The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 has officially kicked off, and fans are over the moon about the relative closeness of the story to Tolkien’s lore. Given that anything beyond the original Lord of the Rings trilogy faces scrutiny from devoted fans, this is a significant achievement. However, one thing that the LOTR didn’t really indulge in is becoming the main focus of the Amazon series, which is a welcoming prospect for the viewers.

The future Dark Lord of Middle-earth is taking center stage in Season 2 as the series dives into Sauron’s backstory and properly introduces him as the lore’s most formidable villain. With Halbrand’s big reveal at the end of Season 1, the emergence of a new face in Episode 1 has somewhat confused the audience.

A Change In Cast Was Instrumental For Sauron’s Character Arc

The Rings of Power Season 2 recast Sauron for a critical flashback scene.
Jack Lowden appears as a fair-looking Elf portraying Sauron before he took Halbrand’s form.
Sauron was supposedly killed by Adar to stop him from exploiting them for war.

The big reveal about Halbrand’s true identity at the end of The Rings of Power Season 1 was phenomenal. However, fans became skeptical as to how the show will proceed with Sauron’s character development, considering he probably would have been in his mortal for most of Season 2. It was a clever move on the show’s part to begin the highly-anticipated season with Sauron’s backstory since fans spent most of Season 1 waltzing between potential candidates for identity confirmation. Alas, it turned out to be the fair Halbrand, who so cleverly manipulated every person around him, especially Galadriel. After he was found out, Halbrand was last seen fleeing to Mordor, where it was assumed that he’d be taking the mantle from Adar. But a little into the aftermath after Morgoth’s fall revealed the truth about Adar and Sauron’s animosity and Halbrand’s true reason for returning to Mordor.

Although Charlie Vickers was confirmed to return for the second season, fans were quite astonished to see a different actor playing Sauron in the opening scene of Episode 1. The flashback sequence featured a time shortly after Morgoth’s fall down when Sauron was lobbying to instill himself as the next Dark Lord of Middle-earth. Scottish actor Jack Lowden adorned what seemed like one of Sauron’s earliest physical forms as he stood in front of the orcs, claiming his right to be the next ruler of darkness. Although the decision to change actors must have confused fans, it was not random. The flashback scene proves Tolkien’s long-standing concept about Sauron’s formidable shapeshifting powers. Even at this point, it’s difficult to tell whether Lowden’s portrayal is Sauron’s original physical form. However, this key change was necessary for the buildup, which led to Halbrand’s transformation into Annatar.

Always after a defeat, the shadow takes another shape.

In the flashback scene, Lowden’s Sauron threatens the orcs to comply, or they will face his wrath. However, Adar cleverly distracted Sauron and impaled him with the infamous black crown. It was a brutal end for Sauron as orcs endlessly stabbed him until his body gave up. But as he said in his speech, “Always after a defeat, the shadow takes another shape.” Before Adar could dispose of his body, Sauron burst into a blinding light that flooded out of him and froze all of Forodwaith. After that, his body disappeared, and just so it would happen, the black ooze from Sauron’s lifeless body found refuge under the depths of the fortress of Durnost. This was the same fortress in Forodwaith that Galadriel visited in Season 1 when searching for the signs of Sauron’s survival.

Jack Lowden’s Appearance as Sauron Brings a Major Fact About Sauron Into Focus

Sauron intentionally took mortal form to put the pieces of his grand plan together.
Season 2 does exceptionally well in crafting Sauron’s personality as the master of lies.

Although it’s not a written rule in Tolkien’s lore, his survival instincts kick in whenever Sauron nears the end of his life, and he takes a new form. It’s not certain whether it only happens when his life is in mortal danger or he does so out of his own free will, but Sauron is the true master of disguise. When his body perished after Adar supposedly killed him, Sauron took a slime-like form and fed on whatever he could salvage to sustain that form. After a while, he eventually emerged out of the darkness, still without a proper physical form, but to his luck, he found a human to feed on. The black sludge eventually evolved into Charlie Vickers’s “Halbrand,” and that’s how he began his journey the way fans saw in Season 1. The actor wasn’t actually recast; instead, it was an intelligent move in cementing a key aspect of Sauron’s existence. His indomitable will to survive is insatiable, as Sauron always finds a way to hang on to even the faintest of hope. He survived Morgoth’s defeat, Adar’s betrayal, and Isildur cutting his fingers off, which proves that it’s a perilous task to get rid of him completely.

In the books, Tolkien mentions Sauron’s trademark ability to manipulate and disguise several times. He put across the idea that Sauron went by many names and faces, and that’s why people fell prey to his tricks. The show went out of its way to fortify Tolkien’s concept of Sauron’s many forms by introducing Halbrand. Although the character doesn’t exclusively exist in the books, it can be considered as an extension of Sauron’s pivotal form in the Second Age, which is Annatar. It seemed that The Rings of Power aimed to calibrate Sauron’s personality by giving him a “humanized” outlook instead of his direct portrayal as the cunning Dlf. Lowden’s Sauron and Halbrand’s arc consolidated the foundations of Sauron’s rise and specifically pointed out his unmatched ability to influence others.

Sauron’s idea of domination wasn’t simply to rule lands but to “rule them all.” This phrase has a far deeper meaning than just world domination. Sauron wished to be the controller of all things, including the minds of all beings in existence. Through Halbrand, the viewers finally understand Sauron’s affinity for exercising control. He prides himself on his ability to exploit others’ vulnerabilities and insecurities. It’s safe to assume that it might be one of the aspects he hoped to achieve through the One Ring – his guaranteed survival and a conduit for regulating his control. Sauron’s transformation and journey as Halbrand were fundamental in strengthening his arc as Annatar. It helped the audience better understand the background and his drive for creating the Rings of Power.

Sauron’s Changing Physical Form Is Pivotal to His Rise As The Dark Lord

Sauron has finally abandoned his Halbrand persona to take over an even more influential form.
Sauron plans to manipulate Celembrimbor to forge the Rings.
He has already started the forging process for the Dwarvish Rings.

Sauron’s astute observations and farsightedness led him to the creation of the One Ring. Understandably, he must have plotted to create the Rings before or after his confrontation with Adar. Although he could survive and deceive through shapeshifting, he needed something to ensure that his soul could live on. It may be on purpose that Sauron took over the disguise of a mere mortal. It was easy for him to play with people’s emotions as a man rather than an Elf or a Dwarf. He won the trust of complete strangers only to use them in his ploy, especially the way he influenced Galadriel. He won her trust and used her deepest thoughts as instigators to push her to believe that she had a loyal partner in him. Halbrand uses the same tactic with Celebrimbor, and by the end of Episode 3, he has the Elf completely under his trance.

The stark differences between Halbrand and Sauron’s initial form prove how essential it was for the series to show two different characters playing the Dark Lord. Sauron’s approach as Halbrand was completely opposite to how he first approached Adar and the orcs. He threatened to use force and seemed like a dictator, while on the other hand, Adar had a more protective approach to his “children.” Sauron must have schemed at some point that it was better to infiltrate through one’s mind and coerce them into doing his bidding. As Halbrand and now Annatar, Sauron has not once used force for his cause. Even when he came face to face with Adar in his mortal form, he didn’t hesitate and kept up pretenses to maybe assess the situation or just for his amusement.

Sauron’s Lore Will Enter a Critical Phase in Season 2

As Annatar, Sauron will teach Celembrimbor the art of creating the Rings of Power.
Sauron will help forge a total of 20 Rings, including the One Ring.

It was essential for Sauron to leave Halbrand’s cocoon behind since it was discovered and no longer plausible in his plans. As Annatar, he achieved his most remarkable feat of standing among his greatest enemy, the Elves and having them willingly forge Rings for him. He knew Celebrimbor would not accept him as Halbrand, so he used his darkest insecurities and offered the Elvish craftsman his deepest desire – to create power like no other. He used flattery and Celebrimbor’s apprehension with Gil-galad over the value and appreciation of his craft to convince him to continue making the Rings in secrecy. Moreover, Annatar even coaxed the Dwarves into allowing them to offer Mithril in exchange for Rings, which would change their deteriorating fate.

It’s apparent that Sauron, in his many forms, has been the main attraction of The Rings of Power Season 2 and continues to fascinate the fans with his phenomenal character development. Sauron’s cunningness is entering a phase that would give rise to the greatest conflict in Middle-earth. He has already sowed the seed of discord between the Elves and has now begun his work with Dwarves. Sauron’s backstory and his transformation have been instrumental to the story, and his Annatar persona still has a central role to play in the era of the rise of the Rings.