Sauron

For other uses, see Sauron (disambiguation).

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Sauron is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth universe. He is the titular Lord of the Rings against whom the protagonists of that series struggle. He also appears as the Dark Lord Morgoth's chief lieutenant in The Silmarillion, and is referred to as the Necromancer in The Hobbit.

His name is pronounced in IPA as: /'sɑʊɻɒn/, and means "The Abhorred".

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First Age

In the earliest of days, before the godlike Valar entered the realm of Arda, Sauron was in origin an "angelic" spirit called a Maia. He was at first one of the most powerful servants of Aulë, the Smith, one of the Valar or ruling powers of the world.

However, Sauron was soon subverted by the Dark Lord Melkor (later known as Morgoth, an evil Vala), and Sauron himself turned to evil. Ever after, Sauron served Morgoth faithfully, and even in later days, after Morgoth was defeated and cast outside the confines of the world, Sauron encouraged and coerced Men to worship both himself and Morgoth as Gods. However, while Morgoth wanted to either control or destroy the very matter of Arda itself, Sauron's desire was to dominate the minds and wills of its creatures.

During the First Age, the Ñoldorin Elves left the Blessed Realm of Valinor in the Utter West (against the counsel of the Valar) in order to wage war on Morgoth, who had stolen the precious Silmarils. In that war, Sauron served as Morgoth's chief lieutenant, surpassing all others in rank. Only Gothmog, the Lord of Balrogs, equalled him. Known as Gorthaur the Cruel, Sauron at that time was a master of illusions and changes of form, and werewolves were his servants, chief among them Draugluin, Sire of Werewolves, and Thuringwethil, his vampire herald. When Morgoth left Angband to corrupt the newly awakened Men, Sauron directed the War against the Elves. He conquered the Elvish isle of Tol Sirion, so that it became known as Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves.

Ten years later, Finrod Felagund, the king of Nargothrond and former lord of Tol Sirion, died protecting Beren in captivity there; soon afterwards, Lúthien and Huan the Wolfhound defeated Sauron in that place and rescued Beren from the dungeons. After his resounding defeat by Lúthien, Sauron played little part in the events of the First Age (possibly hiding from Morgoth), and after his master was defeated and cast out by the Valar, Sauron repented (apparently) and pled for mercy. But he was unwilling to return to the Utter West for judgement, and so he fled and hid in Middle-Earth.

Second Age

File:Annatar.jpg

One interpretation of Sauron in his guise as Annatar (unused imagery from the Return of the King live-action film).

In the Second Age, after lying hidden and dormant for about one thousand years, Sauron reappears. Having assumed a beautiful appearace, and calling himself Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, he befriended the Elvish smiths of Eregion, and counseled them in arts and magic. Not all the Elves trusted him, particularly Lady Galadriel and Gil-galad, High King of the Ñoldor, but few heed them. The Elves forged the Rings of Power for Sauron but, unknown to them, Sauron had forged a master Ring in Mount Doom to control the other Rings, the "One Ring to rule them all", investing all of his own power and malice into the One Ring as he forged it.

By doing so, Sauron's power became comparable to that of his former master, Morgoth (at the end of the First Age), whose fëa ("soul" or "spirit"), while stronger, was dispersed into the matter of Arda. When Sauron put on the One Ring and tried to dominate the Elves, they resisted, and Sauron fougght against them in the War of the Elves and Sauron and, if not for the intervention of Númenor, might have defeated them.

In this time Sauron became known as the Dark Lord of Mordor. He raised Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower, near Mount Doom; constructed the Black Gate of Mordor to prevent invasion; corrupted nine mortal Men with Rings of Power and turned them into the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths), his chief servants. He also regained control over many of the creatures, both on earth and beneath it, that had served Morgoth in the First Age and were still alive in the Second Age (such as the Orcs, Trolls and many other beings) and the terrifying demon-like monster, the Balrog, that lives in the depths of the dwarf realm of Moria. Sauron also regained power over most of the Men who lived in the east and the south, and he became like a god-king unto them. Because of this, towards the end of the Second Age, Sauron assumed the titles of Lord of the Earth and King of Men.

File:LOTR78 Prologue.JPG

The Shadow of Sauron (screen capture from the 1978 animated film adaptation).

This offended the Númenóreans, the powerful Men descended from the line of Beren and Lúthien, who lived on the island of Númenor in the sea between Middle-earth and Valinor. The proud Númenóreans came to Middle-earth with great force of arms, and Sauron's forces fled. Realizing he could not defeat the Numenoreans with military strength, Sauron allowed himself to be taken as a hostage to Númenor by King Ar-Pharazôn. There, he quickly grew from captive to advisor; he converted many Númenóreans to the worship of Morgoth, and raised a great temple in which he performed human sacrifices. Finally, he convinced the king to rebel against the Valar and attack Valinor itself. Eru, the supreme god, then directly intervened: Númenor was drowned under the sea, and the great navy of Númenor was destroyed. Sauron was diminished in the flood of Númenor, and fled back to Mordor, where he slowly rebuilt his strength during the time known as the Dark Years.

From this point on he was unable to assume a fair shape, and ruled now through terror and force. A few faithful Númenóreans were saved from the flood, and they founded Gondor and Arnor in Middle-earth. These faithful Men, led by Elendil and his sons, allied with the Elven-king, Gil-galad, and together fought Sauron and, after a long war, defeated him, although both Elendil and Gil-galad were killed. Isildur, son of Elendil, cut the One Ring from Sauron's finger and claimed it. Later, the Ring betrayed him and was lost for more than two thousand years.

Third Age

File:Eyeofsauron.jpg

WETA Digital's Eye of Sauron (in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy - note that in the books, Sauron merely took up his old, terrible manlike form again).

In the Third Age, Sauron rose yet again, at first in a stronghold called Dol Guldur, the Hill of Sorcery, in southern Mirkwood. There he was known as the Necromancer, and the Elves did not recognize him at first. Gandalf the Wizard stole into Dol Guldur and discovered the truth; eventually the White Council of Wizards and Elves put forth their might and drove Sauron out. But the White Council was led by Saruman, who wanted the Ring for himself, and Sauron simply moved back to Mordor and raised Barad-dûr again. He fortified Mordor and prepared for war against Gondor and the Elves, with Saruman now his servant.

Sauron bred immense armies of Orcs and allies with which enslaved Men from the east and south. He adopted the symbol of a lidless eye, and he was able at that time to send out his will over Middle-earth, so that the Eye of Sauron was a symbol of power and fear.

After torturing Gollum, a former Ringbearer, he learned that the One Ring had been found by Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit. He sent his agents to the Shire, Bilbo's home, only to find that both Bilbo and his nephew, Frodo, had gone. Unbeknownst to Sauron, Frodo had, at the behest of Gandalf, joined the Fellowship of the Ring on a quest to destroy the Ring forever by casting it into the fires of Mount Doom, in the heart of Mordor. He rallied his vast armies to conquer the resistance's strongholds, and sent the Ringwraiths to find and kill Frodo. At about this time, he also learned that Aragorn, Isildur's heir, had also joined the Fellowship, and was rallying armies to defeat his.

When Saruman's army was defeated at Isengard, Aragorn used the Palantir of Orthanc to reveal himself to Sauron. Sauron assumed that Aragorn had the ring and sent an army commanded by his strongest servant, The Witch-King of Angmar, to overthrow Minas Tirith in what would become known as the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Although Sauron's forces were defeated at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, the free forces of the west were greatly weakened, and Sauron still had sufficient armies in reserve to ensure military victory. He was outwitted, however, by the strategy of Gandalf, who urged the captains of the free peoples to march against Sauron, thus diverting the Dark Lord's eye from the real threat posed by Frodo, the Ring Bearer, who was nearing the end of his quest to destroy the One Ring.

Frodo, however, failed at the last moment, unable to resist the power of the Ring at the place of its birth. But Gollum inadvertently saved him by recovering the Ring in a desperate attempt to possess it and then falling with it into the fire. Thus Sauron's power was unmade, and his corporeal form in Middle-earth was destroyed. His spirit towered above Mordor like a black cloud, but was blown away by a powerful wind from the west, and Sauron was now permanently crippled, never to rise again (Saruman soon suffered a lesser version of this fate.).

Names and titles

Sauron (originally Thauron) is Quenya, and can be translated as the Abhorred or the Abomination; in Sindarin he is called Gorthaur the Necromancer, the Abhorred Dread or the Dread Abomination. He is also called the Nameless Enemy, which is hardly accurate (but perhaps an effort to lessen his psychological impact), whereas Morgoth was the Dark Enemy. The Dúnedain call him Sauron the Deceiver due to his role in the downfall of Númenor and the Forging of the Rings of Power. His two most common titles, the Dark Lord of Mordor and the Lord of the Rings, appear only a few times in the books. His other titles include Base Master of Treachery, The Dark Lord, The Dark Power, Lord of Barad-dûr, Lord of Gifts, The Necromancer, The Red Eye, The Ring-maker, The Sorcerer. Rest of his titles were similar to Morgoth's.

See also Akallabêth and "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age".

Appearance

As a Maia, Sauron was able to change his appearance for many years. In the beginning he likely wore a fair and noble seeming most of the time, but after switching his allegiance to Morgoth he frequently took the appearance of a dark and terrible shadow. As part of a plan to destroy Huan, Sauron took the form of the greatest werewolf which had been on Middle-earth up to that time, and then assumed several other forms when attempting to escape. He took a beautiful appearance once again at the end of the First Age in an effort to deceive Eonwe. He either remained such, or took this form again when appearing as Annatar to the Elves.

Like Morgoth, his ability to change his physical form (his hröa) was eventually reduced and possibly lost entirely. After the destruction of his fair form in the fall of Númenor, Sauron was unable to take a pleasing appearance or veil his power again. Thereafter, at the end of the Second Age and again in the Third, he always took the shape of a terrible dark lord. Tolkien described Sauron's form in the Third Age as "that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic." (The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien #246)

Thus, Peter Jackson's interpretation of him as a huge, floating, flaming eye is not what Tolkien intended (see article), though it is possible Sauron could have chosen such a form if he desired. This is also shown by a statement by Gollum that Sauron only had four fingers on his Black Hand, but they were enough. This would seem to indicate that he was unable to replace the finger which had been cut off by Isildur despite having returned to physical form. Therefore, Sauron just took up his old "man-like" form again, without the missing finger. There is precedent for this: Morgoth himself bore Fingolfin's and Thorondor's wounds forever after his duel with the High King of the Ñoldor.

Other versions of the legendarium

Prior to the publication of The Silmarillion Sauron's origins and true identity were unclear to those without full access to Tolkien's notes. In early editions of the Guide to Middle Earth, Sauron is described as "probably of the Eldar elves."

Since the earliest versions of the Silmarillion legendarium as detailed in the History of Middle-earth series, Sauron has undergone many changes. The prototype of this character was Tevildo, Prince of Cats, who played the role later taken by Sauron in the earliest version of the story of Beren and Lúthien in The Book of Lost Tales. Tevildo later was transformed into Thû, the Necromancer. The name was then changed to Gorthû, Sûr, and finally to Sauron. Gorthû, in the form Gorthaur remained in The Silmarillion. (Interestingly, Sauron's Eye is described as looking like a cat's; his prototype was a cat.)

External link

• Sauron at the Encyclopedia of Arda
• [1] at the Ardapedia