Prime Video’s The Rings of Powerseason 2 opens with some backstory, showing how Sauron fell and returned to being before the events of the show, with a line foreshadowing his eventual demise. The series establishes the sequence as occurring at the dawn of the Second Age in the Lord of the Rings timeline, showing Sauron following the fall of Morgoth. After failing to inspire the remaining orcs, he’s betrayed by Adar, and his body is destroyed. The narrative eventually ties back to how Sauron ended up on the raft from back in season 1

Traveling around Middle-earth, Sauron discovers a caravan of humans preparing to sail across the sea, who invite him to join them. His initial conversation with the old man he meets has a ton of interesting dialogue, foreshadowing much of Sauron’s story that audiences know from the Lord of the Rings movies. There are some insightful nuggets of information here that explore how Sauron thinks, and the conversation is worth breaking down to understand his actions for the season. The Rings of Power carefully develops human qualities for Sauron, demonstrating the faults in his thinking that lead to his downfall.

Sauron Is Literally Told That He’ll Be Defeated One Day

The Old Man Tells Sauron Fortunes Can Change For Anyone

In season 2, episode 1, Sauron talks with the old man about his heraldry. The old man explains that the heraldry came from an old line of dead kings, saying, “Fortunes can turn for even the most powerful.” When Sauron says it’s a grim reminder of dead kings, the old man corrects, “A hopeful one. A sure path may crumble, but there’s always another. Often, it can lead to someplace better.” This importantly predicts Sauron’s eventual defeat, both at the end of the Second Age and, of course, in the War of the Ring at the end of the Third Age.

Sauron believes in great power and obviously has no regard for the people of Middle-earth, whom he hopes to enslave. But he’s always going to be clouded by his sense of supremacy, which causes him to miss Frodo carrying the ring into Mordor, instead turning his focus toward Aragorn returning as the King of Gondor. Sauron should, by all accounts, have won the War of the Ring, but his inability to see the possibility of his fortune turning due to the efforts of hobbits is his eventual pitfall. There’s plenty of clever foreshadowing here in the dialogue.

How Sauron Misinterprets The Old Man’s Warning

Sauron Doesn’t Perceive The Possibility Of His Own Defeat

The old man is telling Sauron that evil will always be defeated, no matter how powerful, but Sauron misjudges the statement. He doesn’t consider that the old man might not have liked his old ruler, and he misinterprets what he’s trying to say. Sauron thinks the opposite of the statement. He sees himself as a conqueror and believes the man is telling him mighty rulers can always be overtaken. He imagines the many kingdoms he plans to rule over and the kings he’ll destroy, but Sauron doesn’t consider the possibility that this could eventually happen to him.

Of course, at this moment in time, Sauron isn’t exactly in a position of power, so it’s not a direct warning to him. But it’s generally antithetical to Sauron’s belief that his fortunes could shift in such a way, even after he was just betrayed. Especially in The Rings of Power, he carries himself with such a smug demeanor as he manipulates his foes. He occasionally shows weakness, but he typically seems certain of himself and of his path, even when finding himself in chains in Mordor.

The Old Man’s Warning Sets Up The Rings Of Power Season 3

The Scene Foreshadows Sauron’s Return to Númenor

The old man Sauron speaks to mentions crossing the sea for a fresh start, hinting at where Sauron’s narrative will eventually take him (again). Sauron will eventually be defeated by the elves, despite manipulating Celebrimbor into forging all the rings and making the One Ring for himself. After the elves, he’ll move on to the Númenóreans, who sail in full force under King Ar-Pharazôn to contest Sauron in Mordor. Realizing he’s going to be defeated, Sauron surrenders to the Númenóreans without bloodshed, returning to the island kingdom as their prisoner.

Al-Pharazôn is the perfect man for Sauron to manipulate, as he desires power and easily falters when flattered. Sauron convinces Al-Pharazôn to fully turn against the elves, and gets him to sail his navy to Valinor. This resulted in the cataclysmic destruction of Númenor, one of the most devastating events in the history of Arda. This will likely be one of the main narratives of season 3 and beyond in The Rings of Power.