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The Sauron Strategies: One War to Win Them All, Except... - Page 6

© Michael Martinez

But Sauron was also drawn back to Dol Guldur by another factor: the One Ring. He long believed it had been destroyed. Yet in time he came to realize that this could not be so. He had invested the greater part of his strength in the Ring. If it had been destroyed, then he should have been rendered much too weak to become powerful again. His strength continued to return, though, and century by century he was able to exert his will over more people, more creatures. At some point, the Ring's survival had to become an obvious fact to Sauron. He hadn't merely survived his downfall. He was recovering from it. It therefore became imperative that Sauron find the Ring before his enemies found it and used it against him. He never conceived of anyone trying to destroy the Ring, but there remained in Middle-earth powerful Eldar who might, if they came into possession of the Ring, try to use it to build up their power again: Cirdan, Elrond, Galadriel, Celeborn. They were all relatives of the ancient Eldarin kings, and were accounted mighty in lore and power. And what did Sauron know or suspect of the Istari? They were obviously immortal. They had been around for more than 1,000 years. When Sauron eventually learned about Isildur's end, he was well positioned in Dol Guldur to seize control over the region of the Gladden Fields so that his servants could search for the Ring. But Sauron would not learn for many centuries yet that the Ring lay on the far side of the river, or that it was found before he even began looking for it by a Stoor named Deagol, whose cousin Smeagol murdered him and took the Ring. The Balchoth's attack against northern Gondor in 2510 thus may have had two purposes: first, to wear down Gondor; second, to clear the way for Sauron's search for the Ring. Gondor's northern border lay too close to Dol Guldur for much secrecy. Sauron's objectives suffered a reversal, however, when Eorl led an army of Eotheod out of the north to Gondor's aid. The Battle of the Field of Celebrant was not a crushing defeat for the Balchoth. They remained an effective fighting force for Sauron, but control over the Undeeps passed from Gondor to the Eotheod, rather than to Sauron. Gondor and Lothlorien thus continued to pose a great threat to Sauron's plans. Yet, when Cirion ceded Calenardhon to Eorl and his people, Sauron had to alter his strategy once more. Cirion consolidated his forces in Anorien and Ithilien, and Calenardhon came under the control of a strong northern people over whom Sauron had no hope of gaining control. The Rohirrim, as Eorl's people came to be known, could not simply be ignored. And an opportunity to deal with them arose in the 28th century. Helm, King of Rohan (as Calenardhon was now called), consolidated his power over the western lands by killing the upstart lord Freca and outlawing his family. Freca's son Wulf allied himself with the Dunlendings, whose ancestors had served Sauron in the Second Age.

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