The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 had a grand premiere when it released with episodes 1, 2 and 3 on 29 August 2024. A lot happens in these three episodes as the Men, Elves and Dwarves of Middle-earth deal with the reality that Dark Lord Sauron is alive and once again ready to spread darkness upon the land. Here are some of my thoughts after watching The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, from episode 1 to episode 3.
While The Rings of Power season 1 was a setup for the impending conflict, things get way more intense very quickly in season 2. The big reveal of the season was that Halbrand (played by Charlie Vickers) was Sauron in disguise all along. And now, he is free to wreak havoc and achieve the dream of his master, the first Dark Lord Morgoth, to bend all of Middle-earth to his will.
Reflections on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 episodes 1–3
1. Does Sauron even have a true form?
The opening scene of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 episode 1 is a flashback set at the dawn of the Second Age. It shows how Sauron was betrayed by Uruk leader Adar (played by Sam Hazeldine). However, the role of the Dark Lord is not played by Vickers but by Jack Lowden. It is only after he is “killed” and is reborn that we see him rising as Vickers (he consumes a rat and a woman, ugh).
So what does Sauron really look like? In reality, Sauron is not a being of flesh and blood, not wholly anyway. He is a spirit, one of the Maiar, who sometimes takes physical forms. In Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies, which featured a huge ensemble cast led by Sir Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen, he appears as a disembodied flaming eye.
2. Sauron the Deceiver
Those of us who have read J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth writings besides LotR know Sauron deceived the Elves, using a disguise of a fair form called Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, and we are going to see that in action this season. But the way the character is brought to life by Vickers and the writers is nothing short of amazing. We see how easy it would be to fall prey to that charm and godlike visage. He is strong and charismatic and appears to know more about crafting beautiful, powerful objects than even Celebrimbor, precisely why the smith is so in awe of him.
3. What became of the three Elven rings?
Before Halbrand was revealed to be Sauron, he was successful in sharing his techniques with Elven Smith Celebrimbor. While Galadriel (played by Morfydd Clark) learnt his secret, she urged Celebrimbor to forge not two rings as originally planned but three. The rings — Narya, Nenya and Vilya — were the first to be forged and still exist by the time The Lord of the Rings begins and we meet Frodo, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the rest.
So who has them now? Gandalf has Narya, but its original owner was Círdan. Galadriel still has Nenya and protects her realm Lothlórien using it. Vilya was originally worn by Gil-galad, but Elrond, now the Lord of Rivendell, inherited it.
4. The Dark Wizard
Irish actor Ciarán Hinds, best known for portraying Roman General Julius Caesar in HBO’s TV series Rome (2005–2007) plays the role of a certain Dark Wizard in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2. He is definitely one of the Istari, who were five Maiar sent to Middle-earth to unite the Free Peoples against Sauron. They, of course, are incarnated as Wizards, and Gandalf is one of them. Hinds’ Dark Wizard appears to be one of the Blue Wizards who went to the east of Middle-earth and did not play any part in War of the Ring (unlike Saruman and Gandalf). It will be interesting to see what the show does with the character.
5. The Balrog, a fiery demon in the depths of Khazad-dûm
In the finale of season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, we see a glimpse of the Balrog, who the dwarves accidentally unearth while digging. In the show, he emerges because of the mining of mithril, which is, to make the Marvel nerds among you understand, basically Middle-earth’s equivalent of adamantium or vibranium.
Who is this Balrog? Interestingly, this is the same fiery demon Gandalf fights in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and both fall to their deaths. Called Durin’s Bane (because of the obvious reason), he is the reason dwarves had to abandon Khazad-dûm, after which it was renamed Moria (or the Black Pit). The demon is well-realised in the show.
6. The Stranger (not really)
By now, it must be clear that the so-called Stranger (played by Daniel Weyman) who fell like a meteor and later befriended Harfoot (proto-hobbits) Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavanagh) is Gandalf. We meet the Stranger in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 episode 1 itself. There were signs in season 1 when it seemed he may be Sauron as he looked powerful, but that was before Halbrand turned out to be the Dark Lord. He has to be Gandalf, as he is close to hobbits, he is kind and caring, is inherently good, and appears to echo things that Gandalf says in LotR “(When in doubt, always follow your nose”). Of course, Gandalf did not make an appearance until the Third Age, but then The Rings of Power has not always been faithful to the lore. Since Warner Bros is rebooting the LotR movie franchise, we should see Gandalf helping Frodo and others again on the big screen in the near future.
7. Celebrimbor’s dilemma
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 is setting up Celebrimbor as a tragic hero, which is a nice choice. He was indeed a tragic character who was blinded by ambition and could not see what was in front of him all the time. He was tricked by Sauron’s Annatar form because deep down he wanted to. Using the Dark Lord’s skills, he aimed to leave behind masterworks that would make him even greater than Aulë, smith of the Valar. His pride was his downfall, though he did not ever succumb to evil.
8. Do dwarves grow their food underground?
I have always wondered about this. The Dwarves lived in the mountains and huge cave systems, and their communities were certainly exceedingly wealthy due to the gold and silver at their disposal. But what did they eat? To gather meat, vegetables and grains, they must farm. We know they traded with Men and Elves, it is reasonable to assume they must have had some methods of sourcing food. The Rings of Power provides an answer: they had shafts leading to the surface that allowed sunlight to reach their gardens and fields. The eruption of Mount Doom, however, has created problems for them.
9. What’s Pharazôn’s deal?
Pharazôn (played by Trystan Gravelle), earlier merely an advisor, is now the new king of Númenór, the great kingdom of Men. He deposed queen regent Míriel (played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson) and with this step, the destruction of Númenór has all but begun.
It was Pharazôn himself who, in his blindness, waged war upon not Middle-earth but Aman, which was populated by godlike Valar. The Valar could not take on the Men themselves; so they called upon Eru Ilúvatar, the chief deity of this universe. Ilúvatar destroyed not only Pharazôn’s armada but also the entirety of Númenór and it sank beneath the ocean. Also, Arda (or the world) was transformed into a globe (like our Earth).
10. Isildur is alive!
Well, yes, of course, he is! Isildur (played by Maxim Baldry) would go on to play a huge role in the upcoming war against Sauron. We know, thanks to LotR, that it is he who cut the ring off Sauron’s hand, destroying his mortal form. It is because of Isildur that Sauron in LotR is this disembodied eye and does not have a corporeal body. For now, though, Isildur is stranded on Middle-earth, while the other Númenóreans leave for their home.
Watch The Rings of Power season 2 on Amazon Prime Video here.
(Hero image: Courtesy of IMDb; Featured image: Courtesy of Prime Video – © Amazon MGM Studios)
The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
