WARNING: If you haven’t seen the finale episode of The Rings of Power, this article contains MAJOR SPOILERS. Read at your own risk!
Fans have been speculating Halbrand’s (Charlie Vickers) character is Sauron from the very beginning and The Rings of Power just confirmed their theories. The Rings of Power Season 1 finale aired today, October 14, and revealed Halbrand to be Sauron, the big bad whom Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) has been hunting for years. The same Halbrand she had gotten closer with and gotten to know throughout the season, enough to even trust him in telling her past — of her brother Finrod dying battling the dark lords Morgoth and Sauron, the cause of her thirst for revenge. Unfortunately, she unveils the truth behind Halbrand’s real identity of being Sauron, with the episode ending of Sauron walking to Mordor.
Clark had revealed a little secret in an interview with Collider, saying that ‘it was kind of painful’ to play the character while knowing the terrible secret behind Halbrand. Read her reveal below:
“So, I found out, Charlie found out that he was playing Sauron and I was told as when we were kind of filming out Numenor bits, but we weren’t given episode eight till really late on. So we didn’t know how she was going to find out and that was kind of frustrating [yet] exciting. We also didn’t know how close they would become as well. When I found out that Halbrand was Sauron, we didn’t know how they’d feel after the battle in the Southlands and stuff. So it was kind of painful knowing more than Galadriel did, being like, ‘Oh no, you’re going to be sad.’”
Meanwhile, on The Hollywood Reporter, Vickers revealed the showrunners had only ‘sat him down and told him’ about his character’s twist before shooting the third episode.
“I filmed that sequence on the raft not knowing. I filmed it as Halbrand wholeheartedly. But I did have an inkling, if I’m honest with you. My last two auditions were [reading lines from] Richard III and we know he’s not the greatest guy in the world. And then the other [audition lines were] from Paradise Lost where you’re literally giving the speech as Satan. So that gave me an inkling there was something up. So I was definitely suspicious, but it wasn’t confirmed until right before we started filming the third episode.”
With the season finale ending with Galadriel refusing to join Sauron to rule Middle-earth, Sauron disappears from her sight and we later see him walking into Mordor, perhaps an opening to what The Rings of Power Season 2 has in store.
Also Read: Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 8 Reveals The Stranger's True Identity
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