A surprising comment in The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power suggests that a Silmaril could turn Morgoth good. As the biggest villain J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, it’s obviously difficult to imagine Morgoth ever switching sides. However, this possbility was mentioned in episode 2 of Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings show.
Morgoth has a reputation as the most evil force in existence in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Though Sauron was the overarching villain of The Lord of the Rings movies, Morgoth is actually the greater threat and a being who actually commanded authority over Sauron himself. But since his reign occurred during the First Age, there was never a reason for him to appear in live-action. He could miss out on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power as well, considering that it takes place in the Second Age. However, he’s certainly relevant to the series, as the Dark Lord has already been namedropped a few times.
One of the references to Morgoth came in The Rings of Power episode 2 when Elrond was talking to Celebrimbor about the Silmarils. When talking about their power, Celebrimbor said that they “nearly turned the heart of the Great Foe himself”. Apparently, seeing the “evil of his own reflection” had such a profound effect on Morgoth that he had to stop looking at them. The idea of a villain in the vein of Morgoth suddenly turning over a new leaf for any reason sounds like an outlandish prospect, but Celebrimbor seems to think it almost happened. However, what Celebrimbor was only a story he had heard, and there’s no evidence it’s true. What is known, though, is that the Silmarils burnt Morgoth’s hands, as confirmed by The Silmarillion.
The Silmarils & Their Importance Explained
The Silmarils are among the most powerful relics in the Middle-earth. Crafted by the hammer shown in episode 2, the Silmarils were a group of three jewels known for their unrivaled beauty and incredible power. As Elrond said in The Rings of Power, the jewels “contain the very light of Valinor”. The Silmarils being bound with the light of a heaven-like realm explains what makes them so valuable. These artifacts were so greatly coveted that they started a conflict known as the War of the Jewels. Morgoth stealing them in the First Age is what drove the Elves out of Valinor and kickstarted all sorts of other major events in the Lord of the Rings timeline.
Interestingly, the Silmarils were left out of Galadriel’s overview of the past, but the conversation between Elrond and Celebrimbor opens the door for them to be important later on. The fact that the series made a point of mentioning how special they are is a sign that the Silmarils could have a role of some kind in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. But with it already being established that the Silmarils were trapped in the land, earth and sky at the start of the Third Age, making that work would be a huge narrative challenge.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power releases new episodes on Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.