Exploring Villains: Sauron

In every epic fantasy story there must be at least one villain who appears to be all powerful. This foe is meant to make the characters quake with fear at the mere mention of his name. For Middle-Earth, that villain is Sauron.

Sauron is the primary antagonist in author J.R.R. Tolkien's master work The Lord of the Rings and more. In LOTR he is identified as the "Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit. Sauron rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middle-earth.

He is the ruler of Mordor and has great powers and abilities, along with a massive army. Like many villains, Sauron has ambition to rule the entirety of Middle-earth and seeks to do this through obtaining more power in the one ring.

Sauron is often ranked as one of the greatest and most iconic villains of all time. He has landed on top lists as the greatest villain in literature and in movie history. So why does Sauron resonate with so many even decades after Tolkien created him? The way director Peter Jackson brought him to life in the film adaptations of Tolkien's work is one reason. But the villain transcends audiences many years later because he is pure evil. That gives the heroes a bigger challenge to tackle.

Usually at this time I would break down exactly why the villain is part of my list but instead, I'll let his creator J.R.R. Tolkien explain it instead:

"In my story, Sauron represents as near an approach to the wholly evil will as is possible. He had gone the way of all tyrants: beginning well, at least on the level that while desiring to order all things according to his own wisdom he still at first considered the (economic) well-being of other inhabitants of the Earth. But he went further than human tyrants in pride and the lust for domination, being in origin an immortal (angelic) spirit. Sauron desired to be a God-King, and was held to be this by his servants, by a triple treachery:

1. Because of his admiration of Strength, he had become a follower of Morgoth and fell with him down into the depths of evil, becoming his chief agent in Middle Earth.

2. When Morgoth was defeated by the Valar finally he forsook his allegiance; but out of fear only; he did not present himself to the Valar or sue for pardon, and remained in Middle Earth.

3. When he found how greatly his knowledge was admired by all other rational creatures and how easy it was to influence them, his pride became boundless.

By the end of the Second Age he assumed the position of Morgoth's representative. By the end of the Third Age (though actually much weaker than before) he claimed to be Morgoth returned. If he had been victorious he would have demanded divine honour from all rational creatures and absolute temporal power over the whole world.„