**Spoiler Warning** Rings of Power S1E4 - "The Great Wave"

[Huinesoron]

Speaking of people being canon characters in disguise... with all Galadriel's talk about Halbrand being a king, someone online reminded me that there is actually a canonical late-Second Age king in future Gondor: the King of the Dead.

And it would fit. I don't think Halbrand is likely to go full Sauron-cultist (as someone said, it would really put Galadriel in a bad light). But from what we've seen up to Episode 4, he is absolutely the sort who would flatly refuse to let his people go to fight in someone else's war. Particularly since he's in contact with Numenor this early - I could see something like Isildur saving his life, and when he claims his throne he swears an oath there and then, that "if you are ever in need, Isil, just say the word and I will bring my entire kingdom to help you if that's what it takes". And then when Isildur comes back for the Last Alliance, he's all, "that was a long time ago; I have responsibilities, and your squabble with Sauron is none of my business."

This could also mean that some of those bit-part Southlanders are destined to become ghostly warriors, hang out in a cave for millennia, and then help Aragorn spook a few sailors before finally heading off to Mandos.

hS