Mairon aka Lord Sauron or simply Sauron is the main antagonist of the Lord of the Rings franchise. Sauron means in Quenya "The Horrifying One" or "The Hated One", a name evidently imposed by his enemies. Gorthaur is the Sindarin equivalent of Sauron. In some notes, Tolkien established that Sauron's real name was Mairon, or "The Wonderful One." And although he was never known by that name again, he continued to call himself Tar-Mairon, or "Admirable King."
He was the mightiest of Morgoth's servants; Their names, due to their later services and actions, are countless, and although Sauron's best-known titles are "Dark Lord of Mordor" and "Lord of the Rings," they are also counted among them: "The Grand Master. of the Lie "," The Black Hand "," The Dark Lord "," Lord of the Lycanthropes "," The Cruel "," The Dark Power ", Annatar (q." Lord of Gifts ")," Lord of Barad-dûr "," Ringmaker "," The Necromancer "," The Red Eye "," The Eye of Fire "or" The Eye Without Eyelids "(by his gaze, which encompassed all his evil domain; Peter Jackson movies this is interpreted in a literal way), among many more.
History[]
Sauron would remain in Middle-earth for over 16,000 years, much longer than all of his main enemies, except perhaps Círdan "the Shipwright" and old Tom Bombadil.
At first, Sauron was a maia in the service of Aulë who was corrupted by Melkor (who would later be known as Morgoth) when the Ainur were still shaping Arda.
As mentioned before, Sauron is an Ainu, one of the Maiar, counted among the retinue of Aulë, the blacksmith, for which he had high knowledge in this field. But Sauron also had many other powers: the power to change the form of him to whatever he wanted (like all the Ainur), power that he used to deceive the Noldor more than once, and the men of Númenor. He could also handle lesser spirits and summon them (hence perhaps the name Necromancer or Sorcerer), and could also call evil spirits and put them inside monstrous creatures (hence the name Lord of the Lycanthropes; he himself transformed into a time in a dire wolf). He could create illusions in weak-minded people. Tolkien specifies that within the same Ainu races there are rank differences. Sauron was one of the first spirits to enter Arda and one of the most powerful. Sauron in the greatest amount of power from him was able to modify reality and nature (verifiable fact in the creation of Mordor, the Mountains of Shadow and Ash and the Mount of Destiny itself were raised by Sauron). In the work of the Lord of the Rings it appears that the Istari feared Sauron, so much so that Gandalf hardly named him by his name and feared that he might reveal his presence.
Since he is corrupted, Sauron becomes the most feared of Morgoth Bauglir's servants. We know however from the writings of the author that Sauron deeply feared Melian la Maia, Thingol's wife, and never dared to challenge her.
Before and during the First Age of the Sun[]
During the First Age Sauron served Morgoth as his lieutenant. During the Ages of the Lamps, while Melkor resided in Utumno, Sauron took over the newly built Angband. After the War of the Powers and the destruction of Utumno, Sauron hid and the Valar could not find him. Upon Morgoth's return to Middle-earth after having slain the Two Trees of Valinor, he again placed himself at his command. Known to the Sindar elves as "Gorthaur" the Cruel, he was a master of illusions and metamorphosis. His servants were the werewolves, the lycanthropes that he himself gave rise to, and other horrifying forms, and during this period (immediately after the death of High King Noldo Fingolfin) he conquered the elven island of Tol Sirion, descending upon she a dark cloud of fear. Orodreth, the Tower Commander, along with the garrison, fled and took refuge in Nargothrond. Since then, the beautiful island has been renamed "Tol-in-Gaurhoth", The Island of the Lycanthropes. Sauron turned it into a watchtower of evil, a threat, a lair of evil creatures, where at midnight the lycanthropes came out to follow the orders of their dark master, attacking the elves and anyone who crossed their path.
Eye of Sauron
Sauron is the deadliest of Morgoth's servants in the First Age and commands an army of his own. The antagonistic character to Sauron in the First Age of the Sun is Melian la Maia, wife of Thingol, and it is close to her that Sauron participates in most of the History. Sauron is closely involved in the story of Beren and Lúthien and the liberation of the Silmaril. From the tower of Tol-in-Gaurhoth (Minas Tirith of Finrod renamed "Isle of the Lycanthropes") comes an evil power that is always entangled with the power of Melian's Waist. Among other important battles, Finrod Felagund faces Sauron face to face, but falls under the deceptions of this spirit, more powerful than him.
Sauron suffers the first of his great defeats in the First Age when Lúthien comes to rescue Beren, imprisoned in the dungeons of the Tower of Sauron; she casts a chant of enchantment and is accompanied by Huan, the dog of Valinor; both face Sauron, who is immobilized by the powers of Melian's daughter, and is attacked by Huan. Sauron flees from the Tower to the Forest of Taur-nu-Fuin, where he is mentioned for the last time in the history of the Silmarils.
In the Second Age of the Sun[]
After the final fall of Morgoth in the War of Wrath, and after seeing the might of the Lords of the West, Sauron was frightened and asked for forgiveness and mercy. Eönwë, the Herald of Manwë, ordered him to go to Valinor to be judged, but Sauron did not wish to receive any condemnation, for he had had much power under Morgoth, and evil was too present in him. It was thus that he remained in Middle-earth for successive ages, rising as the new Dark Lord.
Annatar, the Lord of Gifts []
At the beginning of the Second Age he concentrates on deception and persuasion before deploying his forces, so he used a new identity calling himself Annatar "the Lord of Gifts." He first reaches the domain of the mighty Gil-Galad claiming to be an envoy of the Valar (this being an anticipation of the Istari); that is to say, Sauron knew the designs of the Valar to send angelic beings to aid the elves. But Sauron is expelled from Lindon, the Land of Gil-Galad, since both he and Galadriel and Elrond distrusted the character.
However, he was well received by Celebrimbor and the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, blacksmiths of great skill, who desired, above all things, the unshakable knowledge of the world's secrets in Ost-in-Edhil, the main city of Eregion. Annatar being a maia of the retinue of Aulë fit perfectly in the designs of the Noldor, when taking advantage of the desire of these to reach the zenith of knowledge and creation, to subdue them. There he persuaded the Elves to forge the Rings of Power. He for himself he reserved the forging of the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. But Celebrimbor distrusted Annatar and gave up the three Elven Rings before Sauron returned to Eregion. It was the union of the knowledge of the Elves and Sauron that achieved the creation of the rings, since neither one nor the others could have achieved this science by themselves.
The second defeat[]
After forging the Ruling Ring on the Orodruin, Sauron cast the well-known spell to subdue the other rings and the wills of their bearers. Aware of the delivery of the Elvish Rings by Celebrimbor, Annatar showed the true identity of him and riding in a rage he returned openly as Sauron with an army from Mordor to devastate Eregion and recover the Rings of Power; completely destroying all of Ost-in-Edhil and slaying the Lord of the Noldor, thrusting his head into a pike to the terror of Elves and Men.
He also extends the darkness, dominating the lesser Men of Middle-earth, who, fearfully, venerated him as a god who invaded Eriador, who fell under his power and devastates everything that rises in his path. . He is finally defeated by the joint attack of the Elves in the north and the Númenóreans in the south: this is Sauron's second great defeat. Upon being defeated, Sauron flees to the east where he takes refuge and attempts to regain power from him.
The end of Annatar[]
At the end of the Second Age Sauron is the most powerful lord of Middle Earth. This arouses the anger and envy of Ar-Phârazon, the last king of Númenor, who goes to the Shores of Umbar (Númenórean Domain), with a powerful army and demands Sauron to surrender him, on pain of destroying him. The Dark Lord agrees to surrender and goes as a prisoner to Númenor, not because they could really attack Sauron, who possessed the One Ring, but because their wishes were to infiltrate Númenor and persuade King Ar-Phârazon to worship the darkness, to desire eternal life, to reject the Elves and the Valar and to close the arrivals in port of the Elves of the Solitary Island.
He persuades him to attack Valinor and reveal himself against the Valar. The king heeds these councils and forms a great army (the largest in the entire history of Middle-earth) and goes to Tol Eressëa in order to invade Valinor. The wrath of the Valar is awakened and they request Ilúvatar to stop the ambitions of the Númenóreans, and he raises a great wave that causes the destruction and sinking of the island of Númenor from which his already declared enemy: Elendil is saved.
It is said in the story of the fall of Númenor that Sauron, caught by the great wave that destroyed this island, lost the ability to take a kind and beautiful form, that is, he lost the ability to transform into Annatar forever. But his dark spirit survived and he returned like an evil wind to Middle-earth, settling again in the Dark Tower. Henceforth, it being impossible for her to regain a form that seemed suitable in the eyes of men, only by force and fear did she retain his power.
The third defeat[]
Elendil's family and followers, who survived the destruction of Númenor, came to Middle-earth and founded the exiled kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, and subsequently formed with Gil-Galad, king of the Noldor of Middle-earth, the Last Alliance between Elves and Men. This alliance managed to defeat Sauron - her third defeat of him - of him, taking away the One Ring; but it was not destroyed, and it was lost. This new defeat was not final, as believed by the allies who thought that the evil had finally been eliminated, but temporary. In the One Ring the greatest and best part of Sauron's power remained intact but beyond his reach, causing him to return in the age that would come to retrieve it: as long as the Ring persisted, Sauron would remain alive.
In the Third Age of the Sun[]
Sauron was devoid of much of his former power after the loss of the Ring, so he acted with caution.
Sauron, as The Necromancer[]
He reappears in western Middle-earth around the year 1000, when he hid in Dol Guldur, on a hill in the south of the Great Green Forest (hereinafter called Black Forest), where he was known as "The Necromancer" (such and as narrated in The Hobbit ).
The Necromancer was originally believed to be one of the Nazgûl, until Gandalf secretly entered Dol Guldur and discovered that he was none other than Sauron. "Necromancer" is a word from the dark ages in Europe closely related to "Necromancy", but with slight nuances. "Necromancer" designates a sorcerer who has dealings with the spirits of the dead in order to reveal the future (primarily), or simply use them. The term "Necromancer" refers to whoever uses black or diabolical magic, understanding as such a source of evil power. This also includes "Necromancy" within the term "Necromancy", although the specific area of this is dealing with the dead ("necro-" is a prefix meaning "dead", while "nigro-" means 'black'). In this way, Sauron was known as the "Necromancer" for his corrupting powers of black magic, capable of dominating lesser dark spirits, and binding them to animals and men to give them terrible powers.
Subsequently, the White Council, having learned the true identity of the Necromancer, fought to expel him from the Mirkwood under the command and strategies of Saruman, then the leader of the Council. After seemingly succeeding, Sauron returned to Mordor, leading the Council to believe they had triumphed, where he rebuilt Barad-dûr and conjured around him an immense army of Southern men, orcs, and other evil creatures. In reality the strategy of the Council was not successful, because in this way Sauron consummated his plan to return to Mordor, where his hosts were already preparing, and in Minas Morgul the Nazgûl had already gathered again.
The War of the Ring[]
Sauron's ultimate end was almost consummated: he would have the power of the Noldor, which I desire most for his entire existence. Since they had used the Rings of Power, tied to his, he only had to find the One Ring and the Elves would fall under his power.
Sauron's forces were defeated at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, but the army of the West could not definitively defeat him if the Ring-bearer did not complete his mission.
He was ultimately defeated when Gollum fell with the One Ring into the fire of Mount Doom, thus destroying Sauron's main reservoir of evil power. With him, Sauron is said to become something less than a slight evil wind, and his power dissolves and fades from all corners of the world. It is said that Sauron will return at the end of time in the Dagor Dagorath, fighting alongside Morgoth and without having to resort to the One Ring. In that battle Sauron will find his end, as well as his master.
The transcendence of evil from Sauron[]
Sauron is defeated in 3019 of the Third Age of the Sun, without presenting battle to his main and most hated enemies: Círdan the Shipwright, Galadriel the White Lady of the Noldor and Elrond Half-elf, master of science and power. ; But the destruction of the Ruling Ring seals the end of the history of the High Elves in Middle-earth in the same way; The elven lords had used the power of the Three in their kingdoms, preserving unscathed everything that was around them, for this reason their kingdoms were the most beautiful on earth, and also the strongest, but the Three were not free of the Unique, and only the presence of the Unique One in the world kept the power latent in the Three.
Once the One was destroyed, the Three would lose all their power, sooner rather than later, causing everything made with them to wither and be lost in the pages of oblivion.
The High Elves could no longer live in a waning world, because their destiny was to always be in the world, so they set out for the lands that have the same destiny as them, sailed beyond the seas through the Straight Path, and arrived to Eressëa, never to return.