While there may not be an app to download to learn the languages crafted by J.R.R. Tolkien, there is a dialect coach who helped The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power actors learn the elvish languages of Sindarin and Quenya, Khuzdul, the language of the dwarves and Black Speech, the language of Mordor.Total Film reported actor Charles Edwards, who plays the greatest of Elven smiths, Celebrimbor in The Rings of Power, had the help of dialect coach Leith McPherson, a Tolkien language coach who has worked with actors on the Hobbit trilogy.

“She’s extremely well-versed in it, but we knew what I was going to be saying, which was in the Ring poem – essentially – in Black Speech and I had to learn it by rote,” Edwards said, referring to a scene in which Celebrimbor, lifted on a tree, spoke the words engraved on The One Ring.

The actor said he learned his lines with the help of an audio recording from McPherson. “I just said the words and she did an audio bit for me on how it should sound, and you just learn it by parrot fashion in the kitchen, (walking) up and down until you got it,” he said. He added the first scene he shot for Season 2 was the Black Speech scene while he was up on a harness.

Edwards Learn to Craft Rings

Edwards said he took things one step further to delve into the character of Celebrimbor, who, like his grandfather Fëanor, was a master of his craft, by taking ring-making classes to better understand the role.

“It informed me tremendously. Because when I got this role, I had never heard of Celebrimbor. I was a big Lord of the Rings fan when I was a kid, and obsessed with it. But I hadn’t registered who Celebrimbor was,” Edwards said, adding when he researched the character, the first thing he saw was fan art of “these huge muscle guys with hammers.”

I was a big Lord of the Rings fan when I was a kid, and obsessed with it. But I hadn’t registered who Celebrimbor was.

“But then, when I read the translation of his name – Hand of Silver. People often say Fist of Silver, which implies a different kind of thing. Hand of Silver is much more my take,” Edwards said. “I saw him much more bookish, much more cerebral and surgical in the application of his work,” he said.

Celebrimbor is A Major Part of Season 2

This season, Celebrimbor is much more at the forefront of The Rings of Power than the character was last year, and has become one of the more compelling characters on the show. The Lord of Eregion, this season, is t he perfect target for Sauron/Annatar (Charlie Vickers), who manipulates and uses him to forge rings that will end the corruption of those who wear them.

In Episode 7 of the series, Celebrimbor finds himself mentally trapped under Annatar’s manipulative ways while a war rages outside. His struggles in his own mind when he realizes he is being duped by Sauron posing as an Elven gift-bearer, adds to the emotional aspect of the episode. The Elven smith proves he would do anything for Eregion and for his people.

The Season 2 finale of The Rings of Power airs Oct. 3 on Prime Video.