Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.There are times when a plot twist makes the audience see all the events leading up to it in a completely different light, and the season finale of The Rings of Power did just that. All season long, viewers have been speculating where Sauron has been while Adar took over the Southlands. Many thought Adar (Joseph Mawle) himself could have been Sauron in disguise. Others thought that The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) could have turned out to be Sauron since he wasn’t able to remember whether he was good or evil.
The truth in this story was that Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) had been Sauron the whole time, and this reveal puts every one of his previous actions in a darker, more evil perspective. There were many small indications in the earlier episodes, but they were not so obvious at first. Once viewers learn the truth, it’s far easier to look back and see the foreshadowing events as well as the reasons Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) was blind to his deception.
Early Signs That Are Obvious Now
Halbrand’s decisions made him seem like a man running away from his mistakes who wanted to start a new life far away from his past. Watching those early events knowing he’s Sauron, though, it’s easy to see how he used Galadriel's drive for revenge to motivate her to bring him back to Middle-earth. As Halbrand, he continuously denied her claim that he was part of the Southland’s royal bloodline, but that was to manipulate Galadriel into believing she had to bring him back to Middle-earth to restore the Southland Kingdom. The more he denied it, the more Galadriel wanted to believe that he was the lost King. His denial of an identity Galadriel wanted to believe in kept her from being suspicious about any other identity he might be hiding.
Another early sign that Halbrand is Sauron is his interest in becoming a blacksmith the moment they arrive at Númenor. He begs for a job at the forge the first chance he gets. Looking back, we can tell that Sauron is seeking the best way to forge his rings of power, and that explains his interest in the job. At the time the episode came out, though, Halbrand’s goal of living as a blacksmith on Númenor seemed innocuous, like a homeless man just looking for a job he’s had experience doing. Once he agrees to go back to Middle-earth with Galadriel to defend the Southland, Sauron seems to believe that staying close to Galadriel is more important than beginning his work forging the rings.
Halbrand Is So Charming and Likable, Though…
Before the reveal, Halbrand’s charming personality seems like a defense mechanism any human would use to survive. When Galadriel’s behavior nearly gets them locked up the moment they arrive at Númenor, Halbrand calmly defuses the tension and successfully proposes a solution that made both sides amicable. His skills of diplomacy are emphasized even more when Galadriel is imprisoned with him, and he teaches her that the best way to get what you want from someone is “to offer them a way to master their fear” so they’ll be more willing to give in to any request you make afterward.
When Galadriel escapes her cell, Halbrand makes a deal with Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) to reveal exactly where she’s headed in exchange for a blacksmith's guild badge. This bargain happens off-screen, though, because we simply see him later working in the forges wearing his badge. At this point in the series, it seems Halbrand can sweet-talk his way into getting whatever he wants.
Sauron’s Manipulative Form of Diplomacy
Knowing now that it was Sauron all the while makes all of his diplomatic efforts that much more diabolical. He convinces others to do what’s best for him every time, such as giving them extra time on the island after they arrive, or getting the guild badge he hadn’t earned. What makes these actions manipulative, though, is that he convinces whoever has what he wants that it was their decision to give it to him. Pharazôn believes that it was his decree that allowed Galadriel and Halbrand a few days when it was really Sauron’s idea. Pharazôn is a devout King’s Man who is completely against the elves, so Halbrand gives him a way to stop the elves' efforts in exchange for the guild badge he needs to forge on Númenor. Every time he came across someone who had what he needed, he figured out what they needed most first, offered them a way to have it, and then request what he needed to keep working towards his goal of forging the rings.
Why Would Sauron Fight Against the Urûk?
It seems counterintuitive that Sauron would join Galadriel and the Númenorians to save the Southlanders from Adar’s Urûk. It almost seemed that Halbrand was truly good, and his story could have been a parallel plot to the journey Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) takes centuries later to become King. All that came to pass after the battle, though, was the exact outcome Sauron wanted. Adar and the Urûk had rebelled against him after he was experimenting on them, so killing them in the battle would have been enforcing a punishment for their disobedience. When they capture Adar, Sauron asks “do you remember me” not because he wants him to, but to make sure that he isn’t recognizable in his fair form, and the relief is visible on Sauron’s face when Adar says no. Sauron also wanted the Southlands covered in darkness to provide a homeland for his armies, so there may have been ways that Sauron helped Adar succeed in that plan. He also knows that Mount Doom will provide him with the best possible forge to create his master ring in secret, so he benefits from everything that happened after Mount Doom erupted.
Sauron Tries to Get Galadriel on His Side
From the moment Galadriel is saved by Sauron adrift on that raft, Sauron sees a vulnerable elf blinded by a desire for revenge and decides to take advantage of her every chance he can. All the things he said to Galadriel were to manipulate her so that they both would wind up exactly where he wanted them to be. In order to heal Sauron’s wound from the battle, Galadriel takes him to be healed by elves. This is when Sauron meets Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), the greatest elven blacksmith of the age who forged many magical items in Middle-earth. Sauron is astounded at the forge he’s built, and begins manipulating him into making an object that would harness “the power of the unseen world” to control anyone he wished.
Before anything is made, though, Galadriel finds out that the royal bloodline of the Southland rulers ended a thousand years ago and confronts ‘Halbrand’ to tell her his real identity. At the moment that he finally tells her the truth, he takes control of her mind and shows her visions of her dead brother Finrod (Will Fletcher) gaslighting her by suggesting Sauron is actually good. He then tries to convince her that he wouldn’t be a Dark Lord if she were by his side, but she can see through his lies now. Despite discovering Halbrand’s true identity, all of Sauron’s past good deeds while traveling with her ring that much darker, cold and calculated in hindsight because he made her his unwitting ally. That will surely have an effect on Galadriel’s faith in herself moving forward.