What Sauron Feared

Sauron was afraid, and Tolkien says so in his own voice across the Akallabeth, The Lord of the Rings, Unfinished Tales and the Letters. He began Barad-dur because Numenorean ships alarmed him. He walked out of that tower alone at Umbar and knelt to Ar-Pharazon. He hunted Isildur's Heir for two thousand years, and when Aragorn wrenched the Orthanc-stone to his own will and showed him the re-forged sword, the Pelennor followed nine days later. Every one of those fears was well founded, and every one pointed the wrong way. When Eru drowned Numenor in front of him, Sauron concluded the Valar had withdrawn from the world and ceased to fear God's action in Arda. The one move he could never picture was somebody refusing the Ring, which is why Gandalf's plan worked and why the Sammath Naur, the door he made himself, was never guarded.

Published

18 August 2026

Runtime

33 min 1 sec