The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Season 3: The Secret Fire Explained

You cannot pass! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of spoilers for “The Rings of Power” Season 3, Episode 3, “The Secret Fire.”

“The Rings of Power” Season 3 does a lot of things right, especially when Sauron is on screen attempting to make a shiny piece of jewelry to master all other pieces of jewelry — all while being haunted by the ghost of Celebrimbor. Indeed, the show shines most when it focuses on the bad guys, like introducing the stunning-looking Nazgnagôl or Adam Young’s orc with shifting loyalties and a penchant for poetry. 

One thing that is different this season is the lack of mystery identities. We now know very well who Sauron is, we know that The Stranger is actually Gandalf, we finally learn this season who the Dark Wizard is, and we even know why Theo is still in this story. It’s as if “The Rings of Power” creators J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay got tired of the waiting around and decided to have god himself come down and explain things directly at the audience.

Well, that is actually exactly what happens in Episode 3, because Gandalf (Daniel Weyman) has an actual burning bush moment and talks to the actual god of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium to learn about the Secret Fire, and his purpose in the story.

In the episode, Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) sends Gandalf on a quest to chase a rabbit. This leads Gandalf to an altar where the rabbit combusts into a flame that speaks to the wizard and explains he is the almighty, whose Secret Fire burns inside every creature on Middle-earth.

Even though “The Rings of Power” is set in a world of magic rings, dragons, dwarves and elves, we have not really seen a lot of thel supernatural — despite it being relatively common in Middle-earth. The world of J. R. R. Tolkien is one of angels and elves that get resurrected, a world that literally goes from flat to round when the creator of all existence gets angry at men and sinks an entire continent to the bottom of the sea.

This is the most overt example of supernatural fantasy we’ve got in “The Rings of Power” so far, as Gandalf hears a strange voice (Allan Corduner) coming from a manifestation of a flame. The flame gives Gandalf (after calling him by his original Quenya name Olórin) a cosmic vision as the voice reveals itself to be the one who “built the heavens and the stars,” that which burns within all living things. As the voice says, “all of Middle-earth is cradled within my flame.”

That is the Secret Fire, which is alluded to by Gandalf in the original “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. The Secret Fire, or Flame Imperishable, is Gandalf’s higher calling, essentially the power of Tolkien’s equivalent of God. Named Erū Ilúvatar, this being is the creator of the whole world, and his Secret Fire is what gives life to the universe. That fire is inside all living beings, and is the thing Morgoth craved most, because he was unable to create life without it, the reason he was driven to the shadow. In Tolkien’s world, the Secret Fire is the equivalent of the Holy Spirit in Abrahamic religions, the manifestation of the almighty within all beings.

It is quite funny that “The Rings of Power” has arguably its biggest exposition dump of Season 3 come directly from god, who reveals to Gandalf the entire history of the Istari and reveals the identity of the Dark Wizard. After 2 seasons of audiences trying to work out the identity of the Dark Wizard and his purpose, along drops god from the heavens and just outright explains that he is actually a Blue Wizard and gives audiences the whole backstory in a single scene.

Of course, as shocking as Erū Ilúvatar appearing in “The Rings of Power” is, it makes sense for the show to introduce him now. That’s because he has a big role to play in Season 4 and the fall of Númenor. Still, the idea that this show has now officially involved higher beings in the conflict against Sauron is a deep cut concept that separates this from other fantasy shows.

In Tolkien’s text, the Valar (essentially the gods of Olympus under Erū Ilúvatar’s Zeus) don’t get directly involved in the wars of Middle-earth (at least not since Elrond’s father convinced the Valar to physically aid in the fight against Morgoth), but their influence and power is felt all throughout the Second Age of Middle-earth and the war against Sauron. “The Rings of Power” leaning more into the supernatural fantasy of Tolkien is one way of making this already quite expansive world even more interesting and complex.