Rings of Power ending explained: Who is Sauron?

So, if you're keen to know Sauron’s true identity as well as how it's connected to The Stranger, then read on for everything you need to know about the finale.

Rings of Power ending explained: Who is Sauron?

Sauron was at last confirmed to be Halbrand.

The episode saw Galadriel arrive with an ailing Halbrand at the Elven-Smiths' city of Eregion and asked for their help in healing him.

Meanwhile, Elrond (Robert Aramayo) spoke with High King Gil-galad (Ben Walker) and Lord Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) as it was clear that the Dwarves will give no more Mithril to them, but they resolve to use what they can in some way.

The Elven-Smiths struggled to manipulate or make any use of the small amount of Mithril they had until a recovering Halbrand recommended combining it with other elements like Elven gold and silver to strengthen it.

Celebrimbor then spoke of this plan with the High King, Galadriel and Elrond and suggested combining these materials to form an object - a crown. It was agreed.

In the aftermath, Celebrimbor noted to Galadriel that this object could craft a power, not of the flesh, but in the unseen world and over Middle-earth. These words reminded Galadriel of what Adar (Joseph Mawle) had said to her in the sixth episode of Sauron’s plans, and she became suspicious that Celebrimbor had heard this from Halbrand but he did not recall.

Asking the scholars, Galadriel wanted records of the lineage of the Kings of the Southlands.

By the river, an excited Halbrand visited Galadriel to discuss the latest developments, but she called him out on his lies - the line of the Kings of the Southlands was broken and had died out and Halbrand is not who he said he was.

It was then that Halbrand confirmed what Galadriel has feared - he has had many names, but one of those is Sauron.

A confrontation saw Galadriel awaken in Valinor with her dead brother Finrod (Will Fletcher) who claimed that Sauron had saved him and wanted to save Middle-earth. However, Galadriel saw through this illusion and called out Sauron’s lies.

Transporting her to their first meeting on a shipwreck in the Sundering Seas, Sauron showed her that together they can save Middle-earth as its master and his queen. Sauron also refers to how Galadriel convinced him that redemption for his past actions was possible, having told him that dark deeds could be forgotten and redeemed.

Galadriel asked if he really meant to save Middle-earth or rule it, and when he could not tell the difference, she refused to join him and planned to kill him but was thrown into the water.

However, Galadriel soon awoke in the river itself and was pulled to safety by Elrond, and it became clear that Sauron had escaped.

Towards the end of the episode, a hooded Sauron was shown climbing over a mountain and into the land of Mordor.

Speaking with RadioTimes.com and other press, showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay revealed that Halbrand was always intended to be Sauron.

Payne explained: "That character was always Sauron from the very beginning. [It was] one of the initial sparks and ideas and in our, I think opinion, right or wrong, is that Galadriel talks about Sauron in the books in a way that indicates that she knew him maybe really well.

"For instance, 'I know the Dark Lord, I perceived the Dark Lord and know his mind, at least all of his mind, that concerns the Elves, and ever does he grope after me, and seek to know my mind as well. But still, the door is shut.'

"I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but that's effectively the quote. And the idea of 'Still, the door is shut,' that this has been a thing where he's been reaching after her for a long time and there's been this sense of back and forth between them. We found that in the writers' room endlessly fascinating, and we said, 'Like, there's an entire history between them.'

"He's not just some eye in the sky who's looking at her from afar; there's a relationship. And so we said, 'How could you have a relationship between the Dark Lord and Galadriel, you know, in a way that was good, really let them get to an interesting place?'

"So, if she knew it was him from the beginning, she would obviously reject him out of hand. But what if she had this history? Because we know from the Legendarium that he was responsible for her brother's death, and what would that mean to her? We also know that he has this desire to heal the world, and she has this sort of heroic desire to fix the world also, and so if you could put them in parallel to each other without exactly her knowing where he was, there was an opportunity there."

Additionally, the writers liked the idea of Sauron believing himself to be committing heroic deeds.

McKay added: "And two other things to add to that: there was this whole idea from Tolkien's letters and other writings where he talks about how Sauron wasn't evil in the beginning - that's Elrond [saying that] run in the book.

"'Nothing is evil in the beginning, even Sauron was not so.' Immediately, we're thinking about Breaking Bad, nd we're thinking about Tony Soprano. These characters who are these enormous, larger-than-life modern villains, but have this other side and kind of go back and forth. Do I hate them? Do I love them? Are they seducing me? And I shouldn't trust them, and we thought that was really rich terrain.

"And then there's the Tolkien idea of chance meetings. That is a thing throughout his books and that he's obsessed with over and over again. The chance meetings are preordained in Middle-earth and that idea of like, 'My God, what if Sauron is in a place where he's sort of repentant and lost and Galadriel is in a place where she's desperate and obsessed with a meeting? What might happen?'

"Well, first of all, maybe they'd be friends. Maybe they get along and the idea of a non-romantic, you know, cosmic connection... That seemed so pregnant with possibilities and I mean, obviously, that was by far the hardest thing that we worked on, and all the writers worked on.

"We have this idea that if you can watch it again, every single thing he says is not a lie, no matter who he is. And the fact that maybe along the way, people might go like, 'Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.' We're like, 'Great.' This isn't like a rug pull, we're not trying to like shock people. We want to, hopefully, reward close viewing and suspicions of him early. That's a whole valid version of the show, we felt."

• Read More: Rings of Power star on portraying Sauron and when he discovered twist

What are the Three Rings?

After relaying what has occurred to Celebrimbor and Elrond, the trio agree to make objects from the Mithril, and Elven gold and silver from Valinor, using Galadriel's dagger which once belonged to her brother Finrod. They agree that three objects need to be made as one object can be corrupted and two can be divided.

Together with precious Elven jewels from Valinor, there was then crafted the three Elven Rings of Power.

In the works of Tolkien, the Three Rings "for the Elven Kings under the sky" are the first of the Rings of Power to be created.

The one with the red Ruby stone represents the element of Fire and is dubbed 'Narya'. In Tolkien's works, it is initially carried by High King Gil-galad before being transferred to an Elf named Círdan and then to the wizard Gandalf.

The ring with the blue Sapphire stone represents the element of Water and is dubbed 'Vilya'. In Tolkien's works, it is initially carried by High King Gil-galad before being possessed by Elrond.

Finally, the ring with the white/clear Adamant stone represents the element of Air and is dubbed 'Nenya'. This ring has only ever solely belonged to Galadriel.

We can expect further rings to be introduced in future seasons, as confirmed by the showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay.

Co-showrunner McKay explained: "The show's title suggests that these [rings] are important, and I think we like the idea of each set of rings potentially having its own story, in each of those worlds. This whole season, to a certain extent, is about why would they fall for this? Why would they? Well, actually, with the Elven rings, there's this thing where the Elven rings are actually good, but they're sort of touched with evil in this complex way."

Payne added: "There's a backdoor to evil because once Sauron makes his One Ring, it controls them all, even though he never touched the three Elven rings, so they're not explicitly evil. It's sort of the Y2K virus where it's this like 'backdoor' that is kind of built into them. And once this ring is destroyed, their rings lose their potency in the Third Age, so it's a complex interconnection."

McKay then expanded further on the storyline leading to the rings being forged and teased future storylines.

He said: "'Why would Elves need rings? Why would they want rings? Why would this guy have an offer that would be tempting for them?' is very much what the entire first season is building to. The first conversation about the show was the idea of Galadriel on one journey, looking for a military solution to the darkness in Middle-earth, and Elrond on another journey going to Moria and trying to make an alliance that would be a solution to Middle-earth.

"And then, in the end, they would both fail and come together and someone would be there to say, 'I know a third way'. And so the first season is about the Elven rings.

"The second season is very much about more rings, and the song at the end, by Fiona Apple - which is like crazy dream come true - [explains] there's Three, then there's Seven. Why would the Dwarves be desperate for rings? And how do they get seduced? And how do they get fooled? And then Men is an even more complex story.

"There are Nine leaders of Men who want power, and so each of those rings and the forging of them is not just like, 'Now the magic thing got made', but a story to be told. And I think there are other stories to be told as well, but certainly, we've kicked it off and next season is gonna go deeper into it."

The showrunners also confirmed that the second season will introduce the Elf Círdan, so we can expect him to be awarded the ring of Narya.

In Tolkien's works, Círdan is one of the oldest Elves in Middle-earth and is the Lord of the Grey Havens.

What happened in Númenor?

An ailing King Tar-Palantír (Ken Blackburn) was cared for by attendants and watched over by the chancellor Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) who ordered members of the Builders’ Guild to sit with the monarch and make designs for a monument in his honour.

Elendil's daughter Eärien (Ema Horvath) - who had been against the expedition to Middle-earth - sat with the King when he began speaking to her as if she were his daughter, Queen Regent Míriel. Eärien called for help as the King's health situation worsened. The King warned her of the importance for Númenor to return to its faithful ways of Elven kinship and reverence for Valinor if they hoped to survive, before he directed her to the upstairs of the tower but warned her not to look too long there. Eärien then ascended the stairs and into the room with the Palantír. What will Eärien see there and will she alert Pharazôn with whom she appears to have political faith?

Meanwhile, on the ship back to Númenor from Middle-earth, Elendil (Lloyd Owen) went down from the deck with Valandil (Alex Tarrant) and found Queen Regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) practising her walk while she deals with now being blind. The pair reflected on what has occurred and had been lost, with Elendil still mourning his son Isildur (Maxim Baldry) who he believes is dead.

However, fans of Tolkien's legendarium will be more than aware of the importance of Isildur going ahead so, rest assured, father and son will be reunited down the line.

The ship then pulled into the harbour of Númenor, but Elendil was shocked by the sight of black flags indicating the death of the King, as a confused Míriel asks what has happened.

The future of Númenor will now likely be a major component of the second season of The Rings of Power as Elendil and Míriel will represent the Faithful side of the island kingdom's culture and who wish to unite with Elvish traditions and spirituality, while the pragmatic Pharazôn is not so inclined and has great support.

What happened with The Stranger, The Dweller and the Harfoots?

The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) continued to make his journey to find a constellation of stars when he was surprised by the arrival of The Dweller (Bridie Sisson), The Nomad (Edith Poor) and The Ascetic (Kali Kopae). The trio then bowed down to The Stranger and referred to him as Sauron.

As the confused Stranger began to use his powers around him, the trio subdued him with sorcery as they confirmed that his memories will return in time, and that they will take him to the East where they are from and where he can see his stars - the land of Rhûn.

Traditionally, in Tolkien's works, Rhûn was known for containing Men known as Easterlings who came under the dominion of first Morgoth and then Sauron. During the Third Age, three wizards went to visit the realm: Saruman the White and the two Blue wizards named Alatar and Pallando.

After The Stranger was tied down, the Harfoot group of Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards), Sadoc Burrows (Sir Lenny Henry) and Margo Brandyfoot (Sara Zwangobani) distracted the trio to try and rescue their friend, but were surprised when The Stranger transformed into The Dweller and attacked Nori while Burrows was stabbed.

In the end, The Stranger emerged from his binds to aid his Harfoot friends and battled against The Dweller who used magic against him with her staff. However, with Nori’s encouragement, The Stranger used The Dweller’s staff against the trio. The Dweller then realised that he was not Sauron but is actually one of the Istari. Using the staff and magic, The Stranger vanquished the trio, reducing them to skeletal spirits before they were seemingly destroyed.

Nori was grateful for The Stranger’s help as they all tended to Sadoc who revealed he would succumb to his wounds and join his late wife as the sun rose.

In the aftermath, Nori, Poppy and Margo returned to the Harfoot camp and Sadoc was mourned. Nori noted that The Stranger was called an Istari and he revealed that in their tongue it means "wise one" or "wizard". Nori noted that The Stranger will likely find the answers he seeks in Rhûn.

Afterwards, with the encouragement and blessings of her family and friends, Nori set off with The Stranger on his journey to the East as the Harfoot caravan began moving on its own way. This storyline ends here for the first season.

So, while we did not get a final identification of who The Stranger is, we now know that he is indeed a wizard.

In Tolkien's lore, the Istari are formerly some of the Maiar of Valinor, angelic beings who took human form and were sent to Middle-earth by the godlike beings known as the Valar.

Five are introduced in the literature: the aforementioned two blue wizards and Saruman the White, plus Gandalf the Grey and Radagast the Brown.

The potential for The Stranger to be the iconic Gandalf remains intact.

What is the song at the end of The Rings of Power episode 8?

The song at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode 8 is The Rhyme of the Rings and is sung by singer-songwriter Fiona Apple.

The lyrics, as written by J R R Tolkien himself are:

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie,
One Ring to rule them all, one Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
These verses will no doubt serve as a loose roadmap for the show, going by the showrunners' comments.

Read more on The Rings of Power:

• Rings of Power release schedule: When are Lord of the Rings episodes out?
• How to watch The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies in order
• Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power review – Dazzling prequel doesn't let Tolkien fans down
• Meet the cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
• What is the Second Age of Middle-earth? Rings of Power timeline explained

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1 is on Amazon Prime Video– you can sign up now for a free 30-day Prime Video trial.

If you’re looking for something else to watch in the meantime, check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Fantasy hub.

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