Sauron

"There is no life in the void, only death."

- Sauron, after Frodo puts on the One Ring

Sauron (or Þauron; Quenya Tengwar: full spelling or vowel-abbreviated spelling ; IPA:  or Vanyarin ) was the Dark Lord Morgoth's lieutenant during the First Age. He was also the creator of the One Ring and the Dark Lord of Mordor, whom the Fellowship of the Ring sought to defeat.

Sauron in the First Age
In the earliest of days, before the Valar entered Arda, Sauron was originally known as Mairon, a powerful Maia of Aulë the Smith, a Vala. However, Mairon was soon corrupted by the Dark Lord Morgoth ("The Great Enemy" in the tongue of men) (an evil Vala and Dark Enemy of Arda), and turned evil, taking the name, "Sauron." At first, he was a spy for Morgoth, telling him the Valar's doings. Ever after, Sauron served Morgoth faithfully, and even in later days, after Morgoth was defeated and locked outside the confines of the world, Sauron encouraged and coerced some men to worship Morgoth as the one and true God. 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, as well as establish himself as the ruler of Arda from his tower of Barad-dûr in Mordor. However, he originally dwelt in Angband in the Iron Mountains for a short period of time before Melkor came and claimed it again in the First Age.

During the First Age, the Noldorin 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 Silmarils of Fëanor, enchanted gems that glowed with light from the now-destroyed Trees of Valinor. In that war, Sauron served as Morgoth's chief lieutenant, surpassing all others in rank save Gothmog, the Lord of Balrogs. Known as Gorthaur the Cruel, Sauron at that time was known for his sorcery and was a master of illusions and could change his form. He was a master of werewolves, chief among them Draugluin, Sire of Werewolves, and Vampires, among them Thuringwethil, his herald. When Morgoth left Angband to corrupt the newly awakened Atani (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; soon afterward Lúthien and Huan the Wolfhound defeated Sauron in that place and rescued Beren from the dungeons into which Sauron had thrown him. After his defeat by Lúthien, Sauron played little part in the events of the First Age (possibly hiding from Morgoth's wrath), and after his master was defeated and taken to Valinor in chains, Sauron repented (apparently) and pleaded for mercy to Eönwë and the victorious Host of the West. Although his plea was probably genuine, Sauron was unwilling to return to the Utter West for judgment, and so he fled and hid somewhere in Middle-earth.

Sauron in the Second Age
After lying hidden and dormant for 500 years, he began revealing himself once more, and by SA 1000 he gathered his power and established himself in the land of Mordor in eastern Middle-earth and begun building the dreaded Dark Tower of Barad-dûr near Mount Doom. Sauron, like Morgoth, soon began raising massive armies of Orcs, Trolls, and possibly other creatures, as well corrupting the hearts of Men with delusions of power and wealth, chiefly Easterlings and Southrons. By about SA 1500, Sauron put on a fair visage in the Second Age, 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 listened to them. Then the Elves forged Rings of Power, but in secret Sauron forged the One Ring to rule the Elvish rings, and upon this ring, he scripted the words:
 * One Ring to Rule Them All, One Ring to Find Them, One Ring to Bring Them All, and in the Darkness Bind Them, 
 * However, the direct translation of the letters on the One Ring is ash nazg durbutaluk, Ash nazg gimbatul, Ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

As he forged the One Ring, he invested into it most of his power, malice, and the will to control all life, simultaneously making him both more powerful and more vulnerable. When Sauron put on the One Ring and tried to dominate the Elves, they resisted, and Sauron came upon them in the War of the Elves and Sauron and, had it not been for the intervention of Númenor, he might have defeated them.



In this time, Sauron became known as the Dark Lord of Mordor and his fortress of Barad-dûr was completed. He was very powerful and nearly conquered all of Middle-earth during the War of the Elves and Sauron, but the armies of Númenór's King Tar-Minastir were finally able to defeat him at a last battle near Gwathló or the Greyflood in SA 1700. Defeated but not vanquished, Sauron retreated back to Mordor and began recouping his strength over the many centuries. Towards the end of the Second Age, Sauron was once again powerful enough to raise again large armies to attempt to rule Middle-earth. By this time, he assumed the titles of "Lord of the Earth" and "King of Men".

Sauron's rise in power and apparent intention to crown himself the King of all Men offended the Númenóreans; the powerful Men descended from those who had fought against Melkor in the War of Wrath. Some were the descendants, through Elros, of Beren and Lúthien. These Men lived on the island of Númenor in the sea between Middle-earth and Valinor. The Númenóreans, who were then proud, came to Middle-earth with astounding force of arms. Sauron's forces fled in fear, and King Ar-Pharazôn took Sauron as hostage to Númenor. 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 Ar-Pharazôn to rebel against the Valar and attack Valinor itself. Eru (Illuvatar) then directly intervened --- Númenor was drowned under the sea, and the great navy of Númenor was destroyed. The world was bent, so that thereafter, only Elven-Ships could sail into the Utter West. Sauron was diminished in the flood of Númenor, and fled back to Mordor bearing the Ring, where he slowly rebuilt a new body and 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, they finally defeated his armies at the Battle of Dagorlad, although both Elendil and Gil-galad were slain. Isildur, son of Elendil, cut the One Ring from Sauron's finger and claimed it, after which Sauron's spirit fled his again ruined form. But later the Ring betrayed Isildur, so that he was slain by orcs at Gladden Fields, and the Ring was lost for centuries.

Sauron in the Third Age
In the Third Age, Sauron arose again, at first in a stronghold called Dol Guldur, the Hill of Sorcery, in southern Mirkwood. There, he was disguised as a dark sorcerer called the Necromancer, and the Elves did not realize at first that he was actually Sauron returned. Gandalf the Grey stole into Dol Guldur and discovered the truth. Eventually, the White Council put forth their might and drove Sauron out. The Dark Lord, having ample time to prepare, simply returned to Mordor and rebuilt Barad-dûr. Here, he prepared for the final war against the free people of Middle-Earth. Sauron bred immense armies of Orcs and allied with and enslaved Men from the east and south. He gathered his most terrifying servants, the Nazgûl, or Ringwraiths, each wearing one of the nine rings designed for mortal men. Sauron adopted the symbol of a lidless eye, and he was at that time able to send out his will over Middle-earth, so that the Eye of Sauron was a symbol of power and fear. While Sauron did have a physical form, he remained much weakened without the One Ring and remained hidden in the shadows, directing his armies from afar.

When sending the Ringwraiths to search for the Ring in the Shire, Sauron ordered his puppet Saruman, whom he had ensnared into his service, to create an army to wipe out Rohan, which would remove one of the major threats Sauron faced in his planned conquest of Gondor and the remaining Elves. However, Saruman failed, and Sauron lost his most potent ally as well as his massive armies of super-soldier Uruk-Hai.

Shortly after Saruman's defeat, Peregrin Took looked into the palantir that Saruman posessed, and accidentally communicated with Sauron, who believed that Saruman had captured the Halfling bearing the Ring, but when Aragorn took the palantir and revealed himself, Sauron realized that Saruman had failed, and thought that the Heir of Isildur carried the ring, and could possibly use it against him.

Fearful of Aragorn, Sauron immediatly attacked the city of Minas Tirith, seeking to crush it, and with it, the last true resistance to his rule. But due to the combined efforts of Gondor, Rohan, and the Army of the Dead, Sauron's army was defeated. However, he still had many armies in reserve, and enough military strength to easily conquer Middle Earth once Gondor fell. However, he thought that Aragorn had the Ring, and was seeking to master it. Thus, instead of striking out and covering Middle-Earth in a second darkness akin to Morgoth's near-victory, he waited for a period of strife between Aragorn and other potential Ringlords in which he would move out and take the Ring for himself.

In order to buy time for Frodo to reach Mt. Doom, and to distract Sauron from the peril in his own land, Gandalf and Aragorn led a small army to the Black Gate, making Sauron believe that Aragorn did indeed intend to challenge him directly. Reacting swiftly, Sauron sent all his armies to the Black Gate, to utterly crush the Men of the West, and regain his prize.

Gandalf and Aragorn's ploy worked: Frodo was able to reach Mt. Doom, and upon putting on the Ring, Sauron suddenly became aware of him. Though enraged, he was suddenly gripped with terror, realizing his own folly, and frantically sent the Ringwraiths towards the mountain to retrieve the Ring. He was too late however, and Gollum, after taking the Ring from Frodo, fell into the Cracks of Doom.

With his source of power destroyed, Sauron was utterly defeated. Barad-dûr fell, his armies were destroyed or scattered, berefit of the driving will behind their conquest, and Mordor itself was shaken to its core as Orodruin belched fire. His physical form destroyed, his spirit towered above Mordor like a malevolent black cloud, only to be blown away by a powerful wind from the west. Sauron was now permanently crippled, never to rise again in strength. Apparently, his consciousness survived, but only as a spirit of malice in the wilderness.

Sauron after the Third Age
When the Ring was cut from his hand, he was unable to restore his body for a few thousand years. This is because Sauron diverted all of his power, hatred, cruelty and malice into the Ring, and thus lacked the strength for some time to remanifest himself in Arda. However, as Isildur failed to destroy the Ring, Sauron's power steadily grew. Being a Maia, though severely weakened in comparison to his former self, Sauron was able to create another body for himself after some time. Gollum states in Lord of the Rings that Sauron "has only four (fingers) on the Black Hand", but it is unclear why Sauron was unable to restore the fifth. It is possible Gollum was simply in error, or speaking in riddles.

The One held the majority of Sauron's power, such that when he lost his body to the hands of Elendil and Gil-Galad, he also lost the vast majority of his strength. His armies seemingly dispersed, lacking Sauron's will driving them on through the Ring. However, Sauron's strength present in the Ring was still alive and as well as ever, seemingly allowing him to slowly draw on it until he regained a body and was able to actively gather armies for his assault on Middle-Earth. However, without the Ring in his possession, he could only draw on the smallest fraction of its strength, such that the three Wizards Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast were able to drive him from Dol Guldur with relative ease.

Therefore, after the Ring was destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, Sauron was completely broken. All of his old strength that was "native to him in his beginning", in the words of Gandalf, was forever lost. Since his new body was based solely on the powers of the Ring, it was destroyed when the Ring was unmade. Without the strength of the Ring to aid him, he can never regain enough power to form the weakest body. Destruction of the Ring also cost him his strength and all of his old powerful self. Being a Maia, Sauron was not killed and continued to "live", but with the destruction of the Ring, Sauron could only exist in spirit form and could never rebuild his former strength. Take Barad-dûr as an example of Sauron and the Ring. The Men of Gondor had Barad-dûr taken to pieces at the end of the Second Age, but as the Ring continued to exist, the foundations of Barad-dûr could not truly ever be destroyed. When the Ring was destroyed, Barad-dûr completely collapsed into ruin and Sauron was permanently defeated. While evil would continue to exist, Sauron could never emerge as a Dark Lord again.

There is also an argument against this. The argument is that Sauron could not continue to live, as he may have been sucked into the Void from which there can be no return. Although, technically, he would be 'alive' in the Void, he would be as good as dead to the peoples of Middle-Earth. In addition, the film depicts Sauron (who does in this series seem to be the Eye) being destroyed along with the One Ring. That too could have been the destruction of his physical form, but the movies make this unclear.

However, Sauron will arise during the Dagor Dagorath (Final Battle) when Morgoth returns to Arda at the end of times. It remains unsaid as to whether or not he will reattain his old strength.

Appearance
Despite being the title character of the Lord of the Rings, Sauron is notable in that he never directly appears during the events of the trilogy. Nowhere is any detailed description given of what he looks like, other than in vague terms.

In the Silmarillion, Sauron is described as being a shape changer, and took many forms, including that of a serpent, a vampire, and a great wolf. After Morgoth's fall, Sauron appeared in fair form as Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, and maintained this appearance until the fall of Numenor, in which he was unable to ever take fair form ever again.

A few clues are given as to Sauron's appearance as the Dark Lord: Tolkien described Sauron in one of his letters as having the form of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic, and as an image of malice and hatred made visible. He apparently gave off great heat, so much so that Gil-Galad was burned to death by his mere touch, and Isildur described Sauron's hand as black, yet burning like fire, suggesting that his entire body was blackened from fire and heat.

Gollum, having apparently seen Sauron directly, described him as having only four fingers on his black hand, suggesting that Sauron was unable to regenerate the finger from which Isildur took the ring, similar to how the wounds Morgoth took from Fingolin never healed.

In addition to his physical appearance, Sauron also apparently had an aura of incredible malevolence. A passage in The Silmarillion describes him as having a "dreadful presence," and daunting eyes. Furthermore, his mere presence can drive all but the strongest wills to madness.

It is very likely that Tolkien never gave a concrete description of what Sauron looked like in order to deliberately keep him mysterious, and to imply his incredible evil, rather than showing it, or him, directly.

Weapons and Powers
Sauron was among the mightiest of the Maiar. Originally of Aulë's people, he acquired great "scientific" knowledge of the world: of its substances and how to use them. He would retain this knowledge throughout his tenure as the Dark Lord in Middle-earth, using it to forge the One Ring and construct his fortress of Barad-dur. Sauron also seemed primarily linked to the element of fire.

The source of his power in the Third Age (and also a kind of familiar to him) was Mount Doom, a restless, violent volcano, which left Mordor a charred, blackened land. A flaming, lidless eye is often used as a representation of his will, and that eye is used as a symbol on all his armies' banners. As one of Morgoth's chief captains, his ability to tap into the fires in the earth would have been priceless. It seems reasonable to suggest that the forges of Angband had Sauron to thank, at least in part, for their effectiveness.

Among Sauron's chief powers were deception and disguise: In the First Age Sauron took on many forms. His battle against Luthien and Huan in The Silmarillion has him taking on no less than four separate shapes: his "normal" shape, presumed to be that of some kind of dark sorcerer, a great wolf, a serpent, and finally a vampire "dripping blood from his throat upon the trees" ("Of Beren and Lúthien," The Silmarillion). At the end of the First Age, Sauron took on a fair form to appeal to the Captain of the Hosts of the Valar and ask for pardon. In the Second Age, Sauron took up that fair form again and used it under the alias "Annatar" to deceive the Elves into creating the Rings of Power. The level of deception required to fool the Elves of Eregion must have gone beyond simply taking on a fair form. Sauron was literally instructing the Elves to make artifacts that while capable of great good, were ultimately purposed for his own domination and were imbued with power to arrest the natural order of the world. The Elves were unaware of who they were dealing with until the eleventh hour, and only narrowly escaped his trap. Centuries later, Sauron was able to deceive the Númenóreans and steer them directly to their own destruction under promises of eternal life. Such destruction is a testament to Sauron's manipulative nature and ability to twist the perceptions of his enemies.

An interesting dichotomy is set up between his deceptive nature and his symbol. While rarely appearing personally and deceiving all but the most wary, he represents himself as an all seeing eye that can pierce all disguises. Consistent with Tolkien's theme of evil being finite, wasteful, and self-destructive, Sauron's powers are gradually reduced as time goes on. After the Fall of Númenor, he is incapable of taking physical form for many years, and only then as a horrific Dark Lord, robbed of his fair form forever. After losing the Ring, it takes even longer for him to regain physical form, although by the War of the Ring, he has regained it.

In the movies, Sauron's weapon is a black mace used against the Last Alliance to kill both Gil-galad and Elendil. The mace is extremely powerful (either that or Sauron uses magic to strengthen his might), as it can blast back and kill entire battalions in one hit. In The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, it kills most units in a single hit, and even with the most durable, Sauron only needs a few hits (2 or 3) to defeat them.

The extent, nature, and specifics of Sauron's power are largely left to the imagination. Like his master Morgoth, he is capable of altering the physical substance of the world around him by mere effort of will (albeit to a far lesser extent). He is also able to extend the natural life span of beings to almost infinite ends, the most prominent example being the Nazgûl, who were over three thousand years old by the time of the War of the Ring. This gives some legitimacy to his title "The Necromancer" used in "The Hobbit," although Tolkien retroactively applied to Sauron, and probably meant it more in the context of "Dark Sorcerer."

In the books

 * The Fellowship of the Ring
 * The Two Towers
 * The Return of the King
 * The Silmarillion
 * The Children of Húrin
 * The Hobbit (only mentioned as "the Necromancer")
 * Unfinished Tales

In the movies

 * The Hobbit (As the necromancer)
 * The Fellowship of the Ring
 * The Two Towers
 * The Return of the King

In the video games

 * The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
 * Battle for Middle-earth II
 * The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (video game)

Names and Titles
According to some of Tolkien's notes (published via the Parma Eldalamberon), Sauron's true name was Mairon ("The Admirable"), a title that he continued to use up to the downfall of Númenor, as in, Mairon the Admirable, and Tar-mairon ("King Excellent").

After his corruption, Mairon was forever known among the faithful as Sauron (originally Thauron), wich can be translated as the Abhorred or the Abomination in Quenya; in Sindarin he was called Gorthaur during the First and Second Age. This title was often followed by the appositive of "The Cruel", the Necromancer, the Abhorred Dread. He was also called the Nameless Enemy, which was hardly accurate (but perhaps an effort to lessen his psychological impact), whereas Morgoth was the Dark Enemy. The Dúnedain called him Sauron the Deceiver due to his role in the downfall of Númenor and the Forging of the Rings of Power. It was also during this time, when he sought to enslave the elves that he became know as Annatar, 'Lord of Gifts', Artano meaning 'high smith', and Aulendil which meant 'Devotee of Aulë' and was probably chosen to appeal to the Noldor still living in Middle-earth, as they were masters of craft. At his greatest power during the Second Age, he assumed the title of Lord of the Earth, when his strength increased during mid-Second Age and later King of Men, making him an enemy of the powerful Númenorean king Ar-Pharazôn.

In Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring Saruman (Christopher Lee) refers to Sauron as "Lord of the Earth" while speaking to him through the Palantír. His 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 were similar to Morgoth's.

His name is pronounced "sour-on" (sour as in not sweet), or in IPA as:.


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

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 (but still in the Book of Lost Tales period) 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. In Numenor he was known (according to the Notion Club Papers and associated writings) as Zigûr.

Related Trivia

 * Sauron appears in the Family Guy episode, Sibling Rivalry, as the Eye of Sauron, desperately searching for his lost contact lens.
 * A character named Sauron who is the alter ego of Karl Lykos, is a villain in the Marvel Comics Universe and is depicted as a Cryptozoologist who was injured by a Pterosaur and gained the ability thereafter to transform into a gigantic pterosaur-like beast.
 * Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series is very similar to Sauron. Both are named Dark Lords and both have items that render them immortal unless they are destroyed (By Lord of the Rings standards, the term "immortal" is taken a bit further, as it is usually used to describe an Elf or a Maiar, both of which can live forever if not killed in battle). As a result of Sauron's One Ring and Voldemort's Horcruxes, situations that would have killed them render them both formless and as vapor. While Sauron never got his power back, however, Voldemort did. Not allowing their servants to use their proper names also ties the two together, as revealed by Aragorn when he, along with Legolas and Gimli, discuss that the S on the Uruk-hai's helmets means "Sauron does not use the Elf-Runes" "Neither does he use his right name, nor permit it to be spelt or spoken"
 * In the book series, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, Sauron has a resemblance to the main antagonist, Shai'tan. They have in common the name Lord of the Dark, and how both Sauron, Shai'tan, and their forces are collectively called the Shadow. They both have their primary abode resides near a mountain, as well as the plot line of the main story revolving around the mountain. Also, both Shai'tan (commonly referred to as the Dark One) and Sauron have their own lands (the Dark One's include the Blight and the Blasted Lands). Also, the Dark One has many creatures of darkness bent to his will, as well as many men, known as Darkfriends, including the 13 most powerful (magic wielders) named the Forsaken, not unlike the Nazgûl (except the Forsaken joined the Shadow out of their own free will).
 * The dark god Torak, described in the Belgariad by David Eddings, bears similarities to Sauron as well. He is a divine being, a god, who fell to evil and corruption by a more powerful fallen deity (the Dark Prophecy). He also rests in a tower in an eastern land, waiting for his hordes of worshippers to retrieve the artifact, which will restore his ultimate power.
 * In the DeathDay series of books by William Dietz an invading race of aliens are called Saurons.
 * The protagonists of the Overlord series of video games wear armor strongly reminiscent of Sauron's.

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Sauron