The Rings of Power episode 8 trailer feels like one big Sauron misdirect
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Spoilers follow for The Rings of Power episodes 1 to 7.
Everything will be revealed. That’s the main takeaway from The Rings of Power season 1 finale trailer, which has provided answers to two of the high-fantasy show’s biggest questions.
Unveiled at New York Comic Con on October 7, the teaser mainly features scenes from the first seven episodes of the Prime Video series. However, there are also snippets of new footage that suggest we’ll finally get answers to the biggest questions Amazon’s Lord of the Rings has asked.
Watch the trailer below first:
So, what are the answers we’re looking for in The Rings of Power Episode 8? The first surrounds the titular Rings of Power. Since one of the show’s four overarching stories will focus on the forging of these bands — and the One Ring itself — there’s surprisingly no mention of the rings’ creation so far.
The second is perhaps more important: who is Sauron anyway? As TechRadar learned exclusively, the cast of The Rings of Power already know which of them plays the Dark Lord. We still don’t know which character is impersonating Sauron, though, and the past seven weeks – or rather eight months since the first trailer came out – have been filled with fans theorizing about who Sauron really is.
Based on these new images, it looks like we’ll finally get an answer to both questions. However, I can’t help feeling that The Rings of Power’s latest trailer is just one big deception – and it all has to do with some clever image editing tricks that have seemingly been used.
One of the teaser’s final moments indicates that the forging of the titular rings will begin in Episode 8. circular mold is shown. So it looks like the first Ring of Power could be made in the Season 1 finale.
Seeing the first Ring of Power being made must also mean that a Sauron in disguise has already met with Celebrimbor. In the source material, Sauron encounters the elvensmiths, under the disguise of someone named Anntar, and begins to pollute Celebrimbor’s mind by talking about making rings filled with immeasurable power. This is why the Rings of Power and Sauron’s own ring are eventually forged by Celebrimbor.
This leads us to the second big question: who Sauron really is.
There’s a lot of footage about The Stranger in and around clips from The Mystics – the supernatural trio that set the Harfoots’ caravan on fire in episode 7 of The Rings of Power, and who were looking for The Stranger. Just look at the 0:12 mark, where Bridie Sisson’s Dweller spits fire at something off-screen, only for a clip of The Stranger – taken from episode 2, that is – to be edited right after.
Initially, this means that episode 8 will feature a magic-based battle between the pair. Later in the trailer, at 1:46, we see footage of The Stranger and The Dweller appearing to be fighting, with strong winds surrounding the pair, adding even more weight to the possibility of a confrontation between the pair.
However, other parts of the teaser seem to show The Mystics telling The Stranger that he is actually Lord Sauron. At 0:43, The Mystics say in unison, “You will finally be known for who you really are, for you are Lord Sauron”.
Given that The Mystics have spent the past three episodes looking for The Stranger, it’s not too far off to suggest that a) they locate him in the Season 1 finale, and b) tell him that he’s actually the greatest enemy of Middle-earth.
There’s also a lot of talk about evil in Middle-earth when The Stranger makes an appearance in the teaser. The first time The Stranger is seen, we hear Galadriel say, “Evil doesn’t sleep; it waits,” adding even more credibility to the possibility that The Stranger is Sauron.
Read our Rings of Power recaps
For me, however, the ‘The Stranger is Sauron’ theory isn’t that succinct, even though this trailer suggests it.
Sure, he’s a dangerous entity. He’s accidentally put others (usually the Harfoots) in danger, but The Stranger seems like a good boy. In my view, he is one who would fight against the forces of evil and use his abilities to aid the races of Middle-earth in the fight against Sauron.
Plus, trailers are always edited in a certain way, persuading viewers to add two and two together and get five. The clips in the Season 1 finale trailer about The Stranger and The Mystics were probably edited together in such a way that we think The stranger is Sauron. It fuels more online debate, adds more fuel to the fan theory fires, and keeps us on the show until episode 8 airs – which is exactly what Amazon, the show’s creators, cast, and crew all want.
If The Stranger isn’t Sauron, who is? Since Halbrand drove Galadriel to Lindon to get his wounds healed through elf medicine, we can rule him out. The Mystics are nowhere near Lindon, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to suddenly show up there and reveal that Halbrand is really Sauron.
Could it be Adar? It is possible. We hear him say “I’m not a god. At least not yet” in the trailer, and he’s already tried to get us (and Galadriel) off the scent by saying that he killed Sauron during his chat with Galadriel in the episode The Rings of Power 6. Again, however, The Mystics are not on their way to Mordor – they are following The Stranger. Unless they take an unexpected detour, Adar is unlikely to be Sauron.
There are also other bait-and-switches in the trailer. A voiceover from The Mystics – “You’ll Know Who You Really Are” – is spoken while a shot of Theo is shown, holding the evil sword hilt, which could suggest he is Sauron. However, we can rule that out based on what we’ve learned about Theo in the previous seven episodes.
What about the formation of the rings? What if this is also a clever deception? It’s possible that Celebrimbor is simply trying to convince Gil-galad to agree to forge the rings in an attempt to save the elves from destruction. Remember that the elves are in danger. Without the mithril from the mines of Khazad-dûm, they lose their immortality and die just like any other Middle-earth race. Since Elrond will surely return to Lindon with only a small piece of Mithril – the one given to Prince Durin – the elves need a new way to maintain their immortality. According to Celebrimbor, the rings could be the solution.
But what if the images of something being faked are related to something else? sure it looks like like a Ring of Power could be made and, as we know from Tolkien’s source material, one of the rings – Nenya – is made of mithril.
However, there is always the prospect of something else being created or destroyed. We see Galadriel looking sadly at Finrod’s dagger at one point in the teaser. Is it too far fetched to suggest that she will finally stop fighting in his memory, and decide to melt his dagger to unleash her demons once and for all?
In my mind, The Rings of Power episode 8 trailer is full of content that should lead fans astray, and it’s becoming more and more likely that Sauron is just someone we haven’t seen on the show yet. Meanwhile, forging the rings will be teased in the Season 1 finale, but we won’t see them until Season 2.
Teasers like this always serve as hype-generating people, causing viewers to read too much of what they mean; and hey, it got me hooked too – just look at how much I’ve speculated in this article. Still, I can’t help but feel that The Rings of Power has two big final tricks up its sleeve. If you and I are looking for answers about Sauron’s identity and the formation of the rings, we won’t take them out of this trailer.
For more Rings of Power content, learn how the big lore drops from Episode 7 set up the Season 1 finale and beyond. Or find out why the Prime Video show didn’t use Star Wars’ Volume technology.
The Rings of Power Episodes 1 through 7 are now available on Prime Video.