How Powerful Will Sauron Be In The Rings Of Power Compared To LOTR?

How powerful will Sauron be in The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power when compared to his depiction in Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings film trilogy or J.R.R. Tolkien’s original books? As the main antagonist for a large portion of the Middle Earth saga, he is one of the most powerful beings in the entire franchise. Now that the Amazon Prime series will cover the rise of Sauron, how powerful will the evil ring-bearer be by the series’ end?

Before establishing himself as the ultimate evil in The Lord Of The Rings, Sauron was a Maia known as Mairon, who was tasked with establishing order in Middle Earth. Despite this, he became obsessed with the idea of bending that order to his will, and before long he joined forces with the Dark Lord Morgoth (also known as Melkor.) After ascending through the ranks over the years, Sauron took Morgoth’s place following his defeat.

Through countless wars, Sauron grows to become the Dark Lord everyone knows and fears in Middle Earth. Since The Rings Of Power is confirmed to be covering the Second Age of Middle Earth, fans and viewers alike will get the chance to see his rise to power. While he still will be quite formidable at the beginning, it’s a far cry from how dangerous he will become by the series’ conclusion. Throughout The Lord Of The Rings‘ Second Age, Sauron began seeding his plans for unmatched power and conquest, which he achieves not only through his might but also through deception and manipulation. Perhaps the most prevalent example of this is the forging of the Rings of Power, as well as Sauron’s time in Númenór.

With the Rings, Sauron used the promise of great fortune so that he could use the One Ring to subjugate his fellow ring-bearers, and while he failed to do so with the Elves and Dwarves, he did manage to corrupt the nine Men, who would later go on to become the Nazgul. With Númenór, he willingly offered himself up as a prisoner so he could corrupt the island from within. In time, the Númenóreans became a Morgoth-worshipping cult and Sauron was able to coerce King Ar-Pharazôn to lead an assault on Valinor, which incurred the wrath of Eru—the foremost deity of Tolkien’s world—and lead to Númenór being destroyed by the waves of the sea.

This shows that while Sauron may not have been all-powerful at first, his deceitful, cunning nature allowed him to cause just as much destruction and is what ultimately led to him becoming the greatest threat to Middle Earth imaginable. In that sense, The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power will show that he is still powerful—just in a subtler way that builds towards his grand ascension.

With all this in mind, The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power could effectively function as Sauron’s origin story. In a way, this is a good thing as it fleshes out Sauron, which The Lord Of TheRings‘ story could not do. His manipulative scheming essentially makes him Middle Earth’s version of Game of Thrones’ Littlefinger and shows how power is used in a magnitude of ways that don’t always require magic or brute strength. To that end, Sauron’s quest for power will make a compelling villainous journey for the show to explore.

The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power premieres Friday, September 2, 2022, on Amazon Prime.

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