‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Star Charlie Vickers Reveals the Moment Sauron Knows He’s Lost Galadriel Forever: “A Massive Kick in the Face, Literally”

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 has had its eye focused firmly on the story of Sauron (Charlie Vickers). The Prime Video hit’s second season started all the way back to the dawn of the Second Age, to reveal exactly how Sauron — played back then by Slow Horses star Jack Lowden — was betrayed by Adar (Sam Hazeldine) and the orcs, only to claw his way back to the world of the living over millennia of pain, torture, and degradation. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 arguably ends with victory for Dark Lord, but it’s undoubtedly a bittersweet triumph…

**Spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 8, now streaming on Prime Video**

Over the course of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2, we watch as Sauron assumes the alter ego of Annatar, the “giver of gifts,” to get closer to the elven smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards). Through a combination of trickery and coercion, Sauron convinces Celebrimbor to craft more and more rings of power. First for the dwarves, then for men. By the end of the season, though, Celebrimbor’s home of Eregion in in ruins, thanks to Adar’s invading army of orcs, and the poor smith has been tortured to death by Sauron.

Adar isn’t faring too well, either, by the end of the finale. Although he manages a truce with Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) — who is able to heal his dark transformation with her ring, Nenya — Adar is soon betrayed by his own children. Once more, Sauron has used his trickery to convince the orcs that they’d be better off with him as lord of Mordor.

All that is left for Sauron to do is to win Galadriel to his side. The two former buds (and almost lovers??) face off in a bitter fight for the “Nine Rings for Men.” Throughout it all, Sauron attempts to seduce and bully Galadriel to his cause. Ultimately, he makes it out with the nine rings, but Galadriel rebuffs him over and over again. When she realizes Sauron covets Nenya, she pretends to offer it to him, mentioning he wants to heal the world. Then she spits, “Heal yourself,” before yeeting herself and Nenya off a cliff.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 ends with Eregion sacked and the elves deciding that it’s time to stand up to Sauron. The Dark Lord, on the other hand, now rules Mordor and has some very fancy rings to gift some very ambitious men. Not to mention, he’s still got to craft that infamous “One Ring to Rule Them All.”

Decider caught up with Rings of Power star Charlie Vickers over Zoom last week to chat through the season finale and where Vickers sees Sauron going next….

DECIDER: I have a million questions for you about this season because you’re incredible in so many different ways. But as I was rewatching the final episode, I was struck by the last scene between Galadriel and Sauron, where she says, “You want to heal Middle-earth. Heal yourself.” Then just throws herself and the ring off the cliff.

I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to Sauron if Galadriel had used Nenya on him. Could there have been a transformation, like with Adar? Do you think there’s anything in him that she could heal with the power of her ring? 

CHARLIE VICKERS: It’s interesting, isn’t it? Because he has this desire to, he covets that ring. So it feels like if he was to put it on, I don’t know what it would do, if it would make him better or more evil. Because I feel like Adar has good origins. In fact, Sauron has good origins, as well. So maybe it would heal this part of him that she thinks he needs to heal. Maybe he’d be he turn really nice. I don’t know. [Laughs]

Speaking of that relationship with Galadriel, obviously it comes to a climax in that amazing fight scene. It’s emotional. It’s intense. First of all, what was it like being reunited with Morfydd after not working much together this season? And is there a certain moment that you think hits the hardest? Like it’s Sauron hurting her the most? 

It was awesome to work with Morfydd again after quite a lengthy time apart, on screen, at least. To be able to share the screen again was really cool. Particularly, it’s like the characters have both been through so much and now they’re coming back together. It was like, “Oh, so this is what you’ve been doing?” It was really cool.

The moment that really he tries to go for her, I think, is when he stabs her with Morgoth’s crown. But he is only pushed to that point by her. Because he says to her, “The door is still open,” as though he thinks he can still get her to join him. And she stands up and says, “The door is shut,” and and gives him a massive kick in the face, literally. And that provokes him to then eventually lead up to stabbing her with the crown.

But it’s an interesting contrast to the first season because he’s really, he’s still trying to get her to join him. I think when she roundhouse kicks him, he knows that maybe I’ve underestimated her and there’s no chance she’s going to come to the dark side. 

Yeah, a lot of fans have pointed out — and I’ve noticed it, too — that he seems like really hung up on Galadriel this season. Whether he’s telling Mirandia that she looks like her or it’s like he just really is hung up on this one elf. Is any of that coming from a pure, loving place or is it just that he covets her power? Or does he really feel the most like himself next to her? 

I think he…there was certainly an element of their connection that goes beyond anything he’s felt with other people because they operate on this higher plane. With Mirdania, I kind of feel like that — certainly when I was doing it — that was a compliment to her. It was like I’m picking the fairest of the elves and I’m saying, “You look like her,” to bring you more to my side and further away from Celebrimbor as I’m trying to isolate him amongst the smiths.

But I think he definitely is driven by his rejection from [Galadriel] and he represents evil and she represents good. So they are opposing forces in this world. 

I was excited to see Jack Lowden play an earlier version of Sauron. Have you guys talked and compared notes about the character?

We actually haven’t. I mean, I don’t know how long Jack was around filming that sequence, but we didn’t really talk about the character that much. And I kind of feel like that was his. I don’t feel any sense of ownership over the character because that was his interpretation of a very specific time period of Sauron at the beginning of the Age. Then everything that I offer is after that. So I kind of just wanted to leave him to his own devices. Yeah. 

We’ve seen Sauron shapeshift a lot this season and we know he has the ability to appear in different forms. Do you personally have a hope that in Season 3 there could be another new form of Sauron as potentially he meets new people to corrupt in some place, I don’t know, called Númenor?

[Laughs] I don’t know when, I’m in the dark about what’s coming next, but I think it’s a really cool power that he has to change forms and it’s a fine line. You don’t just want to be changing forms for the sake of it, so it becomes gimmicky. But I think the way to avoid that is to lean into it, but it all needs to be grounded. In the same way that Annatar was all about Celebrimbor, I feel like Sauron’s next form, if there is another form, will be like something that he leans into his strength and power as Sauron now. Like we’re almost at the height of his power in the Second Age, you know? And then he needs to go on a journey when he goes to Númenor. I don’t know what kind of Sauron gets captured by Pharazôn, but if I’m Pharazôn, I’m not going to be wanting to take this huge evil sorcerer into my prison. So maybe he needs to present as a weakling. I don’t know.

There’s a lot of scope for creativity, but unfortunately or no, fortunately, a lot of that is out of my hands and we just have to get told what to do and then I can bring my own interpretation to it once we get the script. 

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.