Who Is Annatar & Why Did Sauron Choose This Disguise In The Rings of Power Season 2?

Join me as I dive deep into the  lore of Middle-earth to uncover   the secret identity of Annatar and what  led Sauron to make his shocking choice! The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power  introduces Sauron's Annatar disguise. Here’s   how it was created, what Sauron used it for,  and why he eventually stopped shape-shifting.   Even though Sauron is one of the most  famous villains in fiction, his physical   appearance has always been a bit unclear. J.R.R.  Tolkien only describes him in very vague terms,   and the well-known images of him as a  giant warrior in black armor or a fiery   eye on top of Barad-dûr mostly come from Peter  Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film series. Tolkien gives a bit more detail about Sauron's  appearance during Middle-earth's Second Age,   the time setting for Amazon's The Rings of  Power TV series. According to the canon,   Sauron is recovering after Morgoth's  defeat. When he shows up again,   he adopts the guise of "Annatar," which  Tolkien describes as a "fair form" but   doesn’t provide many specifics. Since Annatar is  a key character in The Rings of Power season 2,   here’s everything Middle-earth mythology  tells us about Sauron's preferred disguise. Although he's most famous for his role  in warmongering, Sauron originally was   one of the Maiar—ancient, angel-like,  immortal spirits created by Eru Ilúvatar,   the god of Tolkien's world, to serve him. Sauron  was corrupted by Melkor, who later became known   as Morgoth. Melkor was a higher-ranking spirit  who turned evil because of his greed, jealousy,   and anger. All Maiar have the power to take on  any form they wish, and many used this ability   to move around unseen among the Elves and  other beings of Middle-earth. But Sauron had   different plans and used his shape-shifting  powers to create a whole range of disguises. In J.R.R. Tolkien's First Age,   Sauron often changed his shape to scare  his enemies. But as the Second Age started,   he might have thought a different approach would  work better. So he came back to Middle-earth as   "Annatar." Tolkien describes Annatar as having  a "fair form," but he doesn’t give a detailed   description of what Annatar looked like. Given  that the kingdoms who welcomed him saw him as a   trusted ally, many people think Sauron's Annatar  form probably resembled an Elf or Númenórean. Sauron's first task as "Annatar" was to  trick the Elves, so he headed to Eregion,   where the Elves' top smiths welcomed him warmly.  However, not all Elves were fooled. Elrond,   Gil-galad, and Galadriel saw through  Annatar's too-good-to-be-true promises,   so he avoided Lindon and Lothlórien as a result.  Despite their suspicions, none of the Elves,   even those who were wary, realized that  Annatar was actually Sauron in disguise. Sauron’s goal in Eregion was to create the Rings  of Power. As a Maia, Sauron had once served under   Aulë, who was considered the god of blacksmiths  and was revered by the Dwarves. Because of this,   Sauron was skilled in both craftsmanship and  dark magic, and he used both while in Eregion.   The Elves were eager to make the Rings of Power,  and Sauron gladly shared his divine knowledge with   them. However, as described in *The Fellowship  of the Ring*, Sauron betrayed his new allies by   secretly designing a way to corrupt those  who wore the Rings during their creation. The sixteen Rings of Power later given to  Dwarves and Men were directly influenced   by Annatar. Although the Elves’ three  Rings were made by Celebrimbor himself,   he used Sauron's dark techniques  in their creation. Afterward,   Annatar sneaked back to Mordor and forged his own  Ruling Ring. It wasn’t until Galadriel, Gil-galad,   and Círdan put on their three Rings that the Elves  finally understood the extent of their mistake. Over a thousand years after his failed attempt  to conquer Middle-earth with the Rings of Power,   Sauron faced defeat once more. This time, an  army of Númenóreans led by Ar-Pharazôn came to   Middle-earth, furious that Sauron had declared  himself the land’s supreme ruler. Realizing   his defeat was near, Sauron submitted to the  powerful Númenórean king and was taken prisoner. There’s some uncertainty about what  physical form Sauron took while he was   on the island kingdom of Númenor.  Tolkien’s writings strongly imply   that Sauron assumed a “fair” appearance  again, but he never clearly says whether   Sauron used his Annatar disguise or chose a  different form more suitable for his mortal   captors. There are strong arguments for both  possibilities. Regardless of his appearance,   Sauron didn’t use the name “Annatar” because the  people of Númenor already knew who he really was. Just as he did with the Elves, Sauron  used charm and manipulation with the   people of Númenor. This time, instead of  offering gifts and knowledge, he stirred   up their existing anger toward the Valar and  encouraged them to worship Morgoth instead.   Sauron went from being a prisoner to becoming  Ar-Pharazôn's most trusted advisor. In the end,   he managed to persuade the King to  launch a reckless attack on Valinor. Fans of *The Lord of the Rings* might wonder why  Sauron didn’t use the Annatar disguise to sneak   into the Shire or deceive Frodo into giving up  the One Ring. The answer is straightforward:   Sauron lost his ability to shape-shift after  the Second Age. When Númenor was destroyed,   it triggered the wrath of Eru Ilúvatar, the god  of Tolkien’s world. Eru intervened directly,   removing Númenor from existence and altering  the world to make Valinor inaccessible. As   part of Sauron's punishment, Eru took  away his ability to assume a fair form. After the fall of Númenor, Sauron was only  able to take on his dark and terrifying   form—the one Peter Jackson portrays  as a towering figure in black armor.   The exact appearance of this form  will always be somewhat mysterious,   but Tolkien does mention "black hands" in  his writings on two different occasions. J.R.R. Tolkien doesn’t go into much detail about  how Annatar deceived the Elves. He leaves it up to   readers to imagine how Sauron gained their trust  and convinced them to further his dark plans. Many   people picture Annatar arriving in Eregion and  Celebrimbor immediately trusting him. However,   *The Rings of Power* season 2 adds an interesting  twist. Since Celebrimbor had already met Halbrand,   who looks almost the same as Annatar, it  was confusing how the Elf could be deceived.   The explanation highlights Sauron's  well-known skill for manipulation. In *The Rings of Power* season 2, Celebrimbor  knew he wasn’t supposed to deal with Halbrand,   but he didn’t realize that Halbrand was actually  Sauron. The Dark Lord exploited this gap in   information by shape-shifting from Halbrand into  Annatar right in front of Celebrimbor. He tricked   the Elf into thinking he was an envoy sent by  the Valar, which made Celebrimbor feel incredibly   honored. This was a brilliant move, considering  that as a Maia, Sauron was only half lying. The Prime Video series took the opportunity  to fill in the gaps left by Tolkien,   exploring in detail what Annatar looked like  and how he managed to manipulate the Elves of   Eregion into such a huge mistake.  *The Rings of Power* season 2 has   skillfully connected Annatar to the story,  provided reasons for Celebrimbor’s naivety,   and even surprised the most knowledgeable  Tolkien fans—an impressive achievement. Sauron is the main villain in both The Lord  of the Rings and Amazon's The Rings of Power,   and his age is quite complex. In Peter  Jackson’s films, Sauron is depicted as   a fiery eye on top of the tower of Barad-dûr. In  The Rings of Power, he appears in various forms,   including as Halbrand (played by Charlie Vickers)  and Annatar, among others—seemingly young men who   pretend to be trustworthy. However, Sauron's  true spiritual form is much older than any of   these appearances and dates back long before the  events of Jackson's movies or the Amazon series. In reality, Sauron isn’t a Man, Elf,  or any other being of that kind. Since Sauron's creation predates time and  physical reality, giving him a precise age   is impossible. However, we can estimate his age  based on the history of Tolkien's universe. The   Rings of Power merges and condenses key events  from Tolkien's works into a unified timeline,   and the series is set in the Second Age of  Middle-earth. This era starts after Morgoth's   defeat and imprisonment—Morgoth  was Sauron's master—and continues   for an additional 3,441 years,  according to Tolkien's timeline. In the books, the forging of the Rings of Power  happens about 1,500 years into the Second Age.   Before this, Sauron existed during the First  Age, which lasted roughly 5,000 years. Going   further back, there was a period between the  creation of the universe and the creation of   Arda (the world) and Middle-earth, which lasted  around 60,000 years. Adding these together,   Sauron would be approximately 66,500 years  old by the time of The Rings of Power. Sauron continued to spread chaos in Middle-earth  throughout the rest of the Second Age until he was   temporarily defeated when Isildur cut the One  Ring from him. This event occurred during the   Last Alliance of Elves and Men in SA 3430, just a  few years before the Third Age began. This means   that Sauron would have been around 68,430 years  old at the time of his temporary defeat. However,   he wasn’t completely vanquished; he  gradually regained strength before   being finally defeated when Frodo Baggins  destroyed the One Ring in Third Age 3019. This means that Sauron's spirit or  essence was around 71,460 years old   when he was finally destroyed at  the end of The Lord of the Rings:   The Return of the King. This makes him  one of the oldest beings in Middle-earth,   though characters like Gandalf, Saruman, and  Radagast would have been about the same age.