The Silmarillion, Tom Bombadil and Sauron's backstory: The Rings of Power season 2 will reportedly be insane

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is one of Amazon Prime Video's flagship fantasy shows, and if the latest leaks about its upcoming second season are true, the series could be about to make some daring moves. Season 1 premiered back in 2022 to mixed reviews. Many enjoyed the show for its music, cinematography and other winning qualities, while others decried how it played fast and loose with the lore established by The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien. Personal opinions aside, The Rings of Power's first season only had a 37% completion rate among U.S. viewers, so it feels safe to say season 2 has an uphill battle to win over more people.

Amazon may have taken that challenge to heart. This week, fansite TheOneRing.net published a lengthy feature about a leak that made its way onto 4Chan on January 15, 2024. The leak makes all sorts of wild claims about what's coming, including an appearance from Tom Bombadil and major changes to Sauron's backstory as laid out in Tolkien's Legendarium. Some of these claims are probably not true, but nearly half of them are things that TheOneRing.net say they had already confirmed through their "secret channels." At the very least, this means that we have to parse through them and consider the possibilities.

The following article contains MAJOR SPOILER AND SPECULATION for The Rings of Power season 2. I'm not kidding: proceed with caution unless you're fine with knowing what Amazon may have in store for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which premieres later this year.

Report: Amazon has secretly acquired the rights to The Silmarillion

One of the more fascinating things about The Rings of Power as a production is what Amazon actually has the rights to adapt. The show is set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. It's been widely reported that Amazon purchased television rights to the appendices to that book trilogy, which include plenty of information about the First and Second Ages of Middle-earth. Later, we heard that Amazon also had acquired the TV rights for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, since they were entertaining pitches for programs like a young Aragorn show. It's all been somewhat murky, but we know for sure that Amazon has the rights to those appendices and that they form the primary basis of The Rings of Power.

But Amazon didn't have the rights to Tolkien's The Silmarillion, a book that covers the First and Second Ages in detail. The Silmarillion gets into the origins of Sauron, the War of Wrath where Sauron's predecessor Morgoth waged war across Middle-earth, the romance of Beren and Lúthien, the forging of the Silmarils, and so on. There's a lot covered in The Silmarillion that was off limits to The Rings of Power, but is nonetheless crucial to the overall lore of the world. Obviously, that puts the show in kind of a pickle.

Well, that may be changing. TheOneRing.net claims it is "now being discussed openly" that Amazon has secretly acquired the rights to The Silmarillion from the Tolkien Estate for use in The Rings of Power season 2. It's hard to overstate how big that is if true. Since The Rings of Power is set in Tolkien's Second Age, which builds on mythology from the First Age, being able to draw from The Silmarillion would be a game changer for Amazon's show. TOR reiterates that Amazon's use of The Silmarillion material is probably limited, so don't expect to see a whole show based on the book anytime soon. But still, it's a big deal.

What sorts of things might this open up for The Rings of Power, you may be wondering? Well, some pretty important scenes regarding Sauron's boss, for starters:

The Rings of Power season 2 will explore Sauron's backstory

TOR reports that the first episode of The Rings of Power season 2 will be a "standalone episode" that focuses primarily on fleshing out the villain Sauron, played by Charlie Vickers. This lines up with an interview quote from Rings of Power director Charlotte Brändström, which described the first episode of the season as "a little more stand-alone." Here's what she said, courtesy of Fellowship of Fans:

"I would probably say that the last two [episodes] are a bit more connected, at least time wise, I must say. And there I had a giant battle again, towards the end of the seventh episode. The first episode is a little more stand-alone. I directed the first and third and the seventh and eighth. The plot in the first and third builds up what is to happen and is a bit more self-contained, but there is a lot going on in the seventh and eighth episodes. It’s a very explosive end to the season."

The 4Chan leak purported to provide more details, including a description of the opening scene of the season:

“The opening scene of Ep. 1 is Eru [Ilúvatar] using the Secret Flame to create Melkor, and Melkor watching as Eru creates all the Valar and the Maiar. Eru is a disembodied voice vaguely human shaped but no characteristics can be made out. The Secret Flame is golden, as are all the Valar and the Maiar. The Valar are larger than the Maiar, but they are bathed in a golden light and completely naked. The actor playing Mairon in this realm is NOT Charlie Vickers or Gavi Singh Chera–it is a third actor. Gave Singh Chera will play Sauron in his battle form and his Annatar form.”

Obviously, none of this is confirmed. It's possible it won't pan out. But the scene described here of Eru — the god of all creation in Tolkien's mythos — creating the Valar and Maiar — lesser god-like beings, many of whom inhabit Middle-earth (Sauron is one of the Maiar) — is straight out of The Silmarillion, so this is an example of something that would presumably only be possible if Amazon had secured those rights.

Intriguingly, the leak also mentions three actors playing Sauron. We previously heard rumblings that Gavi Singh Chera would play a different version of Sauron in a flashback — Sauron pretty famously changes shape a bunch of times throughout the history of Middle-earth, so this is in line with Tolkien's work. However, this is the first we're hearing of a third actor playing the part. Since season 1 spent a lot of time toying with questions about Sauron's identity, it's not too surprising to hear that season 2 will explore why the iconic villain became the force of evil he did. Here's more from the leak, where Sauron talks up his boss Melkor, aka Morgoth:

“A whole episode is dedicated to Sauron’s backstory leading up to the breaking of the First Silence. After the Fourth interruption of the song [Theme], several Maiar meet and discuss Melkor’s discord. Mairon/Sauron alone speaks: ‘The One has blessed me more so than all of you to see the potential of His creations, and what better way to forge their mettle than by allowing them to face Melkor’s discord and grow beyond what they think capable!’ You will see Mithrandir [Olórin] in this scene. Mairon almost converts him. Almost.”

Olórin / Mithrandir, for the record, is Gandalf. That's who we're pretty sure The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) was playing in season 1. Gandalf's being in Middle-earth at this time is a pretty large deviation from Tolkien's work, but there have been enough of those in The Rings of Power that it's not worth getting too hung up on that one in particular at the moment.

Daddy Sauron and Adar

Next, the leak sheds light on why Sauron had beef with the twisted elf Adar (played by Game of Thrones veteran Joseph Mawle in season 1, recast to Sam Hazeldine for season 2). Remember in Episode 6 of The Rings of Power, back before we knew Halbrand was Sauron, when he captured Adar at spearpoint and the elf said, "Did I cause someone you love pain? A woman? Perhaps a child?" Halbrand had a pretty strong reaction to those last words...and apparently there was a reason for it.

The leak claims that at some point in the past, Sauron had a son who was murdered by Adar, thus beginning their beef with one another. Forget Gandalf being a meteor man; Sauron being a dad will easily become the new gold standard for weird and controversial adaptation choices if it proves true. Obviously, the Dark Lord never had any kids in Tolkien's work.

When last we saw Adar, he had just founded Mordor so that all his orc followers could have a home of their own. In season 2, Adar will reportedly surrender to Sauron...only to then pull a fast one and betray him again down the line.

We have to take a lot of this with a grain of salt since we're talking about leaks, but geez will it be a lot to take in if even any of this proves true. And that's not even the craziest thing in the report:

Rumor: Tom Bombadil will appear in The Rings of Power season 2...as Morgoth?!

Okay, so here's where things get really weird. You remember Tom Bombadil, the forest spirit man who Frodo and Sam encounter on their way out of the Shire in The Fellowship of the Ring? Of course you do. Tom Bombadil is a strange, somewhat ridiculous part of The Lord of the Rings books; when Peter Jackson made his movies, he left out poor Tom, and we've never had a chance to see him in Middle-earth movies or shows since.

Seeing as how he's an immortal woodland spirit guy, Tom Bombadil is presumably around somewhere during the events of The Rings of Power. According to the leak, there will be an entire episode of The Rings of Power season 2 which will feature his romance with the River-Daughter, Goldberry:

"Tom Bombadil and Goldberry are in an episode. They are played by the same actor and actress as Melkor/Morgoth and Ungoliant. The show will confirm the long-held fan theory that Tom and Goldberry are Melkor and Ungoliant serving out their punishment bestowed on them by Mandos."

A lot to unpack here. First, I don't know what fan theory is being referred to here and neither does TOR. This is literally the first time I've ever heard anyone suggest that Tom Bombadil is in fact the Dark Lord Morgoth, Sauron's predecessor and the one who started all the evil drama on Middle-earth in the first place. The idea that Tom Bombadil and Goldberry are actually Morgoth and Ungoliant — that's the giant spider that was an ally of Morgoth during the First Age and the mother of Shelob, the spider which attacks Frodo and Sam on their way to Mordor — is so unhinged that I want to dismiss it outright. If there's anything that I hope doesn't pan out from this report in particular, it's this.

That's not to say I wouldn't enjoy hanging out with Tom Bombadil in The Rings of Power; the guy knows how to have a good time and it'd probably be fun. But mixing lore for major characters like Morgoth and Ungoliant with Tom Bombadil and Goldberry would certainly be a Choice.

Let's wrap things up with a few smaller bombshells for season 2:

Celeborn, Celebrimbor and Galadriel

It's well established in Tolkien's lore that Galadriel has a husband, Celeborn; we see him in Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, where he's played by Marton Czokas. He was strangely absent from The Rings of Power season 1, but the show did throw us an odd hint that he's still around: following the destruction of the Southlands, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) confesses to Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) that she believes Celeborn is dead, though she stopped short of actually explaining what happened to him.

As with so many other things we've discussed, this is a strange deviation from the source material. The leak suggests that, in season 2, Sauron will assume the form of Celeborn to try and dupe the Elves and Galadriel when he needs to return to Eregion. Then, in the season 2 finale, we'll finally meet the real Celeborn played by Calam Lynch.

Another elf whose fate was discussed is Celebrimbor (Charlie Edwards), the elven smith who helped forge the rings of power at the end of season 1. In Tolkien's writings, Celebrimbor doesn't survive the Second Age. The show will keep this plot point; apparently, Celebrimbor will be beheaded Ned Stark-style and his head will be hoisted up on a pike. TOR believes this will likely happen during one of the two final episodes of the season, where we're expecting to see the sacking of Eregion by Sauron and Adar's forces.

We may see Gandalf meet Shadowfax in The Rings of Power season 2

Going back to The Stranger, aka the guy everyone thinks is Gandalf, we're obviously going to learn more about his mysterious past during The Rings of Power season 2. We're also probably going to start seeing some of the things that made him into the wizard we know from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Foremost among those: the leak claims we're going to get a "full episode" which explores the great line of horses called the Mearas, and will show how Gandalf meets Shadowfax, the noble steed who bears him to and fro in the Third Age.

As TOR notes, this is another one of those deviations from the source material; Shadowfax and the Mearas aren't around during the Second Age in Tolkien's writings. But as deviations go, it's pretty small. If you've already got Gandalf in this show, why not throw in Shadowfax too? I'll take it.

The Rings of Power season 2 will end with Sauron forging the One Ring

Our final item of interest is the very last scene of the season, which the leak claims will be Sauron forging the One Ring that he uses to control all the others. Another part of the leak mentions that Sauron will be welcomed by the Dwarves after telling them that he “apprenticed under Aulë,” the Vala that created the Dwarves. So there's good reason to think he may get up to forging rings of power for Dwarves and Men before the end of the season as well, unless Amazon shuffles things around a bit.

That about brings us up to speed on all of the major reveals from this latest leak, which has gotten The Lord of the Rings fandom buzzing. TheOneRing.net's analysis is also very much worth a read if you found this interesting.

As with any such leaks, take it all with a grain of salt till we get some official confirmations from Amazon. But if even a fraction of this stuff ends up being true, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 is going to be extremely interesting, to say the least.

The Rings of Power is expected to release sometime in 2024, though at this point we don't have any official word about when that might be. We'll have our ear to the ground for more updates.

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