The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 has officially premiered with its first three episodes on Prime Video. Continuing directly on from last season’s events, we see the initial consequences of the Elven rings, Sauron’s (Charlie Vickers) machinations, and a tease for the Dwarven rings yet to be created. However, despite the looks ahead setting up great tension and anticipation, the flashback scene in the beginning of Season 2 might be the most eye-opening.

In the beginning moments of The Rings of Power Season 2, Sauron, portrayed in this scene by Jack Lowden, is betrayed by Adar (Sam Hazeldine) and the orcs after he tries to take command as the new Dark Lord following Morgoth’s demise. In Sauron’s speech, we see what separates him from Morgoth and why the Orcs chose to betray him. Not only are the intentions and desires of Sauron and Morgoth different, but the increased focus on the Orcs’ personality as a race is a fascinating and mostly unexplored aspect of the lore of Middle-earth.

In ‘The Rings of Power,’ Sauron Wants To Perfect Middle-Earth, Not Destroy It

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In his speech, Sauron’s main point is to find a power “not of the flesh, but over flesh,” obviously referring to the Rings of Power he will create, and unite the peoples of Middle-earth under his rule. However, as a Valar rebelling directly against Eru Illúvatar, Morgoth’s main goal was to have a creation of his own. As explored in J. R. R. Tolkien‘s textsThe Silmarillion and The History of Middle-earth, he resented the Elves, men, Dwarves, and all of Arda because he saw them all as Illúvatar’s puppets. Morgoth’s main desire, like Satan’s in the Christian canon, was to be free from God’s will and corrupt everything God created. (Tolkien is famous for putting many Catholic references into his writing as a devout Christian himself, as examined in the book Tolkien’s Faith.)

However, Sauron joined Morgoth’s rebellion not to destroy Middle-earth as Morgoth wanted, but to control and perfect it. As a student of the Valar smith Aulë, when Sauron was pure and named Mairon, he always sought perfection, but this went beyond his work, and Sauron’s main purpose, to bring his own form of perfection to Middle-earth and all its inhabitants, began. Even as Morgoth’s greatest lieutenant, Sauron’s allegiance was more based on achieving his own end goals, rather than wholly believing in Morgoth’s rule, as shown by how quickly Sauron moved to replace Morgoth after his destruction in The Rings of Power.

Morgoth Created the Orcs to Spite Other Races, Not Live in Harmony With Them

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This major difference between Morgoth and Sauron lies not only in their ideologies, but in their actions, and is the main reason the Orcs would not submit to Sauron in The Rings of Power. In The Silmarillion, Morgoth created the Orcs as a symbol of his own will in creation. As alluded to by Adar in Season 1 and Season 2, Morgoth kidnapped and tortured Elves in order to create the Orcs. Adar speaks of being tied to the top of the mountain with twelve other Elves, and this appears to be him explaining the very moment the Orcs were born, and he became their “father.”

This rejection of Eru Illúvatar and his creations is at the core of all Orcs. Morgoth took what was pure and corrupted it, drawing a line in the sand between orcs and all other beings on Middle-earth. Sauron wanting to unite all races under his will is a direct betrayal of the purpose of the Orcs’ creation, hence why Adar, whom the Orcs call “father,” would not follow Sauron. It’s a fascinating distinction between what different leaders and their soldiers want from these wars, whereas until now the wars could be mistaken as simply being a battle between good and evil. Rather, as this distinction shows, it is a battle over free will, and who deserves it.

The Orcs Have Way More Personality In ‘The Rings of Power’

In the end, this difference is another way the Orcs have been given their own personality as a race of being, rather than the mindless monsters they were mostly portrayed as in Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. There were exceptions, like Gothmog (Lawrence Makoare), for example, lieutenant to the Witch King of Angmar, also played by Makoare, who attacks Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and the Uruk-Hai and Orcs who kidnap Merry and Pippin. We see personality here from a few of them, but only through the lense of their cruelty and malice. The Rings of Power, on the other hand, shows us a softer side of the Orcs. The relationship between Adar and his “sons” genuinely comes across as a dutiful parent caring for their frightened children.

However, because of this, and the later history we know as viewers, Sauron’s eventual conquering of Mordor and the Orcs will likely feel even more brutal. Rather than simply a greater evil defeating a lesser one, Adar’s sympathetic motivations to commit evil acts will likely generate conflict within the audience, perhaps even getting them to root for the Orcs if it comes down to a head-on battle between them and Sauron. Sauron’s eventual mastery over Mordor will heighten fear of the new Dark Lord who exerts his will on all others, rather than wanting his own creation like Morgoth did.

The first three episodes of The Rings of Power Season 2 not only give fans so much to look forward to but also juicy bits of lore that they can sink their teeth into. The subtle way the series portrays the differences between Sauron and Morgoth, as well as their desires and end goals for Middle-earth, work well to tie into the lore, even if it is fair to acknowledge The Rings of Power has overly condensed other parts of the canon. Overall, it’s the way these differences also shine a light on the personality of the Orcs that will give us the most to watch out for moving forward through Season 2.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is available to stream on Prime Video.