Let’s be real for a second. The first season of The Rings of Power was a lot. It was expensive, it was shiny, and it felt like it was trying way too hard to make us care about a dozen different plot lines at once. Some people loved it; a lot of people spent their time complaining on Reddit. But The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 is a different beast entirely. It’s darker. It’s meaner. Honestly, it finally feels like the Tolkien adaptation we were promised back when Jeff Bezos first opened his wallet for the rights.
It’s about the gaslighting.
That sounds weird for a show with orcs and wizards, but that’s the core of this season. Charlie Vickers, who plays Annatar (the "fair form" of Sauron), basically carries the entire production on his back. If you thought the "Halbrand is Sauron" reveal in season one was a bit predictable, the way he manipulates Celebrimbor this time around is genuinely uncomfortable to watch. It’s psychological horror disguised as high fantasy.
Sauron and the Art of the Lie in Season 2
The biggest shift in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 is the perspective. We aren't just watching the heroes try to stop a vague evil. We are sitting in the room with the devil. When Sauron shows up at the gates of Eregion as Annatar, the Messenger of the Valar, he isn't using magic to mind-control people. He’s using their own insecurities against them.
Poor Celebrimbor. Charles Edwards plays him with this heartbreaking mix of ambition and desperation. He wants to be greater than his ancestor Fëanor. He wants to leave a legacy. Sauron knows this, and he feeds that ego until the smith is literally hallucinating peace while his city burns around him. It’s a masterclass in pacing. The show finally slowed down enough to let these two characters just talk in a room, and ironically, those are the most explosive scenes in the series.
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While the Eregion plot is the heartbeat of the season, we’ve still got the Harfoots wandering around the desert. Nori and Poppy meet the Stoors, which is cool for the lore nerds because it shows the different branches of hobbit-kind, but it’s definitely the "B-plot." Then there’s The Stranger. We all knew he was Gandalf. The show tried to pretend it was a mystery for two years, but when he finally finds his staff and says the words, it’s more of a "finally" moment than a "wow" moment.
Why the Siege of Eregion Matters
If you’re here for the scale, the final three episodes of the season are basically one long battle. Adar, the "Father" of the Orcs, brings the heat to Eregion. This isn't the clean, heroic combat of The Return of the King. It’s muddy. It’s chaotic. It’s mostly a tragedy.
You see the toll it takes on Elrond. Robert Aramayo has evolved the character from a somewhat naive politician into a battle-hardened commander who is starting to realize that winning the war might mean losing his soul. His relationship with Galadriel is strained, mostly because he can't look at the Three Rings without seeing Sauron’s influence. He’s the moral compass, and he’s spinning wildly.
The Problem with Rhûn and Numenor
Look, not everything is perfect. The show still struggles with its massive scale.
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- The Numenor plot feels like it’s on fast-forward. Pharazôn seizes power, the faithful are persecuted, and Elendil is moping on a beach. It’s important for the eventual Fall of Numenor, but it feels disconnected from the rings.
- Isildur is still alive (obviously), hanging out in Pelargir with a new love interest. It feels like filler.
- The transition between the desert of Rhûn and the lush forests of Lindon can be jarring.
But then the show goes back to Khazad-dûm, and all is forgiven. The dynamic between Prince Durin IV and King Durin III is the emotional anchor of the season. The King is obsessed with the ring Sauron gave him. He’s digging too deep. We all know what’s waiting in the dark—the Balrog, or "Durin's Bane"—and the dread is palpable. When the King finally chooses the gold over his son, it hurts more than any sword fight.
The Lore vs. The Screenplay
Purists will always have a bone to pick with how J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay handle the timeline. In the books, the forging of the rings takes centuries. Here, it takes a few weeks. That’s the reality of television. You can’t have your human characters die of old age every two episodes.
What The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 gets right is the vibe. Tolkien wrote about the "long defeat"—the idea that even when you win, you lose something precious. This season captures that. The Elves are fading. Their cities are being destroyed. The rings they use to "save" their world are the very things that will eventually enslave it.
The production design has also stepped up. The orcs look incredible. They used way more practical prosthetics this time around, and it shows. There’s a weight to the world that felt a bit "CGI-heavy" in the first season. When an orc gets hit with an arrow, you feel the impact.
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What to Watch For Next
If you’ve just finished the binge, you’re probably wondering where we go from here. The board is set. Sauron has the Nine Rings for Men. He doesn't have the One Ring yet—that’s likely the big hook for Season 3. Eregion is in ruins. The Elves are retreating to what will eventually become Imladris (Rivendell).
The political landscape is a mess. Adar is out of the picture, and the orcs have a new master. The power vacuum in Middle-earth is closing, and it’s being filled by a tall guy in black armor.
Actionable Steps for the Fandom
If you want to get the most out of the story before the next season drops, don't just rewatch the movies. The movies cover the Third Age. This show is the Second Age.
- Read "The Akallabêth": It’s at the end of The Silmarillion. It’s short, and it tells you exactly how Numenor falls. It will make the political bickering in the show much more interesting.
- Track the Rings: Pay attention to who has which ring by the end of the finale. Galadriel, Gil-galad, and Círdan have the Three. The Dwarves have their Seven, though they are scattered. Sauron has the Nine. This distribution defines the next three seasons.
- Listen to the Score: Bear McCreary’s music is full of leitmotifs. Sauron’s theme is often hidden in the background of "heroic" scenes. If you listen closely, the music tells you who is being manipulated before the characters even realize it.
The show isn't perfect, but it's finally interesting. It stopped trying to be a prequel to Peter Jackson’s films and started trying to be its own tragedy. That’s a win for fantasy fans. The stakes are finally real, the villain is finally terrifying, and the rings are finally doing what they were meant to do: cause a whole lot of trouble.
Expect Season 3 to focus heavily on the distribution of the Nine Rings to the Kings of Men. We know how that ends—with nine Nazgûl—but seeing the descent of these leaders into shadows is going to be the next big emotional hurdle for the series.
Stay tuned to the casting news for Celeborn. We know he’s out there somewhere, and his reunion with Galadriel is one of the biggest missing pieces of the puzzle. Until then, keep an eye on the shadows. Sauron certainly is.