Throughout the First Age and the early Second, we see one of Sauron’s most intriguing abilities
at play. While others among Morgoth’s servants would be bound to a single form,
his chief lieutenant could transform into forms both fair and terrible.
Today on Nerd of the Rings, we cover Sauron’s physical form and his ability for shapeshifting.
First, we will note that as one of the Ainur - the group of higher beings in
Tolkien’s world which included the Valar and Maiar - Sauron did not
have a physical form in the beginning. In his earliest days he was known as Mairon
and was one of the maiar to serve Aule - the smith of the Valar. Early on, however,
his obsession with order would lead to his admiration of Melkor and his fall to darkness.
Just as his master, he would take a physical form as he follows Morgoth in his efforts to rule
all of Arda. Others among the ainur would take physical forms as well, whether temporarily like
the vala Ulmo, or more permanently like Melian the maia who would marry the elf king Thingol.
Unlike Sauron who can shapeshift, Morgoth’s other famous maiar servants would be bound
to a form of shadow and flame - as the balrogs. This embodiment of the Ainur is known as Fana,
and as we will see, using their power on such a form would come with a price.
In the first age we read of Morgoth’s chief lieutenant…
Sauron was become now a sorcerer of dreadful power, master of shadows and of phantoms,
foul in wisdom, cruel in strength, misshaping what he touched, twisting what he ruled,
lord of werewolves; his dominion was torment.
In one of Sauron’s first fortresses - the Isle of Tol-in-Gaurhoth - he rules over evil creatures
like the werewolves for which the isle is named. Unlike werewolves in the traditional sense,
Tolkien’s werewolves are large wolves in which Sauron had imprisoned evil spirits.
And it is at this fortress that Sauron's shapeshifting ability comes into play.
For when Sauron had captured the man Beren and the elf king Finrod in his dungeons,
Luthien and Huan came to Tol-in-Gaurhoth, and one by one Huan killed the werewolves of Sauron.
Therefore he took upon himself the form of a werewolf, and made himself the mightiest
that had yet walked the world; and he came forth to win the passage of the bridge.
So great was the horror of his approach that Huan leaped aside. Then Sauron sprang upon Lúthien; and
she swooned before the menace of the fell spirit in his eyes and the foul vapour of his breath.
But even as he came, falling she cast a fold of her dark cloak before his eyes; and he stumbled,
for a fleeting drowsiness came upon him. Then Huan sprang. There befell the battle of Huan and
Wolf-Sauron, and the howls and baying echoed in the hills, and the watchers on the walls of Ered
Wethrin across the valley heard it afar and were dismayed. But no wizardry nor spell, neither fang
nor venom, nor devil’s art nor beast-strength, could overthrow Huan of Valinor; and he took his
foe by the throat and pinned him down. Then Sauron shifted shape, from wolf to serpent,
and from monster to his own accustomed form; but he could not elude the grip of Huan
without forsaking his body utterly. Ere his foul spirit left its dark house, Lúthien came to him,
and said that he should be stripped of his raiment of flesh, and his ghost be sent quaking back to
Morgoth; and she said: ‘There everlastingly thy naked self shall endure the torment of his scorn,
pierced by his eyes, unless thou yield to me the mastery of thy tower.’ Then
Sauron yielded himself, and Lúthien took the mastery of the isle and all that was there;
and Huan released him. And immediately he took the form of a vampire, great as a dark cloud
across the moon, and he fled, dripping blood from his throat upon the trees,
and came to Taur-nu-Fuin, and dwelt there, filling it with horror.
In this quick succession, we see Sauron shift his form from werewolf to serpent to his regular
physical form and finally escaping in the form of a vampire. A quick note,
like werewolves, Tolkien’s vampires are not like what you would immediately
think of from popular fiction. Tolkien’s vampires are instead giant bat creatures.
In this passage we also get a hint that, despite being a truly immortal being,
Sauron shows reluctance to abandon his physical form. He gives the rule of the fortress to Luthien
rather than forsake his body. This will come into play again in both the second and third ages.
Interestingly, while Sauron is arguably the Tolkien character most associated
with shapeshifting, we see a similar talent displayed by some famous first age elves. Luthien,
after defeating Sauron, disguises herself and Beren as a vampire and werewolf to infiltrate
Morgoth’s fortress of Angband. And earlier in the tale, Finrod had used his power to
disguise himself, Beren, and their small company of elves as orcs - though Sauron
himself would throw off this disguise when they are captured. While it’s not entirely clear,
this may be a different ability altogether - more an ability to disguise their true
physical form by illusion rather than taking a completely different shape themselves. While
we won’t get into it in this video, Sauron also possesses a great ability for illusions.
We next hear from Sauron after the War of Wrath and his master’s defeat at the hands of the Host
of the Valar. It is then that Sauron takes on a fair form and out of fear of the Valar, repents
of his evil deeds. When he is told by Eonwe that he should return to Valinor to receive judgment,
Sauron instead flees to hide in Middle-earth. What form he takes at this point, we don’t know.
We only know that for 500 years, he hides himself, likely in the East. Around the year 500 SA, Sauron
decides the Valar have abandoned Middle-earth to its own devices and turns to evil plans.
Once again, he takes on a fair visage with which to trick the elves. Despite knowing men
were easier to sway, he opts for the elves as they are inherently more powerful. Along with his form,
he takes the name Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, and while Elrond and Gil-galad of Lindon
did not trust him and refused to treat with him, they could not tell his true identity.
After successfully tricking the elves of Eregion into making the Rings of Power,
the War of the Elves and Sauron begins. While he would initially see great success in the war,
he is ultimately repelled thanks to the arrival of the Numenoreans coming to Gil-galad’s aid.
Over 1500 years after his defeat, Sauron has once again built up his armies and
begins assuming titles such as King of Men and Lord of the Earth. Offended by this,
Ar-Pharazon brings a mighty fleet to Middle-earth, and so great is
its splendor that Sauron’s servants abandon him. Knowing he cannot win through strength of arms,
Sauron returns to his old method of treachery, once again assuming a fair form.
In a remarkably short time, Sauron becomes chief counselor to the king as is known as Zigur the
wizard. In a chain of events explained in detail in other videos, Sauron leads Numenor down the
path of destruction, which comes at a great cost to Sauron himself. For he is on the island
of Numenor when the destroying wave comes, and his physical form is destroyed in the downfall.
His spirit survives, though he is severely weakened. From that day on,
he would be unable to ever again take a fair form. As such, we see Sauron from now
on as we know him best - a terrible form, slightly greater in stature than a man,
and described as “an image of malice and hatred made visible. “
Over 100 years after Numenor’s downfall (3429 SA), Sauron begins to attack Gondor and in response,
the Last Alliance of Elves and Men is formed in a final effort to overthrow the dark lord.
As we know, Gil-galad and Elendil would succeed in throwing down Sauron, though both would die
in the deed. Isildur cuts the One Ring from his hand and Sauron flees his physical form.
For the second time, we see Sauron lose his physical body. Each time this happens
it takes a mighty toll and takes Sauron longer to regain physical form. First,
he loses the ability to assume a fair form and is forced to flee back to Mordor as
a spirit from the downfallen Numenor. Next, we see it would take far longer,
as he only begins to take shape in a physical body again around 1000 years into the Third Age.
Around this same time - and due to the threat of a returning Sauron, the Valar send other maiar to
Middle-earth, also bound in a physical form to aid the free peoples - the Istari or Wizards.
Sauron would begin his return in the forest of Greenwood, taking over the former elven
capital of Amon Lanc and making it into the fortress of Dol Guldur. While we are not told
about his physical form during this time, aside from being known as the Necromancer,
we see the Shadow of Sauron begin to play a role. Now, the term Shadow is used throughout Tolkien’s
works in reference to the effects of evil - and hinted as a power held by dark forces. While not
a physical form, I think it’s worth mentioning as it comes into play during this time period.
It is this shadow coming to Greenwood that transforms it into Mirkwood,
bringing evil things to the forest such as spiders. And it’s this shadow that tips off
Gandalf to Sauron’s reemergence. As we know, Sauron would eventually be expelled by the
attack of the White Council in 2941 TA. Sauron had long planned for this, and fled for Mordor.
Here we would see Sauron’s shadow cause more havoc upon Gondor. We are told this shadow of
Mordor would bring despair and even sickness to the Gondorians. Denethor’s wife Finduilas would
be one of those affected and after four years of struggle she dies at the age of thirty-eight.
During his wife’s sickness, Denethor desperately turns to the use of the
palantir of Minas Tirith. Sauron, who presumably by now has fully returned to a physical form,
wields the palantir taken from the former Minas Ithil and seeks to bend the Steward
to his will. However, unlike Saruman who would become one of the dark lord’s greatest allies,
Denethor shows remarkable strength in resisting Sauron, though this mental
fight with the dark lord would cause great stress and age him prematurely.
When Frodo looks in the Mirror of Galadriel, we get a description of Sauron’s eye specifically
where it’s said it is yellow and rimmed with fire, with a slit pupil, "a window into nothing.”
Our final description of Sauron’s physical form during the war of the
ring comes from one who saw him in person. For prior to being captured by Aragorn,
Gollum had been tortured by the dark lord for information on the One Ring. He tells Frodo
and Sam in the Two Towers: “Yes, He has only four on the Black Hand, but they are enough”
This point further emphasizes that each destruction of Sauron’s physical form comes
at a great cost. First, he loses his ability to take a fair form in the fall of Numenor,
then when defeated in the war of the last alliance, it takes him far longer to return
to physical form - and even then, we see he is left scarred by missing the finger cut by Isildur.
Sauron would ultimately be vanquished when the One Ring is destroyed in Mount
Doom. In his defeat, there would be one last dark visage of the lord of Mordor,
as experienced by the men of the west at the battle of the Morannon:
'Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom.'
And even as [Gandalf] spoke the earth rocked beneath their feet. Then rising swiftly up,
far above the Towers of the Black Gate, high above the mountains, a vast soaring darkness sprang into
the sky, flickering with fire. The earth groaned and quaked. The Towers of the Teeth swayed,
tottered, and fell down; the mighty rampart crumbled; the Black Gate was hurled in ruin;
and from far away, now dim, now growing, now mounting to the clouds,
there came a drumming rumble, a roar, a long echoing roll of ruinous noise.
'The realm of Sauron is ended!' said Gandalf. 'The Ring-bearer has fulfilled his Quest.'
And as the Captains gazed south to the Land of Mordor, it seemed to them that,
black against the pall of cloud, there rose a huge shape of shadow, impenetrable, lightning-crowned,
filling all the sky. Enormous it reared above the world, and stretched out towards
them a vast threatening hand, terrible but impotent: for even as it leaned over them,
a great wind took it, and it was all blown away, and passed; and then a hush fell.
While he was indeed an immortal being, the destruction of Sauron’s ruling ring,
which he had poured much of his own power into, leaves him permanently
incapacitated. In Gandalf’s words, he is “maimed for ever, becoming a
mere spirit of malice that gnaws itself in the shadows, but cannot again grow or take shape.”
Now that we’ve covered Sauron’s physical form and his shapeshifting abilities,
what other videos on this character or others would you like to see here on
the channel? What burning questions do you have about Middle-earth that you’d
like to see me tackle in their own video? Let me know in the comments.
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