The trailer for The Rings of Power Season 2 has finally dropped and it teases many new storylines. The trailer also features the return of Sauron, who looks remarkably different compared to his portrayal in the last season. Accordingly, some fans are curious why Middle-earth’s greatest foe has an altered look. Here’s everything you need to know about Sauron’s new design.
Why does Sauron look so different in The Rings of Power Season 2?
Sauron’s new look in The Rings of Power Season 2 teases the character’s transformation into Annatar. This is despite being played by the same actor Charlie Vickers, who played Hallbrand in Season 1, who was later revealed to be Sauron himself.
In the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth stories, Sauron assumes the guise of an elf named Annatar. He is described as having fair skin and smooth long blonde locks and he deceives the elves into forging the Rings of Power. In Tolkien’s stories, Sauron possessed the ability to shapeshift into various beings until it was stripped away from him at the end of Middle-earth’s Second Age by Eru, the God of Middle-earth. This was many years before the events of The Lord of the Rings.
However, it seems The Rings of Power has spread out its Annatar storyline across Season 1 and Season 2. The show had already adapted the first part. This showed Sauron posing as Hallbrand, instead of Annatar, to have three rings made until he was eventually foiled by Galadriel. Now the second part will be adapted where Sauron poses as an entirely new figure, closely resembling Annatar from the books as described by Tolkien, and will be back to get the remaining Rings of Power forged.
However, it remains unclear how Sauron’s Annatar storyline will play out in The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime Video.
