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One of the things that stood out about the original Lord of the Rings trilogy were the battles. From the Battle of Helm's Deep in the Two Towers to the Battle of Minas Tirith in the Return of the King, they were epic - so when the prequel TV series Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power wanted to do their own epic battle scene with the Siege of Eregion, they knew they had a high standard to live up to. Fortunately, they had just the right person to do it: the most memorable stuntman in the world, who also happens to be an accomplished second unit/action unit director, as well.

Working together, the director, cast, and crew filmed a three-episode season finale to Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season 2 that is now available to watch on Amazon's Prime Video - and we talked to them about it all.

"All battles, you feel, have been done before," Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power's second unit director/stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong tells Popverse. "We know [the Siege of Eregion] is very story-orientated, and I'm still going back to Season 1 that I did when we were in New Zealand. So, the thing that excited me about [the Siege of Eregion] was to try and make it look different [from Season 1] and also the fact of how we shot it, and the complications of orcs with incredibly time-consuming makeup."

Armstrong knows battles. He broke into Hollywood at age 14 as a stuntman, and the Guinness Book of World Records has identified him as the most prolific stuntman of all time on things like the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, being one of Harrison Ford's stuntmen in the first three Indiana Jones films. He's also been the second unit (or action unit) director on everything from Marvel Studios' Thor, Mission: Impossible III, Gangs of New York, Starship Troopers, and directed the opening scene in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

"Over the years I've done lots of big battles. But this was big in as much as we had a horse charge, which leads into a hand-to-hand [sequence] in the forest, which leads to going through a muddy river and getting stuck in quicksand, to then battling [on the] ramparts and trying to break into the ramparts and people firing down from above," says Armstrong. "So, it's quite a nice mixture, actually, of all sorts of genre action."

"That’s the exciting part for me, the variance. People often ask me, 'What's the hardest stunt you've ever done?' And I say, 'Being original.' Everything's been done before, so you have to try and give an original take to it. Otherwise, people go, 'Oh yeah, oh yeah.'"

Read the full interview with Armstrong and more about the Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season 2 finale here.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you from a Lord of the Rings reading guide, a Lord of the Rings watch guide, details on the upcoming animated film Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim, a full the Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch, how the OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat, and the true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.