Diksha Sundriyal
The second season of Prime Video’s ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ takes the audience back to Middle-Earth, where trouble is brewing, especially following the creation of the three Elven rings. The finale of Season 1 reveals the identity of Sauron in a twist that was cleverly set up throughout the season. This twist is so jarring that instead of jumping right back into action, the second season takes us in a flashback where several things are put in context. The opening scene shows Sauron being killed by Adar, which is exactly what the father of the orcs told Galadriel last season. The reason behind his actions is also confirmed by the flashback scene. SPOILERS AHEAD
Adar Killed Sauron to Free His Children
Before Sauron came along, there was Morgoth. The Dark Lord wanted exactly what Sauron tried to do later, and for that, he needed an army. At the beginning of the First Age, Morgoth took over some elves, one of whom was Adar. He was transformed into an Orc, remaining an Elf in all but appearance, and the process wasn’t very heartening either. Adar came out of it tortured and disfigured, his face, particularly, in ruin. After him came the Orcs, to whom Adar felt more attached. He considered them his children, and they reciprocated his love by calling him father, hence the name Adar.
Despite having created them, Morgoth neither cared for Adar nor for the Orcs. They were the means to an end for him, and Adar understood it pretty soon. So, when Morgoth fell, Adar thought about nothing but finding a place that he and his children could call home. However, Morgoth’s fall meant that they could never be safe. The Elves abhorred Orcs and they would never stop hunting and killing them. As long as the Elves were around, Adar and the Orcs could never live in peace. This is why, when Morgoth’s successor, Sauron, showed up, Adar immediately pledged allegiance to him, hoping that Sauron could help deliver the security he and the Orcs were looking for.
If Morgoth was evil, Adar discovers that Sauron is even worse. What he lacks in power, he makes up in cunning, and his plans are even darker than his master’s. It is clear to Adar that Sauron will not stop at having just one piece of the Middle-Earth. It is also clear that in his ambitions to rule over the world, he does not hesitate to sacrifice as many Orcs as possible. Worse, Sauron had found a way to tap unprecedented power, and for that, he would use Orcs as his guinea pigs, which was really the last straw for Adar.
The opening scene of the second season brings us to the point where Sauron (in a different form than the Halbrand version we saw in Season 1) declares his intention to rule the world, especially through the creation of the rings that will give him power over the flesh. Sauron also turns out to be a straight talker. While he promises great victory to his army of Orcs, he doesn’t mince his words while talking about the death and destruction that they will have to face in his service. But by then, the Orcs have had enough too. The loyalty they have for Adar does not extend to Sauron, and they are visibly disgruntled when he talks about Orcs dying for a war they don’t care much about.
In this scenario, the only thing that Adar can do to free his children of unnecessary bloodshed is to kill the man who promises it. He makes it look like he is ready to crown Sauron as their king, but the crown that he was supposed to put on his head is turned into a weapon that is used to stab Sauron. The Orcs also express their anger by stabbing Sauron to their heart’s content, and when his body explodes into a white light, Adar is convinced that Sauron is gone for good. Little does he know that Sauron is not that easy to kill, but when he tells Galadriel that he killed Sauron, Adar isn’t lying.
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