The Rings of Power deliberately built its debut season around one overriding mystery: where is Sauron? That said, The Rings of Power‘s season 1 ending covered much more than just Sauron and his plans. Instead, the fate of entire races was at stake in light of the history of Mordor and Mount Doom being written, while a king drew his final breaths and a wizard arrived precisely when he meant to. With The Rings of Power‘s season 2 timeline following directly from these momentous events, here is everything that was revealed in the season 1 finale.
Halbrand Is Revealed As The Rings Of Power’s Sauron
The King Of The Southlands Is Actually The Dark Lord Himself
After a fake-out involving the Stranger, The Rings of Power confirms what many had suspected as soon as Charlie Vickers’ character first revealed himself: Halbrand is Sauron. Now suitably recovered after Adar’s assassination attempt, Sauron has adopted a human guise, and his entire arc in The Rings of Power season 1 must now be reviewed through a different lens. From carrying the sigil of the Southlands to feigning an injury that can only be healed by elven medicine, Sauron appears to have manipulated events to his advantage across the season.
Sauron is only interested in Middle-earth’s recovery if he is reigning supreme when all is said and done…
Naturally, Sauron’s overarching aim was to reach Celebrimbor and set the forging of Middle-earth’s Rings of Power into motion. Like all villains, Sauron believes he is the good guy in The Rings of Power, waxing lyrical about how he longs to heal the wounds Morgoth inflicted. As Galadriel quickly deduces, Sauron is only interested in Middle-earth’s recovery if he is reigning supreme when all is said and done. Despite Sauron’s lies in The Rings of Power season 1, his interest in Galadriel appears genuine, with the villain trying to tempt his companion with a place by his shadowy side.
The Stranger Is (Probably) Gandalf The Grey
The Mysterious Giant Is Confirmed As One Of Lord Of The Rings’ Istar
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In The Rings of Power season 1’s ending, the Stranger is initially taken for Sauron. The acolytes of darkness who pursued him throughout season 1 seem to think he is the dark lord himself before the Dweller realizes her opponent is actually an Istar. Like Sauron, the Istari are Maiar spirits, but they are incarnated into human bodies and sent by the Valar to fight evil, not cause it. Also unlike Sauron, the Istari – Lord of the Rings’ Wizards – arrive in Middle-earth with their memories hazy and their powers curtailed.
Tolkien only ever wrote about five Istari in his works: Gandalf the Grey, Saruman the White, Radagast the Brown, and the two seldom-seen, unnamed blue wizards. In The Rings of Power season 1’s ending, it is strongly suggested that the Stranger is Gandalf. His memories gradually return in season 1’s closing moments, with the Stranger giving Nori the advice to always follow her nose. This is exactly the same advice Gandalf offers to Merry in The Lord of the Rings.
Another hint at the Stranger being Gandalf is provided when the former turns the acolytes into moths, a creature Gandalf was shown to commune with in both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit,
Why The Stranger & Nori Are Heading For Rhûn In The Rings Of Power Season 2
The Unknown Eastern Lands Hold The Key To The Stranger’s Identity
After these hints, The Rings of Power season 1 ends with the Stranger heading to Rhûn with Nori. Rhûn is a land to the east of Middle-earth, one from which the star constellation he has been seeking can be glimpsed. The aforementioned acolytes are servants of Sauron based in Rhûn, meaning there must be some important answers waiting there. This is likely why the Valar sent the Stranger to Middle-earth with nothing but a memory of Rhûn’s stars; it is undoubtedly a vital place for both understanding Sauron’s plan and allowing the Stranger to figure out what his purpose may be.
The land of Rhûn affords The Rings of Power an excitingly blank slate for season 2 considering J.R.R. Tolkien wrote next to nothing about the country. Sitting to the far east of Middle-earth, Rhûn is populated by Men, mostly the violent kind who follow Sauron and Morgoth, so the Stranger and Nori are heading into enemy territory. Other than that, The Rings of Power has free rein to craft a Middle-earth setting that Tolkien left largely unknown. As evident by trailers and other marketing, The Rings of Power season 2’s Dark Wizard will give Rhûn a unique twist.
The Rings Of Power Changes Why The Three Were Forged
The Rings Are Tied To Elven Power In Middle-earth
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium, the Elves’ three Rings of Power are forged mostly for the love of craftsmanship. However, The Rings of Power season 1’s ending changes this somewhat, implementing the idea that the magic of the elves is fading. This leads to the plot point that mithril, an ore mined by the dwarves of Khazad-dûm, is necessary to ward off the evil infecting the elves, loosely based on Tolkien’s elf life cycle. As such, The Rings of Power completely rewrites the motivation behind the titular pieces of jewelry being crafted.
In The Rings of Power season 1’s ending, the mithril supplied by Durin IV is combined with Galadriel’s knife from Valinor, allowing the three elven rings to be crafted…
In The Rings of Power season 1’s ending, the mithril supplied by Durin IV is combined with Galadriel’s knife from Valinor, allowing the three elven rings to be crafted and staving off certain doom. The Rings of Power season 1 also revealed why three was the magic number. Galadriel believed a single Ring would corrupt its owner, two would court conflict, whereas three would keep balance. Her logic proves correct, as the rings remain uncorrupted until Sauron’s downfall in The Lord of the Rings.
The Rings Of Power Sets Up Sauron’s Season 2 Mission
Annatar Is The Next Move For Sauron’s Master Plan
The Rings of Power‘s season 1 finale stays ambiguous over what lies in store for Sauron when the Amazon TV series eventually returns. By the time credits are rolling, only three Rings of Power have been forged – the trio held by Galadriel, Elrond, and Gandalf throughout The Lord of the Rings. That still leaves the nine rings of men and the seven of the dwarves. Not only are these remaining Rings of Power integral to Sauron’s grand plan, but the leftover sixteen are the ones that carry his villainous influence the most, teasing Rings of Power season 2.
Season 2 has been confirmed to feature Sauron and Celebrimbor as the two lead characters, teasing a psychological battle between the two.
In The Rings of Power season 2, Sauron will return as Annatar. Annatar is the fair, elf-like form the dark lord takes in Tolkien’s books to manipulate Celebrimbor into making more rings. In The Rings of Power season 1’s ending, Celebrimbor was not explicitly told that Halbrand was Sauron, only that he should not trust the former. However, the trailers for Rings of Power season 2 show a different kind of Sauron who worms his way into Celebrimbor’s trust as a giver of gifts, proving the forging of the other rings will be a plot point of the show’s continuation.
Tar-Palantir’s Warning & Earien’s Palantir Vision Explained
The Fate Of Númenor Hangs In The Balance
The Rings of Power‘s season 1’s ending is surprisingly light regarding Númenor, but none of the kingdom’s scenes bode well for its future. Tar-Palantir awakens to deliver a chilling prophecy after mistaking Eärien for his own daughter. He accuses “Míriel” of sneaking off in the dead of night, something she is presumably doing to study the palantír. The King wants his daughter to practice caution, seemingly because overusing the oracle orb is responsible for his constant state of confusion. Tar-Palantir sadly dies before his daughter returns from Middle-earth which makes Míriel the undisputed ruler of Númenor.
Before the King passes away, he inadvertently allows Eärien to access the tower’s palantír chamber, leaving a brand-new mystery for Rings of Power season 2: what did Eärien see? Will she perceive Isildur’s survival? Or catch reruns of the same watery destruction Míriel and Galadriel witnessed? Eärien seemed to resent her father and brother’s friendliness toward Elves earlier in The Rings of Power – Tar-Palantir’s prophecy that shunning Númenor’s old ways will doom the entire island could change her mind, but Eärien might also misinterpret his warning and rally against her own family in Rings of Power season 2.
The Rings Of Power’s Season 1 Finale Teases Numenor’s Dark Future
What Lies In Wait For Númenor?
The bad news continues for Númenor in The Rings of Power season 1’s ending. As the King’s death draws closer, the treacherous Pharazôn begins making arrangements, but his scene contains one not-so-subtle omen for the future. Giving a speech on life and death, Pharazôn mentions immortality “that no man – not even a king – can attain.” This line – and the near-ravenous look on his face as it’s spoken – perfectly foreshadows the Chancellor’s ambitions in The Rings of Power. First, Pharazôn intends to take over as King of Númenor. Second, the villain seeks greater glory – the immortality only Valinor can promise.
As this is happening, Míriel tries figuring out how she can hide her recent blindness from Númenor’s populace. The Queen evidently believes her lack of sight will be interpreted as either a damning indictment of the mission to Middle-earth’s failure, or a discriminatory sign of “weakness” from small-minded subjects. However hard she practices, Míriel is unlikely to fool Pharazôn, who will no doubt find some way to exploit her blindness to his own advantage, leading to the fall of Númenor itself in Rings of Power’s future seasons.
At least Míriel has a friend in Elendil, who finally admits he belongs to the Faithful in The Rings of Power season 1’s ending. Having denied the accusation in previous episodes, Elendil confesses he is a friend to the elves, and wants Númenor to return to its old ways, even in the face of his son’s death. Following his disappearance in Mordor, The Rings of Power doesn’t address Isildur’s fate in its season 1 finale, although audiences will, of course, know he’s alive thanks to The Lord of the Rings and his confirmed return in Rings of Power season 2.
Everything Else The Rings Of Power Sets Up For Season 2
Other Major Events Are Happening In Middle-earth
Aside from the machinations of Sauron, the crafting of the three elven rings, and the fate of Númenor, several other storylines are teased for season 2 in The Rings of Power season 1’s ending. For example, the dwarves of Khazad-dûm have committed a vital error by digging too deep into the mountain, awakening the Balrog who later becomes known as Durin’s Bane. This teases that the Balrog will finally be unleashed in The Rings of Power season 2, threatening the lives of Durin IV, his father, his wife Disa, and his children.
Similarly, Arondir the woodland elf was left off in an interesting place in The Rings of Power season 1’s ending. Arondir reunited with Bronwyn and Theo, the human characters from the Southlands he began to care for. That said, the actor who played Bronwyn confirmed she would not return for season 2 of The Rings of Power, leaving Arondir and Theo’s story to explain why. Finally, there is Adar. Adar is no friend of Sauron and simply wants a home for the orcs. With Sauron’s return now confirmed, his conflict with Adar may be reignited in The Rings of Power season 2.
Rings of Power Season 2 Episodes
Episode Number
Release Date
“Elven Kings Under the Sky”
Season 2, Episode 1
August 29, 2024
“Where the Stars are Strange”
Season 2, Episode 2
August 29, 2024
“The Eagle and the Sceptre”
Season 2, Episode 3
August 29, 2024
TBA
Season 2, Episode 4
September 5, 2024
TBA
Season 2, Episode 5
September 12, 2024
TBA
Season 2, Episode 6
September 19, 2024
TBA
Season 2, Episode 7
September 26, 2024
TBA
Season 2, Episode 8
October 3, 2024
