The Rings of Power series is set to chronicle the major events of the Second Age, and everything that led up to the war in the Lord of the Rings. One of the main things to be included in the series is the forging of the rings and the trickery of Sauron by tricking all the other races into wearing his dark and terrible items.
But there are still many guesses as to which character will turn out to be the evil lord himself, as his secret identity has yet to be revealed. Some fans believe it could be the Meteor’s Man, while others believe it to be the mysterious elf Adar, who leads the orcs in the fourth episode. But there are five main reasons why Adar would be unlikely to be the one.
The scene where the audience is first introduced to Adar shows him kneeling over the body of a fallen orc that is dying. Adar almost seems to caress him and is clearly grieving as he plunges the knife into his body. His eyes are teary and there is a certain level of respect that seems so foreign to all that is known about Sauron.
This elf has way too much emotion, way too much humanity, to be the ruthless and vicious creature who plans to overthrow the entire Middle-earth. He talks about building ‘a new world’ as if that were the right thing to do, showing that he has at least some moral guidance. The Third Age Sauron is far too destructive and chaotic to have such reason and depth.
Another problem with the possibility of Adar being Sauron is that Adar remembers a long time ago. When Arondir talks about Beleriand, his homeland, Adar says: ‘I went down that river once. When I was young. I remember the benches covered with sage blossoms for miles.”
The idea that Sauron is young, possibly even an adult child, goes against all of Tolkien’s lore. Sauron is a Maiar, a spiritual being that appeared in Middle-Earth during the Second Age, already fully formed. They did not grow and age in the same way as mortal beings, they appeared in the form they take. In that sense, Gandalf has always been an old gray wizard, just as Sauron should always have been a beautiful, grown-up elf.
One of the biggest mysteries about Adar’s character is why the orcs call him “father.” Arondir, the imprisoned elf, is cut off halfway through the question and the answer is interrupted, but it is a special and very curious way for the orcs to refer to an elf.
However, it seems to indicate that Adar may be more closely related to Morgoth, the creator of the orcs, than to Sauron, his faithful servant. In this age of the world, only Morgoth should be able to create evil life like the orcs and the Balrogs unless he has already passed this terrible ability on to his disciple Sauron.
Then comes the curious scene in which the old man from the bar in the Southlands talks to Theo about the dagger he has hidden in his belt. It is the hilt of Sauron’s sword, broken long ago, but when dug into the flesh of its bearer, it begins to reshape into a blade. The old bartender says it is a force forged by Sauron for their people, and that the comet falling from the sky is an omen of Sauron’s imminent return: “His time is at hand.”
This seems to indicate that Sauron has not yet taken physical form in the world, and that he will suddenly rise in death and destruction, rather than hide and bide his time in the orc wastelands. This could open up the possibility that Adar is more of a right-hand man, paving the way for Sauron’s return, rather than Sauron himself.
Probably the most disturbing thing about Adar is his appearance. Although he is clearly eleven, he possesses none of the beauty and grace of the eternal beings. His skin is scarred and burnt, and he is pale and unpleasant. This goes against everything Sauron should be.
The famous quote in the lord of the rings, “a servant of the enemy would look more beautiful, but feel dirtier” dates from this time when Sauron appeared as a beautiful golden elf, full of charm and generosity who tempted the people to accept his gifts from the Rings of Power. It’s not impossible that Adar later takes a fairer form to become the Sauron depicted in Tolkien’s original works. But in his current state, he’s far too obviously mean to be the cunning trickster of the legend.
0 Comments