• Welcome to The Tolkien Forum! Connect with fellow Tolkien enthusiasts and join a community that is over two decades old, and still going strong. We look forward to meeting you.  Register

The Intelligence of 👁️Sauron

I don't think he's a fool.He is probably the smartest creature in ME.Just remember what he diid in Numenor,his returnig etc. The only problem he has is that he overestimate his power,and doesn't consider his opponents as real danger for him.
 
To be slightly cryptic... Badness is blinding...



and even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
 
Dear friends,

I didn't say that Sauron is a fool.I said that he thinks foolish in L.O.T.R.
I ask to you.If you were Sauron what would would frighten you most?
And how can you be defeated?Sauron can be defeated only by destroying the ring.And he had to choose stronger guardians.You say that it was guarded by orcs.Would you trust orcs if you were Sauron.
Especially in this subject?I would not.And you say Shelob.Remember that
Sauron called him "my cat" but Shelob didn't accept him as a master.
I didn't say that Sauron is a fool.But i think that he should be more "Sauron"
 
Re: Kavrangoz

Your point is well taken. The one place in ME he should have kept an army of Balrogs is the cracks of Doom. Power often blinds people into believing in their own omnipotence.

MARTHA STEWART!!!! Powerful, yet being brought down by something I'm sure she thought was a trivial matter.
 
...But Sauron had no Balrogs at his disposal. And the whole point is that he was so secure in his pride that he could be destroyed thus simply.
 
Of course...

I was not impying that Sauron had such an army. Merely that he should have foreseen his need to place such an army before the cracks. Perhaps the Nazgul....
 
It just wasn't in him. You can't say 'Sauron should have foreseen the danger'- if he had he wouldn't have been the same Sauron. There were two ways he could have been defeated- the Ring could have been destroyed, or the Ring could have been used in order to defeat him. However, only one of these possibilities was ever going to cross his mind. Trusting to luck to get into Mordor, using the physically weakest race available (the Hobbits- at least Sauron would have considered them weak), and not taking advantage of the fact that you have the most powerful weapon on the planet- these strategies would never cross Sauron's mind because they were so alien to his manner of thinking. The White Council knew this, and this is precisely why the CoE adapted this plan.
 
That's why...

That's why we are discussing if he is a fool. Was he a fool not to have foreseen the need to always cover his bases.
 
Well then, I think we should define what it is to be a fool. In my opinion, Sauron was not foolish because he did act in the way that made the most sense to him. If we're going to brand him a fool for not realizing the danger of destruction of the Ring, then we might as well say that he was a fool for following Morgoth and being evil.
 
Point taken....

Thats is a reasonable point.

Still....if I had an "achilles heel"... think I would wear boots.
 
Evil incarnate... but with style!

Fingolfin, I think the Martha Stewart comparison is grossly unfair! I mean Sauron is evil, yah, but he's no Martha Stewart.
 
Re: Point taken....

Originally posted by FINGOLFIN
Thats is a reasonable point.

Still....if I had an "achilles heel"... think I would wear boots.

Sauron didn't just have an achilles heel, he was also so fat he couldn't see his ankles (just carrying out the analogy here).

Martha Stewart, *shudder*
 
What was I going to say???

Don't you hate it when that happens???

Where was I???

Well, even Achille's didn't cover his heel... Sauron as Tonya Harding... I wonder if he'd agree to box Paula Jones... Weird picture.
 
Sauron was no fool. When he was making the One, he needed to make something that was more powerful than the elven rings. He also needed to make ti malicious. Because if he had made it powerful but not filled it with malice than an elf or a man could have risen up against him and defeated him. And by filling it with malice it would eventually corrupt whoever possessed it and the creature would fall under his evil shadow and so be noticed. Though I suspect he never considered that he would lose it. Especially since him losing the One was more accidental than anything else. Isildur's stab at Sauron was more of a last-ditch stab at him because he thought death was upon him. Then in LotR All entrances to Mordor were guarded well. He knew that any attempt to get through with a large army would be noticed outright, and a small one would be all but suicide. And if a small group did get in it would be an even tougher route to Mt.Doom.

And for the matter of placing stronger guards either at the entrance of Mordor or at Mt Doom, the strongest forces in ME that were at his disposal were the Nazgul. He did not have any Balrogs, other wise I think he would have had balrogs leading the forces on Minas Tirith. And he couldn't afford to have the Nazgul guarding the borders because he knew that Orcs were no where near as powerful as the Nazgul so if he was to stop his enemies from getting near him he should dispatch the Nazgul. Which he did. He also used the Orcs of Sauron. He had been planning on waiting before playing his hand but the finding of the One and the formation of the Fellowship made him play his hand before he had been planning.
 
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…