A new rumor concerning Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power claims to shed light on why Sauron and the original character of Adar are rivals in the show. Not only does it claim to reveal this information, but it also asserts that the studio has acquired the rights to The Silmarillion.
Joseph Mawle as Adar in The Lord of the Ring: The Rings of Power
This latest information comes from Cliff Broadway at TheOneRing.net. First, Broadway claims, “Amazon secretly acquired the rights to The Silmarillion for use in this 2nd Season!”
He added that his sources close to the show’s producers informed him, “Most significantly, according to verifiable spy reports Prime Video has secretly acquired the rights to The Silmarillion — unbeknownst to us.
The Silmarillion: Illustrated Edition / Edition 2 (2004), HarperCollins Publishers
This is certainly surprising news given showrunner JD Payne made it explicit that Prime Video did not have the rights to The Silmarillion back in February 2022 when promoting the first season of the show.
He told Vanity Fair, “We have the rights solely to The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, the appendices, and The Hobbit. And that is it. We do not have the rights to The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, or any of those other books.”
Morfydd Clark as Galadriel and Charlie Vickers as Halbrand in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022), Prime Video
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At the time, his fellow showrunner Patrick McKay explained why they didn’t need the rights to the other books, “There’s a version of everything we need for the Second Age in the books we have the rights to.”
He added, “As long as we’re painting within those lines and not egregiously contradicting something we don’t have the rights to, there’s a lot of leeway and room to dramatize and tell some of the best stories that [Tolkien] ever came up with.”
Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor and Robert Aramayo as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022), Prime Video
Along with revealing that the show now has the rights to The Silmarillion, Broadbeam also shared details about Sauron for the second season. He revealed that the reason between the rivalry between Adar and Sauron is because Adar killed Sauron’s son prior to the events of Season 1.
Broadbeam writes, “Newly leaked info says the conflict between them is fueled by a tragic death: Sauron evidently had a SON — and Adar evidently killed him in cold blood prior to the events of Season 1. Nothing close to this appears in Tolkien’s stories.”
The idea that Adar might have killed Sauron’s son was hinted as much in the first season when Adar questions Halbrand, “Did I cause someone you love pain? A woman? Perhaps a child?”
Joseph Mawle as Adar in The Lord of the Ring: The Rings of Power (2022), Prime Video
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Not only does Broadbeam claim that Adar and Sauron’s rivalry is due to Adar killing Sauron’s son, but he also shared that the rivalry will continue into Season 2. He shared that Adar will surrender to Sauron and become one of his generals. However, he will later betray him,
This piece of the rumor appears to confirm a previous rumor from Fellowship of Fans on X, who claimed back in August, ““Arondir will be present at the 2- episode battle in The Rings of Power Season 2 alongside Elrond whilst fighting Adar’s Army.
Fellowship of Fans on X
Fellowship of Fans’ Chen elaborated on the rumor in an accompanying video saying the battle has “been featured in our news, I think, a couple of times as well. And there’s a lot of drone footage of like, you know, fighting, siege engines, bodies, that sort of stuff. So it’s not like a big secret or anything.”
Another member of Fellowship of Fans would inquire as to why it would be Adar leading the army rather than Sauron, Strider explained, “I think we came to a similar conclusion that basically they will somehow in one way or another they will end up on the same side like Adar will join Sauron in some way. Basically, be the commander of his army or something like that and then he will be made officially the–”
On top of this piece of information about Sauron and Adar, Broadbeam also detailed there will be at least three versions of Sauron showcased in the second season. Allegedly in the first episode of the second season, the series will recount the creation of the world by Eru. As part of this creation tale, Sauron’s original Maiar form or Mairon will be shown, but will not be played by either Charlie Vickers or Gavi Singh Chera. Rather there is a third actor.
Broadbeam’s source also shared with him that Sauron nearly convinces Gandalf to join him, “A whole episode is dedicated to Sauron’s backstory leading up to the breaking of the First Silence. After the Fourth interruption of the song [Theme], several Maiar meet and discuss Melkor’s discord. Mairon/Sauron alone speaks: ‘The One has blessed me more so than all of you to see the potential of His creations, and what better way to forge their mettle than by allowing them to face Melkor’s discord and grow beyond what they think capable!’ You will see Mithrandir [Olórin] in this scene. Mairon almost converts him. Almost.”
Charlie Vickers as Sauron entering Mordor in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
The idea that there will be multiple versions of Sauron with different actors playing him was previously rumored by Fellowship of Fans with the account posting on X, “EXCLUSIVE: Gavi Singh Chera will play ‘SAURON’ in THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER Season 2.”
The outlet added, “He will play the original form version of the character which is meant to be ‘angelic’ and ‘ethereal’ per sources.”
🚨EXCLUSIVE: Gavi Singh Chera will play ‘SAURON’ in THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER Season 2.
He will play the original form version of the character which is meant to be “angelic” and “ethereal” per sources.#TheRingsOfPower #TROPspoilers pic.twitter.com/xudJ3vbY7Y
— Fellowship of Fans (@FellowshipFans) December 24, 2023
The outlet also claimed to have confirmed that Annatar is indeed a character listed for the show’s second season. However, they could not confirm whether or not Chera would be playing Annatar.
“Can also finally confirm (Dr Nosy Report) that “Annatar” is a character name listed for The Rings Of Power Season 2. Though NO CONFIRMATION or evidence yet as to whether: Original Form Gavi = Annatar,” the outlet posted to X.
Can also finally confirm (Dr Nosy Report) that “Annatar” is a character name listed for The Rings Of Power Season 2. Though NO CONFIRMATION or evidence yet as to whether: Original Form Gavi = Annatar pic.twitter.com/xpDXzPlYVM
— Fellowship of Fans (@FellowshipFans) December 24, 2023
They also added, “In flashback scenes ‘Original Form Sauron’ (Gavi Singh Chera) will have long hair, in present day scenes in Eregion he apparently has shorter hair.”
EXCLUSIVE: In flashback scenes “Original Form Sauron” (Gavi Singh Chera) will have long hair, in present day scenes in Eregion he apparently has shorter hair.
— Fellowship of Fans (@FellowshipFans) December 24, 2023
Sauron took a number of forms during his time on Middle-earth. He was originally a gifted Maiar and the apprentice of Aulë known as Mairon. However, his desire for order and control corrupted him and he joined forces with Melkor. Under Melkor’s command he became known as Gorthaur by the Sindar of Beleriand and Sauron by others.
It appears that the show will introduce another form for when he returns to Eregion in Season 2. Broadbeam shares, “One of Sauron’s disguises to return to Eregion (how many can there be, beyond Annatar?) is the form of Celeborn. We assume this plan is to dupe Elrond, Celebrimbor, and Galadriel at the same time.”
However, he does note that the real Celeborn will also appear in the second season and will be played by Calam Lynch as previously reported by Fellowship of Fans.
Marton Csokas as Celeborn in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition (2001), New Line Cinema
For all intents and purposes it does not appear that the showrunners nor the producers learned anything from having 63% of their American audiences fail to complete the show. Instead, they appear to be doubling down on distancing themselves as far as they can from Tolkien while at the same time bastardizing his creation.
JD Payne and Patrick McKay both, cannot create, they can only corrupt and destroy.
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