[Mithadan]

I truly regret using the word "sympathy" in any of my posts in this thread, as it has detracted from the real question. Of course, Sauron is not a sympathetic character. In some ways, he is even less sympathetic than Morgoth. Morgoth is Loki; the trickster, the eternal rebel and contrarian. If someone says to him "white", he responds with "black" because of who he is. The Valar raise a mountain and he flattens it. The Valar fill a sea and he empties it. He is truly evil, yet at times it is evil in a faintly charming way, in the same way that we sometimes appreciate a scoundrel. Moreover, we do not see him clearly. He is somewhat nebulous, like a great cloud on the horizon. While we don't see Sauron clearly either, at least during the Third Age, we do learn a lot more about his evil acts (three Ages worth) than those of Morgoth.

The real (intended) topic of this thread is simply whether or not Sauron suffered the same type of torment that the other Ringbearers did when deprived of their "Precious". Yes, the essence of the Ring and its power derives from Sauron; he stripped himself of much of his native strength and infused the Ring with it. But this does not mean that he does not suffer from the loss of the Ring. Indeed, the taking of the Ring from him by Isildur "kills" him.

When he manages to reassemble himself, Sauron does not return to Mordor. Instead, he sets up shop in Dol Guldur, near the Gladden Fields where Isildur disappeared. Yes, Dol Guldur is a great place to hide, yet it seems he had no problem doing so in the East. Nor does Dol Guldur have any over-riding strategic value. It is not near his primary enemy, Gondor. It is near Anduin, but does not give him control of the river. It is near Moria, which has already been abandoned by the Dwarves. It is near Lorien, but he clearly does not have the strength to attack Galadriel at that time. Even during the War of the Ring, any attacks staged from Dol Guldur were of secondary import at best. No, he occupied Dol Guldur primarily as a location from which to search for the Ring and, perhaps secondarily to create an evil presence to scare anyone else away from the neighborhood. This resembles the single-minded pursuit of the Ring that we see in Gollum.

Yet, when he does discover the location of the Ring, his efforts to take it or intercept it are almost lackadaisical. This would seem contrary to the concept of the Ring being a tormenting, driving force to Sauron. He seems willing to risk it being hidden or falling into the hands of one of his enemies, under the apparent assumption that he will inevitably prevail militarily.

Much is made of Bolbo's choice to surrender the Ring to Frodo. It was difficult, but he managed to do it. Someone else voluntarily laid down the Ring; Sauron. It seems that when the Numenoreans assailed him and he surrendered, he left the Ring behind, likely in the deepest vault of Barad-Dur, and took it up again after he had crafted himself a body following the drowning of Numenor. So, maybe the Ring did not exert such a hold upon him as it did upon its Mortal bearers.