Humble Aid
Leading into the next section, I would like to acknowledge how sinister Sauron was when he told Galadriel he was offering “humble aid.” If he continued to look upward, past Galadriel’s head as he laughed, he would simply appear awestruck. But he did not continue to look upward; he looked at Galadriel and laughed, which changes the whole meaning.
He intentionally exaggerated his Halbrand persona by saying something that would be completely uncharacteristic to someone (such as Adar) who knew what he was really like. Then, he looked at Galadriel to wait for a reaction, and laughed when her head turned.
“I’m just offering whatever humble aid I can.”
It was a joke. He laughed at his own joke, and Galadriel’s distress, because he already knew she was suspicious. He had no need to hide anymore because he had the upper hand. For a split second, he allowed his mask to be transparent for her to see, then remarked on the comical irony of the whole situation.
“To tell you the truth, I can still hardly believe it. Someone like me, here, working with the Elven-smiths of Eregion.”
He called back to their time in Númenor by saying “someone like me,” instead of “men like me.” He knew that Galadriel knew he was not a Man, and he would allow her to discover things while he continued his work. The whole scene consisted of him taunting and threatening her.
For perspective, imagine the same delivery as above for the following line, given the same person lurked beneath all along. In Númenor, Sauron was just offering whatever humble aid he could provide…
Remember that line. Sauron, a master of his craft, was able to make something sturdier than anything you have ever seen.
He did not care to obtain a specific job; he did not need to make a living.
“I will shovel coal, if needs be. I’ll splinter wood. I will shape a sea anchor for you, free of charge” (Sauron, 1×03).
Why free of charge?
“These Orcs were meddling with the powers of the unseen world. Some dark sorcery of old. But what was their purpose?” (Galadriel, 1×01).
Sauron pursued the same thing in Eregion and Forodwaith, with the same initial results. But what was his purpose? What was he doing in Númenor, in the dark of night when he thought all eyes were asleep?
Ironic, isn’t it? Morgoth’s most devoted servant working with the most skilled smiths of a race he despises, in a place where he had access to a means of finding whatever knowledge escaped him in the far north. In the far north, Galadriel told Thondir that Sauron could be “lying in wait, gathering strength, perfecting whatever dark art eluded him” there.
If Sauron desired to escape his dark past, and “to start anew” meant “to pursue an innocent life,” one may wonder why he was willing to work without being paid for his services. To begin a new life as an innocent man would require a wage.
No, he had been searching for something since before Morgoth’s defeat. He would not abandon his aspirations so easily.
The visual similarities in the above images, along with the dialogue, illustrates two things:
- It certainly appeared that Sauron was in Númenor to start a new life, but also…
- In Eregion, it seemed that he wanted to start his work anew.
After Celebrimbor’s forge exploded, Sauron realized something:
Sauron: “‘Pushing ourselves too hard.’ Supposing that’s the trouble. Supposing we’ve been using too much force.” […]
Celebrimbor: “Quickly! Dismantle this. We start again” (1×08).
Everything in that Eregion scene seems to have echoed what happened in Forodwaith. To the Númenórean smith, Sauron essentially said: “I’m here after dismantling everything I had attempted before, and I must start again.” He did not need a wage. He did not need an assignment. He only needed a forge.
In The Silmarillion, Gorlim was “daunted by the eyes of Sauron,” and it caused him to divulge all that he knew about Barahir’s ways and whereabouts. It would seem Sauron utilized this effect (which failed on the smith, but Galadriel was terrified).
The image on the right was a clear warning. Sauron placed a threatening grip on Galadriel’s shoulder, and stood staring at her until she acknowledged that she understood him. Remember, he already knew she suspected him, but he had the upper hand. She lent him the chance of “starting anew,” and he would “see to it that no one” forgot it. When Galadriel told him, “You leapt into the sea to save one life! I seek to save many,” his response was not an unrelated, innocent plea. It was the reason he saved her:
“I have been searching for my peace for longer than you know. Please, for both our sakes, let me keep it” (1×03).
He wanted to keep his peace. His task was to ensure peace by seeking to craft a power over flesh, but there is more. Keeping something would suggest he already had it. If he had not yet found the shadow of dark knowledge that kept itself hidden from him, what was this peace he sought to keep?
“You told me once that we were brought together for a purpose. This is it. You bind me to the light, and I bind you to power” (Sauron, 1×08).
We see here an example of Sauron and Galadriel being the perfect inverse of Beren and Lúthien.*
Sauron: “I have been searching for my peace for longer than you know. Please, for both our sakes, let me keep it.”
Beren: “And here I have found what I sought not indeed, but finding I would possess for ever”
Of Beren and Lúthien
* See also Sauron: The Perfect Inverse of Beren
More foreshadowing on the left, and a sinister expression on the right as Sauron examined the pouch. What is in the pouch?
I have a belief about what’s in the pouch, but I won’t share that.
Thank you, Charlie.