Looking inside the Sauron Project - Page 7
© Michael Martinez
When Tolkien came along he didn't write for the pulps. He wrote for a broader audience that was just emerging from the worst war in history, a war where people know who the Big Bad Guy was but who never had to confront his foes directly in battle. That is not to say there is analogy between history and The Lord of the Rings. Rather, there is what Tolkien would have called applicability. Hitler took his own life rather than face the consequences of his actions. As a villain, he never confronted his victims. The world was denied the full justice of its retribution for the horrors he inflicted on millions. (Emperor Hirohito, the other really bad guy of World War II, managed to come out of the war relatively intact, and people today refrain from villainizing him -- except, perhaps, the families of the Asians who endured Japanese rule and occupation).
Sauron escapes the final retribution of Middle-earth in the end. He is remote, no matter how close the armies of the West come to him. In the Second Age Sauron died only when he became so desperate that he attacked Gil-galad, who had taken possession of Orodruin, the mountain (volcano) where Sauron had forged the One Ring. Gil-galad and his allies were denied the opportunity to humble Sauron, as Sauron had pretended to be humbled by Ar-Pharazon. No matter how complete their victory was militarily, it wasn't empty just because Isildur refused to destroy the One Ring. It was empty because Sauron didn't admit defeat.
At the end of the Third Age Sauron is defeated for good, but he is not humbled. Even as his power dissipates he rises up as a great and daunting shadow, reaching out over the battlefield miles away from the place of his destruction. He doesn't wail out as the Lord of the Nazgul does when he is defeated and sent flying back to Sauron. Nor does the Dark Lord give up in despair when he realizes his folly, as Denethor gives up in despair when he sees all the forces Sauron has arrayed against Gondor.
Sauron is a fighter. He doesn't give up. He keeps going to the last bitter moment, and in his spite he shakes makes an impotent gesture to try and convince the West he is still powerful, even though he no longer has any power.
Tolkien's chief villain is cold and manipulative, like Palpatine. Sauron sacrifices whole tribes and kingdoms in his age-long quest to destroy the Dunedain and take his revenge against the Faithful who escaped the Downfall of Numenor and (with the aid of the Elves) brought about his own defeat. It's nothing to Sauron to lose an army. When he's reduced to a handful of troops, he pulls back, regroups, rebreeds, and tries again.
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