A Brief History of Sauron

Sauron was causing problems in Middle Earth long before the events in the Lord of the Rings, going all the way back to the First Age. Here's the scoop.

[visualizedhistorylore]

Love what you do! Keep up the great work.

[charlesdexterward]

@21:40 I think Tolkien wrote that Gandalf was a freshman when Sauron was a senior in high school. So it's one of those situation where Gandalf knew who Sauron was more than vice versa.

[planes]

Awesome lecture my friend, great job, greetings from Canada.

[KeldorDAntrell]

Yes. In the Jackson films Sauron is portrayed not as the corporeal being he is, that can be defeated in hand-to-hand combat by great human or elvish lords (except briefly in the flashback when the ring is cut from his hand) but solely as the flaming eye above his tower. In The Hobbit film of his he portrayed him better as a sort of ghost of darkness - bettter in the sense that he could be understood by the viewer as a typical monster-type villain but the way he was suggested in TLOTR was a mistake for me. I imagine Jackson felt it would have the 'less is more' impact that Spielberg got from showing so little of the shark in Jaws but for me at least this failed because we had no concrete knowledge of him as anything else (the giant humanoid we see in battle against Elrond, Isildor, etc. was very brief and vague, like a dream or a distant memory) and by the end of the trilogy that image has been far outweighed by the countless times we are shown the firey eye (which I never felt looked much like an eye anyway).

The words that Aragorn hears when he uses the palantir are awesome and I really don't think Jackson should have neglected to include this in his films. Viggo Mortensen is, in my opinion, a pale imitation of what Aragron is meant to be, wholly uncharismatic and not even especially convincing in the action scenes (his best being his fight against the chief Uruk Hai in FOTR). Jackson ignored so much that was great about Aragorn in the book e.g. his courageous response at the Bridge of Khazad Dum, "He cannot stand alone! I am with you, Gandalf!" and Aragorn's battle of wills versus Sauron himself was a perfect opportunity to add to what should have been many great moments leading up to his being crowned at the finale. That moment in the book also served to give Sauron some concrete presence as opposed to the otherwise vague spectral figure in the background that I felt him to be. That's not frightening, to me.

[TheDarthbinky]

23:00 - point of order! Saruman was corrupted by his own desire for the Ring and jealousy towards others (such as Gandalf and Sauron), not by Sauron and the palantiri. I know the movies make it out that he was working directly for Sauron but as you know, in the books it's not quite so. He appears to be allied with Sauron but not-so-secretly wants the Ring for himself, especially once both the Free Peoples and Sauron discover that he's betrayed them.

When the White Council formed in 2463, he was already beginning to desire the Ring for himself and soon thereafter started spying on Gandalf and the Hobbits, even personally visiting the Shire to spy on the Hobbits until he stopped after they noticed him. He moved into the Orthanc and found its palantir almost three centuries later (2759)...

Harrumph! ;-)

[KeldorDAntrell]

To what extent does Sauron know of the existence of Gandalf? Whatever the precise answer is, Sauron was hesitating to come forth and make his great move to take over Middle-earth because he knew that there were still some great beings of power capable of opposing him as long as he was without the One ring. Saruman, Elrond, Galadriel, Celeborn, Glorfindel, are all obvious ones he would know of. Aragorn's appearance was especially precipitous however because he was a figure with the stated intention of assuming kingship in Sauron's neighbouring Gondor. Had he been cowed by Sauron when they 'met' through the Palantir, Sauron may still have held off secure in the knowledge that Aragorn know's he was defeated by Sauron mentally. That would be a defeat that would be very difficult to put behind him were they to meet soon afterwards. It was Aragorn's triumph in his mental duel with Sauron that forced the latter's hand. He was angry and defiant, seething with a rage to squash this insolent mortal who had dared to embarrass him. He knew that no one man could withstand the might of his armies assembled at that very moment. It was perhaps Aragorn's finest moment and was absolutely pivotal in the success of Frodo though the cost to them all was terrible on the battlefield.

I would add to what you say about Sauron not being at full power having transfered so much of himself into the One ring, he knew he retained sufficient power to impress and dominate any normal man or monster into his service. He amassed his armies doing just that, easily bending orc chieftans and trolls to his will - the willing kind who lust for strong leadership all the better to wage their evil everywhere they go.

[nosuchthing]

Love how you open with an elvish phrase

[TheDeadlyKnight]

Yeesh. Can you imagine if Sauron truly “repented” after the WoW? He was an egregious, murderous war criminal with how he helped Morgoth oppress the children of Ilúvatar during years of the Trees & the 1st age. He may have guessed right that the Valar may have decided to shove his ass thru the Door of Night w/ Morgoth once Mandos & Manwe examined his ages of service to Morgoth

[deew]

Gil-galad is a character that needs his own video. Is there enough text to compose a character background video?

[diegodevars]

I have a little question
Do you read what you are saying or you just... Know it? Because if you know it by memory, that's unbelievable, increidible!
I love your vids, i thought i knew a lot on LOTR and turns out i'm an idiot!

[luukje]

At around 12 minutes you have skipped some of the timeline. When the elves are in danger, the Numenoreans come to their aid. They destroy almost all of Saurons armies. Sauron hates the Numenoreans for it. Sauron flees back to Mordor and for some time we don't really hear much of him. Then he comes out with a nice great force calling himself 'King of Men' and 'Lord of the Earth'. The last king of Numenor took offense and sailed with a giant naval force to Mordor. And there we pick up on your line again

[TheEyered]

Now that ring is a part of Arda? His power goes into the Arda?

[dragonhelmofdor-lomin]

Do you think that Sauron and Saruman personally knew each other? since both of them served Aulë before descending into darkness.

[dragonhelmofdor-lomin]

I never understood why Eönwë didn't try to arrest Sauron or the Valar not hunting him down as a fugitive, Sauron commited many horrible acts when serving as Morgoth's lieutenant and he was never forced into joining him. It would be like if the Allied Forces let Himmler or Goering go free and never punished for their war crimes.

[folksurvival]

Have you ever read Varg Vikernes' take on Lord Of The Rings? You might find it interesting:

[JonPITBZN]

"Angels like Christians or Jews would think of them..."

Or Muslims. There are also angels in Islam.

[laura-bianca]

I have a theory: in the beginning elves and humans were much more powerful and they gradually lost their power because they shared it, through having children. Luthien of course was one of the most powerful, also because of her Maian blood.
Sauron never shared his powers, which is why several istari (maia), elves, half-elves, etc. were needed to get rid of him in the end