Quote:
Originally Posted by Belegorn
I'd like to note that Sauron was always there in some sense. It is implied that Sauron was probably the one to breed the Orcs though it may have been borne of Melkor's mind beforehand. It is also said concerning his lieutenant;
"In all the deeds of Melkor the Morgoth upon Arda, in his vast works and in the deceits of his cunning, Sauron had a part." [Silmarillion, p. 26]
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An excellent point. Of course as we observed in one of the other threads recently, Sauron "thus was often able to achieve things, first conceived by Melkor, which his master did not or could not complete in the furious haste of his malice."
My reading of
The Silmarillion was also a bit scanty. This remark is made shortly afterwards regarding Morgoth's desire to enslave Men and thus wield them against the Elves in war:
"But this design was slow to ripen, and was never wholly achieved; for Men (it is said) were at first very few in number, whereas Morgoth grew afraid of the growing power and union of the Eldar and came back to Angband, leaving behind at that time but few servants, and those of less might and cunning."
So perhaps Morgoth never personally revealed himself at Hildórien at all. He may have spied and devised a plan (insofar as he was capable of much planning) before, as is stated, returning to Angband and sending other servants capable of taking on a fair appearance, but ones of "less might", so evidently
not Sauron, to further the corruption of Men. The phrase "at that time," however, suggests that more numerous and potentially more powerful servants arrived later, which might potentially include Sauron, I suppose. The Tale observes once Men had built a temple to Morgoth that "If at great need we dared to go to the House and pray to him to help us, we heard his voice, and received his commands." Presumably Morgoth, incarnate in Angband, could not actually hear prayers made elsewhere, nor answer them, so perhaps there was a "man behind the curtain" scenario going on. It's altogether possible then, I suppose, that the entire affair was played out by Morgoth's servants and not by Morgoth himself.