This blog entry is an expansion of a thread I posted to twitter last month, which can be read here.  It also contains spoilers for The Rings of Power, season one!

This is a discussion of Sauron’s character as depicted specifically in this season of The Rings of Power. While elements of Tolkien’s lore add depth to the stories as told on-screen, the series itself is not canonical or authoritative. Read more of my thoughts on the distinctions between the series and Tolkien’s legendarium here.

I am also writing about Sauron’s perspective, so these sentiments do not necessarily reflect the truth of the matter in-universe. In fact, when approaching events through a Sauron-tinted lens, the truth will always become twisted. I think that’s the point.

This is simply an exploration of Sauron’s possible motivations within season one of The Rings of Power, which I found compelling.  These are also my own personal interpretation and may not align with your own interpretation: this is fine.

The choice to place Halbrand’s Númenórean prison cell directly before a statue of Uinen underscores Sauron’s ultimately abandoned attempt at redemption as seen in this season.

In The Silmarillion, it is told that was Uinen the undaunted wife of Ossë who pulled him back from service to Melkor at the prayer of Aulë; whereas the delight in violence never fully left Ossë, Uinen was known to Númenórean mariners as a protector and bringer of calm to the seas.

In his hours alone in that cell, I wonder if the plight of Uinen and Ossë would have crossed his mind. Perhaps he retains a shred of hope that someone might be sent to bring him back, as Uinen was for Ossë. Perhaps he resents that Aulë had not asked the same for him, that no one has come for him.

Sauron the prideful cannot tolerate the thought of being overlooked, but perhaps Mairon the Admirable still carries the desire to be reconciled.

“What happens when a man hasn’t been loved his whole life? I think often something like power fills that void.” - Charlie Vickers (source)

And then in strides Galadriel, daughter of Finarfin and former pupil of Aulë, arguing that they were brought together for a purpose. She stands directly in front of Uinen’s statue and calls on him to follow her.

Suddenly she presents a way to ‘redeem his bloodline’, and maybe he wonders if Eru himself sent her to save him. (I don’t think this is true, and he is obviously cooperating with her misguided plan under false pretenses, but I’m speaking of his perspective on the situation.)

All of this leads to his confession in episode six, “was you who pulled me back first.” Perhaps, in this, he is referring to more than just his desire to end Adar. Maybe he does feel he could be ‘free of it’; maybe he feels Galadriel could be for him as Uinen was for Ossë.

Maybe, he thinks, she was meant to guide him. (To what end? I don’t know.)

There is a moment towards the end of The Lord of the Rings in which Sméagol comes within grasp of redemption only to ultimately bind himself to the fate of the Ring, a theme commonly found within Tolkien’s works. It seems to me that the showrunners intended this as Sauron’s moment.

But the mountain of fire erupts and that small light of hope is now shrouded in shadow and it is here that he irrevocably falls back into the ways of Morgoth. Plans change.

Where he had lingered on the edge of repentance before, he now backs away permanently and will never return. While this shift happened much earlier for Sauron in Tolkien’s texts, I think in the series’ timeline it happens here.

When they arrive in Eregion, Halbrand is gone: there is only Sauron now. (Annatar?)

He is emboldened; he feels his time is running short and his mask begins to crack in his haste. But Galadriel has delivered him into the hands of opportunities he wouldn’t have been able to seize on his own, and he promises he won’t forget it. He sees her as some sort of golden ticket, he covets her as Morgoth did the Silmarils. After her confession in episode six that she ‘felt it too’, he feels confident that he can keep her at his side as well.

When confronted by Galadriel in episode eight, he steps out of his role as Halbrand and allows her to truly see him for the first time. In his pride, Sauron desires to be known: for all of his strength, for all of his power, for all of his plans for Middle-earth. The thought that she would reject him may have occurred to him, but it only lingers on the edges of his mind.

And when finally faced with the truth of his identity, Galadriel responds in confusion: “No, on the raft, you saved me.” “On the raft, you saved me,” he responds. Why? Unless, perhaps, he truly believed it…

His ultimate proposal on their raft reflects his unwillingness to be pulled back any longer, though he isn’t ready to leave her behind or lose her (not yet, anyway). Galadriel’s rejection of Sauron does not compel him back into the ways of evil, for at this point he has already chosen that path. But the plans have changed, perhaps many times over, and so he makes a genuine offer.

“I think he thinks that if she's with him, he can affect his designs faster. That's why he loved Morgoth. Because Morgoth would just get it done. And with her by his side, I think ultimately, because of his nature, he would be the one in charge, and he would dictate what goes on. It would spiral to that. But if she joined him, he has the ear of the Elves. He has a way into this race that he hates. And he can use them if he has one of their most powerful people on his side… It angers him that she says no. But I don't necessarily think it's a huge surprise to him.” - Charlie Vickers (Source)

So he asks her to follow him now — as he had tried to follow her, as he had followed Melkor. And while she refuses, this isn’t the end for him.

He has attempted these routes to power and found them wanting: from service to Melkor, from half-hearted repentance, from ‘healing’ Middle-earth alone, from partnership with the Noldor…

But at last he enacts a plan of his own design; now he will never follow anyone again.