Adar told Galadriel his plan for defeating Sauron forever during episode six of The Rings of Power season two. The Uruk leader wants to combine the strength of the three elven rings with something just as powerful. He has the Dark Lord’s own crown. Only, Adar said that crown once belonged to someone else. He claims it was reforged from the Iron Crown Morgoth used to carry the famed Silmarils. Is Adar telling the truth? Or does he only think he’s telling the truth because “the deceiver” lied? To find out we must dig into J.R.R. Tolkien’s lore to see how The Rings of Power is connecting Sauron’s to Morgoth’s, either in truth or deception.
Morgoth was the most powerful of the Valar who brought evil to the world. (You can read more about him with our primer Who is Morgoth?) He was also the Dark Lord of the First Age, the era before The Rings of Power‘s time period. Sauron was Morgoth’s most loyal servant and hand-picked heir, but while more famous than his master, Morgoth was even more powerful.
Morgoth crafted his own Iron Crown in the volcanic mountains of Thangorodrim. He made it to hold the three famed Silmarils he’d stolen. Those were the jewels that contained the light from the Two Trees of Valinor. Celebrimbor’s grandfather Fëanor, the greatest elf craftsman whom Celebrimbor has been desperate to live up to throughout season two, made the Silmarils.
The Iron Crown was not easy to wear, but Morgoth refused to take it off. Ultimately he would be forced to wear it for eternity. When Morgoth finally fell in the War of Wrath the Valar beat the Dark Lord’s Iron Crown into a collar for his neck. They then threw the bound Morgoth into the Timeless Void outside of space and time. According to The Silmarillion that’s where the remnants of Morgoth’s crown remain. That’s likely the story Galadriel was told, the one she was about to reference when Adar cut her off during their conversation at dinner.
Adar tells a different tale of the crown’s fate. For while he says “there are many stories of what happened after the Silmarils were pried from (the Iron Crown’s) settings,” he was “there when Sauron re-fired it to to fit himself.” Adar says he was present when Sauron “kneeled to be crowned,” just as he was the one who used the crown to slay Sauron.
We saw Adar try—but ultimately fail—to kill Sauron in a flashback at the start of season two, so at least part of his story is true. What we didn’t see was Sauron actually finding and taking Morgoth’s crown. In fairness, we did not see the Valar turn it into a collar, either. So could Adar’s story be true? Yes, we just don’t know how yet.
The Silmarillion is a definitive text, but The Rings of Power is an adaptation that has not been bound by Middle-earth canon. The show does more than just fill in gaps or use a lack of lore to tell its story. (Like how it gave a backstory for the creation of mithril.) The series sometimes makes major change to Tolkien’s writings, like how it has reversed the order Celebrimbor forged the rings of power. (He made the elves’ rings last and without Sauron, not first with him like on the Prime video series.) Adar might have told Galadriel a totally true story within in the reality of the show.
Adar could also be telling the complete truth without breaking any Tolkienian lore considering what else we know about Morgoth’s Iron Crown. It had to be huge. Morgoth was gigantic, anywhere from two to three times bigger than the seven-foot elves he fought with during the First Age. His presence, as briefly seen during the Prime Video series’ first episode, was easily that large. The Silmarillion itself says Morgoth stood over an elven king “as a tower” and “cast a shadow over him like a storm cloud.” That’s how he’s always depicted.
Did the Valar need all of Morgoth’s humongous, lengthy spiked crown to make a single collar? What if they only needed some of its iron and left the rest behind? That would have been plenty for Sauron, who was around a third the size of his master, to make his own crown out of Morgoth’s.
For sticklers that might seem like a convenient way to technically not break lore while still being too loose with it, but it actually fits in seamlessly with other Middle-earth adaptations. Sauron’s crown, including in Peter Jackson’s films, is based on Tolkien’s description of Morgoth’s. Since Sauron was his chosen successor, that has always made sense. The Rings of Power is now building on that tradition in a meaningful way. This season has seen Annatar manipulate Celebrimbor into creating the rings of power. He’s been able to do that because the elven craftsman is desperate to best his grandfather and the Silmarils, the very thing Morgoth’s crown was made to hold. The history of Middle-earth, the elves, and evil are all connected.
This is Sauron we’re talking about, so it’s possible the story Adar “knows” is nothing but a lie. Sauron would have many reasons to claim his crown came from Morgoth’s. It would give him legitimacy and authority as Morgoth’s rightful heir. It would also serve as an imposing symbol and a feared source of actual power, one imbued with both Morgoth’s strength and that of the Silmarils, just as mithril is on the show.
If Sauron was lying that might explain why Adar couldn’t kill him with just the crown. That deception could now also be leading Adar down a faulty path. He hopes to combine Sauron’s helm with the elves’ rings Sauron himself helped make. Or it might be even simpler. It might be that Morgoth’s crown could never truly harm the original Dark Lord’s chosen one.
Whatever the truth is—as interesting and meaningful as it might be—it won’t change one thing. Sauron is coming back for his crown and he’s going to get it.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He never trusts Sauron, but this time? This time it might be different. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
