Sauron

**Sauron** was a fallen maia of Middle-Earth, the Dark Lord of Mordor and creator of The One Ring of Power.

He is also the ultimate antagonist of Peter Jackson's *The Hobbit* film trilogy since he was the one behind Azog's crimes and even made a pact with Smaug, serving as a flashback antagonist in *The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey*, the secondary antagonist of *The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug*, and a minor yet pivotal antagonist in *The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies*.

He was the right-hand of the 1st Dark Lord, Morgoth, who was cast into the Timeless Void by the Valar at the end of the First Age. During the Second Age, Sauron became the 2nd Dark Lord of Middle-earth who resided in Mordor and created the One Ring, which he lost long ago. His goal was to reclaim the One Ring and rule Middle-earth in darkness, but the Ring's destruction would ultimately be his downfall.

## History

Since the First Age, Sauron, formally known as "Mairon" was a maia and a craftsmen once under the wing of the Valar (Gods of Middle-Earth). Thou not as powerful as they, he was still one of the most powerful and most skilled maiar, even more so than Olorin and Curunir; better known as Gandalf and Saruman.

During that time, he was a good and uncorupt being. He had a unique trait for order and perfection, disliking anything to be wasteful. But it was in that desire, that Morgoth, the fallen Vala and first dark lord of Middle-Earth, lured him to being of his fathful servents.

Mairon, then called "Gorthaur the Cruel" had since become Morgoth's lieutenant to the kingdom of Angband. He once held a position as "Lord of Werewolves" in the island of Tol Sirion, then renamed Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves. In a quest for the Silmarills, a maia-maiden Luthien with her wolfhound Huan confronted Gorthaur who transforms into a wolf himself to engage Huan, but the hound defeated him and fled back to his master in Angband.

When the Second Age came, and Morgoth had since been cast to the void by his fellow Valar, Sauron laid low for some time. But sure enough he reamerged and rose to power in his own domain in Mordor, where he would build his own fortress Barad-Dur near Mount Doom; and also lead his own army of Orcs, Trolls, and possibly other creatures, as well as men such as the Easterlings and Southrons of Harad.

Thou it was easy for Sauron to corrupt men, he sought to lure the elves into his service as they were more powerful. So he then took a more fair form, Annatar, the "Giver of Gifts" and befriended the elvish smithies for a time.

With their help, Sauron was able to forge the rings of power: Three for the elven kings, seven for the dwarf lords, and nine for mortal men. But little to their knowledge, Sauron back in Mordor crafted his own ring, the One Ring to rule them all. The elves sensed Sauron's treachery and the lords of the elves hide them to never be used or returned to him. Whatever happened to the dwarf rings was uncertain, but upon given the nine rings of power, the kings of men were then under Sauron's command and from then one they would become the Nazgul, Sauron's deadliest servents forever bound to his will.

## 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 novel. Nowhere is any detailed description given of what he looks like, other than in vague terms.

However, in *The Silmarillion*, Sauron is described as being a shapeshifter, 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. *The History of Middle-earth* include a passage describing (again, vaguely) how the Numenoreans saw him: "Upon that ship which was cast highest and stood dry upon a hill there was a man, but greater than any even of the race of Numenor in stature… And it seemed to men that Sauron was great; though they feared the light of his eyes. To many he appeared fair, to others terrible; but to some evil.".

A few clues are given as to Sauron's appearance as the Dark Lord, after he lost his ability to take a fair form: 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, to the point that the Elf king Gil-Galad was burned to death by his mere touch of him, 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 One Ring, similar to how the wounds Morgoth took from Fingolfin 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 could bend all but the strongest wills.

### Personality

Sauron was utterly malicious and cruel. In fact, he was so merciless and unsympathetic for human life, thus making him extremely wrathful and aggressive. He had the will to dominate all life, meaning he wanted to rule Arda. Tolkien even writes about Sauron not being a normal tyrant, and desiring "to be a God-King", making the latter a God Wannabe as well (even though, the only true god in Middle-earth was Eru Ilúvatar). Because he was completely irredeemable, he had to be destroyed once and for all by the One Ring being cast into Mount Doom.

### Powers and Abilities

#### Powers

* **Necromancy**: 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.
* **Pyrokinesis**: Sauron also seemed primarily linked to the use of fire, and as Morgoth's chief lieutenant, his ability to tap into the fires in the earth was of great value. Like his master Morgoth, he was capable of altering the physical substance of the world around him by mere effort of will. He could will the elements in the weathers surrounding his domain and will volcano of Mount Doom to do the same.
* **Vast "Scientific" Knowledge**: Originally of Aulë's people, he acquired great "scientific" knowledge of the world's 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-dûr. 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.
* **Immortality/Enhanced Longevity**: As one of the Ainur, Mairon/Sauron was functionally immortal; failing that, seemingly very long lived having existed with and without a physical form for the better part of several thousand years, Sauron was created before the physical realm of Arda and Middle-earth was established thus his age is un quantifiable. Assuming a consecutive lifespan, he is at least 50,000 years old.
* **Vast Physical Strength**: Sauron was very physically strong with the One Ring on, able to kill multiple sldiers in a single hit. In The Bestiary under the section "Wolfhounds", it is said Huan "took the greatest of the Maiar by the throat", referring to his fight with Sauron. However in the section Maiar it says "the mightiest of the Maiar is Eönwë."

#### Abilities

* **Shapeshifting**: Among Sauron's chief abilities were shapeshifting, thus allowing him to easily engage in 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 terrible 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. 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 represented himself as an all seeing eye that could pierce all disguises. Sauron himself had the ability of disguise by changing shape and taking a fair form. But after the Fall of Númenor he was incapable of taking physical form for many years, and then later became a horrific Dark Lord. After losing the Ring it took even longer for him to regain physical form, although by the War of the Ring he had regained it.

## Trivia

* Sauron will become the main antagonist in the Family Guy/Eeveelution/Middle-Earth saga.
* Sauron will become the main antagonist in the Chuggington/Middle-Earth saga.
* Sauron is consider to be the evilest being our heroes had ever faced so far.