With the weekend over I figured it was time for a Rings of Power post-trailer discussion. Specifically some weird Sauron rumors. Like most of you I was eagerly watching the trailer for The Rings of Power on Friday at SDCC. However there were a lot of interesting discussion that appeared afterwards with regards to Sauron.
I assumed, probably like many, that Sauron’s presence was felt in the trailer, but we never saw him. However there were some leakers afterwards saying that Sauron was seen and was the character seen in the image below.
As many fans reacted, myself included, this feels wrong. Sauron is a shapeshifter at this point. This means the character can appear however he wishes and we know at one point he appears in a fair guise to fool the Elves. Does this guy look like he’d fool the Elves? Some may argue this is just one of Sauron’s guises and to be fair we could see multiple versions of the character’s look.
However, it seems far more likely that the showrunners are keeping Sauron’s fair guise a secret. As soon as they use the name Annatar book fans will know that’s Sauron. One would assume this character would be introduced before using that name though to maintain a surprising reveal.
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In now turns out the actor above is Bridie Sasson and Sauron is heavily rumored to be played by Anson Boon. Boon was not seen in that trailer, but definitely looks like he could play Annatar to me. Check out Boon below as he appears in Pistols as Johnny Rotten.
As all of this was raging Joanna Robinson who works for Vanity Fair, and has see the first three episodes also cast doubt on these Sauron rumors.
Happy to be proven wrong but a) I don’t think that’s how the Prime marketing would debut him and b) Annatar is supposed to be convincingly friendly not some ash-fingered, obviously evil bleach job.
— Joanna Robinson (@jowrotethis) July 22, 2022
I’m with Jo on this one. Maybe it’s wrong, but I don’t think we’ve seen Sauron, or least no who is obviously Sauron yet.
Morgoth
There is one image I have seen from SDCC that was not in the trailer. I cannot post it, but, I’ll give you a link to where it appears on Reddit.
The image seems to show the destruction of the Two Trees of Valinor from the First Age. And what fans believe to be the shadow of Morgoth behind and above them. Morgoth was Sauron’s original master and he had most of the Mortals worshiping him in the First Age save the loyal Men tho joined with the Elves.
I therefore believe the figures we see in white in the trailer are actually Melkor cultists, probably coming from a place where Melkor was worshiped by Men and likely looking to serve, or already serving Sauron.
I very much doubt we will see Morgoth in person, even in flashbacks, but we are definitely getting some First Age flashbacks. The Trees themselves and their destruction are very early in the First Age. That Balrog we see at the end of the trailer is also likely from a First Age flashback.
Meteor Man
There are some who still think Meteor Man is Sauron. However if that was Sauron, where has he come from? Far as the mythology goes once there, Sauron never really leaves Middle-earth again other than when he journeys to Numenor. After Morgoth’s defeat and imprisonment Sauron was called back to Valinor for judgement. However he feared the Valar’s judgement and remained in Middle-earth.
I therefore think that a more likely scenario here is that Meteor Man is one of the Istari, i.e. a Wizard. Some fans have even speculated if this will be Gandalf ret-conned into the Second Age. However I feel it’s far more likely this will be on of the lesser written about Blue Wizards. In some accounts these Wizard’s came to Middle-earth at the same time as Gandalf and Saruman. However in later years Tolkien actually had them come over in the Second Age to counter Sauron. The only thing against this idea I have is that the Blue Wizards specifically traveled in a pair, they were friends. And why arrive by Meteor when a good old-fashioned boat would do?
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I think we’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out. However considering we know most of this story ahead of time, the show is so far keeping up some mystery which I love.
What do you think after this Rings of Power post-trailer discussion? What about the Sauron rumors, do you agree with me they don’t seem right? As always , leave any thoughts below or over on Discord.
