Unanswered Rings of Power Questions That Season 2 Must Address

Season 1 of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” premiered on September 1, 2022. The first major serialized adaptation of Tolkien’s Second Age mythology wrapped up less than two months later, starting the clock on a nearly two-year hiatus between seasons. That break ends on August 29, 2024, when Season 2 will kick off with a triple-header episode drop (which amounts to nearly half of the eight-episode season all at once).

As Middle-earth fans everywhere prepare for the next stage of this sweeping saga from showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, it’s easy to forget where Season 1 left off. That season had nearly two dozen primary characters following multiple storylines, some of which occurred half a world away from one another. Season 2 promises to up the ante (and make it even harder for anyone but diehard fans to follow everything) with a fresh batch of new faces thrown into the mix. From the Dwarvish doings in Khazad-dûm to the human hubbub on Númenor, from harrowing halfling adventures in the east to Elvish drama in Lindon and Eregion, here are some of the biggest unanswered questions from Season 1 that Season 2 desperately needs to answer.

By the time of “The Lord of the Rings,” Isildur is an ancient and iconic name. He is Aragorn’s forefather and famous for cutting the One Ring from Sauron’s hand. In “The Rings of Power” Season 1, however, Isildur is a young member of a minor noble’s household. He’s immature, unstable, and grieving the loss of his mother.

In Episode 6, “Udûn,” Isildur arrives on the mainland of Middle-earth with the Númenórean expedition and helps defeat Adar’s Orcs. Before he can catch his breath, though, he’s caught in the eruption of Mount Doom. The last we see of him in Episode 7, “The Eye,” Isildur finds his dead friend, Ontamo, before a burning building collapses on him in the ruin of the volcanic landscape. Much hullabaloo is made about his loss, and we see his father release his stubbornly loyal horse, Berek, to run free (presumably right back to his master in Season 2).

Despite the drama, we all know that Isildur is going to come back. He’s too important to the story. The question is: how? We’ve gotten hints about Isildur’s Season 2 story, including reveals that he will face a young Shelob, be aided by Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), and meet the new character Estrid (played by Nia Towle, and who fans theorize could be Isildur’s future wife, who is unnamed in Tolkien’s writings). Whatever happens, this guy’s story needs to get back on track.

Tolkien didn’t write mysteries. When he tried writing “The New Shadow,” the “thriller” sequel to “The Lord of the Rings” that he quickly abandoned, he referred to it as “not worth doing.” So why is “The Rings of Power” dragging out this whole “who is the Stranger” question? Daniel Weyman’s character is already fascinating just by being one of the Istari, Tolkien’s upper-case “W” Wizards who are utterly unique in fantasy literature. Regardless whether the Stranger is Gandalf, Saruman, a Blue Wizard, or even Radagast, he’s going to have a mesmerizing story in the hitherto unexplored regions of Rhûn in eastern Middle-earth.

So can we please let the cat out of the bag here? We know that Weyman’s Wizard is going to meet Tom Bombadil in Season 2. We also know that he’s going to encounter a mysterious, unnamed Wizarding adversary played by Ciarán Hinds. Who, then, is he? The one crumb of comfort here is that showrunner J.D. Payne told IGN, “We can say that yes, the name will be revealed by the end of Season 2.” We may have to wait an entire season, but at least we know the big reveal will be over, one way or another, before Season 3 airs.

When Sauron officially shows up in Tolkien’s writings to start forging the Rings of Power with Celebrimbor and the Elves of Eregion, he comes as the immortal being Annatar, Lord of Gifts. In Season 1 of the adaptation, Sauron is disguised as the human Halbrand. He’s also revealed to Galadriel by the end of the season, at which point he and Celebrimbor had worked together to forge the Three Elven Rings (an out-of-order event that changed the Tolkien timeline, in which those bands are made near the end of the ring-making process).

Heading into Season 2, Halbrand is still on the scene and the wrong three rings (canonically speaking — more on that later) are the only ones made. We also know from the promotional material that he will spend at least part of the season in his secret Annatar guise after all. The open-ended question that needs answering is: how will Sauron re-establish his place and maintain the trust of Celebrimbor in order to forge the other 16 Rings of Power, before sneaking off to forge the One Ring to rule them all?

In the Season 1 finale, the Númenórean expedition limps back to its home island, only to find the harbor filled with ships bearing black sails. This is due to the death of King Tar-Palantir, an event that occurred while they were away fighting a losing war. We also see a shot of Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) staring at the deceased king.

In the source material, as the Second Age progresses, Númenor becomes wracked with political unrest and two groups take center stage. The King’s Men are led by Pharazôn and reject their alliances with Elves and the Valar. The other group, called The Faithful, is in the minority and maintains said loyalties. Eventually, these become the lines that Sauron uses to push Númenórean society to the breaking point. That’s the version we get in the books.

Coming out of the jump between seasons, it’s about time we start to see these factions develop. We know that there were varying opinions in the Human kingdom in Season 1, and Season 2 needs to establish these as clearly at odds. Critically, we also need to know what happens in the power vacuum after Tar-Palantir’s death. Queen Regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is the successor to the throne, but she is blind now, has few friends, and critically, is a supporter of the Faithful. Will Pharazôn take advantage of the frailty of the exchange of power to seize his cousin’s throne?

Villains rarely get along. Case in point: when Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) interrogated the Orc leader Adar (played by Joseph Mawle at the time) in Season 1, she discovered that he had originally followed Sauron before stabbing him in the back. According to Adar, he literally split Sauron in two before heading for the hills with his Orc bands and eventually meandering down to the Southlands, where he intended to spring the Mount Doom trap. By the end of the season, the stitched-up Sauron is on the doorstep of the newly minted