If there was one character that was close to my heart in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s first two seasons, it was that of the Orc (Uruk) Father, Adar. Adar knew that every one of his children “has a name, a heart… Are creations of the One, Master of the Secret Fire, the same as you. As worthy of the breath of life, and just as worthy of a home.” And although his execution lacked a little bit to be desired, Adar’s aim to create a life for his orc children, one where they could thrive and be seen as just as important as any other race, was a truly noble one. Alas, Sauron, the Great Deceiver, turned Adar’s softest parts against him, convincing his children to slay their own father. “They are not children anymore,” Sauron told Adar as he lay dying. But is that so? Are the orcs now definitively orcs, or are they Uruk? For me, it has been a central question of The Rings of Power. And now, a new “orc with an arc” has come to the forefront of the narrative, ready to test the question of nature vs. nurture one more time. At SDCC, I spoke with The Rings of Power‘s showrunners and cast about Marnûkh, the latest and greatest hope for Uruk Nation. Here’s what I learned about his new orc with an arc.
At The Rings of Power season three’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, it was revealed that Marnûkh, played by Adam Young, “claims that he has turned his back against Sauron and he wants to now help the elves defeat the Dark Lord. But can you trust an orc?” That is THE quandary. And it’s not an easy one to come to a conclusion on, share The Rings of Power showrunners, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, when I ask after Marnûkh in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season three.
And it turns out Marnûkh, himself, doesn’t make it any easier. Payne revealed more about the orc with and arc in The Rings of Power, “Marnûkh and [actor]Adam Young bring such a wonderful quality to this orc character, where part of you thinks, ‘Oh, he’s sort of sweet and funny, and there’s something sensitive to him.’ And even dare I say, poetic and soulful about him. But then, also, he’s constantly sort of undercutting things, and there’s part of him that’s gross and frightening. And so he constantly keeps everyone guessing.” Listen, who among us isn’t sometimes sweet and funny and sometimes gross and frightening? It sounds to us like Marnûkh is just a multi-faceted character trying his best to be more than what fate has decided for him on The Rings of Power season three.
But what will Marnûkh’s relationships with the other characters in his orc-arc, Galadriel and Arondir, look like this season on The Rings of Power. Payne notes of Galadriel meeting Marnûkh, “It puts Galadriel in a really interesting place, because as we’ve seen in previous seasons, she despises the orcs and she’s fought against them for years and years and years because they’ve taken everything from her that she loves. But now in this season, she’s in a position where she has to decide if she can trust an orc or not.”
Of course, Galadriel went on something of a journey with Adar in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two. And though she doesn’t ever quite apologize for slaying many of his children on her quest for vengeance, she does appear to come around to the idea that orcs/Uruk may have a purpose for existing beyond just evil, and potentially a heart worth saving, by the end of The Rings of Power season two. But does she remember those times with Adar after so many years of war against Sauron and the Orcs?
McKay laughs when I ask that very question, “Well, I think Marnûkh is hoping she does.” When I follow up wondering if Marnûkh remembers Adar, I don’t receive a clear answer. So we’ll have to wait and see.
Of course, Galadriel isn’t the only elf that Marnûkh will have to win over in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season three. The trio becomes complete with Arondir. At the SDCC panel, Arondir’s actor, Ismael Cruz Córdova, shared about Arondir and Marnûkh, “We have this relationship, this odd couple relationship, we don’t trust each other, we don’t like each other. He stinks.” But despite everything, Cruz Córdova shares with me that Arondir wants to trust the orcs.
Cruz Córdova reveals, “I think Arondir has been surrounded by darkness from minute 1, second 27, of the first episode of The Rings of Power. And he hasn’t been able to really have a lot of redemption from that. And I think that experience of leaning into that darkness and being curious about that darkness is at the core of who he is. That deep curiosity of ‘What’s at the other side, what is my purpose? Who are the ones that I can trust?’ But also, I think he wrestles with not liking orcs because I think he sees them… I think he sees them as one of his own. I think he sees orcs as victims. I think his vendetta with Adar was because I respected him in a certain way. And then he still turned around and killed the love of my life. So I think it’s a very emotional knee-jerk reaction and it’s understandable, but I don’t think he’s completely has given himself to that darkness.”
We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again: Arondir is the most elfy elf of all. And his ability to see beyond the hard lines drawn in the sand to the common origin of orcs and elves, and the way the orcs could not help but become what they were, is truly so beautiful. For Arondir and Marnûkh, this understanding could be a key to both their healing, if they can find a way to fully trust one another. Cruz Córdova concludes, “There’s a softness and openness and different colors that we placed in this story this time around.”
More About Marnûkh (Updated 11/12/26)
Since San Diego Comic-Con, we’ve had the pleasure of hearing more about Marnûkh from the showrunners and cast. Of course, the first episodes have now aired, allowing us all to meet Marnûkh and see his odd-couple x2 relationships with Arondir and Galadriel.
Payne and McKay recently told us the relationship between Arondir and Marnûkh really touched them. They share, “Arondir develops a friendship with an orc, Marnûkh, which is the most unexpected and unlikely of journeys for him to go on. I mean, I think of all our principal elves, he’s perhaps the most mistrustful of orcs. Orcs killed the woman he loved in his mind. So we find it quite touching and even at times, funny, the way that he goes from enemies to frenemies with Marnûkh the orc. And we sort of jokingly would call it orc-elf bromance by the time you’re deep into the season.” We would certainly call it a beautiful friendship by the time of The Rings of Power episode four, one we’d have loved to see bloom. But alas, Arondir met his death, and Marnûkh’s fate remains unknown.
Speaking also of Galadriel and Marnûkh, the showrunners call up one of my favorite characters, Adar, and the relationship he shared with Galadriel. They note, “There’s something ironic in the trio with Galadriel because there was a time when Galadriel said to Adar, “I’m going to kill every last one of your children. I’m going to kill all of the orcs.” And now she’s in a position of having to actually be more Marnûkh sympathetic. Galadriel developed some kind of trust with Adar in the prior season, so she is slightly more willing to trust Marnûkh and finds herself in the very strange position of having to hold Arondir at bay at certain times and keep the relationship with Marnûkh just positive enough that they can find out if he’s really telling the truth.” We think Adar would have been proud to see Galadriel using Uruk more times than orc… At the very least, in Marnûkh’s presence.
Meanwhile, Ismael Cruz Córdova, who plays Arondir, says it’s Arondir’s compassion and curiosity that ultimately allow him to forgive Marnûkh and forge a kind of friendship and a path forward. “He has compassion, and he has curiosity that I think one comes before the other,” Cruz Córdova shares. “I think curiosity can lead you to compassion. Curiosity can lead you to many, many positive places, really. And that’s what he had with Adar. And I think he has that with humans, and I think he brings that always to himself, distills that into a being. Who is this person? Who is this being? Who is a father, a mother, a brother, a sister? But as you say, there are so many times that he’s done this by this point that have ended up in loss and in pain. And he’s lost his best friend; he lost his commander that was like his dad. He loses all of his soldiers; he loses the love of his life. Where is Theo? So this goodness has gotten tried and tested. So I would expect that there’s perhaps a wall that had to be built up for this, and definitely Marnûkh triggers him quite a bit. But he has that desire for compassion.”
As for Marnûkh himself. Although his fate remains unknown in The Rings of Power, we know his heart. Showrunners Payne and McKay reveal that Adar’s dream of a free Uruk nation “did not die with him.” And it’s Marnûkh who has picked up the mantle.
“Not all the orcs and Uruk are happy to be under the control of their new master Sauron.” The pair share, “In fact, some of them see Sauron as an existential threat to the entire Uruk race and still have Adar’s dreams for a free orc nation really deep in their hearts. And so one of those characters in particular, Marnûkh, is going to be one that we are going to be following over the course of the season. We talked about an orc with an arc last season. I think we’re going to go even deeper with that, where an orc proves to be truly three-dimensional and who part of you doesn’t trust because they’re an orc, and you have an inherent distrust in them, but part of you can laugh with and smile at and really kind of fall in love with.”
And fall in love with him, we have. Whatever happens to Marnûkh, we know this is one The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season three storyline that we’ll be seated for.
The Rings of Power season three premieres on Prime Video on November 11. The full release schedule can be found here.
Originally published on July 30, 2026.
