[+] The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - SPOILERS ALLOWED

[Maxperson]

I never saw Sauron as particularly smart. More like tough to kill with a limitless army. He gets defeated multiple times, and his hubris and evil gives him such a giant blindspot (complete inability to think anyone would want to destroy the Ring) that leads to his ultimate defeat. I can't think of anything he did in LotR that was really clever.

Morgoth also gets defeated multiple times.

The thing with Sauron is that he is like Saruman. He was a very skill maker who worked directly under Aule and was that valar's mightiest maia. Knowledge and crafting were his thing. He may not have been Einstein, but he was smart enough to be able to help the elves craft artifacts.

Initially Sauron was a spy for Morgoth who fed him information on what the Valar were doing. You don't make dumb people spies and you don't go undiscovered if you aren't pretty crafty.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sauron being "killed" is certainly something new, and we don't know how that's going to be handled. Personally, I would like Sauron to have not been on screen, and already working behind the scenes at the Elven court.

I think there's a high likelihood that we'll find out in the final scene of this season.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That and Sauron was hiding out on Middle Earth somewhere during that time. He wasn't somewhere else where he would have had to fall from the sky with no memory in order to get there.

He was hiding out somewhere in Middle Earth - Forodwaith. Until Adar stabbed him in the back*. Then his essence had to reform, and he is "sent back**" as Gandalf was. Note that the meteorite came down in Rhovanion, on an almost direct line from Forodwaith to Mordor.




*Saruman died after being backstabbed by a perfectly normal human. He would have been able to reform if the Valar had allowed it.

**Given the lack of a Valar who would want to send him back, I think this most likely involved some contingency of his own manufacture.

I agree with you that Sauron is very smart, and I think the TV show will lean into that, rather than "powerful". Making him more like Palpatine or Xanatos. Smart villains play better on TV.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The only thing keeping me from thinking that is I inferred from Gandalf that 1. Sauron wasn't aware of hobbits, and 2. if he was, he would have enslaved or exterminated them a long time ago. So, I can't really see him hanging out with and breaking bread with hobbits.

The TV show is keen to stress that they are Harfoots, not hobbits. Maybe are all enslaved or exterminated?

 

[MarkB]

Personally, I would like Sauron to have not been on screen, and already working behind the scenes at the Elven court.

Better still would be someone we have seen on-screen, but have completely discounted because they haven't drawn any attention to him.

 

[Maxperson]

He was hiding out somewhere in Middle Earth - Forodwaith. Until Adar stabbed him in the back*. Then his essence had to reform, and he is "sent back**" as Gandalf was. Note that the meteorite came down in Rhovanion, on an almost direct line from Forodwaith to Mordor.




*Saruman died after being backstabbed by a perfectly normal human. He would have been able to reform if the Valar had allowed it.

**Given the lack of a Valar who would want to send him back, I think this most likely involved some contingency of his own manufacture.

I agree with you that Sauron is very smart, and I think the TV show will lean into that, rather than "powerful". Making him more like Palpatine or Xanatos. Smart villains play better on TV.

Saruman had been stripped of his power by Gandalf, so was weak enough to be killed by a simple stabbing. Gandalf on the other hand withstood a Balrog for days while they fought. I can't envision any way that a Maia could avoid that short of the One Ring binding him to Middle Earth and that hasn't happened yet. He would have appeared in the Halls of Mandos and Mandos would have been like, "Eru just invented Christmas and sent me a present!!!"

I wouldn't put it past the show to have the Stranger be Sauron, but I think it just as likely that it's Gandalf come early. They've played very fast and loose with the timeline and other fact, so anything is possible.

We will just have to wait and see.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Saruman had been stripped of his power by Gandalf, so was weak enough to be killed by a simple stabbing

I think there is an assumption that Sauron is in a weakened condition at the start of the TV show. It is implied that Galadriel wants to find him before he can regain his strength.

 

[Maxperson]

I think there is an assumption that Sauron is in a weakened condition at the start of the TV show. It is implied that Galadriel wants to find him before he can regain his strength.

Hmm. My take on it was that he vanished during the war and she wants to find him. Others assume that he died, but she didn't. I didn't gather any sort of weakened condition. Maybe I'll go back and re-watch the first episode.

 

[Tonguez]

The TV show is keen to stress that they are Harfoots, not hobbits. Maybe are all enslaved or exterminated?

The Hobbits of the Shire were primarily Harfoots though.

of course this particular clan of Harfoot wanderers could get exterminated (poor Nori)

 

[Hriston]

The only thing keeping me from thinking that is I inferred from Gandalf that 1. Sauron wasn't aware of hobbits, and 2. if he was, he would have enslaved or exterminated them a long time ago. So, I can't really see him hanging out with and breaking bread with hobbits.

But then there is this quote from "The Hunt for the Ring" in Unfinished Tales:

Now Sauron had never paid heed to the "Halflings," even if he had heard of them, and he did not yet know where their land lay.​