Okay, i've been loving your work lately. I gotta ask, since its really been on my mind lately, what do you think sauron looks like during LOTR? is he the dark lord type suit of armor or what is he? to you at least. i imagine sort of... half-shadow wraith thing.
Oh! Thank you very much! And thank you even more for such an interesting question. Personally, I seem to share you vision of him as a “half-shadow wraith thing” to an extent, though for me it holds a little more emphasis on the shadow than the wraith. Do you by any chance know of the concept art for Pitch Black from Rise of the Guardians?
Kind of along those lines. This post aside (which was just for fun), I envision him more of a shape in the dark than holding on to any clear form, in one part because the ainur - as I see them - are in essence creatures of taught and emotion, so after so much war and violence spreading fear and malice was all he knew anymore, and what scares us most that what we cannot name or explain? People were not afraid of him because of what he looked like, but because of what he was. The fact that Tolkien did not give us any clear description of his main villain supports me in this. Just like nobody can clearly describe the boogieman, the idea that Sauron took a form that can be interpretative in any seems like a fun idea to play with.In second part, honestly, I don’t think he was all there by the end of it. He very much seemed to hold his own in battle strategies and the whatnot, but just as we don’t need to think anymore to breath, I don’t think he needed to actually think when drawing out battle plans. It is said in the book that he was a master shape-shifter, bending his appearance depending on the environment he found himself in, so how come he was not so in lotr? Many would argue that he just got one too many blows to function properly and they would be right, one can argue that he did not need to anymore and they’d be right, one can argue Tolkien lost consistency again and they might be right - but shape-shifting I imagine requires a great deal of precision of taught and a clar mind, qualities I don’t think Sauron still possessed during lotr. Compared to his character in the Silmarillion at least, in Lord of the Rings Sauron seemed almost to be going through the motions. The delicious thing about his character is that he can be interpretable in any way one pleases. There is literally no right or wrong way to see him, and even if I don’t think I could see him as the “dark lord type suit of armor” kind, I can see why some would picture him as so. Although that sounds a bit too much like “wearing your finest business suite when you’re just chilling at home”. Nobody I think actually goes through quite all that trouble.
Please excuse all mistakes this much too long reply probably has…
