The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power finally explains the truth behind Orcs calling Adar “father.” Amazon’s The Rings of Power has introduced a raft of villains, each of them shrouded in mystery. With Adar, audiences were left to question where he came from, why he was leading Orcs to the Southlands, and most curious of all, why his followers refer to him as “Adar,” which means “father” in the Elven tongue.

Adar was never a named character in Lord of the Rings canon, but he continues to be an important feature in Prime Video’s The Rings of Power. In season 1, his primary goal was to liberate the Orcs from the order established by Morgoth and Sauron, establishing a kingdom of shadow through which they could roam freely. Going into The Rings of Power season 2, Adar’s aims seem to remain the same. He considered the Orcs his children and subjects, and in a way, he isn’t wrong.

Adar Is One Of Middle-earth’s Original Orcs In The Rings Of Power

Adar Was An Early Elf Until Morgoth Got Hold Of Him

Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel figures out Adar is a Moriondor – a Son of the Dark. This unlucky bunch were once Elves as innocent and wholesome as Galadriel herself. Getting captured by Morgoth changed that, and the Moriondor were twisted into Middle-earth’s first Orcs. Not all Orcs are ex-Elves, of course, and while The Rings of Power doesn’t go into gross detail on the subject of Orc reproduction, viewers can assume the race was bred from Adar and other Moriondor. Hence, Adar is considered the “father” of the Orcs he leads.

Are Rings Of Power’s Moriondor Tolkien Canon? It’s Complicated

Rings Of Power Adopted A Version Of Tolkien’s Story

Adar’s entire narrative is absent from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings mythology, and was invented exclusively for The Rings of Power. The name “Moriondor” is similarly TV-original – and that’s largely because Tolkien never explicitly revealed how Orcs were created. Official canon attributes the Orcs’ genesis to Morgoth, sure, but his means of achieving that grim feat go unspoken. Tolkien does, however, write about Morgoth capturing Elves during the early First Age, and how some suspected these prisoners were warped by their captor into the first known Orcs.

Official canon attributes the Orcs’ genesis to Morgoth, sure, but his means of achieving that grim feat go unspoken.

Though this story is mere rumor in the source material, The Rings of Power runs with it, cementing the Orc-Elf connection and even introducing one of the poor victims. While Adar and the Moriondor aren’t canon, therefore, The Rings of Power is staying within the lines Tolkien sketched out.

How Old Is Adar In The Rings Of Power?

Adar Would Be Among The Most Ancient Elves

If Adar is indeed one of the Moriondor, he’s potentially one of the oldest Elves in The Lord of the Rings mythology. Amazon’s The Rings of Power deliberately doesn’t specify which year of Tolkien’s timeline it occupies, but for argument’s sake, let’s assume it’s around year 1500 of the Second Age, when the forging of the Rings of Power began. That’s 1500 years since Morgoth’s defeat.

Going back further, another 590 years pass from Morgoth’s defeat to the darkening of the Two Trees of Valinor. Tolkien’s measurement of time then changes to Valian years, one of which equates to about 10 solar years (though there is some debate here). From the Two Trees’ destruction back to the Elves’ awakening represents 450 Valian years. Add the 2,090 (as if there’s much point), and Adar could be anywhere up to 7,000 years old.
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Tolkien later wrote that a Valian year was equivalent to 144 solar years, so this would make Adar upward of 70,000 years old. However, the author never rewrote his timeline to fit the new exchange rate. For this reason, his previous definition of a Valian year is often considered the standard.

This would make Adar the oldest “Elf” in The Rings of Power, with only Cirdan, who will be introduced in season 2, born anywhere near this period of Middle-earth’s timeline. While this should grant Adar wisdom, it seems that his character is full of only bitterness. Of course, considering all he went through and the reputation of his “children,” who could blame him?