Sauron

Sauron (or Þauron; Quenya; IPA: [ˈsaʊron] or Vanyarin [ˈθaʊron] - "Abhorred"), the eponymous Lord of the Rings, was a fallen Maia, the creator of the One Ring, and the most trusted lieutenant of his fellow fallen Maia Morgoth. After Morgoth's defeat in the First Age, Sauron became the second Dark Lord and strove to conquer Arda, creating the Rings of Power for this purpose. In the Second Age, he was defeated in the War of the Last Alliance by the last line of defense: elves and men.

Fanon Wiki ideas so far

 * Sauron vs Darth Vader
 * Lord Voldemort VS Sauron
 * Sauron vs. Lich King (Complete)
 * The Emperor vs Sauron (Complete)
 * Nightmare vs Sauron

Possible Opponents

 * Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter)

History
During the beginning days of Middle Earth, Sauron was once a Maia named Mairon who learned the ways of craftsmanship from Aulë the Smith. While he was good and pure, it was Mairon's love for order and perfection that led to his corruption by Melkor. Mairon served as Melkor's spy throughout the First Age until revealing his servitude to Morgoth while renamed "Sauron". Though Morgoth was defeated and sealed away, Sauron created a established cult dedicated to his master despite wanting to control others while his master desired to only destroy everything.

During the Second Age, after weaseling out of justice for his role in Morgoth's actions, Sauron escaped and took residence in Mordor where he slowly built the strength to declare war once more. At that time, donning the fair visage of Annatar, Sauron proceeded to maniuplate the Elvish smiths of Eregion to forge Rings of Power for the races: Three to the Elves Elrond, Galadriel, and Gil-galad, Seven to the Dwarf Lords, and Nine to kings among Men. But Sauron also forged in secret the One Ring, infusing his life force into it with the ability to control the holders of the Rings of Power and, through them, the free peoples. But the Elves, sensing Sauron's schemes, hid their rings while the dwarves were unaffected by their rings. Despite the setback with the two races, Sauron succeeds in gaining control of the ones who would come to be known as the Nazgûl and most of the Men with the exception of the Númenóreans whose downfall Sauron later arranged. The battles that ensued eventually come to a close when the Last Alliance laid siege to Barad-dûr with Sauron destroyed when Isildur, son of Elendil, took up his father's broken sword, Narsil and cut the One Ring from Sauron's finger.

Despite his defeat, Sauron was not vanquished permanently as he was reduced to a non-corporeal form due to the One Ring. While the Ring was lost I the aftermath of Isildur's death, ending up in the possession of Gollum, Sauron would go into hiding in Dol Guldur to slowly recover his strength for a millennia until he resurfaced as the Necromancer with none realizing his return. But Gandalf realizes the enemy's return and investigates Dol Guldur while aiding Thorin Oakenshield in his company's quest, altering the White Council as they drive Sauron from Mirkwood. Sauron flees to Mordor where he makes final preparations for his final war against the free peoples of Middle-earth with the aid of Saruman while having the Nazgûl find his ring, having interrogated Gollum to find it in the possession of the Baggins family, to complete his restoration. But Sauron, focusing on the threat posed by Isildur's last living descendant Aragorn, failed to perceive that the White Council established the Fellowship of the Ring to have the One Ring secretly taken to Mount Doom in Mordor to destroy the ring. This action completely wipes out Sauron once his ring is destroyed while facing Aragorn's army at the Black Gate of Mordor.

Character
Despite being the title character of the Lord of the Rings, Sauron is notable in that he never directly appears during the events of the trilogy. Nowhere is any detailed description given of what he looks like, other than in vague terms.

In The Silmarillion, Sauron is described as being a shape changer, and took many forms, including that of a serpent, a vampire, and a great wolf. After Morgoth's fall, Sauron appeared in fair form as Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, and maintained this appearance until the Fall of Numenor, in which he was unable to ever take fair form ever again. The Histories of Middle Earth include a passage describing (again, vaguely) how the Numenoreans saw him: "Upon that ship which was cast highest and stood dry upon a hill there was a man, or one in man's shape, but greater than any even of the race of Numenor in stature...And it seemed to men that Sauron was great; though they feared the light of his eyes. To many he appeared fair, to others terrible; but to some evil."

A few clues are given as to Sauron's appearance as the Dark Lord, after he lost his ability to take a fair form: Tolkien described Sauron in one of his letters as having the form of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic, and as an image of malice and hatred made visible. He apparently gave off great heat, so much so that Gil-Galad was burned to death by his mere touch, and Isildur described Sauron's hand as black, yet burning like fire, suggesting that his entire body was blackened from fire and heat.

Gollum, having apparently seen Sauron directly, described him as having only four fingers on his black hand, suggesting that Sauron was unable to regenerate the finger from which Isildur took the One Ring, similar to how the wounds Morgoth took from Fingolfin never healed.

In addition to his physical appearance, Sauron also apparently had an aura of incredible malevolence. A passage in The Silmarillion describes him as having a "dreadful presence," and daunting eyes. Furthermore, his mere presence could bend all but the strongest wills.

Regarding Sauron's personality, Tolkien had this to say from his letters:
 * "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."
 * —J.R.R. Tolkien

Weapons and powers
Sauron was among the mightiest of the Maiar. Originally of Aulë's people, he acquired great "scientific" knowledge of the world's substances and how to use them. He would retain this knowledge throughout his tenure as the Dark Lord in Middle-earth, using it to forge the One Ring and construct his fortress of Barad-dûr. Sauron also seemed primarily linked to the use of fire, and as Morgoth's chief lieutenant, his ability to tap into the fires in the earth was of great value.

Among Sauron's chief powers were deception and disguise: In the First Age Sauron took on many forms. His battle against Luthien and Huan in The Silmarillion has him taking on no less than four separate shapes: his "normal" shape, presumed to be that of some kind of terrible dark sorcerer, a great wolf, a serpent, and finally a vampire "dripping blood from his throat upon the trees" ("Of Beren and Lúthien," The Silmarillion). At the end of the First Age, Sauron took on a fair form to appeal to the Captain of the Hosts of the Valar and ask for pardon. In the Second Age, Sauron took up that fair form again and used it under the alias "Annatar" to deceive the Elves into creating the Rings of Power. The level of deception required to fool the Elves of Eregion must have gone beyond simply taking on a fair form. Sauron was literally instructing the Elves to make artifacts that while capable of great good, were ultimately purposed for his own domination and were imbued with power to arrest the natural order of the world. The Elves were unaware of who they were dealing with until the eleventh hour, and only narrowly escaped his trap. Centuries later, Sauron was able to deceive the Númenóreans and steer them directly to their own destruction under promises of eternal life. Such destruction is a testament to Sauron's manipulative nature and ability to twist the perceptions of his enemies.

An interesting dichotomy is set up between his deceptive nature and his symbol. While rarely appearing personally and deceiving all but the most wary, he represented himself as an all seeing eye that could pierce all disguises. Consistent with Tolkien's theme of evil being finite, wasteful, and self-destructive, Sauron's powers gradually decreased as time went on. After the Fall of Númenor he was incapable of taking physical form for many years, and then later became a horrific Dark Lord. After losing the Ring it took even longer for him to regain physical form, although by the War of the Ring he had regained it.

The extent, nature, and specifics of Sauron's power are largely left to the imagination. Like his master Morgoth, he was capable of altering the physical substance of the world around him by mere effort of will.

In The Bestiary under the section "Wolfhounds," it is said Huan "took the greatest of the Maiar by the throat," referring to his fight with Sauron. However in the section Maiar it says "the mightiest of the Maiar is Eönwë."