The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 finale left things on a relatively hopeful note for most characters, but not everyone got a happy ending. This is especially true for one of the show’s primary villains, a mainstay since the very first season premiere. The second season saw Sauron (Charlie Vickers) ascend back into relevance as Middle-earth heads towards all-out war, with the rings of power finally created and spread across the land. The Dark Lord also sought revenge against the one person who killed them ages ago. For those who have not yet watched the finale, beware of major spoilers ahead.
The second season finale of The Rings of Power features Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) having one final confrontation with Adar (Sam Hazeldine), who acquired her ring of power from Elrond at the end of the penultimate episode. While Galadriel arrives with the intention of giving him the nine rings in her possession, Adar reveals his original, uncorrupted face, healed by the ring. With a renewed sense of wisdom, he entrusts the powerful piece of jewelry to Galadriel as a first step to establish a lasting “peace” in Middle-earth. But his change of heart is short-lived, as his children brutally murder him at the behest of Sauron, mirroring the Dark Lord’s death at the hands of Adar.
Charlotte Brändström, who directed the season finale, says that she and cinematographer Alex Disenhof chose to film Adar and Galadriel’s final sequence with Dutch camera angles to pay homage to their confrontation in the first season. For those who don’t remember, the mid-season climax of Season 1 had Galadriel finally meeting with Adar in a barn right before the creation of Mordor.
Brändström: “ “We actually mirrored something that we had done in the first season. There is a scene in Episode 6, at the end of Episode 6, there is a confrontation between Adar and Galadriel in the barn
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It’s been quite a while, but we remember that, right? That day, we went Dutch, completely Dutch, the whole scene. So, Alex saying, ‘It would be cool to just redo the same thing and go Dutch againDisenhof:“Yeah, it’s kind of a remembering how their relationship is, and it’s off balance. We know that it was the final moment between them. We knew he was going to die in that moment. Yeah, kind of a full-circle moment between them.
Adar Gets a Final Moment of Redemption
Although Adar’s turn in The Rings of Power Season 2 finale was a very quick 180 from his typical conniving ways, it was set up from the jump. During the first confrontation with Galadriel in the barn, Adar revealed his own true nature, as well as those who he deems his “children.” Before being slowly tortured and corrupted by Morgoth, Adar was a Moriondor, an Elf from the First Age. Presumably, the shadowy corruption of his defeated abuser led to him leading the Orcs against all in Middle-earth and even Sauron himself. For this reason, Adar was protective of his tortured kind, even until the very end when they turned on him.
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The final scene with Adar not only proves that Galadriel’s ring is actually a tool that can be used, uncorrupted by Sauron (for now), but it also allowed for the father of the Orcs to have a moment of redemption. It’s clear that despite his evil wrongdoings, Adar did have his best intentions at heart for the Orcs without the Morgoth’s influence over his body and soul. He is quick to forgive Galadriel for murdering a lot of his children, but the moment still felt earned and placed at the right time in The Rings of Power.
This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and takes viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
- Release Date
- September 2, 2022