- Vickers -
I think this is going to cause people to re-examine all of his scenes, so I want to walk through the character’s journey with you. So what’s your understanding of his introduction on that raft. Did he put himself there to meet Galadriel or was their meeting, as she puts it, arranged by a higher power?
So I know this. But I think that question is best left unanswered. Because we find out that backstory [in season two]. That question will be answered in due time.
One thing that kept some fans from believing Halbrand might be Sauron was it’s hard to imagine the Dark Lord really wanting to work as some blacksmith’s apprentice in Númenor. What was the thinking behind that scene?
He’s a smith. He knows the craft of smithing intimately. You have to think of it in terms of where we’re meeting Sauron during his repentance stage. Tolkien says pretty explicitly in The Silmarillion that he is repentant — if not out of fear. So the question is not whether he was repentant, it was whether that repentance was genuine. He’s been brought low. He’s been humiliated, almost humbled. So when you see him drifting on a raft, it’s basically as low as you can get. Tolkien talks of Sauron re-emerging, and that he lingered in Middle-earth for a long time, and very slowly came back to power. These are the words he used. And I think that’s why he’s there looking for a job, because he’s looking for a way back. It’s really interesting to think of him rebuilding. He rebuilds many times over the course of the whole history of Arda. This is one example of that.
Because I do think, “Well, why would the second-greatest Tolkien villain, in terms of power, why would he be getting a job as a smith in Númenor?” If his repentance is genuine, then he is seeking a new life and trying to really run away from evil. But if his repentance is not genuine, if he’s faking it, then perhaps it’s a tactic where he can buy some time and make himself look busy in Númenor while he waits for things to unfold. You can look at it both ways. I have an answer for myself, which I used while I was playing the character. But I think it’s interesting to leave it ambiguous and let people interpret it how they will.
When he says he wants to heal Middle-earth, what sort of world is he imagining? Like we associate Sauron with darkness and a volcano, but he enthusiastically called Númenor a paradise and seemed like he wanted to stay there.
I think he appreciates beauty wholeheartedly. And I think his goal was to create an independent paradise separate from Valinor to spite the gods because he hates and fears the gods so much. It’s about reorganization and rehabilitation. Tolkien talks about him wanting to rid Middle-earth of wasteful friction. If you look at the state of the world, you look at the Southlands and the scattered tribes and warring factions, everything is discombobulating. In his mind, healing Middle-earth is reorganizing everything and with him as its sole ruler. It’s developing the beauty and wonder and majesty of Middle-earth, but everything has to be really structured and organized. The only way that it will satisfy him is if he is in charge and he can order things exactly how he wants.
For season two, the showrunnners have told me the season is very Sauron-focused, that he’s going to be very out and about, operating and manipulating. What can you tease to your character next season?
I think it’s a really exciting season because you start to see Sauron for who he is. We’ve been seeing him in this period of repentance. We’re going to move into this period of watching his plans unfold. You’re with him as he moves the pieces on the chessboard. There are parts of the lore that are so rich and so exciting and thrilling and things that I adored reading in The Silmarillion that we’re going to see. Those really famous stories are going to unfold next season.
What’s the first step of his plan as he walks into Mordor?
I think that’s the important thing: He has a plan. Going back into Mordor is the first stage of that plan. I’m not going to spoil it, but it doesn’t take long to find out in the second season. We find out pretty quickly. He definitely has a plan, and that’s where it begins, with those first few steps back down. I’ve started filming; we’re well underway in the second season. I’ve read a few scripts and am very much immersed in that world now.
What’s the biggest difference in playing Halbrand from Season 1 and Sauron in Season 2?
We’re at a different stage of Sauron’s journey. Halbrand represents his repentant phase. But the question lingers whether that repentance was genuine. I have an answer, but I leave that open so people can interpret the first season how they will. That’s what Halbrand’s journey is; it’s him in that stage when he’s being brought low and very slowly rebuilds himself. By the start of the second season, he is rebuilt. He still has a way to go, in terms of reaching the power that he gets to in the end. We’re seeing him getting back to being really powerful. You really get to see that progression and I’ll get to play that this season.
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