Tolkien calls Sauron Morgoth's Greatest Servant - But does he ever really earn that with his actions?

Question

Alright, so there is a great, incredibly well informed community here so let me ask a question that's been bothering me since I finished the Silmarillion. I'll lay out my reasoning for why it's a question as well, so bear with me.

Tolkien states

Among [Melkor's] servants that have names the greatest was that spirit whom the Eldar called Sauron, or Gorthaur the Cruel.
-The Silmarillion, p.28

What exactly does Sauron do in the Silmarillion to earn this distinction? The Dragon Glaurung is far more of a terror to Morgoth's enemies than Sauron. He annihilates whole legions of First Era elves; more or less singlehandedly breaks the siege of Angband and uses his magic stare to mind control/soul crush pretty much anybody he wants to. Not only that but he exhibits significant cunning and is a successful leader of Morgoth's forces in his own right. How is this murder-addicted hyper-dragon not number one? When Morgoth needed to kill Elves dead he went to Glaurung, handing him command in the most critical battle in the war thus far. The result was a victory so one sided and absolute that in an instant the entire dynamic of Middle-earth shifted completely.

It's also a battle where Sauron is conspicuously absent (this is a recurring theme). Not exactly what you'd expect from Morgoth's 'greatest servant'. If he was really that useful you'd think he would have had some role in a battle Morgoth had been preparing for for over 400 years.

Sauron's biggest contributions to his Master's First Age war effort were

1. Hiding from the Valar...twice
2. Effectively begging for mercy when unable to hide.
3. Losing Tol Sirion to an overwhelming army of two people.
4. Messing with the the wrong girl and getting choked out by her talking dog.

Seriously, all joking aside Sauron's first era resume is pretty bad. And let's not forget that everything past the First Age was more or less an afterthought; paling in comparison in terms of magic, power, epicness, etc.

I get that Sauron is the most 'dark-lord-like' and the heir apparent to Morgoth. The only answer I can think of is just that; Sauron is the only one who'd 'pick up the torch if Morgoth fell, whereas Glaurung would have probably just found a pile of gold under a mountain somewhere and been content. He needed direction and wouldn't be 'independently' menacing to Middle-earth in anything but a localized way (a la Smaug).

But Tolkien is talking about Sauron in the context of a servant, not based upon some hypothetical future-dark-lord skill set. I'm fairly sure the thought of being permanently defeated never entered Morgoth's mind and 'being able to take over for him' was never a looked-for qualification in subordinates. The only thing that makes Sauron special is that he seemed to be the only guy who was good enough at hiding/begging to survive Morgoth's fall.

Sauron's Dark Lord tenure wasn't exactly Hall of Fame caliber either. Nothing he ever did on his own was ultimately successful and each of his schemes backfired in some way. His plot to destroy Númenor cost him his body; and his attempt to buff himself with the One Ring ultimately led to his end as a force in Middle-earth.

So what am I missing or misinterpreting? Am I looking at this the wrong way?

TL;DR: Dragon Glaurung accomplished much more nefarious deeds than Sauron according to The Silmarillion. Doesn't make sense that Sauron is Morgoth's #2.

Answer 1

Who is more powerful, the President of the United States or the marine guarding him? In personal one-on-one combat I'm certain the marine would defeat the President. However, it is the President that commands the military of the United States.

Similarly, other Middle-earth creatures may have been more powerful individually (Balrog, Dragons, etc) but Sauron worked by organization, corruption, deceit, and over long periods of time.

As @DarthSatan says, without leadership Balrogs, dragons, etc. just wander off and do their own thing. Yes they are powerful, but how much damage does a Balrog do deep in the mines of Moria? How much damage does Smaug do sleeping deep under the Lonely Mountain?

Sauron not only organized the armies of evil (including the lesser ones like the Easterlings, Uruk-Hai, etc. and the greater ones), he used his knowledge and power to corrupt his opposition (Saruman & the Palantír), and sap it of strength (Lord Denethor & the Palantír).

Even his magic items (without direction) were capable of corrupting and turning beings like Smeagol to evil and nearly turned Boromir too. Brief interaction with them posed severe tests of will to others like Faramir & Galadriel.

Although not covered in The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, Sauron also caused the fall of Númenor. At their heights, the men of Númenor by some measures were more powerful than the Elves. It was the Men of Númenor who created the walls and tower of Orthanc which, at the time of the Third Age, no power on Middle Earth had the ability to bring down - not even the Ents.

Sauron caused the fall of Númenor not through direct firepower but by persuasion, lies, deceit. He corrupted the men of Númenor and had them use their power against Valar.

Prompted by Sauron and fearing old age and death, Ar-Pharazôn built a great armada and set sail into the West to make war upon the Valar and seize the Undying Lands, and by so doing achieve immortality. Sauron remained behind. This force was quoted by Tolkien as the 'greatest force ever assembled on Arda'.

As described in the History of Númenor.

Sauron's greatness is similar to that of Gandalf's. Their's is not brute physical or magical power like that of the Queen chess piece, it is more like that of the chess master - moving the pieces around.

Answer 2

From the Valaquenta:

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.

Sauron was therefore involved in everything that Morgoth did, even if not explicitly stated, but presumably with obvious exceptions (such as destroying the Trees).

Notably also, he evaded capture twice, which was twice more than Morgoth managed to do.

Answer 3

Things Sauron managed to pull off:

• Leading the greatest Men on the planet, the ones most beloved of the Valar, Eldar, and presumably Eru as well, astray, leading to the damnation of pretty much all Men for a long time afterwards. Part of this corruption of the Numenoreans included making the majority (who worshipped him and his bestie, Morgoth) perform human sacrifices of the minority (who remained loyal to Eru).

• Provoking a nearly successful invasion of what almost amounts to Heaven, which caused so much fear and alarm among the Valar that they laid down their power and begged Eru to intervene on their behalf.

• Caused Eru to literally tear the planet in two, completely reshaping it, turning the flat earth into the sphere we know and love today, and removing Aman to become its own planet elsewhere in space.

• Deceived the wisest beings on earth, the Firstborn, aka Elves, into becoming his unwitting henchmen.

• Turned one of the beings sent to fight him, a Maia, roughly equal in power to himself, into his servant. When that Maia, Saruman, tried to cheat Sauron, he was ruined and reduced to being a beggar with the most demeaning and humiliating name ever- "Sharkey". He sounds like a street urchin from a Dickens novel.

• Started several world wars, and although he lost, he took many of the greatest figures of his time- both Elves and Men - with him.

• The aforementioned wars also destroyed significant portions of the planet, forever.

• Created and ruled a kingdom of horror and fear, poisoning the very land itself.

• Created 9 immortal(ish) servants who instill fear in the hearts of all who encounter them, and who have flying death monsters as mounts.

• Captured the jewel of the greatest kingdom on earth, Minas Ithil, and turned it into a hellish vision of suffering and terror, tainting it so thoroughly that it could not be cleansed, and had to be destroyed.

• Helped destroy the capital city of the greatest kingdom on earth, Osgiliath, and after the capital was relocated to Minas Anor/Tirith, he destroyed much of it as well.

• Ruled much - perhaps even most - of the planet, and many - perhaps even most - of the Men who lived there, for thousands of years.

• Had a pet volcano. Yes, a pet volcano.

• Controlled hundreds of thousands of Orcs, trolls, fell beasts, and who knows what else, simultaneously, with his mind. They were so dependent upon his will that when he was distracted by the whole "Frodo is inside the volcano with my Ring" situation, the enormous army of his servants was totally paralyzed and didn't know what to do.

• Covered most of the continent in darkness for several days.

• Could only be destroyed by someone performing an almost impossible task.

• Even after he was destroyed, he still exists, and will return at the end of time to destroy the world with his bestie, Morgoth. He was basically banished and weakened by the destruction of the Ring, but only Eru or someone specifically chosen by Eru will be able to truly kill him.

• Dominated the course of events in Arda/Earth for the better part of 7,000 years. Almost everything that happened, and was worth mentioning, had to do with him. Most of the time that Morgoth was active, Arda didn't exist, or was largely uninhabited. Sauron determined the history of the inhabited world for an incredibly long time. In fact, Tolkien said that about 6,000 years have passed since Sauron was defeated. That means that Sauron was around and causing trouble for 1,000 years longer than all the time that has passed since his fall.. And he isn't done yet - at some point in the (hopefully distant) future, he will come back and try to kill us all again.

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For sake of comparison, let's take a look at the man who is widely regarded as the most evil person of the last century - Adolf Hitler - and what he accomplished:

• Started a World War, the most destructive in history; however, when the First World War ended, everyone in the know realized that a second war was inevitable, and would happen within 20-30 years.

• Ruled one country for 13 years.

• Ruled most of Western Europe for 4 or 5 years, but began losing ground almost as soon as he had conquered it.

• Killed millions of innocent civilians.

• Was stupid enough to try to invade Russia, apparently unaware that Napoleon had tried the same thing and failed in a spectacular fashion; Hitler was therefore surprised when things didn't work out any better for him.

• Promised the Germans that he would redeem them in the eyes of the world and restore Germany to its proper place as the greatest nation on earth; instead, made the world despise Germany, and put the pieces in place for a humiliating 50 year long partition of Germany under Soviet oppression and American exploitation.

• Spent the last months of his life in a claustrophobic hole in the ground, where he eventually shot himself in the face, and was then wrapped in a dirty carpet and dragged up several flights of stairs into a trash-strewn courtyard, where he was doused with gasoline and partially incinerated, then buried in a shallow grave. He will never come back.

• Was ridiculed by Tolkien himself as "that ruddy little ignoramus, Adolf Hitler". Was ridiculed more famously by Charlie Chaplin, whose mustache he stole, and the Three Stooges. Looks like an absurd, spastic buffoon to modern eyes.

• His incompetently managed regime gave rise to the phrase "the banality of evil" ("banal" is described as "so lacking in originality as to be boring and uninteresting"). That's right - he was so ridiculous that he made the murder of millions seem unoriginal and predictable.

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In this light, Sauron seems pretty accomplished and effective, don't you think?

Answer 4

Since you invite challenges to your premise, I'm going to offer some.

How controlling is the context?

You make a lot of "But Tolkien is talking about Sauron in the context of a servant", and use the phrase "greatest servant" more than once. But the quote from the Silmarillion is

Among [Melkor's] servants that have names the greatest was that spirit whom the Eldar called Sauron, or Gorthaur the Cruel.

If we substitute "cruellest" for "greatest", you wouldn't say that it was calling Sauron the cruellest at being a servant. So I don't see that it's necessary to read the actual quote as calling him the greatest at being a servant. The easier reading seems to be that of a certain group of beings, Sauron was "the greatest" in some unspecified way.

What does "greatest" mean?

In a work that's not shy about appearing antiquated, "greatest" could easily mean "biggest", but physically that doesn't seem to be the case.

However, it's still a fairly generic superlative. You seem to be taking it as the most effective or the most destructive, but it could be the most powerful, knowledgeable, cunning, brave, difficult to defeat, or even (if we do allow the context to control our interpretation to some extent) loyal.

Should it be taken literally anyway?

The Silmarillion is not intended as a work of science but of epic history. If you look at works in that genre as a whole, what's the ratio between absolute superlatives and qualified superlatives? If you're a couple of dozen pages into a book and you read "Among his servants that have names the third greatest was that spirit whom the Eldar called Sauron, or Gorthaur the Cruel" then surely your reaction will be "Don't tell me about the third greatest: tell me about the greatest!" Within the constraints of the genre, is there any other way in which Sauron could be introduced?

Answer 5

In the same sense as Peter's answer - Tolkien often uses the word "greatest" to describe relational strength or power, something that I personally think Tolkien uses as a rather absolute and indiscriminate descriptor in the sense that relative power is always explicitly clear and rarely nuanced.

Seeing each personality as a unitary expression within a greater theme - the "magnitude" of a particular unit can always be described as being greater or lesser any other existing unit. We can see other examples in his descriptions of the Valar or the Istari.

From "Unfinished Tales":

In the The Two Towers III 8 it is said that Saruman was "accounted by many the chief of the Wizards," and at the Council of Elrond (The Fellowship of the Ring II 2) Gandalf explicitly stated this: "Saruman the White is the greatest of my order."

or

"But also to be remarked are the coming of the Istari to Middle-earth at different times; Círdan's perception that Gandalf was the greatest of them; Saruman's knowledge that Gandalf possessed the Red Ring..."

Anyhow I've always seen the explicit nature of unitary power structures throughout the books as very helpful in communicating the balance of things that is so thematically important to everything in the universe. With the theme that everything exists purely within a static set (all things coming from and ending in Iluvitar), calculated balance is key to the thematic tension and resolution at an abstract level just as much as it is to understanding the motivations of groups or individuals within the various histories.

Answer 6

Sauron was the greatest servant of Morgoth because he was faithful, skilled, subtle and powerful, in fact probably the most powerful of Maiar who were drawn to allegiance of Morgoth. While Gothmog Lord of Balrogs, or Glaurung, Father of Dragons, might have been good field generals leading armies and bringing destruction, Sauron was also more subtle and wiser, as additional texts from HoME say:

"While Morgoth still stood, Sauron did not seek his own supremacy, but worked and schemed for another, desiring the triumph of Melkor, whom in the beginning he had adored.He thus was often able to achieve things, first conceived by Melkor, which his master did not or could not complete in the furious haste of his malice."

"He still had the relics of positive purposes, that descended from the good of the nature in which he began: it had been his virtue (and therefore also the cause of his fall, and of his relapse) that he loved order and coordination, and disliked all confusion and wasteful friction. (It was the apparent will and power of Melkor to effect his designs quickly and masterfully that had first attracted Sauron to him.)"

Certainly the organizing talents of Sauron allowed him to raise high in Morgoth's favour enough so he was part of everything his master did:

"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."

It is even noted that Sauron was less evil than Morgoth because for long he served another and not himself, that he could acknowledge superiority of other being. Of course in later times he arose to the position in which he was lord.

Answer 7

Sauron had a large role before and during the Captivity of Melkor

In 1960, Tolkien wrote an essay working out some difficulties with the chronology of the awakening of the elves, which was later published in The Nature of Middle-earth. In this essay he assigns some new important roles to Sauron.

So in addition to all the things previously mentioned we also have the following three:

Engineering the first fall of Men

The arising and fall [of Men] took place during the “Captivity of Melkor”, and was achieved not by Melkor in person, but by Sauron. It occurred about 100 VY[=Valian Years] after the “Awaking of the Quendi”, sc. 14,400 löar[=Sun years] later.
_{"The Awaking of the Quendi" - Preliminary discussion}

Running Angband prior to the Captivity of Melkor, and distracting the Valar when they came so the Morgoth could retreat to Utumno.

As soon as he discovered the Quendi (if not indeed far sooner, and well before the time of their awaking, which Melkor guessed more shrewdly than the Valar) Melkor constructed Angband. One of its chief functions was not only to defend the Western Shores, but to shroud them. The prime function of (originally volcanic) Thangorodrim was to produce smokes, vapours, and darkness. All the Northwest shores were covered and the Sun largely excluded for hundreds of years before Melkor was made captive. Sauron had a chief part in this; and when the Valar at last came to Middle-earth he (under Melkor’s orders) made a strong feint of resistance, while Melkor retreated and gathered nearly all his forces in Utumno. (Thus passage of the Quendi was made feasible.)
_{"The Awaking of the Quendi" - Note on Angband and Utumno}

Rebuilding and expanding Angband during the captivity of Melkor

Angband was in the event very largely destroyed – though the Valar, passing on to Utumno, which was apparently the real centre of Melkor’s power – made no attempt to demolish it completely. But when Melkor feigned submission to Manwë, Sauron was ordered to reconstruct it (as secretly as possible: therefore largely in extending its underground mansions) against Melkor’s escape and return. There were no more fumes until Melkor returned: but when he did in 1495, Angband was almost ready. Melkor then made it his chief seat of power, for strategic reasons, and because of the coming of the Eldar. Had he been successful he would perhaps have returned to Utumno, but not until the Eldar were vanquished or destroyed.
_{"The Awaking of the Quendi" - Note on Angband and Utumno}