lessismore

Hihihi

florerr

I'm kind of curious to know how they will make him stand out compared to Halbrand...

wickedrum

Looks good indeed!

fire for a heart

didin't recognise him in trailer he had blonde hair

lessismore

He is in Annatar form

*Adora*

Who could have thought that 23 years after watching Fellowship of the Ring for the first time, I'd end up enjoying Sauron the most? What's happening? Lmao.

As I was finishing S1, I messaged a few mates who still hadn't started it and told them, word for word: "I've been watching Rings of Power. I'm with Sauron now," which obviously drew a few "wth?" reactions. But that quickly turned into "Weird, Sauron's the best character" when one of them watched it too.

That said, I'm going to miss his Halbrand look. Annatar's fine, but I've yet to see a man who doesn't look awesome with tousled, medium-length hair and stubble.

broken crown

Rewatching S1, it's even more obvious who Halbrand really is!

florerr

Watching Halbrand slowly becoming Sauron was interesting. I think it's both Charlie's & the writing team's achievement to make him into an almost likeable villain...

... he quickly became the icon of s1 , but for the goods to emerge there has to be real evil portrayed... kind of like the need for Joker to exist in the Batman-universe to give meaning to the heroes...


... but yes, it's funny that just how engaging Sauron's journey was in S1...

broken crown

One of the funniest things in Season 1 is when Galadriel is going on and on about how she's looking for Sauron and the guy is just right there.

*Adora*

Almost? I feel like a transformed and enlightened fan At this point, they have to show me Aragorn in a future vision so I can be convinced that 'No, Sauron shouldn't reign over the entire Middle Earth'

But yes, I agree. They really invested in Sauron, and it paid off. I love how they channelled some of Aragorn into him, adding to his charm and fooling the audience. They pulled off a sort of reverse whodunnit, where Halbrand keeps telling the truth from the start (‘not the hero you seek’, ‘found it on a dead man’ etc.), but everyone thinks he means something else, operating on the narrative of the king who needs to embrace his destiny (again, like Aragorn and his initial reluctance), only for the show to reveal in the end that, no, he does mean what he says and, even worse, he’s Sauron lol. Yes, it was somewhat obvious, with him being a smith and the other hints later on, if there had been fewer clues, it would have been a hell of a surprise. But then again, LotR and RoP aren’t mysteries, they’re fantasy, and that’s okay.

lessismore

One of the things I love about this show is that now we have Sauron as a character that’s really amazing and I enjoy it a lot

Season 1 was a build up and now we’ll have many forms of Sauron and we’ll get so much of his “journey”. So exciting really

*Adora*

About the many forms of Sauron, do you think they might cast other actors to show some of them?

florerr

Almost, yes I'm still with the good ones but I always had trouble imagining how he could have been so likable in the 2nd Age knowing who he was and what he has done by the time Bilbo's story starts...

... ROP is providing us with that inside, and shows how Sauron will use it's humanity, and capacity to do good by the end of the Age.


I don't think that a 2nd Sauron actor is really necessary

And I completely missed out on the Aragorn similarities, but you are absolutely correct there. This is exactly what they have done... and Galadriel just couldn't imagine Sauron being a regular, charming human...

lessismore

It is interesting to watch “he was not bad at the beginning but he became the evil” part coming into the life by many forms. We should not feel that he is likable but indeed he deceived everyone by being likable and getting into minds then showing his true face so they are doing a great job imo. Halbrand was a surprise character and he plays a great role. To me at least I enjoy it a lot. I liked the surprise element they have created.

And maybe there are other forms they think of for other seasons. Right now, this season, we are getting book forms but they can add other forms they have created later? Or maybe it won’t be necessary after this season. Probably we’ll get Annatar form again tho.

broken crown

It was very satisfying how it all came together at the end.