Race:Unknown
Age:Unknown
Alignment:Evil
Height:Unknown
Weight:Unknown
Ruler of Middle Earth during the third age, and
lord of Mordor; servant of Morgoth during the Elder Days
and the supreme force od Evil through the two subsequent
ages; Black Master of the land of Mordor, Eye of the Dark
Tower, Seducer, Betrayer, and Shadow of Despair;
Lord of the Rings of Power. A discussion of Saurons true
nature would necessitate an inquiry into the intrinsic
nature of evil itself, since he later became -though
he had not always been-the focus for all the greed,
lust and terrible energy which was to be found in Middle
Earth during the two ages of his supremacy. All evil
gravitated to him, just as he himself was its ultimate source;
and though he was,in the end, like Morgoth before him,
cast out into The Void forever, the mischeif he had committed
during the long years of his, ascendancy could never be
wholly inmade. and he has his many successors. Yet nothing
is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so. Concerning
his origins, only the Eldar had certain knowledge,
and of this they did not speak, nor did they set it down
in the books of lore(so far as it is known). For these
reasons alone it would seem likely to later scholars
that Sauron himslef was ultimately of Eldarin race, seduced
into evil far back in the first age, when he became
a servant of a great power, Morgoth of Angband. Morgoth
was the name given to the one the great Valar whose
greed and fall from grace brought about a change in the
world and exile of the High Elves from the Undying
lands during the Elder Days. He stole the three
Silmarilli, which had been made by the elf craftsman
Feanor, and fled with them into Middle Earth, establishing
himself in a great fortress called Thangorodrim, where
he guarded the jewels. Thither the enraged High Elves
followed him for in their grief at their loss they elected
to forsake the Blessed Realm and return to Middle
Earth, coming out of the west with war to wrest from
Morgoth that which he had taken from them. To resist
the high elves Morgoth enlisted aid from many creatures
and powers; and when this was not enough he attempted
to creat his own servants from brutish stock. And when even
then the Eldar began to prevail he attempted to seduce
some of the mighty among his enemies away from his
people so they may serve him and ensure his victory.
Of these great matters little can now be said with
any surity. It is certain that the Dark Power that the north
was partially successful in his task(like Sauron himself,
a fuller age later, when he seduced the elves of Eregion),
and that some at least of the Noldor(High Elves) went
over to his side-at what cost to the Eldar, and their
allies the Edain, can only be imagined. Saurons name
first appears in records about this time and it may
therefor be hazarded that he was in origin one-and probably
the greatest of those High Elves subourned to Morgoth's
purpose. It has been recorded(in the lay of Luthien)
that Sauron imprisoned Beren of the Edain, in that
therefor he must have been a power in his own right. At
all events, the servant survived where the master
did not, and with the coming of the host of the Valar
the cause of Evil in the first age was ended. So great
was the destruction wrought among Morgoth's many servants
that for awhile, the Eldar believed that Evil had been
ended forever. But Sauron somehow survived the breaking
of Thangorodrim, though he remained in a deep sleep
which remained for some 500 years. Then he awakened and,
as he began to formulate his plans he became aware
of the growing power of Numenor across the seas and of
the host of his former enemies who still dwelt in the
westlands of Middle Earth, a bar between him and his
domination over mortal lands. Alarmed by the strength
of both the elves and the Numenorians, Sauron then
began to seek a land which he could fortify after the
long manner of Angband of old, where such he could build
a new Thangorodrim as a fortress for his might. Such
a land lay empty a way toward the south and the east
, behind impassable mountain walls, and in the center stood
a mighty volcano whose ageo old fores had covered the plain
roundabout with layer upon layer of dark ash. This forsaken
land Sauron took for his own and it was named Mordor,
the Black Land. There he built his Dark Tower, the
Barad Dur, and there he dwelt throughout the second
age. Although in later years Saurons appearance grew
hateful so that his power then lay in terror alone-
at the time of his rise he was still fair of aspect and
form. Accordingly, he determined upon treachery and
deciet as his chief weapon. Gil-Galad, Elven king of Lindon,
whome Sauron, forst approached, nonetheless percieved
his true nature and refused all dealings with him. Not
so with other elves; Celebrimbor of Eregion, greatest
of surviving craftsmen was less wise in these matters
than Gil-Galad and made a covenant with Sauron, where
by each provided the other with knowledge, together
they began to form the Rings of Power. It was by this means
that Sauron of Mordor made himself supreme in Middle
earth for the remainder of the second age. He aided the
elven smiths in their great task and secretly wrought
the One Ring to rule all the lesser rings-which then passed
under his control so long as their owners wore them.
This brought at last the revelation of his true nature,
and the Elves made war upon him. Too late; his strength
was already greater than theirs, and Eregion was
overrun, and Celebrimbor slain. Only Gil-Galad held out
and even he would have been defeated had not aid arrived from
Numenor in th nick of time. In this way the Edain
of Numenor renewed their ancestral alliance with the
elves-and so gained for themselves, the chief hatred
of the Lord of the Rings. Sauron was forced to withdraw
from Eriador and turn his interest eastward for strong
though he was, his power did not compare with that of
Numenor and he could wait. Nonetheless his writ ran
throughout most of the Middle Earth for the remainded
of the second age, and many peoples endured the full
weight of his tyranny. Yet all the time the island realm
of Numenor continued to gain in strength over the
horizon, and the day of their second clash grew near.
In 3261 Secong Age the long expected fleets appeared off
Umbar, yet so great was the power of the host led by Ar-Pharazon
the Golden, that Saurons own armies melted away and
he was left defenseless, yet not all of his skills deserted
him, percieving that the King of Numenor was a vain
man, Sauron humbled himself and appealed to his mercy
and the pride of Pharazon, who did not make an end of
him but carried him back, a prisoner to Numenor.
There Saurons bold gifts for dominance and betrayal quickly
reasserted themselves and he made himself Pharazons
chief counselor. Where he had been captive less than
fifty years when, at his investigation, an aging
Ar-Pharazon gave orders for the assembly of the great
Armament. In 3319 the host put to sea and sailed into
the west to give battle for the Undying Lands.
In the ensuing downfall of Numenor, Saurons mortal body
was destroyed but his spirit survived and fled back to
Middle earth shapeless and vengeful. He was never again
able to appear in a pleasing form, but istead became a
dark Lord, terrible of aspect, Black and burning hot,
with a single lidless eye, rimmed with fire. Yellow
as a cats, and the black slit of its pupil opened on a
pit, a window of nothing. Hiding in Mordor for awhile,
he learned that a remnant of the Numenoreans
had escaped him and were even then building mighty realms
in exile upon his borders, mustering his despersed armies
with furious speed Sauron struck, proposing to sweep the
newcomers into the sea; in 3429 Second Age he came across
the pass of Cirith Ungol, capturing Minas Ithil, and
driving the Dunedain back across the Anduin. But once
more he had underestimated his foes, they made alliance
against him. They broke his armies, and laid seige against
the Dark Tower itself; in a final combat with Gil-Galad
and Elendil, Sauron was cast down and his Ring was taken
from him. For the first thousand years of the first age
Sauron slept and the westland had peace from him. But
slowely he began to take shape once more. Though at
this time he was too weak to recapture Mordor, which was
essential to his greater purpose, but which was closely
guarded by the Dunedain of Gondor. Instread he chose
the smaller fortress of Dol Gulder in Greenwood the Great.
There he began to hatch his plots once more; evil stirred
in the forest; orcs and trolls reappeared in great numbers
and wolves howled at its borders. Greenwood was renamed
Mirkwood and the power of the necromancer of Dol Gulder
was spoken of with dread. In the mean time, desiring
to strike at his enemies but seeing no hope at that time
in an assault upon Gondor, Sauron sent his chief
servant, the Lord of the Ringwraiths, northward into Eriador
with the purpose of destroying the North kingdom of
the Dunedain. How this task was faithfully carried through
to a fearful conclusion was told elsewhere. Indeed, for most
of the third age this most terrible servant worked assiduously
on his masters behalf, and Saurons foes were
frustrated by his capable hand. The eventual
destruction of the north kingdom freed Sauron and his servants
to work for the destruction of Gondor, and the
weakening of the south kingdom allowed Mordor to be
reopened and occupied by the Nazgul. Yet throughout much
of the third age Sauron continued to engage in policies
of secrecy and consealment. He lay hidden in Dol Gulder
creating the grand designs while his servants harried
his foes, growing ever more powerful even while the wise
debated even if he had awakened at all. Above everything
else he desired to recover the Ruling Ring, for by the
fact of his own existence Sauron knew it had not
been destroyed; and to this end he bent all his guile
during the remaining years of the age. In the end he
was driven from Dol Gulder before his spies could
discover the Rings whereabouts and soon afterwards he came
openly to Mordor once more and proclaimed himself. However
being cautious and wishing his time to be certain of
victory before striking the Dark Lord forbore to attack
his foes until the ring should come within his grasp.
But his enemies(who indeed, as he feared, possessed his
ring), made their own moves even while he hesitated;
and in the final campaign that was made against him
Saurons armies were defeated in the hour of victory,
his plans were brought to nothing, his servants were
destroyed, the Dark Tower was cast down-and the Ruling
Ring itself, the fount of all his hopes, was melted in
the fires of Mount Doom. So ended the third age and so
passed the power of Sauron the Great. He was cast into
the Void forever, so they thought, and the fear
of his domination was lifted from the world. Now
that Sauron has been reawakened, and has found that
his former lord is at his side, Strives for the power
that he once again had. And now, with the Lord of
Thangorodrim and the Lord of Barad Dur united, things
look bleak for Middle Earth.