|
No doubt the Númenóreans knew who and what kind of creature Sauron was; but it still must have come as quite a shock to them when he reformed a physical body (thanks in part to the Ring) following the ruin of Númenor. They probably thought he was “dead”, banished from the world.
Thinking on this, it’s easy to understand why Gil-galad and the Elves told Elendil and the Dúnedain for the first time about the Rings of Power. The Númenóreans had already encountered the Nazgûl in their wars against Sauron. (Cf. Appendix B for S.A. 2251: “… About this time the Nazgûl … first appear.”) Unaware of the Rings, they did not recognize these creatures for what they were, though they must have understood they were Men ruined in some way by Sauron. But in S.A. 3429, 129 years after the downfall of Númenor, when Sauron attacked, Elendil and his sons must have put some direct questions to Gil-galad and the Eldar: How could Sauron re-embody? the Dúnedain must have wondered. For the first time they received direct answers.
Perhaps an incident from the tale of Beren and Lúthien, when Lúthien threatened to have Huan the Hound strip Sauron of his form unless he yielded her Tol Sirion, explains some of his motivation for making the Ring. As long as the Ring existed, Sauron could not be permanently disembodied, nor his power scattered; but of course, once the Ring was destroyed, both of these impediments became permanent.
As an aside, I don’t think Ar-Pharazôn ever had any chance of taking the One Ring from Sauron. I don’t think could Ar-Pharazôn even see it – remember that neither Sam nor Frodo could see Galadriel’s ring until Frodo saw Sauron in the Mirror. Sauron’s servants were terrified of the Númenóreans and, despite their servile fear of Sauron, deserted him. Ar-Pharazôn took him hostage back to Númenor: this delighted Sauron: otherwise, he’d never have been able to get there. He had a rather overwhelming personality, and soon cozened Ar-Pharazôn.
|