Sauron, devoted servant of Melkor?

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Originally Posted by Lord Halsar

I seem to remember a line in the Silmarillion that always made me think each time I read it. Though I cannot remember it exactly, I remember clearly that when the Valar attempted to destroy the temple to Melkor that Sauron had built on Numenor, he was able to stop the lightning set against its roof and the Numenorians "were amazed and thought him a god." This made me wonder, was Sauron powerful enough to halt the will of the Valar? Or was it something much less complex?

The thunderstorms, as I remember it, were an omen sent by the Valar. Another omen was clouds shaped like the eagles of Manwe. These thunderstorms were not intended to destroy the temple (wasn't the temple made of stone anyway?), or Sauron himself, rather to show the Numenorians that the path they were heading into was wrong (compare fex. with the biblical plagues in Egypt). Sauron at this time, with the One ring in his possession, was a powerful elemental force and I don't imagine him being a even a wee bit scared of a little bad weather.