Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has introduced a large number of new characters and story elements into the Second Age of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. While tying in to the aesthetic for Middle-Earth established in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies, Rings of Power is mostly creating its own version of events, as the show (and Jackson’s films) is legally barred from using The Silmarillion, the primary source of Middle-Earth history, as source material.
Despite criticism, Amazon’s streaming series has been successful enough that Rings of Power is getting a third season, meaning that the curtain hiding the show’s many mysteries will continue to be pulled back slowly. One such mystery that has piqued the curiosity of viewers since the beginning is the significance of Theo, the young boy from the Southlands, who befriends Galadriel and Isildur. Theo’s mother, Bronwyn, appears in the first season, but the identity of Theo’s father is still unknown in The Rings of Power – yet more interesting than his parentage is what destiny might befall the ambitious young boy from Tirharad.
5. Ancestor of Eorl the Young
This theory is mostly rooted in the similarity of Theo and his mother’s names to those of the royal family of Rohan during the Third Age of Middle-Earth. Tolkien was a firm believer in the power of names and legacies, and the writing staff for The Rings of Power have worked hard to ensure the original creations of the show fit the naming conventions found in the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings.
Theo’s name is clearly similar to that of Théoden King, who led Rohan during the War of the Ring until fatefully meeting his end at the hands of the Witch-King of Angmar. Theo’s mother’s name, Bronwyn, has the same suffix of that of Éowyn, daughter of Théoden, who slew the Witch-King to protect her father. Finally, when Arondir hands Bronwyn seeds to plant before battle, he calls them alfirin – but eventually, that plant would be more widely known in Rohan as simbelmynë, a flower that grows across the burial mounds of the Kings of Rohan.
The issue with this theory, unfortunately, is the massive gap of time between Theo’s lifespan and Rohan’s founding. The Rings of Power takes place during the Second Age, as the Rings of Power were made between S.A. 1500 and S.A. 1600, yet Rohan wasn’t founded until the year 2510 of the Third Age, nearly five thousand years later. While it’s possible that Theo is indeed a distant ancestor of Rohan’s founder, Eorl the Young, this connection seems tenuous at best without more context.
4. A Nazgûl
The nine Men who received Sauron’s Rings became mighty and powerful at first, rising to great status and riches as the Rings bolstered their natural strengths. Yet over time, those Rings sapped their lives and wills away, until they became nothing more than wraiths at Sauron’s beck and call. Tolkien’s legendarium never gives specifics on the identities of the recipients of the Nine, other than stating that only three of them were Númenoreans (although, as this is a Silmarillion detail, it may not prove relevant to Rings of Power).
It is possible that Theo could eventually become a Ringwraith, but as it is unlikely a child would wind up with one of the Nine Rings, it seems unlikely that Rings of Power would take this narrative route without a time-skip or something similar to show Theo first rising to some kind of power before falling under Sauron’s sway. The Nazgûl, in the timeline of the books, did not first appear until S.A. 2251, some six centuries after the forging of the RIngs.
3. Witch-King of Angmar
While this theory is fairly similar to the idea that Theo becomes one of the Nazgûl in general, the specific prominence of the Witch-King within the narrative of The Lord of the Rings warrants further consideration. While all the Ringwraiths were terrible and powerful servants of Sauron, it was their leader, the Witch-King, who was the most terrible of them all. Around T.A. 1300, the Witch-King founded the dark kingdom of Angmar in the far north of the Misty Mountains, and worked tirelessly to destroy the remnants of the splintered Kingdom of Arnor.
Theo becoming one of the Nazgûl would be a tragedy by any means, but his becoming the Witch-King would be particularly unfortunate. Rings of Power shows the young man constantly drawn to the idea of power and the trappings of darkness, and his status in season 2 as the Lord of Pelargir – a Númenorean settlement that eventually becomes the major port city of Gondor – not only shows him on the path towards gaining that power, but also would further fuel the tragedy if he were to go from ruling a Númenorean city to eventually working to crush their kingdoms.
2. The Mouth of Sauron
Another theory focused on Theo’s potential fall to darkness thanks to Sauron’s manipulation is that he will eventually become the minion known as the Mouth of Sauron from Return of the King, who serves the Dark Lord by acting as his chief messenger. The Mouth of Sauron appears little in canon, and serves as the deliverer of Sauron’s ultimatum to Aragorn and the assembled Army of the West in front of the Black Gate of Mordor, before the outbreak of the Battle of the Morannon.
At the close of season 1 of Rings of Power, when Galadriel gifted her scavenged Númenorean sword to Theo, there is a moment where Sauron (in his guise as Halbrand) focuses on Theo with such intensity that it seems likely the Dark Lord was taking the young man’s measure. Perhaps Sauron was appraising Theo for his fitness to bear one of the Rings he would go on to craft in the following season, or how the boy would work as his puppet – but either way, Theo’s ambition clearly got Sauron’s attention.
- King of the Dead
The most likely theory, as well as the only one with an even remotely happy ending, is that Theo will become the King of the Dead as seen in The Return of the King. Before earning his macabre title, the King of the Dead was known as the King of the Mountains, and ruled the White Mountains that lay north of Minas Tirith. Before Gondor’s foundation, the Men of the Mountains were subjects of Sauron, but the ascendance of the Númenoreans saw their King swear an oath of fealty to Isildur.
When Sauron’s armies sallied out of Mordor at the end of the Second Age, Elendil and his sons formed the Last Alliance of Elves and Men to meet them. Isildur commanded the Men of the Mountains to fulfill their oath and join the Alliance, but they refused, and so Isildur cursed them to never rest until Sauron was defeated permanently. Since Sauron did not actually die at the Battle of Dagorlad, but was merely discorporated and separated from the One Ring, the Men of the Mountain were doomed to wither away into wraiths and lie in wait beneath the Dwimorberg.
The curse was finally lifted at the end of the Third Age, when Aragorn revealed himself as Isildur’s Heir and compelled the King of the Dead to fulfill his oath at long last. The Dead Men complied, aiding Aragorn in defeating Sauron’s allies at the mouth of the river Anduin, and it was in the ruins of the city of Pelargir that Aragorn finally released them from their three thousand years of torture.
It’s entirely possible Theo could gain more power and find himself taking up residence in the White Mountains
As the Lord of Pelargir, Theo is already connected to a part of the story of the Men of the Mountain; it’s entirely possible Theo could gain more power and find himself taking up residence in the White Mountains in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Theo has also developed a connection with Isildur, as they have bonded over losing their mothers, and so narratively it would be fitting for that relationship to crumble with Theo betraying Isildur in his hour of need.
