As its titular character, Sauron is very important in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, so we get to see his paranormal powers portrayed in detail. Despite Sauron exposing his Ainur identity to Celebrimbor, his duplicitous nature revealed itself as he offered Celebrimbor “Lord of the Rings” status. I know that Sauron intends to be the real Lord of the Rings, with his technological talents building to his forging of the dominant One Ring. Jewelry-making is just one of Sauron’s canonical skills, and the show is also looking into some of his lesser-known abilities.

The technicalities of Sauron’s powers were left vague in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, plus its appendices, all of which the show has the rights to adapt. Tolkien also described Sauron’s capacity in The Silmarillion and other posthumous publications. Rings of Power pulls Annatar’s name from The Silmarillion, so it can evidently secure one-off rights from across the legendarium. However, this doesn’t grant the show much more in terms of explicit detail about Sauron’s abilities. I see that this isn’t stopping Rings of Power from deep-diving into a mysterious power central to Sauron’s character.

The Rings Of Power Shows What Sauron Retaking Physical Form Really Looks Like

Sauron Forms A Body In Rings Of Power

The Rings of Power season 2 opened with a flashback to Adar’s murder of Sauron about 1000 years before season 1, necessitating the immortal Sauron to utilize his innate ability to take a new physical form. I can point out a few allusions to Sauron’s ability to regenerate in Tolkien’s work, but none of them covered how the process appeared physically. As an Ainur, Sauron’s undying spirit could shapeshift and form a new body from scratch after being destroyed. This was shown after the murder, Sauron’s black blood dripping from his corpse, eventually taking shape.

The Silmarillion tells how Sauron’s spirit fled to Mordor after the destruction of his body and “dwelt there, dark and silent, until he wrought himself a new guise.” This was vague, but implied that Sauron didn’t have the power of vocalization at first, and had to construct his faculties gradually. Tolkien explained how “Sauron’s power [departed], and his spirit [fled] into the shadows” after Isildur cut the One Ring from his finger. I can see how this could link to the burst of light coming from Sauron’s body as it died in Rings of Power.

Now I Get Why Tolkien Kept Sauron’s Regeneration Power Vague

It’s Hard to Visualize Shapeshifting

Imagining supernatural birth, outside of the conventions of human biology, is a mammoth task, so I can see why J.R.R. Tolkien left the details of it vague in his books. Tolkien painted the Second Age of Middle-earth in very broad strokes, and this served to create a story rich in significance, with one wise sentence able to have multiple meanings. Tolkien would have limited the meaning of some of his passages by adding more specific details to them. However, The Rings of Power is not a book, it is a TV show, and it tells Tolkien’s story in an inherently different format, requiring creative license sometimes.

I respect that we get to see Sauron brought low before we get to see him rise – this is, after all, his journey in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The Rings of Power season 2 exemplified the difficulty of visualizing Sauron’s regeneration and shapeshifting in a few ways, raising perhaps more questions than it answered. I’m now desperate to know what happened in the carriage when Sauron ingested the unsuspecting woman before turning into Halbrand. It’s also arguably on the silly side to have this dark Maiar slithering along like Venom, although I appreciate the relevance. And I respect that we get to see Sauron brought low before we get to see him rise – this is, after all, his journey in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.