Is Adar Sauron? Even though you may have thought you knew everything there was to know about Middle-Earth after reading The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power presents an entirely fresh take on Tolkien’s vast universe.
The Prime Video series draws heavily from the Lord of the Rings appendices and introduces original characters and a unique plot. Therefore, even if you are well-versed in everything Tolkien has written, you will still find new and exciting details in The Rings of Power.
The Rings of Power is a prequel to the original trilogy that takes place in the Second Age of Middle-earth and details the events leading up to the story, such as the forging of the nine rings and the rising of the Dark Lord Sauron.
Galadriel, an Elven warrior who helps the Fellowship of the Ring in the book series, is one of the characters we’ve seen previously on the show, even though it’s set thousands of years before Lord of the Rings.
The ultimate antagonist, Sauron, will inevitably grow into a powerful enemy that will take a herculean effort to defeat. However, until that time in the extremely distant future, The Rings of Power will require a different enemy to rally against.
Adar plays an essential role in this. Who, exactly, is this shadowy individual? A warning, though: this page contains spoilers for the first few episodes of The Rings of Power, so proceed with caution if you haven’t seen them yet.
Who Is Adar In Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power?
The Silvan elf Arondir first brings up the presence of Adar during his exploration of the Southlands in search of the source of the increasing evil. The orcs have been digging tunnels beneath the surface, probably in pursuit of a weapon.
Is Adar really Sauron? The mysterious figure in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Episode 3 explained https://t.co/XBooC3L6qt
— DashFUN (@DashFUN24) September 9, 2022
In Episode 3, Arondir is among a group of humans and elves imprisoned by the orcs and made to dig tunnels as punishment for escaping. He learns the orcs answer to an “Adar” named repeatedly by those they talk about (more on that exciting name below).
As of yet, we had only seen Adar once, at the end of Episode 3, when he dragged Arondir in front of him. Since he was invented especially for the program, we have no idea if he’s a generic bad guy or the prototypical lousy guy we’ve come to know and hate…
Is Adar A Shape-Shifting Sauron?
Tolkien’s Middle-earth history places The Rings of Power in the Second Age, when Sauron is present but not yet the villain. Polygon reports that Sauron has been gathering his armies in Mordor, near the Southlands.
Even still, Adar is probably not Sauron, as evidenced by all available evidence. As a young man in the Second Age, he disguised himself as the helpful Annatar to study ringcraft under the guise of his newfound shape-shifting skills.
Adar’s disguise would undoubtedly keep Sauron very occupied. Two further candidates for the identity of Sauron exist the “man in the sky” and Halbrand. He could potentially assume Adar’s appearance by shapeshifting, though it would be somewhat anticlimactic.
The possibility exists since Adar is mentioned by name when Arondir and the other elves discuss Sauron. Still, thousands of years are at Sauron’s disposal to establish his rule. Unfortunately, even if our heroes do manage to determine his true identity, they probably won’t be able to change his course of events very much.
