Looking inside the Sauron Project - Page 11
© Michael Martinez
Sauron has a Plan, too, and in the literary story he never departs from it until the very end. No matter what setbacks he suffers in the field (and he suffers a bunch of them), he keeps moving the pieces on the game board. His defeats are balanced by victories. His failures are countered by achievements.
A good movie Sauron has to do the same thing. Just because he fails to get the Ring before the end of the first movie shouldn't give the audience the impression that any short guy with a really smart wizard friend could come out on top. In a way, the Ring itself is going to play the part of Sauron. The Ring is a part of Sauron, or possesses a part of him, of Sauron's will. The Ring is subtly at work throughout the literary story, pulling, urging, compelling, tempting, testing anyone and everyone who comes near it. It wants to get back to Sauron, and on several occasions nearly betrays Frodo to Sauron.
Sauron is in rapport with the Ring. Maybe the movie Sauron will display some of this rapport, but hopefully without falling into the trap of emotionally sensing the near-misses that will plague the Ring. The Ring actually achieves its objective in the end: it prevents Frodo from tossing it into the Fire. A pity that Gollum just happened to be around the corner when Frodo finally claimed the Ring for himself.
In the end, if there is one factor which makes or breaks the movies, that factor may be Sauron. He has to seem credible, strong, and resourceful. And since the first two movies have to end on some sort of upbeat note, Sauron must suffer some form of setback in each of them. But the defeats cannot seem devastating. Sauron's power has to be left largely intact for the final confrontation, where the situation is obviously hopeless and destroying the Ring is indeed the only option for success.
That's a tough row to hoe, given how well-known the story is. People know how it is supposed to end. They won't accept anything less than Sauron's defeat at the hands of Gollum rather than Frodo. It cannot seem easy. It has to be shown that even Gandalf's plan really fails. Sauron has to be unbeatable in every sense but his own folly. In the end, the only person who can defeat Sauron must be Sauron. This fact is foreshadowed when the Ring speaks to Gollum on Mount Doom, saying, "Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom."
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