Gandalf Captured!?

[The 1,000 Reader]

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

Sauron is meant to be the big, scary Dark Lord. Yet he captures a Dwarf who has one of his rings of power, and doesn't even bother to strip him of everything he has, slay him, or keep a watch on him. That's dodgy management; that's poor decision-making if you ask me.

Yes, Sauron is really just an idiot with power and too many names. A session with Silmarillion and UT reveals this, though not directly. I know Tolkien wanted good to win, but I also get the feeling that he was trying to say that evil was dumb.

[lathspell]

Ah, yes. What have I been thinking? I've read those books a million times and still can make quite stupid remarks. I guess it's a gift.

[The Sixth Wizard]

Yes, evil always destroys itself in greed and pride. Morgoth was finished because he didn't care about the people at the end of the Sirion (Earendil) and didn't count on the Valar coming to help. (pride) Sauron gets dead because he wants to kill Aragorn so badly he's blinded to the fact two hobbits are destroying his ring (greed).

[Sir Kohran]

Originally Posted by The 1,000 Reader

Yes, Sauron is really just an idiot with power and too many names. A session with Silmarillion and UT reveals this, though not directly. I know Tolkien wanted good to win, but I also get the feeling that he was trying to say that evil was dumb.

This 'problem' is just down to The Hobbit being written way before Sauron was thought up. In TH, Thrain is just captured by 'the Necromancer' - an evil figure that's left in the dark. We aren't told what the Necromancer wants or even what he is - he's just a far off villain that Gandalf goes to confront. We don't know if he has any interest in Erebor or Smaug.

The problem comes when Sauron becomes the Necromancer - because we knopw his objectives, suddenly he seems stupid for letting such an opportunity slip through his fingers. Perhaps it just would have been better if Tolkien had Sauron in Mordor all along and the Necromancer as a separate villain.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Sir Kohran

The problem comes when Sauron becomes the Necromancer - because we knopw his objectives, suddenly he seems stupid for letting such an opportunity slip through his fingers. Perhaps it just would have been better if Tolkien had Sauron in Mordor all along and the Necromancer as a separate villain.

I don't agree. I think Sauron and the Necromancer have the same behavior and the same problems of overlooking things: for example, Sauron, again blinded by his lust for the Ring and not caring of all things in detail, did not even bother to ask Gollum whether "Shire... Baggins..." come from the same area as in which Gollum lived (Anduin Vales). He, in his lust for the Ring and anger and arrogance and ignorance (thinking that of course there is nothing else to be obtained from this little stupid creature - much the same he probably thought about Thrain), assumed that the Shire is located somewhere around Gollum's motherland. This results in the Black Riders' sweeping the ancient Stoor villages in Anduin until realizing that there is no Shire and no Baggins, and riding to knock on Saruman's door (Unfinished Tales, Third Age, pt. IV). Tolkien himself says that

"This was a very small and natural error – but possibly the most important mistake that Sauron made in the whole affair. But for it, the Black Riders would have reached the Shire weeks sooner."