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Old 12-28-2015, 04:30 AM   #15
Zigūr
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Originally Posted by Pitchwife View Post
By the standard of his peers Sauron was an impostor, as there was but one rightful king among the Ainur - Manwė, the Elder King under Ilśvatar. But by his mortal subjects he was (and aspired to be) regarded as far more than a king - a god, or god-king. Theocracy as a form of government isn't particularly medieval but has occurred throughout history from antiquity even to the modern Middle East, and watching news of the murdering hordes of Daesh it's hard not to feel reminded of Orcs propagating Sauron-worship.
It might be worthwhile to consider a "modern" movement in which the leader himself was effectively the object of worship, however. The idea of a "Cult of Personality" seems to reflect Sauron's position in some respects, although that in itself is hardly a purely modern concept, given that it was practiced long before the time of the men to whom these days it seems to mostly be attributed, such as Stalin.

In Letter 183 Professor Tolkien compares the position of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth to that of "the Cause of those who oppose now the State-God and Marshal This or That as its High Priest." This seems to be tied to his abhorrence of the negation of free will, as he argues that those who oppose the negation of free will are always in a morally superior position to those who do the negating, even if they use extreme methods to do it: "even if in desperation 'the West' had bred or hired hordes of ores and had cruelly ravaged the lands of other Men as allies of Sauron, or merely to prevent them from aiding him, their Cause would have remained indefeasibly right."

This is stated in contrast to Sauron and his desire to be a God-King. Thus in this instance Professor Tolkien fairly closely compares Sauron's God-Kingship to "the State-God and Marshal This or That as its High Priest", which seems to particularly evoke twentieth century totalitarianism. In much the same way, in Nśmenor, Sauron was "High Priest" of (the phantom of) Melkor, the religious threat which allowed him to wield absolute power. Similarly in twentieth-century totalitarian states the dictator was generally held to rule in the cause of some ideology or other which was a veneer for tyranny by demanding absolute devotion from all those below the tyrant.

Yet the same could arguably be said of other historical situations, like the Roman Empire at various points and under various rulers.

One could also consider how the worship of Sauron as a god seems to have been propagated among the Men whom he subjugated and not among the Orcs and other creatures which formed the bulk of his personal subjects in his own realms, and seem to have a more varied opinion of him: he is referred to simply as "Him" and as "the Eye" in Shagrat and Gorbag's conversation, but not with reverence. Grishnįkh's "painful" admiration of the Nazgūl evokes something more religious, arguably, but still not wholly reverent: "they're the apple of the Great Eye". Grishnįkh also seems to be some kind of informant, to the Nazgūl or some other form of "internal security" in Sauron's realm: "I may have to report that."

None of these things are particularly specifically modern, but it's difficult to ignore the resonance they have in Professor Tolkien's context in particular.

Interestingly enough, Shagrat's orders were that "the prisoner is to be kept safe and intact, under pain of death for every member of the guard, until He sends or comes Himself." Thus by going to the Dark Tower as he did, he was signing his own death warrant. This also suggests that these were seemingly personal orders given by Sauron to the watchtowers concerning any prisoners taken entering Mordor, which would explain why Sauron saw fit to dispose of Shagrat himself.

It's worth noting that critics have often attributed a technological element distinguishing twentieth century (and onwards) totalitarianism from other forms of tyranny, but it's similarly worth observing that despite lacking "twentieth century technology" Sauron still has "the machine" on his side: "all use of external plans or devices (apparatus) instead of development of the inherent inner powers or talents — or even the use of these talents with the corrupted motive of dominating: bulldozing the real world, or coercing other wills." (Letter 131) Sauron's "magic" (Ainu power used for evil purposes) is his technology: "The Machine is our more obvious modern form though more closely related to Magic than is usually recognised."
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Last edited by Zigūr; 12-28-2015 at 04:43 AM.
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