Sauron - The Epitome, Summit, Zenith, Apex and Climax of All Evil

One would wonder, why so many words, why so many adjectives that mostly mean the same to describe a fictional existence so many times.

Alas, it is, however, necessary, nay — imperative. For you see, calling Sauron The Epitome of Evil, though accurate, feels like an understatement. Just as The Summit and Zenith do. Calling Sauron the Apex of evil feels flimsy, due to the heights of Evil Sauron has achieved, but also important since there is no one who stands beside him in this regard. So again, it is a necessary description. And nothing comes close to being the one and only, the final and beyond of Evil. Only Sauron, hence The Climax. However, these words in themselves alone do not truly paint the story of how truly and unendingly evil Sauron is. This is why, it is nothing but imperative to refer to Sauron as those five words or maybe even more, to do his evil deeds any form of tangible justice.

I will begin this piece by talking a little bit about Sauron’s ability to see objectively and without bias. People mistake Sauron for having desires or wants or wishes. This accusation could’ve worked for his Master, Morgoth. However, it would not stick on Sauron. For you see, he had no desires. As a fact is not a desire. It is not a passion. And that is why it is extremely difficult to defeat this Evil. He didn’t need to win because winning was not his goal. He was not afraid to lose because losing was not an issue, simply a temporary delay. What remained and as a fact, was the simple goal he set out for himself. Utter, utmost, and the ultimate perfection. I think it is difficult to fathom this, as I am struggling to put this accurately into words. Let me give you an example. Who is the scariest poker player? Is it the one who is the most experienced at poker? The best at poker faces? Or someone who has an unlimited amount of money and time, and is willing to bet it all on a whim? I know you are inclined to go for the latter. But it simply does not matter which you pick, for Sauron was all three. He was the most experienced, being there during the literal creation of the Universe of course. I don’t want to tarnish this great evil by calling his next ability simply “Poker Face” for he practically invented deception, he is the absolute and final master of manipulation, and that is not only because of his shapeshifting abilities, though, they are great in their own regard too. And finally, his most dangerous skill, his patience, and faith in himself. I am sure, in my first two paragraphs, I have provided sufficient argument as to why Sauron is not only the greatest of Evils but the true and final Evil that exists beyond compare. So, if you, the reader, wish to stop and gaze away at other things that might pique your interest please do so, for my points have been made. What comes next will only be praise disguised as prose, nay, objective admiration of something that exists in its purest form.

Short Disclaimer: Now, let me clarify before the forks and pitches of the common folk come out. I mean objective admiration in a sense that is not bound by our current standard of morals, as a skill I would like to examine Sauron’s abilities thoroughly, and if I am impressed then it is sheerly because of the terrific writing of Sir Tolkien, and nothing else. I am in no way claiming that Sauron and his Evil are in any way good, I am merely stating that in all standards of evils, his towers above all and stands peerless in almost every aspect. If anything, I am only claiming that Sauron is not only the worst but the absolute best at being the worst. In fact, even if I sound impressed it is rather my way of speaking because I can assure you that if any living being came even close to the personality, and not even powers, just personality alone of Sauron, then that would be a very scary person indeed.

Now that my intentions are clear, and the people here for the initial fluff — or accidental visitors — have left, I shall start my long and grueling process of defining, laying down facts, beating down into your skulls the meaning of these facts, mangling, dismantling popular opinion, projecting my own, and a plethora more of such disgusting practices. Brace yourself, for you can come out of this in only two ways, with immense hatred towards me, or immense hatred towards Sauron. Irrespective, one thing will remain constant — you will not be able to help but admire the quintessential Evil that is Sauron.

Welcome, and let’s get on with it.

Sauron In The First Age: Sauron, as I have said once before, is obsessed with perfection. Perfection to no end, with no cost too high, and no task too difficult. Perfection, absolute. And this is where, Sauron, comes to, in his love, its realization. He wishes for order, he wishes for neutrality, he wishes for darkness as darkness is absolute. Darkness is one. However, the light is many. It is illuminating, it is freeing, and it gives life. However, it is very difficult to control. You can not control life, as it comes from light. Light is not one, it is infinite. Compared to darkness it is a million. A billion, trillion even if that is what pleases you. Darkness may be one but it is never-ending and abundant forever. It is the depth of a well that will never go dry, it is the sky that will never cloud. Darkness is forever, and light is short-lived. This in Sauron’s perception, in Sauron’s opinion, and understanding was a mistake. Nothing as chaotic as life should be allowed to exist. And wanted to quell it all with the Dark, for darkness is constant, it is order above all. This Darkness he wanted to rule, he wanted to be a master of. For anything that lives, is impure and unruly, and all that doesn’t is controllable in his abilities.

Hence, in the entirety of the first age, Sauron’s goal was to simply obey his Master, Morgoth. For it was through him that he envisioned, control would be achieved. And when his Master failed, Sauron didn’t take even a second to feign acceptance and guilt to escape into the shadows and work on his goals of complete and utter domination. Sauron seems to be above the general Machiavellian ideas and exists as a villain beyond their shackles and boxes of mundanity. One of the most Machiavellian ideas that exists is that a “Politician” must be feared or loved but never hated. In contrast, to the villainy of politicians, Sauron isn’t bothered with trivial and fleeting emotions of Love, Fear, and Hatred. He is so above and beyond, that all these feelings exist simultaneously in all of his followers, despite the cruelty of his ways, his followers and/or creations are unable to not love him or fear him, most may even hate, however, it is secondhand caution thrown to the winds so far and remote, that it loses meaning before it even gets a chance to end up cold and withered in hands that barely care. Sauron is in the simplest of terms, pure, in hate, in fear, in darkness, and in evil. Sauron can and will not be bothered by anything other than his own goals. That gives the connotation that Sauron is mono-layered. Does not have many layers to him, just one, and that too of simple and pure Evil. However, that is not true. Sauron has a tremendous amount of layers. He really is a multi-layered being. He shows great compassion first for his Master’s work and subjects all of his loyalty to him. Though, never mentioned

Sauron In The Second Age: Sauron’s true reign of terror begins in the Second Age but not before facing tremendous defeat. He saves face and life by first feigning guilt and acceptance of his fate. And when the Valar’s guards were down, he escaped into the darkness, harkening upon the connections, servants, and allies of his old and defeated Master. In hopes of continuing his work, he takes careful and calculated steps. However, these steps would soon turn into strides that he was actually making towards his own goals. His own goals of absolute perfection.

In the Second Age is when Sauron truly comes alive, awakens his best skills and really puts them to use. You see, Sauron in the Second Age, was the true defintion of Evil. Sauron did not do anything that would hinder his ultimate goal. And his ultimate goal was always perfection. Purists of the Tolkien lore would say his ultimate goal was power or the lusting behing the Silmarilians or some nonsense like that. No, his ultimate goal was always perfection. For you see, from Sauron eyes only what he saw could be deemed perfect, only what he considered worthy could deserve to be ruled by him, only when the land was darkened to his kind of shade, only then was the land as close as it could be to perfection. Only when the most beautiful creation by a child of Eru Illuvitar, was rightfully his, only then it was truly and satiably perfect. So you see, all along Sauron's goal was always perfection. And that is what is the true defintion of Evil. When you become so consumed by a goal that you do not see reason, you do not see morality, you do not see facts or anything beyond your more base and deep wishes, and you continue to ceaselessly chase this greed, this lust of yours, and stop at nothing, no cost too big a cost for your obsession. That is when you achieve True Evil.

However, simply achieving true evil is not enough to remain truly evil. You need to continue acting that way and continue being the worst possible thing you could be in any room, and to that, you need Patience and Cunning. Which brings me to the strongest argument I have for Sauron's evil. Let me paint you a picture of our young Sauron here in the Second Age. Sauron knew what he wanted, knew how to get it, all was left to do was to act on it. However, he knew that if he acted on it then Manwe and thier posse would be sure to dispose of him swiftly. Which is when Sauron defcides to employ his shapeshiting, his cunning, and his single most best skill -- Patience. That motherfucker was patient. He was so fucking patient, I cannot even begin to describe in mere words how fucking patient Sauron was. You see, we humans, get irked when we have to wait in a Starbucks line for more than 15 minutes. We do not understand this level of patience that I am trying to talk about. Let me give you an example - Sauron needed to get the Rings of Power made. He needed the people to trust him so that they think he is on their side. Take any movie, show, comic, or any sort literary medium where villains have existed, you will see that their span of cunning has lasted a few hours? Gaining trust over a few drinks? Maybe a few weeks, gaining trust of a neighbour. Maybe even months, gaining trust over a partner, you know what - there have been cases where it has been years, even decades for the latter. You know how much time Sauron spent? 300 Motherfucking Years. Sauron spent 300 motherfucking years, just gaining the trust of the elves so that he could make the rings with them. And that's not all, Sauron once spent 150 years mucking about with a Human king and his progeny, just to slowly but surely get the lineage to die off and leave the reigns to him. That is fucking patience. Do you know how fucking committed and blind to anything else you have to be - just so that you could stab someone or something in the back and gain a very small advantage? But that is what Sauron is, Sauron is so fucking patient that he knows, when you want things done perfectly, and guaranteed to succeed, you need to do it slowly. That is why Sauron won the number of times he did. Sauron never left it to chance, Sauron eviled away for fucking centuries before making moves, and that is why Sauron out-eviled his own Master. That alone was Sauron's greatest skill, which coupled with his shapeshifting, and his cunning, truly made him the strongest evil there could be.

Sauron - The Pathetic: Now, after all is said and done. It must be very clear to you, you — the reader — that I am a big fan of Sauron and his Evil. However, you are incorrect. For you see, I am a fan of his innate abilities and the masteries he poses over them. I am a fan of the sheer skill, will, and patience he displays to get things done. I am impressed by the unending drive he has for perfection and will take up any means to achieve the same. That is what impresses me for those are absolute. Those facts are, and will not be taken away from him in any circumstance, and they deserve to be marveled at. Hell, they deserve to even be praised and paraded, and skill is hard to come by, and such mastery doubly so. However, I do not like Sauron, as he was pathetic. He was a sad, sad, pathetic, weak whisper in the grandest of schemes. He was above all a failure and he fought only fools.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t say these harsh words to save skin after so much praise and I hope it has also been clear that the praise was not directed to the being, but rather to the skills possessed. I say these things because Sauron really was, despite all his skill and masterful abilities — a pathetic loser. There are and will be no doubts about this. And the reason is that Sauron can be likened to a little bully in school. In the world, universe, and total beauty created, Sauron was all but a Maiar. He was the servant to a Valar, and the barely anyone to even stand face to face against Illuvitar. Sauron, the school bully decided to pick a battle with ants because he couldn’t even fathom taking a stand against even slightly stronger beings than him. He took pleasure in directing ants out of their colonies, causing mayhem and destruction to their nests by creating elaborate creatures and apparatuses like a barely creative child shoving a water pipe in an anthill. Sauron toiled for ages with people and creatures so far beneath his own standards that it tainted his own intelligence and inevitably led to his doom. Sauron’s failure was the enemy he chose and them being so incredibly weak to him. Only a pathetic, pathetic little man could achieve such disgrace. A pathetic little school bully. I will conclude this piece with the following summary. There is no greater evil than Sauron. No other character is more evil, not Hannibal Lecter, not the Joker, not Darth Vader, nor anything else. For no other character has displayed an almost infinite patience, cunning, manipulation, means-that-justify-the-ends approach than Sauron. For when he manipulated humans and elves, he didn't do so to extract sadistic pleasure like a lowly psychopath. He did it simply to conquer. For thousands of years, he blended himself within the clans of many a being much beneath them, not for any sort of momentary gain but a bigger and more sinister plan. And finally, true evil is pathetic. True evil stays evil even the narrative demands relief for the dead horse. Unlike Jokers, Vaders, and Lecters of our age, true evil does not ever waver and display hints of kinship or humanity. True evil never wavers from it evil. For even facing an enemy and dying in a battle face to face is by some extent is heroic. Which is a luxury Sauron's evil never afforded for himself.

So believe me when I say, Sauron is The Epitome, Summit, Zenith, Apex and Climax of All Evil. And it is pathetic.