King, Stephen (1978). The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition. New York City: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-12168-2. The History of The Lord of the Rings reveals much of the slow, aggregative nature of Tolkien's creativity. As Christopher Tolkien noted of the first two volumes, Tolkien had eventually brought the story up to Rivendell, but still "without any clear conception of what lay before him". [T 2] He also noted how, on the way, his father could get caught up in a "spider's web of argumentation" [T 3] – what Tom Shippey described as getting "bogged down in sometimes strikingly unnecessary webs of minor causation". [1] Thus (for example) the character eventually known as Pippin Took was, in a series of rewriting and of deleted adventures, variously known as Odo, Frodo, Folco, Faramond, Peregrin, Hamilcar, Fredegar, and Olo – the figures also being Boffins and Bolgers, as well as Tooks. [T 4]

Using the Palantír of Minas Ithil, Sauron communed with Saruman, who held the Orthanc-stone. The Dark Lord soon lured the White Wizard into his service with promises of power, intending to use him as an instrument to subjugate Rohan and form a second pincer to crush Gondor.Disguising himself as a messenger of the Valar and calling himself Annatar, Sauron went to the Elves offering to teach them how to craft magical rings. Gil-Galad, the most powerful of the Elven kings in Middle-earth, turned him away, as did Galadriel and Elrond, but Celebrimbor of Eregion - himself a celebrated smith - accepted Annatar's tutelage.

Of the Dwarves, few fought upon either side; but the folk of Durin from Khazad-dûm fought against Sauron. [2] Battle of Dagorlad [ edit | edit source ] Main article: Battle of Dagorlad In the Prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring , the Dark Lord is shown forging the One Ring, seeking to dominate all life. From Mordor, Sauron's armies begins spreading across Middle-earth, enslaving the Free Peoples. In answer to his tyranny, Elendil and Gil-galad form the Last Alliance of Elves and Men and march against Sauron. As the Siege of Barad-dûr nears it end and defeat for the Orcs seems imminent, the Dark Lord himself appears and breaks through the Ñoldor and Númenórean ranks with his mace. After slaying Elendil with a swing of his weapon, Sauron breaks his sword, Narsil. He would have killed Elendil's son, Isildur, with his hot touch, but Isildur uses the shards of Narsil to cut the One Ring off from Sauron's hand, causing Sauron's form to disintegrate. The Elves managed to hide the three greatest of the Rings from him, but the other sixteen Rings of Power were either captured by Sauron, destroyed, or lost. To the Dwarves he had given Seven, but to Men he had given Nine, knowing that they would be the easiest to corrupt. The Dwarf-lords who received the Rings proved to be very resistant to their power, and neither "faded" nor became enslaved to Sauron's will. The Rings, however, created in them an insatiable lust for gold, which ultimately caused a great deal of grief for the Dwarves. Mythgard Academy programs make literary studies of science fiction and fantasy stories free for everyone who wishes to attend. Live conversations happen weekly, and the recordings of those sessions are posted tothe Signum University YouTube channel. Sauron served as the inspiration for the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic antagonist King Sombra in his initial appearance. [56]This seminar will put us at 3/4ths of the way done with our trek through the HoME series. We’ve previously looked at The Book of Lost Tales, Part I, The Book of Lost Tales, Part II, The Lays of Beleriand, The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Lost Road, The Return of the Shadow, The Treason of Isengard and – about this time last year – The War of the Ring. Sauron Defeated was first released in January 1992, about two years after its predecessor. The first part of the book concludes Christopher Tolkien’s presentation of the development of The Lord of the Rings. In Part 2, the focus shifts to one of Tolkien’s stories that doesn’t primarily concern Middle-earth, The Notion Club Papers, though as we will see, there are still some ties to the legendarium. Finally, Part 3 examines The Drowning of Anadûnê. The Alliance pursued the Orcs, who were then in disarray, and killed them all. The Barad-dûr was levelled but its foundations remained behind since they were built with the power of the One Ring which was not destroyed. The thousands of dead Men and Elves were taken out of Mordor and buried in the Dagorlad Plain. Sauron (pronounced / ˈ s aʊ r ɒ n/ [T 2]) is the title character [a] and the primary antagonist, [1] through the forging of the One Ring, of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, where he rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middle-earth. In the same work, he is identified as the "Necromancer" of Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit. The Silmarillion describes him as the chief lieutenant of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. Tolkien noted that the Ainur, the " angelic" powers of his constructed myth, "were capable of many degrees of error and failing", but by far the worst was "the absolute Satanic rebellion and evil of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron". [T 4] Sauron appears most often as "the Eye", as if disembodied. The Nature of Middle-earth [2021] • The Fall of Númenor and Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth [2022]

iv. The Shaping of Middle-earth · v. The Lost Road and Other Writings · vi. The Return of the Shadow · As Sauron predicted, the nine Men were all corrupted by their Rings and became the Nazgûl, Sauron's deadliest servants. Had the Elves not recognised Sauron's treachery and forsaken the power of their rings, the results would have been catastrophic. It seems that most of the native Men of Middle-earth succumbed to the power of the Ring once the Nazgûl were created, and if the Elves had been captured in this fashion, they would have become the slaves of Sauron. Thus Celebrimbor's resistance was of immense importance in the history of Middle-earth. Centuries later, 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. This power was more than just cunning manipulation, however, as Sauron was (like most Maia) a shapeshifter. He presumably took the form of an Elf when living among the Elves for centuries and there is a passage in The Lost Road which says that he first appeared among the Númenóreans in a "manlike" shape but far taller than normal and with a terrible light in his eyes. [43] However, this was an early version and later versions simply speak of his "fair form". The Silvan Elves of Greenwood the Great led by their King Oropher and of Lórien led by King Amdír were not well equippied with armour and weapons in comparison with the Eldar of the West and did not want to place themselves under the supreme command of Gil-galad. Oropher and his bravest warriors the Silvan Elves, charged forward before Gil-galad had given the command and suffered heavy casualties, including Oropher himself. Amdír and his forces were cut off from the main battle and driven to the north-west into the marshes, where he also fell along with more than half of his troops. [3] This area became known afterwards as the Dead Marshes, because of the thousands of bodies buried there.Parts of Sauron's portrayal in The Rings of Power are considerable deviations from the works of Tolkien. First of all, there is no mention of Galadriel having travelled to Númenor in the company of a stranger in any of Tolkien's works, and she was probably in Eregion with her husband the entire time the first season is set. Also, in Tolkien's work Sauron appeared in Eregion in the guise of Annatar, Lord of Gifts, claiming to be an emissary of the Valar and a student of Aulë. Christopher Tolkien comments: "The passage is notable in showing the degree to which my father had come to identify the Eye of Barad-dûr with the mind and will of Sauron, so that he could speak of 'its wrath, its fear, its thought'. In the second text ... he shifted from 'its' to 'his' as he wrote out the passage anew." [T 40] Concept and creation [ edit ] Due to the combined efforts of Gondor, Rohan, and the Dúnedain of Arnor, Sauron's army was defeated. Despite still possessing more than enough military strength to destroy Minas Tirith and easily conquer Middle-earth once Gondor fell, doubt began to grow in Sauron. As such, he watched and waited, hoping for a period of strife between Aragorn and other potential Ringlords in which he could move out and take the Ring for himself. Three of the titles of the volumes of The History of The Lord of the Rings were also used as book titles for the seven-volume edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Treason of Isengard for Book 3, The War of the Ring for Book 5, and The End of the Third Age for Book 6. Though he rarely stooped to engaging in combat himself, Sauron could be a fearsome opponent on the battlefield. He was able to slay Elendil and Gil-Galad single-handedly, though the duel left him weakened. The mere touch of his hands could inflict fatal burns.

After Sauron infused the greatest portion of his power, will and essense into the One Ring he simultaiously became both weaker and stronger. Stronger when he had the ring as the ring was made to augment the user's strength and confer additional abilities (such as bending the wills of those around him regardless of whether or not they were wearing a ring of power) and weaker when he was without it. Sauron's coporeal form was destroyed at least 3 times yet it was after the 3rd time when the ring was taken from him did it take the longest amount of time to regain his physical form and enough strength to marshal his forces while enacting his plans. While Sauron could not be permanently discorporated while the ring existed he was much weaker without it. However, due to the ring's existence, Sauron's power, unlike Morgoth's, was undiminished as Morgoth's great power was diluted when spread across Arda, but Sauron's was concentrated when placed within a single, small container. Busch, Caitlin (February 10, 2017). " 'LEGO Batman' Crosses over with 'Harry Potter,' 'Doctor Who,' and 'Lord of the Rings' ". Archived from the original on 29 October 2021 . Retrieved 3 January 2021.

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Starting in May 2019, Mythgard Academy will offer a free 13-week discussion series on Sauron Defeated, the ninth volume in the History of Middle-earth (HoME) series and the fourth and final volume of The History of The Lord of the Rings. (Note that it has also been published under the title The End of the Third Age.) After allying with Melkor, Mairon maintained apparent fidelity to the Valar, but secretly informed his master of his dealings with them. When Melkor established his strongholds in Middle-earth, Mairon left Valinor and openly declared his allegiance, becoming a recognised foe of the Valar.