The Sauron Strategies: Footsteps into Failure - Page 10
© Michael Martinez
Isildur was able to sail north and rouse Elendil and Gil-galad. The alliance they assembled proved to be strong enough to destroy Sauron's realm. In fact, they raised a larger army than Ar-Pharazon had broughht to Middle-earth nearly 200 years before. If Sauron's allies were incapable of facing Ar-Pharazon's army, it is to his credit that they stayed by him during the final war of the Second Age. But they were no match for the Last Alliance.
Through war after war, Sauron allowed his enemies to support one another and sometimes to work together. It would not be until Barad-dur was besieged and Sauron's plans lay dashed in blood across the landscape that he finally figured out what he was doing wrong. He needed to isolate his enemies from one another. He launched a final, desperate attack against Gil-galad and slew the Elven-king, but Elendil stood close by and was able to strike a mortal blow to Sauron. The last combat on Orodruin may have been more an act borne of frustration than anything else. Even without Gil-galad, the Last Alliance had won the war. Sauron's empire was dismantled. His personal realm of Mordor was occupied.
A second death gave Sauron a much-needed respite. Middle-earth settled into a long period of peace in which Men would forget the Dark Lord and the Elves could only hope he did not return. Sauron had plenty of time for reflection upon his mistakes, and when he finally returned he had a new strategy, one which encompassed millennia and took into consideration all the variables he had not considered well enough in the Second Age.
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