#sauron meta

[mcpayne]

Another interesting way of viewing Mairon is from a time period standpoint and what he represents in that way. Yes the Lucifer analogy is great but have you ever thought about viewing him from a "consequences of war" perspective?

War makes people do terrible things, whether they are good people or bad people. Good people return from war as shells of their former selves after committing horrific war crimes under orders they cannot disobey. Bad people return from war even worse, having enjoyed their time committing atrocities.

And with Mairon, it's no different.

He joined Morgoth, became his Lieutenant, and began to slowly change from Mairon to Sauron with each action he took in Morgoth's name.

He gave up his ability to love or show love. He gave up his ability to understand other intelligent beings around him. He gave up empathy.

But when Morgoth was defeated, Mairon refused to beg for mercy at the feet of Manwë, electing to continue his rampage, going from good to bad to worse to evil. As nothing is evil in the beginning.

And he found that he quite enjoyed committing these war crimes freely, without Morgoth dictating how or when or why. And so, he fully became Sauron. No longer Mairon the Admirable, but Sauron The Abhorred. He gave into the temptation of going from the tormented to the tormenter. The tortured to the torturer.

And then, in all of his trauma, convinced himself that he was doing the right thing. Because he wasn't doing exactly what Morgoth did, no. In his mind, he was healing and perfecting, not destroying. But evil can only create things tainted with evil and malice. And as Morgoth created "Sauron", Sauron would go on to create more and more malice.

Sauron is not just an embodiment of evil, to some degree, but an embodiment of war atrocity.

In addition to what I've already said, Sauron is also an example of Tolkien's disdain for apartheid and colonisation. Sauron sought to colonise and enslave all of middle earth in order to "perfect" it and "purify" it. I don't even need to say the name of the dictators known for this behaviour for everyone to know who I'm alluding to.

[multifandumbmeg]

Why was he crying? Annatar manipulates and kills easily, so why was he borderline sobbing after killing Celebrimbor?

Because this death was brutal, and more than that, it was personal. Sauron doesn't kill because he's a sadist, he kills because he is ruthless and believes it necessary to achieve his goals. Anyone who gets in his way, or who is more useful dead, will simply be so. But as he's torturing Celebrimbor for information about the rings, Celebrimbor is reading him to filth. And with compassion, even.

There is a spark of anger. Absolute rage within Annatar, and in his fury he kills Celebrimbor. Not because it was useful or the smart thing to do, because he was offended, even hurt by his words. He killed Celebrimbor in anger, which is not like him, and when he steps back and realizes how violently and twistedly he did it, to man he even respected and may have liked to some extent, something clicks.

Why was he crying?

Because he looked at what he'd done to Celebrimbor, and he saw Melkor. This was Morgoth's work. This was how he'd handled things, how he'd tormented and punished Sauron. All this time, as we know from his earlier conversation with Celebrimbor, Sauron believes he is being merciful to those he tortures and kills compared to Morgoth.

But in that moment, he has brief terrifying glimpse of self-awareness. He is the monster he feared and hated and thought he loved. He steps backs and looks at a scene Morgoth would paint and it terrifies him.

So he cries. He cries until the reality of his actions, and another opportunity walks through the door in the form of the orcs and he makes the same call he will always make: double down, justify it, make it worth the pain.

[mai-komagata]

like of course sauron made galadriel's armor but also its not that a wedding dress or symbolic in a romantic sense (it's symbolic in other senses, just not in a heteronormative sense).

there are two things that define sauron above all else and that is blacksmithing and giving gifts. even before he did illusions he did that. boy goes to any city and if he can walk he finds a forge. he is a celebrimbor stan. he will limp to that forge. he has forging hyperfixation. you can't stop him from forging things. and he will give gifts, that is what he does. sure those gifts sometimes have strings attached like rings that enslave you to the unseen world but you know, he likes forging and giving things out. the world will be burning and he'll make a thing.

(like i dont want to be like the sauron reveal in season 1 was obvious -- like, i mean it *was* -- but i saw him and was like, well that boy is obsessed with blacksmithing that is sauron. he made it his entire personality. )

anyway. armor is beautiful and adorns her beautifully. Only the best for his beloved toys. He is known as the giver of gifts for a reason, he has to give her something to entice her. You cant convince her only she can destroy Sauron if she is dressed in a chiton for battle! Love bombing is step 1, and giving gifts is part of this. And it makes so much sense with Galadriel's deflection later on: he offered me an army -- well he armed his general, that was his gift to her, to make her feel that way again (at what cost?). As he should. It's a way of building that dependence and connection, to show he is not just any man and he alone can bring her renown. Giving items that are there to bring victory in battle is very Sauron.

[disclaimer--sauron is a manipulative abusive bastard and i like it as a dark manipulative ship. also he aint settling for one plaything, he loves all his toys and routinely builds them up then violates and breaks them. this is not anti galadriel x sauron just anti soulmates/anti wedding imagery/anti halbrand is different than sauron].

[helholden]

“Sauron had never reached this stage of nihilistic madness [as Morgoth]. He did not object to the existence of the world, so long as he could do what he liked with it. 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 co-ordination, and disliked all confusion and wasteful friction.”

— J.R.R. Tolkien, The History of Middle-earth, Vol. 10, Morgoth's Ring

This passage is very crucial to understanding the idea of a repentant Sauron. Tolkien openly admits that Sauron fell from grace, went back to his goodness, and then fell again. The phrase “and therefore also the cause of his fall, and of his relapse” points out that Sauron didn't just fall once and stayed there. He attempted to rise above his crimes after the fall of Morgoth, and for an unaddressed reason, he relapsed and came back to them later on.

Tolkien said it first, folks. Relapse is a deterioration after a temporary improvement. You can't relapse without improving first.

[mcpayne]

On Halbrand and Kingfishers:

In the Season 2 prologue of "The Rings Of Power", we see Halbrand take, from a dead man, a pouch with a medallion of sorts. And on this medallion is a Kingfisher.

Kingfishers are associated with the word "halcyon" which often describes a happy or idyllic moment or time from the past that is remembered fondly.

We know Halbrand holds onto this pouch for the majority of Season One, though it disappears in Season Two, with the form of Halbrand, so perhaps this disappearance is him 'throwing the fond past away'.

But even before that, to Sauron, this new form, of Halbrand, is a new beginning, another symbol of the Kingfisher. Perhaps he can simply run from the past and start over. He's met Galadriel, and they're both off to Numenor. Perhaps he can remain there. Perhaps he can learn to be different, learn to be happier.

But....new beginnings, however, aren't always positive. An alleyway fight, jail-time, and a half dozen arguments later, we have Halbrand plotting again. The smiths at the forge rejected him? Alright fine, sure. That would be great, however, Halbrand doesn't like that answer very much... and beats up the smiths in an alleyway after stealing one of their guild medallions. While this does land him in jail for a quick minute, he does end up getting what he wants. Once released, it's quickly realised that with some of the smiths incapacitated, or worse, Numenor needs a new smith. Oh, and Halbrand has the perfect candidate in mind: himself.

We see him sort of flip flop between what type of new beginning he wants. Does he want a nice relaxing one? Or does he want dominion over all of Middle Earth? Well, let's just say, taking him to Eregion helps him make up his mind a bit.

On the raft, an ever perceptive Galadriel takes notice of this pouch explicitly and very clearly. The moment she notices this, however, Halbrand is quick to tuck it back into his tunic, out of sight, out of mind.

What makes this interesting is the Kingfisher's connection to the sea and water.

Kingfishers plunge into the sea for their food. Diving into the sea for something to consume. This stands out to me specifically, as we see Halbrand dive into the sea, only once, to pull Galadriel to safety, back on the raft.

At this point, we didn't know who Halbrand truly was. We knew he recognised her dagger as her brother, Finrod's, as it was one of a kind made by Fëanor.

But we do not know that, to some degree, he does want to, eventually, consume her light.

Interestingly enough, in Greek Mythology, Kingfishers are also said to calm storms, and are beloved by sea nymphs.

Eventually, the storm Galadriel and Halbrand are trapped in does pass. It does calm, but only after he dives in and saves her from the sea.

In biblical text, it's said that the Kingfishers were the first birds to leave Noah's Arc. According to this story, the Kingfishers flew too close to the sun, and scorched their bellies, which is why they have the orange plumage along their stomachs.

This makes me think of the story of Icarus, someone with ambition who flew too close to the sun and led to his own demise.

We see Sauron do this, even after the Halbrand 'act' has been dropped. In Season 2, we see him lose control of his anger and kill Celebrimbor. We see him snap again, this time at Galadriel, impaling her with Morgoth's Iron Crown. Each time, ruining something he had hoped to obtain, or achieve. A person he wished to form an alliance with, now likely unwilling to align themselves with him.

"One used to hear the Kingfishers flying to the river. It is a pity... how you have silenced them."

Celebrimbor says this while being tortured by Sauron, who has dropped the disguise of 'Annatar' at long last, face less warm, eyes less kind. And we finally see Sauron as he truly is.

The Kingfishers, now, are all silenced. The idyllic past long forgotten. Sauron has not just left the character of 'Annatar' behind, but 'Halbrand' as well, and even perhaps his entire past, both the good, and the bad, becoming someone new entirely.

The Kingfisher's final symbol of transformation has now been reached in the story. And the transformations will continue, overtime, as little pieces of the Kingfisher he once was are left behind.

[helholden]

Okay, let's talk about Sauron. A lot of people want to paint him as a one-dimensional villain, and this is simply not true.

I do believe that Sauron has developed feelings and an attachment towards Galadriel, but at the same time . . . he's been nurtured by evil for an extremely long span of time, millennium after millennium, so the tragedy is his understanding of relationships. The process of a relationship, to Sauron, is based on the experiences beaten into him by Morgoth. It's one of a servant who serves their master, even if that master is vicious, vile, and violent. No matter what, you serve that master and do as you are told . . . and it's an unbreakable bond to Sauron. It's what he understands. It's what has been nurtured in him over the course of almost all his existence. That's a relationship to Sauron.

Once his master, Morgoth, was defeated, Sauron was free to become the master himself. His way of regaining his agency is to be the oppressor now. Now, every relationship that Sauron seeks out is going to mirror his relationship with Morgoth. He is going to expect someone to follow him, do as they are told, and never question him or his will, no matter what. Sauron is going to expect them to serve him, as he served Morgoth. With unfailing loyalty and devotion, no matter how he treats them or acts out against them. They should never stray from his side.

When Galadriel found out his true identity and began to turn away from him, we saw his desperation to regain control over her come out in full force. Anything he had to do to get her back to following him, trusting him, not questioning him or his will, he began to do. Because that is how he understands the process of a relationship. It's not an equal partnership. It's one of a master and a servant. And remember: he's the master now.

Morgoth was vile down to his core. Let me paint a picture for you: Morgoth kidnapped and tortured Elves and Men and Dwarves and everybody, and turned them into a vast sea of slaves, whose bodies he did experiments on, whose bodies he beat, whose bodies he used to breed more slaves, which was just Tolkien's nice way of saying he forced them to rape each other in order to make more slaves. This is how Orcs were created. It's really dark shit, y'all.

Now, pause for a moment. This beast, this vile creature . . . was Sauron's master. For the majority of Sauron's existence. And Sauron learned that listening to this master, following his orders, and doing what he was told earned him riches, protection, power, and position . . . while everyone else who didn't submit was mutilated, tortured, defiled, and raped.

We can sit here and scream about good and evil all day long like it's easy to understand with black and white lines marking the differences between the two, but most evil is just a process born out of the cycle of abuse. At the end of the day, evil deeds are often taught through a cycle of abusive relationships. Once you fall into that cycle, it's very hard to get out of it. It becomes a subconscious way of life. It becomes your understanding of how relationships work.

That's the tragedy behind all of this. Sauron doesn't know how to have a healthy relationship of equal partnership. It's not that he doesn't have feelings and emotions. All beings have feelings and emotions, and Tolkien explicitly described Sauron's intense hate for good people multiple times throughout his works. Why? Because he wanted them to suffer. As he has suffered. Whether that suffering was direct or just horrific deeds he witnessed, it doesn't matter. Even witnessing abuse is severely traumatic, and the cycle of abuse also creates a cycle of hatred.

Sauron is not a one-dimensional villain. Tolkien never actually wrote him that way. His extreme need for control is, in many ways, a byproduct of abuse, which has driven him to commit terrible deeds so he is not the one suffering, but other people are. And he doesn't care. As long as it's not him. He wanted control over everyone and everything, so nobody would ever have control over him ever again.

That's the tragedy. That right there.

[helholden]

I agree with that any love Sauron is capable of is going to be toxic and unhealthy because of what he has done and what he has gone threw.

Yeah, you get it. YOU GET IT. I mean, in fanfic, we can do whatever we want or write it however we want, no judgment from me on that front. But recognizing canon!Sauron is a pretty fucked up dude is important.

Sauron's done some pretty heinous shit, but it's still important to acknowledge the background behind the driving motivation of his actions without actually excusing the actions. Sauron's canon story, for example, mirrored against Gandalf's in the show displays the dichotomy of how being raised by good, kind people can influence a person's future towards helping and saving others (Gandalf with the hobbits) versus how being lured into playing as a spy for a guy who promises you power and riches and basically lies his ass off to you to get you to follow him and then turns around to be a horrific, violent beast that exposes you to all sorts of fUCKED uP shit (basically what Morgoth did to Sauron) can influence a person to become a monster themselves.

Sauron didn't do any of that fucked up shit until Morgoth exposed him to it and expected it of him. I'm sure down the line Sauron began to really like the fucked up shit, too. BUT he wasn't always like that, and it's possible for us to acknowledge that, originally, it could have horrified him and may not have been what he expected/wanted from his alliance with Morgoth.

A lot of people forget that Sauron was chilling in Valinor with all the nice people, acting as a spy for Morgoth and feeding him information before he actually physically JOINED Morgoth. One could argue he may not have known the full breadth of what he was getting himself into, while being tempted and corrupted by Morgoth's lies of power, wisdom, and all that shiny jazz.

. . . Which is a far more riveting story than, say, OOP HE WAS BORN EVIL. JUST BORN THAT WAY. Which doesn't make sense either because there was a time when Sauron wasn't evil and was just minding his own business making pretty stuff in the Mansions of Aulë in Valinor.

But some people are gonna scream "SAURON WAS ~ALWAYS~ EVIL" at the top of their lungs, regardless of the facts.

[vardaelcntari]

The semnification of the numbers in the Ring poem

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky

Three is a sacred number for Elves.

Three were their kindreds: the Vanyar, the Noldor and the Teleri and three were their emmisaries in Valinor and their first leaders (Ingwë, Finwë, Elwë).

Three were the Silmarils and not only that. Each Element of the three Elvish Rings is an element associated with one of the Silmarils.

Vilya, the Ring of Air - A Silmaril is carried ny Ëarendil during his errands across the skies (Also, Vilya was given to Elrond, Ëarendil's son)

Nenya, the Ring of Water - Cast by Maglor into the sea, later given to Galadriel, the last Noldorin Princess in Middle-Earth and akin to Maglor

Narya, the Ring of Fire - Cast by Maedhros into a pit of fire. Later given to Gandalf, who is associated with fire

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Seven is a sacred number for Dwarves bc there were seven dwarf-parents and it is believed that Durin the Deathless will be reborn for seven times.

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

Nine is three times three.

Three were the first three tribes of the Edain that came into Beleriand.

Three were the unions between Elves and Men (Beren&Luthien, Idril&Tuor, Arwen&Aragorn).

Three were their big clashes agains Sauron: the Fall of Numenor, the War of the Last Alliance, the War of the Ring.

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

Sauron chooses one for himself bc he is meant to be the one. One ruler over the whole world, one king for all these three kindreds. I also interpret this as a crucial point in his development, when he acknowledges himeslf as no longer being a servant of Morgoth,but a Dark Lord in his own right. Sure, later on, in Númenor, he wants to turn the Men against the Valar by having them embrace the Cult of Morgoth, but this is because he embraced that "religion" for himself. On the other hand, by the time he forged the One Ring, he had already been acting on his own, no longer under his former master's shadow. (God, I could write essays on Sauron's character, @chaos-of-the-abyss knows what I am talking about 😂😂😂)

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Shadow is a double-edged sword here. It means, ofc, darkness and a gloomy, terrifying place,but it also means shades of grey and mistery, as well as a symbol of Sauron's influence.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them,

Here, Sauron identifies with the Ring. It is

One King/Lord to rule them all, One King/Lord to find them

Sauron becomes the Ring, while the people of Middle-Earth become "them", both the there Elven Rings and the lesser rings. The other rings become the world itself.

And in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

The way Sauron seeks to "rule", "find", "bring" and "bind them" depicts his piercing gaze, as well as the way his will slowly, but surely will come to overwhelm the whole world.

In the end, he will ultimately seek to turn the whole Middle-Earth into his "Land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie"