The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 has provided the perfect example of why only a Hobbit could have beaten the Dark Lord Sauron. Frodo Baggins, Sam Gamgee, and Gollum were responsible for the One Ring’s destruction in The Lord of the Rings, which is something the Dark Lord never anticipated. This wasn’t by accident, and The Rings of Power has now demonstrated why the Men, Elves, and Dwarves of Middle-earth stood no real chance against the Dark Lord and his Rings of Power—and this all comes from an admission from Sauron himself.

In The Rings of Power season 2, episode 5, Sauron (as Annatar) and Celebrimbor distributed the Seven Dwarven Rings. With this complete, the Dark Lord-in-disguise set his sights on his Nine Rings intended for Men, but he faced some resistance from Celebrimbor. The Lord of Eregion pointed out that Men were too easily corrupted and couldn’t be trusted with such a weapon. To this, Annatar gave a rather effective speech, stating that “Men are capable of great frailty. But when the darkness falls, there are always some who rise forth and shine.“

Sauron’s Speech About Men Shows Why Only Hobbits Could Beat Him

Sauron Had His Eye Fixed On The Race Of Men

During Annatar’s speech about Men in Rings of Power, he listed some notable First Age characters who achieved greatness during their time. Tuor, Eärendil (a half-Elf), and Beren were among them, each a Man who had overcome the faults of his race to do remarkable things and stand against Morgoth. Since this original Dark Lord had been Sauron’s superior, it’s not lost on him how unlikely Men’s victory over evil was. He anticipated that this race would be a significant obstacle to his success and wanted to put Rings on the fingers of their most influential leaders to keep them at bay.

Sauron’s belief that Men were his greatest threat continued well past the Second Age. During the events of The Lord of the Rings, the Dark Lord most feared the heir of Gondor, which is why his eye stayed fixed on Aragorn at the end while a humble Hobbit snuck into Mordor and destroyed his One Ring. This is precisely why Gandalf’s plan was so genius. The wizard knew which beings of Middle-earth Sauron feared, and they weren’t Hobbits. The Rings of Power‘s version of Sauron proved this even further.

Sauron’s The Rings Of Power Speech Predicts His Second-Age Defeat

Sauron’s fear of Men would grow after the Second Age since it was only validated during the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Just as in the First Age with Tuor, Eärendil, Beren, and more, it was the brave actions of Men that saw to the Dark Lord’s downfall. While Rings of Power season 2 is still a long way from this event, Isildur is predestined to be the one to cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand, thus separating the villain from the power on which he made himself dependent. After centuries of slowly scrambling to regain power, Sauron remained wary of Isildur’s heirs all the way to the very end.

Other Reasons Only Hobbits Could Beat Sauron In The Lord Of The Rings

Hobbits Were The Unlikely Perfect Heroes

Sauron having his attention so fixed on Men, as demonstrated in Rings of Power season 2, is one of the reasons that Hobbits were the best fit to defeat him—but that’s not all. Gandalf spent centuries figuring out the best way to handle the Dark Lord, and during that time, he got to know the Hobbits and came to greatly admire them. They were supremely simple beings who cared for nothing more than peace and comfort. They were low in ambition but full of heart. This meant that they were naturally more resistant to the One Ring, which preyed on much larger desires than Hobbits typically possessed.

Tolkien stated that Hobbits were ” related ” to the race of Men.

In a sense, Sauron was as right as he could get about Men in Rings of Power. Since Men and Elves were the only Children of Ilúvatar, Hobbits must have evolved from the former. Their very distant ancestors would have been part of the race that the Dark Lord feared—he just never noticed that the descendants with the true power to destroy him were those he never even bothered to notice. Gandalf, on the other hand, recognized the role that all races would play and didn’t count out the little guys who would be the most unlikely of heroes.