(These Subtitles will have mistakes - a lot of them)
Sauron, the evil entity, that wants to dominate
the continent of Middle-earth. In the Story of the Lord of the Rings itself
I always think of him as a so to say construct That is also not a bad thing , he's a story
element with a specific function. He has no character development potential. We and the characters in Lord of the Rings
don't learn too much about him during the story, nor do they really interact with him
directly. There are pretty much no dialogues with him. All we know is: he is evil, lives in Mordor
and tries to conquer Middle-earth for millennia. People in for example Gondor fear him and
see his influence, mainly through constant orc attacks and threads from the east. Sauron himself seems to be such an unimaginable
evil entity for the people in Middle-earth, that they don't dare to use his language,
black speech or avoid speaking too much about him. For the story he is a constant thread, powerful,
but on a way invisible. Like a veil of darkness, that hangs over Middle-earth
constantly. But at the same time he is the main motivation,
the main conflict, because he is the "Lord of the Rings". But who is Sauron? What's his story? Sauron is no human or elf, he is an Ainu,
a so to say spirit being and he is of lesser rank. As explained in almost all my other lore videos,
there are certain high entities in the Lord of the Rings. The highest is the transcendent god creator
Eru Ilúvatar. His servants are the Ainur and we know two
main groups of Ainur: Valar, they are like high rank angels or a
god pantheon and
Maiar, they are like angels of lower rank and are the helpers of the Valar. A prominent example of a Maia would be Gandalf
or Saruman, who took the form of old men. Sauron also belongs to the group of Maiar. He was once named Mairon and a servant of
the Vala Aulë, so to say the god of forging and crafting. Under the Group of Valar there was one, that
was not only extremely powerful, but also very rebellious. It is said, that he was the strongest of the
Valar: Melkor - or as he's later called: Morgoth - meaning the Dark Tyrant. He desired to create sentient beings, like
Eru could and searched the void for the so called the "Secret Fire" or "the Flame Imperishable",
which was Eru's ability of creation. He never found it. His ways and ideas were different from the
other Valar and he was a strong dissonance, to the harmony of the others. Which is reflected in the story about the
Music of the Ainur. You can read about it in the Silmarillion. He was also the brother of Manwë, who was
the leader of the Valar. Btw. Gandalf references the Secret Fire on the
bridge in Moria against the Balrog. Gandalf is a servant of the Valar and Eru,
while in contrast the Balrog - the Flame of Udûn - is a fallen Maiar serving Melkor. Udûn was one of Morgoth's strongholds and
his residence. back to Sauron:
Melkor ensnared Mairon and so he became his apprentice and known as Sauron - which some
would translate with the Abhorred. Another name for him is Gorthaur - meaning
Terrible Dread. He should become one of Morgoth's highest
and most important servants. 2nd in command together with the Balrog Gothmog,
the Lord of the Balrogs. Melkor also gave him his 2nd fortress Angband,
while he was residing in Utumno or as it is called in Sindarin: Udûn - as mentioned before. Also note, that I skip a few things here and
start at the end of the so called "War for Sake of the Elves". The Valar fought long and hard in this war
against Melkor and managed to beat him - the Vala Tulkas, who is the god of war so to say,
managed to cast Melkor down and put him into chains to be precise. They conquered and searched both of his fortresses. But Sauron was not found and Melkor should
be pardoned by Manwë three ages later. This was by the way before sun and moon was
created and before men awoke on Arda. Well even though Melkor bagged for mercy and
was pardoned, he was actually not that sorry and already planned his revange, so he started
to negatively influence the Noldor elves and later went to Avathar and visited the ancient
spirit in spider form, Ungoliant, so to say the mother of Shelob. What Ungoliant actually is, is hard to say. Maybe an entity of the void. Some kind of Maiar or just a mystery, like
Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, her mother the river-woman and the nameless things. Melkor and the starving Ungoliant, who wove
webs of shadow around them, went to Valinor - the realm of the Valar on the continent
Aman. There Melkor stabbed the two giant trees of
Valinor and Ungoliant drank all their blood, and the Wells of Varda surrounding the trees
dry, which let her grow in size and power. The two trees of Valinor were the light source
of the world back in the day besides the stars, so it was pretty dark after they got destroyed,
helping them to escape. Sun and moon were later created out of their
last fruit and flower. Celeberimbor, who was the elf making for example
the 3 elven rings of power and some other had a famous grandfather, named Fëanor. Fëanor was the greatest elven smith, who
has ever lived, and his master piece were 3 beautiful jewels, who had the light of the
two trees in them and got blessed by the Vala Varda. They were called the Silmaril and even the
Valar desired them - you can say they are probably one of the most powerful artefacts
ever made. You can imagine how special these powerful
jewels must be for the elves, Maiar and Valar, because they are all what is left of their
beloved 2 trees' light. I mention this, because it's to some degree
important - even for the Lord of the Rings. For example the Phial, that Galadriel gave
to Frodo as a gift, had the light of the Star of Eärendil in it, which is in fact one of
the Silmaril and with that a reflection of the light of those 2 trees. That maybe also explains, why it blinds Shelob,
who is the daughter of Ungoliant, just much less powerful. There is another legend about Melkor destroying
two giant Lamps, that were the light source of the world and existed before the trees,
he has a history when it comes to destroying light, but that's a story for another video. So after destroying the trees, he went to
Fëanor's fortress Formenos, killed his father, Finwë, and stole the 3 Silmaril from there. Ungoliant and Melkor escaped over Helcaraxë
to Middle-earth. That is so to say a path of ice, that connected
the continents Middle-earth and Aman. In Middle-earth Ungoliant wanted the Silmaril
from Melkor, so she can devour the jewels, but he refused, because he desired them. So he got woven into webs and nearly devoured
himself, but his scream alarmed his Balrogs, who came and rescued him driving Ungoliant
away. With this Melkor was in possession of the
3 Silmaril and Fëanor cursed him, naming him Morgoth - which, as mentioned, translates
to black foe or dark tyrant. He and his sons also made an oath to retrieve
the Silmaril at any price and convinced the his fellow Noldor elves to sail with him back
to Middle-earth and help him. This becomes important at bit later. Celebrimbor, who was most likely born much
later, did not take part in this. The Oath of Feanor led to terrible deeds by
him and his sons e.g. 3 Kinslayings, where they even murder other elves to reach their
goals. Which turned the oath into a curse. Those elves definitely abandoned reason for
madness. But this is a story for another video. I will say this quite often in this video,
because the backstory is quite complex and this video will be quite long. Now things become complicated, because we
have too look at Beleriand. Beleriand was a western part of Middle-earth. It was destroyed and sunk into the ocean after
the War of Wrath, we come later to this. The first Age and the time in Beleriand is
full of Wars and stories. Even though the first Age was quite short,
many things happened there and often it is not 100% clear what is canon and what not. So it's really hard to summarize it and I
have to be a bit imprecise and skip through a few things. This part is also one reason why this video
took me so long. To understand Sauron and the events around
him, we have to look his master Morgoth. So this is a very long explanation to how
Sauron is involved into all of this and how he became what we later know. So back in middle-earth Morgoth rebuild his
fortress and found out, that some elves remained in Middle-earth - e.g. in Beleriand. Why the elves did this, is another long story
for another video. So here is the imprecise short version: the
first elves created, awoke in east Middle-earth at a bay called Cuiviénen a bit prior to
the War for Sake of the Elves - this was during the Years of the Trees, so before even the
First Age. It happened that Melkor found the elves first
and influenced them. Later the Vala Oromë visited them too and
found out about the bad influence. When after the war the evil Vala was bound
to the halls of Mandos for 3 Ages - as mentioned before -, the Valar decided to bring the elves
over to Aman, so they are with them and safe from Melkor's and his servants' influence. But not all elves wanted to leave Middle-earth
and also they had to travel very far - the so called Great Journey. So the Elves split into 3 groups: mainly thä
Vanyar, Noldor, and Teleri. And those groups sometimes split even further. Thä Vanyar probably made it completely to
Aman, same with the Noldor, but the Teleri only partially. However the Teleri Lord Thingol also known
as Elwë met the Maia Melian and fell in love with her. Both vanished for 200 years and when they
returned, they founded the Kingdom of Doriath (or Eglador) in Beleriand with those remaining
Teleri, who did not sail to Aman yet and waited and searched for their lord. Those elves, that waited became known as Eglath
- the forsaken. Thingol became their king and they would be
also known as thä Sindar - Grey elves. Also Melian used her Maia powers to protect
the Kingdom and formed an enchanted fence, the so called Girdle of Melian. Nobody less powerful than Melian could pass
it, against her will. The elven language Sinadrin also has its origin
here. This was before the awakening of men. They awoke at the beginning of the First Age
and came to Beleriand a bit later too. Also the in the other video mentioned Luthien
is the daughter of Thingol and the Maia Melian. Luthien and her husband Beren, Barahir's son,
are ancestors of Aragorn and Elrond, but ofc Beren was born hundreds of years later. Some of those names, esp. Luthien and Beren will return later. Now we skip a few events, like the death of
Fëanor or several wars of the elves in Beleriand against Morgoth, a 400 year long siege of
Angband by the elves and Fingolfin and finally go back to Sauron - he might have helped during
those wars, but there are no notes about it. After Fingolfin's death - he is the brother
of Galadriel's father - in a 1v1 duel against Morgoth - himself - several hundred years
later, during the First Age, Sauron is mentioned again. Morgoth, who wanted to make moves against
the elves, gave Sauron the task to conquer an island named Tol Sirion. On this island there was a tower that was
also named Minas Tirith and was build by Galadriel's brother Finrod to guard the Pass of Sirion
and protect Beleriand from Morgoth forces - so it was strategically important for Morgoth
to get this place. Sauron was successful and the island became
known as Tol-in-Gaurhoth - the island of Werewolves - were he also bred those. Also Morgoth heard about the deeds of a men
named Barahir, the father of the mentioned Beren and saw a threat in him. So he gave Sauron the task to kill him. Barahir for example fought in the Dagor Bragollach
- the Battle of Sudden Flame, where the mentioned Fingolfin died in the end and Morgoth ended
the elven siege of his stronghold after 400 years. During this battle Finrod, Galadriel's Brother,
got surrounded and was in trouble, but Barahir took some of his bravest men and came to rescue
Finrod under great losses. Finrod was very thankful and swore an oath
to Barahir - of friendship and help for him and his kin in all situations. He also gave him a ring as token of his gratitude. And you guessed right: that's the Ring of
Barahir - the Ring Aragorn is wearing 6000 years later. A lot of oaths are wokring during the First
Age. The Oath of Feanor, this one and one that
we will hear about later. Morgoth started to expand in Beleriand, but
Barahir and his men tried to fight against it and help in Dorthonion, but they often
had to hide and were quite good at it. They were like a band of outlaws. It was only a small host of 12 companions. His son Beren and his two nephews were also
under them too. Also a men named Gorlim. He had a wife named Eilinel. When he returned to his house and farm, he
found it plundered and forsaken. So he returned to Barahir, but his love was
great and he had hope, that she is still alive. So he would secretly visit his house from
time to time, looking for his wife. Morgoth's spies learnt about this. And so one day, he saw light in his house
and it looked like his wife was there too, but it was a trap. And Sauron's hunters captured him. They tormented Gorlim, the Unhappy, but he
would not betray Barahir, until Sauron promised him to set him and his wife free. Gorlim agreed and betrayed Barahir, but Sauron
explained, that his wife is long dead and what he saw was an illusion crated through
his sorcery, but that he would keep his promise and so he killed Gorlim cruelly to set him
free, so he can find his wife in death. Now that Sauron knew about Barahir's location
he sent orcs to surprise the outlaws and kill them all. And so Barahir and his companions died, except
for one. Barahir sent his son Beren away to spy upon
the enemy, so he was not there, when the orcs surprised them at dawn. They also took the hand of Barahir with the
ring as a token for Sauron. When Beren was asleep the wraith of Gorlim
visited him in his dream - it was more like a vison. He saw carrion-birds sitting thick as leaves
upon bare trees beside a mere, and blood dripped from their beaks. Gorlim appeared and confessed his treachery,
but also warned and bade him to hurry and save his father. Beren awoke and ran to his father's camp,
but he was too late, his vision came true. He buried him and swore and oath of revenge. Beren pursued the orcs and snekaed into their
camp. Their Commander boasted of his deeds holding
up the hand of Barahir, with the ring. Then Beren jumped on the captain from behind,
slew him, took the hand of his father and miraculously escaped. Form now on he lived alone in the wild and
ate no flesh and only killed if it was a servant of Morgoth. The stories of his deeds spread even to Doriath
and even orcs preferred to run on sight. Morgoth set a price on his head, as high as
on the head of Fingon, High King of the Noldor elves. So Sauron was sent to hunt him down with an
army with werewolves and fell beasts. The land was corrupted by Sauron and Beren
had to leave Dorthonion. He fled the most troublesome path imaginable. Through the Ered Gorgoroth. That is around where Ungoliant's Offsring
is living. Ered Gorgoroth also means Mountains of Terror
- and that's for a reason. After that he went through Nan Dungortheb,
which means Valley of Dreadful Death, where Sauron's sourcery and Melian's power met. No men or elf would have ever dared to go
there, but Beren did it and survived, he also didn't like talking about this horrible journey
later on. He also went through the Girdle of Melian
and enter Doriath unnoticed. But how is this possible? Melian has foretold, that one day someone
will pass through it and it was Beren, because his fate or doom was greater, than her power. In the forest of Doriath Beren saw Luthien
and fell in love with her and later she with him - it's a longer story, I recommend reading
in the Silmarillion. Luthien took Beren before her father - well
it was a bit more complicated - and he was first a afraid, but than asked to marry Luthien,
but Thingol was not a fan and even wanted to execute Beren. But Beren showed the Ring of Barahir on his
finger and his speech impressed the wise Melian. So she asked her husband to calm down. But still he said something like: you can
marry my daughter when hell freezes. To be precise: he bound a task to it, that
he thought was impossible. He should go to Morgoth and retrieve one Silmaril
from his crown to Thingol. Beren accepted and so his quest of retrieving
the Silmaril begins. This deal was also some kind of oath and fates
were bound to it. He travelled through to dangerous places and
nearly got killed, but made his way to his father's friend Finrod in Nargothrond. Here many fates and the mentioned oaths clashed. It's probably another story for another video. But in short: as mentioned Feanor and his
sons swore an oath to retrieve the Silmaril. And they did many terrible things to do so. Even murdering their own kin. So the oath became a curse. You could say the Silmaril are cursed. Finrod swore an oath to Barahir, to help him
and his kin. So he ofc offered to help Beren on his quest. and Beren swore to retrieve a Silmaril. At this time Finrod had two visitors. Curufin, Celebrimbor's father, and his brother
Celegorm, both the sons of Feanor. And they really wanted to get the Silmaril. They were also family. All those parties argued and the sons of Feanor
even convinced almost everyone in Nargothrond to not help Beren. Finrod, who was king, laid down his crown
until he has fulfilled his oath. 10 of his most loyal men came with him. This story is a lot about fate, oaths and
curses. And you probably see now, why the fate of
Beren is greater, than Melian's power, because the curse of the Silmaril and the fate of
Doriath is bound to it. Beren, Finrod and his men disguised themselves
as orcs, with the help of Frinrod's magic, and tried to pass the mentioned Isle of Sirion. But were found and revealed by Sauron. Finrod fought Sauron, but lost in the end. However the latter could not find out who
they were and so he took them prisoner. Over time he fed them One by One to his werewolves. But Finrod's men did not betray their King. Until only Beren and Finrod were left. Luthien, having visions of Beren in need,
tried to get out of Doriath to come to his aid. During this she had her own adventures. E.g. The minstrel of Doriath betrayed her, so she
got caught there, but as the daughter of the Maia Melian and King Thingol, she had magical
powers. I would say she was one of most powerful elves,
who have ever lived - on her own way. So she freed herself and later was found by
Celegorm, Curufin, one of the most unlikeable elves on Arda. They claimed to help her, but took her prisoner,
so they could use her to pressure Thingol and Celegorm wanted to marry her. So kidnapping and blackmailing. They also had a special hound. Celegorm was - before their rebellion to retrieve
the Silmaril by any price - a friend of the Vala Orome and he was gifted a giant hound
named Huan - he was extremely intelligent and powerful, he was also able to speak but
was not allowed to. The giant hound of the Valar was not pleased,
how they betrayed Luthien, so he talked to her, helped her to get free and even allowed
her to ride on him. So they escaped and went to rescue Beren. Meanwhile Sauron decided to let Finrod live,
because he was probably a wise elf lord valuable to his master and decided to feed Beren to
one of his werewolves. But Finrod bursted his bonds and killed the
werewolve with his bare hands and teeth, getting mortally wounded in the process, but fulfilling
his oath. He died in the Tower he once build, now corrupted
by Morgoth and Sauron. Beren grieved bitterly over the death of his
friend. Luthien arrived soon after this sang a song. Which sounds weird, but a lot of magical power
in Lord of the Rings is in words. like curses, oaths, but also songs and music. The world was created through the Music of
the Ainur. And it seems Luthiens music was extremely
powerful. In deed before Finrod was captured both he
and Sauron battled with powerful songs, but Sauron's mastery was greater and so he could
take them prisoner. But now Luthien sang and the Tower known as
Minas Tirith trembled under the power of it. Sauron sent his werewolves one by one, but
he was not aware of Huan, who killed all of them. Finally he sent Draugluin - so to say the
father of all werewolves. He and Huan fought long, but Draugluin escpaed
to Sauron telling his master, that Huan is here, before he died. Sauron now took the form of the greatest werewolf
ever seen and attacked himself. Even Huan recoiled a bit, but Luthien's power
blinded and fatigued Sauron and Huan could slowly overcome him. Finally Huan caught Sauron by the throat. Luthien offered Sauron to release him, when
he gives her the power over the tower and Sauron agreed, transforming himself into a
vampire or a giant bat I guess and flew away, while blood was dripping down to earth from
his throat. And so Luthien controlled the island, undoing
the corruption of Sauron and releasing all prisoner's. She found Beren, still grieving over the Body
of Finrod. When the island was cleansed, they buried
him there. This is the last appearance of Sauron in this
story. And I can really recommend this part of the
Silmarillion to read, but in short: in the end after many adventures, Beren managed to
fulfil his oath with the help of Luthien and Huan and brought one Silamril to Thingol,
but died himself in the process, same with Huan. Grieving over the loss Luthien died too and
she went to the halls of Mandos and sang for the Vala Mandos the Judge of the Dead, which
moved him to ask Manwe and Eru, to help her. Eru allowed Luthien to become mortal and she
was revived together with Beren, to life one human life together in isolation. They had a son named Dior. After this, many events happened surrounding
this Silmaril. The greed over it led to a lot of death and
despair - for example the 2nd and 3rd kinslaying of the elves, where the sons of Feanor were
involved, as before at the first kinslaying. In the end Eärendil, who married Dior's daughter,
got the Silmaril and wore it at his brow, while sailing on his flying ship through the
sky, so it could be seen as a star, which became known as the mentioned Star of Eärendil. Now we skip to the End of the First Age. It ends, with a giant war after the Fall of
Gondolin, the hidden city of Turgon, the War of Wrath. Gandalf's sword Glamdring, probably Turgon's
sword, was made there, same with Orcrist and probably Sting. Here again Eäraendil played an important
role, as he sailed over to Aman and asked the Valar for help and they agreed and fought
Morgoth. During this war, Eärendil also slew Ancalagon
the biggest dragon who has ever lived. In the end this war destroyed Beleriand and
sunk it into the ocean. Morgoth was captured and banished into the
void. Sauron who also fought in this war took a
fair from again and surrendered to the Maia Eönwë, who ordered him to go back to Valinor
and receive judgment by Manwe. But instead of going back, he escaped and
hid in Middle-earth. Before and during the events of the War of
Wrath many elven Kings and lords died. In Gondolin Turgon, 2nd son of Fingolfin died
and so Gil-galad became High King of the Noldor elves. After the destruction of Beleriand, the giant
spider Shelob fled and reached a place called Mordor. She was there before Sauron, even though he
later made use of her presence to guard Cirith Ungol - even though he did not control her. It is said, that he calls her his cat. What happened to the other offspring of Ungoliant
in the Ered Gorgoroth is not known. And now - finally - the second Age begins Sauron hid for probably 1000 years and resided
in Mordor, starting to build Barad-dûr around the Year Second Age 1000, growing his power
and knowledge in secret. He was now alone and still the highest ranked
servant of Morgoth, so he slowly became the New Dark Lord, but was still devoted to his
master and continued until he would return. He also build temples for Morgoth. He was smart and careful, planning and executing
his plans in secret. Sauron was a very different evil compared
to Morgoth. Sauron ofc still had a lot of orcs and trolls
and we later also know about wraiths, evil spirits, wargs - that's probably a related
breed to werewolves - and fell beasts. But he had no direct control over Morgoth's
higher servants, like the Balrogs or Dragons - even though he was no enemy to them. After some time, even though he could have
much easier influenced men, he decided to corrupt the elves and bring them under his
will. And so he took a fair form and posed as Annatar,
Lord of Gifts, an ambassador of the Valar. He tried to influence different elves, like
Gil-galad, but they refused his help. So he continued searching for elves accepting
his help. In this disguise he went to the elven realm
of Eregion and helped Curufin's son Celebrimbor and his guild or brotherhood of jewel smiths,
the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, to create 16 rings of power and probably more, to finally corrupt
them with a master ring, the One Ring. At first the elves believed him, that he was
sent by the Valar to aid them - foreshadowing the arrival of the 5 Wizards, the Istari,
in the Third Age, thousands of years later. Galadriel and Celeborn lived in Eregion too
at this time. The couple survived the Kinslaying and the
Fall of Doriath in the First Age, where Galadriel met Celeborn. Galadriel did not trust Annatar, but probably
did not expect Sauron himself - I guess nobody did. However we can read in the Unfinished Tales,
that Annatar managed to strengthen his influence over Celebrimbor and the guild and over a
long time made them revolt a little bit against the couple, so Galadriel left Eregion through
Moria to Lothlórien, but Celeborn staid there. During his time in Eregion Annatar instructed
and taught the elves the necessary knowledge to forge rings of power and was present at
their creation, which corrupted those rings, but even the used knowledge had an evil intent
behind it and was corrupted itself by Sauron. Nobody noticed this at the time. And with this Celebrimbor and the guild forged
a lot of rings, but the most well known were the 16 rings of power. Eregion had a good friendship with the dwarfs
of Moria. E.g. the magical gate of Moria, which we know
from Lord of the Rings was created by Celebrimbor. With this said, there is the legend, that
he gifted one of the 7 Rings of power to Moria's King Durin III at this time, but it's not
clear how canon this is. After the creation of the 16 rings, Sauron
left Eregion around Second Age 1500 to forge the One Ring - it seems this process has taken
him a long time, since he completes it Second Age 1600. In secret Celebrimbor forged 3 special Rings
of power on his own, without telling Annatar. These were the 3 elven rings of power: Vilya,
the Ring of Air, Narya, the Ring of Fire and Nenya, the Ring of Water. Sauron's first part of the plan worked and
the elves created and wore the rings of power. His final step was to corrupt them with the
creation of the One Ring at Orodruin, which means burning mountain. It is also rarely called Amon Amarth, which
translates to Mount Doom - the most common name for the reader I guess -, because it's
linked to some prophecies. In some notes we can read, that Mount Doom
was once created by Morgoth himself. Also when he forged the one Ring Barad-dûr
was completed after 600 years. To forge the One Ring, Sauron put a part of
himself, his evil will and a lot of his power into the Ring and from now on The One Ring
was part of Sauron and he was bound to it. It could not be undone or destroyed except
in the fires of Mount Doom. It should become a curse for Middle-earth
and led Sauron to his peak of power. When Sauron finished the One Ring all elves
using those rings of power were aware of his plan. The resistant elves were able to take the
rings of their fingers and knew that Annatar was in deed Sauron. Celebrimbor also knew, that at least his 3
secret rings of power must be brought to a safe place, so he travelled to Lothlórien
to have council with Galadriel and they both agreed, that at least the 3 rings must be
hidden and never used, because they had not the strength to destroy them. And so he gave Nenya to Galadriel and Vilya,
the most powerful Ring and Narya to Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor. An interesting side effect of e.g. Nenya,
the Ring of Water, was, that it strengthened the desire to leave Middl-earth in Galadriel. Sauron was very angry, that the elves did
not fell for his plan, formed a giant army and headed through Calenardhon straight to
Eregion's capital Ost-in-Edhil. Note that from Sauron leaving Eregion to the
Sack Of Eregion it took around 200 years. His forces were so powerful, that Eregion
did not stand a chance. He found the 9 rings, Celebrimbor was captured
and tormented, but he only revealed the location of the 7 rings, but not the location of the
3 - more powerful - elven rings and was put to death in Eregion. The body of Celebrimbor shot by orc arrows
was put on a pole and carried like a banner by Sauron's forces. The High King Gil-galad sent Elrond to their
aid and he managed to merge together with Celeborn, who was still in Eregion - and I
assume his men. The elves were almost defeated, but the dwarfs
of Moria also helped and attack the rear of Sauron's forces together with King Amroth's
forces of the elves from Lothlórien, so they could escape. This led Elrond to build a Stronghold for
his forces and the refugees from Eregion, that we now know as Rivendell or Imladris. The dwarfs and Lothlórien elves were pushed
back to Moroia by Sauron's forces and they pretty much closed the door. Sauron now split a part of his army to hold
Elrond in Rivendell and started to go west to conquer Lindon, where Gil-galad and 2 elven
rings of power were. Sauron assumed, that at least one ring could
be there. He destroyed everything on his way. Gil-galad had good connections to the powerful
Kingdom of Men Númenor and so he asked them for help, when the war started. I recommend my other video about Aragorn and
Númenor. The Dark Lord started to lay siege on Lindon
and the elves were in great trouble - almost lost -, but a delayed and powerful army of
Númenor arrived over the sea and pushed Sauron's forces back. Númenor was smart and sent a part of their
ships further to the south, to catch Sauron while he was retreating and they almost caught
him, but he managed to escape, with all his armies lost. After this war not only Eregion, but big parts
Eriador were in ruin. Sauron was close to conquering Middle-earth
and even when his armies were destroyed, so were the lands of the elves and Men. Keep in mind Gondor or Arnor did not exist
at this point and Númenor slowly started to establish settlements at the western coast
of Middle-earth. Even with this defeat, Sauron was in a strong
position, but because of the new Númenorean settelemts in the west he could at least not
move there. Seeing this and vowing revenge against Númenor
and the dwarfs, Sauron decided to start corrupting them over the centuries, maybe when many had
already forgotten and things became legends - just my theory. He started to corrupt the tribes in the far
east and if you have watched my History of Rohan video, you will see how much trouble
Easterlings would be in the future and it often felt like Sauron had to do with it to
some degree. He gifted the 16 or maybe 15 rings of power. 9 to some Kings of men, sorcerers, warriors,
Black Númenoreans and one Easterling King. And 7 or 6, since Durin III probably got his
ring directly from Celebrimbor, to the dwarf lords. The dwarves proved to be immune against the
corruption of the rings, but it increased their desire for treasure. However men were easily dominated and corrupted
and it turned the 9 into Sauron's most powerful servants, giving them magical powers, but
slowly transforming them into wraiths. They became known as the Nazgûl or Ringwraiths. The most powerful of them was the Witchking
of Angmar. Second in command was Khamûl, the Easterling. The other names and identities are not known. As mentioned Sauron was in a good spot and
with the One Ring he was powerful in Middle-earth. He called himself Lord of the Earth and King
of Men. This provoked the proud Númenoreans on their
island Númenor, but the smart Sauron probably knew about their strength and had definitely
an evil plan in mind. As mentioned in the other video Númenor must
have sent one of the most powerful armies to Mordor, that Middle-earth has ever seen. When Sauron saw the mighty host of Numenor,
he just surrendered and let himself take prisoner, but ofc with evil intent, it was his plan
and the Númenoreans underestimated him. The powerful and cunning Sauron was brought
to Númenor as a prisoner, but raised over the decades to adviser of King Ar-Pharazôn. He used the conflicts and fears of the mortal
men of Númenor to bring them to the ultimate madness - their fear of death and jealousy
of the immortality of the elves played a big part. I explain this in more detail in the other
video. In the end, people there were just insane,
except for the faithful, who still hold to Eru, the Valar and elves, but had to flee
from the island with Elendil, Isildur and Anárion being the leaders of the faithful. Sauron was seen as a god by most of the Númenoreans,
with a giant Morgoth temple build, burning the white Tree Nimloth in it, which was related
to one of the two Trees of Valinor and was a gift of the elves to the "men of Númenor"
as a token of their friendship, but Isildur saved a sapling, risking his live, before
it was chopped. Even human sacrifices for Morgoth were made
in the temple. Also King Ar-Pharazôn build the probably
most powerful ship fleet ever seen and sailed to Aman, to fight the Valar and claim immortality. While Sauron was laughing in the temple, as
he got is revenge, Eru himself destroyed the fleet of the King and buried them in the Caves
of the Forgotten. The island of Númenor and all that was on
it, was destroyed too and sunk into the ocean. Not only this, even the world was reshaped
and became a sphere and the continent Aman was lifted into the realm of the Unseen, so
no men could ever enter it again over the see. Only the elves were able to travel there with
their special elven ships on a strange path. Also the body of Sauron was destroyed in this
process, weakening him and so from now on, he was not able to ever take a fair form again. His spirit retuned to Mordor and he still
had the One Ring. But as mentioned Elendil and his 2 sons Isildur
and Anárion made it to Middle-earth, where they founded the Kingdoms of men. Elendil founded Arnor in the North and Anárion
and Isildur founded Gondor in the South and reigned over it together from Osgiliath. Sauron ofc attacked Gondor. He even took Minas Ithil and burned the White
Tree again, but Isildur - anew - saved a sapling, which
was later planted in Minath Anor, which we know as Minas Tirith. There were also conflicts with so called Black
Númenoreans, who also settled in the region, but more to the south, before the Downfall
of Númenor and were still corrupted by Sauron, because they were not from the group of faithful. They also didn't accept Isildur and Anárion
as rightful kings. Under the great pressure of Sauron's forces,
Gondor had a lot of trouble. So Elendil and Gil-galad forged "the last
Alliance of Elves and Men" and this mighty host came to aid Gondor and destroy Sauron. Sauron was aware of this and tried to hold
them off or delay them. For example he desolated and burned down big
forests, that the host of the last alliance had to traverse. As mentioned in an another video, the Entwives
left the Ents in Fangorn and moved further to the east to grow smaller things there. So all these plain fields, we know from the
Third Age had once much nature and forests on them, but after Sauron desolated them,
they became known as the Brown Lands. However his efforts had no success, the army
of the Last Alliance, that also included dwarf armies, arrived and confronted Sauron's forces
at the Black Gate merging with Gondorian forces. An interesting note here, is that deeds and
evil from the past manifested here to some degree and was originally created by Morgoth,
through his theft of the Silmaril. In the army of the elves was a special group
of elves. The Silvan elves, descendants of thä Nandor
elves, that were related to thä Teleri, mentioned at the beginning of the video. You remember how Noldor elves under Feanor
and his sons did terrible things, like the 3 kinslayings? That was mainly against the Teleri. In the first Kinslaying they killed the Teleri
in Aman to steal their ships, so they could sail over to Middle-earth and get the Silmaril
back. But even within the Noldor there were conflicts. Finarfin, Galadriel's father and Feanors half-brother,
learned about the kinslaying and was ashamed by the deeds of the other and stayed in Aman. Feanor's other half brother Fingolfin and
his friends had to walk to Middle-earth over the icy path Helcaraxë, where many died,
because Feanor burned the ships, when he landed in Middle-earth, instead of sending them back
to fetch the others. Feanor was not really a nice guy. The 2nd and 3rd Kinslaying was about Feanor's
sons killing everyone in Doriath getting back the Silmaril, that Beren and Lúthien brought
back from Morgoth and handed them over to the elves there. In Doriath lived the Sindar, including Teleri
and also Nandor elves, so they were not the biggest fans of the Noldor after this, with
for sure some exceptions, like Galadriel, who was also taught by Queen Melian. Ofc later they tried to forgive the Noldor
and to live in peace again. Overall the story is a bit more complicated
though. Thousands of years later with Gil-galad being
the High King of the Noldor, leading the elves of the Last Allaiance, the Silvan elves did
not want to be under his command, as said, it's still a bit more complicated. So Under the command of Amdír King of Lórien
and Oropher, King of the Silvan elves of Mirkwood and Thranduil's father, they charged the enemy
before Gil-galad gave the signal and suffered heavy casualties because of that. Oropher died and Amdír and his troops were
pushed back to the Dead Marshes and perished there. The remaining Silvan elves were then led by
Thranduil, Oropher's son. With this Sauron could inflict heavy casualties,
that were otherwise unnecessary. But in the end, it did not stop the Last Alliance. They fought their way through Mordor and laid
siege on Barad-dûr for 7 years. Anárion was killed during this siege. Then finally Sauron himself came out of his
fortress and fought Gil-galad and Elendil at once in front of Mount Doom. He killed Gil-galad and Elendil, breaking
his sword Narsil as he fell, but Sauron was also thrown down. Which allowed Isildur to cut of his finger
with the One Ring, using the hilt-shard of Narsil. Sauron was vanquished but not dead and his
spirit escaped, hiding and regaining power for a very long time. Círdan and Elrond advised Isildur to destroy
the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, but he could not do it and claimed the Ring as
heirloom and tribute for his father's and brother's death. It has already started to influence Isildur. Also Gondor got Minas Ithil back, build strongholds
and guarded Mordor, so they had an eye on what's going on there. With this the Third Age begun. You could say Sauron should get his revenge
on Isildur, who planted the White Tree sapling in Minas Anor in memory of his brother Anárion
and made a grave for his father. He also granted the rule over Gondor to Anárion's
son Meneldil, while he took the rule over Arnor in the North. He and his 3 sons now made their way back
to Arnor, but wanted to visit Rivendell first, so they rode north along the Anduin. Isildur's wife and his 4th son, would be probably
waiting there. But in the Gladden Fields a large host of
orcs ambushed them. Isildur and his allies were outnumbered. His sons died one by one, his squire managed
to save the Shards of Narsil and was only one of 3 survivors. Isildur used the ring, to hide and swam through
the River Anduin, but the ring slipped from his finger and so he got shot by orc arrows
when he reached the other side of the river. Luckily the ring was never found by Sauron's
forces and lost for a very long time. In the far east the wild men were released
from Sauron's tyranny, but the evil he put into them was still there, which led to chaos
and wars, they fought against each other. Some would need to flee further into the west,
which will lead to many problems and conflicts in the future. Check my History of Rohan video, it is full
of conflicts with the Easterlings. This is also nd interesting topic
It's quite complicated, but Morgoth and Sauron always had a lot of influence and power over
the men of the east and south. The Easterlings, Haradrim and later the people
of Khand and the Dunlendings, like the Oasthbreakers, who once worshiped Morgoth and Sauron. This also includes Umbar through some Black
Númenoreans. They built their influence during the First
and Second Age and were almost always able to have it as a resource. One reason could be, that the Númenoreas
with the foundation settlements and later in exile the foundation of the Kingdoms of
Gondor and Arnor drove those people out of their regions and so they looked upon them
as their natural enemies. Sauron who was fighting Gondor, probably used
this and also men were very easy to corrupt for him. In addition it must be noted, that the Valar
let the men of east and south, but even the north pretty much alone with their old friend
Melkor and his servants and only cared for their beloved Elves. Eärendil had to sail to Valinor, risking
his life - because men are not even allowed to enter Aman - and beg for help, which in
the end established a good relationship of the Dunedain - the west-men - to the Valar
and elves. It also led to the foundation of Númenor. But all other tribes or groups of men on Arda,
had little to no contact with the Valar and far in the south and east people probably
only knew Morgoth and Sauron, which is the reason why those allied with them. In this context it is quite interesting, that
the view of good and evil in Lord of the Rings gets a little bit more detail and some shades
of grey to it. This is also reflected in Lord of the Rings,
when Sam sees a dead warrior from harad, who fell to his feet and he asks himself who he
was and if he is actually evil or just a soldier fighting for a different cause As mentioned we are at the beginning of the
Third Age. A lot of what happens during this time, you
can find in my other lore videos, so I try to not repeat my self too much. But ofc I will go through all important events
until the Hobbit begins. During the Third Age Sauron goes back to his
strategy of doing things in secret. His servants and esp. the Witchking of Angmar
play a big role during this Age. I would even say, that secrets play a very
big Role during this Age in general - the Theme of old tales and things, that were long
forgotten, but become important again, is very present during this Age. With Sauron's loss of the One Ring, things
become more peaceful at first, but just the event of e.g Isildur's death, is just a foreshadowing
of big problems coming towards the Kingdoms of Men. Just think about, that 3000 years later Aragorn
II is probably the last heir of Isildur - there is simply no one left. One interesting things, that Sauron did during
this age, was trying to get back the rings of power from the dwarves. It is not known when he retrieves them, except
for one, but he manages to get back 2 and later 3. 4 were lost or destroyed during incidents
with dwarves and dragons. I later explain how he got the other ring
back. Also the Kingdom of Arnor was divided into
3 smaller Kingdoms - Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur. During the first 1000 years only the mentioned
Easterlings threatened Gondor or it's borders. They often got defeated, but also managed
to kill King Rómendacil I, who fought very successful in the East, but died in battle
at some point in North Ithilien. His son Turambar succeeded him, destroyed
the invaders and even conquered territories in Rhûn for Gondor. Another interesting place is Umbar in the
south. Númenor back in the Second Age discovered
this haven and often used it to land on Middle-earth, spreading their influence into the South and
obtaining treasures and wealth from there. When Númenor came to it's end, there were
2 groups. The mentioned faithful and in contrast the
King's men, who followed the king, who rebelled against the Valar and elves. Some of those Númenoreans, the King's men,
dwelt e.g. in Umbar, maybe because it was very far away from the realms of the elves
and they despised the elves and their elf friends - the faithful. They even worshiped Sauron. So after the destruction of Númenor those
who lived in Umbar and the South at this time, obviously survived and were still there, with
the same ideas and attitude, as it was common on Númenor at its end. So they had influence in this region and even
continued to serve Sauron, which explains why Umbar gave Gondor a lot of trouble during
the Third Age. As mentioned those surviving kings-men were
called Black Númenoreans. As an intresting side note, one King took
a Black Númenorean as wife, Queen Berúthiel, who used cats to spy on other Gondorian Lord
and people. She was not famous, but well known. Aragorn references her in Moria 2000 years
later in the Lord of the Rings. Gondor at one point managed to conquer Umbar
and the Black Númenoreas fled into the south, fighting together with Harad and tried to
recapture the city. Even though they managed to kill a King during
the siege, they were for now not able to recapture it and were defeated at one of Gondor's peaks
of power. I mentioned that the Valar had forsaken men. This changed with the arrival of the 5 Istari
- Saruman, Radagast Gandalf and the 2 Blue Wizzards. They took the form of Old men and arrived
around this time too. Gandalf received the elven Ring of power,
Narya, from Círdan, who recognized his divine nature, when he landed in Mithlond. He was probably the only one, who knew, because
the Istari explored Middle-earth and its situation in secret for a long time, never openly showing
who they were. The 2 Blue wizards went to the far east. Also around this time Sauron entered Greenwood
the Great, dwelling in Dol Guldur, slowly corrupting parts of it, which changed the
name to Mirkwood. maybe Shelob's offspring the Mirkwood spider's
arrived at this time too. With this calamity slowly came over Middle-earth
and Gondor. The evil forces were again more directly at
work, but still in secret. The Easterlings also became more active again. For this Gondor tried to ally with the north
men of Rhovanion and fought together against the Easterlings, which expanded Gondor's power
even further - as explained in the history of Rohan video. The north-men were like a buffer against the
Easterlings for the Northern regions of Gondor. But this came at a price. King Rómendacil II sent his son Valacar to
Rhovanion as an ambassador. He fell in love with the people there and
with Vidumavi the daughter of the King of Rhovanion and married her. They also had a son with the gothic name Vinitharya
(Vinit-harya), who later got the Quenya name Eldacar, when he came to Gondor with his family. For the proud Gondorian nobles it was a scandal,
that the heir of the throne mixed with non Númenorean or Dúnedain blood. One fear was, that this could diminish his
and his descendants' lifespan. It turned out, that this was not the case
later. But when Eldacar became King, this led to
a civil war, the so called Kin-strife. His distant cousin Castamir, who had ships
and power in Umbar and Pelar-gir led the rebllion against Eldacar. In a brutal civil war, Castamir destroyed
Osgiliath, where it's Palantir got lost. Eldacar escaped, but his first son was captured
and executed. Eldacar fled north and Castamir ruled over
Gondor. But his brutality and actions as king made
him very unpopular. In the North Eldacar rallied an army of Northmen
and even Dúnedain. Also people from the northern gondorian regions,
Anórien, Ithilien and Calenardhon, who were against Castamir, followed him. In the Battle of the Crossings of Erui Eldacar
slew Castamir, revenged his son and was victorious. Castamir's sons and followers escaped over
the sea to Umbar and became known as the Corsairs of Umbar. The City should be under their control and
become a place for all foes of Gondor, until the end of the Third Age, even allying with
Sauron. Even though this victory ended the kin-strife
Third Age 1447, it has caused a lot of chaos in Gondor and many high lords had died in
battles, which weakened the realm. In addition Umbar should ally with Harad and
trouble them in the next 200 years, even though they managed to defend against the south,
it was weakened further and so Gondor started to neglect watching over Mordor. You see where this is going. When around Third Age 1635, the Great Plague
was spreading over the Kingdoms of men, killing the population so heavily, that Osgiliath
was deserted and fell to ruin, Gondor abandoned watching over Mordor completely. Even though it is never stated that Sauron
was behind all of this, it is not far fetched, to assume, that he had at least something
to do with it. With Mordor not guarded anymore and the great
Plague spreading to Eriador and with this to Arnor, Sauron had suddenly more options
at hand. But we also have to take a look at Sauron's
and his servants' activities in the North. As mentioned Arnor was divided into 3 Kingdom's
(Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur), which weakened it. And around Third Age 1300, the Kingdom of
Angmar was founded by the Lord of the Nazgûl, who became known as the Witchking of Angmar. This guy just was a constant thread and started
wars in this region. The Witchking attacked Arthedain, which continued
the bloodline of Isildur, and he conquered Rhudaur, where he installed an Easterling
King. The Kingdom of Arthedain together with Cardolan
were able to defend against the attacks. Also Lindon and Rivendell helped out, the
latter was even under Siege. These wars went for several hundred years. And Cardolan was in big trouble. When then in addition the Great Plague arrived
there too, Cardolan was deserted and no one was left. The Witchking also sent evil spirits, the
Barrow-wights, maybe fallen Maiar, to the Barrow- downs, the capital of Cradolan, to
haunt that place, so that the Kingdom would also stay deserted in the future. But Angmar continued to attack the remaining
Kingdom. So Arthedain counselled with Gondor and both
understood, that with combined forces, they could put an end to this, which would help
both Kingdoms. As a result there was the marriage between
a daughter of the reigning line of Gondor named Fíriel and the Arthedain prince Arvedui,
both ancestor's of Aragorn, but in the end it did not turn out well. Gondor had enough problems on it's own, so
they could not sent any help and Arthedain slowly lost the war against Angmar. Switching back to Gondor. The Northmen and Gondor were plagued by a
special group of Eastlings, called the Wainriders, probably from the area around Rhûn. They used chariots in battle. These easterlings even coordinated attacks
with Harad and Khand, they were once enemies of the easterlings, but allied against their
common foe Gondor and attacked them from the 2 sides, so Gondor had to split their armies. While the southern army under Eärnil II was
successful, the war against the Wainriders in the north ended disastrous and the King
and all his heirs got killed, so Gondor had temporarily no King. As said Gondor had enough problems on its
own. Arvedui and Firiel in Arthedain tried to claim
the throne of Gondor, but the claim got refused and the victorious Eärnil II, who managed
to surprise the already celebrating Wainriders in the North and destroyed them too, became
the new King. He was also of Isildur's bloodline. Eärnil II sent his son Eärnur with an army
to help against Angmar, but he was too late and Arthedain got destroyed, even though the
bloodline of Kings survived, but there was nothing left to reign over. Eärnur united with forces of Lindon under
Círdan and managed to defeat Angmar completely, while the Witchking escaped, mocking Eärnur. Here Glorfindel, who was sent to Middle-earth
by the Valar, like the Istari, made the prophecy to Eärnur, that he should not pursue the
Witchking and not by the hand of man shall he fall. The Witchking returned to Mordor, but was
not done yet, and so he started an assault on Minas Ithil. After so many wars Gondor was weak and could
not reclaim the city, which from now on became known as Minas Morgul - the Tower of Dark
Sourcery and became the residence of the Witchking - this was Third Age 2002. Also Minas Anor was renamed to Minas Tirith. Minas Ithil had one of the few remaining Palantir
and that's how Sauron got one of them, the other were in Isengard (or Isengard) and Minas
Tirith, but the latter was only known to the Kings and later the reigning Stewards I guess. But the Witching still wasn't done. He challenged Eärnur to single combat. On advice of his steward he refused, but the
Witchking knew he would get him, so he renewed his Challenge years later and this time Eärnur
accepted and rode to Minas Morgul. He was never seen again. In addition he had no heir and so Gondor no
King. The Witchking chose a good point in time,
because, there was no ideal successor, that would maybe not bring Gondor to another kin-strife. And so the era of Gondor's ruling Stewards
begun. In the background many other things happened. In the North the Éotheod moved further to
the north, which had the side effect, that Gondor became more vulnerable to attacks from
the east - with the Éothéod not buffering against the Easterlings anymore. The dwarf's in Moria awakened the Balrog,
which would be known as Durin's Bane and killed Durin VI and led to the dwarves leaving Moria,
founding the Kingdom under the Mountain in Erebor under Thráin I. They later abandoned Erebor again and were
busy defending their halls in the Grey Mounatins against the dragons. Gandalf explored Dol Guldur to find out more
about the "Necromancer", but the still weakened Sauron escaped to the east, before Gandalf
could identify him, probably strengthen his bond with the Easterlings further. And with this a time called the Watchful Peace
begun. Also without Sauron things became a bit more
peaceful, even though the Nazgûl prepared for Sauron's return. Also Uruk-hai were bred in Minas Morgul. With Sauron's return to Dol Guldur Third Age
2460 the Watchful Peace ends. Around this time many other events happen
too. The White council is formed and the One Ring
is found by Déagol (or Dégol) and taken by Sméagol (or Sméagol), who becomes Gollum. Sauron manages to conquer Osgiliath, which
is abandoned by men for now, but later recaptured by Steward Boromir I, that is not the Boromir
from the Lord of the Rings, but one of his ancestors. He later also sends orcs into the misty mountain
and build strongholds there. This includes Moria. Celebrían, Elrond's wife and daughter of
Galadriel, on her way over the Misty Mountains is captured by orcs and later saved by her
sons and leaves Middle-earth after this. In the North Eorl becomes King and later helps
Gondor - pretty much in the last minute - to defeat an invading group of Easterlings called
the Balchoth, who were probably under the influence of Sauron. As explained in the history of Rohan video,
this leads to the foundation of Rohan and the migration of many Northman to this region,
with Eorl becoming the first King of Rohan. The Foundation and alliance with Rohan, helps
Gondor a lot, because they again buffer against the Easterlings and even the Dunlendings. The Dwarves lost hold against the Dragons
in the Grey Mountains and retreated. Thrór, the grandfather of Thorin II Oakenshield,
leads one part of the dwarfs back to Erebor and establishes his Kingdom there. His younger brother Grór, Grandfather of
Dain Ironfoot leads the others to the Iron Mountains where he establishes his Kingdom. The next partially interesting thing, is that
Isengard is taken by Dunlendings. The Rohirric Lord with Dunlendish blood Freca,
who had influence over Dunland, was killed by Helm, which the Dunlendings should never
forgot. His son Wulf, who was more a Lord of the Dunlendings
should revenge his father and successfully conquered Rohan, sitting on the Throne in
Meduseld. You can assume, that Sauron had something
to do with this, because Umbar attacked Gondor at the same time, so they could not sent help
and Wulf was also joined by Gondorian foes, maybe also Corsairs of Umbar and Easterlings. Thanks to Helm Hammerhand, the Hornburg (or
Hornburg), which got its name while besieged at this time during the Long Winter, Rohan
survived, but had great casualties. His son Fréaláf managed to kill Wulf, drive
the Dunlendings out and retake Rohan and free Isengard. After this Saruman returned from a longer
journey into the east and asked, if he could have Isengard and offered to guard it and
the gap of Rohan. Fréaláf accepted and recommended this solution
to Gondor and that's how Saruman got to live in Isengard, where he found the Palantir. Also orcs started to trouble Eriador. Another interesting event, that helped Sauron,
was also the Sack of Erebor, that was also around this time. So Smaug (or Smaug) drove the dwarves out
of there and destroyed Dale. Which led to other events. Gandalf was concerned, that Sauron allies
with Smaug and that's also why he later helped the dwarves to recapture Erebor. When the dwarves were in exile Thrór gave
his ring of Power along with the map and key to the Lonely Mountain to his son Thráin
II and went to Moria, were he got killed by the orcs probably by Azog. Thrór's dead body was thrown down the steps
of Moria's east gate, to his companion's feet, whose name was Nár and was waiting for the
exiled King to return. They also threw a purse of coins to him, calling
him a beggar. On Thrór's severed head he could read Azog
in Dwarvish runes. Nár escaped and reported to Thór's son Thráin
II, who declared war and called all Seven houses of the dwarves to revenge his father's
death and so the War of the Dwarves and Orcs began. In the end after 6 years, they killed many
orcs and even Azog in front of the East gate of Moria, where also Thorin II earned his
name Oakenshield. During the final battle a very young Dain
II, that's Dain Ironfoot, killed Azog. Thráin took the orc leader's severed head,
shoved the purge into his mouth and put it on a pole, revenging his father. Even though it was discussed to retake Moria,
the majority of Dwarf Lords decided against it, because, revenge was done under heavy
losses and Durin's bane was still dewlling in Moria. Although dwarves had heavy casualties, this
was a loss of power for Sauron too, because the Misty Mountains were almost cleansed of
orcs. Many remaining orcs fled over Rohan to the
White Mountains in the south, troubling the Riddermark, but bringing more peace to Eriador. The later Battle of Five Armies, we know from
the Hobbit decimated the orcs even further, but also the dwarves. After the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, the
homeless Thráin II and Thorin Oakenshield went west with their people to the Blue mountains. But Sauron should get his revenge. The Ring of power increased the desire for
treasure in Thráin II and so he went on an expedition to the Lonely mountain, with the
brothers Dwalin and Balin. They got constantly attacked by orcs and wargs
and at some day, Thráin II was captured by Sauron's forces and brought to Dol Guldur
and tormented. With this Sauron got the last ring of power
of the Dwarves back and left him in his dungeon to die. Gandalf searched for him even in Moria, but
couldn't find him. After that he again visited Dol Guldur and
found Thráin II by accident , who was near death and didn't even knew who he was anymore. He learned that the Necromancer is Sauron
and not a Nazgûl and that he has Thráin's ring of power. He also got the map and key to Erebor from
Thráin, who died in Dol Guldur. Gandalf probably realised after, that the
dwarf he met, was Thráin. Different than seen in the Hobbit movies,
Gandalf escaped and reported to the white Council. But Saruman vetoed against an attack and suggested
to observe and wait, to which the council agreed. Gandalf was not realising, that Saruman wanted
the One Ring for himself and in secret searched for it. Even though he didn't find it, he would find
Star of Elendil, the sign of the King of Arnor, lost by Isildur in the Anduin, when he died. Much later Gandalf visited Thorin Oakenshield
and discussed the Quest for Erebor. And the white council, consisting of Saruman,
Galadriel, Gandalf, Elrond and Círdan agreed to attack Dol Guldur to confront Sauron. But Sauron escaped and fled to Mordor. In the background Saruman, who was also a
Maia of Aulë like Sauron once, started using the Palantir and getting corrupted by Sauron. But this was even after the Hobbit. An interesting note is, that Denethor II studied
the history of the palantiri and started to use the one in Minas Tirith, even confronting
Sauron. He was not corrupted, but it burdened him
heavily. And all of this led to the events of the Hobbit
and The Lord of the Rings. When he was finally back in Mordor, he already
was able to take Physical form again. The depiction from the movies as a big fiery
eye, can't be found in the books, but ofc the lidless eye is the symbol of Sauron and
can be found on equipment of his orcs. I have to admit while doing research I was
amazed by how much work Sauron did over the course of more then 6500 years. Sauron was always there and Morgoth's most
trusted servant. As you can see, Sauron was a master of manipulating
people, but he could do both fight giant wars and destroy powerful Kingdoms from within. Also his servants, like the Witchking did
a lot of work too. Sauron also didn't want to destroy Middle-earth,
but bring some kind of order to it and rule over it, dominating all weaker minds and prepare
the world for his master's return - at any cost. He loved order, even though his vision seems
twisted, because he would use anything, no matter how cruel it was. It is also interesting to see, how often he
was incredibly close to conquering Middle-earth, but also, that the Valar - you could say - almost
abandoned a big part of mankind. Considering how the people of the east and
south were influenced by Melkor and his servants, since men awoke, it is understandable, that
they allied with him. The help and blessings of the Valar were only
granted to the Dúnedain, whose great hero Eärendil had to beg for it, risking his life. The rest had to fight alone or join Morgoth. The second time the Valar helped men in a
big way, was in the Third Age by sending the Istari about 4000 years later. This neglection for sure explains Morgoth'
and Sauron's influence over the men of the East and South. I think it also adds a little layer of grey
to the story. Sam for example later sees a dead Harad warrior
and asks himself who he was, if he was really evil and what his motivations were to come
and fight here. It should also be noted, how the foundation
of the Dúnedain Kingdoms in Exile, Arnor and Gondor, drove away the people who were
there first and Dunlendings, Easterlings and Haradrim had definitely reasons to despise
the west-men. I hope with all of this, you understand Sauron
a bit better. The Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales and
the Lord of the Rings Appendices made him a bit more like a character, even though he
still has not much character development potential, since he is fully devoted to Morgoth and chose
a path, from which he can never return. Only his approaches developed over the Ages,
from the traitor, learning dark secrets from Morgoth, to the new Dark Lord wielding big
armies, to the evil entity in the background manipulating the fate of Middle-earth to his
favour, regaining his power. Thank you for watching At the end some small notes: This should be my longest video so far and
probably ever, at least when it comes to strongly edited content. I really tried to compress a lot of it and
even cut out pages of text. So there are probably some mistakes and sometimes
I'm a bit imprecise, but overall this should be a very detailed look at Sauron and the
development of Arda around him. I was surprised myself of how much there is
about Sauron and Morgoth. I thought this would be much shorter and this
is also the reason, why it took pretty much 3 times as long as originally planned. I also decided against splitting this video
into 2 parts, which was probably a stupid idea. Also I recommend watching my other lore videos,
esp. the one about Aragorn and Númenor and maybe the History of Rohan, because there
parts, that are explained in more detail there. I hope you enjoyed this video. Consider the Youtube and twitter things. Thank you for watching and good bye.
