I honestly thought Halbrand being Sauron would have been so on the nose, but somehow, they managed to make it absolutely fucking terrifying.
Think about it. He was pulling every single thread from the very beginning, with deadly purpose and terrifying precision. He knew exactly was he was doing at every step, the whole time.
Yes, even if he was feeling repentant at any point, as published canon tells us he was – I’ll be damned if he didn’t always have the option to completely drop the repentant ordinary life in Númenor the minute he ran into something that forced his hand, like Galadriel did, in the back of his mind. Or, even if she hadn’t – the minute he got bored of playing ordinary smith.
And he would have. Yes, yes, he would – he has a mind like a subtle knife. The very second he got bored…
He let Galadriel learn the truth about him. He had no reason to keep playing peaceful king – he’d seen Celebrimbor at work, seen the elves’ panic first hand, seen Mordor take shape, seen all the key pieces having been moved into the right places.
He could have spun an actual, spoken lie, this time: that the line of the kings hadn’t been broken, that he was the very last survivor of a bloodline that had hidden itself for centuries. It would have been as easy to him as breathing.
But where’s the fun in that?
Where’s the conquest?
Why reign over an insignificant little mortal kingdom when you can have all of Middle-earth gripped in an iron fist?
Who wants mere subjects when you can have worshippers?
Fuck repentance. Let the true king finally take what’s his. Tell Galadriel the truth.
That’s all he ever did. Not one lie, not once.
He is so horrifically good at what he does that he doesn’t even need to lie to deceive people.
He’s Sauron the Deceiver, after all.
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