Saurons 👁️eye

[Niniel]

Well, it still doesn't say it is a solid shadow. It might be a Sauron-shaped shadow that hasn't got any substance to it. But then it would get really complicated, so I believe it is meant to say that he does get a solid form again.

 

[LordOfMoria]

Sauron was also the necromanser that was taking sanctuary in Mirkwood!!!

 

[Goldberry]

There was another statement someplace that said after the drowning of Numenor, he could never take a form that was fair to look upon again. So that doesn't preclude taking on an ugly form!

 

[Turin]

Sorry about misspelling it.

 

[Tar-Elenion]

"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."
Letter 246

 

[reem]

Sauron as an Eyeball!

Here's a funny thought!! if Saurong was an eye, how could he use the Ring??! i mean, as a strong and powerful maiar and sorcerer he could have atleast gotten himself a regular body instead of a gigantic flaming eye!! so why didn't he?
and was he portrayed correctly in the movie? with the ring of stone or something like that surround him...?
(blink blink)!!
reem

 

[Mithlond]

Sauron was not an eye during the time of the war of the ring, he regained his form many years prior. You must not mistake metaphor for actual fact, as Tolkien uses metaphor's alot during his tales.

Here is a thread for you to read on the subject, it has many valid points.
Sauron's Eye

 

[BlackCaptain]

Ive always thought the same thing. Gollum mentions one time that Sauron has only 4 fingers and it is enough. He says it in the dead marshes after the Nazgûl flys over. Sauron is regaining strength apearantly, physical. But then youve got to wonder... why wouldnt Sauron come to the black gates then...?

 

[Aulë]

Sauron, like most wise leaders, did not appear in battle unless absolutely nessessary.
In the Battle of Dagorlad, he did not appear at all, and only made an appearance after Barad-dur had been under seige for 7 years.

 

[gandalfthegreat]

Seriously I also believe that Sauron only makes appearances when need be...and these are only in important instances.

-*Gandalf*-

 

[FoolOfATook]

Seriously I also believe that Sauron only makes appearances when need be...and these are only in important instances.

A strategy that he undoubtedly learned from his old boss.

 

[Manwë Súlimo]

Also Sauron is not a good fighter. He has lost on every single combat situation he has come across. He lost with Huan, and during the siege of Barad-Dur, and any others that I can't think of at the moment. Sauron's strength was in cunning and guile, like his former master Melkor.

 

[FoolOfATook]

and during the siege of Barad-Dur,

To give the Dark Lord his due, I think it's worth noting that before Isildur made his lucky swing, Sauron did kill two great kings.

 

[Goldberry]

Re: Sauron as an Eyeball!

Originally posted by reem
Here's a funny thought!! if Saurong was an eye, how could he use the Ring??! i mean, as a strong and powerful maiar and sorcerer he could have atleast gotten himself a regular body instead of a gigantic flaming eye!! so why didn't he?
and was he portrayed correctly in the movie? with the ring of stone or something like that surround him...?
(blink blink)!!
reem

I don't know if JRRT really said Sauron was ONLY an eye at the time of the War of the Ring. His eye sees everything, but I never got the impression from the books that all there was to him was an eye. JRRT did say that after his body drowned in the destruction of Numenor, he could never again take a shape that was "fair" to men. But he was able to take hideous shape. So we may be able to assume that he could take a hideous form with an appendage that could wear the ring.

 

[BlackCaptain]

Well surely the final blow to the Captains of the West would have been an important occasion! Not important enough?

 

[Aulë]

I don't think Sauron would have been stupid enough, Gandalf was very powerful at the stage, and I doubt Sauron would want to test out those powers when he had a few thousand troops at his disposal.

 

[olorin the maia]

As stated earlier, Sauron sends his servants to do his fighting, as leaders are wont to do.
The actual physical shape of Sauron in Barad-dur is unknowable. The Author states that he lost his ability to appear fair to Men (having been doubted by the Eldar for some time before that). I don't mean to repeat other's posts, sorry.
The beauty of the Tale, and the magic of the Author's gift, is his ability to cause the reader to use imagination to create a picture of Sauron the Maia, in all his malevolent glory, far more potent than any painted picture or movie.

 

[Lantarion]

Well said; but I've understood that the 'Eye' is just the image that Sauron, or the mention of Sauron, creates in the minds of people. A lidless, ever-watchful eye.. Sounds pretty scary to me! But that is one of the great wrongs in the movie, that Sauron was actually portrayed as a floating eye!! What the hell is that about?!
And yes, Gollum says he has nine fingers, so Sauron must have a crude physical shape during the WR.

 

[reem]

well it has been almost a year since i last read the book! and i have an extremely horrible memory, so i am excused if i don't remember such details but i just automatically thought of the movie and that was what i got in mind a huge lidless eyeball...which is kind of lame but i think that sauron didn't appear in most of the battles because it's always scarier when you have no idea what the enemy looks like. you don't fear the dark, but what might be IN the dark! ao i think it more of a psychological warfare thing than anything...very smart of him actually it makes every one imagine him ten times worse than what he really is. fear is a very strong weapon, i suppose.
,,,or atleast, that what i think he was doing!
reem

 

[olorin the maia]

you are correct, Lantarion. When Frodo gazes into Galadriel's Mirror in Lothlorien, the last image he sees is a lidless eye, searching for him. He knows it is Sauron. And Galadriel confirms it by telling Frodo that she knows what he saw last, for it is in her mind, too.
I agree with reem, the movie didn't really do the Evil Eye of Sauron justice, but how far can a film go to portray malice, hatred, terror, lust for power and dominion over others? It works better in my mind's eye. Raises the hair on the nape of my neck just thinking about it!