Iâve already addressed these âHalbrand vs. Sauronâ or âwhenever Sauron has the ability to love or notâ debates on two posts: here and here.
In short: âHalbrandâ was pretty much real. He was repentant Mairon. Mairon in seek of redemption. Mairon who wanted to atone for all of his past sins and crimes under Morgoth. Mairon who wanted to remain in NĂșmenor (a island gifted by the Valar to Men) sweeping floors and chopping wood in servitude, at the forge.
When Thangorodrim was broken and Morgoth overthrown, Sauron put on his fair hue again and did obeisance to EönwĂ«, the herald of ManwĂ«, and abjured all his evil deeds. And some hold that this was not at first falsely done, but that Sauron in truth repented [âŠ] But it was not within the power of EönwĂ« to pardon those of his own order [âŠ] to receive from the Valar a sentence, in might be, of long servitude in proof of his good faith.
When the petals of Nimloth, the White Tree of NĂșmenor, fall, according to Queen-regent MĂriel, the Faithful see in them the tears of the Valar, âa living reminder that their eyes and judgment are ever upon us.â This is reason why Mairon wanted to stay in NĂșmenor, to prove his good faith to the Valar and sought their forgiveness.
This is with whom Galadriel fell in love with.
And sheâs also the one who blew it thanks to her âpride and prejudiceâ, really. In one of my posts, I already analyzed how Mairon wasnât manipulating her and how their shared connection wasnât a deception on his part (based on visual clues and color code on the show itself).
And âHalbrandâ is one of those names.
âSauronâ is the name the Elves gave him. A mockery of his true name: âMaironâ, which means âThe Admirableâ. âSauronâ means âThe Abhorrentâ. In some versions of the lore, he absolutely hates this name (âSauronâ). Yeah, because who wants to be called âthe abhorrentâ!?
Season 1 of âRings of Powerâ gave us peak Mairon, the Maia of AulĂ« vibes. This is Mairon, with his reddish hair, beard and his Dwarvish-inspired necklace (the Dwarves are the Children of AulĂ«):
âRings of Powerâ, pretty much like Peter Jackson trilogy, took some liberties with Tolkien canon (these are adaptations), but this is one of my absolute favorites.
With this being said, if fellow fans want to think of âHalbrandâ as a âseparate identityâ from âSauronâ, you do you. Thatâs what fanfiction is for, after all. And there is no âgoodâ or âbadâ way of enjoying characters or ships, on a personal level. Just donât go around policing fellow fans or creating guidelines, because thatâs distasteful. Throwing around big words like âproblematicâ or âtoxicâ is so 2010s. We are in 2024. Move with the times.