What would you have done?

[Gothbogg the Ripper]

If you were Sauron during the War of the Ring, how would you have tried to attain victory, would you have made any different choices than he did in the book? :D

[The Saucepan Man]

Yes. I would have made sure that no one got within a 10 mile cordon around Mount Doom ... :rolleyes: :D

[Lalwendë]

Aside from making an appointment with the local Mordor optician to get my obviously myopic eye tested? Maybe I'd have tried to make a few more rings of power, or more practically, lay waste to Ithilien, right as far as Osgiliath, driving out the rangers. But then Sauron wouldn't likely have done much else than the things which he did do, as he was filled with self assurance that he was all-powerful.

[Boromir88]

LOL HAHAHA SPM I think that will pretty much take care of the problem. I think a land mine right at the entrance to the Sammath Naur would do perfectly well too.

But on a more practical note, I would have made more of a use of Saruman. Sauron used Saruman to his advantage, but he had Saruman in his grasps, I would have definately of used him more.

[The Saucepan Man]

Take more interest in Hobbits and the Shire? :D

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

He should have sent the Balrog on a wild rampage through Gondor. He could have tempted him with promise of, uh, land? Gold? Women? Stranger things have happened. And the Balrog would probably have slaughtered Denethor's army in a matter of moments, before a certain Wizard could come along and save the day.

[Nimrodel_9]

Wonderful thought, Eomer. :D

I agree with Saucepan Man. If Orodruin was the only place his precious ring could be destroyed, he should have set a gaurd on it at all times. ;)

[Legolas]

I would've kept a guard ten deep around the border of Mordor, with no more than an arm's length between orcs side to side. :mad:

[rutslegolas]

But since the Dark Lord considered himself the most powerful and as thought no one could enter the Land Of Mordor ,I would first of all would build a huge fortification around Mount Doom and have orcs keep guard night and day as they did on the Black Gate.

[Boromir88]

Why doesn't Sauron just buy a couple tons of Demolition Charges from Saruman, and blow up Mount Doom, there we go now the ring can never be destroyed.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Let's go further back in time. During the Battle of Dagorlad, he should have just cheap-shotted Elendil and Gil-Galad, instead of wrestling them fairly. Thrown mud in their eyes or whatever. Because there's no way he should have been slain by those two.

[Gothbogg the Ripper]

I personally would have fashioned for one of the 9 wraiths armour that looked exactly like mine (Sauron) and sent him out to battle looking exactly like me.
This would make the opponents believe that the quest had failed and the ring had been captured, the mere sight of a wraith looking exactly like Sauron would make most enemies flee. :D

[Fingolfin II]

A novel idea, Gothbogg. Personally, I would have studied Middle-Earth and it's inhabitants comprehensively while my power was regrouping, thus I would have more knowledge of Hobbits and the Shire. Also, I would have done what SpM and Gandalf suggested- fortify Mordor (especially Orodruin) so that nobody could enter and 'bend all his [my] guile' to the finding of the Ring. Also, a Ringwraith protecting Mount Doom wouldn't go amiss either.

[Boromir88]

Now if I was the "movie" Sauron, I would have definately called in the ghostbusters to deal with that dratted Green Slime/Dead Army, Aragorn summoned. :cool:

[Zebedee]

More discipline in the orc army. None of this nonsense about various units killing each other off.
Also, not clear the steps to Mount Doom, make it harder to climb.
Perhaps make use of the barrow wights to attack the Shire.

[gorthaur_cruel]

I would've made mithril armor for my Nazguls, first of all. Sauron had a wealth of mithril:

Of what they brought to light the Orcs have gathered nearly all, and given it in tribute to Sauron, who covets it

Mithril armor would've meant that Merry's knife wouldn't have pierced the Witch King. :)

Also, let's face it: would you guys really have concentrated more on defending Mordor? You've got all the entrances into Mordor covered: Minas Morgul's defended by thousands of Orcs. The Black Gate's defended by thousands of Orcs. Cirith Ungol's defended by Shelob (whom nobody ever got past yet) and Orcs. He knows the limit of the armies against him. Why should he go on to strengthen his defences more when there was clearly nobody strong enough to attack him? I think Sauron didn't have much flaws in his strategy. His "mistakes" are natural mistakes, IMO.

[Elessar Telcontar]

I would have not given in to temptation and pride by emptying Mordor against the newly arisen King of Gondor. Surely emptying his his lands when the ring had yet to be found was foolish especially considering he knew it was not in the hands of Elessar, Gandalf etc.
In many ways Sauron caused his own demise by allowing himself to be fooled into letting his armies go into open battle at the Black Gate. In short Sauron should have believed his own weaknesses and ignored his pride...

[Gothbogg the Ripper]

I certainly agree with that, his pride did cloud his judgement when he sent out his army to face Aragorn and the others at the Black Gate, if he didn't do this it could have turned out very different. :D

[samwise8504]

i would of prevented smaug from been slain and made more use of him e.g. promise him more gold or land and watch him destroy gondor and rohan with ease.

[Essex]

Sauron should have not been so single minded. He didn't believe anyone would want to destory the ring, he would never believe anyone would have the audacity and stupidity to creep into mordor, and, most importantly, he was too single mided when torturing Gollum. As stated in unfinished tales, the Hunt for the Ring section, Sauron assumed that te shire was an area near to where gollum lived. If he had put thought into it, and got more information out of Gollum, it would have been Game Over. As Tolkien states:

"This was a very small and natural error – but possibly the most important mistake that Sauron made in the whole affair. But for it, the Black Riders would have reached the Shire weeks sooner."

[rutslegolas]

Yes I agree ,but the Dark Lord had reason to believe that no would destroy the ring ,he thought no one in their right state of mind would destroy the ring which could give a man ultimate power.

I think the Dark Lord should have fortified Mount Doom ,as he fortified the Black Gate.

[Imladris]

From what I understand, Sauron was the Maia who served Melkor/Morgoth. As such (and this is pure speculation as I am only on Chapter Nine of the Silmarillion) he should have learned two things from Melkor:

1. Do not ever underestimate your enemy.

The Valar underestimated Melkor and Melkor understimated Ungoliant. They both almost died. As such, Sauron ought to have learned his lesson.

2. Pride is one's downfall.

Which to me goes hand in hand with number one.

If he had followed those two points, I'm sure he would have done much better. Not that we wanted him to do better. The pride of the evil ones are the blessing of the good guys.

Hopefully if I was Sauron I would have had an ickle bit of humility...

[yavanna II]

1. i would've given queen Beruthiel a ring.... and enslaved all her cats
2. I'd put a 100 ft wall round mt doom(hobbits aren't tall!!!!) :p
Wah.... I can't think of better things. I've a chemistry project going on....
:(

I remember!
i would team up with Smaug & attack rivendell while Elrond and Galadriel still think I'm sleeping! :D

[Isowen]

I think saurons first mistake was not finding out about the hobbits and the shire. he saw them and thought they were capable of nothing, so he ignored them! even gandalf said "hobbits really are creatures, as I have said before. You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you at a pinch" Shadow of the past, page 61, Fellowship of the ring
So I would not have doubted the hobbits as it may be my downfall lol!
next, i would block up all entrances to Mordor and position uruk-hai or orc or even trolls there, leaving only the black gate.
Then, I should probably make more rings of power or maybe something to fall back on should the ring fail to get back to me!
I like boromir88's idea of blowing up mount doom! though i dont think sauron would like to destroy part of his own land. And as you also said, I would have used Saruman more! Like get him to make more orcs and uruk-hai and just go and destroy all peoples of middle earth who are unwilling to fight for him!

[DarkRose]

First of all, I'd probably change that whole 'the ring can be destroyed if you chuck it into Mt. Doom' thing. I'd totally make it indestructable. Don't ask me how. But I would. :P

[dragoneyes]

I'd destroy the steps up to reach Cirith Ungol. I mean, if someone still manages to climp up there they're going to be so knackered they'd be easy meat for Shelob.

[Amrod the Hunter]

Destroy every place in Mordor where there aren't any Orcs (except Shelob's lair) and get better guards around MT. Doom.I mean,he knew that that mountain is his greatest weakness and he didn't have any guard there.I also would think of some better tactic to destroy Minas Tirith because his tactic was like cheese-it had too many holes.He trusted too much to Saruman,he forgoth about Aragorn and that is why he lost at Pellenor.

[The Saucepan Man]

Welcome to the Downs Amrod the Hunter. :)

I must, however, take issue with you on this:


... he forgoth about Aragorn and that is why he lost at Pellenor.Sauron was only too aware of Aragorn. Aragorn made sure of that when he used the Palantir of Orthanc. It was this that prompted Sauron to make a move on Minas Tirith earlier than he might otherwise have done. What he didn't bargain for was the Rohirrim being free to ride to Gondor's aid and Aragorn's nifty use of the Oathbreakers to take the Corsairs out of the equation and turn up at the Pelennor unannounced.

Indeed, it was Sauron's preoccupation with the Isildur's heir, encouraged by the "diversion" (as film Legolas so helpfully puts it ;) ) at the Black Gate, that caused him to make the mistake of taking his "eye" off Mordor, thus allowing a certain two Hobbits to slip into Mordor that much more easily.

[Gothbogg the Ripper]

True, this great fear that someday men would rise against him under a strong leader eventually led to his downfall. It's actually quite fascinating, it borders on sociology. "Self-fulfiling prophecy". He believed that Isildur's heir would one day destroy him and through his attempted prevention made the likelihood of that outcome even greater.

[ninja91]

After completely fortifying Mount Doom and the surrounding areas, I would have not wasted a moment in destroying Gondor with the Morgul-host. I would have immediately assaulted the White City, while the Corsairs attacked Pelargir and possibly Dol Amroth, and after taking Minas Tirith join with Saruman's forces and unleash hell upon Rohan. Another host out of Mordor I would send towards Moria with the Easterlings to burn Lorien to the ground and move north from there, converging with Saruman and the Morgul Host on Arnor and Eriador. I would have sent the Mouth of Sauron to lead my Udun-host north to gather the Moria goblins and Easterlings. The Haradrim would not be far behind either hosts.

Heh heh heh. I like having huge armies...

[FeRaL sHaDoW]

if i was sauron i would of at least sealed up the door way to mount doom....

or

dug a big deep moat.....

or

built a big fence around the top of mount doom

[The Sixth Wizard]

Question Pippin more when he looks in the Palantir! Then I could KNOW Frodo had the Ring, kill him, and regain control of the world. Mwahaha!

[The 1,000 Reader]

Stretching out the thread's question a bit, I'll cover better options for all of Sauron's conflicts.

Isle of Werewolves

When Luthien announced herself, Sauron should have looked out the large window overlooking the island (and if that failed, turn into a hawk that would be hard to see) and try to spot any surprises she might have brought with her. After seeing Huan, Sauron could have done these things:

1. Swooped down low on/in the wind that wouldn't carry his scent to Huan, turn into his large vampire form when near the ground, and like in Jeepers Creepers 2, swoop Luthien up quickly and take her to Morgoth for a reward.

2. Sent out his wolves in large number (all at once, I might add,) and observe battle from window to see if Luthien had backup or was putting up a good fight. If Huan wasn't injured too badly to fight from the wolves (not killed, due to the prophecy,) Sauron should have taken his werewolf form, gone out to fight, and not have attacked Luthien when Huan dropped his guard and leapt aside in terror. Even if everything else was like the books, he likely would not have failed if he didn't waste that opportunity.

3. Gone out there himself in werewolf form, attacked Huan when he dropped his guard and his spirit faultered, take vampire form and fly to Morgoth with Luthien in his clutches.

Numenor

Ar-Pharazon would likely attack anyway, so all that could be done would be to keep the orc-hordes calm so that they wouldn't panic and abandon their master, so that they wouln't have to be found and re-recruited. Numenor was already down a dark path, and Ar-Pharazon would probably appoint the first guy that fed his ego (or just bring Sauron to a higher rank so that he could display him as a "trophy" for his ego,) so the same role in the books would be alright, but with less attention drawn to himself and an attempt to make it look like Ar-Pharazon chose those actions alone. When Numenor attacked Valinor, retreating to Mordor would be a good maneuver in case the Valar took major action or prayed to Eru, which would be very likely considering the circumstances. Forces, large yet small enough to avoid the elves, would be littered along the Anduin in the event of any faithful Numenorians fleeing from a potential catastrophic event caused by higher powers.

Last Alliance

A possibility here would be to make sure the elves and men never formed an alliance to begin with, so, if powerful enough, attacking the elves while Numenor assaulted Valinor would have a chance of success. If the alliance formed with such power anyway, a tactic of refitting Barad-Dur with siege engines and numerous places for archers to cause havok could bring positive results, though the credibilty of the tower's "invincible foundations" would play greatly on this. A strategy of sending an army to face the Alliance while another force approached from the rear might be applicable, though the LA could easily do the same. For Elendil and Gil-Galad, anything from simply turning them to ash with the Black Hand or making lava from Mount Doom fly at them with incredible speed and accuracy would work. I mean, honestly, these two aren't packing the strength of Feanor's family, and they don't even have a prophecy behind them.



War of the Ring

Getting some orc hordes to steal a map of Middle-Earth off of a dead ranger and making Gollum point to where the Shire was may have worked. Simply sealing Mount Doom could also yield results, though if he was still blinded by arrogance and wouldn't sealed the way just to be careful, he could have tried to make the mountain erupt and rain lava, stone, burning stone, and etc. down on places such as Minas Tirith, sealing up the way into Mount Doom so that none of the stuff would "leak" onto Mordor.

Those options out of the way, the hosts of Dol Guldur could have been turned to other matters, reacting to Lothlorien only if Lothlorien made the first move. The elves of Lothlorien seemed rather uninterested in the rest of Middle-Earth, so leaving them alone unless they bothered Sauron's armies would work. More orcs could be diverted from Moria to help Saruman, and even declaring war on Rohan to assist Grima's slaughter of Theoden's morale is an option, though actually attacking Rohan does not need to be done. Finally, using half of the Mordor host to help the Morgul host for an assured victory is on the table.

[Boo Radley]

Destroy every place in Mordor where there aren't any Orcs (except Shelob's lair) and get better guards around MT. Doom.I mean,he knew that that mountain is his greatest weakness and he didn't have any guard there.I also would think of some better tactic to destroy Minas Tirith because his tactic was like cheese-it had too many holes.He trusted too much to Saruman,he forgoth about Aragorn and that is why he lost at Pellenor.


I don't think Sauron saw the mountain as his greatest weakness (If it even was) because as was stated in the book, he couldn't conceive of someone trying to destroy the ring.
But to get back on topic, I think if he had not allowed himself to be baited into attacking Minas Tirith when he did, if he could have waited and consolidated more of his forces and allowed his Nazgul to act as his airborne survellance for a bit longer, he might... well, he STILL would have lost because Frodo was slipping in through the back door.

The only way he could have won would have been to admit that someone might just decide to destroy the ring and not use it to contest his own power.
Then he might have bumped up his defenses a bit more.

[Boo Radley]

First of all, I'd probably change that whole 'the ring can be destroyed if you chuck it into Mt. Doom' thing. I'd totally make it indestructable. Don't ask me how. But I would. :P

OK... this is good. Make it so that it never becomes a possible problem.
But, it still is something that can be stolen. I mean, that's the problem with rings of power... they're always being inconveniently hacked off of one's finger.
Does it need to be a ring? Perhaps make it something that wouldn't be out there, waving at the end of a arm, just inviting trouble.
Perhaps Sauron could have forged it into a tongue stud (Eww...), that way, they'd have to take off his entire head and then he'd be dead anyways and the ring...er... stud wouldn't be of any more use to him.
Or... make it into a bellybutton ring (Eww! Eww! Eww! Ewww! Ewwww!!!). Be the Lord of All Evil and a fashion trendsetter at the same time.

[Selmo]

If I were Sauron, I would have reviewed my past record of achievement, quietly retired, taken up knitting instead of world domination and lived a long and happy life.
.

[Boo Radley]

If I were Sauron, I would have reviewed my past record of achievement, quietly retired, taken up knitting instead of world domination and lived a long and happy life.
.


A retired Sauron... interesting concept.
Sauron clipping coupons and going to the early-bird dinner.
Yelling at the neighbor kids to stay off his lawn and when they didn't, torturing them.

I can see it.