I would love to believe that the production of Rings of Power was brilliant in casting a charismatic actor in the role of Sauron, but the truth is that they made a mistake in the narrative of Galadriel – and even the actress – turning the saga’s declared antagonist into our favorite character. Yes, I root for Sauron! Do you understand how the incompetence of the screenwriters has messed up my head?

I’ve been complaining about Morfydd Clark as Galadriel for a while now, and after a season of arrogance and deceit, she not only let Sauron (Charles Vickers) live but gave him the chance to advance his evil plan for total domination, only dispensing with being by his side as his consort after much hesitation, I might add.

In Game of Thrones and now in House of the Dragon, the story makes us empathize with antagonists even though we don’t necessarily come to “like” them. Yes, we had the psychopaths Ramsay Bolton or Joffrey Baratheon, Cersei Lannister was disgusting, just as Alicent Hightower and her children are mind-blowing, but what we know about their motivations and flaws makes them more interesting, not popular or justified. In Rings of Power, Sauron not only adopted an image of an interesting man, but his enemy is so earthly for an elf that SHE seems to be wrong all the time, and he? Well, a complex man.

By the way, Sauron is not a man. As a central figure in the mythology created by J.R.R. Tolkien, he was originally a Maia, a type of spiritual being created by Eru Ilúvatar, the supreme god in Tolkien’s universe. He served Aulë, one of the Valar, before being corrupted by Melkor (or Morgoth), the first Dark Lord, who became the most powerful of the Valar. In the Silmarillion book, which serves as the basis for the series, Morgoth is the main antagonist and responsible for much of the evil that plagued Arda, the land where Tolkien’s stories take place.

Before changing sides, when he was still considered “admirable”, Sauron served Aulë, the smith of the Valar, acquiring vital knowledge for his future plan. He allied himself with Morgoth because he hated disorder and the villain’s power was something he found irresistible. He acted first as a spy, then as a traitor, until he openly aligned himself with the enemy of the Valar, already demonstrating his greatest talent: manipulation. As a lieutenant, he played a significant role in the battles and in the creation of the Orcs, but when Morgoth was captured and exiled, Sauron escaped.

All of this is explained and mentioned in the series, but we did not see the conflict of the First Age. We only know that Morgoth was defeated by the combined forces of the Valar, elves, and men and cast into the Void, a kind of exile outside the world of Arda.

With Morgoth’s absence, a power vacuum was created and Sauron, who is a spiritual being of lesser power than the Valar, took the opportunity to establish himself as the new lord of evil in Arda. In the 1st season, this is mentioned and is the driving force behind Galadriel’s personal revenge because her brother was allegedly killed by Sauron. In the 2nd season, we see the moment in which Sauron (played by Jack Lowden) tries to impose himself in Morgoth’s place, but is betrayed and presumably “killed”. However, we see that as a kind of Venom and Voldemort, he changes form as needed and takes a while to assume a human image, with the Australian Charlie Vickers standing out as his face.

Sauron’s plan is clear and even simple: he wants to follow what Morgoth started and dominate the world. Without the same level of power as Morgoth, he compensates for this “flaw” by being extremely cunning and manipulative. One of his most accurate attitudes is to never lie but to let others fill in what he doesn’t say with what they want to hear. He knows how to map out his opponents with ease and agility and we know that he will be victorious for a time, managing to deceive many people and consolidate his dominion over Middle Earth. His reign of terror culminates in the creation of Mordor as his main stronghold. All of this is what we can expect from Rings of Power.

Experts say that Tolkien was against the idea of ​​absolute evil, but that Sauron would be the closest thing to what he called “a totally evil will”. A bit like Dracula from Bram Stoker‘s 1897 book, and even more like the legend of Balor of the Evil Eye, a character from Irish mythology, Sauron didn’t have a face in Peter Jackson‘s trilogy (which fans didn’t like), being more of a spirit and evil influence than a physical being, hence the space in the Amazon Prime Video series to explore his appearance as it wished.

However, Sauron’s popularity today seems more like an accident than something planned, as I’ve been saying. We’re following how he’s following through on his plan to have power rings given to the leaders of each species and how he already wants to forge the One Ring to rule over them all. This is where we are in Rings of Power, with Sauron now wearing an elven and golden look, assuming the appearance of Annatar, the “Lord of Gifts”. This is how he is tricking the blacksmith Celebrimbor, helping to forge the Rings of Power.

In a story that is more than known, spoilers are inevitable. We know that Sauron will make the Ring that rules over the others in Mordor and that this will lead the world to go to war against him. Sauron will kill Celebrimbor and take the Seven and Nine Rings of Power, but the three that are with the Elves Gil-galad, Círdan, and Galadriel, stay away from his domain.

Although in the books Galadriel is shrewd and suspicious, never completely trusting Annatar, warning the other elves about him, in the series she ends up being manipulated by him and has an almost romantic connection with the villain. Currently, as one of his main opponents, she is committed to using her power and influence to resist Sauron’s forces and protect her kingdom, Lothlórien. Her ring, Nenya, known as the Ring of Water, will help preserve and protect Lothlórien from Sauron’s evils.

But it is the battle of Númenor that promises to be a highlight of the season, as well as Sauron’s control of Mordor, completing the Dark Tower of Barad-dûr. With the Seven and Nine Rings, Sauron will enslave Men by transforming them into Nazgûl, and making the Orcs and Trolls his servants, along with the Easterlings and the men of Harad. In addition to the Elves, the Dwarves will not bend to his will.

The conflicts of the Second Age will be violent. Elves and Men will form an alliance, led by Gil-galad and Elendil, which was mentioned as a prologue to Peter Jackson‘s trilogy, but is the heart of Rings of Power. We know that Elendil will eventually be overthrown by Sauron and that Isildur and before that, Sauron will lose his ability to have a beautiful physical appearance, but until then, we are tortuously inclined to like him more than the good guys. The perfect hero figure is missing here – Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) – who, although from the lineage of Elendil and Isildur, had an incorruptible and very empathetic character. And yes, we noticed that Charlie looks like Viggo and this deliberately confused us in the 1st season, when he still accepted being called Hallbrand.

We still have only three of the eight episodes of the season released, but Charlie Vickers seems to me to be assured of surviving the chaos that is this production. Announced for years as the platform’s greatest creative investment, it made a big mistake in the premiere and is having difficulty recovering. Rings of Power needs Sauron and he, cruelly, already dominates us. Could it be Tolkien’s fault?

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