with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm, most notably Prince Durin IV. In this condensed version of the timeline, Elrond is nowhere near leading the Elven settlement of Rivendell. Instead, he is a young politician under the tutelage of High King Gil-galad and, as far as can be seen, has yet to meet his canon wife, Celebrían. Instead, Elrond seems to have some chemistry with his future mother-in-law, Galadriel.

Rings Of Power Season 1 Created A Weird Spark Between Elrond & Galadriel

Elrond & Galadriel Gave Some The Wrong Idea In Season 1

Elrond’s future wife, Celebrían, is the daughter of Galadriel, but she seems not to have been born yet in The Rings of Power. Instead, the Prime Video series’ first season created a fair bit of chemistry between Elrond and Galadriel, which is weird considering their future relationship with one another as in-laws. Their reunion in the early episodes was full of words of fondness and even a caress of Elrond’s cheek, which made several viewers run to the internet to discuss whatever might be going on between them.

Of course, such affection isn’t unusual in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Plutonic friends of Middle-earth often show their love for one another through words of affirmation and physical touch. The problem is that Rings of Power has neglected to demonstrate this through any other characters aside from Elrond and Galadriel. Without this established standard, Galadriel and Elrond certainly seem like a pair with history, if not at least two people with unexplored chemistry. This will make Elrond’s eventual romance with Galadriel’s daughter all the stranger.

Elrond Falling In Love With Celebrian Will Already Feel Odd In Rings Of Power

Rings Of Power’s Timeline Changes Has Made Elrond’s Future Complicated

Elrond’s public displays of affection with Galadriel in The Rings of Power season 1 is only the beginning of his romantic weirdness. Elves’ immortal life spans make their relationships with each other a little odd from the perspective of mortal humans, with thousand-year age gaps being the norm. It’s easy enough with characters like Arwen and Aragorn to ignore the difference since they are introduced in The Lord of the Rings while appearing the same age. However, if Celebrían is born in Rings of Power, or else her birth is implied down the line, the uncomfortable truth will be harder to ignore.

This is another way in which Rings of Power condensed timeline and other such changes really complicate things. In canon, Celebrían should have been born already by the events of season 2, but Galadriel has not mentioned her daughter. It may be that she believes Celebrían to be dead, like Celeborn, so the daughter could turn up a full-grown Elf later in the series. While this would make her falling in love with Elrond a little less uncomfortable, there’s still the established chemistry between the future Lord of Rivendell and Galadriel to contend with. In all, it’s just hard to imagine a version of the relationship that doesn’t feel weird.

How Rings Of Power Season 2 Is Setting Up Elrond’s Future Story

The Seige Of Eregion Will Be A Big Step Forward

While The Rings of Power season 1 saw Elrond go through a storyline entirely of Prime Video’s invention, season 2 has already begun to set up the character’s canon story—including his romance with Celebrían. The Seige of Eregion is confirmed to be taking place in this next installment, and this should see Elrond ordered to bring an army to the kingdom’s aid as it is attacked by Sauron’s forces. Unfortunately, he is doomed to get there too late and will instead lead survivors to a safe haven settlement, which will eventually become Rivendell.

Later in the Second Age, Galadriel and her daughter come to Rivendell, and this is when Elrond first catches a glimpse of his future wife. It seems that things won’t go down this way in The Rings of Power, but since Elrond’s daughter Arwen is such an important The Lord of the Rings character, he must someday meet Celebrían. Whether this happens in a future season of The Rings of Power or if it is only implied to occur after the series’ ending remains to be seen. Regardless, Rings of Power‘s changes have made this story far more difficult to maneuver than it needed to be.