Sauron’s love interest in The Rings of Power should have been this elven character, not Galadriel

This article contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power.The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power It’s clearly not a problem to tease romantic relationships between Tolkien’s characters, but it left one aspect of Sauron’s romance unfortunately unexplored. Rings of Power Season 1 ended the season-long Sauron mystery box by confirming Halbrand was Sauron. Season 2 left room to focus on the Stranger mystery box while exploring Sauron. While the series ended the second season symmetrically by opening the Stranger’s mystery box and confirming that he was Gandalf, it had an entire season to develop the Sauron and Galadriel teaser romance and explore Sauron’s relationships with other characters.

Poppy’s courtship with one of the pre-Hobbit Sturs and Isildur’s romance with Estrid do little to discredit them, offering levity and emotional appeal for modern audiences without altering the source material of high fantasy master J. R. R. Tolkien. The Elendil-Mirieli Romance and the Sauron-Galadriel Romance distort the characters presented by Tolkien, making them more questionable. But the show uses subtext very well, leaving many interpretations of this relationship possible. The cast and crew often share their views, but keep their romances open where it matters – on screen. So there was room for another subtextual novel.

The relationship between Sauron and Celebrimbor could have a romantic connotation

Strange subtext could improve their relationship

It’s a hot choice, but Rings of Power Season 2 should have delicately applied subtle, strange subtext and imagery to the relationship between Sauron and Celebrimbor.. This would make their power play more compelling. Annatar and Celebrimbor are a popular couple in the fandom, referred to as the Giver of Silver.celebrity“meaning silver and”Anna“which in the Elvish language Quenya means gift. Showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne even confirmed that the show’s seduction of Annatar was promising, admitting “it’s easy for your imagination to get there” (by using TPP). Sticking with this bold but understandable headcanon would have paid off.

The show clearly wanted to show a level of genuine connection and respect between Sauron and Celebrimbor that went beyond Sauron’s deception. It was a brilliant move that in the series, Sauron’s murder of Celebrimbor is presented as a conflicted and emotional loss of control.proving that the partnership was absolutely real for Sauron. The tension between false and real affection is what makes Sauron and Galadriel’s relationship compelling, and the show was right to try to apply that here. It’s this psychological depth that makes the five-season TV show a great sandbox for Tolkien’s sweeping epic.

However, the sincere affection of Sauron and Celebrimbor did not entirely justify itself. Celebrimbor did not rise to Sauron’s level in creative or spiritual inspiration, power, wit or potential by reacting to this. Meanwhile, Sauron was not vulnerable with Celebrimbor. If Sauron truly believed that Celebrimbor was to blame as he said, he wouldn’t have found his loss so heartbreaking because he wouldn’t respect him enough. The series’ attempt to depict Sauron opening up to Celebrimbor was marked by a compromise of a truly hideous Sauron with good drama.

But the reality is that only by making a good drama can you truly achieve the most faithful adaptation possible, because only then can the underlying themes of the source material truly resonate with today’s audiences. Rings of Power it was necessary to plumb the depths of two characters going too far and working too hard together in close contact. Sauron and Celebrimbor increasingly needed to show rare, ephemeral truthfulness at the end of long days, when they were both too tired for anything else.

Subtle, strange subtext and imagery could perfectly highlight this dynamic. They could make so many analogies about “prohibited“but genuine emotion, affection and respect between two people on opposite sides. If used wisely, this could avoid both exploitation and conflict with the canons. Tolkien’s sublime, sweeping epic could be continued just without overtly destroying his reality. Meanwhile, lingering glances, sparkling banter bordering on flirtation, and metaphors of penetration such as knives thrown at walls could highlight the danger and stakes of this connection.

Dangerous people deserve dangerous dialogue. The incredibly subtle romance between Sauron and Celebrimbor would have worked on many levels. because in a sense, sexual motivation is more likely for Sauron than actual affection. But the beauty is that this motivation can remain a mystery. The growing effect of the romantic undertone would have made it more convincing that Celebrimbor and Sauron had a good relationship, making the end of their relationship truly sad rather than just a canonical inevitability.

Celebrimbor makes more sense as Sauron’s love interest than Galadriel

Celebrimbor and Sauron established a canon working relationship

Celebrimbor may have made more sense as a romantic joke for Sauron than Galadriel. Galadriel was married to Celeborn in the Second Age. Rings of Power had to be subverted to make way for the Halbrand-Galadriel arc. But Celebrimbor had no such obstacles to falling in love with someone. Plus, Arch of Celebrimbor Lord of the Rings really pushed him towards Annatar. Galadriel met Sauron in Eregion in the Second Age. Unfinished Talesbut this was far from the dominant narrative – Tolkien had many versions of the story of Galadriel.

The Horrible Death of Celebrimbor Rings of Power the second season was one of Tolkien’s most triumphant installments. But The connection between Sauron and Celebrimbor lacks a certain degree of completion.. Sauron’s character must now evolve towards darkness and away from any real recognition of Celebrimbor’s influence on him. As long as the scope of Tolkien’s Second Age complex moral interactions remains, perhaps one moment of realization on Sauron’s part may be enough to somehow bid Celebrimbor an honest farewell, as befits a man of ancient intelligence.

Queer bullying is a problem on TV, but there’s room for queer subtext too

There’s room for unrealized queer subtext

The use of queer subtext that remains unrealized in film and television is known as queer-baiting, and it is a real problem, but strange and unrealized subtext is absolutely not bad. Unrealized homoerotic subtext and other kinds of queer coding can be used well. This is an adaptation of a classic story so widely loved and so popular in English literature, British culture and world fantasy. Rings of Power has the right to operate within a carefully defined radius of acceptable original material. Any adaptation requires original material, and the show tests its limits.

The compromise I faced Rings of Power – that between fidelity and drama is the same trade-off that all adaptations face. But in none of the film adaptations currently on television does the problem manifest itself so clearly. The need to adapt such an old text, written in such an archaic style, to a modern format, Payne and McKay have a tougher job than any other showrunner. there. But the rewards are insurmountable. “I woke up before the first silence fell.was the line that sent shivers down the spine the first time Gandalf said his name.

The beauty of subtext is that it allows content to exist in multiple worlds, allowing many to be right in their interpretation. In adaptations like this, where huge compromises are inevitable, subtext is key to moving the story forward. Sauron and Celebrimbor were on the right path. The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power and the additional queer subtext required for it would be so subtle that it would be almost non-existent, negating the commercialization of queer struggle. It would simply push the relationship into its zone of influence—a dynamic so compelling that anything is possible.

Source: TPP