Why did destroying the One Ring kill Sauron?

In this video, we look at why the destruction of the One Ring meant the end of Sauron, and the reasons why he could not exist without it.

Thanks to my patrons - Habimana, Ben Jeffrey, Harry Evett, Mojtaba Ro, Moe L, Paul Leone, Barbossa, mncb1o, Carrot Ifson, Andrew Welch and Catherine Berry.

[ghyslainabel]

I never understood until now why Yavanna could not recreate the 2 trees. Now I get it. Thank you for the insight!

[random]

2:47 to 2:56 KEY POINTS! Saruman is made impotent upon physical death (and due to the choices he made in life, loses the power that was invested in him). Gendalf is RE-EMBODIED, and RE-EMPOWERED, due to the choices he made as Gandalf the Grey. Eru Iluvatar KNOWS ALL, and follows through accordingly. 🙏🏻HIgh FIVE!🙏🏻 Looking at Sauron's death with respect to the choices he made in life, Does Not Bode Well for HIs Soul, AT ALL.

As for investing in NFTs? ⛔⛔🚫🚫Good Call! 😁😁

[SNWWRNNG]

In essence, Sauron had remote access to the power he put into the Ring (though not to the enhancements granted by wearing it) - the only ways to cut him off from that power are destroying the Ring, or someone mighty like Gandalf claiming the Ring and wresting control of it from Sauron.

[martinbennett]

According to Tolkien in the Silmarillion, (of the rings of power and the third age) the elves of Noldorin established Eregion, and a reputation for craftmanship, the greatest of all being Celebrimbor. These elves were the ones to receive Sauron (or Annatar The Lord of Gifts as he styled himself): Elrond and Gil-galad were more cautious and would not admit this fair seeming, fair speaking stranger to Lindon.

Sauron was a Maia of Aule, whose Lordship was over the substances of which Arda was made, a smith and master of all crafts, delighting in works of skill. Taught we presume by Aule, Sauron had much to teach the elves of Eregion. The Noldor wanted to extend their skills and the subtlety of their work: you might say they were greedy for knowledge.

The elven-smiths of Ost-in-Edhil then “took thought and made Rings of Power” using the skills and knowledge passed down to them by Sauron. Tolkien says he “guided their labours and was aware of all that they did; for his desire was to set a bond on the Elves and to bring then under his vigilance”. The elves under Sauron’s tutelage it seems first made lesser rings (according to Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings) – prototypes – which like the Great Ring were plain and unadorned, before going on to make the Nine and the Seven. But the Three Rings Sauron never had a hand in: he may only have realised their existence when he completed the One Ring in secret and put it on: just as the Elves were aware of him at that moment, he was aware of them, and they took off their rings.

So it may be that Rings of Power were first conceived by the Elves, and Sauron took advantage of this letting them run with the idea and teaching them how to store energy (spirit energy) in the rings, rather like perpetual batteries. The three which could ward off the passage of time and world-weariness may have been charged with elemental earth energy.

Much of Sauron’s strength and will (spirit?) was committed to the One Ring, whose function was to rule all the others – dominate the thoughts and minds of the wearers. Sauron plus the ring was at full power, power used to build the foundations of Mordor. When Isildur cut the ring from Sauron’s finger he was separated from a huge part of the power and lost (or deliberately abandoned) his corporeal existence, but the power of the One Ring still sustained what had been done with the ring – in the same way that what was done with the Three remained: Galadriel was able to shield and defend Lothlorien and keep it blooming.

The One Ring may even have possessed a form of limited sentience: its purpose was to get back to its master: it betrayed Isildur. It tempted Galadriel and Sam and even Frodo succumbed in the end.

When his first physical form perished in the ruin of Numenor, his spirit came back to Mordor and taking up the One Ring, created a new and terrible body – he had lost the ability to assume a pleasing shape and form. After the defeat by Isildur, Sauron still wanted to interact with the physical world, but without the one Ring, he probably used more of the Spirit power left to him slowly creating a new body to inhabit, just as his Master Morgoth squandered his power with Ungoliant (Ungoliant had grown great and he less by the power that had gone out of him).

So when the One Ring was destroyed, the energy contained within it was released (like a bomb), everything in Mordor created with the ring started to crumble, and Sauron’s last physical form was destroyed too – leaving a maimed and almost power-less (literally) spirit.

[bleekskaduwee]

So glad your back brother, I was really excited to see a new video from you

[HenhousetheRed]

The One Ring is a physically manifested and crystalized form of Sauron's "power." Power meaning the potential for action externalized beyond one's self.

Tolkien wrote in 1958 (Letter 279), about Sauron's creation of the ring as “a mythical way of representing the truth that potency (or perhaps rather potentiality) if it is to be exercised, and produce results, has to be externalized and so as it were passes, to a greater or less degree, out of one’s direct control."

The ring enhances Sauron because power/potency must be externalized to affect great change. The risk of externalizing it into the ring is the reward for greater potential. The cost is that when Sauron was separated from it, he was weakened. The end result is that if the ring is destroyed, Sauron and everything he built using the ring would be ended.

He never envisioned being separated from it, however. And he never envisioned anyone would have the will to destroy it, he himself not being capable of undoing it. He feared above all else that the ring would fall into the hands of someone who could take it from him and claim it as their own, which would undo (but not destroy) Sauron.

[LeHobbitFan]

Glad to see you back and better than ever, friend! Here's to a happy New Year

[cathrynbyrnes]

Great video! I’d always wondered if either Sauron or Saruman (or both) would have been able to eventually gather enough energy to return, and wreak havoc again, even if it took ages to do so.

[lawrencetalbot]

So One Ring is always trying to get back to its Master, and is loyal to no one but Sauron. This is why it slips away from Isildur, Gollum, and even Bilbo from time to time. So why would Sauron be scared someone would use the Ring against him? If someone bearing the Ring were to challenge Sauron, couldn’t it in theory slip off that person and return to Sauron? Seems like that would be a rather convenient way to return to its Master.

[adamloverin]

Welcome back, and remember, humor is the cure of all ills.

[daveowens]

It's possible Sauron himself didn't quite know how the Ring would behave away from his physical body.

[kattastadir-sydri]

Gandalf explains this quite well to Frodo in the movies, don’t know how the books handle it

[mecurio]

Darthy, Were there any sea monsters in Tolkien's legendarium aside from the watcher of the water? Did the Numenoreans or other seafarer civilizations ever encountered them?

[allenkeith]

Why did destroying the One Ring kill Sauron? It was his Final Horcrux...

[jasonweeks]

my guess is he poured so much of himself into it that destroying the ring would have A. killed him or B. rendered him so powerless to the point of where sam could have kicked him in the precious and he couldnt have done anything about it.

[CaIypsoJ]

Excellent channel. I always wondered if the original intention of the ring was to give Sauron the power to possess the wearer. Maybe this is why the ring was such a corrupting force for any ring bearer? The ability of the ring to corrupt was extreme even by Middle Earth standards. Perhaps Sauron's spirit was too weakened after two passings for the ring to complete its original function and it could only create lackeys to help him gain power?

[greenman]

I like that Tolkien just says "the Ring", he doesn't say "the One Ring" a phrase which feels like fingernails on a blackboard.
I do wish people would follow Tolkien in this regard, it is so much less cheesy.

[phoule]

that brings up an interesting point: if Galdriel or Gandalf had claimed the ring, or even Saruman or Elrond, and the Free Peoples ended up killing Sauron, it would be cool and scary to see one of the White Council members slowly morph into Sauron himself over an Age, as his spirit would have a conduit to come back to, perhaps. "Somehow, the Emperor has returned", as it were.

[michaelsavage]

Roger Garland is one my favorites for Tolkiens World Art.

[gravewalkers]

Simple version is found in Dungeons and Dragons.
Sauron is a lich (Necromancer of Dol Gador). The ring is his phylactery. This is rooted in a concept called self conjuration. When a person dies, their soul returns to the power that has lordship over their soul. For Sauron, he is owned by Aluvitar. All the angelic beings of Aluvitar are recalled by him to his heaven, like when Gandalf dies to the Balrog. Sauron hates Aluvitar. Sauron summons his soul anchor away from Aluvitar and binds it into the ring. Like a lich, so long as his phylactery remains intact, so does his spirit and his ability to take on a new body or physical form. This is used by Valdamort in Harry Potter. So long as his phylacteries exist, he exists. Once the one ring is destroyed, the soul anchor of his being is destroyed. His existence is bound to it. Like a lich, if you keep the phylactery, he might gradually possess you and you become his new body. Owning it is extremely dangerous.