What were Sauron's powers? 

Sup everyone, I am now aware that I mispronounced misshapen. Feel free to leave further corrections below the pinned comment just so I can make sure I remember for next time.

Perhaps Sauron’s greatest ability is to become one the most iconic villains despite never making a formal appearance in the LotR books.

Sauron loses in the very beginning, and yet we still fear him. That is quality writing.

Sauron might have had many powers, but the one he lacked was a full set of fingers

Good thing they called him Sauron because who would be afraid of a dude named Myron? I honestly think will is underrated as a concept in the fandom. We see all the time how morale plays a huge role in warfare, how hope or lack thereof can cause significant socio-political effects in a society and so on.

I think it's mis-shaping what he touched not miss-happing. Great video as always!

I think it’s best to describe some of his abilities like that of the elves. Like when Frodo first sees Arwen he sees her pure spirit and how that naturally affects the world around it. I think the same of Sauron. Same for the Balrogs too. I think beings that naturally exude terror, it just permeates from them. Elves have this bright light about them, dark beings essentially have a dark “mist” about them. Dark creatures are naturally drawn to him and roost in his presence. That scene where he attacks Gandfalf in the hobbit as that black cloud. Stick his figure in the middle of that and that’s his presence, just puts a black cloud around everything around him. His spirit is a dark cloud. As with elves who positively affect their environment, he does the opposite and creatures that like to live among that gather in those places.

So true what you said about Sauron not having the power of friendship. If only someone could have reached out to him and said, "Hey, buddy...you ok?" Might have saved a lot of people a lot of grief,

Sauron was very intelligent, powerful, and quite cunning. He is certainly one of the most powerful and iconic villains ever written, despite getting so little screen time in the films, except as the Great Eye. I heard that in theory, the One Ring could have been destroyed by someone that was as good of forger as Sauron. But I know of no canon characters that can compare to Sauron’s skills with such things. Not even elves.

Sauron was a Maia of Aule, in origin. This shows in his interest/focus on order and on technology. Saruman (another Maia of Aule) shares many of those characteristics. Saruman gives us something of a window into the nature of Sauron--it gives us potentials details of the nature and course of his fall. Knowing what the powers/abilities of any of the Ainur are is extremely difficult because we actually see VERY little "magic" in any of Tolkien's work. and very little of the Ainur in a context where they display abilities/powers. All Ainur have an innate ability to manipulate physical reality and the knowledge of that reality (very deep in their areas of "specialization," less deep in others but still beyond that of most non-Ainur)--as a Maia of Aule, Sauron's knowledge of physical properties and craftsmanship would likely be surpassed only by Aule himself. As an Ainur, he can alter his physical form (up to the point in time where he got locked into his form) and he would basically be physically invulnerable to most mundane attacks... and death is obviously not really an issue as he cannot die. He would also have a powerful "presence" and the ability to affect the emotions of mortals, sometimes over long distances. The ability to sense things over long distances. Anything else other than that would essentially be a WAG (wild-a$$ed guess). Imagine a smith who can literally see and manipulate matter at the subatomic level without recourse to actualk tools, only using will/innate abilities. A smith who can create and imbue these things with powers and abilities rooted in the deep understanding of reality. The failure in craftsmanship of beings like Sauron when compared to Feanor is not to be found in skill--but in imagination/creativity. The Ainur, for all their power lack the creative spark and imagination possessed by the Eldar and mortals. The only one that had some imagination was Melkor... and we see how that ended up.

Sauron can discard his physical body and roam about unclad, as an energy being. In the beginning the evil Ainur can quickly construct a new body when their current body is destroyed. But Melkor invents a risky alchemical process to bind their power to the physical world. This allows Melkor to disperse his power into the corruption of Arda, allows Sauron to pour his power into the ring, and allows the Balrogs to become 'incarnate' in their physical bodies. This actually enhances their power on Earth, but it leaves them vulnerable to being injured and killed. Sauron was the only one of Morgoth's servants who could survive a physical death, and only because his power was stored in the Ring.

“…he didn’t have the power of friendship.” 🤣 Poor lonely Sauron! Great video - keep up the good work!

This is a great video. I already referenced it to someone on another channel who believed Sauron to be weak. I think he was clearly one of the most powerful Maia and personally I think he was the most powerful Maia, possibly close to being a Vala.

Sauron also used water bending to create mountain level waves against numenoreans to prove he is mighty ( Unfinished Tales I guess) . He could have stopped the Eorl and Rohirrim via shadows of Dol Guldur had Galadriel not intervened. And I would say even after he became bound to his body Sauron was still unbeatable in combat. Tolkien clarified only Gandalf the White with the One ring could be a match for him and Gandalf the Grey soloed a Balrog capable of conquering Khazad-dum all alone. Gil Galad and Elendil was able to defeat him only because his body was newly made .(he was still able to drive whole alliance back to Orodruin tho) P. S. I am not Sauron fan but I think he is criminally underrated. Movie made him easily approchable villian and not much of a threat indivudally P. S. S. I just argued with a guy with 0 knowledge of LOTR . He stated Vader could make Sauron his slave and I just responded by saying “ Grandpa Palp shocks Vader and he dies Zeus shocks Sauron and he laughs” I am a huge fan of your channel and how you analyze interesting facts ( especially dwarves) keep up great work! ( Woh that was a long comment😆)

Err, the power of friendship, for a dark lord? Well, it's rather obvious he didn't need that! He'd be called Sauron the jolly good fellow.

After watching lord of the rings, I never quite understood what Sauron was, and what his powers were. I was very confused about why he was to be feared. Thanks for clearing it up for me

Another power lacked by Sauron beside "friendship" is the power of "self-reflection" and "humility". The lack of this is what lead to his destruction.

I love and respect so much these videos from both yourself and the Tolkien lore community, but also all of the amazing artwork that really helps the words come to life 🙂

Given his canonical original name is 'Mairon' which means 'The Admired one' and his new name means 'The Abhorrent one', 'Melkor' means 'He who rises in might' and 'Morgorth' means 'Dark/Black Enemy', I think that in terms of creation of the universe, Sauron was second to no Maia and was the closest to the Valar that a Maia could be.

He's more powerful than I thought!

Noting how Luthien nearly fainted at the sight of Sauron, the fact that she didn't do so in the presence of Morgoth himself shows both how Morgoth had declined, while also showing just how unusually powerful Sauron is for a Maiar. (Edit: Overall my opinion has stayed thr same, though now I recognize that Sauron going for Luthien was him in full wrath, while Morgoth was more passive. Still, even afterwards he couldn't just shove out of the sleep spell)

I'd say that Sauron was actually a fighter, just not a good one. He's got all the power, durability, and brutality to go with it, but he's not overly skilled in combat like the litany of heroes he's gone up against. Combine that with his tendency to run away in favor of plotting (Morgoth as well), and it's pretty easy to see why he's got several losses/draws

I'm not sure if you would call them "powers," but his two greatest traits were probably his patience and his adaptability. What made him so dangerous was the way he was able to manipulate and thrive regardless of the successes and setbacks he faced. It took two ages (or more) to defeat him because he was always content to skillfully play whatever hand he'd been dealt for as long as it took to give himself an advantage.

He was a powerful necromancer. Could also lie to you and manipulate you pretty good if you let him. In his physical form he could be a formidable fighter when he wanted to be one. In his spirit form he was more vulnerable though. He made the Master Ring. But he was only able to do so once.

Its worth remembering that Sauron was retroactively put into Tolkien's older works after the Lord of the Rings. He was layered on top of a previously existing one-off character in the story of Beren and Lúthien. While his story in the second and third age was carefully developed at the time Lord of the Rings was written, his role in the first age was a complete afterthought. He gradually transitioned from "a" servant of Morgoth to the chief lieutenant of Morgoth. But with almost no changes to speak of in the Silmarillion based on that. He also became more and more powerful in Tolkien's writings as time went on.

Loved the quote were Sauron was Tormenting the very hills.

"But one thing he didn't have, is the power of friendship." Angbang fans would beg to differ.

Morgoth and Sauron both preferred not to fight, which is funny considering their might. When pressed to fight however, even Sauron is probably greater than say a Balrog or Gandalf. Still got killed by a man and an elf though, lol

One could actually argue that Sauron’s power was indeed the power of friendship, given how many folk he got as his posee

So what I'm taking from this is Sauron had several levels in bard. With expertise in intimidation, persuasion, and smithing. (With a tad bit of artificer/forge domain)

I loved the video!! I am A Men of the West fan but your up there sir!!!! I cannot think of one thing about the video I would like different or changed in any way!

Apparently able to make elvish maids go weak at the knees.

Poor, friendless Sauron. Maybe all he needed was a hug.

or possibly from tolkeins point of view - Sauron embodied the might , 'the evil', and the power of the Industrial revolution released upon the idylic green lands

Great video 👍🏻

Could you do a mystery video on what the thing was that flew over the fellowship on their way to Moria? I believe it is from the chapter (the ring goes south) Excerpt:

You have forgot that 1- Sauron can crush and destroy the very hills as it stated in the council of Elrond in the book: *“And yet we see that Sauron can torture and destroy the very hills.* What power still remains lies with us, here in Imladris, or with Cirdan at the Havens, or in Lórien. But have they the strength, have we here the strength to withstand the Enemy, the coming of Sauron at the last, when all else is overthrown?'” [The Fellowship of The Ring] 2-Also Sauron used to manipulate weather and clouds which he used to protect his army from the sunlight during the wars and invasions (battle of Gwatloo, battle of the pelennor fields etc). 3- And Sauron has the ability of raising the sea like a mountain despite not being a water affiliated Maiar spirit. Sauron literally raised the sea like a mountain and cast the Numenorean Armada out of the sea! Lol "Guards were set at the haven of Moriondë in the east of the land, where the rocks are dark, watching at the king’s command without ceasing for the ships’ return. It was night, but there was a bright Moon. They descried ships far off, and they seemed to be sailing west at a speed greater than the storm, though there was little wind. *Suddenly the sea became unquiet; it rose until it became like a mountain, and it rolled upon the land. The ships were lifted up, and cast far inland, and lay in the fields.* Upon that ship which was cast highest and stood dry upon a hill there was a man, or one in man’s shape, but greater than any even of the race of Númenor in stature. ‘He stood upon the rock and said: ‘This is done as a sign of power. For I am Sauron the mighty, servant of the Strong” (wherein he spoke darkly). “I have come. Be glad, men of Númenor, for I will take thy king to be my king, and the world shall be given into his hand.” And it seemed to men that Sauron was great; though they feared the light of his eyes. To many he appeared fair, to others terrible; but to some evil. [J.R.R Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, The Lost Road and Other Writings, p.73-74]

Lol we love you Sauron. Ty for this will be looking for the Morgoth one

Not sure you got some of your facts right here.. Orcs were originally designed and mutated from the early Elves captured during the time of Morgoth (or Melkor) the first dark lord, where Sauron was just his servant. Here also on the Island of the Werewolves, in Utumno, he made his fortress and created/mutated a great many other creatures - some of which included: Thuringwethal (the Vampire), Drauglin (the Werewolf), Gothmog (the Balrog-Lord), Ungoliant (the Giant Spider) from the rebel Maiar (lesser Ainur spirits) that followed him into Arda (Middle-earth). Sauron (and later Saruman the White Wizard) no doubt used his sorcery skills to develop and evolve the Orcs further into Uruk-hai (Super Orcs) and the Trolls into Olog-hai (Super Trolls), who both no longer feared or were affected by the Sun.

I ran by your channel on accident but im glad! Very good content! Respect from your new subscriber from Finland!

Great video!

Just speculation, but I wonder if perhaps Mount Doom had actually been created by Morgoth in the First Age, and that Sauron was able to tap into some kind of residual power left there by his master?

Thus befell the contest of Sauron and Felegund which is renowned. For Felegund strove with Sauron in songs of power and the power of the king was very great, but Sauron held the mastery. As is told in the ley of Lathien. He chanted a song of wizardry Of piercing, opening Of Treachery Revealing, uncovering, betraying Then sudden Felegund there swaying Sang in answer a song of staying Resisting, battling against power Of secrets kept Strength like a tower And trust unbroken Freedom, escape Of changing and shifting shapes Of snares eluded, broken traps The prison opening The chain that snaps Backwards and forwards swayed their song Reeling and foundering As ever more strong The chanting swelled Felegund fought And all of the magic and might he brought Of elveness into his words Softly in the gloom they heard the birds Singing afar in Nargothrond The sighing of the sea beyond Beyond the western world on sand On sand of pearls in elven land Then the gloom gathered Darkness growing In Valanor the red blood flowing Beside The sea where the Nuldor slew The foam riders and stealing drew Their white ships with their white sails From laplit heavens The wind wails The wolf howls The ravens flee The ice mutters in the mouths of the sea The captives sad in Angband mourn The thunder rumbles The fires burn. (Sorry for any mistakes but I think I got it. It's my favorite poem/song in all of the books.)

noped outta there pretty quick after that friendship power remark...

Darth Gandalf sounds like a terrifying character i gotta admit

Interesting thing: Voldemort and his Horcruxes mirrored Sauron and his Ring. Locking part of your soul into a physical object so you can prolong your existence and control others.

You’d think a powerful, godlike master craftsman could build a fortress that didn’t need to be magically held together at all times

1:24 Misshaping isn't "miss happing", it's "mis shaping".

Very good work!!

It's worth saying that when Sauron fought Gil-Galad and Elendil, he hadn't completed his "bodily rehabilitation" as Tolkien writes. He was half of what he was, which was less (even if he was 100%) than the indomitable being which could only be destroyed by God himself on Numenor. The takeaway is that at half strength, Sauron was able to defeat the mightiest elf and the mightiest man in existence at once (in a 2 vs 1) and was only felled when another approached his ruined form and severed from him a portion of his power (invested in the Ring).

I like the part when the Ring offered Samwise Gamgee a massive garden and hobbit said “No”

Thats funny, the one in the TV show looked like a hangover commodities trader from New Jersey.

Sauron’s principal power was the ability to avoid stabbing himself on the spiky armor fan artists insist on giving him.

There is a saying that beauty can be a curse, but in Sauron's case, it cursed others. Masses of people followed beautiful Sauron no matter how extreme his ideas were. It's like people can look past almost anything to catch a glimpse of the charming and the fair. Sauron well understood this weakness, especially in men, and could just take his pick of anyone that he wanted in his service.

I learn something new with every video I watch! Tolkien's universe never ends!!!

There should be a TV series on sauron

I think that Sauron has an ability (by using the Morgoth Ingredient as a prerequisite for his "magic") to nullify the powers of his enemies: a) Sauron captures Minas Tirith on Tol Sirion: (...) when the power of Ulmo was in that water (...); b) Sauron tanked and repelled lightning bolts sent by Manwë on the temple of Melkor in Númenor; c) Samwise Gamgee at Sammath Naur in his great need drew out the phial of Galadriel (with the light of Earendil) but it was pale and cold, because all other powers were here subdued; d) And Galadriel's power in Lothlorien. Dol Guldur's armies could not conquer the elven realm unless Sauron himself had arrived. Remembering that Lórien is (in my opinion) a "dimension/pocket" where the time (forest, river, the air. Not for people) and space are different from the other places of Middle Earth: "Anyone would think that time did not count there. And perhaps that was the way of it (...) in that land, maybe, we were in a time that has elsewhere long gone by." This sets him apart from other Maiar. Sauron must also possess a pluripotency (with the use of Morgoth Element in the matter) to a lesser degree than Melkor/Morgoth.

the ability to wear the largest monocle ever created

Great video altogether truly ! But didn’t melkor/morgoth create uruks ?

He could jump really high and run really fast.

The thing about the movies is that they’ll make you think he was a fighter of sorts. at least for me it did. The true version is honestly more frightening cause mental battle villains are always better. Never know what kind of schemes he’s already planned out far ahead of time

Imagine what Sauron could have done if he hadn’t been corrupted…

Did he say gollum the unhappy? Was smeagol married,?

I just thought of a plot hole that may make poor old Jrr Tollkien turn in his grave! So back at the bridge of Kazum where Gandlaf fought the balrog the bridge was destroyed. How then was it that gollum got out of moria to harass Frodo later on. He should have been stuck down there shouldn't he

Does anyone know if Sauron is capable of lying? Does Sauron inteend to marry Galadriel in the way he describes it, if she had accepted? I can't recall any of the maia lie in the movies (don't remember in the books) Sarumann is pretty close when he doesn't revael where the shire is to the ringwraiths.

Lol the last line made the whole video more than worth watching. 🤣😂😂🤣🤣🤣😅

So Sauron was a psychic engineer

Sauron could mix a martini like no other, and he was always holding.

How ‘bout the power…to MOVE YOU

The man was Vader before Vader. Or perhaps Sideous before Sideous.

And yet he had his own set of limitations. In his timelessness he could not imagine new folks to inhabit old lands. He had no foresight, like the Valar had. He was completely taken by surprise by the changing of world after the invasion of Valinor. The violent sinking of Numenor destroyed his body, his spirit rose above the waves and he fled. This destruction also seemed to have diminished him for it took very long for him to form a new body. It seems that the Maiar did not posess the ability of the Valar to forsake their body and re-form it at will, like the changing of clothes. Consider Gandalf getting a new body after his fight with the Balrog. Sauron was not omniscient and had to rely on outside info about the changes of the world. He seems not to be overly agile of mind and could not imagine that his foes would not use the ring to overthrow him. Most likely he was a brilliant planner (like so many role players) who liked to have time for a well developed plan, perfectly executed. Sudden changes are particularly bad for him and are usually followed by long periods of info gathering, scheming and asessment. To wit the war of wrath, the sinking of numenor and his own defeat by the last alliance and the loss of the ring. It must have been completely maddening for him that the elves hid the rings of power from his perception and that the dwarfes were mostly resilient to the seven rings, it only made them more greedy then they already were. It was without the knowledge of Sauron that Cirdan passed his great ring to Gandalf who used its powers several times. Most famous is Saurons ignorance about the hobbits and where they lived and who they were. Imagine you are and allpowerful, almost godlike being and then you are informed that a midget posesses your doomsday weapon after it has been lost for centuries. And even your most dreadful servants take years to find the place of abode of these midgets. And after that you see another midget in a palantir for some moments, and a short while thereafter another midget puts on the ring and challenge you and immediatly afterwards it and everything you worked for is gone. Very confusing!

Terrific outline. Tom Bombadil was more powerful than Sauron and possessed more powers. But they were light, not dark.

Great architect 😉

Misshaping is pronounced 'miss-shaping'. The second syllable rhymes with ape, not sap. It refers to shape.

Given his skills, how would Sauron have responded if one of the Free Peoples asked for his aid building a machine or magic device (say for pumping water, or automating a repetitive task like forging nails)?

BRO, i literally saw him get jumped by oarks in ROP.

Modern Writers: sHoW dOnT TeLL Tolkien: challenge accepted

I think what we are seeing is something embedded in the history of science fantasy, laser like energy projections, violent telekinesis and mind control are not the sort of things that were in JRT's inspiration, which were Norse and Greek Mythology, pagan witchcraft and Biblical, bear in mind were strictly literature media at the time,. Convincing magical cinematic physical special effects, computer game animated mechanics were decades away and it took awhile for the lexicon of spell casting in fantasy adventure movies and games to come about, and that we now take for granted. None of the Magical characters in Tolkien's works do much actual physical magic or spell casting

The power of love

Brilliant.

Do a video on "what if Sauron got control of the dead men of dunhalo

Aren't u mixing up melkor and Sauron powers and action from the Silmarillion? All this stuff happened to melkor (I though, though has been some years since I read it)

I really enjoyed your video: you covered some things I haven't given much thought to before. I have a question though, which has bothered me for a long time: as you said in the video, Sauron was brought down essentialy by one great man and one great elf while wearing the One Ring. So why is it considered that he would have been invincible if he had regained the One Ring?

Sauron's power is the ability to make The Rings Of Powers. ;-p

Unfortunately his power couldn't stop the RoP showrunners from sticking a wet Willie into Tolkein's treasure

What word of command did Durin's Bane utter? He doesn't speak at all in the movie or book

He also does AOE damage as we see him do in the opening of Fellowship.

I wonder if Sauron ever ate any food or went to the bathroom or showered?

Maybe his greatest power was the friends he made along the way

the picture of Sauron looks like he is missing a tie?

It seems his greatest strength came from his beginnings as he could reshape and improve that which already existed

I'll be friends with Sauron! Sounds like he could have used one.

It always baffles me how Sauron became SO incredibly evil lol for someone who was initially good. This description of his powers really makes you remember/realize how awful he was lol

Maybe Sauron’s real powers were the friends we made along the way.

1:59 technically speaking everyone in middle earth possesses some degree of telepathy see the Ósanwe-kenta

Be sure never to use Amazon's LoTR as anything canon in your videos.

Sauron is the Calamity Ganon of the main Lord of the Rings trilogy

And to think this dude is gonna be in death battle

Baddest Power is that he simps for Guyladriel

He could walk across Lego without pain!