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Morthoron has given me a thought there with that good post. If you think about what Tolkien was trying to say about Totalitarianism with Lord of the Rings, then it makes sense that Sauron is 'faceless' as he is indeed a virtually symbolic evil figure.
If you contrast him with other megalomaniacs, both real and fictional, he stands up well against them, being the kind of leader who instead sends his henchmen out to be his 'public face' while he hides in Barad-Dur acting as master of puppets.
Like Big Brother in 1984 we don't need to 'meet' him as readers, we just need to know he is there watching the protagonists; and like Hitler he has no need to go onto the battlefield as he has his untermenschen to do that. Modern monsters do not show their faces, they just need to be an 'icon', that is more than enough to scare everyone into submission. Taking this argument to its extreme edge, you could say that Sauron is the best 'brand name' in Middle-earth; instead of golden arches he has a golden ring, and instead of a little tick, he has an 'eye'...
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Gordon's alive!
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