The finale of the Rings of Power ended Sauron’s story by showing him on the borders of the lands where Adar and the orcs finally brought Mordor to Middle Earth. Mordor is known to be the place of Sauron’s rule, the lands where his hoards of orcs gather and infest every inch during the Lord of the Rings, and where Sauron has his great evil eye that watches over everything as he spreads his darkness across the lands.
But with Adar already having claimed ownership of these lands, alongside his loyal orcs, the second series of the Rings of Power will have to delve into whether these two evil contenders will join forces and claim evil dominion together, or fight for the rule, to become the one supreme dark lord of Middle Earth.
The series has already hinted at a strained relationship between the two, during episode 6 when Adar reveals a little of the backstory behind his time serving under Sauron. This shows that they have already gone from allies to enemies in the past, and during speculation of character predictions for season 2, fans are questioning whether it is possible for them to go back to being allies once more, or if that ship has sailed beyond reconciliation.
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If that is the case, it is strangely possible that Adar’s aims and goals may lead him to seek Galadriel and join forces with her to try to defeat Sauron once and for all, in a ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ kind of deal. On the other hand, the two ancient beings may be able to set aside their differences and Adar may actually help to form and create the formidable and unstoppable Sauron that is known in the Peter Jackson films, out of the Halbrand in the series who is just starting out on his path towards total domination.
Of their previous alliance, little is currently known, other than what Adar reveals in episode 6, and even then Adar is an unreliable narrator, because he is being held captive, intentionally antagonizing Galadriel, and has also failed to recognize Sauron in the form of Halbrand during his capture just moments before. He tells Galadriel “for my part, I sacrificed enough of my children for his aspirations. I split him open. I killed Sauron.” So it is clear that Adar spent many years in Sauron’s service, traveling with him possibly from the very earliest history of the Moriondor all the way to Sauron’s cruel experiments in the northern kingdoms.
There are possible centuries that have passed here with Adar being Sauron’s right-hand man, and a loyal follower, despite the terrible atrocities that the dark lord was committing, which means that their bond was incredibly strong. This could suggest that there may be hope for Adar of surviving and rekindling this connection with the dark lord, but this doesn’t seem to be something that the Uruk desires, in fact, quite the opposite. He seems disgusted by the way that Sauron conducted himself, and as Adar genuinely cares for the orcs, it seems illogical that he would want to reunite with a master who treated them as nothing more than slaves to waste.
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To both Sauron and Galadriel, the Uruk are dispensable, and have no feeling, hence Galadriel’s potential genocide of the orcs. This became the deciding factor as to why Adar finally reached the end of his tether and decided that enough was enough. If Adar’s account is true, and he did in fact take a weapon to Sauron and attempt to kill him, it seems incredibly unlikely that Sauron would forgive such a heinous betrayal.
The Rings of Power did an excellent job of overcoming the challenges of depicting Sauron in physical form by making him a malicious, manipulative and unhinged character who is used to always being in control, and it seems as though a character like this would rather fight for the sole rule of Mordor than share the power and the glory with another. Although, there is a moment in the series where Galadriel could have joined Halbrand to rule Middle Earth, which suggests that he is capable of seeking allies and allegiances that he knows will benefit his claim over the world. It just seems improbable that Adar would be worthy of this treatment, considering their history.
Although the slow burn of the first series worked for some, many felt that the pacing of the show was too leisurely, so this potential conflict between Adar and Sauron could really contribute to ramping up the pace. Writers and actors of the show have already confirmed that the subject will be explored in more detail in series 2, so many fans are excited to see the aftermath of a thousand-year-old alliance turned sour.
