What did Sauron really look like?

Sauron is one of the most important characters in The Lord of the Rings, however, and although JRR Tolkien thoroughly describes his past, there is much that remains in the shadows, literally.

What was Sauron like physically? What did the Dark Lord actually look like?

The curious thing about Sauron is that, despite his importance, he gets very little direct involvement in the book. The Lord of the Ring remains out of sight most of the time, with a few notable exceptions, such as Pippin’s later account after connecting with Sauron through the palantir, and already at the end of The Return of the King, when Sauron finally realizes what is happening on Mount Doom (see: What does the inscription on the One Ring really mean?)

Despite this physical absence in the development of the story, Sauron’s presence constantly hovers over The Lord of the Rings, almost always as a vague reference whispered by other characters. In fact, everything we know about Sauron in the novel is secondary references

It is likely that Tolkien was somewhat wary of the Paradise Lost effect, and feared that the reader would experience some degree of sympathy for the devil if Sauron received too much attention, something that clearly happens in Milton’s work. However, this reasoning can only be applied to The Lord of the Rings, because clearly Morgoth and Sauron intervene a lot in The Silmarillion (see: The “Milton Effect” and sympathy for the devil)

Sauron appears very little—none, really—in The Lord of the Rings simply because the story is told from the perspective of the hobbits, who never saw Sauron. The Silmarillion, on the other hand, has an elven focus, and the Elves did see Sauron in his different facets.

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This Dark Lord in the shadows has, however, a strange, almost hypnotic side effect. Any reference to Sauron is read avidly by the reader, precisely due to the scarcity of information, even on basic aspects, such as his appearance.

There is no concrete description of Sauron’s actual appearance, outside of that scene in which he turns into a wolf to fight Huan in The Silmarillion. We know that he could take a beautiful form in earlier times, but that he somehow became trapped in a dark, dirty figure after plotting the sinking of Númenor, and that’s it (see: The 8 Dreams in “The Lord of the Rings”). Rings»)

There is really no direct information about it, but this should not surprise us in an author who never specifies Legolas’s hair color (see: What happened to Legolas and Gimli after “The Lord of the Rings”?). Even less can we expect him to stop to describe the appearance of the Dark Lord, whom he deliberately keeps in the shadows. However, we know that Sauron was not a disembodied eye, and that Tolkien refers to him as a humanoid (with nine fingers after his encounter with Isildur).

In a letter dated 1963, Tolkien mentions the following in relation to Sauron’s possible appearance:

Sauron should be considered very terrible looking. The form he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic.

(Sauron should be thought of as very terrible. The form that he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic)

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That is to say that Sauron is essentially a man of great stature, at least above average, and of terrifying appearance, but who previously sported a fair and pleasing appearance to Elves and Men, when he was known as Annatar, which means Lord. of the Gifts, probably an omen of the distribution of rings.

Now let’s consider what the movies have done with these meager details:

In the Peter Jackson films, Sauron has two forms: the great guy in armor and the Eye at the top of the Dark Tower.

The first appears in the prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring, and reappears as a silhouette in later The Hobbit films. This appearance was probably taken from John Howe’s depiction of Morgoth. Let’s keep in mind that Howe was involved in Jackson’s films.

As for the Eye over the Dark Tower, well, it’s the brainchild of Peter Jackson. One understands the need to express that Sauron could not take physical form during the War of the Ring, but the effect seems poorly achieved. It is more like a lighthouse than the expression of a sleepless and constantly vigilant entity.

That is to say that Sauron, in the Second Age, had a Just Form, that is, noble and attractive, which he used to seduce the Elves of Eregion and the Men of Númenor. He eventually lost the ability to appear other than horrible (see: The cosmic horror in The Lord of the Rings). But before that, Sauron had the ability to appear as attractive as he wanted. It is generally imagined that the most common form of him was basically elvish, albeit with older eyes, so to speak.

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Since the representation of Miton’s Satan there has been an artistic tendency to represent evil in a seductive, even attractive way. Tolkien clearly did not want this Byronic fate for Sauron, which is why he preferred to keep it in the shadows, although in fact it was he himself who attempted to depict it later in the following unfinished sketch, where Sauron is seen stretching out an arm uselessly when the Ring is about to fall into Mount Doom.

This concludes our look at the fugitive figure of Sauron: a character who operates almost entirely from the shadows, better known for his deeds, and for his role in the history of Middle-earth, than by his appearance, decidedly vague.

Middle Earth. I JRR Tolkien.

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