In The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 8, Galadriel discovers that Halbrand is not a Southland king and when she confronts him, he reveals himself to be Sauron and wants her to be his queen to rule Middle-Earth with him. She refuses and Halbrand flees to Mordor. It was a shocking reveal that had fans wondering why they didn’t realize that Halbrand is actually the worst villain that Middle-Earth has ever known. However, co-showrunner Patrick McKay that this was exactly the point.
“There’s this whole idea from Tolkien’s letters and other writings where he talks about how Sauron wasn’t evil in the beginning. Elrond says in the book: ‘Nothing is evil the beginning, even Sauron was not so,’” McKay told Total Film before enumerating some of TV’s best-known antiheroes. “We thought that was really rich terrain. And then, Tolkien had this idea of chance meetings throughout his books – that chance meetings are preordained in Middle Earth. So, what if Sauron is in a place where he’s repentant and lost? And Galadriel’s in a place where she’s desperate and obsessed. What might happen if they meet? Maybe they’d be friends? Maybe they’d get along? The idea of a non-romantic, cosmic connection seemed so pregnant with possibilities,” McKay continued. In the end, that’s exactly what happened but now we are left wondering what will happen to Galadriel and Sauron in the second season.
