The Rings Of Power Season 3 Canon Change Connects The One Ring To The Silmarils

And so the Silmarils finally have a place in Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. This prequel series is set in J.R.R. Tolkien's Second Age of Middle-earth, much of which is described in his posthumously published The Silmarillion. This is also where readers can go to discover more about the First Age, which is when those titular Silmarils were at the center of just about every conflict. Unfortunately, Rings of Power has had a difficult time diving into these events in full, since Prime Video doesn't actually have adaptation rights to The Silmarillion.

Instead, Prime's fantasy TV show must depend on the Appendices of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, since only the central trilogy can be used for on-screen adaptation. The Appendices outline much of what happened in the First and Second Ages, though not in the same level of detail as The Silmarillion. This means The Rings of Power has to do a lot of dancing around to get the canon story on screen without using elements of a book that it doesn't have the rights to. For this reason, the Silmarils haven't gotten much attention.

Rings of Power has certainly mentioned the Silmarils, just as their creator, Feanor, has been discussed. Morgoth, the Dark Lord who stole these beautiful stones, has also been a topic of discussion, though the TV show's first season was unable to get into the nitty-gritty of this First Age war. We are unlikely to get too much more about the Silmarils in general. However, Rings of Power season 3 is going to draw an intriguing connection between these ancient artifacts and Sauron's One Ring.

In The Rings Of Power, Sauron Uses Feanor's Hammer In The One Ring's Construction

The 2026 San Diego Comic-Con debuted the very first trailer for The Rings of Power season 3, and it came with a whole lot of new information. The new installment, which is set to premiere on November 11, 2026, will pick up five years after the conclusion of The Rings of Power season 2, when the War of the Elves and Sauron is well underway. This means that we will finally get the chance to see what we have all been waiting for since this Prime Video adaptation began—Sauron creating his One Ring to Rule Them All.

The SDCC trailer has already given us a glimpse of how this is all going to go down. We already knew that Sauron forged the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, but Tolkien never gave too many additional details. Rings of Power is now filling in the gaps, and we can clearly see in the teaser clip that Sauron uses Feanor's hammer to create his great weapon.

It's pretty meaningful that Sauron would choose this tool. Feanor is credited with creating the most beautiful gems of existence, all of which contain the glorious light of the Two Trees and Valinor. Morgoth himself covetted the Silmarils and caused complete chaos when he stole them, greedily guarding them back in Middle-earth. Sauron would surely see it as a sort of victory to use the same tool that created the Silmarils Morgoth so desired to make his One Ring. Then, in the way of the Elves, this would be a slap right to the face.

Using Feanor's Hammer To Make The One Ring Is A Huge Insult To The Elves

Feanor is a complicated figure within Tolkien's legendarium, and that is reflected by the way the Elves remember and regard him. This Noldor King was a talented genius across the board, with craftsmanship beyond that of even some of the Valar. However, Feanor was also greedy, paranoid, and jealous. He doomed many of his people, risking their lives to retrieve his beloved Silmarils back from Morgoth. It's despicable, but still, when it comes down to it, victory over Morgoth might never have happened if Feanor didn't abandon Valinor.

In that way, Feanor is both revered and despised. His creations changed the world, and they remain the Elves' singular access to the Light of Valinor. All of this means that Feanor's hammer is every bit as complicated. It should have been guarded for centuries, untouched and unused, while representing a sort of cautionary tale for the Elves. Now, at least in Rings of Power, this hammer is the tool behind what Sauron would consider an even greater treasure than Feanor's Silmarils. Of course, it's unlikely the other, slighted Elves will agree.