The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power really started telling its story in season 2, solving many of season 1’s mysteries. The show is keen on mystery box storytelling, having spent season 1 teasing Sauron’s real identity, dropping hints that he may be one of the original characters on display. Having hinted that everyone from the Stranger or Halbrand to Adar or Dilly Brandyfoot was Sauron, the show finally confirmed in the season 1 finale that Halbrand was the right answer. Season 2 opened some mystery boxes of its own and dropped numerous other bombshells.

As an adaptation of high fantasy master J.R.R. Tolkien’s Second Age material, the show is addressing The Silmarillion stories, although it only has the rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings novel and appendices. Luckily, rights haven’t presented an issue, with the Tolkien Estate approving the show’s use of various elements of other works. For lifelong Tolkien fans and newcomers to the legendarium alike, Rings of Power season 2 has had some jaw-dropping Second Age moments. These include victorious canon arcs but also reveals of surprising and powerful original material.

Sauron Poisoned 13 Elves Into The First Orcs

Morgoth Made Adar Into One Of The Moriondor

In The Rings of Power season 2, episode 1, Adar concluded the Moriondor tale he started telling in season 1’s episode 6. In season 1, episode 6, Adar was Galadriel’s prisoner and confirmed that he was a Moriondor – one of the first Uruk, an Elf twisted into an Orc by Morgoth in the First Age. This Lord of the Rings Orc origin story was pulled from The Silmarillion but didn’t elaborate on the exact process that Morgoth used or how many Moriondor there were. However, season 2 blew these mysteries apart with its entirely original Moriondor myth.

Tolkienian Age
Event Marking The Start
Years
Total Length In Solar Years

Before time
Indeterminate
Indeterminate
Indeterminate

Days before Days
The Ainur entered Eä
1 – 3,500 Valian Years
33,537

Pre-First Age Years of the Trees (Y.T.)
Yavanna created the Two Trees
Y.T. 1 – 1050
10,061

First Age (F.A.)
Elves awoke in Cuiviénen
Y.T. 1050 – Y.T. 1500, F.A. 1 – 590
4,902

Second Age (S.A.)
The War of Wrath ended
S.A. 1 – 3441
3,441

Third Age (T.A.)
The Last Alliance defeated Sauron
T.A. 1 – 3021
3,021

The tables had turned for Adar by season 2. No longer the prisoner, he was holding Halbrand captive and told him that he was once bound just as Halbrand was. Adar revealed himself as one of 13 Moriondor – Morgoth bargained with 13 Elves, offering them each something in return for their “new birth.” They were bound and starved on a “dark and nameless peak” before Sauron gave them wine that transformed them. This story doesn’t contradict canon but does create an ocean of implications, the bottom of which fans and fanfiction writers probably won’t reach for years.

Sauron Is A Black Tentacle Monster

Sauron Is A Black Writhing Mass While He Builds A Body

Surely, one of Rings of Power season 2’s biggest reveals must be its explicit detailing of Sauron’s shapeshifting process. Tolkien readers will likely be aware of Sauron’s canonical shapeshifting and regenerating ability, which was well documented in The Silmarillion. In this collection of stories, Sauron assumed his fair form, Annatar, and also a terrible form of “malice and hatred made visible.” Even more fascinatingly, The Lay of Leithian saw Sauron shift fluidly between different forms, including a vampire, a werewolf, and a mysterious demon form.

Like the Moriondor transformation, Sauron’s shapeshifting was a process that The Rings of Power reveled in clarifying. The choice to adapt enigmatic magic instead of adding more mundane material like dialogue didn’t sit well with everyone, but it did provide thought-provoking, creative, and unforgettable imagery. After Adar killed Sauron in the flashback in season 2, episode 1, Sauron’s spirit spent what seemed like centuries animating his thick, black blood. Sauron’s black ooze form gradually got bigger and more tactile by catching and consuming prey. Finally, after catching and ingesting a human, Sauron was able to take his Halbrand form.

Morgoth’s Crown Is A Powerful Weapon

Even Sauron Couldn’t Survive Being Stabbed By Morgoth’s Crown

One of the best reveals of The Rings of Power season 2 was that Morgoth’s Crown was not just historical regalia but one of the most powerful weapons in Middle-earth. At first glance, Morgoth’s Crown was a highlight of season 2 as a glorious adaptation of The Silmarillion artifact tackled by Lúthien and Beren in what may be the legendarium’s best story. Visually, this was a treat of a Tolkien bone to throw to hungry fans, but the crown’s true value shone through as a plot device.

In the opening flashback of season 2, episode 1, Adar betrayed Sauron at his coronation, stabbing him in the back with Morgoth’s spiked crown. One would have thought that as one of the 15 Valar, the least Morgoth could have afforded was a uniform without fatal design flaws. But in an intriguing twist of the showrunners’ invention, the crown was loaded with enough Morgul magic to destroy the body of even Morgoth’s second-in-command.

Adar Could Transform Back Into An Elf

Ring Of Power Nenya Could Have Saved Adar

No one expected to see the monstrous Adar with all his disfigurement healed, making this a huge reveal in season 2. An original invention of the show, Adar’s half-Elf, half-Orc appearance was illustrative of Morgoth’s inability to truly create new life. This was thematically relevant, as trying to extend life beyond what was naturally available was Tolkien’s key issue in The Lord of the Rings. Regardless, Adar’s scarred face suited his sinister nature to a tee.

After taking one of the three magical Elven-rings, Nenya, from Elrond, Adar put it on and quickly discovered its power to heal and combat the decays of time. Miraculously, the ring reversed the effects of Morgoth’s Elf-Uruk surgery. If the Elven-rings have the power to undo what Tolkien once described as Morgoth’s most loathsome act, this puts their power during The Lord of the Rings into perspective. It also makes the level of Sauron and Celebrimbor’s accomplishment in their forging totally clear.

Bronwyn Is Dead

Bronwyn Didn’t Survive Season 1’s Wounds

Bronwyn was a huge character in The Rings of Power season 1, so the confirmation of her death in season 2 was a massive reveal. Bronwyn’s time in the show was cut short by her actress, Nazanin Boniadi, exiting the show. Focusing on other projects, Boniadi left Theo without a mother and Arondir without a romance in the show. Some more time to say goodbye to Bronwyn’s important character would have been ideal.

However, the Southlands arc pretty much ended in season 1 anyway. Since Adar successfully turned the Southlands into Mordor near the end of season 1, the Southlanders’ real role in the show had already finished playing out by the start of season 2. That’s why Boniadi’s exit wasn’t as tough a blow to the show as it could have been.

Adar Was A Good Man After All

Adar And Galadriel Could Have Been Friends

Adar was given some of the best character development of the show, and his disturbing moral ambivalence gradually fell away from him. In season 2, episode 6, Adar negotiated semi-honorably, showing perhaps more diplomacy than Galadriel herself. But he was still mean and cynical until The Rings of Power season 2 finale. By then, Adar had finally heard what the universe was trying to tell him, realizing his error and hypocrisy. Discarding all lies, he opened up to Galadriel and offered genuine equality and partnership.

Adar not only gave up his one chance of a normal life but did what no other character showed themself able to do, making him season 2’s shock hero.

His arc complete, it was symbolic poetry that Adar turned around to reveal a pure and youthful Elvish face, healed by wearing Galadriel’s ring of power. In giving up the addictive ring to Galadriel, Adar not only gave up his one chance of a normal life but did what no other character showed themself able to do, making him season 2’s shock hero and a genuinely devastating character death. Adar will be missed in season 3.

Durin III Sacrificed Himself To Bury The Balrog

The Balrog Durin’s Bane Earned His Name

The Balrog was just one brilliantly divisive moment in The Rings of Power season 1, and it was used in season 2, in Durin’s story, to great effect. Durin III is a Tolkien character outlined in The Lord of the Rings’ appendices and seeing him develop with his son, Durin IV, was both endearing and dramatic. Durin III was awarded one of the Dwarves’ Rings of Power by Sauron, and it slowly corrupted him over the season. The Dwarves were hardy creatures and were far more resistant to the rings than Men.

In The Lord of the Rings, the Balrog in Moria didn’t awaken until the Third Age.

While they never fully submitted to Sauron’s control like the Ringwraiths, Dwarves were perverted into greed. The ring’s hold on Durin interrupted an already floundering relationship with his son. So, when Durin III catastrophically unearthed the Balrog, and then immediately redeemed himself by attacking it to protect his son, it was a tragic but satisfying payoff. Burying the Balrog also explained how it may come to pass that it would never again be discovered until the Third Age.

Tom Bombadil Lives in Rhûn And Trained Gandalf

Tom Bombadil Opposed Sauron

Unquestionably one of the best Tolkien characters of all time, Tom Bombadil, in general, was one of the biggest reveals of The Rings of Power season 2. Not only was Tom adapted for the screen for the first time in history, but he was also given a controversial, non-canonical storyline. Tom wasn’t mentioned in Second Age stories in Tolkien’s books. In season 2, Tom was living in Rhûn, which was far from his home in The Lord of the Rings – the Old Forest. Tom Bombadil didn’t want to leave the Old Forest in The Lord of the Rings.

Although, he may not have always been that way, as Gandalf suggested in the book. In another original move, Tom Bombadil bumped into the Stranger in season 2, who turned out to be Gandalf. Though he avoided getting involved in war in the book, Bombadil went out of his way to support Gandalf in his opposition to Sauron in the show. Bombadil’s pacifism symbolism was one enjoyable facet of his character. However, he also saved the Hobbits from Barrow-wights and then armed them, proving that the show’s version of the character was justifiable.

Sauron Can Shapeshift Into Galadriel

Sauron Can Shapeshift Into Anyone, In Theory

Sauron’s regeneration abilities were documented in season 2’s first episode, and he shapeshifted from Halbrand into Annatar in episode 2, but the real reveal came when he shapeshifted into Galadriel in episode 8. Sauron was right to highlight that he and Galadriel had a few things in common, which drove their compelling relationship in seasons 1 and 2. But he was wrong to assume that taunting her with previous conversations would have swayed her to his side, indicating one of his most fatal flaws – a certain lack of empathy and understanding of other hearts.

Sauron’s gender-bending doppelgänger moment was brilliant, mind-boggling, and made sense thematically.

For example, Sauron would have guarded the Cracks of Doom if he thought that anyone could resist and destroy the One Ring. Tolkien’s books didn’t say anything about Sauron shapeshifting into exact imitations of other people. However, like the vast majority of the show’s original material, this idea did not break canon, it embellished it. Sauron’s gender-bending doppelgänger moment was brilliant, mind-boggling, and made sense thematically. Sauron knowing every corner of Galadriel’s body is somewhere between creepy and inspired, considering their bizarre mutual obsession.

The Stranger Is Gandalf

The Stranger’s Identity was Finally Revealed

Finally crushing season 2’s biggest mystery box, the last episode finally revealed that the Stranger was Gandalf, as many had guessed a long time ago. The penny dropped beyond all doubt as he vocalized “Grand-Elf,“ repeating the Stoors’ nickname for him out loud. Not long after, he confirmed to Tom Bombadil that he had realized that his name was Gandalf. The show’s wise move to leave the Stranger’s identity reveal until the season 2 finale allowed the previous episodes to give Celebrimbor the focus he deserved.

Rings of Power is more than a dark revenge story or a villain origin story that panders to contemporary expectations.

This reveal takes the Stranger’s role in the show from lighthearted fun to powerfully relevant, with the chance to impact Tolkien’s world forever. Gandalf’s presence in the show creates a powerful symmetry to Sauron, confirming that Rings of Power is more than a dark revenge story or a villain origin story that panders to contemporary expectations. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a story that pits darkness against light in a fair face-off, exploring the past of beloved characters while creating new characters to love.