Background

Names: Sauron, Mairon, Gorthaur, Annatar, Zigûr, Halbrand, Thû
Titles: Dark Lord, Enemy, Necromancer, King of Kings, Lord of the World, etc.
Age: 54,960+ years
Classification: Maia of Morgoth, formerly Aulë
Lord of Mordor and Barad-dûr
Formerly foremost servant to Morgoth
Creator and bearer of the One Ring
In perpetual need of some eye-drops

Before there was anything, there was Eru Ilúvatar, who lived in the Timeless Halls before existence began. With him were the Ainur, angelic spirits of Eru’s own creation. Under Eru’s guidance, the Ainur crafted a piece of music, and from it, through Eru’s power, Eä, the world that is, was born. The first to inhabit this world were the Valar, who shaped the world Arda into existence. And after they came to inhabit this world, the rest of the Ainur followed suit. Among these Maiar (also Ainur, but of a lesser degree than the Valar) was a being named Mairon, who would one day come to be known as Sauron.

Sauron was a Maia who served the Vala Aulë, but in the early days of Arda, came to be corrupted by the most powerful of the Ainur, Melkor. As someone who loved order and coordination, and disliked all confusion and wasteful friction, Sauron’s obsession with order came to overtake his love for life, making him easy prey for the devious Melkor’s manipulation. Over time, Sauron became Melkor’s greatest and most loyal servant, even after Melkor took on a new identity, becoming the Dark Lord Morgoth, and beginning a campaign to conquer Arda.

Fast forward through thousands of years worth of conquest, bloodshed, and servitude to Morgoth, and we come to the end of the First Age, when Morgoth was defeated and cast down permanently. Refusing to submit to the Valar’s judgment, Sauron fled, briefly abandoning his evil ways... before eventually relapsing and becoming the second Dark Lord hundreds of years later, endeavoring to conquer Arda where Morgoth failed. But despite being much less powerful than his old master, Sauron was far cleverer, and sought to rule the world in an era where the Valar had retreated from it. Almost unrivaled in Middle-earth, Sauron took up residence in the land of Mordor, and began forming an army of his own.

Years later, however, after stoking the fires of war throughout the world, bringing about the downfall of the island Númenor, and forging a great Ring with which to dominate the people of Middle-earth, Sauron ultimately met his end much like his master did, and the Ring was cut from his hand by Isildur, a king of men. However, though he went into hiding, Sauron was not truly gone, and resurfaced thousands of years later, intent on resuming his conquest and re-claiming his lost Ring. However, in an attempt to stop him, the people of Middle-Earth banded together and formed a fellowship to carry the Ring into Mordor, cast it into the fire, and destroy it for good. Ultimately, though Sauron’s war resumed, and it was not without struggle, the Ring was destroyed, and Sauron was vanquished for good, bringing the world into a new age of peace.

Experience

Sauron has existed since before Eä itself, making him over 50,000 years old. Throughout his millenia-spanning existence, he has had extensive experience fighting and leading armies as Morgoth’s top lieutenant, and later as the new top dog after Morgoth’s downfall. Said to be wiser than even Morgoth was, he is a brilliant schemer and manipulator, having influenced the people of Númenor and even the elves with his silver tongue. Due to his time under Aulë, he was a more gifted smith than any man alive during the Second Age. He was skilled enough at physical combat to beat an entire group of men barehanded while shapeshifted into a man.

Equipment

Mace

The weapon Sauron is most commonly seen carrying, Sauron can use his mace to deliver brutal blows and create shockwaves, blowing away multiple enemies with ease.

Sword

In Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Sauron used a sword whilst in his human-esque form.

Knife

In Shadow of War, Sauron used a knife to cut off Eltariel’s fingers.

Armor

While Sauron’s armor has never really been elaborated on in detail, he has been depicted wearing it in the movies and all of his game appearances. It appears to be made of some kind of metal, and covers his entire body, so it should provide relatively good protection. However, it is clearly not impenetrable, as Isildur was able to cut off his fingers while he was wearing it, and Celebrimbor was able to harm him in Shadow of War.

Palantír

Sauron owns the Ithil-stone, a palantír. A palantír is essentially a seeing stone, which allows for long-distance sight, communication, and the ability to read the mind of others who look into their own palantír. Sauron uniquely uses his palantír to influence the minds of others, controlling other palantír users like Saruman and Denethor. However, it is implied that in order for him to do this, his mental powers must be greater than whomever he is influencing, in addition to the requirement that both parties own and use a palantír.

The One Ring

Sauron’s most famous tool, the One Ring is his prized possession, and the key to much of his power. Having placed much of his power into the Ring, its existence makes Sauron stronger, even more so the closer he is to Mount Doom, though if it is destroyed, his power is diminished so greatly that he can never return. Additionally, another person taking the Ring and using it themself is also enough to diminish Sauron’s power, though merely removing it from Sauron would not weaken him on its own.

The Ring in context is nearly impossible to destroy, as it contains much of Sauron’s power, and Sauron himself is nearly unmatched at the time when the story takes place. It could only be destroyed by throwing it into the fires of Mount Doom, in which it was made, though obviously something else should be capable of doing the job, if sufficiently powerful.

Enhanced Natural Traits

The Ring enhances all natural abilities of the wearer. Any of Sauron’s abilities will be greatly enhanced while he is in possession of the Ring.

Dominion Over Lesser Rings

The main reason why Sauron forged the Ring in the first place: it grants him the ability to control wearers of other Rings of Power. It allows him to perceive all things done by lesser rings, and read/control the thoughts of those who wore them. While this is mostly useless in a 1-on-1 fight in which the opponent does not have a Ring of their own, it was a key part of Sauron’s plan to subjugate the various inhabitants of Middle-Earth.

Increased Longevity

Though this is not useful for Sauron in particular, as he is already immortal, the Ring does extend the lifespan of whomever wears it.

Mental Domination

Sauron has the ability to use the Ring to dominate the minds of others (see: Abilities -> Mind Manipulation).

Invisibility

Wearing the Ring can turn the user invisible, transporting them to “worlds invisible to mortal men”, namely the World of the Unseen. While using this ability, the wearer can interact with the world normally, while going unnoticed by anyone without exceptional senses, or supernatural perception.

Enhanced Perception

Wearers of the Ring have the ability to perceive things within the World of the Unseen. For example, Frodo wearing the Ring allowed him to perceive the Ringwraiths’ true appearances.

Regeneration

Sauron has the ability to regenerate his body, which is reliant on the Ring (see: Abilities -> Immortality -> Body Regeneration).

Understanding Languages

The Ring grants the wearer some ability to understand languages that they do not already know. When Sam wore the Ring, he was able to understand Black Speech. Though, it is unclear whether this applies to any language, or just the language of Mordor.

Abilities

Immortality

As a Maia, Sauron is an immortal angelic spirit. This immortality gives him several abilities that are important to consider.

Longevity

Sauron cannot die of old age, and has lived for tens of thousands of years.

Spirit Form

Sauron’s “true self” is the angelic spirit that inhabits his body. If his body is destroyed, Sauron can survive as a spirit, which is invisible, intangible, and most importantly indestructible. This form can fly, and can still carry the One Ring and use Sauron’s various powers.

Body Regeneration

Sauron is capable of using the One Ring to create a new body for himself after he is reduced to a spirit. After the fall of Númenor, it took him some time to do so, but this is stated to be because he exhausted much of his energy corrupting the minds of the Númenoreans. At his peak, he could do so more quickly. However, he expends his spirit’s inherent energy each time he does so, and as a result, subsequent regenerations take longer and longer.

Size Changing

He can grow big. This is reflected in most visual depictions of him.

Clairvoyance

Sauron possesses some level of clairvoyance. While in the movies (and other adaptations) this is depicted as a massive eye of flames that can see anything, in the books the Eye of Sauron is more symbolic, representing Sauron’s pseudo-omniscience. Still, he has the ability to see a great distance, perceive invisible enemies, pierce through all shadows with his gaze, sense the Ring’s location when someone wears it, etc. It is somewhat unclear how much of this can be attributed to Sauron’s natural abilities VS his use of a palantír, but regardless, he can do all of it. That being said, he is not all knowing; in fact, he was ignorant of the plan to destroy the Ring until Frodo had already reached Mount Doom.

Flight & Levitation

Sauron has shown the ability to both levitate and outright fly at hypersonic speed, in his physical and spirit forms alike.

Shapeshifting

Sauron’s physical body is more like clothing than his actual being, in that it is essentially a form of self-expression. As such, he can change it however he likes, assuming different forms depending on the situation. In addition to the menacing armored form that he is most well-known for, Sauron has assumed the form of a man, a werewolf, a serpent, and a vampire. Presumably, he could essentially shapeshift into any living creature that he could think of.

Fire Manipulation

Perhaps Sauron’s most common offensive ability in most adaptations, Sauron can create and control fire, using it to attack. He can bolster his mace and sword swings with flame, expel immense outward bursts, and produce fire with his teleportation.

Darkness & Shadow Manipulation

Sauron has the ability to control darkness and shadows, weaponizing them as a sort of energy source. He can produce waves of dark energy, create shadow around himself as well as flames, weave shadows around the Dark Tower, and hypothetically eventually spread his darkness across the entire world.

Weather Manipulation

Sauron has shown to have control over the weather. He maintained constant thunderstorms around Mount Doom, created a storm stretching from Mordor to Minas Tirith, is said to control the weather above the Mountains of Shadow, and even caused a storm over the Pass of Caradhras from Mordor, 300 leagues away.

Nature Manipulation

Sauron is said to have influence over “all things untamed”. Essentially this means that he has control over most of the natural world; for instance, he can create earthquakes, storms, volcanic eruptions, massive upheavals in land, etc. He can also call down many “molten rocks” around himself in Battle for Middle-Earth II, possibly meteors. They aren’t explicitly called as such in the attack description, but they look like meteors, come down from above, and can be conjured in areas with no nearby volcanoes or anything of the sort. Alternatively, they could simply be molten volcanic rock that he creates with magic.

Mind Manipulation

As mentioned earlier, Sauron has powerful mind control with the One Ring (and this does not require the target to be wearing their own ring, that just makes it easier). He corrupted the minds and wills of the majority of Númenor’s population, which is estimated to have been around 18 million at the time of Númenor’s fall. He also maintained constant control over the entirety of his own forces, and when his attention was diverted away from them, they were collectively left directionless, completely bereft of their own will when Sauron was not attending to their minds. More recently, he has shown to be capable of manipulating Galadriel’s mind, placing her in illusory landscapes and giving her a vision of a hypothetical future.

Fear Manipulation

Sauron has the ability to supernaturally induce fear into his opponents. He used this to incite fear in the defenders of Minas Tirith, and can do so as an ability in Battle for Middle-Earth II, as well as Guardians of Middle-Earth.

Illusions

Sauron has the ability to cast illusions. In the Desolation of Smaug movie, he does so throughout Dol Guldur, though Gandalf was able to see through and dispel them. He also tricked the outlaw Gorlim with an illusion.

Necromancy

True to his Necromancer moniker, Sauron has the ability to summon and control the spirits of the dead, as stated by Radagast. The most obvious example of this is turning the nine kings of men into Ringwraiths. Additionally, in Lord of the Rings Conquest, he resurrects the Witch King, Saruman, and the Balrogs from the dead, in Shadow of Mordor, he resurrects dead soldiers to fight for him, and in Shadow of War, he resurrects Isildur after his death.

The Great Plague

When Sauron began to spread the Shadow of Mordor across Middle-Earth, this brought with it a phenomenon known as the Great Plague, a terrible illness that killed countless people across a vast area. Within a year, it was able to devastate the regions of Gondor and Eriador, killing numerous people and leaving areas desolate. However, it is worth noting that Sauron has never used this in combat, and there is no reason to believe that it is immediately fatal.

Teleportation

It was noted in The Nature of Middle-Earth that the Valar and Maiar can instantly travel to any point in the universe where they desire to be. Additionally, in the Guardians of Middle-Earth game, as well as Shadow of War, Sauron demonstrates the ability to teleport short distances in a burst of fire.

Soul Manipulation

Outside of his own soul, Sauron has the ability to manipulate the souls of others. In Shadow of War, he absorbs Celebrimbor’s spirit and merges with it. He is also capable of harming Celebrimbor’s spirit.

Songs of Power

In the Silmarillion, Sauron demonstrates an ability in which he fights through magical singing, with which he defeats the Elven king Finrod Felagund.

Life Absorption

In the Lord of the Rings: The Third Age game, Sauron has an ability called Wrath of Sauron, in which he absorbs the party’s health, restoring his own in the process.

Telekinesis

In Shadow of War, Sauron telekinetically repels Celebrimbor away from himself during their fight.

Non-Physical Interaction

In Shadow of War, Sauron is capable of interacting with and harming Celebrimbor’s spirit.

Mind Resistance

In Shadow of War, Sauron is able to resist Celebrimbor’s mental domination, which is powerful enough to drive someone insane, despite being weakened and beaten down beforehand. It has also been implied that his mental powers are greater than Saruman, who has the ability to conceal his mind.

Soul Resistance

Sauron’s spirit is essentially indestructible, as even Eru, the creator of the universe (and Sauron’s spirit itself), is unable to destroy it. Even when Sauron was ultimately defeated, his soul was not destroyed, simply rendered impotent and reduced to an extent that he would never be able to return to power.

Sauron also likely has resistance to having his soul absorbed. In Shadow of War, his spirit becomes one with Celebrimbor’s, and the two enter an unending fight for dominance, which is depicted as a stalemate, proving that Sauron can resist having his soul absorbed and assimilated. Moreover, Celebrimbor was able to resist having his soul absorbed by both Marwen/Saruman and Sauron himself. Given that Sauron and Celebrimbor’s spirits are comparably powerful, Sauron likely shares this resistance.

He has also shown the ability to alter the form of his spirit; as such, it is unlikely that any attempts to transmute his soul into something different would be effective.

Time Resistance

In his Shadow of War boss fight, Sauron is able to resist Celebrimbor’s time-slowing abilities.

Darkness Resistance

In Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, Sauron is resistant to darkness-based attacks.

Resistance to Status Effects

In Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, Sauron is resistant to a number of status effects, including stun, root, sleep, bind melee, bind ranged, bind spirit, and slow.

Feats

Overall

Top tier Maia
Greatest servant of Morgoth
Defeated Gandalf the Gray
Defeated Finrod Felagund, an elf lord
Defeated Elendil and Gil-galad
Defeated Celebrimbor and Eltariel
Fought Huan as Wolf-Sauron
Put Gorlim to death
Contributed to the creation of the Great Music

Strength

Speed

Durability

Scaling

Other Maiar

Scaling Justification: Sauron should be comparable to most of the Maiar, as they are of the same status, and Sauron is noted to be “almost supreme in Middle-Earth”, suggesting that he is one of the stronger Maiar. He is even stated to be “of a far higher order” than certain Maiar, such as Gandalf and Saruman. It is also extremely likely that he is stronger than Ossë, since Ossë at one point became a servant of Morgoth temporarily, and we are given no indication that he ever usurped Sauron’s spot as Morgoth’s most powerful follower.

Ancalagon the Black

Scaling Justification: Sauron is stated repeatedly to be the greatest servant of Morgoth, putting him above Ancalagon. Gandalf also stated that Ancalagon would not have been capable of destroying the One Ring.

Shatters the mountains of Thangorodrim by falling on them

Balrogs

Scaling Justification: As the greatest servant of Morgoth, Sauron is superior to all of the Balrogs. It is also directly stated in The History of Middle-Earth: Morgoth’s Ring that the Balrogs are “less great” than Sauron.

Flew from Angband to Lammoth in a short time-frame

Miscellaneous

Scaling Justification: Various characters who are clearly weaker than Sauron.

Weaknesses

Destruction of the Ring will render him impotent and incapable of taking form ever again

Another person taking the Ring, if sufficiently strong and heroic, has the potential to acquire all of his knowledge and power, with which they could destroy him

Underestimates his enemies; didn’t even conceive of the possibility that they might try to destroy the Ring until Frodo had already arrived in Mount Doom
Has a vulnerability to light magic in Lord of the Rings: The Third Age

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Character Analysis: Sauron