The Intelligence of 👁️Sauron

[elf boy]

Sauron could not understand (ok, until Frodo put on the ring at the end) that anyone would want to destroy the ring, because it had so much power it only passed into his mind that someone would use it against him. Part of it was probably because of the power that the ring had over people that weilded it and another part was probably because everyone in middle earth was terrified of Mordor except for Sauron and his "minions". It was thought an impossible feat to take it to the fire

 

[Bombadillo]

sorry, but it WAS impossible as ring-bearer to trow the ring in the fire...
frodo couldn't do it, and it was just luck that gollum tried to get the ring, and slip and fall in mount doom, that ANYONE could destroy the ring, without this tiny change, the whole quest would have failed.

 

[Éomond]

I belive Sauron was celever, anyone who could make that ring is celever. And Boromir said "The Great Eye is ever watchful" (|) so I bet he knew a thing or two

 

[Ynhockey]

Sauron knew the ring was in someone's possession, and they knew how to use it. He was planning on them trying to use it for good (like Boromir suggested), but he knew that no one else could wield the power it gave, so they would become evil, and he would eventually get the ring...

What he said.

I have to add another thing: the destruction of the Ring was organized by Gandalf, not Frodo or Aragorn or anyone else. The only bad guy who knew they were trying to destroy the ring and who thought it possible was Saruman. Saruman was manipulated by Sauron and the Nazgul, so in turn, Sauron didn't beleive Saruman could tell not all he knew. But since it said that Saruman wanted the ring for himself, he did not tell Sauron about it. True, he couldn't resist answering truthfully if Sauron asked him something, however, Sauron didn't ask a direct question about the fate of the ring (most likely he didn't. He didn't beleive anyone would want to destroy it), so Saruman didn't feel compelled to tell on his own.

Does that answer your question ?

 

[Elu Thingol]

Posted by Beorn
but he knew that no one else could wield the power it gave, so they would become evil, and he would eventually get the ring...

I'm sorry Beorn others could wield the ring, and once they tore his power from him, Sauron would become nothing but memory and could never get the ring back.

 

[Silnarrin]

I believe (in my humble opinion) that Sauron was not stupid; he was blinded. It never occured to him that anyone would NOT seize the ring for himself/herself, and try to rule the world. The old saying "No one fears theft more than a thief" seems to apply. Sauron, who desired dominition over others, began to expect from his opponents only what he would do. In his mind, how could anyone ever pass up the "free power" of the ring?

I believe this is a sign of his self-centered quest for power. Tolkien seemed to be a great believer in this "blindness" created by placing one's self above all else.

BTW: Great forum!

 

[Gothmog]

Originally posted by Nóm
Well he should have been open to the idea that someone might try to destroy it.
Sauron should have had the wisdom to know that the wise would have no way of knowing for a fact that the Ring can not be destroyed by someone's will.

Had Sauron been so Wise he would not have been Sauron.

 

[Gothmog]

His main idiocy lay in making the One Ring in the first place. had he not done so who could have defeated him in the third age???

 

[G.T.Grey]

Sauron was really "stupid." The nature of the Ring was such that it was literally inconceivable to him that anyone would attempt to destroy it.

But he has so many pointers: He knows that a Halfling is carrying the Ring (first from Gollum and then certainly from the Nazgûl after they attack the Hobbits at Weathertop), he knows that the Halflings live really far away from Mordor, and he must know, that at least one of them has entered his Realm. After all, the Mouth of Sauron even presents Frodo's mithril-coat and sword to Gandalf and describes the Hobbit’s stature. Sauron must be really stupid to not even consider the possibility that this Halfling could be the one carrying the Ring and that he intends to destroy it.

A discussion of "motives in The Silmarillion" (from "Morgoth's Ring," History of Middle-earth Vol. X) has an interesting sentence that may shed some light on this subject. Discussing Sauron's perception of Saruman and Gandalf, he says that Sauron supposed that Manwë's motives in sending the Istari were similar to his own, i.e., a power play. "His cynicism.... seemed fully justified in Saruman. Gandalf he did not understand. But certainly he had already become evil, and therefore stupid, enough to imagine that his different behaviour was due simply to weaker intelligence and lack of a firm masterful purpose." The phrase "evil, and therefore stupid" speaks volumes for Tolkien's characterization of Sauron. Sauron had become literally unable to understand Good.

 

[Eriol]

Great thread; especially the humorous notes

I think no one alluded to what I think was Sauron's "ace in the hole", the main reason why he never concerned himself with the possibility of the destruction of the Ring; not until he saw with his own eyes that possibility becoming a reality.

Quote from Letter 181:

Frodo was in such a position: an apparently complete trap: a person of greater native power could probably never have resisted the Ring's lure to power so long; a person of less power could not hope to resist it in the final decision. (Already Frodo had been unwilling to harm the Ring before he set out, and was incapable of surrendering it to Sam.)

The Quest was bound to fail as a piece of world-plan, and also was bound to end in disaster as the story of humble Frodo's development to the 'noble', his sanctification. Fail it would and did as far as Frodo considered alone was concerned...

Why should Sauron concern himself with a possibility that was bound to fail? He knew the power of the Ring very well; he knew that no one could resist it. In fact, the Ring was destroyed in spite of the fact that no one could resist its lure, and that in the end no one did!

I don't think that Sauron was a fool for ruling out the impossible; or at least I don't think he was a fool, until Frodo actually reached the Cracks of Doom. By then he saw his "folly", objectively speaking (and I think he would agree with me on that ); but no Maia could have foreseen that. It was a cunning trick of Ilúvatar...

 

[Beleg]

Also that Sauron knew next to nothing about the personality and nature, or even the race of Hobbits.

Thus inside his own (limited) knowledge he knew and felt that any attempt at destroying the ring was Bound to fail because Elves, Men and Dwarves? would be possessed by it.