Warning, spoilers for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”! In the season finale, we learned that Halbrand is actually Sauron. But why did we meet such a powerful being like him on a raft in the middle of the sea?
Many signs pointed to Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) turning out to be Sauron at the end of Season 1 of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” – but there was also much to say against it. For example, at first glance it didn’t seem to make sense that such a powerful being, after all one of the Maiar (sort of lesser gods) from Valinor, would be floating helplessly on a raft in the sea. And much of what happened afterwards seemed more like a coincidence than a large-scale plan by Sauron.
One thing is clear: there is a story behind it. Even if many things in the series were certainly not told as some fans would wish, Halbrand certainly did not just happen to be floating on a raft in the sea when he met Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). And Charlie Vickers confirmed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that we’ll learn how Sauron ended up there in season 2.
The Dark Lord unveiled himself in dramatic fashion in the Season 1 finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which reveals that Middle-earth’s Big Bad has been disguising himself as none other than Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) this whole time. SauronFinallyRevealed pic.twitter.com/IBJLkrK4Rm
– 45Brahmin(ब्राह्मण) (@SidharthshuklaC) October 14, 2022
Even though the true identity of Halbrand aka Sauron was revealed in the season finale, not all questions about the character were answered – for example the one about the raft, which might have bothered one or the other until the end. After all, something has to be saved for season 2. And then we will not only find out what Sauron is doing in Mordor now, after he left there at the end of episode 8, but also, which might be even more interesting, something about Sauron’s backstory.
CHARLIE VICKERS MAKES US STEW…
When asked about the reason for his introduction on the raft, Vickers stated that he knew the answer, but would not reveal it now. “We will find out the backstory [in season 2]. That question will be answered at the right time.”
And co-showrunner J.D. Payne confirmed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that season 2 would effectively become “Sauron season”. “Season 1 started with: Who is Galadriel? Where did she come from? What has she been through? What is she driven by? We’re doing the same thing with Sauron in Season 2, we’re going to put in all the missing pieces of the puzzle.”
Incidentally, when Charlie Vickers was filming the raft scene as Halbrand, he didn’t yet know that his character would turn out to be Sauron – but he already suspected it, as he was made to interpret Satan’s passages from John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, among other things, during the audition. In the meantime, however, the actor seems to know considerably more about serial Sauron than the audience…
LONG WAIT FOR SEASON 2
We have to wait quite a long time to find out why Halbrand/Sauron landed on that raft and how the “Rings of Power” writers* explain why the henchman of Morgoth seemed to have no interest in being evil at first. Pure deception? Or really a temporary change of heart?
We don’t expect “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” to start on Amazon Prime Video before 2024, but until then you can enjoy our theories – for example, why the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) doesn’t necessarily have to be Gandalf, although so much points to it.
And who knows, maybe the meteorite man even has something to do with the fact that Sauron landed on the raft in not exactly the best condition. For the two were established as antagonists in the finale, and co-showrunner Patrick McKay has already confirmed that the Stranger’s fate is closely tied to Sauron’s. So have the two perhaps met before…?
