A great deal of the fun ofThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, in addition to the gorgeous visuals provided by its colossal budget, was the continual stream of fan theories that morphed and adjusted every week as new information was revealed by each passing episode. As fans will have to wait what will likely be a depressingly long time before Season 2, however, the delay is likely to provide ample time for all the theories to grow and fester in the absence of new information. Not to mention all the new theories that are likely to be dreamed up in the interim as well.
Well-founded or completely out of left field, however, fan theories catch on because they create a compelling backstory and narrative that potentially explains the actions of the plot onscreen, however far-fetched those ideas might be. Some of them are even eventually revealed to be true, but even the incorrect theories provide a great deal of fun, as an engaged audience enjoys exploring the potential provided by the premises of an intriguing story, regardless of whether it actually comes to pass.
So too has the case been forThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. While the book is closed on Season 1, there is still a whole host of theories for the plot of Season 2 and beyond. While some of these explanations are plausible, and some may even be more likely than not; others are virtually impossible but interesting. That, of course, is half of the fun nonetheless: all the ideas and possibilities that are yet to come will inevitably lead to new hosts of theories while the story is still unfinished. The possibilities alone provide some entertaining food for thought. For the next few years, as always, things are going to be quite interesting in the world of Middle-earth.
What Will the Story Do With Sauron’s Disguises?
In Tolkien’s stories, in addition to being the Dark Lord Morgoth’s greatest servant, Sauron is a shape-shifter who cunningly uses his disguises to deceive and manipulate his enemies. So far, however, the show has done little with that characteristic, though it has certainly played into his deceptive abilities. The second season has promised to focus more on Sauron as a character, however, and the narrative emphasis may well finally put Sauron’s disguises to work, whether as part of his backstory or as some sort of twist reveal later on down the line.
Speaking of Sauron’s actions and plans, as well, There are a number of curious possibilities that may be explored in the upcoming season. Given the fact that Isildur (Maxim Baldry) has a lot more to do in Tolkien’s timeline, it is likely that Season 2 will find the son of Elendil (Lloyd Owen) unexpectedly (or completely-expectedly) alive and well, but lost in the wasteland of Mordor. A fascinating possibility that presents itself, of course, is that Halbrand-Sauron (Charlie Vickers) encounters Isildur, who knows nothing of Halbrand’s true identity, and that Isildur is somehow hoodwinked by the Dark Lord in the process.
Is The StrangerReallyGandalf?
All the clever fan theories about the possibleidentity of The Stranger(Daniel Weyman) seemed to hit the bricks when The Stranger dropped a very Gandalf-esque line at the end of the last episode, as well as displaying movie-Gandalf’s curious affinity for moths. Everyone needs a hobby, I suppose. But outside of the heavy-handed winks at the audience, nowhere was it actually confirmed that The Stranger actuallyisGandalf, and the showrunners in recent interviews have notably avoided confirming his identity as well.
If, against all evidence, he actually turns outnotto be Gandalf, though, some interesting possibilities are still out there. He was positively identified as an “istar” in the last episode, but that still left the possibility for a few different characters beyond Gandalf. He could beone of the Blue Wizards, as Tolkien placed them in Rhûn in the Second Age, where The Stranger is currently heading. The identification of him as “the other” as well leaves open an even stranger possibility (pun intended). Instead of Sauron, he might be, like Sauron, “the other” identified servant of the Vala Aulë.Sauron was once a servant of Aulë, but another one of Aulë’s servants was an Istar who ended up being better known as the wizard Saruman.
What About the Entwives?
While the ents only appeared briefly in a cameo in Episode 1, even their brief inclusion in the story sparked fan theories about the role that the ents could play in the story. Of course, the greatest mystery of the ents fromThe Lord of the Ringshad to do with the unexplained loss of the entwives. While Tolkien later gave some explanation as to what happened to them, the show could possibly end up exploring the separation of the ents and the entwives’ ultimate fate.
Will Glorfindel Finally Get His Due?
The elf Glorfindel has been left out of pretty much every adaptation ofThe Lord of the Rings, but theskydiving, balrog-slaying, reincarnated super-elfmay well finally get his due at some point in the course of Amazon’s series. His reincarnated return to Middle-earth supposedly came sometime in the middle of the Second Age, so it would fit within the timeline of the series. On the other hand, he could equally well just be written out in favor of another character, yet again.
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Tom Bombadil Needs to Catch a Break
Speaking of missing cast members, another character who is always left on the cutting room floor is Tom Bombadil, the mysterious spirit of Middle-earth who bounds intoThe Fellowship of the Ringand gets the hobbits out of a tight spot before hosting them over a rainy weekend, all the while bouncing along and singing a nonsense song to himself. He has a mysterious history and is the only character in the book over whom the Ring has no power whatsoever, but has apparently been in the world since the beginning of time itself. Even as a brief cameo, including Tom Bombadil could do a lot more for the story (and for the audience) than any other adaptation has done.
Okay, But Is the FadingActuallyHappening?
When Episode 5 revealed the Silmaril-light-based mithril backstory, the massive leap from canonical material led a number of people to call into question its validity and spawneda whole new series of clever theories.These theories claimed that the fading of the tree and the elves, and its connection to the need for mithril, was actually part of a devious plot of Sauron to get the elves to create the Rings of Power so that he could exploit their handiwork.
Of course, all of those theories seemed to run out of steam when the season finale appeared to confirm that the mithril-light rejuvenation idea was not actually a plot of Sauron. The sheer wildness of the idea, however, has led some to hold on to the hope, against all odds, that it still may be revealed to be a long-standing scheme of Sauron. It would likely undercut the drama in retrospect, but there is still a rather strangled route by which the mithril story might unravel and be revealed as part of some devious master plan.
Is Halbrand Actually Sauron?
The reveal of Halbrandas Sauron seemed somewhat out of step with his actions earlier in the season, and so some viewers have maintained, against the reveal, that Halbrand cannot actually be Sauron. Or rather, that the Halbrand who is revealed as Sauron in Episode 8 is not actually the Halbrand seen in the rest of the season. In order to square this bizarre circle, the explanation given is that therealHalbrand was actually killed in the eruption of Mount Doom in Episode 6, and Sauron took on his identity, feigning an injury so that he would be brought to Eregion to continue his devious plans. Of course, unless the charred corpse of the real Halbrand shows up in Mordor in Season 2, this one is likely a long shot.
