Rings Of Power Makes The Elves MORE Responsible For Sauron's Return

  The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power  does Elves absolutely no favors - they're now doubly at fault for Sauron's comeback. Ev...

 

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power does Elves absolutely no favors - they're now doubly at fault for Sauron's comeback. Even in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Middle-earth's Elves are forced to bear partial responsibility for Sauron's Second Age return. Despite the likes of Galadriel expressing grave concern, Sauron (under the guise of "Annatar") was welcomed into the realm of Eregion. The Elven-smiths were then complicit in crafting the Rings of Power by his design, which flows directly into Sauron's ambitious One Ring plot. Had Eregion simply shown a little more caution letting strangers near their forges, everyone would've been saved a great deal of trouble. The Rings of Power, however, makes Elves even more problematic.

After the War of Wrath, a garrison of Elves was stationed in the Southlands, whose people had once been loyal to Morgoth. These sentries had one job: keep their keen eyes peeled for signs of evil rising anew. Instead, the guards of Ostirith became horribly prejudiced against the humans they surveilled so closely. In The Rings of Power episodes 1 & 2, lines such as, "The blood of those who stood with Morgoth still darkens their veins" and, "You've kept watch over the men and women of Tirharad... because of who they still are" highlight the Elves' discriminatory attitude. In their racially-charged hatred, Ostirith somehow missed the suspiciously-friendly tavern owner secretly hiding an evil black sword hilt in his barn. This is despite an identical sword being carved into the stone of Ostirith itself, and despite young Theo discovering the sword without an Elf's superior eyesight, hearing and senses.

In an alternate Middle-earth where the Elves don't just assume everyone in the Southlands is a filthy Morgoth supporter, and the wardens of Ostirith actually discover Waldreg's loyalty to the Enemy, how would The Lord of the Rings' future change? For starters, the Elves would confiscate the black hilt long before Adar invades the Southlands. The relic would likely be sent to Gil-galad in Lindon or Celebrimbor in Eregion, and neither realm would be assailable for such a small army of Orcs. With their coveted key out of reach, Adar couldn't transform the Southlands into Mordor instantaneously as he does in The Rings of Power, forcing him into launching an old-fashioned assault which, so long as the Númenóreans still rock up, fails spectacularly.

That means Sauron would need to occupy and transform the Southlands himself in The Rings of Power's canon. There's no reason the villain couldn't succeed where Adar failed, but he'd be starting from scratch rather than taking advantage of pre-laid groundwork. Ultimately, losing the black sword delays Sauron's Second Age assault on Middle-earth - maybe by centuries - but certainly wouldn't derail his schemes or rewrite The Lord of the Rings.