Sauron (Middle-earth)

"You cannot hide. I see you. There is no life in the Void. Only death."

- Sauron to Frodo when he puts the One Ring on.

Sauron, once a noble Maia known as Mairon, is the main antagonist of the Arda universe of J.R.R. Tolkien, which is mainly focused on Middle-earth, and ultimately the main antagonist of the Middle-earth legendarium (with Morgoth as the ultimate antagonist). He is also the titular main antagonist of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic high fantasy epic, The Lord of the Rings, the secondary antagonist of mythopoeic novel, The Silmarillion, a major antagonist in The Children of Húrin, the ultimate antagonist of The Hobbit, and the secondary antagonist of The History of Middle-earth.

He is the main antagonist of the animated movie series, serving as the main antagonist in The Lord of the Rings (which is also the name of the original novel) and in Return of the King (also the name of Part III of the novel The Lord of the Rings). He does not appear in The Hobbit film in 1977 at all.

Sauron is also the main antagonist of the Middle-earth film saga, first appearing as the titular main antagonist of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. 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.

In the live action adaptations by Sir Peter Jackson, Sauron was portrayed by Sala Baker, and voiced by the late Alan Howard in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In The Hobbit trilogy, he was played by the famous legendary actor, Benedict Cumberbatch, who also played Smaug in the same trilogy.

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
"In my story Sauron represents as near an approach to the wholly evil will as is possible. He had gone the way of all tyrants: beginning well, at least on the level that while desiring to order all things according to his own wisdom he still at first considered the (economic) well-being of other inhabitants of the Earth. But he went further than human tyrants in pride and the lust for domination, being in origin an immortal (angelic) spirit. Sauron desired to be a God-King, and was held to be this by his servants, by a triple treachery:


 * 1) Because of his admiration of Strength he had become a follower of Morgoth and fell with him down into the depths of evil, becoming his chief agent in Middle Earth.
 * 2) When Morgoth was defeated by the Valar finally he forsook his allegiance; but out of fear only; he did not present himself to the Valar or sue for pardon, and remained in Middle Earth.
 * 3) When he found how greatly his knowledge was admired by all other rational creatures and how easy it was to influence them, his pride became boundless."

- J.R.R. Tolkien regarding Sauron's personality in his letters.

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
Sauron was among the mightiest of the Maiar, possibly the greatest. However, the extent, nature, and specifics of Sauron's power are largely left to the imagination.

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.

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
Sauron appears as the main antagonist in The Lord of the Rings: Conquest in the Good campaign, and the main protagonist of the same game in the Evil campaign.

Lego Game The Lord of the Rings
Sauron also appeared in the new 2012 Lego Game: Lego The Lord of the Rings.

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, the 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 to unlock the playable characters: Mouth of Sauron and Sauron.

Lego Game The Hobbit
Sauron is also featured in the 2014 Lego videogame of The Hobbit as well, appearing as a collectable minifigure in both fiery form and necromancer form.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Sauron appears as one of two main antagonists, along with the Black Hand, in Middle-earth: Shadows of Mordor.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War
Sauron appears as one of two main antagonists, along with the Witch-King of Angmar, in Middle-earth: Shadows of War.

Sauron's Commanders

 * Azog
 * The Witch-King of Angmar
 * Gothmog (Lieutenant of Morgul)
 * Grishnákh
 * The Mouth of Sauron
 * Khamûl
 * Bolg

Allies and Armies

 * Saruman the White
 * Mouth of Sauron
 * Orcs
 * Smaug
 * Nazgûl
 * Barrow-wights
 * Hand of Sauron
 * The Haradrim
 * Bill Ferny
 * Uruks
 * Easterlings
 * Black Númenóreans
 * Watcher in the Water
 * Fellbeasts
 * Trolls
 * Great Spiders
 * Dunlendings
 * Corsairs of Umbar
 * Werewolves
 * Wargs
 * Dragons
 * Scatha
 * Snaga
 * Morgoth's Army
 * Army of Angmar
 * Vampires
 * Sauron's army
 * Saruman's army
 * Half-orcs
 * Giant Bats
 * Bill Ferny Sr.
 * Orcobal
 * Balcmeg
 * Army of the Dead
 * Boldog
 * Variags
 * Men of Carn Dûm
 * Berúthiel
 * Squint-eyed Southerner
 * Hobgoblin
 * King's Men
 * King of the Dead
 * Thuringwethil
 * Guritz
 * Narzug
 * Murgash
 * Shagrat
 * Gorbag
 * The Squint
 * Wicked Dwarves
 * Wraiths
 * Were-worms
 * Muzgash
 * Mumakil
 * Minas Morgul Cavalry
 * Lagduf
 * Giants
 * Crebain
 * Queen Berúthiel's cats
 * Draugluin
 * Fuinur
 * Radbug
 * Great Beasts
 * Ufthak

Reception
Sauron is often ranked as one of the greatest and most iconic villains, in movies, in literature and of all. He was ranked as #12 on Wizard's "Top 100 Greatest Villains" list. Complex ranked Sauron as #37 on their "50 Best Villains in Movie History" list, saying "Without him, there'd be no long-### trek to a get rid of a piece of jewellery." WatchMojo ranked him, alongside Saruman, as #7 on their "Top 10 Iconic Movie Villains" list and, individually, #1 on their "Top 10 Fantasy Villains" list. The Telegraph ranked Sauron as #25 on their "50 greatest villains in literature" list. Shortlist listed Sauron as one of the "40 Greatest Villains Of Literature". IGN ranked Sauron as #22 on their "Top 100 Villains" list. MTV ranked Sauron as #31 on their "Top 50 Villains Of All Time" list. Stylist ranked him as one of the "Top 30 Villains in Literature".

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. He is portrayed as extremely stupid and often says “The 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * The Ore Club from the Kid Icarus series (also featured in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U) resembles the Eye of Sauron.
 * The Eye of Sauron has a cameo appearance in Gravity Falls.
 * In A Study In Fear, Atmos insults Sauron and similar villains, as they are the cause of him being overworked to study the secretly dark and macabre in film. Sauron sends down the Hand of Sauron, a basic minion of darkness, to threaten him with a wooden sword. After Atmos apologises, Sauron knocks him unconscious and takes over his body.
 * X-Men villain Sauron (Marvel) is named after the titular lord of the rings.
 * Sauron appeared as a supporting antagonist in The LEGO Batman Movie, where he was voiced by Jemaine Clement. His goal here is to kill Batman and his gang, which he failed.

Trivia

 * Despite being the main antagonist and having the novel and film trilogy named after him, Sauron doesn't have many appearances, and only appears in the novel three times (two appearances in his Eye form, though he still has a physical form, and one appearance in his shadow form).
 * However, his presence is there throughout the entire story, and in the film trilogy, his Eye form is constantly seen. In the film trilogy, his shadow form is never seen after the One Ring is destroyed, and he remains in his Eye form.
 * 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."
 * The reason why the scene was cut was because it was not in the novel, and Peter Jackson felt it would take the focus away from Frodo and Sam. Furthermore, he believed that it would take away from Aragorn's act of sacrifice.
 * Another difference from the original novel 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 his battle symbol; he says Sauron has only four fingers on one hand.
 * Interestingly, Sauron never appears in physical form in the novel, and only appears twice in the form of his own insigna, the Eye. However, he is still able to take physical form.
 * The character is spoofed in My Life As A Teenage Robot as the eye villain Infrared Ivan.
 * Sauron is the main antagonist in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ​as the story is about him, and he is the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King​ as well as it too is about him and his final attack on Middle-earth. However, Saruman is the central antagonist of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ​even though Sauron has a bigger role in it.

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