At the end of Season 1, Halbrand turned out to be Sauron.
There is govannen! Before you get into this article, first a spoiler warning: We’re talking about events from the first three episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2, as well as details from Tolkien’s books, so please only read on if that’s okay with you.
The new episodes continue the story of Sauron and reveal other forms of him in the process – of course, those familiar with Tolkien’s works have long known that he likes to take on new forms. Now the series explains how he came to look like Halbrand.
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The true form of Sauron
As a reminder: Sauron is a so-called Maia, an ancient and powerful spirit being (similar to Gandalf and the other wizards). He joined the dark Morgoth, who in turn once belonged to the Valar – to put it simply, you could call them “angels” who mediate between the creator Eru Ilúvatar and creation.
Sauron survived his master, who was banished from creation by the other Valar. Now he is once again causing unrest in Middle Earth and is coming up with all sorts of tricks to gain more power. For example, he disguised himself as the rightful king of the Southlands and even deceived Galadriel. This story does not come from Tolkien, but from the Rings of Power series.
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This now shows the backstory of Sauron’s half-rim form in season 2. Sauron once wanted to become the leader of the Orcs, but was stabbed by their self-proclaimed father Adar. Sauron’s spirit survived as a black mass that absorbed animals and finally caught a human – from which the new figure Halbrand emerged.
As the series makers told Variety explained that they wanted to use the flashbacks not only to shed light on Sauron’s backstory, but also to show that he was not always completely evil.
What the showrunners really want to show is that everyone is a real character. The evil characters aren’t just dark, they have a lot of nuance to them.
Charlotte Brändström, Director
The second season of Rings of Power is currently being broadcast on Amazon Prime. Episodes 1 to 3 were released together on August 29th, the remaining episodes are now being released weekly on Thursdays, and the season finale will air on October 3rd, 2024. Season 3 is said to already be in the works.
