The crucial character was subtly different in Tolkein’s source material

The second season of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power is drawing to a close, but how does Celebrimbor’s fate in the show differ from Tolkein’s original story?

The first seven episodes of the second season of the show are streaming on Amazon Prime Video now, with the closing instalment to be released onto the streamer on October 3.Created by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the prequel series is set thousands of years before J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and depicts the rise of Sauron in Middle-earth’s Second Age.

The show’s cast is led by Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, alongside Lenny Henry, Ciarán Hinds and Rory Kinnear, with Jack Lowden joining as a young Sauron.

The show initially proved divisive among critics so far, and its audience has reportedly halved in size as it has gone on, but some fans hailed the recent seventh episode as “one of the best TV episodes of the year”.

In a four-star review of this season, NME wrote: “The action comes to a head in an epic battle told across two episodes, balanced against some excellent character work (and surprising deaths). Those who complained that nothing happened in House Of The Dragon’s sophomore effort will thrill at how The Rings Of Power refuses to slump.”

“Indeed, the second season improves on the first, sharpening its narrative and taking assured footsteps forward as the writers continues to tell this expansive tale. Let’s just hope the series doesn’t make like the hobbits and end up going in circles.”

What happens to Celebrimbor in The Silmarillion – and how does it differ from The Rings Of Power?

The Rings Of Power is based largely on Tolkein’s appendices from The Lord Of The Rings, which include detailed histories, timelines and genealogies that the writer used to establish the foundation for much of the lore of Middle Earth, especially events from the Second Age.

In Amazon’s deal to secure the rights for the show, they obtained the rights to The Lord Of The Rings and its appendices, but not those of The Silmarillion, a collection of epic stories that Tolkein wrote about Middle Earth lore that were published in 1977, after his death.

In The Silmarillion, Celebrimbor is a key figure. An Elven smith of great skill, he is the grandson of Feanor, and he is deceived by Sauron, disguised as Annatar, into forging the Rings of Power. Celebrimbor creates the three Elven Rings, while Sauron forges the One Ring in Mordor, granting him power over the other rings.

Celebrimbor realises Sauron’s deceit and hides the Elven Rings from him, causing the Eregion War that sees Celebrimbor being captured. Sauron tortures Celebrimbor to reveal the location of the Elven Rings, but he refuses, and Sauron ultimately kills him.

In The Rings Of Power, events play out slightly differently, in that Celebrimbor is depicted as a significantly older figure who has become a master, but who feels he has yet to achieve his legacy. He is more heavily influenced by ‘Halbrand’, the name for Sauron’s cover in the show in place of ‘Annatar’, in the creation of the rings, in particular the three Elven Rings. Celebrimbor created those on his own, in secret, in the source material, but in Amazon’s version, Sauron is seen to exert more influence.

In the seventh episode of The Rings Of Power, Sauron reveals his disguise to Celebrimbor, who then tries to warm his soldiers, but Sauron has already convinced them that Celebrimbor is mentally unwell. Celebrimbor is imprisoned and attempts to escape with the nine rings, only to be captured by his soldiers.

Galadriel finds them and convinces the soldiers to set him free by convincing them that he has been telling the truth all along. He gives Galadriel the nine rings and attempts to delay Sauron.

With one episode remaining, it is still unclear exactly how differently events will play out in the show, compared with The Silmarillion.