Rings Of Power turned a legendary Elf into Jar Jar Binks

Likewise, there is good reason for Celebrimbor to initially trust Sauron, who is disguised as Annatar the Lord of Gifts. For one, he knows that his first three Rings quite literally saved Elvenkind from annihilation. Secondly, when the guy he knew as Halbrand does a magic trick and turns into the Elf-like Annatar and says he is a messenger from the Valar, it’s easy to see Celebrimbor trusting him. The Valar are essentially god-like guardians of Middle-earth who the Elves not only believe in but many (including Celebrimbor) actually lived with when they took physical form, as the Valar even fought alongside the Elves in battle. When Annatar begins to suggest making more Rings for other races, Celebrimbor agrees as he wants to help his Dwarven friends in the neighboring Khazad-dûm after an earthquake destroyed infrastructure, withered crops, and threatened the Dwarves’ livelihoods. Of course Celebrimbor would try to provide aid so the Dwarves could take control of their mountain, purifying it like the Elven Rings did to the glowing tree in Lindon. 

Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, Amelia Kenworhty as Mirdania (Photo: Ben Rothstein/Prime Video)

Unlike Jar Jar, however, whose role in the rise of Palpatine wasn’t exactly that well known immediately after the Emergency Powers Act (and who didn’t realize what he had done until much, much later), Celebrimbor became aware rather early. In this season’s fifth episode, he understands that the Rings are flawed and are corrupting the Dwarves, and the thought breaks him. He caves in and agrees to Annatar’s logic that the only way to counter the Dwarven Rings’ corruption is by making even more Rings, because the alternative—that he betrayed and lied to his own kind, imbuing the Rings with deceit—is too horrible and painful to consider. 

Celebrimbor acts out of an initial desire to do something good and create lasting works of beauty and craftsmanship that could save Elvenkind (though not without pride and a desire to surpass his grandfather who created the Silmarils). And yet, as Annatar tells Celebrimbor in this week’s episode when the smith finally realizes that Annatar is actually Sauron and tries to fight back, the whole world will know that it was Celebrimbor who made the tools of their own destruction. His legacy is not of beauty or craftsmanship, but death and pain and suffering, and he pays for this. First, there’s the demolition of his home and the killing of his friends. Then he cuts his own thumb to try to escape from Sauron’s grasp, only to be captured yet again. Jar Jar also wanted to be as brave as his friends yet ended up causing the worst evil the Galaxy had seen in millennia. Because of his role in the rise of the Empire, Jar Jar was exiled by his people (again), eventually becoming a clown performing in the streets of the Naboo capital of Theed, an ostracized creature living in shame whose name is never uttered out loud by either Gungans or the Naboo.

Granted, their fates are nevertheless fitting punishments for what still amounts to great sins. Aware or not, clumsy or willing, both did bring about unspeakable horror to their respective worlds. But one of the most entertaining aspects of Rings Of Power season two, particularly the first half before Celebrimbor realizes he’s been played, is seeing him as sort of a teenager in a slasher movie: someone who deserves the gruesome death that is likely coming their way but nevertheless makes you feel a bit sad for them.  

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