Questions tagged [sauron]
Use this tag when asking about the primary antagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, not just for questions with 'Sauron' in them. Should also be used in conjunction with the [tolkiens-legendarium] tag. Also tag with [the-lord-of-the-rings] where appropriate.
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Did the One Ring violate the conservation of energy? [closed]
According to J.R.R. Tolkien, Sauron amplified his power by investing part of his power in the One Ring.
Doesn't this sound like a violation of the conservation of energy?
Could Sauron continue ...
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Why didn't Sauron make his hand whole?
In Fellowship of the Ring, "The Shadow of the Past", Gandalf tells Frodo:
Isildur Elendil’s son cut the Ring from Sauron’s hand and took it for his own. Then Sauron was vanquished and his ...
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Why does Isildur claim to have defeated Sauron when Gil-galad and Elendil did it?
It is well-known that Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron, as in The Fellowship of the Ring, The Shadow of the Past Elrond says:
It was Gil-galad, Elven-king and Elendil of Westernesse who ...
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Why did Sauron's spirit reform in Mirkwood? [duplicate]
When Sauron was defeated in the War of the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age, why did his spirit reform in Mirkwood and not elsewhere? Did Sauron have some sort of connection with Mirkwood ...
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Was it not inexcusably foolish of Sauron to not guard the Ring-destroying lava pit? [duplicate]
I know that he did not think that anyone would want to destroy it, but rather that somebody would instead claim it and try to fight Him with it, but if there is only one place on the planet where the ...
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Does Sauron not have a physical, tangible presence anywhere?
Please note: I am talking only about the books!
In a way, I find the story of the Lord of the Rings to be a bit of a letdown in the end.
I expected there to be some sort of final confrontation between ...
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Did Sauron ever consider that the Valar and/or Eru Ilúvatar may not allow him to conquer Middle-earth?
I am wondering if there is anything mentioned in LOTR canon that Sauron had once given thought to the possibility that the Valar and/or Eru Ilúvatar may not allow him to conquer Middle-earth, and due ...
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Why did Tar-Calion listen to Sauron and become so evil?
Around the beginning of his rule, Tar-Calion the Golden was a dear friend to Amandil the Lord of Andúnië, despite Amandil being leader of the Faithful, and he let him be a member of the Council of ...
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Why not march over Rivendell and take the ring?
After the battle on Weathertop the Nazgûl learn Frodo has the one ring and follow him to Rivendell, where Glorfindel defeats them.
They have however by that time acquired the knowledge about the one ...
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Did Sauron have a sword?
In J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings lore there were present the common types of weapons as bows, arrows, spears, axes, pikes, maces, swords, etc.
In high fantasy, swords have played a preponderant ...
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How did Sauron withstand the seven-year siege of Barad-dûr?
We all know that the Siege of Barad-dûr, a key event of the War of the Last Alliance, lasted seven years (S.A. 3434-3441). During that period of time the Last Alliance of Elves and Men kept the bulk ...
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What’s the threshold of power for a wielder of the one ring to defeat Sauron?
Through the series I recall there are different implications (or at least that’s my recollection of it) on who could use the ring to obtain enough power to defeat (and replace as Dark Lord) Sauron and ...
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Is there any solid evidence that Sauron was originally called Mairon?
It's common knowledge now that Mairon was a smith of Aule and one of the greatest smiths to be known before he became corrupted and commonly known as Sauron. I want to know if anyone knows any ...
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Why did Sauron need a large army when he could have used the Nazgûl to kill all his enemies in Middle-earth? [closed]
I am curious as to why Sauron went to the trouble of raising a large army to conquer Middle-earth when he could have used the Nazgûl to kill all his enemies in Middle-earth such as all the armies of ...
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What did Sauron hope to become?
Sauron is the Dark Lord, and he dwells in a dark land with foul creatures and horrible smells. But does he really hope to be a hopelessly Evil Dark Lord sitting on an ugly throne above just a big ...
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What did Sauron think the free peoples did with his ring following the events on Amon Hen?
Originally Sauron probably assumed the free peoples wanted to let the One Ring remain in Rivendell, as he didn't think they would try to bring it to Mordor to destroy it. But on Amon Hen (near the ...
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How can the Nameless Things be older than Sauron?
When Gandalf meets the fellowship again in The Lord of the Rings, he says:
Far, far below the deepest delving of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They ...
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How could Sauron return to Gorgoroth that easily?
In T.A. 2941 Mairon/Sauron returned to Barad-Dûr in Gorgoroth, and ten years later revealed himself openly. What I wonder is why there were no obstacles whatsoever when returning to Gorgoroth which, ...
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Was Mordor inhabited between Sauron's defeat at the battle of the last alliance and his return?
As the question title says: Was Mordor inhabited in between Sauron's defeat at the battle of the last alliance and his return after his banishment from Dol Guldur?
Or was it just a wasteland where ...
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Is there any evidence for the dialog between Morgoth and Sauron in Blind Guardian's "War of Wrath" song?
The German power metal band Blind Guardian have written several songs related to Middle-earth and Tolkien's works. In one of these songs, which is called "War of Wrath", there is the ...
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Why did Saruman lose everything but Sauron kept doing what he wanted?
I get that Saruman lost his powers due to being replaced by Gandalf.
But, all of the Valar and Maiar were made by Eru, therefore if Eru could do that to Saruman then he should be able to do the same ...
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What words (in Black Speech) was Sauron saying when he allegedly asked Pippin of who he was?
What phonemes (or even words in Black Speech) could one distinguish in the below video from 1:26 to 1:29, where Sauron allegedly asked Pippin of who he was?
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How far could the "Eye of Sauron" see and what is its resolution? [duplicate]
How far and how clear could the "Eye of Sauron" see? Could it see through the whole of Middle-earth or is it limited to only Mordor? Could it distinguish the human face, the small artifacts ...
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What is Sauron's true appearance? [duplicate]
This question about the Eye of Sauron made me wonder about Sauron's true appearance. According to the answers there, the big red eye on top of the tower is partly metaphorical but also a physical ...
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What does Sauron mean by 'The East will fall...So shall the Kingdom of Angmar rise'?
In The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies just before Galadriel confronts Sauron in Dol Guldor, Sauron says:
It has begun. The East will fall. So shall the Kingdom of Angmar rise. The time of ...
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What does Sauron look like? [duplicate]
Duh!
But, do the books ever describe what he actually looks like? I found a diagram by Tolkien himself:
But this looks too... vague? And I don't know whether he was ever intent on continuing with ...
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Why didn't Sauron realise Frodo was in Mordor despite finding his shirt?
In the Extended Edition of The Return of the King movie, in the scene at the Black Gate, the Mouth of Sauron comes out to parley with the company. Eventually, he presents Frodo's mithril shirt to ...
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Did Sauron have the power to bring Melkor back from the Timeless Void?
Did Sauron have the power to bring Melkor back from the Timeless Void? Did he have the power but not the intention, or was it simply impossible?
As far as I know, Sauron suffered the same fate as ...
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Did Smaug have the power to destroy Barad-dûr? [closed]
Consider a scenario in which Smaug was not killed in T.A. 2942, continuing to live to T.A. 3019, the year of the Battle for Middle-earth. Now let's say that he and Sauron had a major disagreement ...
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Was Sauron aware of the prophecy that Smaug would be killed and that the Dwarves would reclaim Erebor?
I was wondering if there is any mention in Tolkien's Legendarium that Sauron knew about the prophecy that Smaug would be killed and that the Dwarves would then reclaim Erebor. If so, I was thinking ...
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In-universe origin of the Ring poem [duplicate]
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of ...
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Does Sauron have any dialogue in any of the books?
In The Lord of the Rings film adaptions, you can hear Sauron's voice at some points but it's often hard to hear it very well. You can also hear him quite clearly in The Lego Batman Movie, although I ...
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Did Sauron ever betray Morgoth?
Sauron was given the title "Sauron the Deceiver" because he used charm and deception to gain control over others. He taught ring-craft to the elves and gave Rings of Power to men and dwarves ...
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How did the Ring allow Sauron to retain his human form? [duplicate]
I was reading on Tolkien Gateway that
Sauron fought with Gil-galad and Elendil, and both were slain. As Elendil fell, his sword was broken beneath him. Yet Sauron was thrown down, too, and Isildur ...
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How could Sauron physically acquire the ring? [duplicate]
In The Lord of the Rings Sauron is essentially a spirit which has taken the form of the great eye. If the fellowship had failed, how would the forces of Mordor actually give the ring to him? In the ...
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Could Sauron have read Tom Bombadil's mind if Tom had held the Palantir?
Imagine an alternate version of The Return of the King, in which Gandalf travels to Tom Bombadil's house after the Battle of Helm's Deep/Hornburg in order to give the Palantir to Tom for safekeeping.
...
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Is Sauron a lesser type of god? [closed]
Since he is a powerful being who is seemingly supernatural, could he be considered a god of some type?
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Why did Sauron's tower fall?
When Sauron is finally defeated near the end of Return of the King, why does his tower collapse? Is the collapse of the tower what triggers the ground collapse that (conveniently) consumes only his ...
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Why did Sauron die when the Ring was destroyed in Mount Doom?
When Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, he returned again. But when Frodo went to Mount Doom and accidentally Gollum cast the Ring along with himself, Sauron was defeated and never came back ...
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What would have happened to Saruman if Sauron acquired the One Ring?
This question is the opposite of another one. The other question asks "What would happen to Saruman if he got the One Ring?" and this one asks what would happen to Saruman if Sauron got the ...
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Did Sauron prefer his name not to be written or spoken?
In the Wikipedia entry for Uruk-Hai, it states that some Uruk-Hai had an elf rune, equivalent to the letter "S", painted on them. It then states:
It was clear the "S" stood for Saruman, considering ...
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Why did Sauron's army choose to march at the exact moment Frodo crossed the watchers?
It seems like an extraordinary coincidence that Sauron's army set off for Minas Tirith precisely when Frodo crossed the line between the watchers. It was practically to the second! (You know - the ...
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Why did Sauron think that no one in possession of the One Ring would want to destroy it?
In The Two Towers Gandalf says to Aragorn
Indeed he is in great fear, not knowing what mighty one may suddenly appear, wielding the Ring, and assailing him with war, seeking to cast him down and take ...
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Could an Elf kill Sauron in single combat?
An elf named Glorfindel killed a Balrog in the First Age. Balrogs are Maiar that were corrupted by Morgoth. We know they can be killed by powerful beings, like the wizards, in single combat because ...
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Any indication what Sauron would do with the One Ring if he possessed it again? [duplicate]
Sauron seems hell bent on getting back the One Ring. Any word on what he planned to do with it? The question linked as duplicate is about Sauron wearing the ring, which isn't really what I am going ...
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Did Sauron's human followers know they were fighting for a supernatural force?
Later in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the forces of Gondor, the elves, Aragorn, etc. go up against human soldiers from distant lands. Did the humans have any inkling that they were fighting for a ...
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Who is Sauron's second-in-command?
Is the Witch king of Angmar or the Mouth of Sauron the chief lieutenant of Mordor? (similar to Darth Sidious and Darth Vader) During the War of the Ring, the Witch King leads Sauron's army in the ...
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Why didn't Sauron attack the Beacons of Gondor?
I was just finishing the audio books of The Lord of the Rings and I'm a little bit confused.
When Sauron's armies march to Minas Tirith they light the beacons to warn their neighbours and send a ...
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Why were Sauron and Saruman not considered Balrogs?
Balrogs are Maiar who were corrupted by Melkor to become evil. Sauron was also a Maia who was corrupted by Melkor and became evil, and Saruman was a Maia who was corrupted by Sauron to become evil. ...
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At the end of LotR, why does the Eye of Sauron burn so vigorously after the Ring gets destroyed?
In The Return of the King, after the Ring got tossed into the fires of Mount Doom, the Eye of Sauron burst into flames, and the tower of Barad-dûr then collapsed. Then the Eye shrank to a small point ...
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