Sauron

He was able to shape shift, so no real consistent physical description is easy to come by. He lost this ability after Numenor was destroyed. After that, he took the appearance described as the image of malice. When he could, he tended to prefer a royal and commanding form.

So, the Eye of Sauron is the most famous of the physical attributes. While there is some debate based on the books, the movie shows it as a huge ball of fire. It is located at the top of Barad-dur and can see all of the plain it is located in. In fact, it can even shine on the region it looks at like a search light. It was yellow and rimmed with fire.   The Eye of Sauron became his defining feature. Few are said to be able to withstand his gaze. This allowed him to present himself as unable to be deceived. He presented himself as able to trick anyone and take any form he wished. Meanwhile the Eye came tor demonstrate that no one could apply those same skills successfully against Sauron. Because of this propaganda value, the Lidless Eye became his symbol branded on everything.

One thing that stands out to me is that Sauron is incredibly hot. So much so that mere contact burned a person to death. It is suggested that the heat he generates was so hot that it burned his own body. His armor and skin appear solid black due to this effect. Which reinforces the aura he gives off of extreme malevolence.   He was said to have a dreadful presence. Even when made contact through the Palantír, said contact would cause pain and injury. But he was deprived of his physical form. Which then led him to rely on his agents - the most predominant being the Ring Wraiths - to carry out his orders. This proved to be a minor blessing. His physical presence would not have done the free people any favors.

His armor was extremely well made and thick plate armor. It was pure black and covered with ivy patterns. His mace and armor in the movies were inspired by the descriptions of Melkor. Which is logical given the two character's relationship. This mace though is massive, able to kill many soldiers in one blow.

Basically, Sauron was tempted to the dark side by the stand in for the Christian interpretation of Satan - Melkor. When Melkor rebelled against the rest of the Valaar, a lot of the lesser maia spirits followed. Most became balrogs. At first, Sauron operated as a spy, reporting on the activities of the Valar so Melkor could more effectively counter them. But Sauron eventually abandoned the pretext and ended up as Melkor's second in command.   After Melkor was captured, Sauron escaped, rebuilt Melkor’s base of operations and began a new orc breeding program. During this time, he was trusted by Melkor to wage war against the elves. So when Melkor escaped and returned to Middle Earth, he was already well palced to instantly wage war. At the end of Melkor’s reign of terror, Sauron did appear to genuinely repent. But the shame of his actions led him to hide in Middle Earth.Without his master, Sauron turned to imitating Melkor. He was not wholly evil at this point, but was bent on reorganizing the foundations of Middle Earth’s society. But lust for power and pride pushed him over the edge.   The second Age began with the final defeat of Melkor. Sauron spent 500 years in hiding. At this stage he had genuinely repented for the evil he had done. But the influence of Melkor was still strong and he felt lost without his master. Meanwhile, Middle Earth appeared chaotic while neglected by the Valar. Sauron responded by trying to reorganize and rehabilitate it. But this desire led him to a desire to conquer the entire continent in a quest for complete power. Only then was his turn to evil complete.   Eventually he took up residence in Mordor in order to use Mt. Doom to forge the Rings of Power. The discovery by the elves kept his plan from being fully realized. He waged war in order to secure control over these rings. The end result was control over all but the elven rings. He ruled almost all of Middle Earth almost completely without challenge between SA 1693 to 3441. The last hold outs came from the intervention of Numenor, the island superpower that had allied itself with the elves.   By the end of this war, Sauron was left with nothing but his bodyguard out of his entire army. Despite knowing the potential threat that leaving Sauron in Mordor could pose, he was not removed. He exploited this to begin building his forces again and raiding Numenor's outposts. Its king landed at Umbar with a impressive force and demanded Sauron surrender. He intentionally let himself to be captured and taken to Numenor because he did not feel he had the power to resist.   Over time he feigned weakness and humility to turn the Numenoreans away from worshiping the Valar. Sauron helped create new devices that granted the Numenoreans newfound wealth. This fed their greed, which combined with a growing fear of death in the king, the people became easily controlled. He replaced this with worship of Melkor. In this new religion, Sauron was the head priest and adviser to the king. Things got so bad that human sacrifice was introduced. Raids were launched against Middle Earth to find the slaves and sacrifices needed. This allowed him to corrupt the leaders so much they attempted to invade the Undying Lands.   This in turn led to the island's destruction. Gondor and Arnor were founded by the surviving elites who did not rebel. This did not bode well. Sauron was clearly threatened by these realms in exile. Gondor was a bit harder to knock out than expected. Sauron launched an attack on Gondor attempting to defeat it before it could fully get established. The invasion got off to a good start, taking Minas Morgul and Osgiliath. But this provoked the Last Alliance to form. After a long and brutal campaign, he was driven back to Barad-dur. He sallied forth in a last ditch effort to drive his enemies back. That is where things went from bad to worse. His finger was cut off, costing him the One Ring and his physical form.   Famously, Isildur refused to destroy the ring, which cost him his life. Sauron spend thousands of years looking for it and rebuilding his forces. He then openly delclared himself in Mordor and attacked the free people. The downside is that he did not wait to actually regain the Ring. Which then allowed Frodo to get it to Mt. Doom and remove Sauron as a threat.   The Witch King was dispatched to destroy Arnor. While he was eventually driven from the area, his primary purpose was secured. Ideally from Sauron's perspective retaining control here would have been ideal, as this would have granted a great power base from which he could operate. But the fact his enemies were wiped out meant the wars here did good enough.   After this, everyone reading this should already know what happens. Essentially, this part of his life is the main narrative of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Before he fell to the Dark Side, he studied under Aule, essentially the God of smithing and crafting. This resulted in him being so good at these that he was able to construct the One Ring and Barad-Dur.

Starting a solid 2,000 years before the attack on Minas Tirith, Sauron sent the Witch King to set up a kingdom near Weathertop. Sauron himself kept his distance, living at Dol Guldur. Gondor was still at its strongest, so a direct attack there was a bad move. Meanwhile, the northern human realm of Arnor was falling on serious hard times. At its height, it was 248,540 sq. miles. Yet by the time the Witch King set up shop, it had fragmented into three independent states, two of whom had their governments almost totally collapse. All suffered depopulation and constant strife between them.   The Witch King was able to get an impressive force together. Two of the kingdoms were defeated. One was able to hold out a bit longer but eventually fell. Rivendel was even attacked during this time. Gondor was being attacked by both the Easterlings and Southrons at this time so was unable to send reinforcements until it was too late. When they did arrive, the Witch King was driven from the area, but the damage was done. Most of the people of the area were gone and the kingdoms destroyed. Sauron had eliminated a major potential threat to his desire for world dominance. He just needed to get his armies developed enough to actually take and hold the area.   Due to not having this, there was no attempt to move directly for conquest. Dragon raids were common. Two extremely cold winters were exploited for attacks. Gondor was directly attacked at least 5 times. Minas Morgul was taken in this period. Through these constant attacks from multiple fronts, Gondor struggled to keep up – Osgiliath was devastated even if Sauron was unable to take it. Raids and ambushes were common after this battle to keep Gondor on the defensive. Well timed attacks kept Rohan from coming to the aid of Gondor and put pressure on all fronts. Never was there a decisive battle, but heavy losses were inflicted on the Free People. It was hard for them to even think of fighting back enough to win strategic victories.

The one area where Sauron practically totally failed at a strategic level is ironically the Rings of Power. First, no rings were offered to the wizards – and we know from Saruman that they are in fact corruptible and that they can be powerful allies. Then he totally failed to corrupt the Elven rings. This meant that his plan actually helped his enemies rather than himself. Gandalf’s own effectiveness in his war against Sauron is based on the very rings of power Sauron commissioned for his own purposes. The rings given to the dwarves and men were mixed at best. The dwarves became extremely rich due to the influence of these rings but suffered huge losses due to dragon attacks. Apparently they were too stubborn to be corrupted in the same way the Ring Wraiths were. Thus they were forced on the defensive but had greater economic power to help everyone else. The rings of men gave Sauron his greatest commanders and fighters ultimately responsible for 4 kingdoms of men falling. But, like the dwarven rings, Sauron gained no control over territory that he could hold on to and the destruction of Númenor led to the creation of Rohan and Gondor – two states that would be his undoing on the battlefield.   So, on balance the rings were extreme failures in the goals set for them. Sauron failed again on key tactical parts of the plan (the elves) and those that he did succeed at did not pay off as expected. He even failed to think though the full implications of his plan and attempt to exploit similar opportunities with the wizards. Granted, the wizards came after the creation of the rings, but that is not an issue in my mind. Sauron's ability to deceive and corrupt is strong enough that I think he could have found some way to replicate a “Ring of Power Strategy” once they arrived.

Sauron became the master of illusions, shapeshifting, werewolves and vampires.   First, we need to recognize the general strategic brilliance of Sauron – he only failed due to poor tactical level decisions. The first evidence of this is his use of proxies and puppet states to accomplish his goals. Dol Guldur, Angmar and Isengard being the prime examples. Then, Sauron was amazing at his use of buffer states to protect his flanks – the Easterlings and Southrons being the main examples of that. Isengard is discussed in its own section.

Melkor – the first Dark Lord of Middle Earth, was able to corrupt him to evil through appealing to Sauron's love of order and coordination and hatred of confusion and wasted effort.   Given that Sauron's attacks follow the human wave model and orcs are defined as having the traits for it traits in abundance, it seems that he would follow the Cult of the Offensive doctrine. Also important to note is that Sauron rarely if ever acts defensively. All the wars he fights in are the ones he starts. This is even true with the Last Alliance of Men and Elves. The opening move was taking Minas Morgul and failing at Osgiliath. He knew he was weak but feared that Gondor was growing faster – classic preventive war. he sent his troops out to attack in the battle that killed the entwives. At the Battle of Dagorlad, he sends his armies out to fight in open battle instead of forcing the Last Alliance into a siege. During the Siege of Barad-Dur, he yet again continued to launch sorties out to attack the enemy even when the kill ratio would have been much higher had he not. Into the War of the Ring, he chose to assault Minas Tirith instead of attempting to starve it out. Direct assault was also used against the Lonely Mountain and Lothlorien. He then repeated his decision to sally forth when Aragorn’s party attacked the Black Gate. This is even though attempting to assault a fortified position with a vastly superior garrison is suicide. His behavior remains consistent in its application of the Cult of the Offensive.   His adherence to offense leads him to attack before he is ready, such as the start of the Last Alliance and before Minas Tirith. He also uses offense when defense would be wiser. I will forgive the actions at the Black Gate as he felt Aragorn held the One Ring – thus cutting off Aragorn’s retreat was even more vital than it would have otherwise been. But Dagorlad did not meet such conditions. His aggression also pushes him to attack on all fronts at once when concentration of forces would produce better results, such as attacking Lothorien and the Lonely Mountain at the same time he attacked Minas Tirith.   This applies to not just the tactical but also the strategic level. Wars of Aggression are Sauron's main claim to fame. There is no claim to self defense in any meaningful sense of the word. In fact, his position is so well protected against attack he would need no more than a few hundred or thousands at most to protect the entire realm of Mordor. Therefore, all wars would have to be wars of aggression. We can thus assume that he holds to the right of conquest as a key part of his international relations. Due to the cult of the offensive, Sauron will likely see the odds of victory as high and the losses acceptable, so there is no effective deterrence against aggression. Meanwhile, when enemies are weakened they become targets of opportunity.   Due to his desire to attack at all costs, even when victory by defensive means would cost him less, he would engage in preventive and preemptive wars. Forces would mobilize not at the arriving enemy army but when the hint of an attack comes. This would automatically lead to devastating and immediate counter-attack. Any latent threat, aggressive posturing or imminent attack will be met with a strike before that invasion can pose a serious threat. Strategic advantage is gained by seizing the initiative and striking before the other side may be ready. Not to mention the impact of fighting a defensive war when on an offensive posture and on a front not of the enemy’s choosing. Such a preemptive first strike aims to surprise the enemy with overwhelming force. Ideally, enemy mobilization is disrupted and their ability to resist is crippled.   Internationally, Mordor will be acting in the Classical Offensive Realist framework. This perspective assumes that states are all rational and aggressive actors seeking to maximize their own power. This is to come at the expense of all other nations if needed and the opportunity arises. It says that people are inherently flawed, egocentric and competitive. These assumptions mean that leaders will seek power as a means of protecting themselves.   But because of the incomplete information other states will see any defensive power seeking as offensive - provoking arms races and preemptive wars. War is thus inevitable. In the Offensive version of realism, this is desirable. Only hegemony can assure a state of its security. While some realists think that power is pursued for its own sake, they would say that the pursuit of superpower status is justified even on defensive grounds. Hard power (coercion and military force) are seen as the most useful and practical means of achieving foreign policy objectives.   Now, I suspect that the war fighting of Mordor would hold to the US doctrine of Full Spectrum Dominance. The idea is to obtain total control over all elements of the battlefield. This means not just being able to fight in the air, sea and land, but to completely constrain enemy options. It means controlling the intelligence available to the enemy and obtaining dominance in the psychological elements as well.

Sauron is apparently a step down in terms of evil intent. Melkor was more interested in defeating the Valar and wreaking their creations. Essentially he was after the total destruction of his enemy and all they stood for. Sauron "just" was interested in domination. If he had enough power to impose his social engineering goals, he would be happy. We can assume that once absolute power was gained over all of Middle Earth and its people, he would have stopped. But, we know that this would have required extreme atrocities. No totalitarian dictatorship has ever operated differently. Sauron's own operations are contrary to this.

Deception was another strong point of Sauron as well. Originally he was able to shape shift – a skill that allowed him to implement his plan with the rings. The Rings of Power were constructed with the help of the best elven smith of the day. The elves knew who Sauron was. So Sauron took the form of a slightly larger than normal and good looking man. This and his lies allowed hhim to trick the elves long enough to get the rings made. Vampires, werewolves and giant serpents are among his other main forms.   Well before the start of the War of the Ring, Sauron allowed himself to be captured and taken to Númenor. Númenor had been one of the greatest military powers of the Second Age, whose fleets and armies saved the elves and completely destroyed Sauron’s armies in the field. But once he was captured, he was able to corrupt the society from the inside. Three of the Ring Wraiths came from here as did the ancestors of the Easterlings and Southrons. This Trojan horse move caused a potentially fatal decline in the power of his enemies. Ultimately 5 other human kingdoms arose out of the fall of Númenor – three were so weak that the Witch King was able to defeat them by himself without the direct aid of Mordor’s armies.   He effectively caused Denethor to lose his mind and give up the fight for Minas Tirith, which would have led to to the fall of Gondor should Gandalf not intervened. Then, Isengard kept its defection secret long enough to lead to Gandalf’s capture. So, one act of deception could have easily led to another act of deception leading to both human kingdoms falling. Only Gandalf’s escape allowed for his interventions in Helm’s Deep and Minas Tirith that led to strategic defeats for Sauron.

Sauron was known for his love of order and coordination. This led to his dislike of waste and confusion. The ability of Melkor to effectively impose his will with apparent clarity of purpose led Sauron to become attracted to Melkor.

His main flaw appears to be rooted in his desire for control. He respected strength above all else, so an evil being like Melkor could tempt him to eveil through projections of power and control. At first this was rooted in actual concern for the at least economic well being of those he controls. But after the fall of Melkor, two other flaws materialized that compounded his initial problems.   The first was his fear - he remained hidden in Middle Earth out of fear of what would be done to him if he turned himself in or was captured. Irrational fear tends to lead to an increased desire for security beyond what can be reasonably gained or is even needed in the first place. This and desperation have a habit of leading to atrocities and a lust for totalitarian levels of control. This whole dynamic is partly responsible for the atrocities of the French Revolutions and during the Russian Civil War and Stalin's reign. This is also the logic behind the security dilemma/ inevitability of war in Realist international relations theory.   The second was his pride. Apparently his knowledge and skill at crafting was sufficiently high that others began to praise him to the point of flattery. This was not helped by the reactions to him by the King's Men of Numenor. He became convinced that he was able to reorganize the foundations of all of Middle Earth's social relations and his ideas were the best way to achieve utopia. If only he had the power to enforce his vision. Plus, this led him to view all others with contempt. After all, no one could possibly be his equal. Thus they had no value and eventually even their lives could be disregarded with little cost.   It must be noted that the claimed inability to be deceived was overstated. Saruman proved able to trick Sauron for long enough to prevent an attack by Mordor. Though this is likely to be due to Saruman's own supernatural powers. Aragorn proved quite capable of tricking Sauron too. Both of the most notable cases did not require supernatural power at the hands of Aragorn. The first of these involved Aragorn convincing Sauron that Aragorn had the One Ring. Minas Tirith was attacked prematurely as a result, which in turn made his defeat much more likely. Then, Aragorn used the same trick to convince Sauron to waste time and energy fighting at the Black Gate. His fall came at least in part because of these two tricks.

His love of strength led him to follow Melkor and betray his former masters. Before he openly rebelled, he worked as a double agent. Apparently, Sauron loved Melkor in his own evil way and Melkor greatly trusted Sauron. In fact, Sauron not only had no desire to betray his new master, he was an active participant or even leader of Melkors many evil schemes. Before Melkor’s final defeat, Sauron was his second in command.