The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is already shaping up to be an exciting series that has gone past the halfway point of its first season. There are still a lot of things that we don’t know lot about the series, but we do know that there were characters that were announced ahead of time-based on what we know about the casting of the series. One such character is Oren. So, who is Oren in The Rings of Power?
Based on the casting, Oren is the name of the villain that Joseph Mawle plays in The Rings of Power. At this point, we already know that Joseph Mawle plays the Elf named Adar, who is the one leading the Orcs. That could mean that Oren is the real name of Adar, which is the word for “father.”
At this point of the series, Adar is such a mysterious character due to the fact that we hardly know anything about him. That means that he could also be the same Oren that we learned from the casting of The Rings of Power. Or maybe Oren was simply the name used before his actual in-series name was revealed. That said, let’s look at what we know about Oren.
Who Is Oren In The Rings Of Power??
We already know that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is based on JRR Tolkien’s writings about the different events that happened in the Second Age of Middle-Earth. There are also other characters that we already know based on Tolkien’s legendarium, and that means that not everything about The Rings of Power is a secret to the viewers.
However, one character that has remained a mystery to those who have been following any updates related to The Rings of Power is Oren, which is a name that popped up quite early when the characters and their actors were announced. Of course, it has been a while since the character named Oren was released, but people have been wondering who he is.
Of course, the reason why no one knows who Oren is can be due to the fact that he isn’t in any of Tolkien’s writings. In that regard, he is an original character that was made exclusively for The Rings of Power, and that’s where the mystery comes in because not even the biggest fans of the books know who he is.
Then again, we have already gone past the halfway point of The Rings of Power’s first season, and the first thing we know is that Oren has not yet been mentioned. But there’s a good chance that Oren has already appeared but has been carrying the name of a different character. And that character could be the mysterious and enigmatic Elf called Adar.
We already know that Adar is not the name of the character called Adar but is merely a title that the Orcs call him. That’s because Adar is seemingly an Orc sympathizer that acts as their father figure while Sauron is still out of the picture. And the word “adar” means “father” in Elvish.
The reason why Oren and Adar could be one and the same is the fact that Adar’s real name is yet to be revealed in the series. And, of course, when Oren was announced, he was supposed to be portrayed by the same actor that had been playing Adar.
Who Could Be Playing Oren In The Rings Of Power?
We know that Oren could be the same Adar character we’ve seen since episode 3. That could mean that he is played by Joseph Mawle. Mawle played his first major role in 2003 in Shakespeare’s play Troilus and Cressida (the role of Troilus) at the Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol, followed by the role of Hamlet at the Southampton Theater Nuffield (English) and participation in the production of the tragedy Antony and Cleopatra at the Royal Exchange Theater Manchester in 2005.
A significant contribution to his career and fame was the 2006 TV movie Soundproof, for which Joseph was nominated for the RTS Breakthrough On Screen Award, and the television movie director, Edmund Coulthard, received the prestigious BAFTA award for best director in 2007. He has appeared in many British television films, including Dunkirk (winner of the Huw Wheldon BAFTA Award for Factual Drama), Persuasion directed by Adrian Shergold, and Channel 4’s gay drama Clapham Junction.
In 2008, he played the role of Jesus in the BBC/HBO Films miniseries The Passion and guest-starred in an episode of the television series Foyle’s War. In 2008, Joseph returned to the theater. At the Almeida Theatre, he appeared in Rupert Gould’s play The Last Days of Judas Iscariot as Judas Iscariot.
In 2009, Mawle starred in the second part of the Red Riding trilogy (titled Nineteen Eighty) about serial murders in the city of Yorkshire, directed by James Marsh and Philip Ridley’s Heartless, as well as in a satirical television film about the mortgage crisis Free Fall, directed by Dominic Savage, where Mawle starred with Dominic Cooper and Aidan Gillen.
In the same year, he had a role in the 4th episode of the television series The Streets by Jimmy McGovern. In 2010, he continued to work with Dominic Savage in the TV movie Jump. He has also starred in the short films Sometimes The Moon Is Velvet, in the final episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, based on Agatha Christie’s novel Murder on the Orient Express, and in the BBC miniseries Five Daughters.
He starred in the film Made in Dagenham with the participation of actress Sally Hawkins. In 2011, he continued to work with the BBC, starring in the television adaptation of David Lawrence’s novel Women in Love and with HBO, where he played the role of Benjen Stark in the television series Game of Thrones.
What Is Oren’s Role In The Rings Of Power?
At this point, we don’t really know if Oren is the same Adar that we have been watching since he was first seen (albeit blurry) in episode 3 of The Rings of Power. All we know is that they could be one and the same and that Oren could be Adar’s real name.
If that’s the case, Oren could serve as the arc villain of season 1 of The Rings of Power while Sauron is still hiding somewhere all over Middle-Earth. He does seem like an Elf that has come to sympathize with the Orcs and is planning to remake the world using the power of a god, as he himself would put it.
Of course, while he does lead the Orcs, it was apparent that he didn’t like the fact that Waldreg thought he was Sauron. That could mean that he is still in opposition to Sauron in the sense that he isn’t exactly trying to take the place of the dark lord but is merely looking to become the father figure of the Orcs.
