An Age of Sauron: Explained | What might the Dark Lord’s victory look like?

What if Sauron got his ring back? What if the Dark Lord won?

0:00 - Intro
1:13 - The Short Answer?
4:57 - If One Decision were Different?
8:08 - Frodo VS Sauron
10:38 - The Fall of Aragorn's Resistance
13:07 - Sauron's Conquest of the East
18:27 - The Alliance of Dwarves & Men
24:33 - The Age of 'Sauron'?
26:34 - The Downfall of the West
30:29 - What about Isengard?
33:49 - The Survivors in the North?
35:42 - A Thousand Years Later - What does Sauron do with his Victory?
39:15 - The God-King
44:01 - The Witch-king, new Rings of Power, & other speculation
45:46 - The End of the Age of Sauron

#Lordoftherings
#Lore
#Tolkien
#Middleearth

All content falls under fair use: any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, parody, or use a copyrighted work for educational purposes. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner.

Art Credits:

Much love and many thanks to the music makers!

Sad Dramatic Emotional Epic Music - My Spirit Is Free [Royalty Free]

Much love, stay groovy, and navaer melyn nin!

[Raeinok]

Witch King: What do we do now?
Sauron: What do you mean? Now we can finally play the game.

[adrian_veidt]

If Sauron wins:

Tulkas: *Sigh* Fine, I'll do it myself 🤜🙃🤛

[RazSofer-xhqs]

Remember, Melkor technically won in the First Age until the free folk was desperate enough to pray to the Valar for help so it will be a repeat in the Third Age for Sauron. It would just make the Valar feel that the mortals are not capable of doing things by themselves.

[juho]

The attention to detail you provide for this hypothetical scenario is simply phenomenal! I've seen this discussed before but never quite as thoroughly and with such expertise. Thanks for yet another great Friday, Dave!

[onyxalyx]

I was about to go to bed... Eh, time to cuddle up in my Sauron hoodie, with my Sauron action figure, and watch Sauron content! My eyes totally won't look like his after getting no sleep before a 12 hour shift.

It's fine. I bring this upon myself. Its fine! Thanks, Rainbow Dave! Much love! 🖤

[JosephCarven]

Sauron: wins
Crying Eru Ilúvatar: Hahaha, I'm just trolling! This is also my plan!

[_spacegoat_]

The fact that you took the bleakest of scenarios and still put the emphasis on the power of hope and new beginnings I think says a lot about you as a person, RD. Much love, friend!

[haleyschreiter]

I really appreciate the respectful, thorough approach you take to these speculative videos...and to all your other videos too 😊

[jackpayne]

So good. One of the most imaginative and oddly inspirational Tolkien “what if” videos that I’ve seen.

[bv_]

The new Jackson movie(s) should be about the Easterlings attacking Dale and the Lonely Mountain during the war of the ring especially since the lonely mountain was featured in the last trilogy, instead of a stupid story about looking for Gollum that no one really cares about.

[TrueBronzo]

Dave, you make me feel good inside my dude. I honestly don't know how else to put it. You're the human version of the LOTR sound track.

[JAB]

If Sauron won... The sorrow of losing their loved ones would be unimaginable to comprehend.

Sam's family... Losing Sam
Merry & Pippin's family, Faramir & Eowyn... losing Merry and Pippin
Thranduil... losing Legolas, his son from his late wife whom he loved dearly.
Glóin... losing his beloved wee lad Gimli
Arwen... who will never walk down the aisle to see Aragorn again.

And even worse... Bilbo realizing that the burden he bestowed on Frodo was too much for him to bear and failed Middle Earth 🥺😢

[justiniani.]

I've had an interesting thought regarding this topic. Given the inevitability of Illúvatar's designs, I wonder if there was a chance for Sauron to eventually find himself regretting his actions. Once he achieved everything he wanted to achieve, and once the world was reshaped in his image, I can see Sauron simply growing bored. When you have everything and aren't challenged by anyone, it can be hard to find motivation to do much of anything. The Dark Lord may grow tired of constantly torturing his slaves, and if one escaped his clutches, he may feel no need to hunt them down.

Perhaps here's where Illúvatar's design would come in. Like Saruman may have repented for his evil action, Sauron may begin to hear the whispers of Eru, and he may even begin to question his desire for order and domination. Eventually, it could be Sauron himself who deliberately dismantles his tyrannical empire.

Of course, it is rather unlikely, but it would make for an interesting story.

[TheJmlew]

This was a beautiful video! You are the first Toilken YouTuber I’ve seen to acknowledge in a hypothetical that in Middle Earth Illuvitar is the one who is holding creation, and would lead any tragedy and eventually transform it into greater beauty. Wonderful job!!

[melissabloom]

Hello. I only recently discovered your channel and I am now watching each episode from the order of your first one, but I wanted to jump over here just to say how absolutely wonderful you and your storytelling are! I’m a huge Tolkien fan, and I have enjoyed many related channels, but you sir, are truly something special. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the way you relate these tales, is actually super helpful for people like me who have difficulty remembering names and the language of Tolkien. The smoothness of your storytelling, with funny and interesting anecdotes, and the way you relate back and forth in the timeline to familiar events without missing a beat, just makes you an absolute joy to listen to. THANK YOU!

[geenflauwidee]

There is nothing I love more than taking my morning tea with a new video from you! Thank you!

[egoborder]

fantastic speculation! I think most fans will have imagined what Sauron's victory would look like, especially in that delicious chapter where the Mouth of Sauron confronts the alliance's leaders and he goes into Sauron's terms

[thatotherJake]

If Sauron won and Saruman escaped him in Isengard that could be the making of a very interesting redemption arc for him. Maybe he allies himself with Sauron's enemies out of necessity at first but comes to realize his mistakes and finds a better version of himself in the ensuing struggle.

...which you brought up at the end. Lol.

[TheGoodesBrothers]

Fascinating video topic, can't wait to watch later! Cheers, Dave, keep doing what you're best at 👊

[VladfishTheMagnificent]

What if Sauron repented? Unlike Morgoth, Sauron did want to make the world "better, " in his own warped way. He wasn't intrinsically evil. Maybe there would still be hope for him?

I've often wondered about Sauron's fate after his final defeat. He became a puff of wind, seething with rage but utterly impotent. Presumably, he then hovered over the world, watching countless Ages pass as civilizations rose and fell.

Being the perfectionist he is, I assume he'd dwell endlessly on his rise and fall, turning it over this way and that, wondering what went wrong. Slowly, he'd begin to recall his true, Divine, origins...along with an ever-growing awareness of how Morgoth had warped him.

Remembering the Light more and more, and becoming more and more aware of how far he'd strayed from it, anger would give way to despair and deep regret.

Eventually, he'd do the one thing he swore never to do: plead to the Valar for forgiveness.

The Valar would then have a long debate about his fate. Some would want to condemn him eternally; others would perhaps be more merciful.

Maybe the tie-breaking vote would fall to Eru Iluvatar himself...who would decide to reincarnate Sauron--AS A HUMAN. Given the contempt Sauron once felt for men, this would be poetic indeed.

(This could mean Sauron walks among us as we speak!)

Sauron would then have to live a righteous life, harming none, serving others as much as possible, atoning for his past actions. He'd have to be reincarnated again and again, living human lifetime after human lifetime, until he finally "got it right." Then, and only then, he'd be welcomed back to the pantheon of Divine beings.

Not sure how likely this would be, but it is an interesting possibility. I do see Sauron eventually finding his way back. Morgoth, on the other hand, is beyond hope.