The Latest Episode Of 'The Rings of Power' Finally Revealed Adar's Motivations
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Wow.
That aside, there is a lot to unpack from this episode. One of the most interesting things to come from this episode was Adar’s apparent (more on this) motivations.
There are still two episodes left, and after this episode, it’s clear there’s something more going on, but there’s been an obvious build-up to what seemed to be the end of the episode. Adar and his army marched on Ostiliath and just when it seemed like the people of Bronwyn’s village were done for, Numenor shows up and saves the day. Adar, seeming to have what he sought after in the first place, took off on horseback. Galadriel and Halbrand ran him down and captured him.
In a subsequent scene, Galadriel is interrogating a chained-up Adar in a barn, and that’s when things get interesting (before, you know, the ending).
First of all, Galadriel deduces that Adar must be one of the poor Elves that were taken by Morgoth and tortured and twisted into what would be the first Orcs. Adar confirms this when he corrects Galadriel and says they prefer to be called "Uruk”. While Tolkien himself wasn’t specific on this, he did seem to indicate that this was the origin story for the race of Orcs.
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Image Source: Tolkien Fandom
Called it. Sort of. What follows is what has people talking. Adar reveals two things.
For one, he cares for the Orcs, he believes they have hearts and souls, and that they deserve to live, and in the Southlands. Galadriel called them a mistake, but Adar pointed out, technically correctly, that they — Orcs, Elves, etc — are all part of the creation of Eru Iluvatar, though he doesn’t use that name because of usage rights. What he’s referring to is that in the Silmarillion, Eru tells Morgoth that everything that happens is essentially predetermined according to the song he devised. Even Morgoth and his evil. Adar is clearly trying to equate himself and his Orcs with the Elves and Men. It’s an indication that perhaps the showrunners are trying to blur the typical Tolkien theme of good and evil.
The other thing Adar reveals is that he killed Sauron. He claims it was because Sauron was trying to unlock a magic power, something that required him to experiment on and slaughter Orcs. It was too much for Adar to handle, so he killed Sauron. Galadriel immediately flat out doesn’t believe it, but it would be an interesting choice by the showrunners, and it would reinforce the thought that they are trying to add other dimensions to the old school one-dimensional good versus evil story.
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Galadriel is likely right here. It doesn’t add up that Adar would have killed Sauron. There are a few reasons why.
For one, the show’s big bad is Sauron. That’s been confirmed for some time now. It would be silly and a strange narrative decision to reveal the big bad has been killed and that we’re supposed to take the word of an Uruk on that. It’s also a little hard to believe, as Galadriel commented, for an Elf to single-handedly best the second greatest dark lord in Middle-earth history. And one that’s a Maia at that. Gandalf couldn’t even handle Sauron when he was a disembodied spirit in Dol Goldur in The Desolation of Smaug.
It’s what happens after Galadriel’s conversation with Adar that adds further weight to the likelihood that Adar did not indeed kill Sauron. It’s revealed when Arondir talks to Theo that the blade Galadriel and Halbrand retrieved when they stopped Adar was not the real blade. Adar had sent Waldreg back to the tower with the blade, who then sinks it into a keyhole in the ground and turns it, unleashing Mount Doom. As this is happening, Adar smiles and places his head on the ground to listen to the water Waldreg unleashed rush through the tunnels under the village. If Adar had killed Sauron, why would he be doing so much to essentially pave the way for him? Waldreg’s use of the blade essentially created Mount Doom and Mordor, where Sauron establishes his realm.
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What is more likely is that Adar, in the typical fashion of the “bad guys”, is simply lying. He’s likely trying to throw off Galadriel, and her shock at the eruption of Mount Doom reinforces this. While this may contradict his attempt to paint Orcs as worthy of life just like the Elves, it’s probably just clever deception on the behalf of the writers.
With only two episodes left, and the fallout from Mount Doom, hopefully more light will be shed on these twists and turns. The next episode airs Friday on Amazon Prime Video.
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