Sauron

Akallabeth, which is presented in the Silmarillion, is the story about the destruction of the Kingdom of Numenor, and it is no surprise that Sauron plays a very important role. The beginning of Akallabeth has Sauron dominating Middle-earth and currently in a heated battle with the Elves who lived on Middle-earth. The Numenoreans, hearing of the Elves’ plight, send a vast army to help in the defeat of Sauron. Upon seeing this mighty army, Sauron’s forces fled their master, leaving Sauron no choice but to surrender, where upon he was taken to Numenor. But Sauron was no ordinary man, and soon he had rose from captive, to advisor of the king. This occurred due in part to Sauron’s divine nature, as well as his possession of the One Ring (although not stated in the Silmarillion, Tolkien does confirm this in letters).

Now in a power position, Sauron went about making major changes in the land of Numenor, the major change being that of religion. He had Eru rejected by the people and instead had the Numenoreans worship Morgoth with human sacrifice. He also made himself the High Priest of Melkor. The people of Numenor hoped that Melkor would be able to give them immortality but it soon became apart that his would not be the case. In response, Sauron suggested to the Numenorean King Ar-Pharazon, that an attack on the lands of Valar would grant them immortality by wresting, what Sauron called, was theirs. Sauron did so in hopes that the Valar would destroy the Numenoreans, thus removing Sauron’s only threat.

As soon as the Numenoreans stepped foot on the shores of the Valar, the great armada of Numenor was swept away, the seas began boil, and the sea swallowed the Island of Numenor. Sauron had not expected this and during the fall of Numenor Sauron’s body was destroyed and he lost the ability to tranform himself into pleasing forms. In the end, however, Sauron rose from the abyss and his spirit endured.

When put together with the entire Lord of the Rings canon, Akallabeth (which is contained in the Silmarillion) provides valuable background to some of the more important issues surrounding the fight for Middle-earth. Motives are suddenly made clear, something that readers didn’t have while reading the Lord of the Rings. Sauron can now be looked at in a totally different way.