This is the meaning of the mysterious sentence repeated by Sauron in the Rings of Power
When the Dark Lord’s evil plans are mentioned in The Rings of Power, a very specific phrase always accompanies them. What do these words mean exactly?
“Craft a power not of the flesh, but over flesh”: this phrase, which could be translated as the idea of ”creating a power not from the flesh, but beyond the flesh”, constantly accompanies Sauron’s dark designs in The Rings of Power. He also pronounces it again in the very first episode of season 2, which has just been put online on Prime Video, this August 29, 2024. What do these words refer to, which seem to come back like a dark refrain?
Warning, the rest of this article contains spoilers for season 1 of The Rings of Power.
The essential is invisible to the eye
To better understand this mysterious phrase, we must delve into Tolkien’s universe, which distinguishes two realities: the visible (Seen) and the invisible (Unseen). Two worlds thus coexist, the first being located more in the physical, material world, while the second corresponds rather to the magical, spiritual aspects of life, which give their powers to characters like Gandalf, the Stranger or the mysterious fanatics of Sauron.
The Unseen World, populated by creatures both light and dark, is mentioned several times in The Rings of Power, but also in The Lord of the Rings. The bearers of the One Ring dive into this universe, allowing them to increase their senses tenfold, and also to use strange powers, such as the ability to become invisible in the real world.
When Frodo wears the One Ring, this spectral world appears in the same form as reality, but under a distorted and gloomy veil.
This invisible world is therefore deeply linked to the Rings of Power and Sauron’s Machiavellian plans to control the world.
The Prime Video series is well aware of this, and does not miss making references to it, especially when it comes to the famous “not of the flesh, but above the flesh”, which is usually followed by the two words “the unseen world”. What for?
As a fan pointed out on Reddit, it is a reference to these two universes: the visible world (the seen) corresponds to the physical, the flesh, while the invisible, the unseen, is experienced outside our bodies, in the spiritual world. Since Sauron aims to corrupt the soul by invoking the magical powers of the invisible world, he seeks to go “above the flesh”.
He also manages to influence Celebrimbor in season 1: the latter repeats Galadriel’s famous phrase, after hearing it from the mouth of the Dark Lord, in the human form of Halbrand. Earlier, Adar had also said this.
The fall from favor of the Elves seen in The Rings of Power, particularly around the great Linden tree, is consistent with this analysis. These people possess immortality, so their bodies do not deteriorate unlike those around them. The “power of the flesh” eventually fades over time, while the “power beyond the flesh” can persist in the invisible world for the Ringbearers, or in Valinor for the Elves.
