Overview
Sauron is a Maia of Aulë who served Morgoth and then tried to rule the world himself. He is a deceiver before he is a conqueror: he forged the Rings by pretending friendship and bent the wills of the great through craft and domination.
Biography
Lieutenant of Morgoth
As a Maia of Aulë, Sauron was learned in making. He served Morgoth in Angband and was the most trusted of his servants.
The Rings
In the Second Age, as Annatar, he taught the smiths of Eregion to make the Rings of Power, then secretly forged the One Ring in Orodruin to control them.
War and ruin
The Last Alliance overthrew him and cut the Ring from his hand, but he endured in spirit. In the Third Age he rose again in Dol Guldur and then Mordor, and sought the Ring.
Fall
His attention was fixed on the Ring; when it went into the fire, his power was unmade and he passed as a shadow.
Character
Personality
- Cunning
- Domineering
- Order-obsessed
- Deceptive
- Cruel
Abilities & limits
Strengths
- Shape and craft
- Domination of lesser wills
- Command of the Nine and of armies
- Immense fortitude
Limitations
- Cannot create life
- His malice blinds him to pity and smallness
- Bound to the Ring
Deeds
- Forged the One Ring
- Brought about the Downfall of Númenor
- Built Barad-dûr
- Waged the War of the Ring
Relationships
In the histories
Artifacts
ArtifactThe One Ring
Sauron's master-ring, forged in secret to dominate the other Rings of Power and their bearers. Its passage through Middle-earth drives the central drama of The Lord of the Rings.
ArtifactThe Nine Rings of Men
The nine Rings given to mortal lords, whose wearers were stretched into unending life and became the Ringwraiths, the Nazgul, Sauron most terrible servants.
ArtifactThe Seven Dwarf Rings
Seven Rings given to the seven houses of the Dwarves. They bred wealth and gold-lust rather than the wraithdom Sauron intended, and most were consumed by dragons or reclaimed by their maker.
ArtifactThe Palantiri
Seven great seeing-stones made in the Elder Days, brought to Middle-earth by the Numenoreans. Powerful, difficult and easily turned to evil, they play a decisive part in the War of the Ring.
In adaptation
Adaptation note
- The Rings of Power compresses the Second Age and depicts Sauron in multiple guises, including “Halbrand”, a device without basis in the texts.
Sources
The Lord of the Rings · 1954–55
Three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
The Silmarillion · 1977
Posthumously edited. Contains the Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akallabêth and Of the Rings of Power.
Unfinished Tales · 1980
Expanded and alternative accounts of the First, Second and Third Ages.
Related entries
CharacterMorgoth
The first Dark Lord, a fallen Vala whose discord marred Arda and whose wars shaped the First Age.
Isildur
King of Gondor and Arnor who cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand, then kept it and was slain by Orcs.
Elendil
Survivor of Númenor and first High King of the Dúnedain in Middle-earth, who founded Gondor and Arnor.
CharacterGaladriel
An Elven-queen of the Noldor, wielder of Nenya, and one of the wisest and most powerful figures remaining in Middle-earth.
CharacterGandalf
A Wizard of the Istari, keeper of the Elven-ring Narya, and the chief architect of the resistance to Sauron.
CharacterSaruman
The chief of the Wizards, whose study of Sauron’s power corrupted him into a would-be rival lord.
CharacterGollum
A Stoor-hobbit ruined by the One Ring, who guides Frodo and Sam toward Mordor and finally destroys the Ring by accident.
CharacterThe Witch-king of Angmar
The chief of the Nazgûl, a Ringwraith and Sauron’s most feared captain, slain by Éowyn and Merry.
CharacterAragorn
The heir of Isildur, raised in Rivendell in secret, who becomes King Elessar and reunites the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor.