I'd been guessing that The Stranger was Sauron, and that Sauron had genuinely repented and was trying to do good. I blogged on this, 'The Rings of Power: Not All Who Wonder Or Wander Are Lost'.
It all seemed vindicated, but then everything turns. First, we see Halbrand giving vital clues to Celebrimbor about a process of tapping power. And he meantime uses exactly the same words that Adar reported Sauron as using.
She confronts and confirms, and meantime The Stranger turned out to be some other powerful being, and banishes Sauron's servants. But not forever, I'm sure.
Incidentally, they should not call him Sauron. In the book, they never do because the name is an insult.
We get the Three Elven Rings made before the 16 that will go to Elves and Dwarves. Since these are credited to Celebrimbor, I'd assume that Halbrand / Sauron manages to overcome Galadriel's denunciation, which she cannot explain.
And I was right about Sauron genuinely trying to be good. He saved Galadriel because he was partly free of Morgoth's influence, and wants her beside him as his Queen, and being good rulers. But does not see that his own power might be a bad thing.
And it ends with Nori and The Stranger heading for Rhun. Which Tolkien wrote little about: just that Sauron controlled it at the end of the Third Age.
A brilliant ending!
It all seemed vindicated, but then everything turns. First, we see Halbrand giving vital clues to Celebrimbor about a process of tapping power. And he meantime uses exactly the same words that Adar reported Sauron as using.
She confronts and confirms, and meantime The Stranger turned out to be some other powerful being, and banishes Sauron's servants. But not forever, I'm sure.
Incidentally, they should not call him Sauron. In the book, they never do because the name is an insult.
We get the Three Elven Rings made before the 16 that will go to Elves and Dwarves. Since these are credited to Celebrimbor, I'd assume that Halbrand / Sauron manages to overcome Galadriel's denunciation, which she cannot explain.
And I was right about Sauron genuinely trying to be good. He saved Galadriel because he was partly free of Morgoth's influence, and wants her beside him as his Queen, and being good rulers. But does not see that his own power might be a bad thing.
And it ends with Nori and The Stranger heading for Rhun. Which Tolkien wrote little about: just that Sauron controlled it at the end of the Third Age.
A brilliant ending!