5 questions I want ‘The Rings of Power’ to answer before season 2 ends

The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 is ongoing, and it just fills a Tolkien lover’s heart with joy and wonder that the stories we only read about in his books and characters we imagined in our heads are coming alive on screen.

Spoilers ahead for TROP season 2!

We’ve had four episodes of The Rings of Power season 2 so far, and they’ve all exceeded expectations in delivering performances, visuals, and a background score worthy of Tolkien’s Middle-earth. The season has reviewed much better in its second outing for its storytelling and pacing, now that it has almost abandoned its mystery box setup and resolved to give us some answers. There are still some cards that TROP is playing close to its chest, but there’s hope (and in some cases, assurances from the showrunners) that we will get answers to them soon.

Here are five things we hope we find out by the end of The Rings of Power season 2

1. The Stranger’s identity and, by extension, that of the Dark Wizard, too!

2. Celeborn’s whereabouts, because as much as we love a dark, toxic ex, Galadriel needs a man who can be her peace now!

3. Adar’s real name! The chatter in the fan forums is that Adar could be Maeglin, son of Eöl the Dark Elf. But just as we got a Sauron/Halbrand origin story, it would be great to know what made Adar into the cruel, hopeless, Sauron-hating lord-father we know him as. Who was he in the first age?

4. The Balrog’s status, because is he even properly awake (because as per the lore, he isn’t supposed to be yet) or is that one of Sauron’s tricks to get the Dwarves further into the rings’ thrall?

5. Sauron’s next move, since we know that the season will end with the battle for Eregion. Will the series continue the battle in Eriador as is in the books or, with the Númenor storyline taking shape, will he be heading to Númenor next.

When are the release dates for The Rings of Power season 2 episodes?

Here’s the complete schedule for The Rings of Power season 2 episode release dates.

If you’re one of the book nerds (like yours truly), you’ve have probably obsessively poured over the Second Age timeline—the time period in which the events of this series are set—and have a rough idea of where we are headed. But we know from experience that The Rings of Power is not bound by the timeline laid down by author J.R.R. Tolkien, since it spans almost three and a half millennia, which would be tricky to show on screen. Instead, they’ve compressed the timeline to make it more effective for storytelling.

We know what these characters’ endgame is going to be. But it’ll be interesting to discover their journey, and all the different, imaginative interpretations of Tolkien’s lore that the show’s writers come up with. The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 releases new episodes every Thursday on Prime Video.