Did Adar Really Kill Sauron? & How Is Sauron’s “Death” Related to Halbrand?

An action-packed sixth episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power allowed us to see Adar’s Orc army falling to the Númenoreans in a one-sided battle. But while Adar may have lost that fight, he surprised Galadriel when he told her that he had killed him. Of course, because Galadriel had searched for Sauron her entire life, she couldn’t believe that someone like Adar could kill Sauron. So, did Adar really kill Sauron, and how is Sauron’s “death” related to Halbrand?

Adar didn’t kill Sauron because the Maiar could not die. They only lose their physical form when they “die,” and that means that Sauron’s spirit still lived. And that means that it is possible that Sauron took the form of another person that could be hiding in plain sight, and that person could be Halbrand.

The fact that Adar couldn’t remember what he did to Halbrand leads us to believe that there is a good chance that Halbrand was the Sauron that he “killed” but has now taken the form of a man. Of course, we all know that Sauron is a mighty deceiver that will do anything to hide his identity from anyone. And it could be possible that he is still alive but is now in an entirely different form.

Did Adar Kill Sauron?

Ever since the very beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the one thing that stayed a mystery was the identity and whereabouts of Sauron. Galadriel spent centuries looking for him but ended up with nothing but a simple mark or sigil. As such, at this point of the series, we still don’t know who Sauron is, but we do know that Adar isn’t the dark lord that we have been looking for this entire time.

In episode 6, we saw a ton of action in the form of the Men of the Southlands defending themselves against Adar’s Orc army. After that, the Númenoreans rescued the Southlanders, as Galadriel and Halbrand were able to subdue Adar for questioning. After all, out of all of the people in Middle-Earth, he was probably the one who had the most intel on Sauron’s identity and whereabouts.

Galadriel was adamant that Orcs need a master and that they always answer to someone. As she Considered that Adar was a Moriondor or one of the first Orcs, Galadriel believed that he was answering to a master that was simply giving him his marching orders during the entire time that he led the attack of the Orcs on the Southlands.

That was when Adar surprised her with his life story. As one of the first Orcs, he served as the “father” of all of the Orcs that served under Sauron. That explains why Adar was so sympathetic to the Orcs, as he was always one of them. He wanted to give his “children” the freedom that they deserved because, in his eyes, they were not slaves but were individual people with their own names and identities.

While serving under Sauron, Adar witnessed the dark lord’s experiments on the Orcs as he was probably trying to create something much more powerful. But countless failures pushed Adar to the brink because he was no longer willing to see his children suffer in any more of Sauron’s failed experiments and ambitions. That was when he told Galadriel that he “split him open” and killed him.

Is Sauron Really Dead?

Of course, while Galadriel heard Adar’s story, she was still inclined to believe that he was lying. She could not believe that the entity that she had been chasing for hundreds of years was already dead the entire time. Adar, on the other hand, mocked her as he was able to kill Sauron while the Elven armies failed to do so. But is Sauron really dead?

Sauron isn’t dead because he can never die. Remember that Sauron is one of the Maiar, and that means that his very essence is that of a divine spirit that lives in a plane that cannot be seen by the eyes of living creatures. Like the Wizards, Sauron merely takes physical form whenever he is on Middle-Earth. As such, if Adar did indeed kill Sauron, it is possible that it was only his physical form that he “split open.”

In The Lord of the Rings movies, Sauron also never died, even after he lost the One Ring. He was only weakened to the point that he struggled to take physical form because much of his malice and essence had been poured into the One Ring. Sauron was still somewhere out there, as he took the form of the Eye of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings trilogy movies and the Necromancer during the events of The Hobbit. And even after the One Ring was destroyed, he never died as he was simply a spirit that dwelled for all eternity and could no longer take physical form due to how he lost his power together with the destruction of the Ring.

This is the same case with Gandalf, who “died” at the hands of Durin’s Bane but “came back to life” as Gandalf the White when the Valar told him that his mission on Middle-Earth was not yet done. Only his physical body died, but his very essence as a spirit still lived on because he is a Maia, just like Sauron.

Is Halbrand Actually Sauron?

So, even though Adar was telling the truth when he said that he split Sauron open and killed him, there was one interesting scene during the events of episode 6 of The Rings of Power. And it involved Halbrand.

When we met Halbrand, he said that he was running from the Southlands because the Orcs destroyed his home. Galadriel also found out that he was carrying a necklace that bore the mark o the one true king of the Southlands, and that was why she wanted to bring him along to Middle-Earth so that he could claim his place as king and unite his people against a common enemy. But much of his backstory is still left untold as he is still a mystery character at this point.

This leads us to his encounter with Adar, who he tried to kill. During that scene, Halbrand asked Adar if he remembered him, as the Uruk leader told him that he couldn’t remember him or what he did to him. And this is interesting because it was never explained what Adar did to Halbrand.

As such, this leads to the possibility that Halbrand was the Sauron that Adar “split open” and “killed.” But because Sauron was weakened after Adar “killed” him, he took the form of a Man so that he could find a way to regain his power once more while also deceiving people that he was the promised king of the Southlanders.

Sauron craves power, and that is why he probably wanted to unite the Southlands under his leadership while also making sure that he acted well enough to fool people into believing that he was actually a king that wanted to keep his people safe. And that is why there are numerous theories regarding him and his connection to Sauron, as that scene with Adar only bolsters this possibility.