Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power’s ending reveals Sauron and The Stranger’s identity.
Looks like The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power has saved all of its big reveals for last. Behind the season finale, however, there are still many loose threads waiting to be fixed in a second season: which we already know are on the way. There’s a lot to delve into, so if you’re dying to discover Sauron’s true identity, how he connects to The Stranger, and whether Galadriel’s mistake set the downfall in motion, we won’t keep you waiting.
In The Rings of Power, many stories were told in isolation, and while Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) find their journey combined with Elronds towards the end, the other stories follow quite separately. So let’s break this explanation down.
Who is The Stranger in The Rings of Power?
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The Stranger has been the talk of the town since he first appeared, confused and desperately in need of Noris’ help, but now his identity has been exposed. He is Sauron! At least that’s what these three mystical beings known as the Dwellers believe. In the penultimate episode, Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and his companions go in search of The Stranger after discovering that the Dwellers were out to harm him. Well, she wasn’t wrong, not entirely.
They are evil, but they do not intend to harm the stranger, mistaking him for Sauron. When they finally catch up with The Stranger, they pledge allegiance to him, telling him that once his powers awaken, he will remember more of who he is. it is. They explain that the constellation he is chasing will lead him to the far eastern lands of Rhûn. They also reveal that he fell from the stars and was destined to have all beings that walk or crawl as his slaves. What fun! he thought, except for, which doesn’t seem to cheer his soul, and when his powers spiral out of control and take over and bind him temporarily.
Who should face them now, besides the Harfoot Brigade? Nori and his companions try to rescue the stranger but mistake him for a shapeshifting resident in disguise. In the ensuing fight, Sadoc Burrows (Lenny Henry) is mortally wounded and Poppy (Megan Richards), Largo (Dylan Smith), and Marigold (Sara Zwangobani) are outnumbered as Nori tries to convince the desperate stranger to leave to let … help. Saddened by the knowledge that he’s no good, Nori has to convince him otherwise. She tells him that you can choose who you are by what you do and reminds him of his deepest belief that he is here to help. Sparkling speech gets the job done and The
Stranger makes light work of the residents, reducing them to skeletal dust in the most beautiful of ways while their remains turn into butterflies. The Stranger returns to the rest of the Harfoots and tells Nori she has to go. The journey of choosing his goodness seems to have more than inspired him, it relieves some of his confusion. The now eloquent stranger tells Nori that he must go to Rhûn to find out more about himself. Then Nori reveals that the Dwellers called him by a different name: Istar. This moment is the most important. The stranger thinks about the name for a moment and tells Nori that the word “Istar” means sage or magician in her language.
Wizard. This means the stranger must surely be Gandalf the Gray or that’s what he’ll be called after all. The Gladers realized towards the end that he wasn’t Sauron but “the other” which makes sense as Gandalf and Sauron. both are main (angelic spirits) of the same order. But where is Sauron? More on that in a moment. For now, Nori is convinced by her parents to stay by Istar’s side and travel to Rhûn with him, so she does what no Harfoot has done before and strays from the path. You should go, Istar tells her that the air smells sweet and that when in doubt, follow your nose. How much Gandalf of you.
Who is Sauron in the Rings of Power?
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When we last saw Galadriel she was journeying to the elves to help heal an injured Halbrand, who was hurt during their failed attempt to rescue the Southlands from Adar (Joseph Mawle). They come across Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), who make quick work of helping Galadriel ensure he is saved. To return the favor, or so it initially seems, Halbrand helps Celebrimbor with their current conundrum: how to save the elves with just a sliver of mithril. He tells Celebrimbor that he must bind the mithril with other alloys to amplify its quality. A great idea… tainted by his suspicious curiosity in the matter.
In his talk with Galadriel, an excitable Celebrimbor tells her and the King that this will create a great power “not of the flesh but over flesh, a power of the unseen world”. This harks back to her conversation with Adar. With urgent probing, she discovers Celebrimbor’s words are not his own but Halbrand’s. This encourages her to seek answers on the royal lineage of the Southlands. She is horrified by what she discovers, and with the royal lineage scroll in hand, she questions Halbrand and tells him that the Southlands have not known a king for over a thousand years, a king without heirs. Boom! Halbrand reveals he is Sauron. She tries to hit him with her dagger, but before she can land a single blow, he invades her mind and toys with her. First come her brother’s tangible visions, twisting her wise counsel.
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“Touch the darkness again,” Halbrand says, though he uses his brother’s face. She rejects him and throws them into another vision of the two on the boat the day they were rescued. Halbrand reveals that Morgoth’s defeat freed him to, he says, heal the things he had ruined in order to repair his past by ruling Middle-earth. He tries to seduce Galadriel with promises of power and convince her to join him. it will make you a queen,” he tells her in a powerful callback to (or rather, a premonition of) The Fellowship of the Ring.”Stronger than the foundations of the earth.” He continues, “You bind me to the Light and I bind you to the Force so we can save Middle-earth,” but the idea disgusts him. She admits he doesn’t know the difference between saving and conquering and tells him she will never join him. He throws her into the imaginary waters and when she wakes up Elrond finds her. They rush back to the workshop, where she only reveals half the truth, that Halbrand is gone and likely won’t be back.
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His embarrassment probably prevents him from revealing Halbrand’s true identity, but he warns her not to get involved with him if he returns. Unfortunately, Elrond finds the scroll and states that Halbrand is not from the south, but says nothing. The focus returns to save the elves. They found that a single element made by binding mithril to an alloy doesn’t work, they need two. Galadriel demands that they make three instead, “One will always corrupt, two will divide, but with three…” “There is a balance,” concludes Celebrimbor. For that, they need more silver and gold of the purest kind, silver, and gold. of Valinor, so he hands over his brother’s dagger and warns that the powers they are forging today must be for elves only, not to be touched by anyone else. So they make three rings, Narya, Nenya, and Vilya (or Fire, Water, and Air) as they are known in Tolkien lore. As they work, Halbrand, sorry Sauron, returns to the Southlands and something tells us Adar will not be pleased.
What happened to Númenor in The Rings of Power?
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Not much time was spent with Queen Regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) and Elendil (Lloyd Owen) in the last act, but things look very different after their return to Númenor. It seems that the place exudes an air of sadness in his absence: the king is dead. At the beginning of the episode, the king told Eärien (assuming she was Míriel) that the island would fall if the ways of her people did not would soon be restored, and urged them to seek further answers in a secret room in his chambers. There he finds a palantír (a stone that sees) hidden under a cloth. He tells her to look, but not for long, explaining that he did it once and that he can no longer separate what is, what was, and what will be.
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