Sauron (Middle-earth)

"There is no life in the Void. Only death."

- Sauron to Frodo when he puts the One Ring on

Sauron is the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings franchise. During the first age, Sauron served under the Valar Morgoth, but after his master's "banishment" Sauron then took up the mantel and title of Dark Lord, creating the One Ring to use as a tool for enslaving the free people's of Middle Earth during the Second and Third Age.

Biography
Sauron was originally an Ainur more specifically a Maiar, a lesser Ainur, created by the God Eru Iluvatar as one of the followers of the Vala Aulë, called Mairon. He was eventually seduced by the power of the Vala Morgoth and became his chief lieutenant, this was until Morgoth was banished at the end of the First Age.

Second Age
In the Second Age, Sauron established himself in Mordor. He later went to the Elves of Eregion in the guise of Annatar and taught them how to create the Rings of Power. The twenty Rings of power were so created around the 16th century: the Elves made the Seven Rings and the Nine Rings with his influence, but also created the Three without his knowledge or influence. Sauron himself created the One Ring in Mount Doom in Mordor to control all the other rings; into this Ring he put part of his own life force and power.

Sauron revealed himself and went to war against the Elves, capturing the Seven and the Nine, which he gave to seven Dwarven and nine human leaders respectively. While the Dwarves could not be controlled, he gained power over the human ring-bearers. They became his servants and became the Nazgûl.

At some point, the last King of Numenor, Ar-Pharazôn, challenged Sauron for Lordship of Middle-Earth. Morder's armies fled in fear of Numenor's great armies and Sauron was captured and brought to Numenor. There he quickly grew from prisoner to adviser, using the numenorians contempt for the elves and velar to convince them to worship Morgoth hoping to restore his master.

As Ar-Pharazôn began to grow old, Sauron tricked him to attack the undying lands, saying that whoever rules the undying lands lives forever. Most numenorians were in favor of it, as they feared death, despite warnings from the elves and velar, Numenor sent a massive armada and army to seize the undying lands, in response, Iluvatar(The God of Arda) sunk Ar-Pharazôn's fleet and imprisoned the king and hios troops inside a cave where they remain to this day) and sank Numenor, Sauron survived and returned to Mordor. As punishment for his role in the destruction of Numenor, Sauron could no longer assume an attractive form, for that is what he had used to seduce the Numenoreans.

Towards the end of the Second Age the Last Alliance of Elves and Men fought against him near and in Mordor.

After a years-long siege of his fortress Barad-dur, Sauron himself went out. He killed King Elendil and the High Elf King Gil-galad but his physical body was in turn destroyed by them after a fierce fight; only after Elendil's son Isildur cut of the Ring from his hand with the remains of his father's sword Narsil. Isildur kept the Ring as a weregeld against, the counsel of the elves Elrond and Círdan who asked him to destroy it. Because the One Ring contained part of Sauron's power, Sauron himself did not die fully, but was able to reform again and retake his old position.

Third Age
His spirit went into hiding for an age. He soon captured Gollum and, after torturing him, discovered that Bilbo Baggins of the Shire had the Ring. So he sent the Nazgûl to find Frodo (who now had the ring), kill him, and take the ring back to Sauron so he could take his full powers again. Saruman also joined forces with Sauron, who commanded him to build him an army for Mordor. Saruman crossed orcs with men to make an army of Uruk-hai, but most of them were killed in the Battle fo the Hornburg that took place in the land of Rohan.

After his defeat at the Hornburg, Sauron decided to attack Gondor, and sent an army of orcs, Southrons and Easterlings over to Minas Tirith to destroy it. The soldiers of Gondor fought against the army, which also had several trolls and Oliphaunts in it; they were later helped to gain victory by the Riders of Rohan, led by King Théoden, and by an army of soldiers brought by Aragorn from Gondor southern fiefs.

Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam entered Mordor through the secret passage of Cirith Ungol; Sauron nearly discovered Frodo and Sam, but his attention was diverted away from them when the Army of the West (led by Aragorn, Gandalf, Eomer and Prince Imrahil) came to draw out his forces to give Frodo and Sam a chance to get to Mount Doom. Eventually they reached Mount Doom, but Frodo decided to take the ring for himself at the last second. Gollum attacked and bit Frodo's finger off, taking the ring back, but overjoyed by his conquest he didn't pay attention and fell in the lava pit along with his "precious". This completely obliterated Sauron powers and sent him into the Void where is master Morgoth already was; in the process the very foundations of Barad-dûr and the Black Gate were destroyed, and Mordor's host of Orcs, Trolls and beasts were all destroyed too.

The Hobbit trilogy
While he was only mentioned in the book, Sauron will appear in the prequel trilogy of The Hobbit as the Necromancer. It is unknown what this form will look like (as he lacks physical form after his fight with Isildur and has not yet become the Eye). Like Smaug, he will be portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films
Sauron naturally appears in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films, although various changes were made.

Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor, forged the One Ring to Rule them All in the fires of Mount Doom. He conquered many lands in Middle Earth, until the Last Alliance of Men and Elves fought against him on the slopes of Mount Doom. They defeated his army of orcs easily, but Sauron proved to be a bigger challenge. He massacred and killed many of the men and elves and killed the Gondor King, Elendil, with a mace.

Elendil's son Isildur grabbed his father's sword, but Sauron stepped on it, breaking it. Isildur cut off Sauron's fingers, including the one with the One Ring on it, destroying Sauron's body, but he survived as a spirit, unable to die unless the One Ring was destroyed, which could only be done if it was thrown into the fires of Mount Doom where it was forged.

Many years later, after the One Ring was found by Gollum, and later taken by Bilbo Baggins, Sauron became obsessed with finding the ring. Over the 17 years after Bilbo gave the ring to Frodo, Sauron regained much of his former strength, though unable to take physical form, he existed as an eye, called the Eye of Sauron, shown as a real manifestation on top of Barad-dûr. Saruman also went over to his side and he sent the Ringwraiths after Frodo to kill him and take the One Ring back. They failed.

Saruman sent an army of 10,000 Uruk-hai to invade Rohan, but eventually they were defeated when Gandalf, the Rohirrim and the Ents of Fangorn Forest arrived. Saruman himself was killed by Gríma Wormtongue at Isengard and Wormtongue was killed by Legolas. Sauron's defeat at Helm's Deep showed him that the men were still able to resist him, and so he decided to attack Gondor with another powerful army of orcs, led by the hideous orc Gothmog and the Witch-king of Angmar. The men of Gondor and Rohan fought against them, but it wasn't until Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli showed up with the Army of the Dead that Sauron's army was defeated. In the battle, the Witch-King was killed by Éowyn, and Gothmog was killed by Aragorn and Gimli.

In the meantime, Frodo and Sam were making their way into Mordor with the One Ring to destroy it. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Éomer, Merry, Pippin, and what remained of the men of Gondor and Rohan went to the Black Gates to draw Sauron's army out and his attention away from the two hobbits. Gollum attacked Frodo and Sam as they made their way up Mount Doom. In the end, Frodo decided to keep the ring for himself, and put it on, thus attracting the attention of Sauron and the eight remaining Nazgûl. Before anything else could happen, however, Gollum bit Frodo's finger off and took the ring back. Frodo fought Gollum, resulting in them both falling over the cliff. Frodo held onto the edge and survived and he and Sam escaped, but Gollum fell into the lava with the One Ring. With the ring destroyed, Sauron could no longer survive. Barad-dûr collapsed, and Sauron was destroyed in a shock wave of energy that collapsed the foundations of Mordor and in the process, ALL of his forces died too along with him while the eight remaining Nazgul were all destroyed by the fires of Mt. Doom therefore, freeing Middle-Earth and destroying all evil in Middle-Earth forever.

Lego Game Lord of the Rings
Sauron also appeared in the new and well known Lego Game: Lord of the Rings and the same events happened in the game too as well.

How to unlock Sauron as a playable character in the game, there will be a bonus level where the player gets to play as Sauron and his messenger, Mouth of Sauron.

After getting 1,000,000 studs (which is the only way to finish the bonus level), the level will be completed and then your reward will be the unlocktion of the playable characters: Mouth of Sauron and Sauron.

Allusions in other works

 * Sauron appeared in a Family Guy episode as the Eye of Sauron, having lost his contact lens.
 * Sauron is the main character of Legendary Frog's parody series of flash videos, One Ring to Rule them All. In the first video, he hires Wayne the goblin as his evil henchman, receives some evil pizza he ordered, and hears from Wayne that the union of orcs are on strike. The second video follows the plot of Frodo and Sam going to Mordor to destroy the One Ring, but Sauron stupidly attempts to lower them into the fires of Mount Doom with the ring, oblivious to the fact that the ring will be destroyed, and it eventually is during the battle with Gollum, who spits the ring into the lava, but Sauron and Wayne survive. In the third video, Sauron receives a visit from his old master (or college roommate) Melkor, who steals his spices and seasonings for Legolas, who ironically is hired by Sauron to steal Wayne's girlfriend, a hippie elf chick, back from him. Sauron is portrayed as extremely stupid and often says "The One Ring... TO RULE THEM ALL!"
 * In an episode of Supernatural, Season 7, a character refers to Dick Roman as the Eye of Sauron.
 * Sauron is confirmed to have inspired My Little Pony antagonist King Sombra, who looks slightly similar in appearance and is stripped of his physical form by Celestia and Luna, leaving him in shadow form. Meghan McCarthy said he is meant to be a "dark presence". Ironically, his horn looks similar to Sauron's spikes in Legendary Frog's videos.
 * Dark Mind, the final boss from Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, is similar in appearance to the Eye of Sauron.
 * Lord Darkar, the main villain of Season 2 of Winx Club, shares some similarities to Sauron before he lost his power, and may have been inspired by him.

Trivia

 * Despite being the main antagonist and having the series named after him, Sauron doesn't have many appearances, and has few lines (the longest of which being "Build me an army worthy of Mordor" and "There is no life in the void, only death".
 * The way Sauron dies is similar to Jafar, who is destroyed when Iago kicks his lamp into the lava
 * Sauron is often compared to three other Dark Lords: Emperor Palpatine and Darth Nihilus both from Star Wars and Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter. The latter also loses his physical form from what would have been a mortal blow had it not been for an object (or objects, in his case) containing a piece of his soul. Out of these four Dark Lords, only Sauron never got to rule the world (although Palpatine, Nihilus and Voldemort all faced a rebellion and lost), although he came close when he forged the One Ring.
 * He is also compared to, and possibly inspired by, Satan however this is more likely to belong Morgoth due to him corrupting Sauron.
 * He was originally intended to somehow return to physical form and fight Aragorn at the tail end of the Battle of the Black Gate, but the filmmakers decided against it and replaced Sauron with a powerful troll. Sketches of the intended battle were shown in a bonus feature on one of the disks of the Extended Edition, under "Abandoned Concept: Aragorn vs. Sauron."
 * Another difference from the book is that while Sauron takes the form of a great eye in the film, unable to take physical form without the ring, Gollum implies in the books that he still has a physical form and the eye is only a shadow of him; he says Sauron has four fingers on one hand.