Sauron, Shadow of War

How powerful was Sauron?

Sauron was a Maia in the service of Aulë, before his corruption by Melkor to the side of evil. He was the greatest of Melkor’s servants, as expressed in The Silmarillion:

The Silmarillion
Valaquenta
…Among those of his servants that have names the greatest was that spirit whom the Eldar called Sauron, or Gorthaur the Cruel. In his beginning he was of the Maiar of Aulë, and he remained mighty in the lore of that people…

An interesting element of the above text which I had not really considered till now, is the text “…Among those of his servants that have names…” (my emphasis), which does leave the door open for an even greater servant of Melkor (maybe even more than one), more powerful than Sauron, but a servant who was never given a name, at least by the good guys. This is a thin argument IMO, as I believe one would have to expect that all the greatest servants of Melkor would have been at the forefront of his efforts to rule Arda and would therefore have been identified as a being deserving of a suitably dire name.

You Shall Not Pass - 720 x 1000 - Art of Reza.jpg

So, I believe we can be confident in keeping to the position that Sauron was the greatest and most powerful of Melkor’s minions.

Inevitably, when discussions take place regarding the power of the servants of Melkor, comparisons are always made between Sauron and Balrogs, and it is not uncommon for commentators to play down the power of Sauron and play up the power of the Balrogs, notably Gothmog.

Balrogs were very powerful fire-spirits and were understandably feared on the battlefield. But they were not Sauron level power. The individual battles with Balrogs are no real guide to their power, and as I have written elsewhere, all the Eldar slayings of Balrog’s were, I believe, flukes and necessary only in order to further the story of Arda, and of the Children of Eru.

You Shall Not Pass, by Art of Reza

The best and most telling battle with a Balrog, to my mind, is the one between Gandalf the Grey and Durin’s Bane. Gandalf was a modestly powerful Maia spirit, in my opinion, and at the time of his encounter with Durin’s Bane he was also enhanced in power due to being in possession of Narya, the Elven Red Ring of Fire, and Glamdring, an extremely potent Eldar blade.

Nevertheless, it took Gandalf ten days to slay Durin’s Bane, and it still cost Gandalf his own life! Ten days! Surely, this is the very definition of an even battle, and one that might have easily gone either way. And it must, therefore, be the case that had Gandalf the Grey not had Narya and Glamdring, then he would probably have lost the combat with Durin’s Bane, even if it would still have been close.

This allows us to appreciate the difference between Balrogs and Sauron by considering Tolkien’s own words about the gap in power between Gandalf and Sauron. Tolkien considered Sauron to be much more powerful then Gandalf, as he states in a note in one of this letters:

The Letters of JRR Tolkien
183 Notes on W. H. Auden's review of The Return of the King (1956ish)
…[Sauron] being in origin an immortal (angelic) spirit. *
* Of the same kind as Gandalf and Saruman, but of a far higher order.

So not:

* Of the same kind as Gandalf and Saruman.

Not:

* Of the same kind as Gandalf and Saruman, but of a higher order.

But “of a far higher order.” than Gandalf and Saurman. Which to my mind, means Sauron was also “of a far higher order.” than Balrogs, given how close the combat between Gandalf and Durin’s Bane was.

It is also often said of Sauron, that he was not a “fighter”, or other such language, and that this justifies statements to the effect that Sauron would not have been as powerful as the likes of Gothmog in a melee combat; or Sauron’s defeat at the hands of Gil-galad and Elendil illustrates his combat weakness (despite it being wholly necessary for the story to continue); and also that Sauron fell to Huan, despite the fact that the Valar had decreed that Huan could only be killed by "...the mightiest wolf that would ever walk the world...". Which we know was Carcaroth.

Absent such prophecy, it is ludicrous to think that Huan could really have beaten one of the most powerful of the Ainur under the Valar.

War of the Last Alliance - Sauron - 600 x 600 - Matt DeMino.png

War of the Last Alliance, by Matt DeMino

And these points to try and illustrate the weak nature of Sauron are complete nonsense. If they were true, then the same claims would be true of Gandalf/Olórin, of whom it was said:

The Silmarillion
Valaquenta
Wisest of the Maiar was Olórin. He too dwelt in Lórien, but his ways took him often to the house of Nienna, and of her he learned pity and patience.
… for though he loved the Elves, he walked among them unseen, or in form as one of them, and they did not know whence came the fair visions or the promptings of wisdom that he put into their hearts. In later days he was the friend of all the Children of Ilúvatar and took pity on their sorrows; and those who listened to him awoke from despair and put away the imaginations of darkness.

Hardly a ringing endorsement of Gandalf’s combat prowess, compared to the many, many occasions that the texts mentioned how powerful and terrible Balrogs were. And we know Sauron was much more powerful than a Balrog. Gandalf matched Durin’s Bane. Sauron was an angelic being “of a far higher order.” than Gandalf.

Further to this:

Morgoth's Ring
Myths Transformed
VIII - Orcs
...Melkor had corrupted many spirits - some great, as Sauron, or less so, as Balrogs...

A specific and categorical statement that Sauron was “great” and Balrogs were “less so”.

It seems to me, therefore, that it simply cannot be justified to believe that any of the Maiar mentioned so far, match or even come close to Sauron in their power level, and any belief to the contrary is sad wishful thinking.

Sauron, by Kimberly80

But where did Sauron measure vs. the other great Maiar?

We know that the most powerful of the Maiar were “…well nigh as great…” as the Valar themselves, even if we have to concede we are talking about the lesser Valar:

The Silmarillion
Ainulindalë
And the Valar drew unto them many companions, some less, some well nigh as great as themselves, and they laboured together in the ordering of the Earth and the curbing of its tumults…

So, there can be no question that the greatest among the Maiar were among the great powers of Arda, and in some respects the greatest beings for a particular skill or ability, and there are several Maiar that might take the top spot, especially Eönwë, Ilmarë, Ossë and Uinen.

Eönwë is often held up as the most powerful, mainly because he was the Herald of Manwe, that he led the forces of Valinor against Morgoth, during the War of Wrath, and because none in Arda could match his skill with weapons:

The Silmarillion
Valaquenta
…and Eönwë, the banner-bearer and herald of Manwë, whose might in arms is surpassed by none in Arda…

This statement must include all the Valar, and therefore must include the likes of Manwë, Aulë, Oromë and Tulkas. I am not suggesting that Eönwë could defeat these Valar if they put forth their full power, but if both sides narrowed their display of power to just an exercise in melee weapon use, then Eönwë would win. There can be no other rational conclusion.

Eönwë, by Krabat

Of the other Maiar mentioned above, so little is known of Ilmarë and Uinen, that it is difficult to evaluate where they site in the order of things, other than with Ilmarë being the Handmaid of Varda, she must, therefore, have been of a similar order of magnitude among the Maiar, as Eönwë. And as Uinen was able to control the mighty Ossë, who was definitively one of the mightiest of the Maiar.

So, what about Ossë? As I have written elsewhere, I believe Ossë is arguably, and easily defensibly, the most powerful Maiar. Ossë was at one point conceived to be one of the Valar. Ulmo was unable to control him, and instead relied on Uinen to do so. It was Ossë that fastened the island of Tol Eressëa to the sea floor after it’s journey from Beleriand, and it was Osse that raised Númenor from the seabed. These are tasks unmatched by most of the Valar, as far as we know, let alone the other Maiar. And it was Ossë, along with Sauron, who Melkor sought to recruit, succeeding for a time before Ossë’s redemption by Uinen. Indeed, it remains my view that Ossë was the greatest and mightiest of the Maiar.

The Eye of Sauron - 600 x 600 - by Panoply.jpg

It does not necessarily correlate that just because it was Sauron and Ossë were the targets of Melkor’s designs, that they are equal, nor is Ossë’s brief time serving Melkor necessarily covered by the statement that Sauron was the greatest of the Maiar who fell into evil, but it might.

So, I do think that Sauron and Ossë can be spoken about in the same breath, even if Sauron was probably more of a coward, and therefore there can be no question that Sauron is among the greatest and mightiest Maiar to have ever existed.