The OG Dark Lord, Sauron the Abhorred, is the primary antagonist of the Lord of the Rings. He has attempted, on several occasions, to cause strife amongst Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits and all the races that live in Middle-earth, usually by pitting them against each other while secretly building his own armies.
The terror that Sauron wields is compounded by his total invisibility throughout the story; he is represented by that iconic eye of fire atop the tower of Barad-dur, but such is clearly enough to spur the protagonists on to fulfill their formidable tasks. There are many things about him that remain undisclosed in the films, but the novels face no such inadequacy of data.
Sauron Wasn’t Always A Bad Guy
Unlike Lord Voldemort, his fantasy villain successor in many ways, Sauron was not born evil. Upon his creation, he was called Mairon the Admirable, working under the Vala of Blacksmithing, Aule. He was pure and virtuous, always seeking to improve efficiency and organization in the systems of his making.
Unfortunately, this splendor is exactly what leads to his conversion by Melkor (later Morgoth), as he is shown that the full extent of his knowledge and powers would only be realized while serving under his new master.
Sauron Is Probably The Strongest Maia Ever
There are endless streams of Ainur awaiting the end of Ea, dwelling in the Timeless Halls of Eru Illuvatar as they did before the universe was made. In fact, not even Varda and Manwe, the greatest of them all, have the slightest clue has to how many angelic children their creator has actually made.
Still, of those Maia that went down into the world, it is most likely that Sauron is the most powerful. Even Gandalf is a nervous wreck before he’s sent away on his assignment, and this is after the Dark Lord has lost the One Ring that once made him so mighty.
Sauron’s Relationship To Gandalf
At first glance, there may seem to be very few similarities between the Dark Lord Sauron and the beloved Gandalf the Grey. Whereas one is a callous villain, the other is a beloved encourager and one of the wisest and most quotable characters in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, these two share a very interesting–and surprising–connection.
LOTR fans that exclusively engage in the films are missing out on Gandalf’s intriguing origin. The iconic character, along with the other four wizards of his order, is a member of the Maiar, the very beings to which Sauron also belongs. Sent to Middle-earth as an encourager and a force for good, Gandalf specifically battled the might of his former kindred, Sauron, to save the innocent lives the ruler of darkness sought to destroy.
Sauron Is An Accomplished Metamorph
Sauron is incredibly talented in the art of treachery and camouflage; in other words, at full strength, he is able to morph into various forms. During the First Age, he exhibits the capacity to transform into a snake, a wolf, and a horrifying man-bat hybrid that apparently “dripped blood from his throat.”
Sauron could also take on pleasing shapes, as seen when he poses as the Giver of Gifts, Annatar, in his bid to convince Dwarves and Men to use the rings that he forged for them. Interestingly, he fooled even the Elves in the process, but they learn of his identity at the last minute, narrowly avoiding catastrophe.
Sauron’s True Form Isn’t Seen
Though Sauron is seen on several occasions throughout Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, each time he is clad head-to-toe in armor, obscuring his true form. This, however, is not a disparity from Tolkien’s original books, wherein the face of Sauron is never seen.
While Sauron makes far more appearances in literature than in film, mostly contained in The Silmarillion, he is always in the form of some other man or beast. As such, the dark lord’s true form is never explicitly described, though Tolkien hinted at several of his attributes at various times and in various writings.
Sauron Fails To Defeat Luthien
When Beren is imprisoned in Angband, Morgoth’s prison-fortress-palace, Luthien travels a great distance to rescue him. In doing so, Luthien is aided by Huan, the personal Hound of Orome the Hunter.
According to prophecy, it was believed that Huan’s life could only be taken by the “greatest wolf that ever lived,” so Sauron slyly becomes what he thinks will fit the terms of the divination. He would have won the battle quite easily if he had only known that Morgoth was secretly breeding the actual greatest wolf in the world, Carcharoth.
Sauron’s Minions Were Mockeries Of Other Races
While The Fellowship of the Ring makes it clear that, just as in Tolkien’s canon, the cinematic depiction of the Orcs are mockeries of the far more admirable Elves, the films do leave out additional details found within the books. In fact, the Orcs are not the only breed of Sauron’s minions that were made to insult the purer creatures of Middle-Earth.
In the books, it is made clear that the trolls, a breed among the most powerful races in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, were similarly made to mock the Ents, the sentient tree-creatures whom Merry and Pippin meet in The Two Towers. Similar in size, stature, and speed, Sauron designed the trolls to be a corrupted version of everything that was good and admirable about the mysterious Ents.
Sauron Kills Gil-galad Through Sheer Heat
The energy emitted by Sauron appears in the form of such intense heat that it burns his own body, turning it a gruesome shade of black. In the first battle against Mordor, Elendil, Isildur and Gil-galad combine forces to take him down, and they only succeed because of the latter’s “sacrifice.”
It seems that Gil-galad’s bravery slowed Sauron down to the point that Isildur was able to chop his fingers off, but he expires from the third-degree burns he receives in process. This sacrifice proves somewhat lessened when one remembers that Elves don’t technically die, but are rather reborn for eternity.
Sauron Crafts Seventeen Rings Of Power
Sauron’s blacksmithing is powerful enough to create an armor so powerful that few heroes are able to sneak past its defenses. Similarly, his ability to construct magical pieces of jewelry is unparalleled in Middle-earth, probably in all of Arda (with the exception of Aule, of course.)
The iconic inscription on the One Ring has a preamble detailing this event — “Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne.”
It Took Three Warriors To Defeat Sauron
Though Fellowship of the Ring’s iconic flashback sequence depicting the Last Alliance of Men and Elves brilliantly brings to life one of Middle-Earth’s most fascinating historical events, the battle therein was not entirely faithful to Tolkien’s original canon. While the film shows Isildur defeating Sauron after a fierce battle, the books tell a different story wherein it took the combined might of three of Middle-Earth’s greatest warriors to defeat him.
In the canon of the books, Sauron is first confronted by Elendil, king of Gondor and father of Isildur, and Gil-galad, the high king of the Elves. This battle is far more extensive therein, with Sauron eventually slaying his enemies before being defeated by Isildur.
Sauron Refuses To Be Judged By The Valar
Morgoth is finally defeated by the Host of the Valar, led by Eonwe (either a Maia or the son of Manwe, depending on the version.) Sauron slithers out whatever hole he was hiding in at the time, and begs him for “mercy,” but is plainly told that the only ones with the jurisdiction to make such a decision are the Valar.
Terrified that they mete out the same fate to him as they do Morgoth, that is, being kicked out of the world through the Door of Night, Sauron prefers to run away instead. Strangely enough, the Valar do not go searching for their enemy after his disappearance.
Sauron Instigates The Reshaping Of Arda
Near the end of the Second Age, Sauron once again dons the guise of innocence, craftily tricking the ruler of Numenor into performing the worst acts of blasphemy: the rejection of the Ban of the Valar and the worship of Morgoth.
For this, Iluvatar punishes the Numenoreans by burying them under the ocean, in the Caves of the Forgotten. Simultaneously, he also reshapes Arda, known as the Change of the World, from a flat plane to a sphere, removing Valinor from access forever (except to the Elves).
Sauron’s Still Not Dead…
After the One Ring was melted down by Gollum, the final remnant of Sauron’s powers in Middle-earth. He becomes a “huge shadow… terrible but impotent,” floating over Mordor until a gale simply scatters him into the atmosphere.
Sauron’s soul, however, is indestructible, and cannot be eradicated without the powers of Eru himself. Nevertheless, as Gandalf puts it, “his fall is so low that none can foresee his arising ever again.” A small understatement, because the most ancient prophecy decrees that the “Dagor Dagorath” is yet to be fought.
Not Until Dagor Dagorath Comes
It’s generally accepted that Sauron is one of the worst things to ever happen to Middle-earth, but he’s nowhere close to the final boss, Morgoth, the ex-Vala. During Dagor Dagorath, or the “Final Battle,” Morgoth will return to Arda and destroy the sun, thus sparking a massive war across Middle-earth.
It is said that all his minions, including Sauron, presumably, will be fighting at his side, but in the end, he will fall on Turin Turambar’s black sword and perish forever. And then the Second Music will begin, but what happens next cannot be known.
