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Sauron

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Sauron
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« on: December 22, 2012, 10:24:50 pm »

Sauron



    "There is no life in the void, only death."
    —Sauron's voice to Frodo Baggins through the Great Eye, when Frodo has the Ring on.

Sauron (or ̃auron; Quenya Tengwar: full spelling 3.E7Y5 or vowel-abbreviated spelling 3.7Y5; IPA: [ˈsaʊron] or Vanyarin [ˈθaʊron]), the eponymous Lord of the Rings, was the Dark Lord Morgoth's most powerful lieutenant during the First Age. He also was the creator of the One Ring and the Dark Lord of Mordor, whom the Fellowship of the Ring sought to defeat.
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« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2012, 10:27:37 pm »



Sauron during the First Age.
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« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2012, 10:28:02 pm »

In the earliest of days, before the Valar entered Arda, Sauron was originally known as Mairon the Admirable, a powerful Maia of Aulë the Smith, who was a Vala, creator of Dwarves. 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 of 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.
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« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2012, 10:28:46 pm »

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 wolf-hound 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
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« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2012, 10:29:17 pm »



The Dark Lord's hand of Power
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« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2012, 10:29:39 pm »

    "The Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a master ring, to control all others. And into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life. One Ring to rule them all."
    —Galadriel regarding Sauron and the forging of the One Ring.

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 (the Haradrim).
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« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2012, 10:30:20 pm »

Although Sauron knew that Men were easier to sway, he sought to bring the Elves into his service, as they were far more powerful.  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 however, particularly Lady Galadriel, Elrond, and Gil-galad, High King of the Ñoldor, though few listened to them.

Despite this, Sauron encouraged and assisted the Elves in forging the Rings of Power, though in secret Sauron forged his own; the One Ring to rule the Elvish rings.

Upon the ring, Sauron left the inscription; Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.  In Westron the inscription translated into One Ring to Rule Them All, One Ring to Find Them, One Ring to Bring Them All, and in the Darkness Bind Them.
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« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2012, 10:30:45 pm »



Sauron, wearing the One Ring.
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« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2012, 10:31:10 pm »

However, as soon as Sauron put the Ring on his finger the Elves sensed his treachery, and thus removed their rings and hid them. Enraged, Sauron came against them in open war and demanded that all the Rings of Power be given to him. The Elves managed to hide the three greatest of the Rings from him, but the other sixteen Great rings were either captured by Sauron, destroyed, or lost. To the Dwarves he gave seven, but to Men he gave Nine, knowing that they would be the easiest to enslave. The Dwarf Lords who received the Rings proved to be very resistant to their power, and neither "faded" nor became enslaved to Sauron's will.  The Rings instead created an insatiable lust for gold, which ultimately caused a great deal of grief for the Dwarves.  As Sauron predicted however, the nine Men were all corrupted by their Rings and became the Nazgûl, Sauron's deadliest servants.
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« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2012, 10:31:47 pm »

Had the Elves not recognized Sauron's treachery and forsaken the power of their rings, the results would have been catastrophic for the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth.  It seems most if not all of the native humans in Middle-Earth succumbed to the power of the Ring once the Nazgûl were created, the Númenórians spared because of their distance.  The Elves, had they been captured in this fashion, would have become the slaves of Sauron, and thus Celebrimbor's resistance is one of the key moments in the history of Middle-Earth.
Overlooking the Orc army of Gorgoroth.
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At this time in which he marshalled and commanded great armies, Sauron became known as the Dark Lord of Mordor and his fortress of Barad-dûr was completed. He was very powerful even without control of the Elves and nearly conquered all of Middle-earth during the War of the Elves and Sauron.
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« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2012, 10:32:10 pm »

However 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.
Life in NúmenorEdit

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. King Ar-Pharazôn marched his troops all the way to Mordor without a single battle, and demanded that Sauron abase himself before the King. Sauron could see clearly that even the most powerful of his servants could not stand against the Númenóreans, and so came from Barad-dûr without any offer of battle. He assumed a fair form and flattered Ar-Pharazôn, but the King demanded that Sauron come back to Númenor as a hostage. Sauron feigned unhappiness at this development but secretly was delighted, for this presented him with an opportunity to destroy the Númenóreans from within. After only a few short years in Númenor he grew from captive to the King's most trusted advisor, and nearly all the King's court fawned upon him. Drawing on their fear of death, he converted many Númenóreans to the worship of Morgoth, lying that Morgoth had the power to save them from mortality. As his power and influence reached its peak, he raised a great Temple in which he performed human sacrifices to Morgoth.
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« Reply #11 on: December 22, 2012, 10:32:56 pm »

Finally, he convinced Ar-Pharazôn to rebel against the Valar and attack Valinor itself and claim it for himself.

But here, Sauron's cunning overreached itself, for Eru then directly intervened - Númenor was drowned under the sea, and the great navy of Númenor was destroyed and the army that reached Aman was buried under mountains of falling rock and imprisoned in the Caves of the Forgotten. The world was bent, so that thereafter, only Elven-Ships could sail into the Utter West. Sauron's body was destroyed, but his spirit was not diminished, and he 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 lost the ability to assume a fair shape, and ruled now through terror and force. A few faithful Númenóreans led by Elendil were saved from the flood, and they founded Gondor and Arnor in Middle-earth.
Loss of the RingEdit
Sauron's destruction at the hands of Isildur.
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After a brief period of renewed war, Elendil and his people allied with the Elven-king, Gil-Galad to create the Last Alliance, and together fought Sauron. They finally defeated his armies at the Battle of Dagorlad, and sieged Barad-dûr for seven years. Finally, Sauron himself came forth and dueled both Elendil and Gil-galad. He slew them both but Isildur, son of Elendil, took up his father's broken sword, Narsil and cut the One Ring from Sauron's finger, after which Sauron's spirit fled again in 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. After that, the One Ring was found by Smeagol's friend Deagol. Sauron without the Ring lost his ability to take any physical form for a long time, and possibly retreated into the Far East until the time was right.
Third AgeEdit
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« Reply #12 on: December 22, 2012, 10:33:05 pm »

The Necromancer of Dol GuldurEdit

    "Build me an army worthy of Mordor."
    —Sauron to Saruman.

In the Third Age, Sauron arose again in TA 1000, at first in a stronghold called Dol Guldur, the Hill of Sorcery, in southern Mirkwood TA 1050. 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. The wizard Gandalf went to Dol Guldur in TA 2063 in secret to see who it was that ran Dol Guldur and Sauron, sensing that his secret identity was about to be unveiled he fled before him and went into the East to hide, and thus began the Watchful Peace. Sauron came back TA 2460. Gandalf the Grey stole into Dol Guldur in TA 2850 and discovered the truth. Eventually, the White Council put forth their might and drove Sauron out a TA 2851. The Dark Lord, having ample time to prepare, simply returned to Mordor and rebuilt Barad-dûr. Here, Sauron prepared for the final war against the free people of Middle-earth.
The tower of Barad-dûr, on top of which is the Eye of Sauron.
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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 (Úlairi in Quenyan), 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.
War of the RingEdit

After the creature Gollum, who had previously possessed the ring, was captured, Sauron had him tortured in order to extort information regarding the ring's whereabouts. After being brutally tortured, Gollum revealed the location of the ring; the Shire, and that the ring was in the possession of a Hobbit known as Baggins. Sauron immediately ordered the nine to go to the Shire, find the Hobbit and retrieve the One Ring.

Simultaneously, Sauron ordered his puppet Saruman, he now 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 Saruman's massive army of super-soldier Uruk-Hai.
Sauron discovering Aragorn through the Palantír.
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Shortly after Saruman's defeat, Peregrin Took looked into the Palantír that Saruman possessed, and accidentally communicated with Sauron, who believed that Saruman had captured the Halflings bearing the Ring, but when Aragorn took the palantir and revealed himself, Sauron realized that Saruman had failed. Concluding that the Heir of Isildur carried the ring, and could possibly use it against him, Sauron immediately had his forces attack 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.
DownfallEdit
The Eye of Sauron glaring at Aragorn's army at the Morannon.
SouromonAdded by Souromon

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 the remaining host from Minas Tirith to the Black Gate, making Sauron believe that Aragorn did indeed intend to challenge him directly.

All the rest of the Orc armies from Barad-dur had gotten to Udun, once Sauron foresaw their coming, to utterly crush the Men of the West, and regain his prize. Gandalf and Aragorn's ploy worked: Frodo was able to reach Mount 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, slipped into the Cracks of Doom.

With his source of power destroyed, Sauron was utterly defeated. Barad-dûr fell and his armies were destroyed or scattered, bereft of the driving will behind their conquest, and Mordor itself was shaken to its core as Orodruin belched fire. And, all Eight remaining Nazgul had been in combat with the Great Eagles, and lost, now being helplessly drawn towards the gale of lava on their Fellbeasts, and were consumed.
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« Reply #13 on: December 22, 2012, 10:33:32 pm »



Barad-dur's downfall
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« Reply #14 on: December 22, 2012, 10:34:09 pm »

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.
After the Third AgeEdit

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 stated that Sauron "has only four fingers on the Black Hand", though it is unclear why Sauron was unable to restore the fifth. It is possible Gollum was simply in error, speaking in riddles, or simply using a metaphor. The One held the majority of Sauron's power after the loss of his original form in the Fall of Númenor, 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 would never regain enough power to form the weakest body in Arda. The power of the form that a Maia or Ainu took seems to be representative of the powers they themselves wielded. Morgoth, for example, originally could take a huge number of powerful, noble forms, but as he poured his power and malice into Arda in an attempt to pervert it, he gradually restricted himself to the form of a Dark Lord, weak enough to be challenged by an Elven King. Sauron, now, had invested most if not all of his power, hatred, malice, etc., into the Ring. What was left was lost in the Downfall of Numenor. When the Ring was destroyed, he no longer had the strength to support a physical form in Arda and thus was restricted to existing as a mean spirit, weak and forever unable to take part in the events of Middle-earth.

While evil would continue to exist, Sauron could never emerge as a Dark Lord again and never would have the power to create an army or draw evil creatures to his rule as he once did. Another theory as to Sauron's fate exists, namely that Sauron could not continue to live, as he could have been sucked into the Void from which there can be no return. The problem with this, of course, is that Morgoth himself is in the Void, and is alive, though he, too, appears to have lost his Fëa.
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