Sauron
 

Sorry if this topic seems a little basic, but after having read LOTR and its appendices I know very little about Sauron eg. where and what race is he from?, how did he come to power? Is there a background to his character and where can I find it? [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

You answers can be found in The Silmarillion. Some who love LotR find The Sil to be difficult because they expect it to be the same. It is different. There are no Hobbits to mediate the grandiose for you, so expect it to be all grand and wonderful and distant, and you'll love it. I highly recommend it.

And I won't tell you anything about Sauron - read it for yourself. You'll like it better that way.

I still haven't finished the Sil....but I snuck a few peeks at the end of the book and saw Sauron's name a few times....It is a very hard read however, and despite the fact that I consider myself and excellent reader, it is still hard to get everything the first time around. I am planning on reading it atleast twice, if not more. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Look here if you like, also:

Sauron

but do read the references cited above.

Ok, you need to read the Silmarillion. If you want to know he was the Lutineat of Melkor. Melkor is like an Evil Valar. Well when the Valar captured Melkor and all of his minions they missed Sauron. He rose back to power and all and made a huge army and started doing evil and all. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

I know i cant spell, and this is really trivial and pointless and just pure spam, but "Lutineat of Melkor". Lutineat!

Sorry. Anyway in my opinion Sauron is a very good representation (in the Sil anyway) of what sort of powers Gandolf could have had, had he not been restricted to a humanoid form and had felt like it. He is like an Istari, in that he is an active War Maia, though he is also totally unlike them and i am digging myself a hole here and am going to shup up.

LOL... more trivial spam, I'm afraid, but I think the word you meant to use is lieutenant. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Sorry about that. [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

yes, Sauron was the Leiutenant of Melkor, but before his corruption he was a Miar of Aule. This further explains his prowress in the forging of the rings of power, because Aule was the smith of the gods. After the War of Wrath when the Valar marched on Angband and captured Melkor, Sauron hid lest they find him. And after that, as the Silmarillion says, he followed his master down the same ruinous path into the void.