Sauron, Dark Lord of Middle-Earth

[Balrog]

His obvious powers, like making the Rings, were left out; if people don't know that by now, they must've search the real estate market for a big enough rock to hid under.

‘Among those of [Melkor’s] servants that have names the greatest was that spirit whom the Eldar called Sauron, or Gorthaur the Cruel. In his beginning he was a Maia of Aulë, and he remained mighty in the lore of that people. In all the deeds of Melkor the Morgoth upon Arda, in his vast works and in the deceits of his cunning, Sauron had a part, and was only less evil than his master in that for long he served another and not himself. But in years after he rose like a shadow of Morgoth and a ghost of his malice, and he walked behind him on the same ruinous path into the void.’

Sauron in the First Age

‘But at length, after the fall of Fingolfin, Sauron, greatest and most terrible of the servants of Morgoth…came against Orodreth, the warden of the tower upon Tol Sirion. Sauron was now a sorcerer of dreadful power, master of shadows and of phantoms, foul in wisdom, cruel in strength, misshaping what he touched, twisting what he ruled, lord of werewolves; his dominion was torment. He took Minas Tirith by assault, for a dark cloud of fear fell upon those that defended it; and Orodreth was driven out, and fled to Nargothrond. Then Sauron made it into a watchtower for Morgoth, a stronghold of evil and a menace; and the fair island of Tol Sirion became accursed, and it was called Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves. No living creature could pass through that vale that Sauron did not espy from the tower where he sat.’

This is the first time we see Sauron engage in open combat, and it implies he took the tower by himself. Minas Tirith was an valuable watch tower guarding the Pass of Sirion, an important passage from the North into the rest of Beleriand, and Orodreth was a powerful Elven lord in his own right, one of the sons of Finarfin (himself the third son of Finwe, High King of the Noldor). That Sauron accomplished this through his own power speaks highly of his great sorcery (as if his long-winded introduction wasn't enough).

‘On a time in autumn [Gorlim] came in the dusk of evening, and drawing near [his house] he saw as he thought a light in the window; and coming warily he looked within. There he saw Eilinel, and her face was worn with grief and hunger, and it seemed to him that he heard her voice lamenting that he had forsaken her. But even as he cried aloud the light was blown out in the wind; wolves howled, and on his shoulder he felt suddenly the heavy hands of Sauron’s hunters.

…

Now Gorlim would have drawn back, but daunted by the eyes of Sauron he told at last all that he would know. Then Sauron laughed; and he mocked Gorlim, and revealed to him that he had only seen a phantom devised by wizardry to entrap him; for Eilinel was dead. “Nonetheless I will grant thy prayer,” said Sauron; “and though shalt go to Eilinel, and be set free of my service.” Then he put him cruelly to death.’

Sauron displays his powers over "shadows and phantoms" as was described in the first text. How elaborate and complex he can make these phantoms is unknown, but in this case he was able to fool a veteran guerilla fighter who'd been able to survive in a rather hostile wilderness for some time.

‘Therefore an army was sent against [Beren] under the command of Sauron; and Sauron brought werewolves, fell beasts inhabited by dreadful spirits that he had imprisoned in their bodies.’

Sauron is responsible for the creation of werewolves (who, it appears, are more akin to very large and mean wolves rather then some anthropomorphic fantasy)

‘By the arts of Felagund their own forms and faces were changed into the likeness of Orcs; and thus disguised they came far upon their northward road, and ventured into the western pass, between Ered Wethrin and the highlands of Taur-nu-Fuin. But Sauron in his tower was ware of them, and doubt took him; for they went in haste, and stayed not to report their deeds, as was commanded to all the servants of Morgoth who passed that way. Therefore he sent to waylay them, and bring them before him.

Thus befell the contest of Sauron and Felagund which is renowned. For Felagund strove with Sauron in songs of power, and the power of the King was very great; but Sauron had the mastery, as is told in the Lay of Leithian:

…

Then Sauron stripped from them their disguise, and they stood before him naked and afraid. But though their kinds were revealed, Sauron could not discover their names or their purposes.’

Sauron bests King Finrod Felagund, eldest son of Finarfin, in a contest of magical wills. These are the same Elven lords that took down Balrogs in their anger. So far, it's Sauron 2, Elves 0

‘But Luthien heard [Beren’s] answering voice, and she sang a song of greater power. The wolves howled, and the isle trembled. Sauron stood in the high tower, wrapped in his black thought; but he smiled hearing her voice, for he knew that it was the daughter of Melian. The fame and the beauty of Luthien and the wonder of her song had long gone forth from Doriath; and he thought to make her a captive and hand her over to the power of Morgoth, for his reward would be great.

Therefore he sent a wolf to the bridge. But Huan slew it silently. Still Sauron sent others one by one; and one by one Huan took them by the throat and slew them. Then Sauron sent Draugluin, a dread beast, old in evil, lord and sire of the werewolves of Angband. His might was great; and the battle of Huan and Draugluin was long and fierce. Yet at length Draugluin escaped, and fleeing back into the tower he died before Sauron’s feet; and as he died he told his master. “Huan is there!” Now Sauron knew well, as did all in that land, the fate that was decreed for the hound of Valinor, and it came into his thought that he himself would accomplish it. Therefore he took upon himself the form of a werewolf, and made himself the mightiest that had ever walked the world; and he came forth to win the passage of the bridge.

So great was the horror of his approach that Huan leaped aside. Then Sauron sprang upon Luthien; and she swooned before the vapour of his breath. But even as he came, falling she cast a fold of her dark cloak before his eyes; and he stumbled, for a fleeting drowsiness came upon him. Then Huan sprang. There befell the battle of Huan and Wolf-Sauron, and the howls and baying echoed in the hills, and the watchers on the walls of Ered Wethrin across the valley heard it afar and were dismayed.

But no wizardry nor spell, neither fang nor venom, nor devil’s art nor beast-strength, could overthrow Huan of Valinor; and he took his foe by the throat and pinned him down. Then Sauron shifted shape, from wolf to serpent, and from monster to his own accustomed form; but he could not elude the grip of Huan without forsaking his body utterly. Ere his foul spirit left its dark house, Luthien came to him, and said that he should be stripped of his raiment of flesh, and his ghost be sent quaking back to Morgoth, and she said: “There everlastingly they naked self shall endure the torment of his scorn, pierced by his eyes, unless thou yield to me the mastery of the tower.”

Then Sauron yielded himself, and Luthien took the mastery of the isle and all that was there; and Huan released him. And immediately he took the form of a vampire, great as a dark cloud across the moon, and he fled, dripping blood from his throat upon the trees, and he came to Taur-nu-Fuin, and dwelt there, filling it with horror.’

Sauron in all his shape-shifting glory. Here of course is the infamous Sauron vs. Luthien/Huan duel. However, it was hardly the straight-up fight between Sauron and the sacred hound of Valinor that most make it out to be. Huan backed down when Sauron first came at them, and he was all ready to take Luthien when her magical cloak (which among other things made her invisible and caused everyone around her to fall asleep, even Morgoth) got the best of him. Huan saw the opening and took advantage of it. That Sauron was outnumbered in this fight (Luthien being half-maiar, and Huan, being the sacred hunting hound of the Vala Orome, probably a maiar himself) should also not be forgotten.

Also, him turning into a vampire isn't him becoming a giant Dracula, as vampires in ME are described as having large bat-like wings for arms.

Sauron in the Second Age

‘And Sauron came. Even from his mighty tower of Barad-dur he came, and made no offer of battle. For he perceived that the power and the majesty of the Kings of the Sea surpassed all rumour of them, so that he could not trust even the greatest of his servants to withstand them; and he saw not his time yet to work his will with the Dunedain. And he was crafty, well skilled to gain with subtlety when force might not avail. Therefore he humbled himself before Ar-Pharazon and smoothed his tongue; and men wondered, for all that he said seemed fair and wise.’

…

Yet such was the cunning of his mind and mouth, and the strength of his hidden will, that ere three years passed he had become closest to the secret counsels of the King.’

Sauron displaying his more sublte powers. Note that at this time Sauron had already made the One Ring and the Ringwraithers with their aura of supernatural fear were under his command, and yet they would not be able to stand against the mighty army of Ar-Pharazon. At this point Numenor was at the height of its power, having learned much from the Elves both in Numenor and in Valinor (the White Tree of Numenor and later Gondor originated from a seedling from Valinor) and their host very large. Apparently Sauron has no trouble taking on small forces or individual combat, but against an army of Elven-like warriors even he can't go in mace a-swingin' (not that that was his style anyways, Gothmog was always the "bash 'em good" man for Morgoth)

‘Now the lightning increased and slew men upon the hills, and in the fields, and in the streets of the city; and a fiery bolt smote the dome of the Temple and shore it asunder, and it was wreathed in flame. But the Temple itself was unshaken, and Sauron stood there upon the pinnacle and defied the lightning and was unharmed; and in that hour men called him a god and did all that he would.’

Sauron shrugs off lightning like it's nothing.

‘For Sauron himself was filled with great fear at the wrath of the Valar, and the doom that Eru laid upon sea and land. It was greater far then aught he looked for, hoping only for the death of the Numenoreans and the defeat of their proud king. And Sauron, sitting in his black seat in the midst of the Temple, had laughed when he heard the trumpets of Ar-Pharazon sounding for battle; and again he laughed when he heard the thunder of the storm; and a third time, even as he laughed at his own thought, thinking what he would do now in the world, being rid of the Edain for ever, he was taken in the midst of his mirth, and his seat and his temple fell into the abyss. But Sauron was not of mortal flesh, and though he was robbed now of that shape in which he had wrought so great an evil, so that he could never again appear fair in the eyes of Men, yet his spirit rose out of the deep and passed as a shadow and a black wind over the sea, and came back to Middle-earth and to Mordor that was his home. There he took up again his great Ring in Barad-dur, and dwelt there, dark and silent, until he wrought himself a new guise, an image of malice and hatred made visible; and the Eye of Sauron the Terrible few could endure.’

The Fall of Numenor obviously greatly weakened Sauron; at the very least he lost some of his shape-shifting ability, if not other powers. This could explain why he lost the fight against Elendil, Gil-Galad, Isildur, Cirdan and Elrond during the Siege of Barad-dur, powerful as they all were; shape-shifting played a big part in his fight against Huan, and perhaps if he still kept that ability he could've turned into Wolf-Sauron and WTFPWN them. Of course, he wasn't totally powerless by that point...

‘The Ring misseth, maybe, the heat of Sauron’s hand, which was black and yet burned like fire, and so Gil-galad was destroyed; and maybe were the gold made hot again, the writing would be refreshed.’

Isildur's account of the duel with Sauron as was written down. Gil-galad was apparently destroyed by some immolation-style attack; whether it was a ranged attack or required Sauron to grab him, it doesn't say further.

Sauron in the Third Age

“I wonder if this is a contrivance of the Enemy,” said Boromir. “They say in my land that he can govern the storms in the Mountains of Shadow that stand upon the borders of Mordor. He has strange powers and many allies.”

“His arm has grown long indeed,” said Gimli, “if he can draw snow down from the North to trouble us here three hundred leagues away.”

“His arm has grown long,” said Gandalf.

First indication of Sauron's weather-controlling ability, Gandalf certainly doesn't deny Gimli's musing on the subject.

“Then I cannot help you much, not even with counsel,” said Elrond. “I can forsee very little of your road; and how your task is to be achieved I do not know. The Shadow has crept now to the feet of the Mountains, and draws nigh even to the borders of the Greyflood; and under the Shadow all is dark to me.”

“No, I did not find them,” said Gandalf. “There was a darkness over the valleys of Emyn Muil, and I did not know of their captivity, until the eagle told me.”

Based upon the essay on the Seeing Stones in Unfinished Tales there was an ability known as shrouding, whereby one could prevent someone from using the stones to spy upon you, and that Sauron probably knew this ability. And there are of course other examples, from Morgoth and Ungoliath, of evil creatures being able to hide themselves from the sight of others, usually described in terms of shadows. Though circumstantial, it is not a stretch to say that Sauron also has this similar ability, though it's often hidden in flowery imprecise language.

'And suddenly he felt the Eye. There was an eye in the Dark Tower that did not sleep. He knew that it had become aware of his gaze. A fierce eager will was there. It leaped towards him: almost like a finger he felt it, searching for him. Very soon it would nail him down, know just exactly where he was. Amon Lhaw it touched. It glanced upon Tol Brandir - he threw himself off the seat, crouching, covering his head with his grey hood.

He heard himself crying out: Never, never! Or was it: Verily I come, I come to you? He could not tell. Then as a flash from some other point of power there came to his mind another thought: Take it off! Take it off! Fool, take it off! Take off the Ring!

The two powers strove in him. For a moment, perfectly balanced between their two piercing points, he writhed, tormented. Suddenly he was aware of himself again. Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose, and with one remaining instant in which to do so. He took the Ring off his finger.'

“Some things he has seen, and others I have seen myself. The Ring now has passed beyond my help, or the help of any of the Company that set out from Rivendell. Very nearly it was revealed to the Enemy, but it escaped. I had some part in that: for I sat in a high place, and I strove with the Dark Tower; and the Shadow passed. Then I was weary, very weary, and I walked long in dark thought.”

Sauron fights a mental shoving match with Gandalf to dominate Frodo's mind. Though he was almost certainly helped by his connection to the Ring, it did take place some several hundred miles from the Dark Tower.

‘The skirts of the storm were lifting, ragged and wet, and the main battle had passed to spread its great wings over the Emyn Muil, upon which the dark thought of Sauron brooded for a while. Thence it turned, smiting the Vale of Anduin with hail and lightning, and casting its shadow upon Minas Tirith with threat of war. Then, lowering in the mountains, and gathering its great spires, it rolled on slowly over Gondor and the skirts of Rohan, until far away the Riders on the plain saw its black towers moving behind the sun, as they rode into the West.’

Again, Sauron demonstrates his ability of controlling various patterns of weather.

“Who are they? What are they?” asked Sam shuddering, turning to Frodo, who was now behind him.

“I don’t know,” said Frodo in a dreamlike voice. “But I have seen them too. In the pools when the candles were lit. They lie in all the pools, pale faces, deep deep under the dark water. I saw them: grim faces and evil, and noble faces and sad. Many faces proud and fair, and weeds in their silver hair. But all foul, all rotting, all dead. A fell light is in them.” Frodo hid his eyes in his hands. “I know not who they are; but I thought I saw there Men and Elves, and Orcs beside them.”

“Yes, yes,” said Gollum. “All dead, all rotten. Elves and Men and Orces. The Dead Marshes. There was a great battle long ago, yes, so they told him when Smeagol was young, when I was young before the Precious came. It was a great battle. Tall Men with long swords, and terrible Elves, and Orcses shrieking. They fought on the plain for days and months at the Black Gates. But the Marshes have grown since then, swallowed up the graves; always creeping, creeping.”

“But that is an age and more ago,” said Sam. “The Dead can’t be really there! Is it some devilry hatched in the Dark Land?”

“Who knows? Smeagol doesn’t know,” answered Gollum. “You cannot reach them, you cannot touch them. We tried once, yes, precious. I tried once; but you cannot reach them. Only shapes to see, perhaps, not to touch. No Precious! All dead.”

The possibility that Sauron created the Dead Marshes is raised, not that unlikely given his past abilities to create and control dead spirits.

‘At last, on the fifth morning since they took the road with Gollum, they halted once more. Before them dark in the dawn the great mountains reached up to roofs of smoke and cloud. Out from their feet were flung huge buttresses and broken hills that were now at the nearest scarce a dozen miles away. Frodo looked round in horror. Dreadful as the Dead Marshes had been, and the arid moors of the Noman-lands, more loathsome far was the country that the crawling day now slowly unveiled to his shrinking eyes. Even to the Mere of Dead Faces some haggard phantom of green spring would come; but here neither spring nor summer would ever come again. Here nothing lived, not even the leprous growths that feed on rottenness. The gasping pools were choked with ash and crawling muds, sickly white and grey, as if the mountains had vomited the filth of their entrails upon the lands about. High mounds of crushed and powdered rock, great cones of earth fire-blasted and poison-stained, stood like an obscene graveyard in endless rows, slowly revealed in the reluctant light.

They had come to the desolation that lay before Mordor: the lasting monument to the dark labour of its slaves that should endure when all their purposes were made void; a land defiled, diseased beyond all healing – unless the Great Sea should enter in and wash it with oblivion.’

The environmental effects of Mordorian industry. Not quite the level of Morgoth's Mt. Everest slag piles, but all the same a very damaging ability. Greenpeace would raise quite a fit (and get eaten by Orcs ).

‘The world was darkling. The very air seemed brown, and all things about were black and grey and shadowless; there was a great stillness. No shape of cloud could be seen, unless it were far away westward, where the furthest groping fingers of the great gloom still crawled onwards and a little light leaked through them. Overhead there hung a heavy roof, somber and featureless, and light seemed rather to be failing than growing.

Merry saw many folk standing, looking up and muttering; all their faces were grey and sad, and some where afraid. With a sinking heart he made his way to the king. Hirgon the rider of Gondor was there before him, and beside him stood now another man, like him and dressed alike, but shorter and broader. As Merry entered he was speaking to the king.

“It comes from Mordor, lord,” he said. “It began last night at sunset. From the hills in the Eastfold of your realm I saw it rise and creep across the sky, and all night as I rode it came behind eating up the stars. Now the great cloud hangs over all the land between here and the Mountains of Shadow; and it is deepening. War has already begun.”

A third and more blatant example of weather control.

“Indeed what is the good of even food and drink under this creeping shadow? What does it mean? The very air seems thick and brown! Do you often have such glooms when the wind is in the East?”

“Nay,” said Beregond, “this is no weather of the world. This is some device of his malice; some broil of fume from the Mountain of Fire that he sends to darken hearts and counsel. And so it doth indeed.”

For those people still too dense to get the above.

‘The bells of the day had scarcely rung out again, a mockery in the unlightened dark, when far away he saw fires spring up, across in the dim spaces where the walls of the Pelennor stood. The watchmen cried aloud, and all men in the City stood to arms. Now ever and anon there was a red flash, and slowly through the heavy air dull rumbles could be heard.

“They have taken the wall!” men cried. “They are blasting breaches in it. They are coming!”

Much is made of Saruman's explosives, but Sauron obviously had the tech as well. It's possible it's one of the things he gave the White Wizard as part of their "partnership". These bombs can also be launched by catapult:

But the engines did not waste shot upon the indomitable wall. It was no brigand or orc-chieftain that ordered the assault upon the Lord of Mordor’s greatest foe. A power and mind of malice guided it. As soon as the great catapults were set, with many yells and the creaking of rope and winch, they began to throw missiles marvelously high, so that they passed right above the battlement and fell thudding within the first circle of the City, and many of them by some secret art burst into flame as they came toppling down.’

‘At first [Sam] could see nothing. In his great need he drew out once more the phial of Galadriel, but it was pale and cold in his trembling hand and threw no light into that stifling dark. He was come to the heart of the realm of Sauron and the forges of his ancient might, greatest in Middle-earth; all other powers were here subdued.’

Quite evident, Mt. Doom is more then just a volcano, it's positively saturated with Sauron's power which has a negative influence on other abilities.

‘And far away, as Frodo put on the Ring and claimed it for his own, even in Sammath Naur the very heart of his realm, the Power in Barad-dûr was shaken, and the Tower trembled from its foundations to its proud and bitter crown. The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye piercing all shadows looked across the plain to the door that he had made; and the magnitude of his own folly was revealed to him in a blinding flash, and all the devices of his enemies were at last laid bare. Then his wrath blazed in consuming flame, but his fear rose like a vast black smoke to choke him. For he knew his deadly peril and the thread upon which his doom now hung.

From all his policies and webs of fear and treachery, from all his stratagems and wars his mind shook free; and throughout his realm a tremor ran, his slaves quailed, and his armies halted, and his captains suddenly steerless, bereft of will, wavered and despaired. For they were forgotten. The whole mind and purpose of the Power that wielded them was now bent with overwhelming force upon the Mountain. At his summons, wheeling with a rending cry, in a last desperate race there flew, faster then the winds, the Nazgûl, the Ringwraiths, and with a storm of wings they hurtled southwards to Mount Doom.’

Great would Sauron's mental ability have to be to control his vast armies of hundreds of thousands of beasts and men over many thousands of miles, and in a way it's a weakness for many of his creations to be so dependent on his attention:

‘But the Nazgûl turned and fled, and vanished into Mordor’s shadows, hearing and sudden terrible call out of the Dark Tower; and even at that moment all the hosts of Mordor trembled , doubt clutched their hearts, their laughter failed, their hands shook and their limbs were loosed. The Power that drove them on and filled them with hate and fury was wavering, its will removed from them; and now looking in the eyes of their enemies they saw a deadly light and were afraid.’

‘The second and greatest evil came upon Gondor in the reign of Telemnar...a deadly plague came with dark winds out of the East. The King and all his children died, and great numbers of people of Gondor, especially those that lived in Osgiliath. Then for weariness and fewness of men the watch on the borders of Mordor ceased and the fortresses that guarded the passes were unamnned.

Later it was noted that these things happened even as the Shadow grew deep in Greenwood, and many evil things reappeared, signs of the arising of Sauron. It is true that the enemies of Gondor also suffered, or they might have overwhelmed it in its weakness; but Sauron could wait, and it may well be that the opening of Mordor was what he chiefly desired.’

Suggests that Sauron was responsible for creating the plague, though either for lack of ability or caring it was not directed precisely.

[Lonestar]

Seriously dude, between this and the Gandalf thread, you deserve a custom title.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Shouldn't these things be stickied for postarity?

[NeoGoomba]

With regards to the Sauron/Gil-Galad encounter, for some reason I have in my head the idea that Sauron didnt blast Gil-Galad with heat per se, but the heat of his body was what killed G-G when Sauron fell on him as he died.

Was this written somewhere, or am I hallucinating?

[Surlethe]

With regards to the Sauron/Gil-Galad encounter, for some reason I have in my head the idea that Sauron didnt blast Gil-Galad with heat per se, but the heat of his body was what killed G-G when Sauron fell on him as he died.

Was this written somewhere, or am I hallucinating?

I remember it, too; IIRC, it was when Gandalf was reporting on his findings in Minas Tirith, and Isildur commented in a letter or something about how the OR had writing, which was fading, and he assumed it was kept lit by heat, which he compares to the heat of Sauron's body as he fell on Gil-Galad, killing him.

[Surlethe]

Here it is:

FotR, "The Council of Elrond", p. 270:

[Gandalf is speaking]: " 'And after these words Isildur described the Ring, such as he found it. It was hot when I first took it, hot as a glede, and my hand was scorched, so that I doubt if ever again I shall be free of the pain of it. ... The Ring misseth, maybe, the heat of Sauron's hand, which was black and yet burned like fire, and so Gil-galad was destroyed; and maybe were the gold made hot again, the writing would be refreshed. ... ' "

[Tiriol]

Excellent work. Just two little things...

Didn't Sauron's conquest of the Elven Minas Tirith and his defeat at the hands of Lúthien and Huan happen in the First Age of the Sun and the fall of Númenor in the Second Age of the Sun, along with the forging of the One Ring?

But excellent. Too bad that Tolkien didn't give much information about Sauron's full power, but those descriptions alone hint that he was mightier than a Balrog and was a very potent sorcerer.

[Balrog]

Well, what Surlethe has posted was exactly the same letter from Isildur I posted, and I haven't seen anything about how exactly Sauron killed Gil-Galad with his "black fire"; certainly nothing about how he fell dead on him and burned him up Did Gil-Galad die first, then Elendil?

And yeah, I did get my dates mixed up Second Age heading should be First Age, ect.

[NecronLord]

And yeah, I did get my dates mixed up Second Age heading should be First Age, ect.

Fixed.

[Balrog]

Thanks Necron

Seriously dude, between this and the Gandalf thread, you deserve a custom title.

Shouldn't these things be stickied for postarity? Smile

Why thank you...

*begins stroking his ego*

[Tiriol]

I wonder, Balrog, if you intend to add the descriptions of Sauron's Third Age doings to here? They actually show that he still had considerable power even without his Ring and after a humiliating and far-reaching defeat.

I have always had a little pet theory of mine concerning that fateful battle on the slopes of Mount Doom, in any case: most likely Sauron did have to fight to get there in the first place, even with the assistance of all his bodyguards and warriors and there he had to fight with Elendil the Tall and Gil-galad, the last High King of Elves, who had been born in Valinor (I believe, but my memory is a bit unclear). They were both strong, valiant and courageous men, strengthened by the noble blood of High Elves - of course, Gil-galad had a more hefty dose of this, but Elendil was still a distant relative of Elros, who had an Elven mother, and also had a tiny remnant of Maia blood in his veins (and it was also noted that Isildur - for obvious reasons -, Cirdan and Elrond were there too). It must have been a battle that aroused memories of the Breaking of Thangorodrim and the destruction of the great Balrogs and many dark servants of Morgoth. But Sauron was simply overpowered in the end - too many strong enemies who had the blessings of the Valar on them. It was not a show of weakness that Sauron fell there - indeed, if he would have won against all five, it would have exceeded the many achievements of Gothmog Lord of Balrogs, who was slain by the Elven warrior Glorfindel.

Of course, that theory might be completely wrong, but I like it (I happen to like Sauron as a character ).

[Tiriol]

Gothmog Lord of Balrogs, who was slain by the Elven warrior Glorfindel.

Correction: the Elven lord who killed Gothmog was Echtelion of the Fountain, not Glorfindel.

[CJvR]

Gil-galad, the last High King of Elves, who had been born in Valinor (I believe, but my memory is a bit unclear).

Sixth and last of the High Kings of the Noldor. The only son of High King Fingon, Gil-galad was born in Beleriand late in the First Age, and was still a child at the time of the Dagor Bragollach; his father sent him to Círdan at the Havens for safekeeping when Morgoth broke the Siege of Angband in that battle.

Fingon was lost in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, but the crown passed to Gil-galad's uncle Turgon in Gondolin, rather than Gil-galad himself (presumably because of his youth at that time). When Gondolin was lost, Gil-galad received the Kingship of the Noldor; he dwelt with the Exiles of the city at the Mouths of Sirion during the remainder of the First Age.

After the destruction of Beleriand during the War of Wrath, Gil-galad founded a kingdom in Lindon in the far northwest of Middle-earth, between the Blue Mountains and the Great Sea. There he and his people prospered, until Sauron returned; he came first to Lindon in the form of Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, but Gil-galad and Elrond rejected him. Soon after, the One Ring was forged, and there was war in Middle-earth between the Elves and Sauron.

After the Downfall of Númenor, Elendil and his sons came to Middle-earth and formed an alliance with Gil-galad, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. They marched on Mordor and besieged Sauron's Dark Tower. Sauron was defeated, but Gil-galad met his death in that war.

The only survivor of the rebellious Noldorin nobles was Galadriel and perhaps Maglor.

[CJvR]

Sauron was at his best as a craftsman, hardly surprising since he was originaly a Maia of Aule. He did display some skills in the field when he could fight well planned campaigns but his ability to improvise was not as impressive and every time he took the field personaly he was defeated.

ps: Saurons skills as a tower builder is obviously rather limited since he started building Barad-dur six centuries before creating the ring which was used to lay the foundation for the tower. Perhaps the Orcs held the blueprints upsidedown...

[Tiriol]

enlightening information about Gil-galad

Thank you. So I was wrong. Should read my Tolkien more carefully, then.

I'm going to lend a hand to Balrog's attempt to make notes about Sauron's power. I'll add some of his skills from the Third Age but not now, since it's well past midnight here and I'm tired.

I must, however, say that I have only the Finnish translations at hand, so while I'll try to post some translations from Finnish into English, I'll have to rely on my own commentaries and telling from which book the said displayed powers come. I'm terribly sorry for this inconvenience.

[Balrog]

Sauron was at his best as a craftsman, hardly surprising since he was originaly a Maia of Aule. He did display some skills in the field when he could fight well planned campaigns but his ability to improvise was not as impressive and every time he took the field personaly he was defeated.

Hey, he did take Minas Tirith by himself...

[Balrog]

I wonder, Balrog, if you intend to add the descriptions of Sauron's Third Age doings to here? They actually show that he still had considerable power even without his Ring and after a humiliating and far-reaching defeat.

Not really; most debates involving Sauron usually go with his 1st/2nd Age form, and so I concentrated on that area. You are free of course to help out in any way you want, meanwhile I'll be putting the finishing touches on the next thread...

[Murazor]

I wonder, Balrog, if you intend to add the descriptions of Sauron's Third Age doings to here? They actually show that he still had considerable power even without his Ring and after a humiliating and far-reaching defeat.

Not really; most debates involving Sauron usually go with his 1st/2nd Age form, and so I concentrated on that area. You are free of course to help out in any way you want, meanwhile I'll be putting the finishing touches on the next thread...

The main abilities not mentioned so far would be:
1) Climatic control abilities with a range of hundreds of kilometers (during the Caradhras scene in FOTR).
2) In roughly the same vein, his ability to trigger massive eruptions in the Orodruin to tell the Witch King to kick Denethor's ass. Also, the cloud he created to cover the sky.
3) His ability to manipulate the minds of those weaker than himself. An ability that is by no means instantaneous, considering how long Gollum and Thorin's dad resisted interrogation.
4) Also, during the final battle in the Morannon it is more or less stated that his death was felt by all his servants in Mordor. This implies massive influence abilities.

[NeoGoomba]

The main abilities not mentioned so far would be:
1) Climatic control abilities with a range of hundreds of kilometers (during the Caradhras scene in FOTR)

That wasn't Sauron's doing, nor Saruman's as shown in the movie. Caradhras was actually the "spirit" of the mountain, not Sauron himself. If Sauron knew the exact location of where the Ring was, aka when the Fellowship was on the mountain, he would probably do a little more than simply make a blizzard.

[Darth Wong]

Sauron was at his best as a craftsman, hardly surprising since he was originaly a Maia of Aule. He did display some skills in the field when he could fight well planned campaigns but his ability to improvise was not as impressive and every time he took the field personaly he was defeated.

Hey, he did take Minas Tirith by himself...

Didn't he just frighten its residents into leaving? If you could make it feel as if an entire city was haunted by evil spirits, I could quite easily see people deciding to relocate.

[Tiriol]

The main abilities not mentioned so far would be:
1) Climatic control abilities with a range of hundreds of kilometers (during the Caradhras scene in FOTR)

That wasn't Sauron's doing, nor Saruman's as shown in the movie. Caradhras was actually the "spirit" of the mountain, not Sauron himself. If Sauron knew the exact location of where the Ring was, aka when the Fellowship was on the mountain, he would probably do a little more than simply make a blizzard.

Actually, Gimli said that it was the malicious spirit of Caradhras doing that snow storm and Frodo adopting that view, at least to some extend; Boromir had expressed the idea of Sauron unleashing some terrible weather upon them earlier in the book. I'm not saying that Sauron did it, though - the rest of the chapter seems to imply that the Dwarf's view was the right one.

Sauron was at his best as a craftsman, hardly surprising since he was originaly a Maia of Aule. He did display some skills in the field when he could fight well planned campaigns but his ability to improvise was not as impressive and every time he took the field personaly he was defeated.

Hey, he did take Minas Tirith by himself...

Didn't he just frighten its residents into leaving? If you could make it feel as if an entire city was haunted by evil spirits, I could quite easily see people deciding to relocate.

That particular description is somewhat ambigious. I've always imagined Sauron trashing the place with a great host, using his unmatched sorcery to cause terror in the Elves (who did not fear the living dead, as noted by Legolas in LotR, and who had fought against Balrogs and other fell beasts before) and doing some fighting himself. But it didn't mention any army coming with Sauron, so it is possible for the Dark Lord to have done it all by himself, either by using that supernatural terror or then by slaughtering everything on his path and creating that fear using magic.

[Tiriol]

Sauron's power in the Third Age

• When Olórin (Gandalf in his true form) was sent from the West to Middle-Earth to combat the spreading evil, he originally said that he did not want to do so since he feared Sauron; this implies that even in weakened state, Sauron was still powerful and dangerous enough to cause doubt and fear in another Maia (this has been recorded in Unfinished Tales of Numenór and Middle-Earth).
• The Dead Marshes' spirits' origin has sometimes been attributed to Sauron's sorcery, although it was never made clear what actually caused the dead of the Dagorlad's battlefield to stay behind (and it might have been a terrible phantom illusion conjured by Sauron).
• According to Unfinished Tales, Sauron had learned the power to imbue some sort of guardian spirit into statues (the vulture-headed statues Sam saw in Cirith Ungol and who tried to prevent his entrance inside the citadel were of Sauron's making). These guardian statues had strong magical will - strong enough to prevent most intruders from entering, unless encountering a will creater than theirs, but even then they would cry out a shout of warning as piercing as a Nazgûl's scream.
• There has been some speculations that the Great Plague that devastated Gondor and Eriador was spred forth from Dol Guldur; however, such occurence is not noted in LotR's Appendices and Mr. Tyler's The Tolkien Companion notes that the plague came from East and South.
• Sauron bred new Orkish race - the Uruk-hai - to better serve his needs. The Uruk-hai didn't fear the light of the sun, were stronger, more enduring and larger and much more courageous than the common Orcs. Sauron also developed a new kind of Troll which could endure the sunlight without turning into stone, possessed more cunning and intelligence and could even talk (these incidents have been noted in David Day's Characters from Tolkien, Tyler's The Tolkien Companion and they were suggested or donwright stated in LotR, Silmarillion and other similar sources).
• Gandalf the Grey was clearly worried that Sauron could either employ or mentally (at least partially) dominate Smaug the Golden and thus sought to bring down the dragon before Sauron could gain its services. Either Sauron had regained enough of his dominating powers that even a mighty dragon could be humbled before him, or then his influence and riches were so incredible that even the suspicious and lazy Smaug could be brought forth (this has been noted in Unfinished Tales.
• Gandalf the Grey warned the Dwarves in The Hobbit that even if all the Dwarves in Middle-Earth would gather together, the power of the "Necromancer" (Sauron in disguise) would be too great for them to overcome; this can refer both to his military might inside Dol Guldur and his other forces AND to his superior will and sorcerous might.
• Boromir noted in LotR: FotR that the Gondorians believe that Sauron can affect the weather thousands of miles away to a great extend. The storm of Caradhras is speculated to have been caused by Sauron (although never proven).
• In LotR: TTT Gandalf the White says that he was not ready to face Sauron then and doubted that he would never be. This statement comes from a mouth of greatly empowered Wizard who dealt a death blow to a Balrog after three days of fighting which collapsed a mountaintop - and Sauron has not even his Ring with him.
• In TTT Gandalf the White clearly states that Saruman was compelled to go and look into Orthanc's Palantír time and time again, to surrender under close scrutiny and to make reports to the Dark Lord himself (and Unfinished Tales notes that Sauron could read Saruman's mind to much greater extend than the White Wizard suspected or believed).
• In TTT Pippin Took could not turn his gaze away from the Palantír when Sauron spoke to him and was forced to tell a truthful answer to any questions Sauron asked; the Hobbit furthermore reported that Sauron's laughter was as terrible as having your body pierced with daggers. Pippin was extremely terrified after the telepathic communication and actually fainted after the communication ended and did not recognize Gandalf in his great fear.
• in LotR: RotK Sauron conjured a huge cloud of smoke, ash and shadow to cover the sky; these fumes were conjured from Mount Doom. Since it covered the sky to such an extend that even the Rohirrim who were coming to Minas Tirith's aid noticed it and its effects (no more actual daylight, just grey and depressing light conditions even during midday), this is no small feat.
• in RotK it is stated that Sauron's will enhanced the fighting spirit and morale of his servants, slaves and soldiers and when his attention was turned elsewhere from the Battle of Morannon, his minions felt a sudden lack of confidence. When the Ring was destroyed and Sauron perished, the Orcs, Trolls and other fell creatures lost their fighting spirit entirely and ran madly and blindly away; the Men were more lucky, since they could continue to fight, try to undergo a meaningful retreat, or to surrender.

I'm sorry that I can't give more accurate information, but this is the best I can do with the current time and resources. There might be other moments of power or scalings of might attributed to Sauron in the Third Age, but I have either forgotten them or never seen them.[/list]

[NecronLord]

Sauron also developed a new kind of Troll which could endure the sunlight without turning into stone, possessed more cunning and intelligence and could even talk (these incidents have been noted in David Day's Characters from Tolkien, Tyler's The Tolkien Companion and they were suggested or donwright stated in LotR, Silmarillion and other similar sources).

All trolls can talk.

[Tiriol]

Sauron also developed a new kind of Troll which could endure the sunlight without turning into stone, possessed more cunning and intelligence and could even talk (these incidents have been noted in David Day's Characters from Tolkien, Tyler's The Tolkien Companion and they were suggested or donwright stated in LotR, Silmarillion and other similar sources).

All trolls can talk.

Ah, my mistake - I had remembered that before the introduction of the Olog-hai only very few Trolls (like those three whom Bilbo encountered during his journey) could talk.

[Balrog]

Sauron was at his best as a craftsman, hardly surprising since he was originaly a Maia of Aule. He did display some skills in the field when he could fight well planned campaigns but his ability to improvise was not as impressive and every time he took the field personaly he was defeated.

Hey, he did take Minas Tirith by himself...

Didn't he just frighten its residents into leaving? If you could make it feel as if an entire city was haunted by evil spirits, I could quite easily see people deciding to relocate.

It only mentions how he caused a "dark cloud of fear" to fall on the tower's defenders and drove them out; there is no mention of an army helping him in taking Minas Tirith, but I'm assuming not, since usually it mentions one when he does uses it (i.e. army of werewolves looking for Beren)