Theory: Halbrand is Sauron (but it's complicated)

Very, Very complicated.

I was not on the “Halbrand is Sauron” train. Not until episode 6. In fact, I was not on the “[insert anyone] is Sauron” train, because usually mystery box storytelling, while great at keeping interest, only sets up audiences for one big, profound disappointment. I want to enjoy the story as it unfolds, to let it surprise me, rather than always try to second-guess the narrative. But obviously Amazon has been encouraging such wild speculation...

So hear me out this one time.

Halbrand is Sauron, but he is not the Sauron we’re expecting. As Frodo said: “I think a servant of the enemy would look fairer and feel fouler.” He said this about Aragorn, who Halbrand no doubt bears a striking resemblance to in both his character arc and appearance (in some shots Charlie Vickers could be Viggo Mortensen’s younger brother). But if he is secretly Sauron, why doesn’t he look “fair” and seem “foul”? As is the Tolkien way?

Because He Has Repented

Or at least is trying to repent. When Galadriel found Halbrand, he was on a rickety old raft, having fled the Southlands after Adar attacked. When Galadriel asks him about the royal Southland talisman (that he almost religiously wears about his neck) he answers: “I took it off a dead man.” It’s spoken in Halbrand’s characteristic, sarcastic tone—but what if he means it? What if, when he was Sauron, he killed an honourable lord, a royal man of the South, and now Halbrand, eaten up with regret, wears the talisman as a reminder of the terrible person he once was? A reminder of the last life he took before his transformation (more on that later).

Halbrand has a strong aversion to becoming king because the life of domination and lordship is what he walked away from. Halbrand doesn’t want to become the person he was before, but again and again Galadriel thrusts this responsibility upon him, which is why he is so apprehensive (and borderline hostile) when she pushes him. But then he realises: “Perhaps I should become king? Perhaps that’s how I make amends? If I reign, as a good king, in the name of the man I had so cruelly slain in my previous life, I might make up for all the evil I have done?” He’s not a usurper—he’s repenting. “Is it true?” Bronwyn asks. “Are you our king?” Halbrand says, uncertainly: “Yes.” His uncertainty is not because it isn’t true, but because it is—but not in the way she thinks. He will be king again. But as Mount Doom erupts, we begin to learn that, as fate would have it, he will not be the king they expected.

Galadriel spoke of fate bringing them together, fate being simply the word we use to describe the plans of a higher power. Halbrand tried sailing to the Undying Lands of Valinor, seeking forgiveness from the Gods—and who did they send to forgive him? Galadriel.

Of course, he's not going to tell her who he once was. Not yet. She wouldn’t understand. And it wouldn't do either of them any good for her to just kill him in blind anger. She’s too caught up in avenging her brother to know the truth quite yet. But maybe, in time, as she grows closer to Halbrand, and they are joined together in their quest for vengeance and repentance—maybe soon he will feel comfortable to tell her the terrifying truth? Adar suggested that Galadriel look for Sauron in her own mirror. He did not realise how right he was. For who is Galadriel’s reflection in this story, if not Halbrand?

Adar Already Hinted At Sauron’s Transformation

"Who are you?" Adar asks Halbrand, after Halbrand pulls Galadriel away from slaughtering the dark elf in cold blood. Adar does not know that Halbrand is Sauron. Halbrand tested this himself when he asked him directly, curious to see if Adar had the power to pierce through his magic veil: “Remember me?” Halbrand was probably ready to kill Adar at the slightest sign of recognition. I don’t think Adar is lying when he says he killed Sauron. I believe that he believes that. So, even if he does have the power to see beyond Halbrand’s disguise (or transformation), it’s unlikely he would know to look.

And perhaps Adar did kill Sauron, in a sense? Adar mentioned to Galadriel Sauron’s experiments. Said he’d given many of his own children (the orcs) to Sauron, to be tested. Perhaps Halbrand is a disguise that worked too well? A disguise Sauron had to wear in order to save his life? Like a bandage over a wound, shedding his injured shell for a new form that would have unexpected side effects. Perhaps there was some great battle of dark magic between these two foes, Adar and Sauron, and the end result is Halbrand? Not a perfect, fair form, not Annatar (as I’m sure Sauron would have preferred)—but a man. Compassionate. Remorseful. Human. "Who are you?" Adar asked ... if only he knew!

And now that Sauron has experienced what it is to be human, and felt the shame and sorrow of his actions, he has decided to change for the better. He’s decided to make the inside match the outside. But even still, echoes of his old self remain. His hostility towards the Guildsmen when they called him “lowman”. His forgery skills. His proficiency with a blade. He has changed who he is, but the memory of who he was still has its lasting scars.

Think on it: Halbrand, staring into the fires of his forge, remembering his past, his evil designs, as Galadriel lectures him on his responsibilities … no doubt this scene will have a far deeper meaning on repeat viewings.

“What do you know of darkness?” he asks, turning away from the fire as if it were a memory. “You don’t know what I did.” Perhaps she’s about to find out. And that’s when things will get really interesting.

Haladriel

No doubt, the relationship between Halbrand and Galadriel, the subtle will-they-won’t-they dynamic (sorry Celeborn!), is one of the most fascinating aspects of this show. They both need eachother, and the two are very alike, seeing one another in eachother’s eyes. Galadriel speaks of how her own friends could no longer distinguish her from the evil she was fighting, and Halbrand reacts with compassion. “I’m sorry,” he says. And I believe him when he says it.

But the apology carries more weight than she knows. Not only does he relate to her struggle--he is responsible for it. There’s a little Sauron in both of them. Later Halbrand, in so many words, essentially professes his

love for her (and Galadriel even reciprocates some of those feelings) when speaking of how they felt riding alongside eachother.

“If I could hold on to that feeling,” Halbrand says, “bind it to my very being...” He wants to change. He needs her if he is to change. And she needs him. Adar already inserted into Galadriel’s mind the idea that Sauron was trying to “heal” Middle-earth. Perhaps now he will? Perhaps now, there’s hope? But then the line between allowing someone the chance at redemption, and making a deal with the devil, becomes blurred.

“Nothing is evil in the beginning” are the very first words spoken in the show. Spoken by Galadriel but taken straight from the books. They are Gandalf’s words, referring to Sauron. If you thought “Haladriel” was good, get ready for “Saurodriel”! There are five planned seasons for this show. Plenty of time for Halbrand to work with Celeborn in designing and forging the Rings of Power (that should help him with his mission of "healing"), return to Numenor, and begin to reforge also the bonds between men and elves. All with good intentions ... for nothing is evil in the beginning. Yes, something will go terribly wrong. Maybe the temptation will be too great, and a power-hungry Sauron will re-emerge from the once good Halbrand. But until then, we may get the greatest character arc in the history of fantasy television, with Galadriel and Sauron being the unexpected (but not unwelcome) character dynamic at the heart of this show.

Conclusion

Halbrand is but a reflection in Galadriel’s mirror, but mirrors do not reflect only darkness—they reflect light. The question now, is: is Halbrand a false light?

Galadriel once spoke to her wise brother, Finrod Felagund, saying to him: “But sometimes, the lights that shine are just as brightly reflected in the water as they are in the sky. It’s hard to know which way is up and which way is down. How am I to know which lights to follow?” Her brother puzzles over the answer, but only briefly. Then, Finrod answers simply: “One cannot know, until they have touched the darkness.”

Galadriel is about to get very close to that darkness—and it will be a dance to remember.