The Rings of Power Season 1 Ending Explained (In Detail)

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power The season 1 finale has some talking points, and here’s how the action breaks down. with The rings of power Season 2 is finally here, many will look back on the events of season 1. Sauron’s Rings of power The plan was formulated here, after all, meaning recapping the story of season 1 is vital to understanding what the dark lord will do next. with Rings of powerSeason 2 reviews hailed it as a darker continuation of season 1, the characters of Middle-earth will reckon with the latter’s climactic reveals.

The rings of power Deliberately built its debut season around one overriding mystery: Where is Sauron? That said, The rings of powers 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 story of Mordur and Mount Doom that was written, while a king drew his last breath and a wizard arrived just when he meant to. with The rings of powerSeason 2 Timeline After the momentous events, here’s everything that was revealed in the season 1 finale.

Halbrand is revealed as Sauron’s rings of power

The King of the Southlands is actually the Dark Lord himself

After a fake-out involving the stranger, The rings of power Confirmed what many suspected as soon as Charlie Vickers’ character first appeared: Halfrand is Sauron. Now, suitably recovered from Adar’s assassination attempt, Sauron has assumed 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 Seal of the Southlands to finding an injury that can only be cured by elven medicine, Sauron seems to have manipulated events to his advantage throughout the season.

Naturally, Sauron’s overarching goal was to reach Celebrimbor and set the forging of Middle-earth’s rings of power in motion. Like all villains, Sauron believes he’s the good guy The rings of powerwaxing 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 The rings of power In Season 1, his interest in Galadriel is genuine, with the villain trying to tempt his companion with a spot by his shadow side.

The stranger is (presumably) Gandalf the Grey

The mysterious giant has been confirmed as one of the Istar of Lord of the Rings

in The rings of power Season 1’s ending, the Stranger was 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 in 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 and their powers curtailed.

Tolkien only wrote about five Istari in his work: Gandalf the Grey, Saruman the White, Radagast the Brown, and the two rarely seen, unnamed Blue Wizards. in The rings of power season 1’s finale, It is strongly suggested that the stranger is Gandalf. His memories gradually return in the closing moments of season 1, with the stranger giving Nori the advice to always follow her nose. This is exactly the same advice that Gandalf offers Merry in The Lord of the Rings.

Why the Stranger and Nori are heading to Rhûn in Rings of Power Season 2

The unknown eastern countries hold the key to the foreigner’s identity

After these tips, 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 of which the constellation he sought 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 Rhun’s star; It is undoubtedly a vital place for both understanding Sauron’s plan and allowing the Stranger to figure out what his purpose might be.

The land of Rhûn offers The rings of power An exciting blank slate for season 2 considering JRR Tolkien wrote next to nothing about the country. Sitting to the far east of Middle-earth, Rhûn is populated by humans, mostly the violent kind that follow Sauron and Morgoth, so the Stranger and Norri are heading into enemy territory. besides that, The rings of power had free rein to create a Middle-earth setting that Tolkien left largely unknown. As evident through trailers and other marketing, The rings of power The Dark Wizard of Season 2 will give Rhûn a unique twist.

The rings of power change that the three were forged

The rings are tied to elven power in Middle-earth

In JRR Tolkien’s Legendarium, the elves’ three rings of power are forged mostly for the love of craftsmanship. however, The rings of power The ending of season 1 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 that infects the elves, loosely based on Tolkien’s eleven life cycle. how so The rings of power Completely rewrite the motivation behind the titular piece of jewelry being crafted.

in The rings of power In season 1’s finale, the mithril supplied by Durin IV was combined with Galadriel’s knife of Valinor, allowing the three elven rings to be crafted and warding off certain doom. The rings of power Season 1 also revealed why three was the magic number. Galadriel believed that one ring would corrupt its owner, two would bring trouble, while three would maintain balance. Her logic proved correct, as the rings remain uncorrupted until Sauron’s fall The Lord of the Rings.

The Rings of Power set up Sauron’s Season 2 mission

Annatar is the next step for Sauron’s master plan

The rings of powerThe season 1 finale stays ambiguous about what’s in store for Sauron when the Amazon TV series eventually returns. By the time the credits roll, only three rings of power have been forged—the trio held by Galadriel, Elrond, and Gandalf. The Lord of the Rings. That still leaves the nine rings of men and the seven of the dwarves. Not only are the remaining rings of power integral to Sauron’s grand plan, but the remaining sixteen are the ones that carry his villainous influence the most, teasingly Rings of power Season 2.

in The rings of power Season 2 Sauron will return as Annatar. Annatar is the beautiful, elf-like form that the Dark Lord takes in Tolkien’s books to manipulate Celebrimbor into making more rings. in The rings of power In season 1’s finale, Celebrimbor isn’t explicitly told that Halbrand is Sauron, just that he shouldn’t trust the former. However, the trailers for Rings of power Season 2 shows a different kind of Sauron who warms 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 powerThe end of season 1 is surprisingly light on Númenor, but none of the scenes of the kingdom bode well for its future. Tar-Palantir awakens to deliver a chilling prophecy after making a mistake with his own daughter. He blames “Miriel” for sneaking away in the night, something she probably does to study the Palantir. The king wants his daughter to exercise caution, apparently because overusing the oracle orb is responsible for his constant state of confusion. Tor-Palantir dies sadly before his daughter returns from Middle-earth, making Miriel the undisputed ruler of Númenor.

Before the king leaves, he inadvertently allows Eärien to access the tower’s palace chamber, leaving a brand new mystery for Rings of power Season 2: What did Eärien see? Will she recognize 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 towards elves earlier in The rings of power – Tar-Palantir’s prophecy that abandoning the old ways of Númenor will doom the entire island may change her mind, but Eärien may also misinterpret his warning and rally against her own family Rings of power Season 2.

The Season 1 finale of The Rings of Power teases the dark future of Numenor

What lies in wait for Númenor?

The bad news continues for Númenor The rings of power Season 1’s ending. As the king’s death approaches, the treacherous Farazon begins to make arrangements, but his scene contains one not-so-subtle portent for the future. With a speech about life and death, Pharazôn mentions immortality “That no man – not even a king – can achieve“This line – and the almost-glorious look on his face as it is 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 is trying to figure out how to hide her recent blindness from Númenor’s populace. The queen obviously believes that her lack of sight will be interpreted as a damning accusation of the mission to failure of Middle-earth, or a discriminatory sign of “weakness” of small-minded subjects. However hard she practices, Míriel is unlikely to fool Pharazôn, who will no doubt find a way to exploit her blindness to his own advantage, leading to the downfall of Númenor itself in Rings of powers future seasons.

At least Miriel has a friend in Elendil, who finally admits that he belongs to the faithful The rings of power Season 1’s ending. Having denied the accusation in previous episodes, Elendil admits that 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. After his disappearance in Mordor, The rings of power doesn’t address Isildur’s fate in its season 1 finale, though 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 set 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 have been teased for season 2 in The rings of power Season 1’s ending. For example, the dwarves of Khazad-dûm committed a fatal error by digging too deep into the mountain, awakening the Balrog that later became known as Durin’s Bane. This teases that the Balrog will finally be unleashed 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 is left off in an interesting place in The Rings of power Season 1’s ending. Arondir reunited with Bronwyn and Theo, the human characters of the Southlands he had begun to care for. The actor who played Bronwyn confirmed that she would not be returning for season 2 of The rings of powerLeaving the story of Arondir and Theo to explain why. Finally, Adr. Adar is no friend of Sauron and only wants a home for the Orcs. With Sauron’s return now confirmed, his conflict with Adar could be reignited The rings of power Season 2.