Warning! Spoilers for Rings of Power season 2, episode 7 ahead!
Durin IV teased an interesting history between Sauron and the Dwarves in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which Tolkien had never mentioned in his works. The moment came in season 2, episode 7 when the prince of Khazad-dûm gave a speech urging his people to join the Elves in defending Eregion. This seemed more than enough to motivate the Dwarves, but Durin’s claim is a touch confusing since there was never such a conflict between Sauron and the Dwarves in Tolkien’s The Silmarillion or The Lord of the Rings.
Of course, the Dwarves—especially Prince Durin—already have reason enough to hate Sauron. As the Dark Lord Morgoth’s first lieutenant, Sauron was a despised figure of the First Age who caused a great deal of damage to the various Dwarf, Elf, and Human kingdoms of Middle-earth. During the events of Rings of Power, Khazad-dûm managed to recover from this damage, but the realization that Sauron had given King Durin III his Ring of Power would be enough to spark fear and rage within the kingdom. Still, Prince Durin’s tease that there is more history here is intriguing for future seasons of Rings of Power.
Durin Claims Sauron Stole The Seven Smithing Secrets From The Dwarves
This Isn’t A Story From Tolkien Canon
During his speech to the Dwarves in Rings of Power season 2, episode 7, Prince Durin mentioned that Sauron had stolen the “seven smithing secrets” from their people. He gave no more information about this, which makes this reveal all the more intriguing. Such an event would be the invention of Prime Video since Sauron never had occasion to learn smithing from the Dwarves. In fact, before turning evil and following Morgoth, Sauron had been a Maia under Aulë the Smith, the Vala (god) from whom the Dwarves learned all their smithing skills.
Maiar served as assistants under the Valar, and Sauron (originally called Mairon) was the most talented Maia of Aulë before he joined Morgoth.
What Could’ve Happened Between Sauron & The Dwarves (& When)
Future Seasons Of Rings Of Power May Explore This Further
Rings of Power seems to imply that Sauron somehow infiltrated Khazad-dûm during the First Age and deceived them into sharing their secrets. Though not canon, this would undoubtedly be an interesting story. Sauron tricking the Dwarves into teaching him their “seven smithing secrets” would likely be similar to his time with Celebrimbor in Eregion. Perhaps these secrets would even have been the inspiration for his creation of the Rings of Power, which means future seasons of the Prime Video series are sure to dive into this tale.
Changes to canon are rarely popular, and a brand new tale about Sauron stealing secrets from Dwarves (which he surely would have learned himself from Aulë) would be no exception.
Of course, such a story in Rings of Power would be controversial. Changes to canon are rarely popular, and a brand new tale about Sauron stealing secrets from Dwarves (which he surely would have learned himself from Aulë) would be no exception. Still, Sauron has much less canon history with the Dwarves than Elves and Men, so the introduction of such a story could be an asset. It would also be interesting to see how Sauron would go about this deception—did he ever take the form of a Dwarf? Perhaps as future seasons of Rings of Power explore Khazad-dûm’s downfall further, we will get to find out.
