SCREEN VIDEO OF THE DAY As Sauron was the powerful but largely invisible force guiding the action in The Lord of the Rings, his shadow will loom large over the Rings of Power. Nearby viewers will have recognized the shape of the darkness rising into the sky as Morgoth extinguishes the light trees of Valinor, Telperion and Lorelin. The darkness briefly transforms into a form reminiscent of Sauron’s headgear in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As Galadriel continues to recount the violence that led to her brother Finrod’s death, the first glimpse of Sauron in physical form arrives on screen. After a depressing, dirty battle scene in which Morgoth’s beasts defeat great eagles, the camera pans over a legion of orc soldiers making way for a tall, armored figure. Nothing of his face or true form is seen. His armor is dark and pointed. his cloak sweeps the ground. In his left hand, he carries a slender wand-like weapon that looks more like a spear than a wizard’s (or wizard’s) crystal-tipped staff. Although much remains to be revealed, it is clearly the Dark Lord Sauron.
Because Sauron looks different in the rings of power
How different Sauron is in the rings of power
When it comes to Sauron, The Rings of Power leans away from Peter Jackson’s films and the writings of J. R. Tolkien. In the Second Age of Middle-earth, Sauron plays a very different role than in the Third Age covered by the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Silmarillion depicts Sauron as a shape-shifter, sometimes appearing as a vampire, wolf, and serpent. Most commonly, however, he appears to men and elves in the attractive human form of Annatar, and is also known as The Lord of Gifts. Sauron’s whole plan is to achieve Morgoth’s goal of taking control of Middle-earth, but through politics, deceit and treachery rather than open warfare. According to Christopher Tolkien’s fifth volume of The History of Middle-earth, Sauron is no longer able to take an attractive form after the fall of Numenor that is likely to be shown in the Rings of Power. He still appears humanoid and taller than most men, but his body emits a great deal of heat, so much so that when he touches Gil-galad (played by Mark Ferguson in Rings of Power), it nearly burns him to death. Isildur, who cut off the finger bearing the ring from the Dark Lord in battle, described his hand as black, but burning with fire. In short, everyone who meets Sauron later on will immediately be able to tell that his vibes are off. The Rings of Power has a lot going for it when it comes to its portrayal of Sauron. In The Silmarillion, Tolkien describes him as “a wizard of terrible power, lord of shadows and phantoms…” With this in mind, and remembering that Sauron is one of the Maiar, the same type of angelic being as Gandalf and Saruman, it’s not too far for him to take on several visual iterations throughout the series. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues Thursday/Friday on Prime Video.
