Imagine being one of the most powerful beings in Middle-earth, commanding vast armies and conquering entire kingdoms, only to discover that your greatest enemy isn’t a wizard, a king, or some other conquering hero. Even the Dark Lord Sauron suffers from a crisis of confidence, apparently. And in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3, that insecurity may be the biggest obstacle standing between Sauron and his ultimate ambition of forging the One Ring to rule them all.
The Rings of Power season 3 picks up five years after the fall of the Elven realm of Eregion, and Sauron (Charlie Vickers) has made tremendous progress toward conquering Middle-earth. But there's one crucial thing he hasn't accomplished: forging the One Ring. His ultimate goal remains frustratingly beyond his grasp, despite his experience working alongside the elven smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) to forge many of the other rings of power.
According to Vickers, Sauron's problem is surprisingly personal — and eerily relatable. "I think what he's actually missing is — and this sounds weird saying it about Sauron — but genuine self-belief," Vickers tells Polygon. "It's so funny when you join him, because we think of him as an all-conquering villain, which he is in a way, but he also fails a lot." Sauron's long history of failure is something The Rings of Power has already explored in great detail.
The opening scene of season 2 depicted perhaps his most humiliating defeat, one unique to the show. After Morgoth's downfall, Sauron attempted to crown himself the new Dark Lord, only for Adar (Sam Hazeldine) and the orcs to violently reject him. At a sort of dark coronation, they stabbed him repeatedly, destroying his physical body and reducing him to a writhing mass of black slime.
For a being who considers himself destined to rule the world, there can be no greater slight. Sauron wanted the orcs to recognize his authority without offering them much reason to follow him. Adar, by contrast, understood their desire for freedom, security, and a homeland.
Sauron regarded them as inhuman soldiers. When they refused to accept his leadership, he was powerless to stop them. According to series co-creator Patrick McKay, those early failures may help explain why he struggles early on in The Rings of Power season 3.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
