The Lord of the Ringsmovies cut one critical scene, andRings of Powerseason 3could revive it. Author J.R.R. Tolkien wrote and released his masterwork,The Lord of the Rings, in three parts between 1954 and 1955. To his credit, Peter Jackson adapted these movies brilliantly, despite having to cut a lot of the novel’s content. Although Jackson’s movies are set in the Third Age and Prime Video’sThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Poweris set in the Second Age, the show may make up for some of the trilogy’s cut material.
The Tolkien Estate limitedthe creators ofThe Rings of PowertoLord of the Rings’Second Age, which may have been to avoid confusing crossovers with the movies. Regardless, the showrunners ofRings of Power- Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne - wanted to create an origin story for Sauron, literature and cinema’s greatest villain. Thankfully, this enables the show to tie into the movies frequently, with the show potentially resuscitating one of the trilogy’s most fascinating deleted scenes.
Sauron Forged Rings With His Blood In The Rings Of Power
The Rings Of Power Showed Sauron’s Second Age Smithing In Detail
Bythe end ofThe Rings of Powerseason 2,Sauron’s smithing skills had been fully explored in the Eregion arc, paving the way for season 3 to make good on the unkept promises of the trilogy. Without a shadow of a doubt, the trilogy kept a vast quantity of its promises, as what may well be the three best fantasy movies ever made. But they cut plenty of Tolkien’s content, including Tom Bombadil, as well as adding their own original content. Jackson struggled to keep runtimes down. Meanwhile,The Rings of Powerluxuriates with a planned five-season run.
Sala Baker played Sauron inThe Fellowship of the Ring, while Charlie Vickers and Jack Lowden play him inThe Rings of Power.
AdaptingThe Silmarillionvia rights toThe Lord of the Rings’appendices and snippets of other works,The Rings of Powerpledged to tell the full story ofThe Fellowship of the Ring’sprologue. As such, it delved intoSauron as the Lord of the Rings, exploring his Second Age ring forging.Season 2 finally got down to the business of the ring forging, with Sauron trapping Celebrimbor in an illusion while he made the rings with what he thought was Mithril but was actually Sauron’s blood. Sauron even showed Celebrimbor the self-inflicted wound that generated the blood.
Sauron Forged The One Ring With His Blood In A Deleted Fellowship Of The Ring Scene
Rings Of Power Wasn’t The First LOTR production To Show Sauron Using Blood Magic
Rings of Power’sdepiction of Sauron using blood magic in this way was a world first, but it very nearly wasn’t.The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ringplanned a similar scene. This scene was a planned extension of the part of the prologue that showed Sauron at the Cracks of Doom, holding upLord of the Rings’One Ringon his finger, beholding its glory.The cut material was shown in a storyboardthat showed Sauron cutting his hand with a dagger and placing the One Ring on it. The ring absorbed Sauron’s blood, becoming whole.
It was only the ending shot of the scene that made the final cut ofThe Fellowship of the Ringwith Sauron standing at the Cracks of Doom in head-to-toe armor. Perhaps it was appropriate thatSauron sacrificed his blood in the scene, while the movie sacrificed the scene to keep its story focused and its runtime down. Of course, this explains why Sauron is holding a dagger in theLOTRprologue, which is a mystery otherwise. It seems thatRings of Powerpaid homage to this moment in its approach to Sauron’s blood magic.
Sauron Really Did Pour Himself Into The One Ring In The Books
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy & TV Show Can Both Justify Their Depictions Of Sauron
Nowhere in the legendarium (the wider collection of Tolkien works set in Middle-earth) did Tolkien mention Sauron putting his blood in the rings, but this can easily be inferred from the text. As such, bothThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy andThe Rings of Powerhave a very reasonable basis for portraying Sauron’s blood as an ingredient ofLord of the Rings’Rings of Power. Tolkien painted Middle-earth in broad strokes, especially pre-Third Age, leaving room for varying interpretations. But even so, it is almost certain thatSauron’s very being was contained in the ring:
Melkor incarnated himself (as Morgoth) permanently. He did this so as to control thehröa, the flesh or physical matter, of Arda. He attempted to identify himself with it. A vaster, and more perilous, procedure, though of similar sort to the operation of Sauron with the Rings. Thus, outside the Blessed Realm, all matter was likely to have a Melkor ingredient, and those who had bodies, nourished by thehröaof Arda, had as it were a tendency, small or great, towards Melkor: they were none of them wholly free of him in their incarnate form.
As per this extract fromMorgoth’s Ring, Sauron’s ring forging replicated Morgoth’s process for making Arda Marred. Sauron and Morgoth were ëalar - beings composed of spirit who could form a body if they chose. Morgoth incarnated his being into Arda the waySauron incarnated his being into the ring, making Arda Morgoth’s ring. Morgoth was known for taking titanic, elemental forms like mountains. His ritual took this a step further, incarnating him permanently into much of Arda. Sauron, meanwhile, had a humanoid body in the Second Age.
Morgoth and Sauron were both Ainur, the first species made by Middle-earth’s God. While Morgoth was one of the Valar, Sauron was of the lower order - the Maiar.
MaybeSauron directly took the form of the ringthe way Morgoth took the form of Arda. But Sauron’s reasonably fixed form when he made the ring may have inhibited this. Morgoth’s incarnations were very fluid during Arda’s formation, butSauron had a fair form in the Second Agethat he used for hundreds of years. Ainur incarnations ranged greatly from close biological replicas of human or Elvish forms to fantastical creatures. It may have made more sense for Sauron’s relatively fixed form to simply mix a liquid from his body (like blood) with molten gold to make the ring.
The Rings Of Power Season 3 Will Likely Continue Sauron’s Blood Magic
Sauron Hasn’t Finished Forging In The Rings of Power
Sauron has another ring to forge in season 3, so it is very possible that viewers haven’t seen the end of his blood magic. By the end ofRings of Powerseason 1, Sauron had only just finished forging the Elven-rings, and he finally completed the rings of Men and Dwarves by the end of season 2. As per numerous interviews with the show’s cast and crew, that leaves Sauron, inevitably, to forge the One Ring in season 3.Sauron may well add his blood to the One Ring in season 3, given that he added it to the other rings.
As intelligently articulated by Galadriel in the trilogy’s prologue, Sauron poured his cruelty, malice, and will to dominate all life into it. The logical conclusion of season 2’s blood magic is an even bigger, bloodier ritual for the One Ring. Sauron did make the One Ring differently from the other rings as it was forged in the fires of Mount Doom, so this isn’t necessarily the case, butThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerwould be missing an opportunity to ignore this gruesome fantasy potential.
