What The Rings of Power needs to do with Sauron in season 3
It’s time to start corrupting Men.
Casual viewers or readers of The Lord of the Rings may have never fully grasped the villainy of Sauron.
In Peter Jackson’s movies, for instance, the Dark Lord is a threat, and a scary one at that, but not really much more than a giant eye in the sky. Most of the danger and the evil deeds come from other characters that obey his bidding throughout the films. In fact, what might make that antagonist so wicked is how he manages to corrupt everyone, and that’s something The Rings of Power absolutely understands.
Over the course of the second season of the Prime Video series, viewers have finally been able to witness the power of the Great Deceiver. During his time at Celebrimbor’s side, under the guise of Annatar, Sauron has shown the vastness of his manipulation skills.
From convincing the Lord of Eregion to forge more and more rings by gaslighting him, to persuading everyone around him that Celebrimbor is losing his mind and eventually torturing the poor Elf, Sauron has proved he doesn’t necessarily need to get his hands dirty to wreak havoc amongst the people of Middle-earth.
So now that the Elves have suffered a huge blow because of him and the Dwarves are set on their own self-destructive path, where could Sauron turn his attention next? All signs are pointing toward Men, and especially the people of Númenor.
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Sure, he’s got another ring to forge, the One Ring that will eventually cause a lot of problems for a certain Fellowship, but he won’t need a full season to achieve that, especially when he has more gift-giving to do. Now that Sauron possesses the Nine, he needs to bring Men under his thumb.
As the Elves lick their wounds and the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm decide to keep to themselves, Númenor is in prime position to be Sauron’s next target. Everything that happened in season 2 around that island is pointing toward its incoming downfall, and it seems like a slight push from Sauron is all that crumbling society needs to completely fall apart.
War with the Elves is on the horizon, but the events of the season 2 finale seem to indicate Gil-galad and the others are going to need a minute to figure out their next steps. It would therefore not be surprising if while they regroup and get ready to wage war against Sauron in Mordor at some point in season 3, the Dark Lord busies himself forging the One Ring, and distributing the Nine to Men.
Those who are well-versed in Tolkien’s lore know that it states that Númenorians will get mixed up in the fight against Sauron, and even manage to capture him. However, him being the master manipulator that we’ve come to know, things will not exactly go down well for Ar-Pharazôn and his followers.
Sauron will undoubtedly prey on Pharazôn’s pride, his thirst for power, and his growing disdain of the Valar. Like Celebrimbor in season 2, Pharazôn will probably be manipulated by the Dark Lord and that will lead to the destruction of Númenor.
It is crucial for the show to continue to show us Sauron’s true colours, to bring us to a point where it will be vital for all the characters we’ve met so far in this chapter of Middle-earth’s history, from Galadriel and Elrond to Isildur and Elendil, to team up against him.
Ultimately, The Rings of Power is taking us to the moment where Isildur will cut off the One Ring from Sauron’s hand, but for the audience to be truly satisfied when the time comes, the show needs to keep digging into what makes the Dark Lord such a great villain.
So more manipulation and corruption please, more use of fear and force to try to "heal Middle-earth" and then we’ll be delighted to see that guy eventually reduced to being a giant eye in the sky.
The Rings of Power season 2 is available to stream on Prime Video now – 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 and Streaming Guide, or visit our dedicated Fantasy hub. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
