Looking inside the Sauron Project - Page 9
© Michael Martinez
But Denethor lacked Sauron's power and resources. Denethor could in his small way master the wills of other men, but these men were more mastered by their loyalty to Gondor than by Denethor himself. They willingly served the rightful leader of their land for the national good. Sauron's captains were dependent upon the sustenance of his evil will. He dominated their goals and actions, and directed them from afar. When he realized Frodo had the Ring in the Sammath Naur Sauron abandoned his captains and they were lost and confused. When Denethor took his own life, the captains of Gondor continued to fight the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, oblivious to his passing.
When Sauron sends out his cruel messengers they are only one cog in the great machine which is moving toward the destruction of all individual expression in Middle-earth. The Free Peoples can only assemble small forces to oppose Sauron's machine. They are too small, too inadequate. They simply don't have a prayer, even in Gondor, of defeating Mordor's armies and allies. Hence, the West's true defense is a little like Luke Skywalker's boldly going to the emperor, only Luke didn't think he had a chance of defeating the emperor directly. He was counting on someone blowing the Death Star to smithereens.
Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings both have final battles which accompany the dreadful confrontations with the bad guys, but the emperor is there with Luke, very real, very close, and he is ultimately defeated not by the rebel alliance or by Luke but by his own servant, Darth Vader. Sauron never gets close to Frodo, and he is seen only far away and with special perceptions normal people don't possess.
Since Peter Jackson has apparently decided to clap some nameless stunt actor in iron ivy armor, it's apparent that Sauron is going to be seen more than felt in the movies. Some people have criticized this decision, since you seldom see Hitler in movies about World War II (he never appears in "Saving Private Ryan", for example). On the other hand, since no "name" actor has been assigned the role of Sauron, it would seem he probably doesn't have a speaking role. Or perhaps, as some people guess, he'll have a voice-over part. James Earl Jones does evil really well.
"Frodo, Gandalf and Bilbo never told you what became of your father."
"They told me enough! They told me he drowned in a boating accident!"
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