The Rings of Power season 2 left Sauron in a far better place than he occupied at the start of the season. Having regained his former army from Adar, Sauron is now back where he was before Adar betrayed and killed him. In control of the Orcs, with Adar gone, Sauron can go back to Mordor and rule the new realm that Adar conveniently created for him. Adar was an original character. But throughout season 2, Sauron had been living out a storyline that was surprisingly faithful, apart from its timing.
Sauron Spent Around 300 Years In Eregion, According To The Lord Of The Rings Lore
Sauron Spent A Long Time In Eregion As Annatar
Sauron arrived in Eregion in the year 1200 of the Second Age, beginning to befriend the Elves and impart his forging knowledge, and didn’t begin forging the Rings of Power until 1500. In “Appendix B” of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien outlined a timeline of events in the Second and Third Ages, including these dates. Sauron was in Eregion for 300 years before he even started forging the rings with Celebrimbor. He had all that time to introduce himself, become trustworthy, and climb the social ladder.
300 years spent training to forge the rings illustrates how great an accomplishment they were.
This makes sense, considering Celebrimbor was the Lord of Eregion and Annatar was an unknown outsider. What’s more, Annatar had already tried his hand at befriending the Elves of Lindon, but it hadn’t worked. Sauron had tried to gain the favor of Lindon’s leader, Gil-galad, as it would have made world domination easier for him. Gil-galad’s suspicion of Annatar may have reached Celebrimbor, making it harder for Annatar to get into Celebrimbor’s good books. Regardless, 300 years spent training to forge the rings illustrates how great an accomplishment they were.
Approximately How Long Sauron Spends In Eregion During The Rings Of Power Season 2
The Rings Of Power Compressed The Timeline
The Rings of Power season 2 compressed Tolkien’s Second Age timeline significantly, erasing the 300 years Annatar spent in Eregion before starting forging. Galadriel described Halbrand as Sauron’s fair form in season 2, and Halbrand had been in Eregion in season 1. In this sense, Rings of Power did allow Sauron some time to befriend Celebrimbor and his Elves before Annatar’s arrival. Annatar is evidently Sauron’s second fair form on the show. Halbrand’s time in Eregion seemed like weeks or months in season 1.
Halbrand went back to Eregion after earning Adar’s trust and was left waiting for Celebrimbor to approve his entry for what seemed like a few days.
The events of season 2 began basically when the events of season 1 ended, without significant time passing between them. Sauron was walking to Mordor at the end of season 1 and had Mount Doom in sight, not seeming all too far away from Adar’s camp. He arrived at the start of season 2, handing himself in. Halbrand went back to Eregion after earning Adar’s trust and was left waiting for Celebrimbor to approve his entry for what seemed like a few days. They began forging straight away and didn’t take the canonical 100 years to finish either.
Why The Rings Of Power Makes Sauron’s “Annatar” Era So Much Shorter
Compressing The Timeline In The Rings Of Power Made Sense
The Rings of Power season 2 compressed Tolkien’s timeline to create dramatic pacing. Portraying 300 years of Elvish life in Eregion as Annatar slowly befriends Celebrimbor sounds like a pretty fantastic concept for a TV show, and possibly should have been The Rings of Power’s concept from the start. However, fitting this in around its other storylines wouldn’t have worked. Especially because the show compressed numerous other Tolkien storylines. Slowing this one storyline down for a few hundred years wouldn’t make sense, considering the others.
Rings of Power had to convincingly portray the power play between Annatar and Celebrimbor, requiring detailed dialogue scenes rather than sweeping time skips of hundreds of years. Meanwhile, Annatar’s storyline in The Rings of Power had to fit in around the show’s Adar material and its Númenor material, with both arcs related to Sauron’s rise. Likewise, Gandalf and Nori’s arc, although less so. It was less related to Sauron’s rise in season 2 and had no anchoring in any kind of canonical timeline to consider, with Gandalf not being slated to arrive in Middle-earth until the Third Age.
Sauron may have been in Eregion for hundreds of years in lore, but his time was well spent in Eregion in the show. As the injured Halbrand, Sauron successfully sewed the seeds of his genius in Celebrimbor’s mind, making Celebrimbor primed to accept his persistent offer of a meeting in season 2. Annatar’s deception wasn’t dived into in detail in The Silmarillion but in the show, Halbrand transformed into Annatar in an intimidating display of power that fast-tracked Celebrimbor’s loyalty. This supported The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s hugely compressed Annatar timeline.
