Sauron is the primary antagonist of The Lord of the
Rings. The viewer is not really given much material to really understand
who or what he is other than what is presented in the occasional
flashback. The relationship of the Ring to Sauron
is never really expanded upon either. I’ve seen critiques, even for the
novels, that Lord of the Rings‘ ambiguity of Sauron presents a
challenge to the reader (or viewer) – we’re told he’s the antagonist, we
see the struggle he presses upon our heroes, but
Sauron himself is one dimensional, never present, and never directly
challenges our heroes. He’s always there, like a specter via the Ring,
but as I mentioned, that relationship is never clearly defined. The
movies are even more ambiguous of the nature of
Sauron and the Ring than the novels. Today, I will clear that up, but
to do that, we need to know the full history of Sauron.
Sauron is not his real name – his real name before
his downfall into evil was Mairon ‘The Admirable’. After he came to Arda
and fell to evil, the Eldar (the Elves) have given many names for him,
such as Gorthaur ‘The Abhorred Dread’, but
the one most spoken is Sauron, which is Sindarin for ‘The Abhorred’.
The descendants of the Numenoreans call him ‘The Deceiver’ and in
Westron (the common tongue, which is a form of Aduniac of the
Numenoreans, which comes from ancient Taliska tongue that early
men spoke in Middle-earth) he is called Zigur ‘The Wizard’.
Sauron is a Maiar, similar to Gandalf, but Sauron
is unique among the Maiar for he was the only one with the ability to
change his shape at will, typically a skill reserved only for the Valar.
Maiar, when deciding to take physical form,
their form is a reflection of who they are. Balrogs are Maiar and their
physical forms are dictated by their nature. Sauron could choose to
take any shape at any time; he could choose to be a terrible giant, or
choose to appear as one of the graceful Eldar,
or he could take the form of a giant dire wolf, or a terrible vampire
bat.
In the early days, even before the creation of Arda
and the universe, Sauron was respected among his peers, and even after
his fall into darkness, his lore is still in high regard among those
people who inhabit the Timeless Halls; people
who care not about the struggles of Arda, which they call ‘The Little
Kingdom’. After creation, Sauron went down in Arda – he was excited at
the opportunity it provided. He was a Maiar of the Valar Aule. Aule was
one of the most powerful of the Valar and was
a crafter – he was responsible for the caves, mountains, valleys of
Arda and for all the ores and jewels that lay under the earth. His skill
was second only to Melkor (the one the Eldar call Morgoth). Sauron was
one the most powerful and skilled Maiar and
spent many years working with Aule to help shape and form Arda into
what it is today – he was held with high regard among the Valar for his
tireless efforts and exceptional skill. He was also ambitious, always
wanting to learn more and become better at his
craft. This ambition is what would lead to his eventual fall into
darkness.
In the early days, when the sun did not exist yet,
the Valar were contemplating on how would they provide light to world.
They decided to construct two giant towers that would have a lamp at the
top of them. Aule and Sauron constructed
the towers and the lamps and for the first time, Arda was bathed in
light. Trees and all the plants sprang to life, animals flourished in
the warm glow, and Arda grew to become a beautiful garden of delight,
but behind the mountains, were the light never reached,
Morgoth dwelt, biding his time. The Valar thought they had thrown
Morgoth out of Arda for good, but in these shadows he returned and
remained out Manwe and Varda’s sight.
The lamps, in the days prior to Elves (this map isn't 100% accurate of all the lands of Arda)
From that point forward, Sauron grew to be mighty
while serving Morgoth. He became his second-in-command and the leader of
his armies. He became a necromancer, the master of illusions, ghouls,
undead, phantoms, werewolves, and vampires.
What good was ever in him faded and he became ruthless and vile.
Tolkien even hinted that Sauron’s ambitions were to even over throw
Morgoth, if the opportunity ever presented itself. He was only loyal
because Morgoth was more powerful and he admired strength.
It was the first Sith apprentice and master scenario.
During the First Age, Sauron took a back seat to
the events that unfolded. While he had a role in many of them, he was
never the true designer of those plans. He was always a background
threat, in only one story did he play a direct role
and that was in the story of Beren & Luthien, but otherwise, not
much is described other than he was a brutal servant of Morgoth in those
dark times.
At the end of the first age, the Valar moved
against Morgoth in a massive war called the War of Warth. Beleriand
fell, Morgoth thrown out of the physical realm, many of the Balrogs,
orcs, trolls, and dragons destroyed and the survivors
fled to the most hidden parts of Middle-earth. Sauron in fear, took on
his most fair form and pleaded with the Maia known as Eonwe, the Herald
of Manwe. Eonwe couldn’t pass judgement on another Maiar, so he told
told Sauron to return to Valinor, and there
judgment would be placed on him for all of his deeds. Sauron’s
repentance was genuine; whether out of fear or true sorrow for his
actions, one cannot say – it’s possible with Morgoth gone, the evil grip
was loosened, and he truly was sorry. He was ashamed
though, and feared what the possible judgment could be; probably many
years of servitude. Out of his shame, he decided to flee and hide in the
depths of Middle-earth, wallowing in his sorrow.
The Valar again turned their back on Middle-earth,
except the Edain, and helped them establish Numenor. The Eldar and men
that decided to stay behind began the process of rebuilding
Middle-earth. Seeing a chance to right his wrongs, Sauron returned
to Middle-earth after a few hundred years after Morgoth's downfall. He took the
form of Annatar, ‘The Giver of Gifts’, and came to the Eldar, who did
not know that this person was Sauron – the being that caused so much
grief for them during the First Age. As Annatar,
he offered great knowledge and lore of craft and magic to the Eldar to
help rebuild Middle-earth, claiming that they could make it as beautiful
as Valinor. Some had reservations about him, something they couldn’t
put their finger on (such as Galadriel and
Elrond), but others gladly took his knowledge and learned much from
him.
He gained power as Annatar and became to be highly
regarded among the Elves, especially the Elves of Eregion who followed
Celebrimbor, a descendant of Feanor, but the evil seed that had been
planted in him from all those years under Morgoth,
grew and began to consume him again. He wanted more power and more
control and he devised a plan that would allow him to control men, Dwarves, and even the Eldar. He began construction of the Rings of
Power. He constructed the nine rings for men, the seven
rings for the Dwarves, and The One Ring (although at the time, he had
not handed these rings out). The three rings he did not personally
construct. He knew the Eldar were cunning and some still wary of hom, so he decided to have the Elves
make them rings themselves, be the maker of their
own cages. He had them construct three rings, he provided the knowledge
and designs, and they provided the labor. After the rings were
completed and handed out, he put on The One Ring and Elves immediately
perceived Annatar for who he was; their old enemy
Sauron.
He did not expect them to so quickly recognize him.
Celebrimbor fled Eregion with the nine and seven rings, as well as the
three rings made for the Eldar. He hid the three rings with Cirdan,
Galadriel, and Gil-galad. Sauron openly declared
himself and went to war with the Eldar. He conquered large parts of
Middle-earth, destroyed Eregion, killed Celebrimbor, and retrieved the
nine and seven rings, but the three eluded him. Sauron was very
successful in his campaigns against the Eldar and things
were looking grim for the Elves that remained in Middle-earth, but then
the Numenoreans returned to Middle-earth…
Sauron was enjoying the luxury of the Edain’s
absence, but when the Numenoreans decided to sail back east into
Middle-earth, they turned the tide of the war. Remember, from my
previous post, the Numenoreans were more than just mere men,
they were essentially a master race of men and they proved that in
their battles with Sauron. He was pushed back to Mordor and there he
refortified his position. For the next few thousand years, there was
constant war in Middle-earth, but during that time,
the Numenoreans established large cities in Middle-earth; Umbar, Minas
Tirith, Osgiliath, Annuminas, and so on. Their powerful navy filled the
bays, the seas, and the rivers. Numenor proved too powerful for Sauron –
he envied them, but I think there was a
level of respect he had for them that may have simply been rooted in
fear of them.
During this time, Sauron had ensnared a few
Numenoreans into his ranks via the nine rings. Three of the nine he gave
to powerful lords of the Numenoreans – this made them into powerful
captains, wizards, and warriors, but in the end, they
slowly became the Nazgul and were enslaved by Sauron. The other Nazgul
are more than likely Easterlings, men from the lands east and south of
Mordor, men who had been slaves to Sauron (and before that Morgoth) for
thousands of years. By this time the Nazgul
had become a powerful force in his war with the Numenoreans and were
his most trusted servants.
The seven rings he had given to the Dwarves
did not result in their enslavement, as he had planned, but it did serve
him in the fact the rings caused the Dwarves
to be especially greedy and caused vicious infighting among the Dwarven
clans. This essentially toke the Dwarves out of the picture of any future
war an alliance. Unfortunately, many of those rings were lost as many
clans fell into ruin.
Numenoreans were not immune corruption themselves.
Sailing back to Middle-earth had earned them many riches and the kings
of Numenor became filthy rich and slowly they began to value gold and
silver over their friendship with the Eldar.
They had risen to such great heights of power and prestige, they felt
that it wasn’t fair that the Eldar can travel west into the Undying
Lands and they also grew jealous of the Eldar’s immortality. Manwe told
the Numenoreans that immortality was not a gift
to the Eldar, but just a part of who they are, just like death was just
a part of who men were. He even went on to say that 10,000 years of life and even the Eldar would be jealous of men’s gift to depart from Arda.
Death was a gift given to
men – for they are not bound to Earth like
the Eldar are – even in death, the Eldar are still bound to Arda. The
Numenoreans didn’t see it that way. They felt that the Valar and the
Eldar were slighting them. With each new king (with a few exceptions, such as Tar-Palantir and Tar-Minastir) distrust
and disdain for the Eldar and Valar grew with
each generation.
The Numenorean aide in the wars against Sauron began to diminish, the
Elvish tongue was banned in Numenor, and eventually Elves were no
longer admitted into Numenorean lands, and any Numenorean who were still
faithful to the Eldar and Valar were considered
rebels and imprisoned. The Numenoreans began to openly curse the name of the
Valar. This is when Sauron saw his opening to destroy Numenor.
Ar-Pharazon, the most powerful (and final king) of
the Numenoreans, was a man full of pride and hate that ruled as a tyrant.
One of his advisors, a man named Amandil, was part of Elros’ line, but
not in the current line of kings. He was
a man that was loved by the people of Numenor, but in secret he was one
of The Faithful. Ar-Pharazon knew it, but had no proof and couldn’t
have this man, popular with the people of Numenor put intp prison. Amandil
did his best to protect The Faithful, but Ar-Pharazon’s
arrogance was too much.
To take advantage of Ar-Pharazon's arrogance, Sauron openly declared himself a God-King of
the World, as he knew this would incite Ar-Pharazon, and it worked.
Ar-Pharazon gathered the largest army ever assembled and marched to
Mordor. Upon seeing the Numenorean host, Sauron knew
he could not match the military power of Numenor, he knew if he fought, he
would lose. So he surrendered. He met with Ar-Pharazon with his fairest
form and pleaded for mercy. He swore fealty to Ar-Pharazon and offered
himself to be taken prisoner to Numenor.
Ar-Pharazon agreed and accepted Sauron's terms.
Sauron was brought to Numenor and with his fair
form and honey on his lips, Sauron eventually became Ar-Pharazon’s most
trusted advisor. He spoke in Ar-Pharazon’s ear that Eru was nothing but a
made up god to shackle men and that the Valar
feared Numenor. He said that the only true god was Melkor (the Vala the
Elves called Morgoth) and Sauron being not only the most trusted
advisor to the king also became the High Priest of Melkor worship.
Numenoreans that worshipped Melkor became to be known
as the Black Numenoreans and they outnumbered the Faithful. Sauron
began a purge of the Faithful, sacrificing them to Melkor. Many of the Faithful escaped Numenor and sailed back to Middle-earth to avoid
persecution.
Sauron eventually convinced Ar-Pharazon to declare
war on the Valar. Ar-Pharazon begin to assemble a massive armda, gathering all of his forces from all of their cities and outposts and the eve of Ar-Pharazon launching his campaign, Amandil broke the ban of the Valar and
sailed west to try and warn them – if he made it or not, it’s not
told, but his son Elendil and his sons Isildur
(a name we should recognize) and Anarion, sailed east, back to
Middle-earth to escape the impending wrath of the Valar.
When Ar-Pharazon landed on the shores of Aman, his
men were captured to be held until the end of times (for the chance to
redeem themselves in the final battle of Arda), and for their arrogance,
Eru drowned Numenor and Sauron into the ocean.
Sauron lost his body and with it his ability to change shape, but he
accomplished his goal. Thus ended Numenor.
After the cataclysm, Sauron’s spirit fled back to Mordor and he
reclaimed his lands and his armies. Elendil now found himself as the
next in line to be king. The lands of that once belonged to Numenor in
Middle-earth were re-organized into the kingdoms of Arnor
and Gondor. Elendil ruled Arnor and his sons, Isildur and Anarion,
shared the rule of Gondor. While the Numenoreans were re-organizing
Sauron attacked Gondor, hoping to take advantage of their weakness. Arnor and Gondor responded by forming the Last Alliance of Elves and Men and the ensuing war ended with the death of Elendil and Anarion,
and Isildur cutting the Ring from Sauron’s hand and ending the Second Age.
With Sauron's defeat the Edain was licking their wounds and Anarion’s son became the king of Gondor and Isildur
became king of Arnor, although his reign was short. Isildur was attacked by a rogue band of orcs
and murdered on his way back to Arnor (and losing the Ring in the
process), his son was now the new king of Arnor. With the Ring lost, Sauron’s
spirit was weak and he fled into the far east and the Nazgul
went into hiding with him. There was once finally peace in Middle-earth.
A lot happened within the next 3,000 years in Sauron's absence – the
most powerful of the Nazgul declared himself to be the Witch King of
Angmar and went to war with Arnor. Even though the Witch King lost the
war, it was so devastation to Arnor, that the kingdom
dissolved, and the heir to Arnor went into hiding (this would be
Aragorn’s line) and had believed to be killed. The other Nazgul had gathered
some forces and pushed Gondor out of Mordor and retook it. They devised and released a plague that killed a large portion of the people
of Gondor, in an attempt to weaken their defenses. The final king of Gondor, knowing the Nazgul were behind the fel plague, died after challenging the master of the Nazgul to a one-on-one duel... he was never heard from again.
The king of Gondor had no heir, so it was
believed that the line of kings ended, so the Stewards took over the
rule of Gondor in the king's place - hoping for one day an heir to appear. During the Stewards reign, the Easterlings, influenced by Sauron, attacked
and nearly destroy Gondor. The horse men tribes of northern Gondor banded together and came to
Gondor's aid and turned the tide of the war and chased the Easterlings
back into the east. As a gesture of gratitude, Gondor gave all those
lands to the horse men, and those lands became known
as Rohan.
Sauron, after gaining strength, eventually returned to Middle-earth, but hid in Dol Guldur
(around the time Gollum came into possession of the Ring) and slowly
gathered his forces and he became to be known as the Necromancer of Dol
Guldur. Many assumed it was the Witch King causing
trouble again, and it was at this time the Istari, the wizards, showed
up into Middle-earth. Gandalf was able to drive out the Necromancer
and there was peace for a brief time, but the wizards began to worry that
the activities of the Nazgul were signs that
Sauron was gaining strength.
Sauron returned again to Dol Guldur a few hundred years later, this time in strength, a
few and Gandalf again went to investigate, in secret, and did
confirm that Sauron had returned. The Elves acted and drove Sauron out of Dol
Guldur and he fled back to Mordor and started
to regain his strength, openly declared himself, and he began hunting
for the Ring and for the lost seven Dwarven rings. It was during these
events that Bilbo found the Ring, and the rest of that is history.
What is the Ring though, what does it do for
Sauron? He made the Ring to enslave the ones who wore the other rings.
While wearing the Ring, his own power is amplified, by many degrees, but it gave him power over other's wills. To
create this Ring, he put much of his own power into
it, so in essence the Ring became a part of him. With it, he is more powerful and without he is diminished. In his final push to conquer Middle-earth, as documented in Lord of the Rings, he was
attempting to do it without the Ring, assuming it has been lost forever. If he had found the Ring, it would have been in the final
nail in the coffin for men and the Eldar.
Destroying the Ring destroys the power he put into it. With
the Ring destroyed, he becomes nothing of a shadow of malice… a wasted
spirit with no power.
