Rings of Power S2 Has Potential to Rewrite Tolkien History (In a Good Way This Time)
If there is such a thing, as a good way of rewriting your source material, of course – a lot of Tolkien's fans are convinced otherwise.
In any case, The Rings of Power has a chance to expand an area of Middle-earth lore that never got much attention from Tolkien.
Specifically, the fates of those seven among the titular Rings of Power, which went to the Dwarf-lords. The seven rulers of the Dwarven people were given a Ring each by Sauron.
And there are seven major Dwarven clans mentioned in the lore: Durin's Folk, Ironfists, Broadbeams, Firebeards, Stonefoots, Stiffbeards and Blacklocks.
So logically the ruler of each received a poisonous gift. But there is very little mention as to who among Dwarves specifically had Rings.
You see, unlike Men, who became more or less entirely enthralled by their Rings, and obedient to Sauron even when Sauron did not have his master ring on his finger, Dwarves proved to be more resilient.
The Rings of Power corrupted them and made their greed for gold and treasure insatiable, but did not bring them under Sauron's control.
The ultimate fate of the Dwarven rings is told quite briefly, both in The Lord of the Rings ' text and in Appendices – four of them were devoured by dragons alongside with their wearers, and presumably destroyed in dragonfire, remaining three eventually recovered by Sauron.
Overall, the paths of the Dwarven Rings across kingdoms and generations are extremely vague in Tolkien's legendarium.
And this gives the writers of The Rings of Power freedom to tell any stories they like about the Seven and their impact on the Dwarves.
Some possibilities are obvious. It is very likely that either King Durin III or Prince Durin will get one of those rings, resulting in his corruption and more of family drama.
While Durin III looks like a more obvious candidate, on the account of being the antagonist of the dwarven plotline, and The Rings of Power not demonstrating the ability to make unorthodox writing decisions so far, at the end of said plotline Disa was pushing Prince Durin to take action against his royal father.
And this split in the family can be potentially exploited by Sauron, who can attempt to fan Prince's resentment into treachery and usurpation.
We shall see whether the showrunners will be able to properly use all this storytelling potential.