In these early stages of the Rings of Power series, many fans are still trying to assess who will be the good guys, and who will be the traitors. The heroes and protagonists of the story are the characters who stay true to their mission, protect Middle Earth at all costs, and loyally defend those they love.
The antagonists and the villains on the other hand are the duplicitous characters, the ones who always have some evil plot buried in the guise of loyalty and friendship. The ones who only truly care about their own gain, and only serve themselves, rather than following the path of honor and salvation that was laid before them. Deciding which characters fall into which categories is tricky, mostly because the villains are always trying to avoid getting caught out, and are never as obvious at the start, until they make an unwise mistake that reveals them.
A couple of the characters that fans have their eyes on are Halbrand, the character who abandoned his fellow ship-wrecked friends to the sea serpent, but then later saved Galadriel from a terrible watery grave, and Theo, who seems like he might be an innocent child, but also looks like he may be corrupted by the evil shards of Sauron’s sword that he is harboring in secret. But one of the most prominent characters whose motives fans are already questioning is the high King Gil-galad, the ruler of the elven kingdom of Lindon. Even in the first 2 episodes, Gil-galad has already made some questionable choices, and hinted at some controversial decisions that might suggest he has ulterior motives for his actions.
Towards the end of the second episode, the enigmatic and lofty king Gil-galad pulls the young Elrond aside and lectures him about the importance of duty, and the need for a future ruler who will govern without wielding to external forces. He then introduces the character of Celebrimbor, who is the great elven designer responsible for the forging of the 20 rings of power.
Gil-galad champions Celebrimbor and his work, and clearly already knows about the plans to create the rings, because he wants something of power and beauty to come from the race of elves. This immediately sets off warning bells, because anything that comes from a place of greed and pride is a dangerous temptation to meddle with, and in pushing for Elrond to be involved, Gil-galad already begins showing a manipulative and controlling streak.
There is also the problem that, as is well known from the lore of Middle Earth, Celebrimbor is tricked by Sauron in disguise into making the rings evil and corrupted. The shifty way in which Gil-galad is acting about these precious creations could suggest that he already knows who Anatar (aka Sauron) is, but is too blinded and greedy for the creation of the rings to realize what a threat he is.
Gil-galad knows that Elrond would never question him, because at this point Elrond is impressionable and completely loyal to his kingdoms and his people, naively so, but there is one among the elves who wouldn’t be afraid to challenge him, and defy the creation of the rings if she believed that they were a threat to the peace of the world: Galadriel.
It is clear from the championing ceremony, when the king places the crown upon her head, that there is tension between the two characters. The king bestows this great honor upon her, this reward of returning to their home in Valinor, but as he gives his speech to the crowd of elves gathered, he pauses as he reaches Galadriel, looking down upon her in a display of superiority and a warning not to provoke him. It is clear that he sees her as a troublemaker, and doesn’t want her interfering in the creation of the rings, or the whereabouts of Sauron.
It seems all too convenient that he is sending her away just as she finds a sign that Sauron may still be around, and that the orcs in the frozen wasteland were hiding his sigil. Is it possible that Gil-Galad is protecting Sauron by sending Galadriel away, without actually knowing the dark lord’s true evil identity or the devastation he will wreak? Gil-galad is one of the key fighters against Sauron in the battle of the Last Alliance, which allows Isildur to cut the ring from the cruel hand that wears it, so fans know that Gil-galad will eventually fall on the right side of justice and heroism, but it would be interesting to see his story-arch go from trusting the wrong people and siding with the enemy to then rectifying his mistakes and earning his redemption.