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Something Wicked This Way Comes

© Michael Martinez

The sudden migration of the Halfling clans living in the upper Vales of Anduin across the Misty Mountains, starting in the year T.A. 1050, signaled the arising of the great shadow in southern Greenwood the Great. The Wise could not be sure of whom or what had settled in the forest, but they understood that something which had not previously dwelt there before had become active. In all his published writings, J.R.R. Tolkien made only one curious remark about the trigger event. In the essay "Dwarves and Men", published in The Peoples of Middle-earth, Tolkien noted: "Plainly, the Hobbits had sensed, even before the Wizards and the Eldar had become fully aware of it, the awakening of Sauron and his occupation of Dol Guldur." Hobbits were not exactly known for having an ear to the ways of the world. What could they have sensed which the recently arrived Istari and the lords of the Eldar had missed? For that matter, why did Sauron decide to settle upon Amon Lanc? Gondor had occupied Mordor with the intention of preventing his return to his old realm. But Sauron could have settled in the distant east or south. He chose to dwell in southern Greenwood the Great, close to his enemies. Why? Although it may seem obvious that he was drawn to the One Ring, which at that time (the 11th century of the Third Age) still lay undiscovered in some pool along the Anduin near the Gladden Fields, Sauron is said to have believed at first that the One Ring had been destroyed. His resurrection in the vicinity of the One Ring may have been a natural consequence of the affinity Sauron retained with the Ring, but he was unaware of it. So, what compelled him to remain close to the Ring? If we accept that Sauron's spirit took physical shape somewhere near the Ring itself, then he must first have appeared along the banks of the Anduin, perhaps in the river itself. Or, if the power of Ulmo was too great for him, repelling Sauron's malice and preventing him from recognizing that the Ring still existed, then Sauron may have assumed his new bodily shape in the lowlands by the river. It is not necessary that anyone should have seen Sauron. Rather, his resurrection had to occur in secret, beyond the eyes of Elves, Western Men, and all who were friendly with them. But there were other men already dwelling in the region. Although the first thousand years of the Third Age had proven to be relatively stable for western Middle-earth, by the year 1050 Arnor had been divided into three warring kingdoms and Gondor was locked in mortal conflict with its southern neighbors. 1050 was, indeed, the year in which Hyarmendacil I defeated the kings of Harad (and conquered Umbar). All the eyes of the world were turned upon Gondor, which achieved its greatest extent at this time, and came closest of all nations to rivalling the long lost and almost forgotten power of Numenor.