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This article contains spoilers for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, episodes 1-3, and potential spoilers for the rest of the season.

As you may have learned from the insufferable Lord of the Rings nerd in your life, the second season of Amazon Prime's Rings of Power has introduced a character straight out of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion: Annatar. But as that same insufferable nerd probably told you, insufferably, we've already met that character in a different form, in that Annatar is actually Sauron, who is technically a character named Halbrand in the first season.

If you're confused but, you know, don't want to keep asking that friend, Popverse's own resident Tolkien expert Ashley Victoria Robinson and hobbit apprentice Grant DeArmitt have put together a little guide to Annatar in Rings of Power, which we hope will inform you about this new version of the character without confusing you too much with extra info. 

But before we start talking about that, we've got to answer one very important question:

Why does Sauron look different in The Rings of Power season 2?

As described in detail in the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, Sauron is able to change his shape at will, owing to the fact that he is one of the Ainur, an angelic race of beings that are more than mortal in Middle-Earth (other examples include Gandalf, Saruman, and the Balrog of Moria). Sauron has, at various point in his history, taken the shape of a being in dark armor, a werewolf, and an evil housecat (no, seriously). To infiltrate the race of elves, however, he needed a "fair form," a guise that would endear him to some of the most talented craftsman of the Second Age.

That fair form was Annatar.

Who is Annatar in The Lord of the Rings?

Annatar comes to the elves of Eregion declaring himself "Lord of Gifts." As his name suggests, he granted the elves many fine things and even finer ideas, encouraging even typically wise elves to trust him. One of those typically wise elves was Celebrimbor, a master craftsman played by Charles Edwards in The Rings of Power. Together, Annatar and Celebrimbor would forge the Rings of Power, devices that put Sauron on an all-new level of power and endangered all of Midde-Earth for both the Second and Third Age, the former of which we bear witness to in Amazon's Lord of the Rings series.

But before we get further into that series, we're going to mention that we've seen Sauron in his Annatar guise before, just not in the Tolkien adaptation most people are familiar with. No, Annatar does not appear in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but Sauron in his fair form is a recurring antagonist in the video games Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, pictured above. Annatar's forging of the Rings and betrayal of Celebrimbor (oops, spoilers) are a major factor in the plots of these games.

Who is Annatar in The Rings of Power?

But of course, we're here to talk about Rings of Power, not Shadow of Mordor (though you really should play those games). And the case could well be made that, by the time season 2 rolls around, we've already met a form of Annatar. Sauron's season 1 avatar, Halbrand, is indeed a kind of "fair form" (the fanfic proves it), who makes a big deal about bringing "a gift" to Eregion's elves at the end of that season.

Still, it's not until the second episode of the second season that we get a proper introduction to Annatar, with Charlie Vickers donning a distinctly more elven appearance and introducing himself under that name. So now that we've met Stupid Sexy Sauron in his full glory, what does the internet's goth boyfriend have planned for the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth?

Let's get into what we know; spoiler alert - it isn't good.

What is Annatar's plan in Rings of Power?

As mentioned previously, Sauron is in the Annatar form for one purpose in the Second Age, and that is to trick Celebrimbor into making the Rings of Power. In Tolkien's legendarium, Sauron achieves his goal and then uses what he's learned from Celebrimbor to forge the One Ring, putting all the previously-made Rings under his control (for more on those, check out Popverse's explainer on the Rings of Power). Once his master stroke is complete, Annatar reveals himself as Sauron, cruelly murdering Celebrimbor and placing his lifeless body on a pike, which he then places at the front of an invading army of orcs to take over Eregion.

Of course, we're not 100% certain that this is what Rings of Power will do with the character of Annatar, although we've seen in multiple trailers that things aren't looking good for our boy Celebrimbor. After all, Sauron is already known to have infiltrated the elves at this point in the series, after his fiercest enemy (and most-demanded ship) Galadriel discovered his guise of Halbrand. Will Annatar not be as successful in the show as he was in Tolkien's writings? Only the rest of season 2 will reveal that. For now, let's just all enjoy Sauron in "hot-as-Mount-Doom" form before that changes for the worse. 

And let's maybe not ask your insufferable friend about the housecat.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you from a Lord of the Rings reading guide, a Lord of the Rings watch guide, details on the upcoming animated film Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim, a full the Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch, how the OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat, and the true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.