Sauron is remarkably intelligent. The complexity of his plans match that of his character, so my effort to uncover the details of his designs required upwards of 30,000 words. Nevertheless, the very existence of this post proves that it was not in vain.
The following is an attempt to unravel the mysteries of Sauron’s past. His designs begin to branch in two paths around the time of Finrod’s death, so I have created two parts: Part 1 broadly covers his intentions regarding mithril and all peoples, while Part 2 specifically relates to the dagger and Galadriel. The clearest lens through which to study Sauron’s character is, unequivocally, the tale of Beren and Lúthien.
Table of Contents
Introduction
2
Part 1: The Dam
¶ 1: A Wandering, Solitary Outlaw
3
¶ 2: Chased from His Homeland
4
¶ 3: His Southward Journey Long Was He At Work The Burden of Those Who Lead Give Them a Means of Mastering It Regroup
Just a quick warm-up before the beast that is Sauron: The Perfect Inverse of Beren. There is a lot to talk about here, so instead of analyzing everything on the topic of Sauron’s sincerity right now, we will cover the basics to establish our analytical point-of-view.
I think the deception is layered, and it all depends on how you view the season. He’s spending time with Galadriel, and he’s saying, “I want a fresh life. I can be good. I can start again.” So, if you view it under that guise, of repentance, then… you can interpret it that way, I guess. The other way, though, if he is manipulating her, you can view it from the point of view as to… maybe this is all something that he’s constructing. So, when she says to him, “Come with me to Middle-earth,” and she says, “You’ll not find your peace here,” I think that’s his way out.
The question of repentance is really important because it’s whether it’s genuine or not. And I had an answer to that, but I think it’s best left open for people to interpret because that completely colors whether or not he is deceiving her, or whether he’s telling the truth.
In Sauron’s case, sincerity does not mean “care or regard for others.” If he believed he was doing good, it only went so far as to say, “I will give people what I think they want, but my desires take precedence. “
“It darkens the heart to call dark deeds good. It gives place for evil to thrive inside us” (Galadriel, 1×07).
(edited for length)
It was like any pretense, any guardedness or shield that he had put up was gone. And below is someone with good intentions, but to the viewer, probably quite dark intentions to rule and to dominate. And for me, as an actor, it’s just an absolute thrill to play it, and I’m fully nerding out in being able to talk about it all for the first time.
For me, as I was performing it, it was about accentuating the subtle differences. Not being too obvious with either manipulation or overt conflict like, “I really want to be a good man.” I think I would try to walk the line.
Charlie Vickers’ performance made Sauron’s character (in my opinion) by far the most unsettling and terrifying villain in fiction. He did not have to play two people at once, even after he learned he was playing Sauron before filming episode 3. The sympathy and sorrow he conveyed on screen deceived even the audience because the actor (as Sauron) fully embodied the character he crafted, down to his emotional responses. So, why did he maintain his emotional response when Galadriel’s back was turned?
Here is Charlie’s answer:
I always like to think that in shape-shifting, the best way to deceive is to fully take on the form of what you’re trying to portray: thinking, feeling, living, breathing as a human man. Only through a wholehearted embodiment of his form could he deceive these massively influential figures. This is even when he’s by himself, because the gods are always watching. And we know that he fears the gods; we know that he’s scared. Because Tolkien says that explicitly.
(In the video below, pay attention to Sauron’s subtle shift in demeanor as Galadriel opens the door to leave—he drops his arm and relaxes his expression, and as Galadriel closes the door, he looks at the pouch. He is completely alone when he looks back up, and the scene transitions to Adar.)
He can use Galadriel as a tool. She knows the right people. She gets into the right rooms. […] So I made a decision as the best way for me to approach it, to make it real for me. And let people interpret it as they will.
As Galadriel listed the recent unfortunate events in her life, was Sauron taken aback because he had not realized how much pain he caused her for centuries? I highly doubt it. Not only did he have plenty of opportunities to realize that fact before this moment, but what of the countless others he tortured and murdered for millennia? Did he feel any shock or remorse for what he did to Gorlim in the First Age?
No.
“Now Gorlim would have drawn back, but daunted by the eyes of Sauron he told at last all that he would know. Then Sauron laughed; and he mocked Gorlim, and revealed to him that he had seen only a phantom devised by wizardry to entrap him; for Eilinel was dead.
“‘Nonetheless I will grant thy prayer,’ said Sauron; ‘and thou shalt go to Eilinel, and be set free of my service.’ Then he put him cruelly to death.”
Of Beren and Lúthien
Sauron’s mockery of Gorlim was the same as his mockery of Galadriel as he revealed that she ran fast and blind into a trap. And like Gorlim, Galadriel was daunted by his eyes, and Sauron found her fear and anguish amusing.
He cornered her, infiltrated her mind, took the form of her brother whose death he is responsible for, and used her own words against her to manipulate her into joining him. But at least I would give you what you want by making you a Queen.
To top it all off, he tried to make her despair when she said no, and…
I think he sends her into the water to drown her. I’m not necessarily thinking that he thinks she’s going to live, although he probably has a strong idea.
In Tolkien’s world, when it comes to repentance, there are three traits that do not go well together: fear, envy, and hatred. Sauron fears the Valar, envies the Eldar and the Edain, and hates pretty much everyone except himself (most particularly those three groups).
“…Sauron was ashamed, and he was unwilling to return in humiliation and to receive from the Valar a sentence, it might be, of long servitude in proof of his good faith; for under Morgoth his power had been great.”
Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
Galadriel’s speech in the forge about peace had a double meaning.
She spoke about Middle-earth, but another term for Valinor is the land “across the sea.” It connected to what Elrond said:
“Only in the Blessed Realm can that which is broken in you be healed” (1×01).
Whether Sauron goes to Aman to receive judgment from Manwë, or he goes to Middle-earth to rule, he is taking a great risk. This is a manifestation of his fear of long servitude:
“There is no peace to be found for you here, and nor for me. No lasting peace in any path, but that which lies across the sea” (Galadriel, 1×05).
Adar nearly used air quotes when he recalled Sauron’s deeds and aspirations with horror.
“The one you call Sauron devoted himself to ‘healing’ Middle-earth” (1×06).
Later, Sauron told Galadriel the same thing. His words were disguised as good and sincere, but he could not care less about her.“I can use you to get what I want, and effect my designs faster,” said Charlie.
“At last! I felt the light of the One again. And I knew, if ever I was to be forgiven, that I had to heal everything that I had helped ruin” (Sauron, 1×08).
Sauron believed he found a loophole in the system. “I knew,” he said in other words, “if ever I was to avoid prison, that I had to be sure the Valar couldn’t touch me.” He was present when Eru said:
“‘…no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite.’”
Ainulindalë
And yet, he tried to do that very thing. “Prison is not an option,” he would think. “If I can somehow bind myself to something good, then I will be safe and free from the wrath of the Valar. I never believed I could be free, until today. I will make this place a paradise, and everyone will be under my rule so nothing bad happens.”
He believed that if he was by Galadriel’s side, “it can only lead to good things, as long as he remains undiscovered” (Charlie Vickers).
I think he whole-heartedly believes that he’s doing good. He wants to rehabilitate and rid Middle-earth of all the wasteful friction because he’s obsessed with order. And I think he genuinely believes that if Galadriel joins him, that’ll help him affect his goals.
This did not come from his care for others. He simply did not want to face the wrath of the gods. He cared about no one but himself, and his fear, hatred, and envy drove him down the same ruinous path that led Morgoth to the Void. The following describes Morgoth, but it fits Sauron perfectly.
“And he feigned, even to himself at first, that he desired to go thither and order all things for the good of the Children of Ilúvatar, controlling the turmoils of the heat and the cold that had come to pass through him.
“But he desired rather to subdue to his will both Elves and Men, envying the gifts with which Ilúvatar promised to endow them; and he wished himself to have subjects and servants, and to be called Lord, and to be a master over other wills.”
Ainulindalë
Carefully compare that passage to how the Mystics describe Sauron:
“You fell from the stars, yet you are greater than they; for fire obeys your will. You fell below the dust, yet dust fears you; for it trembles when you are wroth. The winds and waters; the heat and cold. In Rhûn, you shall learn to command them all, and every being that walks or crawls shall be your slave. For you are Lord Sauron” (1×08).
Although he was afraid and humiliated when Morgoth fell, doing obeisance to Eönwë (who could not judge those of his own class) and renouncing all of his evil deeds was probably not the end of the world for Sauron. But when Eönwë commanded him to return to Manwë (who, being the chief Vala, could really do some damage), he was unwilling to return. He remembered what happened to Morgoth, long before the darkening of Valinor.
“…the Valar did not discover all the mighty vaults and caverns hidden with deceit far under the fortresses of Angband and Utumno. Many evil things still lingered there, and others were dispersed and fled into the dark and roamed in the waste places of the world, awaiting a more evil hour; and Sauron they did not find. But when the Battle was ended and from the ruin of the North great clouds arose and hid the stars, the Valar drew Melkor back to Valinor, bound hand and foot, and blindfold; and he was brought to the Ring of Doom. There he lay upon his face before the feet of Manwë and sued for pardon; but his prayer was denied, and he was cast into prison in the fastness of Mandos, whence none can escape, neither Vala, nor Elf, nor mortal Man. […] There was Melkor doomed to abide for three ages long, before his cause should be tried anew, or he should plead again for pardon.”
Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor
Comparing Galadriel and Sauron
Galadriel and Sauron are opposites. Compare Sauron’s attitude to hers at the end of episode 7.
This is what she would be thinking:
Courtesy of her obsession, she disobeyed the High King and ignored his orders for months, then leapt from a ship headed for Valinor. She survived, against all odds, alongside a reluctant heir in exile, used and dragged him to Middle-earth after he had “all but begged her” to let him be. At length, he agreed to go, and they became close friends. She felt free fighting at his side. He saved her life at sea, but now he is dead because of her. She brought an entire Númenórean army to their deaths, failed to prevent the enactment of a certain plan, and now an entire land is destroyed. Her only other friend, Elendil, hates her because he thinks his son is dead. The Queen of Númenor has been blinded on her account. Theo lost his home. Many Southlanders perished. Adar escaped, along with his children, and have a place wherein they can thrive.
After all of that, she said:
“And I will report to our High King… to face whatever awaits me” (1×07).
She was willing to return in humiliation. Sauron was unwilling. Galadriel was honest and sincere in her repentance. Sauron was not.
Compassion
Before the eruption, when a member of her company fell and was about to be left behind, Galadriel was momentarily blinded to her surroundings because of her obsession with finding Sauron.
But she snapped out of it when she realized what was actually going on, and gave her own cloak to the fallen.
After the eruption, her first action upon regaining consciousness was to search for Halbrand (in other words, she still sought out Sauron).
But she snapped out of it when she heard Theo, and abandoned her previous design just to help him.
Then, she found Sauron. This next example can be viewed as a combination of the first two.
Galadriel was disoriented from her dream, and fully snapped out of it when Elrond reminded her of what she did for him as a child.
Who evoked her obsession, in the first place? —Sauron.
“Every war is fought both without and within. Of that every soldier must be mindful. Even I” (Galadriel, 1×07).
Evil does not sleep. It waits. Sauron had been awake for a long time, and in the moment of Galadriel’s complacency, he blinded her. She said this for good reason:
“You would make me a tyrant” (1×08).
Sauron’s offer was not hypothetical, nor was the idea that he would make Galadriel a tyrant. She knew what he would turn her into, having witnessed the consequences of her obsession, firsthand.
Conclusion
Sauron’s character is so well-written and performed, the deception bleeds into the actual audience, and that is the most frightening thing of all.
What’s so unique and amazing about him as a villain is that he has to gain trust and he has to manipulate his way through. It’s different to other villains that have this slightly unhinged quality, whereas maybe there’s elements of that in Sauron, occasionally. But for all we know, in his interactions with people and in gaining their trust, he’s a really nice, sweet, kind guy. And that’s terrifying if you have that and you have him being genuinely open and nice and caring. […]
When you’re watching as an audience member and we’re seeing him being kind and nice, if you know his true intentions, it makes it really scary underneath. I think the key to that is not playing the overt evilness at this stage.
There appears to be no end to the layers in The Rings of Power.
A “Casual” Obsession
I began as an extremely casual fan, having never read any of the books before watching the show, but I had the same childhood association with the trilogy that so many others have. I lived with my more well-read sister, who highly anticipated the series and followed every release of promotional material, occasionally sharing stills and trailers with me and giving me brief descriptions of characters I did not know, such as Finrod, Gil-galad, Míriel, etc.
When the soundtrack was released, what began as a relaxing day of listening to two and a half hours of new music turned into an intense analysis of all of the motifs and cues, and how they related to the track titles and characters. Many things I found interesting, but I would like to say (for the record) that my sister and I were suspicious of Halbrand on this day, albeit mostly in jest.
That being said, I knew that the identity of Sauron was a mystery, but being the most casual viewer, the possibility that Sauron was an already-named character never even crossed my mind. Therefore, the line, “Looks can be deceiving,” did not sound many alarms. I thought it was a way to tell the audience to be on guard. (In retrospect, I do not know why I had not connected the dots sooner.)
It was not until we watched the first two episodes that I thought, Wait. This is much more interesting than I had anticipated. My family and I thoroughly enjoyed the episodes and came home from the theater with only good feelings, anticipating the introduction of Númenor. My sister had a few hours to ponder upon the things we had seen, and I was about to fall asleep when she walked into the room, almost in shock, and said: “Melanie, I think Halbrand might be Sauron.” The next two hours of conversation consisted of careful consideration and reflection, floating atop rapids of excitement and screaming. Why was he dodging all of Galadriel’s questions? we thought. It would be so interestingto humanize SAURON, and show this background with Galadriel! My sister told me what it says in Unfinished Tales:
“[Sauron] perceived at once that Galadriel would be his chief adversary and obstacle…”
Then, we theorized that one of Halbrand’s remarks was an indication that he had already perceived this very thing:
“You didn’t cause my suffering and you can’t fix it, no matter how strong your will or your pride. So let it lie” (1×02).
The subtlety in Halbrand being Sauron was, to us, most intriguing.
However, that candle had a short wick, for we heeded the counter arguments on the internet and convinced ourselves that Halbrand was not Sauron himself, but rather a man with a dark past and tragic ending—perhaps in consequence of what his ancestors once did (and believe you me, we pulled many muscles stretching as far as we did).
For one week before the season ended, the finale was promoted with the tagline: “Evil reveals itself.” Having been attached to Halbrand, therefore, the following exchange warranted from us intense anguish, more careful consideration and reflection, and many an exclamation:
Celebrimbor: “Who’s there? Reveal yourself!“
Halbrand: “Is Galadriel here?” (1×08).
The finale had such an effect that night (on me, specifically), that I stayed up until… way too early in the morning… to recall all of the signs, parallels, and connections that we voluntarily overlooked.
My Aim
The purpose of this blog is not only to give me a place to compile my thoughts, but to possibly provide a bit of assurance or comfort to anyone who might be frustrated by rumors or slandering (hence the name: Beyond Darkness). With the amount of work and dedication devoted to this series, there is no need to overlook anything, or throw up our hands and say, “This doesn’t make sense.” J.D. Payne, Patrick McKay, and everyone else involved, know much more than I ever will. Where there are questions, there are answers.
We’re all constantly talking about: How do we elevate and layer every piece of this? […] There’s so much content! […] Every line everyone says is there for a reason, and connects to something else; and there’s references and cross-references to everything within the show. And if people find it to be a rich text, that would be the highest aspiration and goal for us.
I have made several attempts to outline all of the connections I found (and kept finding), by way of video edits, a single essay, and other methods. My first attempt was to create a little Google Slides presentation (initially for only me and my sister), believing I would finish it within the week.
Title page to Part 1 of the presenation. It is still a work in progress, and some of my ideas have changed.
Meanwhile, here we are, three months later.
Well.
— Melanie, 2 January 2025 (two years later)
Those means alone did not seem sufficient enough to contain everything. The further I delved into the material, the more I found, and things opened up. It did not take long before I was under the necessity of splitting the Google presentation into two parts, amounting to a total of almost 350 slides. I have spent nearly every day since the finale attempting to reach the bottom of the barrel, to no avail. Will we reach an end before the release of season 2? Only time will tell.
There was an attempt.
— Melanie, 2 January 2025
This is not surface-level storytelling. For example, in The Rings of Power Podcast, Felicia Day asked if the eruption of Mount Doom was Adar’s plan. Patrick McKay said that it was actually Sauron’s plan that Adar used for his own purposes, and after explaining a little bit of reasoning and backstory (which we shall address later), he said:
That’s the kind of layered lore that we’re trying to build into it, and hopefully, maybe if you really do the deep, deep, deep dive, you can pick up on all those things. And if you don’t, that’s okay, too.
Elsewhere, speaking about the reveal of Sauron, Patrick explained:
We’re really not all about playing games with the audience. I know there were definitely some folks who were like, ‘When are we going to get an answer to these questions?’ But it’s right there all along! […] We’re much more interested in the character dynamic between, in this case, a character who turns out to be Sauron, and our heroine. That’s the story! What his name is, is not important. What’s important is: Moment to moment, what is he struggling with? What is she struggling with? What is the friendship that they’re developing […] and how is that changing each of them?
This endeavor began with focusing on Sauron exclusively (he’s clearly still the main focus, as he is in the show), but I have learned that he seems to be connected to every single character in the show (in other words, he and/or his influence is everywhere), and each character is incredibly crucial to the plot. Therefore, as a consequence of analyzing everything related to Sauron, not a single character will go unnoticed.
So here, we follow Sauron’s advice:
“See what happens when you stop galloping, and you give yourself a moment to think?” (1×04).
I readily admit that I may be dead wrong about some things. That being said, this series is what caused me to pick up the books for once, and has only enhanced what experience I might have had before. I have J.D. and Patrick to thank for that. The show already made sense to me when I knew nothing about the lore, but the more I read the books, the more sense the show made! I hope I am not the only one who is having this much fun. We are only through the first season, and it already aligns so well with the books, analysis does not even require a separation of the two.
If a single soul happens to read this one day, I hope you will bear with me as I freely brainstorm. I leave you with a quote from Galadriel, as it applies to myself. I’ll proceed with caution when offering predictions or theories, and will do my best to provide concrete evidence.
“Palantiri show many visions, some that will never come to pass” (Galadriel, 1×04).
