The actual Lord of the Rings played himself.

Was Sauron always destined to be a guy obsessed with controlling people through the bewitching force of magical rings? If two seasons of The Rings of Power have taught us anything, it’s that the origin story of the actual Lord of the Rings himself wasn’t as deliberate or masterful as we thought. Throughout The Rings of Power Season 2, we’ve learned that Sauron’s journey to his more familiar role in the classic novels and beloved films was fairly circuitous, with the Dark Lord often finding unique opportunities and exploiting them. Towards the end of the Season 2 finale, Galadriel accuses him of having masterminded every single thing that has taken place, but Sauron replies, “The road is ever winding, not even I could see all its paths.”

Funnily enough, the great deceiver is being honest in this moment. Earlier in the same episode, an epic scene pointed out just how catch-as-catch-can Sauron’s journey has been. And because of this great scene — perhaps the coolest in all of Rings of Power so far — the idea that Sauron pursued one destiny has now been utterly upended.

Spoilers ahead for Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 8

Celebrimbor meets his end

Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) goes out with an epic speech.

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In a scene that honors the Tolkien source material, Sauron (Charle Vickers) shoots several arrows into the Celebrimbor’s (Charles Edwards) body, which will ultimately prove fatal. However, Sauron is torturing Celebrimbor, because he wants to know where the Elvensmith has hidden the nine rings they created for humans. But in his final moments, Celebrimbor defies Sauron, saying:

“But the rings are beyond your reach. As I shall be erelong. For soon I shall go to the shores of the morning, borne hence by a wind that you can never follow … you’re only craft is treachery. So pure it will betray the very hand that forges it … shadow of Morgoth, hear the dying words of Celebrimbor. The rings of power shall destroy you. And in the end, I foresee, one alone shall prove your utter ruin!”

Sauron replies that he is the master of the rings, but with his dying words, Celebrimbor counters: “No, you are their prisoner, Sauron — Lord of the Rings.”

And then, Celebrimbor is no more, and Sauron looks worried that the guy who helped him make the rings of power might be right.

The meaning of “Lord of the Rings”

The Rings have many masters. Or do they?

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The title The Lord of the Rings, in all contexts, always refers to Sauron. In the book version of The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf chastises the hobbits for jokingly referring to Frodo as “the lord of the rings.” This honorific is clearly a type of curse, one that Celebrimbor sees as the ultimate insult.

Celebrimbor’s dying words to Sauron change the meaning of this famous phrase in a fairly significant way. In the books, and in most adaptations, Sauron’s master plan is seen as utterly intentional. This was something that Sauron wanted to have happen, and he was happy when his evil plan came together.

But Celebrimbor’s words twist it the other way. This season has revealed that Sauron didn’t plan everything. He didn’t plan for the orcs to betray him after taking over for Morgoth, he didn’t plan on finding Galadriel when he did, and at this point, it’s not even clear if he’s planned on making the One Ring. Obviously, Celebrimbor foreshadows the existence of the One Ring in the future, which, in a way, is a bit of canon tap-dancing on the part of the writing. In the back of The Return of the King, in Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), The Second Age, it’s written: “Sauron forges the One Ring in Orodruin [Mount Doom], he completes the Barad-dûr. Celebrimbor perceives the designs of Sauron.”

So, in the books, the One Ring exists before Celebrimbor dies. The Rings of Power adapts this storyline more spiritually, if not literally, by showing us that Celebrimbor seems aware of the potential existence of such a master ring. But either way, the result is the same. As Celebrimbor accurately points out, the Rings of Power haven’t been the manifestation of Sauron’s dream. Instead, these rings have created a nightmare that Sauron has to live in forever, one which he’ll never wake up from, even after he dies, several times over.

The Rings of Power Season 2 is streaming on Prime Video.