The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | Who is Halbrand? [SPOILERS]

Warning: lots of spoilers ahead.

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ ended with an incredible eighth episode filled with revelations – including confirming the appearance of characters we’d imagined would appear since the series premiere.

One of the main revelations was aimed at Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), the mysterious man who crossed paths with Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) on the Great Seas after refusing to enter Valinor and continuing his hunt for Morgoth, Sauron and their allies. Since then, the two have forged an alliance of respect and protection – that is, until now. After all, Galadriel always felt Halbrand was hiding something about her past.

It’s no surprise that after the pair were escorted by Queen Míriel’s (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) navy to Númenor, Halbrand revealed he was running from his past. Galadriel was therefore led to believe that he was the lost king of the Southlands and that returning to Middle-earth would help his people deal with the slowly rising forces of evil. Said and done, Galadriel and Halbrand traveled there, faced off against Adar (Joseph Mawle) and a horde of mighty Orcs, and when all went well, they were swept away by the hands of fate and forced to set out on another quest.

Considering the eighth episode is the last of the first season, things couldn’t stay the way they were. The duo, in search of one last breath of hope and salvation, travel to Eregion, another of the great Elven cities, and team up with Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) to forge items that could channel the power of mithril, save the elven race, and ultimately battle the minions of Morgoth and Sauron lurking in the shadows. Despite this, Galadriel still doubted her companion’s story and, after a long and definitive search, discovered that he was not who he claimed to be: the people of the Southlands had long had a king, and the territory’s royal lineage that he had was interrupted more than a millennium ago when the last ruler died suddenly and left no descendants.

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And that’s when Galadriel realizes she’s been tricked, and Halbrand sees there’s no reason to hide her true identity anymore: in a series of “hallucinations,” so to speak, Halbrand reveals that he is Sauron, the dark lord and main antagonist of the original trilogy. More than that, the character’s revelation as the feared villain of Tolkien’s mythology comes at the time of the forging of the first three Rings of Power – after all, it was Sauron who built the One Ring in the Mountains of Doom, in Mordor, to control the power channeled by the Elves.

So it’s no surprise that Halbrand/Sauron disappeared shortly after saying who he was. Galadriel, in an attempt to stop him, convinces Celebrimbor to forge the initial trio of rings to balance the powers and allow each to fight the forces of evil. Meanwhile, we learn that Halbrand has once again fled to Mordor, to claim the throne that is his and to begin a battle to be explored next season – and now that he knows mithril and knows where to find it, generating the One Ring is only a matter of time.

Remember that the full season is now available on Prime Video.

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