Sauron is Middle-earth’s biggest failson in latest look at RoP Season 3

Another week; another marketing drop for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power! On Thursday morning, Entertainment Weekly released its annual Fall TV Preview, which provided another look at the Lord who made the Rings, including a couple interesting new pictures, as well as two pages of script. As previously revealed in Empire, the season will begin with a Fellowship of the Ring-style prologue, but from what we’ve learned, this will be Sauron’s opening scene after the five-year time-jump.

New look at Sauron: “Beautiful. Dangerous. A reptile in black leather.” This is Sauron unmasked.

Rings of Power: Use Caution When Handling

In this scene, Sauron, described as “beautiful,” “dangerous,” and “a reptile in black leather” (fairly accurate), completes another attempt at forging The One Ring, something we know he will complete at some point during this season. However, the script reveals that this harmless-looking ring has an unfortunate effect. An Orc is shoved forward, and Sauron places the ring on his finger, which causes his hand to burst into flames, before his entire body combusts and disintegrates into a pile of bones. All the while, Sauron watches unflinchingly and with “clinical fascination.” The mask is fully off this season.

The unfortunate side effects of being an orc serving under Sauron

It doesn’t help that in the Season 2 finale, Sauron killed master craftsman Celebrimbor and ordered all of his records to be destroyed, a fact which is brought up, a bit cheekily, by the Orc who shoved forward the burned victim: “Beg-pardon, M’Lord — but when Eregion fell, we put them records to the torch — on your orders.” But more on him later.

“All creation requires sacrifice,” Sauron announces to the horrified Orcs, who just watched one of their fellows burned alive. He orders them to search for the Elven Rings, along with any Elf familiar with Celebrimbor, and the Elven-smiths. Unfortunately, they are dead too, as the Orc is quick to point out—Sauron requested that he be brought the Elven leaders, not the Elven-smiths: another unfortunate slip of the tongue (he earlier misstates Celebrimbor’s “true creation requires sacrifice”). Surely this won’t come back to haunt him (spoiler alert: it will).

Marnûkh: The “Orc with an Arc” (aka Babygirl aka My Friend)

But for now, Sauron’s attention turns to the Orc who sacrificed another, who sassed him twice: Marnûkh. Five years of failures have left Sauron a bit desperate, and gone are the niceties: “What is your name Orc?” Sauron asks, in a departure from his “What is your name, Uruk?” towards Glug at the end of last season. “The answers we seek are out there. Somewhere. Waiting. The orc who finds them, and brings them to me, will be celebrated as a saviour.”

Marnûkh, with “a twinkle in his eye,” per the script, assures the Dark Lord that he will find a way to get the answers he seeks. But as Sauron turns away, the script reveals something else: “Marnûkh’s gaze hardens. AND WE HOLD ON THIS ORC a beat, sensing — something’s DIFFERENT about him…” Marnûkh marches off with the rabble of Orcs in a scene we maybe saw in the trailer, but to what?

Marnûkh: whose side is he on anyway?

Well, the Season 3 Teaser released at San Diego Comic Con gave us our first glimpse at Marnûkh, played by British actor Adam Young, who seeks out Galadriel and Arondir to offer his services. But I’m sure there will be some differences of opinion between Galadriel, who reconciled with Adar in the Season 2 finale just before his untimely death at the hands of Glug; and Arondir, whose last interaction with Adar, responsible for the death of the love of his life, Bronwyn, resulted in a stab wound. Non-mortal, but still. Tensions are sure to be running high.

Arondir and Marnûkh share a sceptical look at each other as Galadriel looks ahead. I think those two will be best friends

Marnûkh grinningly speaks with Galadriel and Arondir sceptically looks on

Not so between the cast and crew, as the showrunners and cast like Morfydd Clark gushed about their new favourite character, the “Orc with an arc” who risks everything to defect and form an alliance with our heroes, who writes poetry and songs, and is by all appearances, a complex, nuanced, interesting addition to Season 3. He also is wearing what appears to be the breastplate of Adar, (you can see the River Sirion motif in the upper left corner), with its many stab wounds shoddily, but painstakingly, repaired. Could Marnûkh be trying to continue Adar’s legacy?

Adam Young’s Marnûkh waves during the Creature Feature, alongside Ismael Cruz Córdova’s Arondir, who looks at him

Has Adar’s River Sirion-engraved breastplate been lovingly repaired by an orc loyal to him?

The Creature Feature released a few days after SDCC also gave us some charming behind-the-scenes looks at the new Uruk, but alongside, we also saw some disturbing peeks at what could potentially lie ahead for him. As discussed by the showrunners in Empire, they were interested in the Orcs before they became Sauron’s mindless slaves, something Tolkien was also interested in and wrestled with in his writings, but never got the time to fully explore. But what happens when Sauron inevitably achieves his goal, successfully completing the One Ring and enslaving the wills of the Orcs?

Chat, is Marnûkh cooked??

Is a happy ending retiring to the Greenwood with his new best friend, Arondir, and raising bees possible for our new favourite little guy? This writer says: I hope so!

Look at him! He wouldn’t hurt a fly!