Editor's note: The below article contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

From the beginning of Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, we're told of the initial defeat of both of Middle-earth's biggest Dark Lords, Morgoth and Sauron, in thousands of years past. Though Morgoth has been defeated and imprisoned, Sauron is still out there – though no one seems to know where exactly the evil sorcerer may be. By the time we catch up with Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and her group of Elven warriors, Sauron has long since vanished, leaving behind little else but an icy fortress in the North, a corpse of an orc experiment, and a symbol shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Having first seen this symbol on her brother Finrod's (Will Fletcher) corpse after his murder at the hands of Sauron, Galadriel deduces that the Dark Lord is still out there, plotting his return.

There has been much speculation as to what exactly Sauron's latest symbol means, and while The Rings of Power has yet to give us a clear answer, there's no doubt that the connotations are something sinister. That said, there are plenty of theories out there as to what this dark token could mean, making the mystery surrounding it all the more interesting. There's no doubt that the plot behind The Rings of Power is going to unfold a bit slower than your standard Lord of the Rings adaptation, especially given this is a time period in Middle-Earth history that the general audience knows little to nothing about, but there's no reason we can't speculate in the meantime!

The Symbol Might Be What Comes Before the Great Eye

Eye-of-Sauron

The most obvious guess is that this symbol is a precursor to, or just The Rings of Power's adaptation of, the classic "Eye of Sauron" symbol worn by the Dark Lord's most loyal followers and enforcers. According to J.R.R. Tolkien's own books, Sauron's own Orc followers referred to him as "the Eye" simply because he refused to let them write or speak his name. This symbol itself signified Sauron's own nigh-omnipotence and his ever-reaching power that would take Middle-Earth if he were to obtain the One Ring once more. Of course, that's all in the Third Age, and since Rings of Power takes place in the Second Age, it's unclear if these things will be true in this Tolkien-inspired series.

Contrary to the Peter Jackson trilogy of films, the books seem to imply that Sauron actually had a body during the time of The Lord of the Rings, and wasn't just some energy eye overlooking the shadowlands. This is evident when Gollum explains in The Two Towers that Sauron has four fingers, missing one where the One Ring used to be. But despite this, the books also imply that Frodo and Sam encounter an actual flaming Eye, one that overlooks Mordor. According to Christopher Tolkien, "The passage is notable in showing the degree to which my father had come to identify the Eye of Barad-dûr with the mind and will of Sauron..."

While the Eye of Sauron is not exactly Sauron himself, they're connected in a way that makes them almost one and the same, and while the symbol seen in The Rings of Power isn't the physical Great Eye of Mordor, it seems like this new symbol might be a precursor to the brand that the Dark Lord's armies would wear into battle. Can Sauron see and hear what others on the other end of the symbol are saying and doing? Is this an experiment that would one day result in the Great Eye itself? Only time will tell...

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Sauron's Symbol Is Actually a Map of Mordor

the-lord-of-the-rings-mordor-map

A theory that's been popularized online, especially by The Nerd of the Rings, is the idea that this dark symbol - if turned sideways - is actually a map of the land of Mordor, Sauron's eventual kingdom in the southeastern corner of Middle-Earth. Currently, The Rings of Power shows these Southlands being occupied primarily by Men, as well as a grouping of Elves sent to patrol that region - among them being the made-for-series Silvan Elf named Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova). Though Men rule these lands for now, an underground army of Orcs threatens to overtake the lands for the Dark Lord.

If you look closely at the symbol when it's turned on its side, you see the squarish outline nearly matches the same mountainous outline that surrounds the lands of Mordor on a Map of Middle-Earth. Then, the line through the middle with the small angular divot matches up perfectly with the location of the famed Mount Doom - the same volcanic mountain where Sauron would eventually forge the One Ring, and the same one where Frodo and Sam destroy it in The Return of the King.

While some may see this as a stretch, there's no doubt that there seems to be something of a connection between this symbol and the lands of Mordor. After all, the Southlands seen in The Rings of Power will eventually become the Dark Lord's domain, and one of these symbols was also found there. Could it be that this sigil represents both the Great Eye and a map of Mordor? At this point, it seems likely.

A Sinister Spell

Another theory is that, as Voldemort infused a part of his soul into his Horcruxes in the Harry Potter series, so Sauron here has infused his essence after his previous defeats with these symbols across Middle-Earth, therefore increasing his power while also keeping himself from death. As the symbol helps Sauron continue to grow in power, he would better be able to disguise his presence from the like of Galadriel, Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker), and Elrond (Robert Aramayo), while still amassing his own armies to overthrow the Southlands. Again, this may be an even bigger stretch, but so far we've seen some evidence that this might be true, at least in part.

It's in the Southlands that the young Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin), the teenage son of Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi), stumbles upon a broken sword that bears this strange symbol. What's even more disturbing though is that the sword extracts blood from Theo's open wound to either restore itself from the previous destruction or transport itself from the unseen world into the seen (just like the Nazgûl's Morgul-blades in The Lord of the Rings). Up North, Galadriel discovered one in an icy fortress, juxtaposed with an Orc corpse fused into the wall. It seems that these symbols are more than just evil brand logos, but also sigils of power that only a sorcerer like Sauron (also known as The Necromancer) could cast, tying the mortal and immortal worlds together.

Could these symbols be the gateway for Sauron's return to Middle-Earth? Will they be doors for an otherworldly army to walk through? Is there any way to destroy them? As The Rings of Power continues to unfold, and we witness more of the Second Age leading up to the inevitable Last Alliance of Men and Elves, all these answers will hopefully be revealed, but until then it's exciting to speculate about what exactly the Dark Lord might be up to, and how our heroes might stop him!

The first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are streaming now on Prime Video. New episodes become available every Friday.