Sauron (Charlie Vickers) is ramping up his manipulations already in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 2.
Episode 2 ended with the recovering Dark Lord tricking Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) into thinking he was a messenger of the Valar named Annatar, the Lord of Gifts. Annatar/Sauron tells Celebrimbor he was sent to help the elven smith forge more Rings of Power using the dwarven mithril.
From his shapeshifting reveal at the end of the second episode, it’s clear that Annatar walks, talks and acts far differently than Halbrand. Vickers told TheWrap that was by design.
“I moved differently and I talked differently, and all of that is informed by wanting to bring a level of wisdom to the character,” he said. “You need great wisdom to convince the greatest of elven smiths to work with you. That was the key word in developing this ‘fair form’ of Annatar, Lord of Gifts.”
Despite Annatar bringing a completely different energy than Halbrand, Vickers wanted to make sure that all the many faces of Sauron still felt like part of the Dark Lord when all was said and done.
“I do want them to feel distinct but less so as time goes on,” he said. “I remember when I was developing Annatar with the showrunners, I wanted everything to be 180 degrees opposite to Halbrand. So if Halbrand was heavy I wanted Annatar to be light. Things as simple as that. The further on I went, I kind of found that the two shared a lot and there were so many elements of Halbrand I wanted to bring into Annatar – specifically weight, and we changed the pitch of the voice. We lowered it.”
Vickers continued, “There are actually three distinctions. You have Halbrand, you have Annatar and as the season goes on kind of morphs into Sauron. He becomes less angelic as he becomes more focused and falls down the rabbit hole of this desire for power. It turns him into his true self.”
But who is Annatar really and what’s his endgame for Celebrimbor? We broke that down below.
Who is Annatar, the Lord of Gifts?
Like Halbrand, Annatar is another form Sauron takes to manipulate those around him to meet his ends. Unlike Halbrand, Annatar is a form the Dark Lord takes in the books.
Tolkien was always shady about Sauron’s “true” appearance, but Annatar was the form he took in the Second Age to sow his particular brand of chaos. Annatar is an elf that the author called Sauron’s “fair form.” Sauron knew this form would work to deceive the elves – famously harder to trick than the minds of men – if he appeared as this Lord of Gifts.
The Lord of Gifts claims to be an emissary of the Valar who is “anticipating the Istari” – the wizards of Middle-earth. With the elves of the Second Age worried about the light of the Valar diminishing, they’re all too happy to welcome Annatar into their mix.
Sauron is a shapeshifter?
For “Lord of the Rings” fans who might only dabble in the Peter Jackson films, it might come as a bit of a shock how powerful Sauron actually is outside of being the Dark Lord. Sauron is actually a Maiar – primordial spirits who serve Eru Ilúvatar, the God of Tolkien’s fantasy world. They also helped the Valar shape the World during it’s creation.
There are many Maiar throughout the series. Gandalf, Saruman and Radagast are all Maiar sent to Middle-earth at various points in history. Sauron was corrupted by Melkor – also known as Morgoth – which led to his allegiance swap.
All Maiar have the ability to shapeshift so they can better mingle with the denizens of Middle-earth. This is how Halbrand/Sauron can swap into his “fair form” of Annatar to continue his work forging the rings with Celebrimbor.
What is Annatar’s plan?
Annatar’s plan is simple: infiltrate Celebrimbor’s forge in Eregion and use his influence to help him create more rings. The first three Rings of Power were made solely by Celebrimbor, but with Halbrand’s suggestions. With the elves craving more rings after crafting the first three, they’re all ears when it comes to hearing the Lord of Gifts’ expertise in such things.
The remaining 15 rings – plus one Ruling Ring – were made with Annatar’s direct involvement. In helping to make the rings, he weaves in his own corruptions to gain a foothold on any who wear them.
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