The Rings Of Power's Next Season Will Be An Origin Story For LOTR's Scariest Villains
The Rings of Power season 3 is all set up to tell the origin story of The Lord of the Rings' most terrifying villains. Of course, Sauron is the Big Bad of the original trilogy, and Prime Video's fantasy prequel has already begun the story of how he came to make the Rings of Power and his dreaded One Ring to Rule Them All. Still, he's not the only villain of note in the franchise. Sauron not only had villainous predecessors, but his evil spawned other fearsome beasts who served as even more direct threats to Frodo Baggins and his friends. In its first two seasons, Rings of Power has painted a picture of Sauron's rise, beginning with his time serving the Dark Lord Morgoth and continuing to his mission to create his version of the perfect Middle-earth. He plans to achieve this by creating his Rings of Power. Once he's distributed them to leaders of the continent, Sauron will have control over their actions, through, of course, his One Ring. In Rings of Power season 2, the villain manipulated the elf smith Celebrimbor into helping him make the Seven and Nine, meant for Dwarves and Men, respectively.
While Sauron has successfully distributed the Seven, he still had possession of the Nine Rings when he left Eregion to its destruction in season 2. Going into Rings of Power season 3, Sauron will be eager to find the most advantageous wearers for his Nine. Through them, he will gain further control over Middle-earth. Of course, it will be these Men who will become Sauron's most fearsome soldiers, the Nazgûl.
The Rings Of Power Season 3 Is Set To Show Sauron Creating The Nazgûl
The Nazgul riding horses through water in The Lord of the Rings
The Nazgûl, also called Ringwraiths in The Lord of the Rings, served as the most direct threat to Frodo as he started his journey. Sauron was the primary villain, but as he remained largely unseen in the original story, it was the dark, shrieking wraiths who reliably inspired fear not just in the characters but also in generations of readers and viewers. Rings of Power season 3 will see Sauron select the nine Men who will wear his Nine Rings, which means we will see Prime Video's version of how these mortals transformed into the dreaded Nazgûl. In Tolkien canon, the Nazgûl are formless creatures whose primary power is fear itself. The fact that they were ordinary men before Sauron's corruption has always added to the unease surrounding these Lord of the Rings characters. It will certainly be thrilling to watch the Nine Men delight in their new power, only to be twisted, distorted, and tormented the more they use it. Of course, Rings of Power will have to get creative in its approach, since this is relatively uncharted territory.
Lord Of The Rings' Canon Reveals Very Little About The Nazgûl
Sauron (Charlie Vickers) contemplating the hammer of Fëanor in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 8
Rings of Power has a reputation for taking creative liberties, and the Nazgûl story essentially guarantees that this will be taken further. Tolkien revealed only minimal details about the Ringwraiths' identities, indicating that they themselves had no memory of who they had been. We know that at least three of the Nazgûl were Númenóreans, including the Witch-king of Angmar, and that another was an Easterling. The remaining five are believed to be kings of long-forgotten Middle-earth kingdoms.
The upcoming Rings of Power season 3 will almost certainly reveal the identities of the Númenórean nobles who will receive a few of Sauron's Rings. The Prime Video series has already introduced a handful of candidates, including Kemen, Pharazôn's son, and even Elendil's daughter Eärien, both of whom could be considered royalty. Of course, how their transformation will happen is anyone's guess. It's implied in Tolkien's legendarium that the transformation from man to wraith was a slow one. It might have taken centuries for the Nine wearers to lose their physical forms and forget themselves entirely. Given Rings of Power's accelerated timeline, however, we can expect things to move a bit more quickly on screen. Whether or not the show's creative invention regarding how the Nazgûl came to be is received favorably by viewers is anyone's guess. It's unlikely ever to be considered canon, but Rings of Power's Ringwraith origin can, at the very least, provide an entertaining possibility.
Release Date
September 1, 2022
Network
Amazon Prime Video
Showrunner
John D. Payne, Patrick McKay, Louise Hooper, Charlotte Brändström, Wayne Yip
Directors
J.A. Bayona, Sanaa Hamri
Writers
Patrick McKay, John D. Payne, J.R.R. Tolkien, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Stephany Folsom, Nicholas Adams
