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.