TROP Rumor: Season 2 Will Have An 'Angelic' Version Of Sauron (& We All Know What That Means)
Contains potential spoilers for "The Rings of Power" Season 2
Sauron's path through "The Rings of Power" narrative started out confusing. The source material is minimalistic regarding the Dark Lord's activity in the lead-up to the story. It says he's stirring and that he's building Mordor ... and that's about it. Once J. R. R. Tolkien really starts to work Sauron into his incomplete texts on the Second Age, he shows up pretending to be someone else for a bit (more on that in a minute) before reverting to a couple of different versions of his "Dark Lord" persona.
By the time he forcibly loses the One Ring in the war depicted in the opening sequence of Peter Jackson's "The Fellowship of the Ring" film, he's quite a terrifying sight. In fact, "The Silmarillion" book describes his final Second Age form as "terrible, for his fair semblance had departed for ever," adding that he clothed himself in power and "the malice of the Eye of Sauron few even of the great among Elves and Men could endure."
Of course, the fact that he no longer looks fair implies that he once did. Tolkien describes multiple points where Sauron is a good-looking chap — like, really good-looking, guys. One might even say angelic. In fact, the fan site Fellowship of Fans has done just that in a new scoop about "The Rings of Power" Season 2. The rumor starts by saying, "A new actor will play the 'Original Form Sauron' Character in the later episodes of The Rings of Power Season 2, not Charlie Vickers," adding, "This character has been described as 'Angelic' and 'beautiful' in his design with a black and gold costume colour palette and long black hair." Looks like hunky Sauron is on the way, folks — and we all know what that means.
Are we finally getting Annatar on The Rings of Power Season 2?
J. R. R. Tolkien's writings describe the more attractive version of the shapeshifting Sauron at multiple points. "The Silmarillion" text says, "for he could assume many forms, and for long if he willed he could still appear noble and beautiful, so as to deceive all but the most wary." The book also says that at the beginning of the Second Age, Sauron puts on his good-looking bod (we paraphrase) and attempts to convince his enemies that he's repented. This doesn't pan out, so he hides, only to re-appear over a millennia later in his most famous attractive guise of them all: Annatar, Lord of Gifts.
The book "Unfinished Tales" describes Sauron's guise as Annatar thusly, "In Eregion Sauron posed as an emissary of the Valar, sent by them to Middle-earth ('thus anticipating the Istari') or ordered by them to remain there to give aid to the Elves." To translate, Sauron's Annatar persona pretends to be an angelic messenger and helper, much like the Istari or "Wizards" that would come later on (yes, that includes Gandalf). The book adds that while Men were always the easiest to sway, "Long he sought to persuade the Elves to his service, for he knew that the Firstborn had the greater power; and he went far and wide among them, and his hue was still that of one both fair and wise."
Annatar is the cover that Sauron uses to earn the affection of some (but not all) of the Elves. He teaches them many useful things ... and then helps them forge some Rings of Power. Yeah, those Rings of Power. The issue with this story as far as "The Rings of Power" is concerned can be summed up in one name: Halbrand.
Transitioning from Halbrand to Sauron
Season 1 of "The Rings of Power" focused on setting the stage for the truly epic events that are coming down the pike. One of the primary pieces of information revealed is that Sauron is back — but not in the way that most fans familiar with Annatar and the canon story were expecting. Showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay opted to introduce their titular villain with some clever chicanery via a non-canonical bait-and-switch character called Halbrand (Charlie Vickers). Initially billed as the exiled king of the Southlands, Halbrand reveals himself as Sauron in disguise at the end of Season 1.
The addition of Halbrand was fun, as it kept even diehard fans guessing throughout the season. However, it did muddle things up as far as the whole Annatar storyline is concerned. Halbrand even starts helping Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) forge Rings of Power before Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) figures out his ruse. This left audiences stuck somewhere between heartthrob Halbrand and the sly Sauron with the angelic Annatar nowhere in sight.
If the new rumor is true, it may mean the show is attempting to rehabilitate the Annatar storyline by shifting away from Charlie Vicker's iteration of Sauron. Casting a new actor and making them look beautiful and angelic with long, black hair could be a sign that we'll eventually see the Lord of Gifts himself on the screen in Eregion, personally helping forge the remaining Rings of Power.
Rights issues are still a question mark
The one little wrinkle in a potential Annatar storyline in "The Rings of Power" Season 2 (as far as we can see from the outside looking in) is the well-known fact that the show has limited access to J. R. R. Tolkien's Second Age material. In this article alone, we've already quoted both "The Silmarillion" and "Unfinished Tales" — a necessity when describing Annatar. It turns out, though, that the Lord of Gifts doesn't make a named appearance in "The Lord of the Rings" or "The Hobbit" source material that the writers have to work from.
Fortunately, showrunner Patrick McKay already clarified that point last year in an interview with Vanity Fair, where he said, "There's a version of everything we need for the Second Age in the books we have the rights to ... As long as we're painting within those lines and not egregiously contradicting something we don't have the rights to, there's a lot of leeway and room to dramatize and tell some of the best stories that [Tolkien] ever came up with."
McKay is right, too, in the sense that the Sauron/Annatar storyline is briefly touched on in the appendices to "The Return of the King," even if the specifics and the actual name "Annatar" don't show up. Speculating from what we know and the rumor of what's to come, perhaps we'll get an Annatar storyline, even if we don't actually get to hear that specific name given to the character. After all, the show already went out on a limb and made up a new persona for Sauron out of whole cloth. Maybe they'll do it again, just closer to the spirit and more within the lines of what Tolkien originally wrote.
Halbrand probably isn't done
The last point to make here is that Halbrand likely isn't done in the series, even if the leak is true. We know that Charlie Vickers is still on set, and the Fellowship of Fans scoop even addressed the character's continued participation in Season 2 stating, "Charlie Vickers (Halbrand) has spent most of his time on the Mordor sets and is clean shaven but his character design and makeup has a 'fiery' and 'ashy' look to it."
This doesn't clarify that he'll necessarily be called Halbrand still. But if another actor ends up filling the role of the "original Sauron" persona, then Vickers' presence could easily end up being a continuation of Sauron's use of the "King of the Southlands" guise. Let's not forget, Season 1 ended with Halbrand/Sauron entering the newly minted realm of Mordor, where Adar (Joseph Mawle) and his Orcs have set up shop. The last time Adar saw Sauron, presumably in his original form, the twisted Elf split the Dark Lord open — or so he claimed in Episode 6 of Season 1.
If Sauron shows up on the scene literally as Sauron, he will immediately alienate the Orc leader. In Season 1, though, when Adar came face to face with Halbrand, he didn't recognize him. Maybe the Dark Lord will use the Halbrand persona to trick his way into Adar's trust before exacting some long-overdue revenge. Of course, as is the case with all of these inter-season leaks, this is just speculation. Only time (and the eventual release of Season 2) will really answer the Halbrand/Sauron/Annatar question once and for all.