“What do I call you?”
“The sharer of gifts.”
With that exchange between Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) and a mysterious long-haired stranger (Charlie Vickers), The Rings of Power finally gets to the event it’s been teasing since its inception: the forging of the Rings of Power. But most importantly, this exchange solves what could have been the Prime Video show’s biggest challenge after its Season 1 revelation that Galadriel’s handsome human companion was actually Sauron, the Dark Lord. It shows the series isn’t afraid to get really deep with its Tolkien lore, even after a full season of table-setting and small but significant changes to the Middle-earth timeline.
Watch the official trailer for Rings of Power Season 2 below.
The story of Celebrimbor and Sauron is well-known to Tolkien fans: Sauron dons his “fair form” of Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, to trick Celebrimbor, an Elven master smith who Sauron manipulates into forging 16 of the 19 Rings of Power, all of which are bonded to the One Ring. But Celebrimbor manages to forge 3 Elven Rings without Sauron’s knowledge, leaving them free of Sauron’s corruption.
The Amazon series futzes with the timeline a bit. In the Season 1 finale, Galadriel brings Halbrand to Eregion, where he gives Celebrimbor the idea of how to forge something with Elrond’s mithril. This seemed like the show’s way of adapting the Annatar storyline, but the Season 2 trailer shows otherwise. The Rings of Power Season 2 appears to be properly adapting the Annatar deception, with Sauron appearing in front of Celebrimbor in his fair form... and Celebrimbor not recognizing him.
This allows the show to navigate the hurdle it had created for itself when Halbrand revealed himself to Galadriel (how could she and Celebrimbor be tricked into forging the Rings of Power if she knows who Sauron is?) and reveals how the series will be tackling Sauron’s shapeshifting powers. It’s more than just a wig and a clean shave — Sauron can completely rework his image to fool Celebrimbor again.
The nearly four-minute trailer, which premiered at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, is chock full of revelations for the new season. There are scenes of Galadriel warning the Elves of the threat of Sauron, of Elves and Orcs going to battle, of the dwarves of Khazad-dûm (aka Moria) having to face a reawakened Balrog, of Gandalf speaking in fully formed sentences, and of Númenór approaching its doom. But the most intriguing part of this trailer is how prominent the Rings of Power are — we see them already working their magic on Durin III, the king of Khazad-dûm, as his son urges him to take it off, only to be flung away. Finally, we’ll get to see the infamous rings at work.
Here’s the official synopsis for The Rings of Power Season 2:
In Season Two of The Rings of Power, Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will. Building on Season One’s epic scope and ambition, the new season plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.
