Lord Of The Rings: Who Is Sauron?
Sauron is the primary villain of The Lord Of The Rings. Although he never appears directly in the books and is only shown in the movies in a flashback to the War of the Last Alliance, his corruptive influence is felt nearly everywhere in Middle-Earth.
While Frodo and his companions know that Sauron is an embodiment of evil who must be stopped at all costs, they (as well as the reader) aren't given much information as to the Dark Lord's origins. Read on to find out how the maker of the One Ring came to be.
Spoilers for The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Lord Of The Rings, and (presumably) The Rings Of Power begin here.
When the universe was created, the supreme being Eru Ilùvatar made a host of lesser gods called the Valar (singular Vala) to do the work of shaping everything that would come to be. The Valar, in turn, were assisted by spirits subordinate to them called the Maiar (singular Maia). The Maiar included beings who would one day be known in Middle-Earth as the Five Wizards; Gandalf, Saruman, and the rest.
Aulë the Smith, the Vala charged with creating raw physical matter, was assisted by his primary Maia, called Mairon. Mairon became a peerless craftsman himself under Aulë's tutelage. However, Mairon was also a perfectionist who despised anything that wasn't optimized or ideal. When creatures of flesh and blood such as Elves were placed in the world, Mairon was aghast at their imperfections and sought to gain control over them to impose order on an increasingly chaotic world.
Related: Does Aragorn Have A Beard, And Other Questions From Tolkien's Canon
Mairon found common cause with Melkor, first and most powerful of the Valar, who wanted to destroy Middle-Earth and its inhabitants out of spite for his siblings
Read more on thegamer.com
