Summary

• The Rings of Power compresses the timeline of the Second Age to include mortal characters from beginning to end.
• The origin of Mithril is changed in the series, linking it to a battle over a Silmaril rather than a natural feature of Middle-earth.
• The arrival of Gandalf and the involvement of Hobbits during the Second Age are deviations from Tolkien's original works.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings audiences to Tolkien's Second Age, but there are significant differences between Prime Video's version of events and canon. The majority of what is known about this period in Middle-earth history is contained within the posthumous works of author J.R.R. Tolkien, including The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth. Many of these stories were unfinished or were recorded in several different ways, and this, combined with Amazon's limited rights (specifically to The Silmarillion), means that The Rings of Power has had to get creative with the details and events.

The Rings of Power follows predominantly Galadriel, a familiar character from The Lord of the Rings, but jumps around Middle-earth to explore the effects of Sauron's growing force after the Dark Lord Morgoth's downfall. Eventually, the series will take audiences all the way to the start of The Lord of the Rings, when Isildur cuts the One Ring from Sauron's hand at the end of the Second Age. However, as far as The Rings of Power season 1, these sorts of events are just getting set up, with only the Three Elven Rings created out of the titular Rings of Power. So far, even in this single season, there have been several major differences from how Tolkien intended the Second Age.

10 Rings Of Power Compresses The Timescale Of The Second Age

The events of the Second Age of Middle-earth spanned over 3,000 years in Tolkien canon.

The Second Age of Middle-earth was 3,441 years long, and the important events that took place during this time period were spread out across these years. For Elves like Galadriel and Elrond, this was nothing, but countless generations of Men, Hobbits, and Dwarves came and went during the canon Second Age. For this reason, Prime Video's The Rings of Power had no choice but to compress the timeline. This way, mortal characters like Prince Durin IV, Isildur, and Nori could be part of the action from beginning to end rather than audiences getting to know new Dwarves, Harfoots, and Men every episode.

The Second Age ends with Isildur cutting the One Ring from Sauron's hand. Therefore, the events of The Lord of the Rings take place during Middle-earth's Third Age.

9 Rings Of Power Changes The Origin Of Mithril

Mithril isn't a byproduct of the Silmarils in Tolkien canon.

Mithril was a precious and coveted ore in Lord of the Rings canon and is ultimately why the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm met their downfall. This has been set up in The Rings of Power season 1 (though far sooner than it should be, thanks to the condensed timeline), but the origin of Mithril, as described by the series, is entirely unique. In season 1, the ore is said to be the byproduct of a battle between an Elf and a Balrog over a Silmaril that got caught in a tree. This makes Mithril nearly as valuable as the Silmarils themselves in Rings of Power's version of Second Age Middle-earth.

8 Halbrand Is An Entirely New Character

Sauron most famously took the form of the Elf Annatar in the Second Age.

Leading up to the release of Rings of Power season 1, Halbrand was thought to be a brand new Human character, and given the vast number of Men that would have lived and died during the Second Age, this wasn't too major an addition to Middle-earth. Of course, it was revealed in the season 1 finale that Halbrand is actually a Human form of the Dark Lord Sauron, and this was never a feature of Tolkien's works. Still, Sauron could indeed shapeshift into virtually anything he wanted during this point of the Second Age, so there are worse changes Rings of Power could have made. The problem only comes if Halbrand is Prime Video's version of the fair-form Annatar.

7 Rings of Power Changes The Arrival Of The Istari

Gandalf didn't arrive in Middle-earth until the beginning of the Third Age.

Rings of Power season 1 never fully nailed down the identity of The Stranger, but it's heavily implied that he is meant to be Gandalf. If this is the case, then the wizard's arrival in Middle-earth has been changed from how Tolkien originally intended in both the means and the time period. According to canon, Gandalf came to Middle-earth at the beginning of the Third Age, not during the Second, and he arrived in the Gray Havens like most beings from Valinor. There were Istari that arrived in Middle-earth during the Second Age, but they were the Blue Wizards and should have had no connection with Hobbits (or Rings of Power's Harfoots).

6 The Harfoots' Story Was Never Described In Canon

The Elves & Men of Middle-earth knew nothing of Hobbits in the Second Age (so there is no record of them).

Hobbits didn't play a part in Tolkien's works until the end of the Third Age, which means their ancestors being featured in The Rings of Power is outside anything that Tolkien wrote. Still, since the author's written works were approached like found histories, and Hobbits are said in The Lord of the Rings to have been unknown to the majority of beings of Middle-earth, it makes sense that The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales would have made no mention of their ancestors. The existence of Hobbit-like beings during this time can easily be assumed, but their involvement with an Istari is what truly diverts canon (Gandalf wouldn't discover them until much later).

5 Celeborn's Alleged Death Didn't Happen In Tolkien Canon

Galadriel's husband is alive and well throughout Tolkien's Second Age.

It was assumed with the altered timeline in The Rings of Power that, during the events of season 1, Galadriel hadn't met her husband Celeborn yet. However, the Elf surprised audiences when she explained that she had already been married but that he had been killed. Of course, Celeborn is alive and well during the events of The Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien never indicated that anyone had reason to believe otherwise during the Second Age. It can be assumed that Rings of Power didn't go as far as to entirely kill off Celeborn, but even if he is miraculously revealed to be alive in later seasons, this diverts Tolkien canon.

4 Galadriel's Role Was Far More Ambiguous In The Second Age

It's unclear whether Galadriel was a warrior in the traditional sense in Tolkien's works.

Galadriel has always been a preferential character in Tolkien's works, described as having power, beauty, and wisdom beyond compare. However, her involvement in certain events of the Second Age was left somewhat ambiguous. It's unclear if Galadriel was ever really a fighter, as she is in The Rings of Power, or how much of a driving force she was in the search for whatever remained of Sauron. Additionally, The Silmarillion states that Galadriel was one of the few Elves who didn't trust Annatar, Sauron's fair form, during the Second Age, and this contradicts Rings of Power's plotline in which she is deceived by him and is partially responsible for giving him Mordor.

3 Adar Is A New Character (Though Dark Elves Are Implied In Canon)

Adar's relationship with the Orcs is unprecedented in Tolkien's depiction of the Second Age of Middle-earth.

The Rings of Power season 1 introduces the original character, Adar, who explains that he was an Elf captured by Morgoth and twisted by evil. Though Tolkien did describe similar events as being one of the possible origins of Orcs, there is never any indication of a character named Adar or that the Dark Elves created by Morgoth became father figures for the evolutions of Orcs that existed during the Second Age. Tolkien was later very indecisive about whether Elves could be turned evil, but even based on his earlier versions of Orcs' origin stories, it's unlikely that any Dark Elves would have been left in Middle-earth by the Second Age.

2 Numenor's Second-Age Relationship With Elves Was Different

Numenor didn't begin to hate Elves until Sauron poisoned their minds.

When Galadriel and Halbrand went to Numenor in The Rings of Power season 1, it quickly became clear that the Men there did not like Elves. Queen Miriel's decision to accommodate Galadriel was unpopular, and this set up Pharazôn's eventual coup. Though aspects of this align with canon, Tolkien's writings indicate that the Númenóreans only began to hate Elves after Sauron became Pharazôn's advisor (most likely in a Human form) and poisoned the king against them. Rings of Power has established an entirely unique reason that the High Men despise Galadriel and her people, which revolves mainly around simple prejudice and mistrust.

1 The Birth Of Mordor Is Original To Rings Of Power's Second Age

A sword being the key to Mount Doom erupting was never a feature of Tolkien's works.

The Rings of Power certainly made the birth of Mordor into quite a spectacle. In season 1, it is revealed that Adar's goal had been to claim Sauron's broken sword and use it to cause Mount Doom to erupt, thus turning the region into the wasteland seen in The Lord of the Rings. The idea of a sword key creating a flow of water that erupts a volcano is definitely not something that Tolkien conceived, and it's one of the more confusing features of The Rings of Power season 1. Perhaps season 2 will better explain who designed this system and why. Regardless of the answer, none of this is what Tolkien had initially conceived for his Second Age of Middle-earth.