The Rings Of Power Season 2 Will Resolve A Sauron-Sized Plot Hole
Warning: This article contains intense nerdery and some reckless speculation for "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" season 2.
"Canon" and "lore" are the buzzwords of the day, apparently, and no popular franchise is safe from accusations of "breaking" the sacred texts that came before. "Star Wars" is currently weathering accusations regarding its fealty to George Lucas' previous films and other extraneous material with the Disney+ prequel series "The Acolyte," which dared to include everyone's favorite lumpy-headed Jedi Ki-Adi-Mundi and singlehandedly set off weeks of debate over when he was actually born. (Spoiler: His birthdate was never officially confirmed outside of the now-defunct Expanded Universe, despite what angry YouTube grifters might be telling you.)
Similar criticisms were lobbed at "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" during its debut season two years ago, mostly as a result of misunderstandings over whether the Middle-earth series is connected to the Peter Jackson "Rings" movies (spoiler: it's not) or incredibly nerdy nitpicking over changes that J.R.R. Tolkien himself would've told fans to chill out about. (Never forget, the biggest change to the lore will always be when Tolkien retconned "The Hobbit" to fit into the continuity of "The Lord of the Rings.") But one particularly troublesome plot detail in "The Rings of Power" season 1 has caused fans a fair amount of confusion, and not entirely without merit. It has to do with the forging of the eponymous Rings of Power and Sauron's role in helping the elves craft them ... which was complicated by the reveal that the man Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), a character made up for the Prime Video series, had been the villainous Dark Lord all along.
A new quote by Vickers, however, may have just cleared up this potential "plot hole" for season 2.
Meet the new Sauron, same as the old Sauron
As Bilbo Baggins once asked, "Where to begin?" Well, let's set the stage by laying out what "The Rings of Power" did that set off all this in the first place. It started when season 1 portrayed the forging of the three elven Rings — which, in Tolkien's original writing, was never done with the involvement of a helpful fellow known as Annatar, the "Lord of Gifts." (This alias was, of course, Sauron's disguise to fool the elves.) Instead, he helped craft 16 "Lesser Rings" that were mainly treated as practice for the greater ones, which were the three Rings created by master craftsman Celebrimbor (played by Charles Edwards in the Prime Video series) and, ultimately, the One Ring that Sauron himself forged in secret within Mount Doom to control all the others. But "The Rings of Power" altered the timeline by depicting the three Rings forged first, partially with Sauron/Halbrand's help, and then allowing Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) to discover Halbrand's true identity.
So, with over a dozen Lesser Rings still to come in the series, here's the "plot hole" in question: Why would anyone trust Sauron to help them create even more Rings? A new comment from actor Charlie Vickers might go a long way towards resolving this bit of uncertainty. While speaking to Empire, he teased that that the Dark Lord taking on the form of Annatar will play a major role throughout this Sauron-centric second season:
"You have Sauron and Celebrimbor working together, making rings [...] In the same way the whole Halbrand thing was for Galadriel, this new look is for Celebrimbor. This is the best way to get him to do what he wants him to do: make a bunch of rings that'll dominate everyone else."
Maybe they shouldn't have put a Ring on it
With season 2 of "The Rings of Power" fast approaching, you'd think the conversation would mostly center on the long-awaited arrival of Rory Kinnear's Tom Bombadil or the further evolution of Galadriel. Instead, we're stuck in the doldrums of timeline nerdery, secret identities, and other tidbits that only fans who obsessively scroll through any number of "The Lord of the Rings" subreddits would even care about in the first place. Good times!
In this case, however, it's worth reflecting on exactly how this fresh insight into season 2 will clear things up. For one thing, Charlie Vickers' comment hints at a detail that has tripped up many a fan; namely, the fact that Vickers has portrayed Halbrand and will now also be portraying Annatar. With both disguises looking exactly like the same person (give or take a pair of pointy elf ears), wouldn't Celebrimbor have to be an absolute dolt to fall for Sauron's tricks not once, but twice? Well, the strong implication here is that Sauron's very Vickers-like appearance is merely for the benefit of us viewers, who now get to enjoy even more of Vickers' deliciously rogue performance, while in-universe characters will seemingly perceive a different individual entirely (perhaps through a magic spell). Secondly, Vickers' quote means that the order of events have been switched and Annatar will assist Celebrimbor with the Lesser Rings. Is it a little silly that the great elf will now have been tricked by the same guy multiple times? Sure, but he's also meant to be an arrogant jerk whose blinding pride leads to the greatest of falls.
Is that satisfactory enough to appease the fans? We'll find out when "The Rings of Power" season 2 debuts August 29, 2024, on Prime Video.