The War of the Elves and Sauron: A Brief Introduction

The third season of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres in less than a week, on November 11. The central conflict of this season is described in the official synopsis:

In Season Three, Middle-earth is at war. Five years have passed since the fall of Eregion. Sauron’s armies have marched across the whole of the world, conquering all in their path. Only a few isolated pockets stand between the Dark Lord and total victory – Khazad-dûm, where the Dwarves are now sealed deep within their mountain halls, and the elven realms of Lindon and Rivendell, which are protected by their Three Rings.

This conflict is known as the War of the Elves and Sauron. It is the first of two major conflicts of the Second Age of Middle-earth, the other being the War of the Last Alliance. The War of the Last Alliance is depicted in the Prologue of the New Line film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The War of the Elves and Sauron, however, has not been depicted in live action until Prime Video’s The Rings of Power series. Indeed, it has only rarely been depicted, even in art.

The purpose of this article is to introduce the reader to the War of the Elves and Sauron, both in Tolkien’s account and as it is depicted in The Rings of Power. In addition, I will also take a look at the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien to help predict what may happen in Season 3.

A warning: this post contains some spoilers for Seasons 1 and 2. It also contains major potential spoilers for Season 3 in the section “What Lies Ahead”, as do some links to Tolkien Gateway. I have not seen any screeners or attended any advance screenings myself, so I only have the trailers, interviews, and other publicity materials to refer to, as well as Tolkien’s writings.

Tolkien’s Account

Prelude

After the Dark Lord Morgoth was overthrown at the end of the First Age, the Second Age began as a time of peace for the Elves in Middle-earth. However, they became unsatisfied with the corruption, decay, and death to which all life was subject, and which they knew would inevitably affect them in some way as well.

A mysterious and powerful stranger appeared in the Elven realm of Eregion with a potential solution to this problem: together, they would craft objects with the power to preserve the Elves and their realms even as the Undying Lands of Valinor, but in Middle-earth. The smiths of Eregion forged a number of these Rings of Power, before the stranger departed just as he had come.

The stranger was in fact Sauron, who had been Morgoth’s lieutenant in the First Age. After he left Eregion, he worked to forge one more Ring in secret: a Ring that would have the power to control all the other Rings. But in Sauron’s absence the Elves also forged three Rings of Power of their own. When Sauron put on the One Ring, the Elves became aware of him and his purpose, and they dared not use their Rings of Power as long as Sauron controlled the One.

The War Begins

Frustrated in his attempts to control the Elves through trickery, Sauron gathered a great army and marched on Eregion to subjugate the Elves and reclaim all the Rings of Power. Although the Elves were aware of the danger Sauron posed to them, they were ill-prepared for the attack, having spent a thousand or so years in peace. Sauron defeated the forces of Eregion, led by Celeborn, and sacked the city of Ost-in-Edhil. A force from Lindon, led by Elrond, was prevented from aiding Eregion.

In the city, Sauron tortured Celebrimbor, Lord of Eregion, who delivered most of the Rings of Power into his hands. But Celebrimbor had given away the Three Rings he had forged in Sauron’s absence, and refused to say where they were. Sauron executed Celebrimbor and turned his attention to the remaining Elves.

Elrond’s force and the survivors of Eregion were at risk of being overwhelmed when the Elves of Lórien, led by Amroth, and the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm attacked Sauron’s forces, allowing Elrond and the remnants of Eregion to escape northward to the valley of Rivendell.

Sauron’s forces overran the region of Eriador in the northwest of Middle-earth, but were unable to take Rivendell, the Elven realm of Lindon, or Khazad-dûm. However, they did sack the Dwarven stronghold of Gundabad in the north. After a few years, Sauron began a renewed attack on the Grey Havens in the hope of taking Lindon.

This brings us to the situation at the beginning of Season 3 of The Rings of Power. We’ll see how Tolkien’s account continues in the section What Lies Ahead, after first comparing it to the show’s adaptation thus far.

The Rings of Power

In The Rings of Power the account is similar in many respects. The attack on Eregion comes in a time of relative peace for the Elves, and the armor of the Elves of Eregion appears to be old and unused. Perhaps the most notable departure in the show is that the army of Orcs that besieged Eregion was initially led by their Lord-father Adar. Adar was not following Sauron’s orders, but rather had come with the purpose of destroying Sauron once and for all. Sauron himself was in Eregion at the beginning of the siege.

However, through his single-mindedness in pursuing Sauron, and his seeming lack of regard for the lives of the Orcs who followed him, Adar alienated their affections, causing them to switch loyalties to Sauron. Thus Sauron came to control the army that ravaged Eregion.

In the show, the Rings of Power were created in the same order as in Tolkien’s famous Ring poem. The Three Elven Rings were forged first rather than last, before the One Ring. So Sauron tortured Celebrimbor to find where he had hidden the Nine Rings for Men, rather than the Three Elven Rings.

Also, in Tolkien’s account Sauron forged the One Ring before he besieged Eregion. However, in The Rings of Power, the war has been going on for five years, and Sauron has not yet forged it.

Additionally, neither Celeborn nor the Elves of Lórien have featured in the series so far, so their roles in the war are changed. It’s no big secret, though, that we will be seeing Celeborn this season.

What Lies Ahead

This season Sauron will attempt to forge the “One Ring to rule them all”. Given that The Rings of Power is a backstory to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, which feature Sauron’s Ring, I think it is safe to say that he will ultimately be successful in this attempt.

Armed with the One Ring, Sauron will undoubtedly begin a renewed assault, probably on Lindon, and perhaps on Rivendell and Khazad-dûm as well. It is also apparent from the trailers that the Elves will appeal to the island kingdom of Númenor for aid against Sauron.

Potential Spoilers:

In Tolkien’s account the Númenóreans did indeed send aid, turning the tide of the war against Sauron. One force arrived in Lindon to relieve the siege of Mithlond (the Grey Havens). A second force arrived further south, at the mouth of the River Gwathló, to cut off Sauron’s retreat. After several battles, including the disastrous Battle of the Gwathló, Sauron barely managed to escape to Mordor with a handful of his bodyguards.

However, in Tolkien’s account the Númenóreans were led by Admiral Ciryatur, during the reign of either Tar-Telperiën or Tar-Minastir. In the show we see a later stage of Númenor’s history, in which rule of Númenor is disputed between Tar-Míriel and Ar-Pharazôn. In addition, it appears that the Númenóreans may be arriving as a single force, rather than dividing in two as in Tolkien’s account.

It also seems quite likely that the show will merge the Battle of the Gwathló with another event that happened much later in the Second Age: the capture of Sauron by the Númenóreans. But, for what follows after that, we will probably need to wait for Season 4.