Sauron is a shapeshifter. We knew this. But seeing it actually play out on screen in The Rings of Power Season Two is a completely different beast than reading a few dry paragraphs in the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings. Most people went into the first season expecting a dark lord in spiked armor, but what we got instead was "Hot Sauron" or Halbrand, the low-man king of the Southlands. It was polarizing. Honestly, it was a bit of a gamble.
By the time the second season kicks off, the mask is off. Or rather, a new mask is on.
Charlie Vickers trades the rugged, dirty-haired look for the ethereal, blond wig of Annatar, the "Lord of Gifts." It’s creepy. It’s effective. And it’s exactly the kind of psychological manipulation J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about when he described the Second Age. This season isn't just about big battles, though those happen. It’s about the slow, agonizing erosion of Celebrimbor’s sanity.
If you felt the first season was too slow, you weren't alone. The pacing was a major sticking point for critics and fans alike. Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay clearly heard the noise because the second outing moves with a lot more urgency. The stakes feel immediate because we're no longer wondering who Sauron is. Now, we're watching the characters we like fall directly into his trap. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. You want to yell at the screen, but you can't look away.
The Annatar Deception and the Fall of Eregion
The heart of The Rings of Power Season Two is the relationship between Sauron and Celebrimbor. Charles Edwards, who plays the Master Smith, deserves an Emmy for how he portrays a man being gaslit into oblivion. It’s painful to watch. He thinks he’s saving Middle-earth. He thinks he’s doing something noble. In reality, he’s just a tool for a demigod who wants to "heal" the world by ruling it.
Tolkien purists might quibble with the timeline—the show compresses thousands of years into what feels like a few months—but the emotional beats of the Eregion arc hit hard. When the Siege of Eregion finally starts, it isn't just a spectacle. It’s the consequence of every lie told in the forge.
The Orcs, led by Adar, are another layer of complexity here. Sam Hazeldine took over the role from Joseph Mawle, and while fans were worried about the recast, Hazeldine brings a more weary, desperate energy to the "Father of Orcs." He isn't a villain in the traditional sense. He’s a guy trying to protect his "children" from the very creator who abused them. It makes the conflict in Middle-earth feel less like Good vs. Evil and more like a messy, tragic collision of competing traumas.
Why the Dwarves Stole the Show
While the Elves are busy crying about their fading light, the Dwarves are dealing with literal darkness. The chemistry between Owain Arthur (Prince Durin IV) and Sophia Nomvete (Princess Disa) remains the absolute highlight of the series. They feel like a real couple. They argue about their parents. They worry about their home. They sing to the stone.
The introduction of the Rings of Power to Khazad-dûm changes everything.
We see the corruption of King Durin III almost instantly. It’s not that the Ring makes him "evil" overnight; it just magnifies his greed. It makes him stubborn. He wants to dig deeper. And we all know what’s waiting in the deep. The Balrog—the "Bane of Durin"—is no longer a distant threat. It’s an inevitability. The tragedy of the Dwarves in season two is that their desire to save their mountain from an ecological collapse (the loss of the sun-shafts) leads them to a different kind of ruin.
The Stranger and the Tom Bombadil Problem
Let’s talk about Rhûn. This is where the show takes the most liberties.
The Stranger, who most fans correctly guessed is a young Gandalf (though the show takes its sweet time confirming the name), is wandering the desert with Nori and Poppy. It’s a bit of a "Waiting for Godot" situation for a while. Then comes Tom Bombadil.
Played by Rory Kinnear, Tom is exactly as weird as he should be. He sings. He speaks in riddles. He doesn't care about the war. Bringing Bombadil to live-action was a huge risk—Peter Jackson famously cut him from the films because he stops the plot dead in its tracks. In season two, he serves as a cryptic mentor to the Stranger, helping him understand that a wizard's power isn't about the staff, but the choice.
It’s a bit slower than the Eregion storyline, and sometimes it feels like a different show entirely. But it expands the map. We get to see the Easterlings and the "Dark Wizard" (played by Ciaran Hinds), adding flavor to a part of Middle-earth Tolkien barely sketched out.
Addressing the Backlash and the Numbers
It is no secret that the first season faced an uphill battle. Review bombing, lore debates, and the massive price tag put a target on its back. Amazon spent roughly $465 million on just the first season. That’s a lot of pressure.
According to Nielsen data and Amazon’s own reports, The Rings of Power Season Two saw a bit of a dip in initial premiere viewership compared to the series debut, but it showed stronger "stickiness." People who started it actually finished it this time. The word of mouth improved because the show stopped trying to be a mystery box and started being a high-fantasy tragedy.
Critics were generally kinder to the second season as well. On Rotten Tomatoes, it maintained a solid "Certified Fresh" rating, with many noting that the focused narrative on Sauron’s manipulation gave the series the anchor it was missing.
What You Should Focus on Moving Forward
If you're looking to get the most out of the experience, stop comparing it to a frame-by-frame adaptation of the Silmarillion. It isn't that. It’s a remix.
- Watch the background details in the forge: The physical degradation of Celebrimbor is mirrored in the environment. Pay attention to the lighting. It gets darker and more oppressive as Sauron gains control.
- Track the Rings: Keep a mental tally of who has what. The distribution of the Seven (to the Dwarves) and the Nine (for Men) is the primary engine of the plot.
- Look for the parallels: Notice how the show contrasts the "healing" of the Elven rings with the "greed" of the Dwarven rings. It’s all about intent.
The Second Age is defined by the fact that the "Good Guys" actually lose. Most fantasy shows build toward a big victory. This one is building toward a several-thousand-year dark age. That shift in perspective makes the small moments of heroism feel more meaningful because we know they are ultimately futile in the short term.
To really understand the scope of what the show is doing, it helps to revisit the "Shadow of the Past" chapter in The Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien mentions that Sauron "guided" the labors of the Smith-elves. Seeing that "guidance" manifest as a manipulative, gaslighting emotional affair is the boldest choice the show has made. It might not be exactly how you pictured it, but it’s undeniably compelling television.
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Check the map updates in the opening credits too. They actually change based on the geopolitical shifts of the episodes. It's a small touch, but it shows the level of detail the production team is pouring into the world-building. As the series moves toward the eventual Fall of Númenor, expect the tone to get even bleaker. This isn't a fairy tale; it's a disaster movie in slow motion.