There’s still something so interesting to me in the fact that Sauron seemed honestly resistant to Galadriel’s efforts to crown him king of the Southlands and drag him back to Middle Earth with her. A lot of his early behavior we can just put down to various subtle forms of manipulation, but his resistance here came across as real. We got that shot of him alone in a room putting the seal of kingship angrily down on a table - with no one else watching, and therefore no one for him to be performing in front of. When we see him then pick it back up again, it appears like a clear case of the character truly changing his mind, and not just pretending to. Which I read as therefore meaning that Sauron genuinely considered staying behind on Numenor and refusing to travel with Galadriel to the Southlands.
Which, I mean - and yes forgive me for stating the obvious - but that’s kind of important! It suggests that Sauron’s supposed repentence and reluctance to take up the Dark Lord mantle again was real. Because this was a golden opportunity that literally fell into his lap - Galadriel is seriously out there spinning her secret kingship theories and collecting him an army all on her own, with Sauron barely having to lift a finger. And then he just…truly doesn’t seem to want it? Like I don’t think the show will ever tell us just how much of his early relationship with Galadriel was real and how much was a con, but it took the time to provide actual evidence that his reluctance to take advantage of what she was offering him here was sincere. I’m not saying he necessarily planned to start saving kittens from trees and donating all his salary to orphanages, but if he was only looking for a new path to power, then the one Galadriel gave him was a million times more efficient than staying behind in Numenor as a smith. So like, I think a part of him genuinely wanted to give it a try. He really had a moment where forsaking earthly power and kingship and just hanging around a forge on Numenor making swords and vibing seemed like a legitimate life path.
And I think that’s also interesting for his relationship with Galadriel. Because yes, obviously a part of it was just him jerking her chain to make her dance [’kneel’ pffffft okay dark lord we get it] and laughing to himself at this absurdly lucky opportunity to sink his claws into the famous Noldor elf who’s been obssessed with murdering him for a couple millenia. But if a meaningful part of him doesn’t actually want to regain his power in Middle Earth, then why would he need to manipulate Galadriel into giving it to him? I mean sure he’s an opportunist and the temptation is kind of too big to turn down [and yeah to no one’s surprise he does eventually give into it], but at the same time, their dynamic really does come across like he’s conflicted about getting closer to her - and in ways that I think genuinely could have driven Galadriel away, rather than just playing hard-to-get to reel her in more.
All of which is to say that I think this suggests that part of the temptation was really just Galadriel herself. And I mean there’s not enough evidence in the show to prove this either way - you could argue that Sauron was exclusively conflicted over whether or not to pursue power again, and Galadriel was an incidental cog in that temptation. But I find that take less convincing [and less fun], because so much of the push and pull of their relationship is happening even before Sauron has made the choice to use Galadriel to take power in the Southlands [and then later to scheme his way into Eregion &etc]. He risks his life to save her at sea before he’s decided to become the Dark Lord again. All the little jokes he plays on her, convincing her to trust his intentions and his advice, cornering her into a confrontation about her brother - he does all that before he’s even sure what he wants to use Galadriel for. He could easily have discarded her at any point and saved himself considerable trouble. However useful keeping her as an ally might theoretically be, he didn’t need her for any of his immediate goals, and he’s clearly playing with fire vis a vis tricking the bloodthirsty military commander out for his head into spending more time with him. She’s potentially useful, sure, but also a much more immediate risk. So why keep her around when she serves no clear purpose? Why keep her alive at all if she doesn’t further his goals?
Anyway [and this is the shipping aspect of the argument so turn back now if that’s not your thing]: my pet theory is that I think Galadriel herself might have been part of the temptation. She wasn’t just offering Sauron a path back to power - she was also offering him her trust and respect and basically just continued access to herself as his friend and ally. If Sauron didn’t take her up on the offer of kingship, she was going to run off to Middle Earth without him. If he did take her up on it, he got not just the kingship itself, but also the chance to keep hanging out with Galadriel, manipulating her in various ways and setting the groundwork for potentially persuading her over to his own side. And maybe that in itself was a part of the offer he couldn’t turn down. [because he’s in deeply embarrassing love with her] He didn’t only want the power Galadriel could give him - he also just, like, met this angry unhinged grief-stricken agent of chaos with great hair and terrible people skills and went, oh, okay. I want to see what she does next. And anyway yeah that’s the temptation he really couldn’t shake and that’s why the Dark Lord rose again to bring death destruction and ruination to the land &etc etc, the end. [and that’s how love ruined everything hurray]
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