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 deceitfully assumed a beautiful appearace, and now calling himself Annatar, "the Lord of Gifts", he befriends the Elvish smiths of Eregion, and counsels them in arts and magic. Not all the Elves trust him, especially the Lady Galadriel and the elf-king Gil-galad, High King of the Ñoldor, but few others heed them.

At Sauron's behest, the Elves forge the Rings of Power and they are given to the leaders of Elves, Men and Dwarves. But, unknown to them, Sauron has also secretly forged a master Ring in the fires of the volcano Mount Doom in Mordor. This "one ing to rule them all" is the source of the powers of the other Rings, and has the power to both control the other Rings and enslave their wearers to Sauron's will.

The creation of the One Ring is a double-edged sword, however -- with its lesser Rings, it gives Sauron the ability to dominate Middle-earth but, since he invests in it all of his own earthly powers, he it also carries the risks of Sauron's own destruction if the Ring ever fell into the hands of another, or was detroyed.

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 he 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 to fight Sauron.

After a long war, the alliance of Elves and Men defeats Sauron, although both Elendil and Gil-galad are killed in the battle, and Sauron is only overcome after Isildur, son of Elendil, cuts the One Ring from Sauron's finger with the broken shaft of his father's magical sword, Narsil.

Soon after the battle, the elf lord Elrond leads Isildur into the heart of Mount Doom, where the Ring was forged, so that it can be destroyed. But Isildur is seduced by the Ring's power and he refuses to destroy it, taking it for his own. Later, the Ring betrays Isildur, he is killed and it is 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, in the period of The Hobbit, Sauron rises yet again, at first in a stronghold called Dol Guldur, the Hill of Sorcery, in southern Mirkwood. There he is known as the Necromancer, and the Elves do not recognize him at first. Gandalf the Wizard steals into Dol Guldur and discovers the truth; eventually the White Council of Wizards and Elves combine to put forth their might and Sauron is driven out of Mirkwood.

Although now only able to assume the appearance of a lidless, flaming eye, Sauron is able at that time to send out his will over Middle-earth, so that the Eye of Sauron becomes a symbol of oppression and fear. Following his explusion from Mirkwood, Sauron flees south, raising Barad-dûr anew, fortifying Mordor; he prepares for a final war against men and Elves, breeding immense armies of Orcs and augmenting them with enslaved Men from the east and south.

At the beginning of the period covered by The Lord of the Rings, the wizard Gandalf discovers that the Ring has been found. He goes for advice to Saruman the White, leader of the wizards' council, but he soon discovers that Saruman has been seduced by Sauron through his use of the Palantir in his possession, and that Saruman also secretly plans to gain the Ring for himself. Gandalf is held cative for some time, but eventually manages to escape with the help of the giant eagle Gwaihir.

Meanwhile, following the capture and torturing of the former Ringbearer Gollum by the Orcs, Sauron too learns that the One Ring has been found by Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit. Sauron sends his agents to the Shire, Bilbo's home, only to find that both Bilbo and his nephew, Frodo, have gone.

At the behest of Gandalf, and unknown to Sauron, Frodo and his friends set out to take the Ring to the elven stronghold at Rivendell. There the half-elf Elrond convenes a high council of the peoples of Middle-earth to discuss the crisis and decide on a course of action. The council determines that the Ring must be destroyed, and Frodo and Sam join the Fellowship of the Ring, accepting the council's mission to destroy the Ring forever by casting it into the fires of Mount Doom, in the heart of Mordor.

When Saruman learns of the mission of the Fellowship, he uses his powers to try and stop them, forcing them to take a detour through the subterranean realm of Moria. There Gandalf is killed in a confrontation with the Balrog, a giant demon-like monster created by Morgoth in the First Age, but Gandalf is subsequently reborn with even greater powers and sent back to Middle-earth to assist in the defeats of Saruman and Sauron.

Sauron rallies his vast armies to conquer Middle-Earth, and he sends the Ringwraiths to find Frodo and recover the Ring. At about this time, Sauron also learns that Aragorn, Isildur's heir, had also joined the Fellowship, and is rallying armies to defeat Sauron.

Pretending to act on behalf of Sauron, Saruman raises a vast army of his own and marches on the stronghold of the people of Rohan at Helm's Deep, but thanks to the intervention of Gandalf and the giant tree-people of Fangorn, the Ents, Saruman's armies are routed, and his stronghold at Isengard is overthrown; soon after, his power is broken by the reborn Gandalf.

During the confrontation with Gandalf, Saruman loses the Palantir of Orthanc, and the Fellowship is able to exploit it by creating a ruse which, they hope, will distract Sauron long enough to allow Frodo to reach Mount Doom and destroy the Ring. Fortunately, the ruse works and Sauron believes that Aragorn now has (or will soon have) the Ring. Sauron sends an army commanded by his strongest servant, the fearful Witch-King of Angmar, to overthrow Minas Tirith in what becomes known as the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Although Sauron's forces are defeated at the Battle of Pelennor Fields and the Witch-King is destroyed, the free forces of the west are greatly weakened, and Sauron still has sufficient armies in reserve to make his military victory certain. He is outwitted, however, by the strategy of Gandalf, who urges the captains of the free peoples to march on the gates or Mordor, in the hope that this will divert the Dark Lord's attention long enough to allow Frodo, the Ring Bearer, to finally reach Mount Doom.

With the forces of Good about to be destroyed, Frodo reaches his goal, but he fails at the last -- unable to resist the power of the Ring at the place of its birth, he puts it on his finger. At that moment Sauron discerns the truth, turning his gaze to Mount Doom, and all seems lost, but Gollum inadvertently saves the day by biting off Frodo's finger in a final, desperate effort to recover the Ring. As Gollum seizes the Ring, he falls with it into the fires.

The Ring is thus unmade, and Sauron's power is broken in an instant and his corporeal form in Middle-earth is destroyed. His spirit, which had towered above Mordor like a black cloud, is blown away by a powerful wind from the west. Barad-dur falls, Mordor is laid waste and Sauron, now permanently crippled, will never 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