Key Differences Between ‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Season 2 Episodes 1-3 And The Book

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 is here. Well, at least three episodes are. Created by Patrick McKay and John D. Payne, the series is a prequel to The Lord of the Rings (often shortened to LotR) and is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth. It chronicles the rise of Dark Lord Sauron after his predecessor and master, Morgoth, was vanquished. We watched the released episodes of the new instalment and are in a good position to delineate the differences between episodes 1, 2 and 3 of The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season 2 and its source material.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is not the first adaptation of the writings of the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973). An author and philologist, the British icon is remembered as the father of modern fantasy. If not for him, the Harry Potter film franchise would not exist. It is because of him that our pop culture is inundated with fantasy books, movies, and shows.

Earlier, Peter Jackson adapted LotR as a tremendously successful movie trilogy (2001–2003) featuring a huge ensemble cast with names like Sir Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood. He followed it with The Hobbit (2012–2014), another (albeit less acclaimed) trilogy, adapting the prequel novel of the same name published in 1937.

Rings of Power crafts a stunningly detailed and breathtakingly beautiful rendition of Middle-earth and the rest of Arda. It is not based on a particular Tolkien fantasy novel. Rather, it takes material from the appendices of LotR as well as other writings that together make up Tolkien’s legendarium.

Spoilers ahead!

Key differences between Rings of Power season 2 episodes 1–3 and the book

Adar kills (or tries to) Sauron

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 begins with a flashback that takes us to the beginning of Second Age (the rest of the series is set around its middle). The First Aged ended with the defeat of Morgoth when Elves, Men and the Valar banded together in the War of Wrath. In the war, while Morgoth was captured and imprisoned in Timeless Void, Sauron escaped justice. In the show, Sauron prepares to continue waging Morgoth’s war.

Adar (played by Sam Hazeldine, taking over from Joseph Mawle in season 2), who calls himself a father to all Orcs, standing beside Sauron as the Dark Lord is awaiting his coronation (the crown is of Morgoth). Interestingly, it is not Charlie Vickers, but Jack Lowden.

Adar betrays Sauron and drives the crown’s spikes into his head. The Dark Lord appears to die, but a swirling, black substance comes out of his body and leaks into the ground. He attacks a woman driving a cart and appears to subsume her. We then see Vickers rising as Halbrand. He joins a group of Southlanders fleeing Adar and his orcs and that’s how he finds Galadriel early on in season 1.

So did this happen in the lore? Well, for one, Adar does not exist in the books and is the show’s invention. After Morgoth died, orcs came under Sauron’s direct command. He was neither betrayed nor resurrected as shown in the series.

Additionally, while Sauron disguised himself as Annatar, Lord of Gifts, to trick the Elves, particularly Elven smith Celebrimbor (played by Charles Edwards), he never appeared as Halbrand to deceive Galadriel (played by Morfydd Clark).

The Elves take possession of the first three Rings of Power

In the lore, Sauron appears in a fair form as Annatar, an emissary of the Valar (who are the supreme beings of Arda except for Eru Ilúvatar, the God) to Celebrimbor. Greatest of the Elven smiths, Celebrimbor, nevertheless, learns new techniques from Sauron, as the latter was a servant of Aulë, the smith of the Valar.

Celebrimbor, of course, does not know his true identity. In the show, it is Galadriel who warns him off “Halbrand” but does not elaborate why. We see Halbrand ingratiate himself to Celebrimbor, who initially rebuffs him but later relents. And when Halbrand becomes Annatar (he enters the forge’s fire and remerges pretty, with long golden hair and a face with chiselled features), Celebrimbor believes him when he says he is sent by the Valar. They continue forging the Rings of Power.

Something similar happens in the book, but we do not know the details. We do know Sauron fools Celebrimbor, manipulating him into forging the Rings, but we do not know how. The show fills in the details, saying he used Celebrimbor’s ambition against him. It also posits that although the Elven smith had already achieved the “greatest” tag, he wanted to craft beautiful artefacts that would undo anything that came before.

Also, in the show, the Elves take possession of the first three rings, Nenya, Vilya and Narya. Since Sauron did not taint these rings, they were not affected by him. However, since they were made using his craft, they are still under the control of the One Ring. While Gil-Galad (played by Benjamin Walker) wields Vilya, Galadriel wields Nenya. Narya was worn by Círdan (played by Ben Daniels), and it is he who later gifts it to Gandalf. Which brings us to…

The Stranger, Dark Wizard and the Harfoots

Turns out, those three creepy women who were after the Stranger (played by Daniel Weyman) were sent by somebody who calls himself the Dark Wizard. Played by Irish actor Ciarán Hinds, best known for HBO shows like Rome (2005–2007) and Game of Thrones (2011–2019), he appears to be one of the five Istari, who were actually Maiar sent to Middle-earth by Valar to unite the Free Peoples of the Middle-earth against the might of Sauron. They appear in the form of wizards and yes, Gandalf is one of them.

Since the Dark Wizard is neither Gandalf nor Saruman, he must be one of the other three: Radagast, Alatar and Pallando. We know he cannot be Radagast, as he is not evil and is a friend to animals and plants. So he must be one of the two Blue Wizards: Alatar and Pallando.

Nori Brandyfoot (played by Markella Kavenagh) accompanies the Stranger and later, Poppy Proudfellow (played by Megan Richards) joins them. They are still hunted by Dark Wizards’ minions, and the Stranger is not even close to finding his destiny. He later gets separated from the Harfoots when he conjures a typhoon to protect them against Dark Wizard’s followers.

Is that how it happened in Tolkien’s writings? No.

First of all, the Stranger is certainly Gandalf, and he did appear in Middle-earth until the Third Age. He, of course, helped Frodo and Aragorn, among others in War of the Ring. We might see all of that again soon on the big screen as Warner Bros is rebooting LotR.

Anyway, Gandalf could not have met Nori, since she lived in the Second Age (she is also an invention of the show). Secondly, we do not see much of any wizards besides Gandalf and Saruman. We do know that Blue Wizards were unsuccessful in their mission to unite Middle-earth and instead found cults, and the show appears to have expanded on these little details.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 trailer

Watch The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season 2 on Prime Video here.

(Hero and Feature image: Courtesy of Prime Video)

This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia India